Bulletins and News Discussion from May 6th to May 12th, 2024 - The Nagorno-Karabakh Nosedive - COTW: Armenia
Image is of Stepanakert, essentially the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. It is now a ghost city, and Azerbaijan has recently torn down the parliament building and various other important places. Sourced from this article.
A quick look at Armenia's geographical position reveals the folly of trying to create some kind of Western outpost. With a hostile Azerbaijan to their east, a very unfriendly (albeit NATO member) Turkiye to their west, an ascendant Iran to their south, and Russia not far from the action, there is little hope of doing much more than causing a little chaos in the hopes it'll momentarily distract Russia while it makes inroads most everywhere else on the planet. The political situation appears miserable for Pashinyan, but there isn't really a popular alternative to take the reins. A truly cursed situation.
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 Armenia! 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.
Sanctions imposed last year on four Malaysia-based companies accused of helping Iran’s production of drones have been impactful, a top US Treasury official said today.
Brian Nelson, the department’s under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, also said that the sanctions were still in place.
He said they were aimed at “encouraging behaviour change”, and that once the department saw such change, the companies involved would be struck off the list.
Nelson said sanctions would see money in US accounts or accounts with a US correspondent blocked or frozen, thereby preventing these companies from accessing funds.
“And it’s very disruptive to your ability to do business that is cross-border because it is very, very difficult to avoid a touch point with the US financial system,” he said in an interview with several media outlets.
Nelson said that sanctions were a powerful tool, and that the department had found them effective in the context of disrupting activities meant to drive profit or provide capital.
MODS!!!!? DISRUPTING THE FREE MARKET?? MARKET DISTORTING PRACTICE??? MOOOODS!!
“From that perspective, we think, of course, that they are impactful.
“But I think the more impactful thing at the end of the day is the partnership with jurisdictions and the capacity to make anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism ‘regimes’ more resilient.”
…Washington recently imposed further sanctions targeting Iran, including over Iranian drones used by Russia in the war in Ukraine, as the US seeks to increase pressure on Tehran after its attack on Israel.
Nelson is in Malaysia to advance the Treasury’s work in countering terrorist financing and revenue generation for Iran and its proxies.
but Malaysia does not recognise Hamas or Iran as terrorist organizations?
It’s literally the
meme
Reuters previously reported that there had been an uptick in money moving to Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, through the Malaysian financial system.
Malaysian Islamic Finance helping the mujahideen fight against their oppressors. Mashallah.
He is also in the country to discuss ways to disrupt Russia’s ability to sustain its war in Ukraine.
Malaysia has conveyed to the US that Kuala Lumpur does not recognize sanctions imposed by individual nations, a minister said Thursday.
The US talking about sanctions:
“I emphasized that we will only recognize sanctions if they are imposed by the United Nations Security Council,” the Southeast Asian nation’s Interior Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
“The delegation from the US respected our stance,” said the minister.
Saifuddin added that Kuala Lumpur was committed to combating terrorism financing with a “clear strategic plan in place to tackle illicit funding and money laundering.”
However, Saifuddin said Malaysia’s policies and strategies “comply with international standards.”
Washington also said Iran's capacity to move its oil was due to service providers based in Malaysia.
The minister, however, said his meeting with Nelson was “productive” and that Malaysia was “always open to engaging with the US.”
Productive = nothing happened
“always open to engaging” or Amerika will conduct financial warfare to crash the economy again
Compare this to how Chinese and Malaysian officials speak to eachother
Xinhua - Strength of China-Malaysia ties built on common values: Malaysian official
"In partnership with China, Malaysia is leading the way in promoting renewable energy. Both countries are heavily investing in clean technologies including solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Our joint efforts aim to lead the global transition to sustainable energy," he said.
"Our relations have grown from strength to strength over these past 50 years in not just covering diplomatic and political ties but also business partnerships, tourism, education and cultural ties and exchanges," he said.
…For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing said the comprehensive and practical cooperation is the essential driving force upgrading China-Malaysia relations in all fields.
"China is now focusing on developing new quality productive forces which will provide Malaysia more cooperation opportunities in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, digital economy, green development, new energy vehicles and other newly emerging industries. Fruits from the above cooperation will surely bring benefits to both peoples in a profound way," he said.
I wonder which country is a 5000 year old literary civilization and which one is a deformed culture-less genocidal state.