Bulletins and News Discussion from July 22nd to July 28th, 2024 - Fracas in Dhaka - COTW: Bangladesh
Bulletins and News Discussion from July 22nd to July 28th, 2024 - Fracas in Dhaka - COTW: Bangladesh
Image is of vehicles set aflame by protestors near a government building.
Since July 1st, students have protested the unpopular proposal in which 30% of government jobs would be reserved for veterans of the 1971 War of Independence and their relatives. In a country with a youth unemployment rate of around 20% and a population of 170 million, a large number of otherwise eligible and competent people would have been forced out due to favouritism for veterans. As with basically every country on the planet over the last couple years, Bangladesh is suffering from inflation and an increasing cost-of-living, further exacerbating tensions.
The student protests have been met with significant violence by the government - local newspapers report that over a hundred protestors have been killed, and thousands have been injured. Guns and tear gas have been used. Additionally, the government has completely cut internet access throughout Bangladesh to prevent organizing, which has had some success in dividing protestors, but has also only further angered various parts of the country due to the massive impact to Bangladesh's online industries and various startups. And a national curfew has been in place to limit movement, with the population told to remain home if they want to be safe.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh relented, stating that now, only 5% of government jobs would be reserved for veterans and their families. 2% would be allocated to members of minorities, with the remaining 93% distributed on merit. A period of tentative calm has arrived, but Hasnat Abdullah, a coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, has stated that unless the government restores the internet, removes the curfew, releases detainees, and forces certain ministers to resign within a few days, then the protests will resume.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Bangladesh! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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The bulletins site is here!
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Last week's thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
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New
just dropped for Palestine.spoiler
I continue to be bewildered by this sort of news.
Israel: "Okay, so after the war, we have these plans where we'll govern Gaza, and..."
No, you haven't and can't beat Hamas. This is nonsensical.
Israel: "Okay, how about if Western soldiers, like from the US, come along and keep the peace? Then we can..."
No, that's not the issue here. The soldiers' nationality doesn't matter; you're losing to Hamas and Hezbollah.
Israel: "Okay, new idea: we get a comprador chosen from Arabic nations to govern Gaza, then..."
I don't think you get the problem here. You aren't in a position to dictate terms. Hundreds of thousands of settlers on your northern border have been displaced for months, your soldiers are dying and being injured in droves due to anti-colonial attrition warfare like we saw in Vietnam. The tunnel network is still pretty much intact and is one of, if not the, greatest structures ever constructed by a guerrilla army. It will take you years upon years to clear them. You're running out of tanks and armored vehicles. Your economy is barely hanging on and your infrastructure is vulnerable. There will be no government in Gaza "after the war" other than Hamas.
You know when you're talking to a small child and you're like "You can't touch the stovetop, it's very hot and it'll burn you." and they're like "What if I touch it with my pinky?" and you're like "No, you can't touch it with your pinky or any of your other fingers." and they're like "What about the rest of my hand?" and so on? It's like that but with geopolitics. Israel is such a bizarre "country". They're not used to being told "No." A spoiled child. A miniature America.
A miniature America.
Very accurate
Yeah this guy is gonna get Trumped if he tries to rule within Gaza
He would never make a public appearance without armored vehicles and 100% be indoors at all times. The only opportunity would be to hit him in transition between vehicles or have insider information on the convoy route so you can blow the road like the Spanish did.
I'm gonna add to this comment: I've talked about this a few times on this site, but we are witnessing the same plan the west thought would play out in Ukraine being implemented in Israel.
For some reason that I'm still not entirely sure about, the west believes things aren't as bad as they really are. The things they ask and plan for- you'd think they're manifesting and doing that "law of attraction" bs for their domestic and foreign policies. Maybe it's a case of propaganda within the bureaucracy being so deeply permeating. That with every press release of some zionist general or knesset member's statements on the genocide, it becomes more clear that exaggerations regarding the direction of the genocide are becoming more severe.
They are absolutely delusional if they think they have a plan for a government of Gaza in the future, let alone one where they choose the leader.
- Gaza has collapsed. The health system, transportation, media, agriculture, etc; there is nothing left in Gaza to actually govern. The Zionist entity seems to think it can absolutely destroy Gaza, but also continue to exercise control over it.
Gaza is a quagmire, I hate to say it, but there is nothing left aside from refugee camps that continue to be bombed everyday.
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Whatever unpopularity Hamas had among gazans is now gone. This shouldn't surprise anyone, but they have stated that recruitment has skyrocketed since the start of al aqsa flood. Their puppet will have to go up against a very popular militant front.
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Economically speaking, it's in the entity's best interest to support the failing northern settlements. The damage in the north is much easier, cheaper, and faster to repair than the damage in Gaza. Additionally 350k+ settlers have been pushed out of the north. Those displaced settlers are taking their own toll on the other settlements they've relocated to.
Re-building Gaza is going to take immense funding and resources. Funding and resources that the entity probably didn't even have before the Oct 7th. The only thing capable of rebuilding Gaza would be central planning ala the CPC. I can see a future where China (via BRI) builds for gazans, to build more goodwill among Palestinians (who will return to control all of Palestine) and improve their image in the MENA region as a whole.
- Final reason: neighboring Arab countries, especially those that are actively helping the entity, are in a dire position right now. No one is happy with their government's actions or inactions during this genocide, if you combine this with a future global recession and increasing food insecurity then you get the unholy Trinity of civil unrest.
The odds of popular coups ousting western backed regimes grow by the day. Iran is absolutely not going to let those opportunities go to waste should they come up.
The entity's actions don't just hurt their prospects within their borders, they also risk increasing hostilities with previously "friendly" neighbors.
TL;DR Isntrael is the Ukraine of the MENA region right now.
My dream is that the Palestinian factions come out and say only Chinese construction firms will be allowed to rebuild Gaza. Or at least no NATO/Israeli/GCC companies. NATO will flip its shit, since I'm sure they are all already scheming on how to get a piece of the pie.
I don't see a future where China, or at least some Russian firm, won't be rebuilding Gaza.
NATO/the west can't even build infrastructure for themselves.
He isn't new, sadly. Part of why he's in the UAE and not Palestine is because Fatah/Abbas officially accused him of assassinating Arafat using polonium (traces of which were found on his belongings). Dahlan is probably one of the few Palestinian that Fatah and Hamas hate equally. Even Erdogan has stated publicly that this guy is an Israeli spy.
Yeah, they're in too deep. What the fuck is this bitch going to govern? Sand and rubble?
It's waaaaaaay too late for this option. Way too late.