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Bulletins and News Discussion from April 28th to May 4th, 2025 - Competent Fascism? - COTW: El Salvador

Image is from the Britannica article on CECOT, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center in English.

This megathread's topic is inspired by our lovely news regular, @Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net, who talks often about the conditions inside El Salvador and gives nuanced and informative takes.

As the Trump administration continues to make foreign policy blunders that would make even the staunchest anti-imperialist accelerationist blush - and we are barely three months in! - it's interesting to compare and contrast his policies of incompetent imperialist and domestic management to the dictators in other countries.

Bukele is somewhat unique among fascists, in that he seems to not hide - and seems to even admit to - his evil, self-describing as the world's "coolest dictator". El Salvador has no particular shortage of prominent fascists in their history, but one major example is Maximiliano Martínez, who led the country over much of the 1930s and the early 1940s. He was responsible the deaths of many thousands of communists and indigneous people, and yet joined World War 2 on the side of the Allies and against the Nazis.

The comparisons between Martínez and Bukele - and, indeed, between Bukele and Trump - in terms of their impact on minority groups are slowly growing as world attention is being drawn to the country. The recent meeting between Bukele and Trump has shifted a spotlight onto El Salvador's crime policy; the internal conditions of El Salvador's prisons are genuinely monstrous. One gets a similar feeling as when reading descriptions of the conditions of Holocaust victims in German concentration camps. Trump has made statements to the effect that he want a similar crime crackdown inside the United States, and I certainly believe that he wants this (ICE is already just kidnapping people off the streets into vans), but his administration has been so chaotic and mismanaged that it's difficult to determine whether this will be an interest he rapidly drops in favor of some other hair-brained scheme.

Last week's thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

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175 comments

  • On the loss of an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft and a tow truck/tractor during an evasive turn by the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier during an Ansarallah/Houthi attack (as confirmed by US sources), here's the statement from the Yemeni Armed Forces on the attack (this statement was released before the news of the loss of the F-18).

    This is the first time that an Anti Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) has been fired at US Navy warships in over 20 days from what I recall (there was one launch at a supply ship, not a warship, during this time with a ballistic missile). This, along with the statement about "fleeing north" afterwards, suggests that the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier tried to get closer to Yemen, including coming within ASBM range. During this, it came under attack, including by ASBMs and evidently there was some big error that led to the F-18 going overboard while evading this attack.

    I don't think that the Harry Truman will try get closer to Yemen again anytime soon, and will continue to stay between Jeddah and Yanbu, between 700km-1000km away from Yemen. ASBMs, by all evidence of the current US Navy campaign, seem to be a "game changer" weapon in area denial capabilities. Even without landing a single hit so far, these weapons have been very effective in area denial against US Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs). While their not magic wands that erase CSGs, they can keep them further away (area denial). Ansarallah/the Houthis were the first ever military force to use ASBMs in warfare, and have been highly innovative with these locally manufactured, Iranian designed, weapons. The CSGs don't dare to come within 700km of Yemen (Zulfiqar Basir ASBM range). This is the first time they've tried to in three weeks, and it resulted in a fighter jet going overboard during evasive maneuvers. It's no wonder that the US Army wants ASBMs, and other longer range ballistic missiles, now.

    Overall this was a very expensive "test" by the US Navy in my opinion, they wanted to see if Yemeni ASBM capability remained intact after over 40 days of airstrikes, reduced amount of Yemeni missile attacks, and over 20 days without without an ASBM being fired, so they sailed closer to Yemen to find out. It turns out that yes, Yemeni ASBM capability was (and is) still very much intact, and an F-18 and tow truck have been lost as a result of evading a Yemeni attack.

  • WSJ: The Russian Military Moves That Have Europe on Edge

    In 2021, before the invasion, Russia made about 40 of its main battle tanks, the T-90M, according to Western intelligence estimates. Now it is producing nearly 300 a year. A senior Finnish military official said almost none are being sent to the front line in Ukraine, but are staying on Russian soil for later use.

    Russia is tailoring its rearmament plans to meet the needs of the new troops to be stationed along its NATO border. Those units will get much of the new equipment. Most of what is being sent to the front line in Ukraine is old and refurbished Soviet-era arms.

    The U.S. estimates that around 30,000 Russians are signing up each month, up from about 25,000 last summer. Some Eastern European intelligence officials say the ranks are now swelling by some 40,000 soldiers a month.

    The article is written to push the narrative that Russia is inexplicably preparing to invade NATO, just because they can. Of course, Russia does need to remain prepared for war with NATO in the event of some serious provocation (say, something involving Kaliningrad).

    That said, I think this information also fits my theory that Russia is basically preparing an entire separate, fresh, and modernized army to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, once the age of attrition is over.

    I do wonder if we'll see many more vehicles at the Victory Day parade this year.

    • Most of what is being sent to the front line in Ukraine is old and refurbished Soviet-era arms.

      Yeah even the "new production" T-80s mostly use Soviet era hulls from stockpiles. The thing is though, those stockpiles are finally drying up. And 300 completely new production T-90s a year is not enough to meet the current rate of attrition. If they are being saved for a second force that will come in once the attrition phase is done, I don't know if the attrition phase will finish quick enough for that. If the US withdraws support, that would change things though. Ukraine without US support, military aid and intelligence sharing is completely different to Ukraine with all that.

      • The only stockpiles we know about are the open-air ones. Tanks being moved out of those stockpiles doesn't necessarily mean they have been destroyed.

        And, per the article, the attrition rate of T-90's is basically zero right now, since they aren't being sent to the frontline.

  • Understanding indigeneity in Malaysia

    Indigenous politics in Malaysia may exhibit certain characteristics common to other places but what sets it apart is the nature of it's colonization, where instead of a large settler population migration, a negotiation was had between the pre-existing feudal system and the oncoming colonial architects of so-called colonial capitalism. This negotiation prevented large-scale settler movements but paved the way for the import of large numbers of labourers from other parts of the British Empire, particularly that of India and China. Furthermore, this slow march was also characterized by the prevention and restriction of intra-"native" trading, which necessitated the rise of middlemen consisting of neighbouring "non-natives", mostly comprador classes.

    I have alluded before that indigenous politics may be more equivalent to "nativism" found in the US, but even that does not capture the full story.

    According to Ethnologue, Malaysia with a population of only 33million, have 111 indigenous languages, with 21 non-indigenous, and 32 "unestablished" but assumed to still have prominence. This does not include the well-known Englsih creole of "Manglish", the Malaysian "Singlish" equivalent. Malaysian Malay is the standard and official language of both state (rumi, latin alphabet) and religion (particularly in Jawi, arabic based alphabet), while English has semi-official status. One fun fact is that Malaysia is the only country outside of China to have a curriculum up to high school based fully in Chinese.

    I bring this up to set the tone in understanding the diversity of both thought and practice of indigeneity and racialism in the country.

  • Prior to the WFP's announcement of suspending services in Gaza due to all of their food having been depleted, the amounts were rationed to a quarter of what was originally intended and even that provided supplies for only a million people. There are also over 3,000 aid trucks sitting outside Rafah, with tens of millions of kilograms of food already rotting. This was one of many points brought up during the "Open Rafah Now" demonstrations outside the Egyptian embassy in Pretoria earlier today.

    A full video that was livestreamed by Salaamedia will be posted for archival/preservation purposes on TankieTube later (assuming YouTube doesn't vaporize the saved broadcast before I get home from work). Link will be provided here once uploaded.

    We the people of Johannesburg do not merely just stand with or support Hamas; We are Hamas

    Death to ameriKKKa, Death to isnotreal

  • Bukele enjoys popular support because the alternative to his massive anti gang measures is having the highest intentional murder rate in the world. The US mass deported MS13 and other Salvadoran gangs in the late 80s / early 90s after the Salvadoran civil war and overwhelmed the newly formed government. The gang rule resembled the Spanish feudal order in many ways and a lot of people couldn't leave their place of birth. Bukele ended that system and re-established state rule over El Salvador.

    His methods and motivations are extremely questionable. The campaign itself included attempts to ease the human rights concerns of some critics through claims of rehabilitation for low level gang members. I haven't been able to substantiate this claim though. Not to mention the suspicious ties to Israel for military equipment, often obscured by Bukele's Palestinian heritage.

    His origins in the deeply corrupt FMLN (a Marxist nationalist organization named after one of the leaders of a mass communist indigenous uprising in the early 1900s) made understanding his moves difficult. Founding Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) probably should have been a wake up call though. Its not like he started a new workers party or people party. The new ideas were basically bitcoin and arrest every gang member. Though he has invested significantly in infrastructure, medical facilities, and schools, but I don't know what demographics those facilities are meant to / practically serve.

    Growing up, my understanding of communism was shaped by the communist resistance in the civil war. Holding out for the people against US funded death squads. Even making it as far as forming a legitimate government, but nothing really changed after that until Bukele took power. The FMLN enjoyed massive popular support for a long time and mostly used it to take bribes and help the gangs entrench themselves.

    Lmk if there's any points to the history that I'm getting wrong. Happy to make corrections. I'm 2nd generation Salvadoran, this is based on following the news, some study, and chisme from my aunts and uncles who historically supported the communists, but have been sorely disappointed by FMLN.

  • Russian Defense Ministry showed footage of combat training of DPRK soldiers who participated in the liberation of the Kursk region. Russia continues its special military operation, but Moscow is ready to begin negotiations with Kiev without preconditions.

    The press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists about this. Russia, if necessary, can provide military assistance to the DPRK in accordance with the agreement — Peskov

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175 comments