Bulletins and News Discussion from February 12th to February 18th, 2024 - The Prodigal Failson - COTW: Brazil
Image is of Brazilian chuds storming the National Congress building in opposition to Lula winning the election, on January 8th, 2023, in their remarkably even shittier version of the January 6th events in America.
Bolsonaro, who is in the tragic category of pro-US South American leaders who are so awful and uncharismatic that even they can't get the US to help them overthrow a democratically elected left-ish government, has recently been facing that most elusive of things in this current world order: consequences for his actions. Bolsonaro and his friends have been under investigation by the police, and his passport has now been seized, meaning he is unable to leave the country. Alongside the man himself, the leader of the Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, has been caught up in searches and investigations. Brazilian Army Colonel Bernardo Correa Neto, a former aide to Bolsonaro, was very recently arrested upon his return to Brazil from the US, as well as another colonel.
Lol, they are really fucked. Iirc, this is a municipal election year in Brazil, Bolsonaro can't campaign publicly, he can't promote his candidates. The leader of his party is currently in prison. And even if he is released from prison, they are forbidden to communicate with each other. The high-ranking members of the Liberal Party are pretty much fucked because they can't communicate with each other and getting support from Bolsonaro could be very bad, as left-wing candidates will exploit the fact that Bolsonaro will probably be imprisoned for planning a coup.
The FBI seems to have concluded its investigation into Bolsonaro's money laundering scheme in the US and handed over its findings to the Brazilian Federal Police, I don't think Bolsonaro can even go to the US anymore, or any other country. And it could get even funnier, there is a very small chance of the Liberal Party being banned and all its seats in congress and the senate being transferred to other politicians, many of whom, even if they are conservative, will be much more favorable to Lula's social and economic reforms, as it has been proven that Bolsonaro used the party to finance the coup.
The Country of the Week is Brazil! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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.
The leader of the “National Militia” of the “Azov” movement swore his comrades to the final “clash of civilizations” on August 1, 2020 at the edge of a forest near Kiev. “The age of absolute darkness lies before us,” predicted Igor “Tcherkas” Mikhailenko and demanded that the hundreds of mostly masked fighters of his “vigilante group” present would make sacrifices for the idea of a “Greater Ukraine.” He gave a new battle cry: "Aut Caesar, aut nihil!" (all or nothing). By torchlight and with Nazi pomp, which was based on the war aesthetics of ancient Rome, the “Centuria” organization was born – and the “National Militia” was history. Since 2017, they had been practicing brutal vigilante justice in Ukrainian cities and, for example, tyrannizing the LGBTQ scene. “Centuria” has enjoyed the admiration of the small neo-Nazi party “Der III. Weg(The third way)” in this country for years.
The organization (not to be confused with the military order of the same name and also associated with "Azov", which already existed before 2020) now has an offshoot in Germany: On August 24, 2023, immigrant Ukrainian fascists founded an initiative group in Magdeburg: "Although the Ukrainian youth are not in their homeland, they are starting to unite,” they announced on social media. The "enemies" of their country, whom they want to cause a "hellish storm" against, must understand that "Ukrainian emigrants" are not prepared to "forget their national identity for a few hundred euros."
Photos and videos show a nationalist rally on the Old Market in Magdeburg on the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine's independence - as usual unmolested by Antifa and critical media reporting. According to its own information, the march was organized by “Centuria”. The participants posed with a flag of the Bandera wing of the fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The “German-Ukrainian Society of Saxony-Anhalt” is also said to have been involved. Most recently, the group organized a solidarity rally for the “Defenders of Azovstal” in front of the Red City Hall in Berlin on January 27th, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Since its founding, “Centuria Magdeburg” has also been inviting people to go on hikes together in the Harz Mountains. For example, with the nationalist scout association “Plast”, which has been based in Germany since 1951 and had already set up its first tent camp in Mittenwald in 1947. According to its own information, “Centuria Magdeburg” has members in a total of six cities and is networked with Ukrainian organizations throughout Germany. The group is currently raising funds for its parent organization's combat unit, which has been integrated into the third "Azov" assault brigade of the Ukrainian army under the command of Nazi leader Andriy Biletsky since 2022, and is participating in "information warfare." Not only against Russia, but also against minorities hated by the fascists: the "German Caliphate", Palestinians and other migrants from predominantly Muslim regions, as well as "black rapists" who are allegedly protected by the police, and "pedophiles", as the group calls homosexuals.
“We are creating a new generation of heroes!” they promise. True to its leader Mikhailenko - who wants to "destroy everything anti-Ukrainian" and was head of the Nazi organization "Patriot of Ukraine" in the Kharkiv region and commander of the "Azov" regiment of the National Guard from 2014 to 2016 - the group relies on violence: "Free People have weapons,” it says on her Telegram channel. The German traffic light government supplies these in abundance to the Ukrainian armed forces and thus also to the fascist and other ultra-right units belonging to them. It can therefore be assumed that “Centuria” will be able to expand its structures in Germany unhindered by the local security authorities.