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.
Translation: The decision to deliver obsolete equipment to Washington, announced in January by President Daniel Noboa, provoked Moscow's objections, since such a supply would violate contractual obligations.
Ecuador has reversed its decision to supply Russian weaponry to the United States, reports RIA Novosti. In January, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced that his country planned to exchange obsolete equipment, "Ukrainian and Russian scrap, for $200 million worth of modern equipment" with the U.S. by the end of January.
For her part, the Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, Gabriela Sommerfeld, assured that "there is nothing new" in Ecuador's decision, since "it does not violate any regulations" and "it is not illegal". According to the Foreign Minister, "this equipment is not operational", and her country "can cancel it, sell it, give it away or exchange it".
Russia stated its position to Ecuador on the transfer of military equipment to the United States. "In case of transferring military property to a third party, Ecuador will violate its international obligations, and this may have negative consequences for our future bilateral interaction," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
According to Zakharova, the provisions of the contracts specify that the equipment should not be transferred to third parties without the consent of the Russian side. "All this has been raised with the Ecuadorian side invoking the clauses of the relevant treaties and agreements," she said, referring to the possible consequences for Quito. "There is no ambiguity in our position," he concluded.
Meanwhile, U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Kevin Sullivan suggested this month in an interview that such Russian equipment could be sent to Ukraine.
Russia stated its position to Ecuador on the transfer of military equipment to the United States. "In case of transferring military property to a third party, Ecuador will violate its international obligations, and this may have negative consequences for our future bilateral interaction," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Dear Washington lanyard fuckwits: This is what your predecessors called "soft power", before you got high on your own propaganda supply.
U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Kevin Sullivan suggested this month in an interview that such Russian equipment could be sent to Ukraine.
I think it's because they Ukrainian military already know how to use this weapons, helicopters and apcs since they are the same as the Soviet era equipment. Instead of getting an American equipment that they will have to learn about it and most of the time is of lower quality than the old Soviet ones.
No. The US runs on a live model with no right to repair. You buy our jets and guns for decades and whoops! The wing fell off? Well, you can call our repairman and fix it for $500,000 and perhaps some more things break… or you can just buy our super duper new advanced F-900 jet.