Bulletins and News Discussion from December 4th to December 10th, 2023 - The Legacy of Kissinger - COTW: Laos
Bulletins and News Discussion from December 4th to December 10th, 2023 - The Legacy of Kissinger - COTW: Laos
Due to American cluster bombing campaigns advised by Kissinger during the Vietnam War to damage supply lines, over 2 million tonnes of ordinance were dropped on Laos over about a decade, averaging a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes. Laos is thus the most bombed country on the planet up to this point. 80 million bombs failed to explode - the cleanup operation is expected to take centuries, and 25,000 people have been killed and injured by bombs in the last 50 years. About 50 people are killed or injured every year to this day.
After the United States withdrew from Laos, the Pathet Lao took power and abolished the monarchy. Kaysone Phomvihane became a dominant figure in Laotian politics, keeping the course on Marxism-Leninism and implementing the first Five Year Plan in 1981. The second Five Year Plan in 1986 was modelled on Lenin's NEP, and this doubled rice production and significantly increased sugar production. After the fall of the USSR, Laos allowed a small capitalist class to exist, with similar control over them as in China. Laos maintains a 48-hour work week with paid sick leave, vacation time, and maternity leave, and workers are well-represented in trade unions. They faired relatively well during coronavirus from a social standpoint due to quick and efficient action to lock down the country, experiencing ~750 deaths out of a population of over 7 million.
There is hope even after utter destruction by genocidal oppressors.
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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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Your Wednesday Briefing
The UK and Rwanda have signed an agreement to relaunch the UK asylum seeker policy, stating that this new one would address the issues raised by the UK Supreme Court last month when it struck it down.
Albanian opposition MPs - that is, those in the anti-socialist party - could be sentenced to five years in prison if they keep starting fires in parliament. Previously, conservative MPs have set off flares and set fire to piles of paper, and almost set fire to a stack of chairs piled in the center of the room.
The largest amount of snowfall in 145 years dropped in Moscow on December 3rd, with 10.7 mm in 12 hours - one third of the usual monthly precipitation in 24 hours. Also, a draft law has been submitted in Russia to ban the ability of parents to give names of the opposite sex to their babies.
The world's first fourth-generation nuclear power plant has gone into operation in east China's Shandong Province, with a 200 MW capacity and 93% of its equipment being sourced from within China. On a related note, the IAEA predicts that about a dozen new countries are expected to start producing electricity from nuclear power within the next few years - including Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. And John Kerry has announced a nuclear fusion engagement plan with 35 nations, focussing on supply chains and regulation.
New Mexico is investing $500 million into purchasing water from treated oilfield wastewater, and brackish saltwater from aquifers, as desperation for water in the region increases.
Canada is preparing to give $15.3 billion in new subsidies to fossil fuel corporations in the form of tax credits for carbon capture and storage, of which the captured carbon is mainly used to pressurize oil fields to produce even more oil.
Ex-President of Peru, 85-year-old Fujimori, is being released from prison on health grounds. He was in prison for human rights violations, forced sterilizations of hundreds of thousands of people, and several massacres against left-wing forces like the Shining Path.
Maduro has announced that he is granting oil-drilling licenses in the Esequibo despite not actually controlling it, as well as assigning mining, forestry, and electric projects.
Russia continuing crusade on being extraordinarily shit with lgbt.
Also wtf is there to regulate with fusion (i wont do captchas
)Peru being a rules-based democracy is something to behold
Also wtf is there to regulate with fusion (i wont do captchas)
This is the entire article so you were right not to do any captchas lmao
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry announced a nuclear fusion engagement plan during the ongoing COP28 UN climate change conference, which includes 35 nations and focuses on supply chain and regulation, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
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