Bulletins and News Discussion from February 3rd to February 9th, 2025 - Fuhrer Failsons

Assalamu Aleykum to the good people of Hexbearistan. Finally back from my Iraq trip with my wife and the kid. Absolute top tier travel destination, would recommend for sure if you're thinking about doing a lil Middle East trip one day. Here are some little notes on the trip:

• Flew from my city to Istanbul, spent a few miserable hours in Istanbul's expensive ass airport, then flew to Baghdad. My kid was surprisingly chill during almost the whole trip, no extended periods of crying or anything. The plane from Istanbul to Baghdad was filled with non-Arab foreigners, which was quite surprising honestly. Lots of Chinese people for some reason, which usually leads to new schools and ports spawning in any country that the Chinese visit.
• Baghdad Airport is functional but quite rundown. I went in with my Lebanese passport which technically needs a paid visa on arrival, but the guy on the counter waived the fee for me and just said welcome. My wife's uncle was waiting for us outside and we were on the highways of Baghdad after a few kisses and hugs. The first few kilometers must be a shock for every new visitor to Baghdad, as it is filled with posters of Qassem Soleimani, Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah. Iraq is still a very anti-imperialist country, you will finds flags of Yemen, Palestine and Lebanon in every corner. I thought it was super cool that one could find posters of the Houthis on billboards and shops selling Hezbollah memorabilia.
• Baghdad as a city has recovered well from the American invasion and occupation. New roads and bridges spawning everywhere, barely any armed military presence, new and shiny malls and restaurants everywhere, massive international schools and it's just alive in a way that only Beirut can reach. The biggest problem is the traffic congestion, which the new Baghdad Metro project hopefully solves in a few years. The trash situation is also annoying, Baghdad is a quite dirty city, the people are as responsible as the government there honestly.
• The food was fucking amazing, but I've gained a few extra kilos from all the fatty foods. Some of the new restaurants are insanely good, and white people will never understand the appeal of a nice proper cafe with hot tea, diabetes-inducing sweets and hookah. Internet was decent, but this website barely loaded without a VPN for some reason. I paid around $10 for a week of unlimited 4G data.
• Made a quick one-day trip to Erbil, capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan. Took a smooth four hour drive there and crossing the inofficial "border" was pretty straightforward. Very beautiful city with great markets and more good food. Lots of new exciting construction projects in Erbil and it's cleaner than Baghdad, but same traffic issues. It's a good intro city for someone that wants an authentic Middle Eastern city, but not too "complicated", nor too artificial like the Gulf cities.
• Finished the trip with a Shia Islam religious pilgrimage megatour with my wife's family. We started in Baghdad and visited the Shrine of Imam Musa bin Jafar Al Kazim, then we drove around two hours to Karbala and visited the Shrine of Imam Hussain and Imam Abbas, then another hour to Najaf and visited the shrine of the greatest Muslim to ever live, Imam Ali bin Abu Talib. Was a great trip even if I'm not really the strongest believer out there. The shrines were magnificent, definitely something I'd recommend to everyone here.
• Overall summary is that Iraq is worth visiting, especially if you want to give your tourist dollars to a country that 100% doesn't use them to murder Palestinians or buy American senators. It will be a culture shock for sure, but Baghdad is a nice and historic city, with the added bonus of having top tier food. I'll upload some pics if I figure out how to do it in a non-doxxing manner.

It's so cool how the state has so successfully created a mechanism to shield the rich from consequences that they managed to create an entire class of failsons who believe they'd do even better without that mechanism.

Lmao America boycotting the G20. Basically giving hegemony to China on a platter

I will NOT attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote “solidarity, equality, & sustainability.” In other words: DEI and climate change.

My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.

https://xcancel.com/SecRubio/status/1887288685517021298#m

https://apnews.com/article/trump-netanyahu-washington-ceasefire-1c8deec4dd46177e08e07d669d595ed3

Note the number of Gazans proposed to be ethnically cleansed - 1.8 M. The 2023 population of Gaza was 2.3 M give or take. That is a lot of death. Thanks Biden.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says that the freezing of USAID funds has plunged entire NGOs, media outlets and journalism (🤣) around the world into chaos. They readily pronounce that much of the world's “journalism” is paid for by Washington's dollars.

“In Ukraine, 9 out of 10 media outlets rely on USAID funding” USAID programs funds US interest media in more than 30 countries The agency funds at least 6,200 journalists, 707 “news outlets” and 279 media-sector “civil society organizations”. Any sovereign country has already prohibited this.

The best part is that RSF's director came out, pearls clutched, to say that the foreign aid industry IS in fact very much in line with U.S. interests.

• Camila Kawsachuan News

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Byg8VZdKK88 "Trump can't be a fascist because he's simply working within our system of government" is quite a take from Jon Stewart and his writers.

It’s so fucking funny that the cia is being declawed and yet trump is posturing to project American imperialism simultaneously like they are so fucking stupid and lost. It’s like they have the instincts of the Israeli right but imagine if the Israeli right decided the mossad was bad but for incoherent reasons and fucked it over leading to them fucking themselves over

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei: 'Negotiations with the United States are useless, and will not benefit the country in any way' In his speech today, the Supreme Leader once again emphasized that negotiating with the U.S. is not of any benefit to the Iranian nation:

"For some time now, you have been hearing, in newspapers, in cyberspace, and in the words of various people, that there is discussion about negotiations with America. They mention the word 'negotiation', saying, 'Sir, negotiation is a good thing,' as if someone is opposed to the goodness of negotiation. Today, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the busiest foreign ministries globally. That is its job, after all. It negotiates with countries around the world — Eastern, Western, all kinds — it travels back and forth, speaks, and signs agreements."

"The exception that exists is America. Of course, I do not mention the Zionist regime because it is not a real country. The Zionist regime is a gang of criminals who came and occupied a land and are committing crimes. That is not a subject of discussion. The exception is America. Why is it an exception? What is the reason? Negotiating with America has no effect on solving the country's problems. We must understand this. They should not make it seem as if sitting at the table with that government will solve this or that problem. No, not at all."

"No problem is solved through negotiations with America. The reason? Experience. In the 2010's, we sat down and negotiated with America for about two years. A treaty was formed with them (JCPOA). Our government sat down and negotiated. They went, came, sat, stood, negotiated, talked, laughed, shook hands, became friends — they did everything. A treaty was formed. In this treaty, the Iranian side was very generous. It gave many concessions to the other side. But the Americans did not implement the treaty."

"The very person who is now in office [Trump] tore up this treaty. He said, 'I will tear it up,' and he did. Even before he came, those with whom this treaty was signed did not implement it. The treaty was meant to lift U.S. sanctions. The U.S. sanctions were not lifted at all. We should learn from this experience. We gave concessions, we negotiated, we compromised, but we did not achieve any result. That is what happened. Even this treaty, with all the concessions we gave, was still undermined, violated, and torn apart by the other side."

"Negotiating with such a government should not be done. Negotiation with them is neither wise, nor intelligent, nor honorable. We must solve our problems internally, not relying on outside factors. As for the Americans, they comment on us, they talk, they express their opinions, they issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they carry out their threat, we will carry out our threat as well. If they violate the security of our nation, we will undoubtedly violate their security as well. This is our duty.'"

CIA sends ‘buyout’ offers to entire workforce

The Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday became the first major national security agency to offer so-called buyouts to its entire workforce, a CIA spokesperson and two other sources familiar with the offer said, part of President Donald Trump’s broad effort to shrink the federal government and shape it to his agenda.

Trump and his allies have claimed at different points that intelligence officers at the CIA have been part of a “deep state” determined to undermine him, and some critics have described the deferred resignation program as a purge – something Trump officials have denied. Some national security officials in Trump’s orbit believe that the CIA in recent years has become too heavily weighted towards analysis at the expense of clandestinely collecting intelligence and carrying out covert operations – functions of the agency’s much smaller Directorate of Operations. Ratcliffe during his confirmation hearing vowed to reinvest in both. “To the brave CIA officers listening all around the world, if all of this sounds like what you signed up for, then buckle up and get ready to make a difference,” he said in his opening statement. “If it doesn’t, then it’s time to find a new line of work.”

Every day a frightening new development of fascism, but also every day, more of the empire apparatus getting hollowed out. I wonder where the critical point is for this to collapse and reform into a new state.

yoav gallant admits that israel used the hannibal directive on oct 7. we all knew this here but i was surprised that he was willing to say it https://thecradle.co/articles-id/28788

What we know about China’s retaliatory measures against the US

As we reported earlier, China’s Finance Ministry has slapped tariffs on certain American items in retaliation for the Trump administration’s 10 percent tariff on all Chinese goods entering the US.

Here are more details on China’s tit for tat levies:

• Starting on February 10, China will impose levies of 15 percent for US coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos.

• China’s Commerce Ministry and its Customs Administration said the country is also imposing export controls on tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium-related items to “safeguard national security interests”.

• China’s anti-monopoly regulator has also announced it is launching an investigation into Google, without offering details. Google products, including its search engine, are blocked in China, but it works with local partners, including advertisers, in the country.

WhatsApp hacked by Israeli spyware firm - and you don't even need to click a link. Just receiving the message leaves you vulnerable.

Israel targeted around 100 journalists in the attack, according to Meta.

So yeah, if you have WhatsApp, it's time to not have WhatsApp.

shitlib redditors being dumbfounded part 4630135:

Former gov lawyer here:

1. it is illegal. Like not even close. My whole job is making nuanced "It depends" statements, but this isn't that. The last three weeks is mind melting.

2. it doesn't matter. Like at all. By the time a judge gets a case number, they've moved on to the next atrocity. They might not even be in office by the time any substantive briefs hit their desk. Scotus is complicit and will give them 80% and tut at the other 20 in the name of fairness.

The system relies on good faith, but that time has passed. We're fornly into the Real Politik "the strong do what they will" territory.

The worst part is that voters asked for this and they're happy with the dysfunction.

We got the government we deserve.

you stupid idiot, it was always realpolitik! only D-flavoured liberals are terrible at it except when they are supporting genocide, sending weapons to azov-nazis, bailing out wall street, or clamping down progressive movements

"Stop Playing Nice,' Says AOC as Senate Dems Help Approve Yet Another Trump Nominee"

"There has to be a political price to pay" for Elon Musk's takeover of federal agencies, said the congresswoman.

A political price.

I am starting to wonder if the last 24 hours is actually good for Palestinian liberation. Trump's proposal for Gaza has been viewed in such negative terms by EVERYONE across the globe, since I don't think he will be able to implement it, I think it only further isolates Israel and makes them even more of a pariah.

Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new form of bird flu that is distinct from the version that has been spreading through herds over the last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday.

The finding indicates that the virus, known as H5N1, has spilled from birds into cows at least twice — leading to these two sets of infections — and that it could continue to do so. It also suggests that the virus may pose a persistent risk to cows and to the people who work closely with them.

Before last year, scientists did not know that cows were susceptible to this type of influenza.

“This is not what anyone wanted to see,” said Louise Moncla, an evolutionary biologist who studies avian influenza at the University of Pennsylvania. “We need to now consider the possibility that cows are more broadly susceptible to these viruses than we initially thought.”

And Suddenly , there is silence.

• no Pictures of Protestors in Russias Periphery kissing in front of the Police .
• no Nafo Trolls
• No concerned Tik Tokers "we need to talk about X Country, okay: so the Leader is like super corrupt and payed by russia , and people! are! sick! of! it!.. "
• No Argument on Hexbear if the Protest in Slowanigorgiazyprus that they heard about from Reddit , might be legit or not..( No ,we didnt learn , dont you worry , Slowanigorgiazyprus - protest is just not on reddit anymore)

Trump going around and demanding nations pay a tribute like a mongolian khanate

I don't want to get all "muh constitution" but if the president can just unilaterally decide to eliminate federal departments there really isn't a constitution at that point is there? Like that's so far out of bounds of what's legal in any way. Looks like it's just going to happen?

I also don't understand any of the reporting or statements regarding being denied access to the buildings either. Every report I have read (and I have gone intentionally searching for this) has said that they were told no. It does not specify who told them no, the democrats are not specifying who is telling them no. The closest I have been able to find is an article The Hill saying the dems were stopped by "security forces". WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE? Is anyone going to ask who the fuck they are working for or under whose authority? What answer could they possibly give you that would be acceptable to pack up and leave?

If I drop you off at a gas station and 20 seconds later you came back and said "they said no." I would be like "who said no? What did they say? And you just keep repeating "they said no" I would get actually pissed at you! Yet that's what were getting for some reason?

There was this story in the guardian

• “They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former Noaa official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.”

What is even going on here?!?! If you walked into where I work and were like "hey were taking over?" I would be like "who the fuck are you? what the hell is going on?". Even if I don't give a shit about my job I'm not just going to leave my post because some goofball told me to. Could I actually just walk into any federal building and say I'm with doge and they just let me in? Because that's legitimately what it feels like here!

So we have people we know nothing about, closing down federal office buildings, locking everyone out and nobody cares who is doing that? Do they have names? Are they security for the agency? Who gave them the orders? Are they just random people? I feel like these are kind of important questions that are being completely glossed over!

Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, said that cocaine is no worse than whiskey, “it's just illegal”. Petro also said that the illegality of Cocaine only exists because it is “a product of Latin America” and that US drugs, such as fentanyl, are not subject to the same ban.

• Telegram

Army was ordered to kill Israelis during Al-Aqsa flood confirmed by the war criminal himself

Half a billion dollars in USAID funding was allocated for coup efforts in Venezuela in 2017-2019, much of which filled the pockets of the Guaido opposition and other fraudsters, including NGOs. Through money laundering operations like NGO, Venezuelan opposition figures working with Guaido have been able to purchase high-end condominiums in Madrid, Miami and Bogotá, in cooperation with Colombian paramilitaries.

• Kawsachuan News

trump has suggested a US occupation of Gaza

Gotta give Trump some credit now, his dumbass instincts seem to have accidentally stopped any chance for Saudi-Israel normalisation. Official Saudi media sources are absolutely livid after the latest comments by Trump and Satanyahu and are weirdly enough using resistance-like lingo in describing the Israeli state, which I haven't seen in a more than a decade now. It would be so funny if Trump manages to unite the Arab position just by being an imbecile like always.

Nathan Tankus’s latest piece: Day Five of the Trump-Musk Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025: Not “Read Only” access anymore

… a top DOGE employee, 25 year old former SpaceX employee Marko Elez, has not only read but write access to BFS servers

…

Additionally, I can exclusively report that while there was initial hesitation from “IT Leadership” to give them access, they relented. However, they still believed this was extremely risky with one member of leadership saying “I’ve never done anything like this before”, according to a source familiar with the situation. A current IT employee of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service told me “This level of unchecked access is critically dangerous to the economy and the government”. When I replied “this is terrifying” to being informed that they have “write access” this source replied “Yeah it's not good. Read privileges on its own still would have left room for catastrophe, but read and write is apocalyptic.”

It is as of yet unclear whether anyone on the Payment Application Modernization (PAM) system or the “Secured Payment System” (SPS) have been put on “paid administrative leave”, coerced into resigning or quit in protest. All that is known is that Marko can “access and query” SPS and that there was someone who gave Marko a “tour” of the facilities. We do not know where they are in operationalizing any control. One senior IT source can see Mark retrieving “close to a thousand rows of data” but they can’t see the content because the system is “top secret” even to them. No source I have has knowledge of what DOGE is doing with the data they are retrieving.

Is capital falling back to the ethnic nation, nationalism and colonial acquisition (greenland, canada, panama) because pinkwashing and moral authority failed as a means of doing imperialism?

For decades they used, successfully I might add, moral authority of spreading "western values" as the tool of justifying their wars on the middle east while elsewhere they used anti-communism. These collapsed, as we've seen with support for Palestine, opposition to Israel, and even support for Iran.

If the "western values" and pinkwashing and superior moral authority are no longer effective tools of waging conflict. Falling back to the previous tools makes sense, the ethnic "nation", my land my people, and religion, which all worked for far far longer than the changed attempt to wage western superiority over everyone else on the basis that it was uniquely better.

I've been thinking about why "the west has fallen" is so prevalent and the reverse course towards religious, patriarchal and ethnic "values" happened. It was a conscious decision made by people that want the population in their society thinking in a certain way in order to use it for specific purposes but the exact reasons for it are rarely discussed in terms of this set of thought being a means to an end. Even in marxists circles it's only vaguely referred to as "threatening capital" and "pillars holding up capital" without specificity of what it materially gives them. This also has to be painted and analysed in the sense that the small group of billionaires that are pushing it all understand climate change and climate migration as an incoming threat.

Update on military action on the US - México border/deportation flights situation: México gives more concessions to the USA, Belize accepts a US military aircraft directly, first removal/deportation flights to Guantanamo Bay, India and potentially El Salvador, Colombia continues to send their own military planes for repatriation flights, more flights to Guatemala.

Overall it's quite a depressing update, to be honest I really didn't want to make it, but I feel as if I had to, otherwise this information just sits in aviation geek or chud circles with brainless losers cheering it on.

Popular resistance is growing to the Kiev regime military’s conscription campaign. Plus, some combat footage.

Ukrainians have started blowing up Kiev regime military conscription offices in Pavlograd and Rovno. In another incident, a man with a hunting rifle shot and killed a conscription officer in Poltava oblast. An IED strike killed another in Kharkov: https://southfront.press/war-against-mobilisation-gains-momentum-in-ukraine/

Civilians captured and beat a Kiev regime conscription officer (18+ video): https://odysee.com/@Support4Z:b/%F0%9F%93%BD%EF%B8%8F-A-%F0%9F%87%AC%F0%9F%87%A7-%F0%9F%87%AB%F0%9F%87%B7,--Zelensky-Gestapo-bastard-is-captured-by:3

Russian anti-tank mine destroys US-built “Bradley” infantry fighting vehicle (video): https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/02/05/1030079.html

Russian drone strikes British-built Challenger 2 tank (video): https://www.rt.com/russia/612228-ukrainian-challenger-tank-drone/

I don't know if anyone else here has posted about this yet, but in more 'pulling the copper wiring out of the wall' news, the Boer has decided to take down several important data from the CDC and Census websites. These include, but are not limited to, data from CDC PLACES (Population Level Analysis and Community Estimates), the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), and the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). This data is very important for a lot of research and long term planning. I was still able to access CDC PLACES data by using a direct link to the download page, so it is not yet entirely gone. It seams from this article that CDC employees think that the data will eventually return, after it has been altered to become 'politically correct', but I think it would be best to expect them to never return. Much of the data is also still available from 3rd party data conglomeration, although at an extremely high cost for personal use.

The Saudis already pouring cold water on this plan.

I don’t doubt Trump wants to do this, he’s had Bibi whispering in his ear all day about it. Just like how he wants to take over Greenland, the Panama Canal, and fucking Canada. But operationally this plan is DOA. The Saudis aren’t on board, Sisi knows he will get coiled by the military if not murdered by his own people if he goes along. And I think most actually knowledgeable people in the deep state know how bad it’s gonna look when Qassam starts releasing videos of US soldiers getting got.

Trump wants a lot of things, but there is no way this happens. Honestly IMO I think even Bibi knows this and he’s only hyping this up to Trump to try and torpedo the ceasefire deal.

Beijing assumes that Washington’s own policies will dismantle the foundations of U.S. global hegemony, even if it creates a lot of turbulence for other countries in the process. China’s top priority, then, is simply to weather the storm.

https://archive.is/Oywuf

To nobody’s surprise, the Qassam brigades are inducting new recruits at speed

“🇵🇸🇵🇸 The Al-Qassam Brigades has recruited thousands of new fighters since the beginning of the ceasefire. The fighters swear that they will confront the occupation with everything they have, and will continue the path of resistance until the complete liberation of Palestine, no matter the sacrifices.”

https://streamable.com/lfmnu0

Source: telegram

I haven’t been posting because frankly there’s too much, but the abductions, beatings, and killings have continued of any minority from supposed alawites and assadists to supposed queer people. While the zionist president travels the region, his merry men continue their rampage across Syria

El Salvador offers to house violent US criminals and deportees of any nationality in unprecedented deal

CW: SA, child prostitution

"You've never been with a daddy?"

The public prosecutor's office found that this message was sent to a child prostitute by a portuguese Far-Right local MP before asking the boy's age, to which he said 15. After having sex with the boy he paid him 20 euros. He tried for a second encounter but was rejected.

This one is far more serious than the national MP that was stealing bags from airports and selling them on Vinted.com that was revealed a few weeks ago, especially from a party where members call LGBT people "pedophiles".

I'd like to think it would have some electoral repercussions since this type of criminality is not the usual scandals the far-right here get caught up in, but we'll see.

1- Trump says something stupid

2- His opponent responses

3- The market panics

4- Rich people buy the dips

5- ''Negotiation'' comes to something

6- Market normalized its price

7- Profit.

8- repeat in the next month

It do be like that sometime

Not certain if news worthy or not (re. Trump's executive orders and US government contractors)

Just got a message from CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) about how all contractors and employees are to cease using anything related to gender in our files, documents, contracts, etc in order to defend against 'gender ideology'. Only the use of 'He', 'She', and 'Sex' are allowed. We must remove any terms related to 'gender ideology' such as: Gender, Transgender, Inclusivity, and Nonbinary.

This is part of Trump's Executive Order 14168. Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Defending Women). Also in this document is a mention that CMS won't be sending a national message about their compliance with this executive order.

Some images of the removal and taping up of USAID signage at Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington D.C. Comrades, I don't think we'll get more poetic imagery than this of the death of contemporary globalised neoliberal capital:

Which brings me to the point of discussion, what comes afterwards? More barbarity? Isolation? Protectionism? The fall of empire? I encourage any analysis or reply, no matter how brief or detailed.

As for me, the enternal pessimist, I think we're entering a new phase of the US empire, not a fall or decline but a shift in tactics, and the current focus appears to be around shipping lanes and freedom of navigation. If we look at the current targets of the US administration's aggressive rhetoric, in Panama, Canada, México, Greenland, Egypt, Iran and China, and even South Africa, a picture emerges: that is drawn on the USA controlling the world's shipping. With Panama we have the Panama canal as an obvious flashpoint, México with the Gulf of México, then with Egypt we have the Suez, Iran is about the Strait of Hormuz and the oil trade with China, with China itself it's about the South China Sea, with Canada and Greenland there's the Arctic shipping lanes such as the North West Passage, and with South Africa there's the Cape of Good Hope and Durban. It really looks as if Trump and his advisors are playing the board game "Risk" here, and looking to exert influence or directly control key points in this regard. If manufacturing can't be brought back to the United States, the consolation prize is to control the flow of goods and the world's oceans.

What Iran and Yemen demonstrated over the past year and a half in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is scary for whoever seeks to control the world's oceans. Which brings me to the topic of Yemen, Trump has been scarily quiet here, with regards to Ansarallah/the Houthis. Aside from designating them as a terrorist organisation, he hasn't said much. When the right hand is moving, you must watch what the left is doing. Trump's first call to a foreign leader after taking power was to Saudi Arabia's MBS. Yes, even before Netanyahu. There was been increased US and French reconnaissance flights around Yemen. And despite all the cuts to USAID and various other three letter organisations, rumours are that the US has increased contact with the opposition/internationally recognised government in Yemen. If I were in the position of Ansarallah, I'd be preparing for for engagements with the United States.

But vibes!

Homelessness increased 18% in 2024, affecting over 770,000 people. Child homelessness also increased 33%, with nearly 150,000 kids living without a home.

The Syrian army penetrates into Lebanon and extends control over three villages inside Lebanon in search of soldiers kidnapped by Iranian militias

Looks like the HTS gov is having a border war with lebanon

kaplya get off the lathe

there was a mass shooting in Sweden by some white guy, apparently Syrian refugees were among those killed, 'no motive' yet though

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9l2424wrgo

FT

Donald Trump wants Ukrainian rare earths deal in return for US military support US proposal appears to align with President Zelenskyy’s strategy to keep Washington onside

President Donald Trump on Monday said he wanted a deal granting the US access to Ukraine’s rare earths resources in exchange for continued military and economic aid to Kyiv as it struggles to halt Russia’s invasion. The proposal appears to align with a strategy Ukraine has been developing to deepen ties with the Trump administration by allowing the US access to critical minerals used in high-tech industries. Speaking at the White House, Trump reiterated complaints that Washington had provided more support to Ukraine than its European allies. “We’re looking to do a deal where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earth and other things,” he said of Ukraine. Trump suggested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government was open to it. “We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars,” said Trump. “They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it.” A person close to Zelenskyy told the Financial Times that Trump’s remarks “seem to align with the ‘victory plan’ presented to him in the fall”. The person said Ukraine had offered Trump “special terms” for co-operation on key resources, stressing the need to protect them from Russia and Iran. “Of course, we are ready to work with America,” the person added. Zelenskyy presented an outline of the plan to Trump in New York last September during the US election campaign. It includes the sharing of critical natural resources with western partners, replacing US troops in Europe with Ukrainian forces and offering Trump investment screening powers to block Chinese business interests in Ukraine. Kyiv holds vast reserves of titanium, iron ore and coal, as well as about 500,000 tonnes of untapped lithium, collectively estimated to be worth tens of trillions of dollars. Some of these resources are at risk of being lost to Russia’s advancing forces in Ukraine’s east, or have already fallen under Russian occupation. “Control over mineral resources has become a part of the war,” said Mustafa Nayyem, the former head of Ukraine’s state agency for restoration and infrastructure development. The country is not only fighting for its territory, he added, “but also for the right to manage its strategic wealth, which could be a crucial factor in its recovery”. Trump has vowed to bring a swift end to Russia’s war against Ukraine. He previously said his administration had held “very serious” talks with Russia over the war. “We made a lot of progress on Russia, Ukraine,” Trump said on Monday. “We’ll see what happens. We’re going to stop that ridiculous war.” While supportive of Trump’s enthusiasm to bring the three-year war to an end, the American leader’s suggestion that he had formulated part of a plan with Russia without Ukraine has irked leaders in Kyiv. Speaking to the Associated Press on Saturday, Zelenskyy said his team had engaged with Trump’s advisers and expected in-person meetings soon. “They may have their own relations, but talking about Ukraine without us — it is dangerous for everyone,” Zelenskyy said.

lol all that Canadian defiance and “we will never retreat!!!” was just piss in the wind, just as everybody already knew

So are the liberals going to take up arms against the trump dictatorship or not? Today seems like a good day to do just that, if you wait they get stronger and

who am i fucking kidding.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3297249/american-prisoners-could-soon-be-bound-el-salvadors-jails

Trump proposes sending US prisoners to El Salvador

Reports from Panama of arrests and home raids against student leader participants of the anti-Marco Rubio protests held in the Panamanian capital.

Even the liberal media have been reporting protests against the US in Panama, something very rare given that Panama is one of the US's closest allies in Latin America. Picture of Rubio in Nazi Uniform Burning.

Trump to speak with China's Xi after hiking tariffs, White House says

The call will be Trump and Xi's first known talks since Trump took office on Jan. 20. They previously spoke before Trump's inauguration.

"It'll happen in the next couple of days," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said of the latest call.

…

"China hopefully is going to stop sending us fentanyl, and if they're not, the tariffs are going to go substantially higher," said Trump. "China will be dealt with," he added.

China, which has long called tariffs counterproductive, offered relatively muted criticism of the tariffs and signaled an openness to talks.

The country's government appeared poised to seek a deal with Trump that could delay or stop tariffs, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The U.S. dollar hit a record high against the Chinese yuan traded offshore and was hovering near those levels on Monday.

Here comes the main show. The others are just side shows, sorry.

The United States claims Panama has complied with Trump's wishes, and that American vessels are passing through the Panama canal without paying tolls, but Panama denies, and says nothing has changed

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???

Made the horrible mistake of looking into a r/Europe post about how the Brazilian goverment banned X and froze Elon Musk's assets in Brazil, and Elon had to back down, and how Europe could learn from that. Besides the people explaining the situation better and some people thinking it's ok, since Elon broke the law in Brazil.

There are a lot of Americans and America Bootlickers saying stuff like: Lula is a communist dictator, He's Putler friend so he's evil, Freedom of speech, and other weird shit. How the fuck is Lula a dictator when he was elected after being released from jail, holy shit, these people literally cannot comprehend that the US law isn't valid in other countries and that other countries simply do not have absolute freedom of speech, racism and xenophobia are literal crimes in Brazil.

Tariff on Mexico has been suspended for one month, after meeting with Sheinbaum lmao

https://bsky.app/profile/moreperfectunion.bsky.social/post/3lhbuwdiujc2h

The US is so fucked. Here are 7 posts I made in c/news in just the last ~30 minutes.

• A Trump megadonor wants the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan which protects the media's ability to aggressively cover public officials.
• Trump has plans for “imminent mass layoffs” for up to as many as 200,000 employees hired within the last two years.
• Republicans planning ‘deep cuts’ to Medicaid [See body text]
• Senate Republicans' opaque budget resolution points in troubling direction. It hides how hides how the $342 billion spending increase (mass deportations etc) would be paid for.
• Hospitals could be Congress’ next target as GOP looks to extend Trump’s tax cuts
• Trump Tax Cuts Would Cost Between 5 and 11 Trillion Dollars
• Senate GOP Proposes $350 Billion for Mass Deportations

What the heck is going on with planes

Indoor vs. Outdoor cat debate just intensified

C.D.C. Posts, Then Deletes, Data on Bird Flu Spread Between Cats and People

The data, which appeared fleetingly online on Wednesday, confirmed transmission in two households. Scientists called on the agency to release the full report.

Outdoor cats are bringing bird flu into housholds

United States President Donald Trump assures that Israel will hand over Gaza to the U.S. at the end of the conflict. He says that the Palestinian people will be relocated to "safer and more beautiful" places.

• Telesur English

With the country now two-and-a-half weeks into President Donald Trump’s second term, an average of national polls shows him with an approval rating just under 50%.

The polling average at FiveThirtyEight.com shows the president with a 48.8% approval rating

Honestly the funniest thing is how much Americans are loving the unraveling of their own country

Been an (adult) school shooting in Örebro, Sweden with somewhere around 10 people confirmed dead so far. The perpetrator is believed to be among the dead and to have acted on his own.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-police-respond-threat-deadly-violence-school-2025-02-04/

joe biden, the actor?

https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/15421

https://t.me/AMK_Mapping/6886

Israel has reportedly resumed bombing and pushing into Syria while the "government" forces (HTS) are busy attacking... Lebanon... for some reason.

Lula criticizes Trump and says Gaza should be governed by Palestinians.

Brazilian president condemns US proposal, reaffirms support for the creation of a Palestinian state and denounces forced displacement as a violation of human rights.

“The US participated in encouraging everything Israel did in the Gaza Strip. So it doesn't make sense to meet with the president of Israel and say: 'we're going to occupy Gaza, we're going to recover Gaza, we're going to live in Gaza. And where are the Palestinians going to go, where are they going to live? What is their country?” said Lula in an interview with radio stations in Minas Gerais.

Lula also said that the destruction in Gaza amounts to genocide, holding the United States directly responsible for financing the Israeli offensive.

“What happened in Gaza was a genocide, and I honestly don't know if the United States, which is part of all this, would be the country to try to take care of Gaza,” he said.

“It's the Palestinians who have to take care of Gaza. What they need is reparations for everything that was destroyed, so that they can rebuild their homes, hospitals, schools, and live in dignity with respect.”

“The US has been sold as the symbol of world democracy, it has set itself up as the judge of the planet. A fable of money is spent on weapons every day. You can't suddenly change now from the country that sold the idea of peace to the country that sells the idea of provocation, of disagreement,” he said.

Lula's speech reinforces his position of confrontation with Trump on human rights issues. The Brazilian president had already criticized the Republican in the past for his policy of mass deportation of Brazilian immigrants.

• Original Article in Portuguese

Lula also said something like the US or Elon Musk, should stop trying to interfer with Venezuela or Brazil but I couldn't find a good transcript of this interview.

No one told me Gaddaffi's son was making a comeback in libyan politics

Stream in Argentina Turns Blood-red:
https://www.geologyin.com/2025/02/stream-in-argentina-turns-blood-red.html

The Sarandí Stream in Avellaneda, a suburb of Buenos Aires, recently turned a vivid red, shocking residents and prompting swift action from environmental authorities. Witnesses described the water as resembling "a river of blood," with a strong, unpleasant odor lingering in the air.

Preliminary investigations by Buenos Aires' Ministry of the Environment suggest the discoloration may be linked to an organic dye spill. The Sarandí Stream flows through an industrial zone housing tanneries, textile factories, and chemical plants—facilities previously implicated in environmental contamination. Residents have long complained about pollution in the stream, noting past discolorations in shades of yellow, blue, green, pink, and purple, often accompanied by oily films and acidic odors.

How exactly is the US Attorney's Office threatening to prosecute social media users for "doxxing" DOGE employees, and pressuring them to ban/tempban part of the platform, not news? If that's not news, why is the TikTok ban news?

Children play on a water slide during UNRWA Summer Fun Weeks.
Thanks to a donation from the Government of Finland, over 150,000 children in Gaza are participating in Summer Fun Weeks 2013, a two-week summer programme organised by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The programme features activities designed to encourage creativity and a psychosocial well-being like football, kite flying, drawing, and traditional games.

©UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan, 2013-06-21

With the start of February, China is now the president of the Security Council.

Dude can't think of one thing by himself. Now he again copied Trump:

Echoing Trump, Milei pulls Argentina out of World Health Organization

***Argentina will pull out of the World Health Organization, Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni confirms, following in the footsteps of the United States. ***

President Javier Milei has decided to formally withdraw Argentina from the World Health Organization, the government confirmed Wednesday. Presidential Spokesperson Manmuel Adorni confirmed the decision, which echoes last month’s announcement by US President Donald Trump that the United States would pull out from the UN agency.

"President [Javier] Milei instructed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein to withdraw Argentina's participation in the World Health Organisation. This is based on the profound differences with regard to health management, especially during the [Covid-19] pandemic," said the spokesman. “We Argentines are not going to allow an international organisation to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health,” he stressed at a press conference.

Gotta love that fake ass nationalism. I wish they had the same attitude towards the US, the EU and the IMF but no, these institutions can come in and take whatever the fuck they want.

Adorni claimed that the WHO, along with Milei’s successor in office Alberto Fernández, led Argentina into “the longest lockdown in the history of humanity,” referencing the nation’s strict Covid-19 lockdown between 2020 and 2021. The WHO had “failed its greatest litmus test” by promoting “eternal quarantines without scientific support” during the pandemic, he alleged.

Was the COVID pandemic mishandled in Argentina? Yeah, probably. The government's role wasn't as terrible they claim it was, it's not like people were being executed for going out or something. The lockdowns were indeed long (but not the "longest in history" omg) but at the same time COVID killed a lot of people. What destroyed the government's legitimacy and every effort was a number of photos and videos leaked of the President and his family hosting a party in the middle of the lockdown and the government handing out vaccines to VIP subjects for free before everyone else (something that happens everywhere but never goes public).

'Nefarious'

Milei issued a statement a few hours after the announcement, denouncing the WHO as “nefarious” and claiming it had played the role of the “executive arm” of the “biggest experiment of social control in history.” Denouncing its authorities as “ideologues,” Argentina’s leader said its “quarantine” policies during the Covid-19 pandemic led it to be part of “one of the most outlandish crimes against humanity in history.”

Literal Alex Jones moment.

Milei’s top spokesperson claimed the withdrawal would “give the country greater flexibility to implement policies adapted to the context of interests that Argentina requires, as well as greater availability of resources and reaffirms our path towards a country with sovereignty in health matters.” Adorni added: “It should be clarified that Argentina does not receive funding from the WHO for health management, therefore this measure – unlike some have said at least on social networks – does not represent a loss of funds for the country nor does it affect the quality of services.”

Unnamed government officials, cited by the La Nación daily said that the decision would save around US$10 million a year. According to WHO documents hosted on its website, an assessment of Argentina's funding capabilities for 2024-2025 proposed the nation contribute 0.71 percent of the organisation's overall budget, an estimated US$50 million. It is unclear how much of that is returned to Argentina via programmes and policies.

A lot of it returns to Argentina actually. Argentina has access to the OMS' common fund to purchase medicine and vaccines to combat diseases like HIV/AIDS, Chagas, Dengue and so many others, we need that shit. Now they're out of reach...

Following in Trump’s footsteps

Milei’s decision is in line with the recent executive order signed by Trump ordering the United States to depart the WHO. The United States is by far the WHO's biggest donor and its withdrawal will leave a major hole in the organisation's budget and its ability to respond to global public health threats.

In its last complete budget cycle, for 2022-23, the United States pitched in US$1.3 billion, representing 16.3 percent of the WHO's US$7.89 billion budget. Most of the US funding was via voluntary contributions.

The World Health Organization last week urged the United States to reconsider a decision to suspend funding for HIV treatment programmes in developing countries, after Trump ordered an almost-complete freeze on foreign aid.

"We call on the government of the United States of America to enable additional exemptions to ensure the delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and care," the UN health body said on X, adding that it had "deep concern" over the funding pause. With regards to HIV, the agency said that its programmes provided access to "life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide.”

We are being governed by people who want to kill, murder and exploit to no end and by washed up versions of the former.

Death to "america" and death to "israel".

The US Postal Service has announced that it will no longer receive packages from China and Hong Kong, amid the trade war intensified by President Donald Trump. The measure accompanies a 10% increase in tariffs on Chinese imports.

One of the most impactful changes was the elimination of the tariff exemption for low-value packages, known as “de minimis”, which allowed tariff-free entry for items valued at up to US$800. This could affect platforms such as Shein and Temu, which are responsible for 30% of the packages sent. According to a congressional report, almost half of de minimis shipments come from China, and the volume of these imports has increased by 600% since 2015, reaching 1.36 billion packages by 2024.

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Ukraine update from a sicko that still reads daily map updates:

3/4 of the big Russian winter battles have been wrapped up. Velika Novosilka, Kurakhove and Toretsk are now done, with Chasov Yar probably wrapping up before the end of this month. Well what's next? The big spring/summer battle will probably be the Pokrovsk-Myrnograd urban agglomeration, which seems to be heading towards the classic Russian maneuver of advancing towards the flanks, then making a quick dash to a village close to the last supply line of the city, putting the city into a semi-encirclement before starting to squeeze out Ukrainian units from the city by entering it before the encirclement really closes.

Other interesting developments are happening in the Oskol front near Kupiansk and the western sector of the Pokrovsk advancement. Russia has achieved a quite remarkable breakthrough on the Oskol front, establishing a good bridgehead on the western bank of the Oskol River, and now advancing fairly quickly due to the dire state of the AFU on that front. Another bridgehead was established closer to the Russian border a few days ago, and there are reports that there's a quite significant Russian grouping on the Belgorod-Kharkov border that might dash to Velkyi Burluk against barely armed Ukrainian border guards very soon.

The western sector of the Pokrovsk front is just 3 km from the borders of Dnipro Oblast. Crossing an imaginary border on a map is not really a major accomplishment, but it is still a bit symbolic and it would be the first time since the start of the war that Russia has a meaningful presence in Dnipro, after driving through a few times during the chaos of the first two weeks of the war. The way I see it, the war is not a decisive victory without at least a small presence in Dnipro, so entering that Oblast is at least a moral victory.

The White House just issued an executive order on South Africa that includes admitting Afrikaner South Africans as refugees to the United States

Do we think Trump is serious about ethnically cleansing more of the Strip and moving the Gazans out to Egypt or Jordan? I am worried about that coming to pass.

In awe of this woman's ability to keep digging herself deeper and deeper

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/07/g-s1-47322/musks-team-takes-control-of-key-systems-at-consumer-financial-protection-bureau Musk's team takes control of key systems at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

And the latest Racist-Libs-Making-Shit-Up-To-Feel-Better news for the week is:

After Trump’s remarks on Gaza, some in Dearborn, Michigan ‘think we screwed up’

So musk using DOJ as personal attack dogs

Trump agrees to postpone Canada and Mexico tariffs by one month - The Guardian

President delays threatened 25% tariffs on US neighbors but China still to face 10% levy on exports to US from Tuesday. Donald Trump has pulled back from the brink of a trade war with Canada and Mexico, postponing sweeping new US tariffs on goods from its two closest economic partners by one month.

It is the third time in two weeks the US president has delayed his threatened 25% tariffs on the two countries. China is still set to face additional 10% levy on its exports to the US from Tuesday. Following talks with the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, on Monday, Trump agreed to hold off from imposing new duties on the two countries.

The agreements came on a day of extreme volatility in global financial markets as rattled investors reacted to the prospect of a dramatically escalating dispute involving the world’s largest economies. The US president had upended US-Mexico ties over the weekend when he announced 25% tariffs and accused Sheinbaum’s administration of engaging in an “intolerable alliance” with Mexican crime groups.

Sheinbaum rejected that “slanderous” accusation, but on Monday morning struck a softer note as she announced “a series of agreements” with Trump after a conversation between the two leaders during which they agreed to pause US tariffs for a month to allow for fresh negotiations. Mexico had agreed to send 10,000 members of its national guard “to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the US, in particular of fentanyl”, Sheinbaum said. In return, the US had agreed to work to prevent high-powered weapons crossing the border into Mexico.

Trump confirmed the deal shortly afterwards on his Truth Social network. He said 10,000 Mexican soldiers would be “specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our country”. Negotiations involving senior Mexican officials, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, would take place during the pause, he said.

Following two calls with Trump on Monday, Trudeau announced that tariffs would be “paused” for 30 days. “Canada is implementing our $1.3bn border plan – reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl,” he said in a statement. “Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border.”

Late last year, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China on the first day of his presidency. From the first day of his presidency, he said he would do so from 1 February. This weekend, he said they would kick in from 4 February. They have now been delayed until March. Economists have warned Trump’s planned wave of tariffs would risk raising prices for millions of Americans, just weeks after he pledged, upon taking office, to “rapidly” bring them down.

On Monday, however, Trump maintained that tariffs were a “very powerful” means of both strengthening the US economically and “getting everything else you want”. He had conceded over the weekend that they could cause “a little pain” in the US. Markets sold off sharply worldwide in response to what has been described as a “Trump tariff tantrum” before recovering some of their losses after news broke of the deal with Mexico. Wall Street fell in early trading, with the S&P 500 down almost 2%. Share prices in Europe followed a sharp move lower in Asia.

Columbia students just sued the university for attacks on pro-Palestine activism

There had been more US military activity around México. A United States Air Force RC-135V "Rivet Joint" Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft flew right up the Gulf of California/Sea of Cortez, likely spying on communications inside México by the military and cartels and even civilians if they want to. While US military aircraft have flown on the west side of the Baja California coastline before, this is the first time in recent years, to my knowledge, that a US military aircraft has flown within the Gulf of California itself.

Now did this US military aircraft enter Mexican airspace? There are many misinformed accounts on social media that will say yes, but the truth is, technically and legally, no, this US military aircraft did not enter Mexican airspace. A state's territorial sea extends up to 12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) from it's baseline. This sea, including the airspace above it, is the sovereign territory of that nation. Anything outside of that is technically international waters (and airspace). I'll post an image here showing the territorial airspace and seas of Mexico.

Many misinformed social media accounts have confused the concepts of Flight Information Regions (FIR) and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) with a nation's territorial/sovereign waters and airspace. I think the source of this misinformation is because AI LLMs like Google AI, Gork, and ChatGPT also confuse this concept, so OSINT social media accounts using these LLMs to do research just blindly believed their output. Please do not believe everything AI models say, they are often incorrect.

The RC-135V aircraft made sure to stay clear of this 12 nautical mile border/demarcation, and U-turned before entering Mexican sovereign territory under international law. But the USA has now exercised freedom of navigation rights with a military aircraft in the Gulf of California, in the context of recent events.

Some Finland news:

Incidents involving unauthorised access and damage at water towers in Finland received a lot of publicity last summer. According to Hakala, it is now quite certain that Russia was not behind these.

"Some of them are under preliminary investigation by the police, but our view is clear that there were no sabotage attempts by Russian proxies," Hakala says.

It is likely that the water tower incidents were cases of ordinary vandalism, says USU.-

There has been frantic consent manufacturing going on to fuel the fires of war and when a garden chair gets blown over by the wind, there is wide news coverage on how Russia did it. Far smaller are these follow up stories a year later where they have to admit that Russia definitely did not do it.

Deutsche Bank report: China eats the world

On February 5, 2025, Deutsche Bank published a research report titled "China Eats the World", drawing on the phrase by Marc Andreessen, who said in 2011, "Software is eating the world," making a prescient prediction that software would drive tremendous economic benefits. Deutsche Bank is also optimistic about China, viewing its criticized economic flaws as minor in light of its broader momentum.

The US puppet president of Ecuador announces a 27% tariff on Mexico. Noboa has ordered the militarization of ports and borders but its his security forces that are working with the cartels.

• Camila Kawsachuan News

lol

Donald Trump has decided to suspend taxation on Mexico for a month, following talks with the country's president, Claudia Sheinbaum. The leader of the Latin country reportedly agreed to send 10,000 troops to control the border and curb illegal immigration to the US. In a statement, President Claudia said that the United States had “agreed to collaborate” to prevent large-caliber weapons from being trafficked into Mexico.

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