Bulletins and News Discussion from February 12th to February 18th, 2024 - The Prodigal Failson - COTW: Brazil
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.
From the Hexbear South American correspondent (a position I just made up), @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net:
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.
The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
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.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Asked in a state television interview to choose between Biden and Trump, Putin said the US leader was “more experienced, predictable, an old-school politician”, adding that Russia would “work with any US leader who wins the trust of the American people”.
At their last meeting in Geneva in 2021, Putin recalled, “they were already saying Biden wasn’t competent [ . . . ] but I saw nothing of the sort. Yes, he looked at his notes, and to be honest, I looked at mine. No big deal. So he banged his head on the helicopter when he was getting out of it — who of us hasn’t banged their head on something?”
Russia should not "try to save Assad, who represents a military junta," Navalny said.
Another day, another banger
Okay I've just seen the bodycam footage of the
unloading his gun because he thought he was getting shot at, when in reality an acorn fell on his cop car. Pigs are always on edge lmao, always scared of everything and everyone. They truly behave like an occupying force that has the community in front of them, much like occupying armies, the civilians are there to be watched and repressed and not protected. Plus the cop's training in ameriKKKa is just awful lolThat officer is probably serving with the IOF now tho
Disneyland cast members announce plans to form a union
Calling themselves "Magic United," the cast members seeking to organize announced they are working with Actors' Equity Association, a union representing 51,000 theater actors and stage managers across the U.S. Although most of the roughly 35,000 workers at Disneyland already have labor unions, about 1,700 performers and character actors do not, the labor group said.
A lot higher than we expected’: Russian arms production worries Europe’s planners
As Ukraine has scrambled to source ammunition, arms and equipment for its defence, Russia has presided over a massive ramping up of industrial production over the last two years that has outstripped what many western defence planners expected when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion.
As Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its third year, the massive Russian investment in the military, projected this year to be the largest as a share of GDP since the Soviet Union, has worried European war planners, who have said Nato underestimated Russia’s ability to sustain a long-term war.
A tale as old as time: Smug Europeans with planet-sized hubris decide to poke the bear and find out the hard way.
Kanye becoming a Zionist after realizing it’s the most antisemitic thing you can be https://twitter.com/karaokecomputer/status/1757524839160746178
Navalny's dead.
MOSCOW, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is dead, the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where he had been serving his sentence said on Friday.
In a statement published on its website, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said that Navalny "felt unwell" after a walk on Friday, and "almost immediately lost consciousness".
It said that medical staff had been called, but that they were unable to resuscitate Navalny. It said the reason of death was being established.
Libs are going to be insufferable.
The Battle of avdeevka is ending. This is happening too fast to follow in detail at work but holy shit UAF are getting routed
CW: No visible gore but extremely sad video https://streamable.com/pmpm0i
ICJ has left South Africa on hold since Monday and just on Friday, announced that further provisional emergency measures were not necessary. The way the report was also written comes off really nothing more than crocodile tears and them hoping that readers wouldn't notice the dismissal.
Anyways, the educational sector and the Supreme Court is totally annihilated, with healthcare in terminal condition and all medical services with the exception of primary care (such as ICU, dentistry and surgery) having been suspended. The price of food has increased tenfold in the Strip. A singular hen egg now costs R20 ZAR.
Rafah Municipality's population is now estimated to be anywhere between 1.4 to 2 million people, with a density in critical mass hovering at 36,000/km2. For context, this is the Berea suburb at 42,000/km2:
Chinese scientists say new calcium-based battery offers ‘cheaper, safer’ alternative to lithium-ion cells
- Fudan University team creates battery able to charge and discharge fully 700 times at room temperature, in a first for the calcium-based technology
- With calcium 2,500 times more abundant than lithium, battery offers viable option with possibly comparable energy density, team says in Nature paper
Blowback's here
full article
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.
The "Equality in Civil Marriage" law also grants same-sex couples full parental rights for both partners.
On Thursday, Greece's parliament approved a landmark bill allowing same-sex civil marriage, granting same-sex couples the right to wed and adopt children.
A majority of 176 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament voted in favor of the bill, entitled "Equality in Civil Marriage." A total of 254 participated in the roll call vote.
"We are here to deal with an existing social reality together, with responsibility, putting an end to an inequality that is serious for our democracy," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, addressing the plenary shortly before the roll call vote.
The new law also grants same-sex couples full parental rights for both partners, but not the use of assisted reproduction methods.
Legal systems are adapted internationally in response to trends in societies and same-sex marriage is legal already in 36 countries worldwide, Mitsotakis stressed, adding that there are already parents in same-sex couples who cannot legally care for their children, pick them up from school or accompany them to hospital.
However, recent opinion polls showed that the Greeks were divided on the reform. Even when the bill was voted on, opposite groups were both in demonstrations on Thursday.
"In a Christian Orthodox country, we should not allow the ratification of something that goes against the teachings of the Bible," Dionisis Makris said during a protest of conservative groups near the parliament.
"Today is a day of joy and celebration for equality of human beings," said Rafaela, a member of the LGBT+ community which organized another gathering outside the parliament. Greece legalized civil partnerships among same-sex couples in 2015.
Protests are going on in the DRC. You can see them burning US and Belgian flags:
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https://nitter.mint.lgbt/african_stream/status/1757779305390624923
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https://twitter.com/african_stream/status/1757779305390624923
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https://nitter.mint.lgbt/AfricanHub_/status/1757896052483441003
NATOpedia articles on the Western-backed separatists:
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UAF announced complete withdrawal from Avdeevka
The Putin Insider is going right for the jugular with this headline:
Ukraine's military is shifting to a defensive strategy that failed Nazi Germany in WWII
But inside contains the usual cope about "massive Russian losses" that you've all seen a thousand times before. Not a very interesting article overall apart from the headline.
Somehow I missed that Sam Altman of OpenAI is attempting to con the UAE out of $7 trillion dollars. Absolutely incredible levels of astronomical grift.
We need more of this energy https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k2XWTXpn1ug&feature=youtu.be
Primary Challenger Bankrolled by AIPAC Says Jamaal Bowman Takes Money From Hamas
LMAO we are days away from tunnel accusations
Been dealing with more unhinged Bukele supporters getting increasingly angry at me. It’s weird to say but I enjoy dealing with them more than liberals. Bukele supporters are mostly staunch nationalists who don’t cowardly hide behind police like the libs do and get rabid over their country as opposed to getting rabid for the US or EU.
Just kind of wish they didn’t channel that aggressive energy into showing up at my place and forcing me to take the shotgun out to scare them away.
They’re mostly mad about my criticisms of him during the election. Some Salvadorans have a chip on their shoulder with Guatemala and our influence on the country. So hearing a leftist Guatemalan loudly criticizing their God makes them furious.
"It's a huge effort," Rear Adm. Marc Miguez told Business Insider during an interview on the Ike in the Red Sea this week. "We're going at it constantly," he said, adding that the crew is "launching airplanes every hour to hour and a half."
Dozens of planes may take off from the carrier during a typical day, which can include multiple launch and recovery cycles over a period that can last up to 12 hours, if not longer. [...]
The aircraft can be tasked with various missions once they're airborne, from training to defending commercial vessels and US Navy ships from Houthi attacks. They always have to be ready to strike rebel assets in Yemen if needed, Capt. Marvin Scott, the commander of the Eisenhower's carrier air wing, said.
Preemptive strikes, which are aimed at effectively eliminating Houthi missiles and drones before they can even become a threat to international shipping lanes, have become a regular occurrence in recent weeks. Before this shift in tactics, the US spent months shooting down Houthi threats in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after they had already been launched by the rebels.
US Central Command has announced preemptive military actions on multiple occasions over the past few days. These have destroyed a handful of unmanned surface vessels, which are drone boats that can be packed with explosives, and anti-ship missiles.
So it seems that after one of the US ships intercepted an anti ship cruise missile launched by the Houthis using it's CIWS, after it evaded interceptor missiles, the US has been forced to change tactics. CIWS is a last line of defence, a missile intercepted by CIWS is a few seconds from landing a direct hit on a ship, and can still land an indirect hit, or spray shrapnel all over the targeted ship. CIWS cannot be relied on to continuously intercept missiles, it's a last line of defence. So the US now has to have jets in the air 24/7, to take down any missiles Ansar Allah/the Houthis are about to launch against US Navy ships, before they are launched from their launch sites. This has to be done because US Navy ships cannot rely on their air defence and missile interception systems to intercept the missiles anymore. Ansar Allah has figured out a way to bypass that layer of defence on occasion. I predicted such a change in tactics a few weeks ago.
This is going to be a very costly exercise for the US Navy. Ansar Allah can also use this change of tactics to manipulate the US Navy, for instance by putting out some defunct warheads or missiles, or fake/"blank" missiles, which the US Navy will be forced to launch airstrikes at to ensure the safety of their ships. I'd consider this a strategic win for Ansar Allah here, the US Navy now has to waste millions of dollars to launch airstrikes against potential fake missiles to ensure that their Navy is safe. Yes the US still has the overwhelming force advantage, but at what cost?
Diplomatic and consular relations established between the Republic of Cuba and the Republic of Korea
The establishment of diplomatic and consular relations between the Republic of Cuba and the Republic of Korea took place on February 14 through an exchange of Diplomatic Notes between the Permanent Representations of the two countries to the United Nations in New York, United States.
This milestone in bilateral history took place in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the spirit and norms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba.
The study Centralidad de Asia para Cuba, published in 2021 by the Center for International Policy Research, shows that both nations had economic and commercial ties in areas such as the automotive industry, air conditioners, refrigerators, high-definition televisions and cell phones.
i wonder if this will cause problems between the DPRK and Cuba since they dont see peacefull reunification as posible anymore
Many news orgs in Canada are now sharing headlines about Canada, Australia, and New Zealand ordering an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to prevent further crises in Rafah, but of course the fine print buried in the article is that a ceasefire has to be on "both sides", meaning that Hamas has to surrender, disarm, and release all hostages... Of course they won't mention anything about israel withdrawing their forces or releasing Palestinian hostages.
Am I being cynical, or is this nothing new? I figured imperial core countries that have been aiding and abetting israel's genocide of Palestinians would have always supported a ceasefire based on conditions they knew were impossible, and which would make sure that israel is the victor (e.g., for Hamas to completely secede and surrender). Am I wrong?
Either way it's still
and always will be.Another Canadian happening this week is Trudeau breaking his recent silence about the israeli genocide of Palestinians, but this time it was to condemn pro-Palestinian protestors who marched by a hospital near downtown Toronto (which he claims is antisemitic targeting). Not a peep from Mr. "International Rules Based Order" about the thousands of Palestinians that israel has butchered since the ICJ's ruling that israel needs to take immediate steps to prevent collective punishment and the killing of civilians more than two weeks ago. israel has tripled down on their genocidal mission since this ruling, and the cowardly "progressive" Canadian PM will only speak up to smear a pro-peace protest.
A bit late on the story but last month the Army HR department made an offer to infantry and armor branch officers that graduated and commissioned in 2021 to transfer into the Adjutant General, Finance or Signal Corps branches on the grounds that there's an "imbalance" in the number of personnel that needs to be corrected before it begins to effect unit readiness.
So they need like 250 people for what sounds like 1st lieutenant to captain positions, which is a decent number of people concidering the fact it's for officer positions.
From what I hear in the grapevine they got that imbalance because those branches have the most real-world equivalent jobs that are both available and pay a hell of a lot better than what an officer gets paid. So basically they get the training and some experience under their belts then dip out. Also throw in the shitty work culture and bosses the army has, and you have a recipe for a systemic retention problem.
OpenAI just released actually good AI-generated video. The samples are actually holy fucking shit.
How will this affect disinformation, now that photorealistic videos can now be fabricated from a text prompt?
Also note that OpenAI is now presumably licensing its technology to the US military.
https://hexbear.net/post/1604077
I predict that in the next few months, we are going to see AI-generated videos of completely fabricated atrocities.
Looks like one of the candidates in the indonesian elections todays is indonesian hitler
Massacres, invasions, and anti-communism. This is Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's next President, involved in numerous atrocities from his days as a henchman of General Suharto.
Tweet looks like he claimed victory before the result but he is doing good in the polls
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor clarified that, based on the received testimonies, groups of Israeli civilians, ranging from 10 to 20 individuals, were allowed to witness and record Palestinian prisoners stripped of their clothes while soldiers used metal batons and electric rods to beat them:
Redditor asks how Russia is surviving despite bajillion deaths from covid and war
Most of the responses are just “because propaganda”, “because authoritarianism”, “because mass wave horde”, “they’re barely surviving because sanctions are striking the country!”
Few people, outside of a Russian residents, actually talk about the financial situation inside the country lol
In the inscrutable authoritian US regime today news has leaked that Lindsey Graham, a dissident voice in the Senate state organ, has come out against further state-funded support of Ukraine thereby foiling the goals of the bloodthirsty despot Joe Biden.
Independent USian experts have regretfully concluded that execution by anti-aircraft guns will be the likely punishment doled out by the vengeful leadership of the rogue state, as is tradition.
Nothing really new here but I like the presentation of parallels between the Vietnam War and Ukraine.
Recall in the first case that the template, that of the Cold War, is essentially unchanged, even in some of the particulars, not least in the comparisons of Ngo Dinh Diem and Volodymyr Zelensky to Winston Churchill. The South Vietnamese government (avaricious, corrupt) had the right to American arms by virtue of its right “to determine [the nation’s] future.” The Ukrainian government (avaricious, corrupt) likewise has the right, we are endlessly told, to be allowed to “shape its own destiny.”
Thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Domino Theory, long derided in the years following Vietnam, has made a comeback. Thus, President Biden’s declaration on December 6, “If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there. It’s important to see the long run here. He’s going to keep going…. Then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops,” echoes that made by President Johnson in July 1965:
This is really war. It is guided by North Viet-Nam and it is spurred by Communist China. Its goal is to conquer the South, to defeat American power, and to extend the Asiatic dominion of communism. There are great stakes in the balance. Most of the non-Communist nations of Asia cannot, by themselves and alone, resist the growing might and the grasping ambition of Asian communism.
Soon.
Here's a site that tracks how many "likes" milei has given in a single day on twitter: https://milei.nulo.ar/?ref=x
Most of them are to bluecheck libertarians that act as secondary spokespersons and right-wing media like La Nacion and LaDerechaDiario (which is the dark counterpart of La Izquierda Diario, the trot-run site). Our man is terminally online.
Norm tweet...
Will the NY Times win a special Oscar for "Best Supporting Role in Israel's Genocide"?
Lula's twitter post after meeting with the Arab League:
"I return to Cairo in the context of the terrible humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas attack on October 7 against Israeli civilians is indefensible and deserved Brazil's strong condemnation. Israel's disproportionate and indiscriminate reaction is unacceptable and constitutes one of the most tragic episodes of this long conflict. The human and material losses are irreparable. We cannot trivialize the deaths of thousands of civilians as mere collateral damage. In Gaza, there are almost 30,000 fatalities, mostly children, the elderly and women. 80% of the population has been forced to leave their homes. The situation in the West Bank, which was already critical, is also becoming untenable."
"At a time when the Palestinian people need support the most, rich countries have decided to cut humanitarian aid to the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The recent allegations against the agency's staff need to be properly investigated, but they cannot paralyze it. Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will also be left destitute. This inhumanity and cowardice must be stopped. The federal government (Brazil's govement) will provide new funding for UNRWA."
"We call on all countries to maintain and increase their contributions. The most urgent task is to establish a definitive ceasefire that allows for the provision of sustainable and unimpeded humanitarian aid and the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. The persistence of the conflict in Palestine goes far beyond the Middle East."
"We proposed and defended resolutions in the Security Council, which we chaired in October. We support the case brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa on the application of the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It is urgent to stop the killing. Brazil's position is clear. There will be no peace until there is a Palestinian state, within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders, which include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital."
"The decision on the existence of an independent Palestinian state was taken 75 years ago by the United Nations. There are no more excuses to prevent Palestine from joining the UN as a full member. The resumption of peace negotiations is a universal cause. And it is our cause. I renew my wishes of peace and prosperity to all."
This is really good. Nothing most people here don't already know, I think, but it puts recent history and ideological and geopolitical shifts of the whole region into a really clear and succinct picture IMO. I think it'd be good to throw at people who are suffering from some Western ignorance but aren't fully committed to the liberal/imperialist narrative to the point where the blinders have to be violently pried from their eyes.
Rania Khalek has been killin' it lately!
Uh aktually, Germany isn't the sick man of Europe. It's just the unfit man of Europe: https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Economy/german-fm-describes-german-economy-as-an--unfit-man
- deliberately starving the poor to own the socialists:
More hunger, less money: Argentina's soup kitchens count rations
At community meal centres across Argentina, a dual crisis is biting: the influx of ever more hungry mouths to feed during an economic crisis, and a decision by President Javier Milei's new government to freeze their aid.
In an Argentine soup kitchen, empty plastic containers are piling up from hungry visitors, and the cooks are worried their limited supply of pasta will not be enough to fill them. "I don't know if we will make it today," frets 50-year-old Carina López, who manages the ‘Las hormiguitas viajeras’ community dining hall in Loma Hermosa, a poor neighbourhood in San Martín, north of Buenos Aires. She points to empty crates normally filled with fruit and vegetables. Today, those coming for a hot meal will only get plain pasta and a small piece of pork.
Meal centres like this one are facing a dual crisis: the influx of ever more hungry mouths to feed during an economic crisis, and a decision by President Javier Milei's new government to freeze their aid. Tens of thousands of such community organisations in Argentina received their last batch of food from the government in November, before Milei – a far-right libertarian, self-described "anarcho-capitalist" – was inaugurated. Milei's government says it plans to audit the needs of each individual soup kitchen to put in place a system of direct aid, and excluding intermediaries such as social movements he describes as "poverty managers."
These "poverty managers" are social orgs that feed the needy in community centres, they are often accused of "getting money from the government" at the "expense of the poor", while also "using the poor for electoral campaigns" in the sense of clientelism. Of course this is bullshit, and clientelism is nothing but classism, thinking that the poor and the needy are just brainless bots who receive food in exchange for votes or for taking part in a rally or something. These are people with their own interests who are more than capable of pressuring whoever they want to get whatever they need. Furthermore, the absolute majority of these orgs are created and maintained by the poor themselves, that is: self-organisation, exactly what they fear and don't like at all, the poor organizing. Cutting aid is another way to discipline the poor, which in this country constitutes a social class of it's own.
Sure, let's just say that there are irregularities with these orgs in the way they receive aid, just for a moment. Okay, but the solution is not to cul ALL aid to feeding centers which people DEPEND ON TO EAT.
"There will be an innovative method so that help arrives where it is supposed to," Milei's Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni said. The soup kitchens, which typically provide more than 100 portions a day, have waited months on that innovation while battling to survive off some municipal aid and donations. López said she had been told by authorities to either "cut the soup kitchen's days, or kick people out." "But I can't kick anyone out. There are new people. New elderly people."
'The situation is beyond me'
Argentina faces annual inflation of over 250 percent with almost half the country now living in poverty after decades of economic mismanagement. Milei, elected on a wave of fury last November, has vowed a painful turnaround and embarked on massive spending cuts. He also started his term by devaluing the long-overvalued peso by more than 50 percent and cutting state subsidies on fuel and transport – further hitting the poor.
One of the new visitors to the soup kitchen in San Martín is Daniel Barreto, 33, a bricklayer who like others is struggling to find contract jobs with many construction sites at a standstill after the government froze all new public works. Meanwhile, private companies are hiring less because of the economic crisis.
The wages Barreto does manage to scrape together are nonetheless eaten away by inflation. "However much I do or don't work, the money is not enough. I have a wife and four kids," he said. "The situation is beyond me." The social movements who run the soup kitchens – born of a strong sense of community – say the number of people resorting to them has risen at least 50 percent.
"And that has only just started," said Melissa Cáceres, a member of a local group co-ordinating the soup kitchen who is registered with the Libres del Sur group. Often families will send in a child to pick up some food, to avoid being seen. Argentina counts some 38,000 so-called "community dining halls," said Celeste Ortiz, spokeswoman for the Barrios de Pie social movement.
Minister under fire
In February, Argentina's conference of bishops called for "all spaces which give food... to receive help without delay." Last week, hundreds of people lined up along 30 blocks after Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello told social movements complaining about the lack of food aid that anyone who was hungry should come "one by one" to see her. She did not come out to see them.
That minister legit said this. She told starving people to meet her "one by one", literally the next day thousands showed up in the Ministry asking for a conference with her, but of course, these people mobilized with their own orgs. They thought they can manipulate and humilliate the poor, but this is not the case. And while the number of poor people is increasing in numbers, the organization of said people is also increasing. They're creating a monster they simply cannot contain or defeat.
Pettovello is currently the target of a lawsuit from a union leader over her Ministry's failure to deliver food. The government has taken pains to show that Milei's mass deregulation of the economy will not hit the most vulnerable, doubling the value of food vouchers handed out to families. In recent days, Pettovello has sealed aid programmes worth more than half a million dollars with evangelical churches and the Caritas Catholic charity. However, Caritas has spoken out against the government's selective aid, saying "a country where poverty is increasing cannot tolerate partisan opinions, ideological prejudices and sectoral struggles."
While she is grateful for the Church's support, Cáceres regrets that "it seems that there are intermediaries who are worthwhile and others who are not.” As the battle continues, the cooks in the San Martín soup kitchen breathe a sigh of relief after stretching their rations to feed all those who needed it for one more day. Carina López sighs with relief: 130 rations were distributed in the dining hall and everyone received a full lunch.
At the end of the day, it's all projection from them. Brainwormed milei has spent his entire campaign (and years before that) saying that the left loves to starve people because reasons, yet he's the one destroying everyone's income AND cutting aid to feeding centers for the poor. Who starves who now? Motherfucker. Hexbear taught me an important lesson these days, every accusation they make is actually a confession.
France has made a proposal to Lebanon to bring an end to the confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel. The dpa learned this from Lebanese government circles on Tuesday. The proposal therefore calls for Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters from the border - to a distance of around ten kilometers. The border region is to be monitored by the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers. The proposal was developed together with government representatives from the USA, Qatar and Egypt. There was initially no official confirmation from Lebanon or France. Hezbollah circles said that they had not officially received any paper with suggestions.
Le evil French scheming again
An update regarding one of my older posts to a megathread:
The South African/Palestinian journalist Haidar Eid is actually alive after total radio silence for nearly 2 months - He has escaped back to South Africa and is confirmed to be a guest speaker at the SAJFP's "Shabbat Against Genocide" in Johannesburg this Friday
- said France is willing to recognize a Palestinian state
French lawmakers voted in 2014 to urge their government to recognise Palestine, a symbolic move that had little impact on France's diplomatic stance.
Macron's comments were the first time a French leader had made such a suggestion and highlighted further impatience among Western leaders as casualties mount in Gaza...
"Our partners in the region, notably Jordan, are working on it, we are working on it with them. We are ready to contribute to it, in Europe and in the Security Council. The recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France," Macron said alongside Jordan's King Abdullah II in Paris.
"We owe it to the Palestinians, whose aspirations have been trampled on for too long. We owe it to the Israelis who lived through the greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century. We owe it to a region that longs to escape the promoters of chaos and the those who sow revenge," he said.
Macron's comments are likely aimed at adding pressure on Israel.
Quote tweets and replies to this are amazing - just a bunch of libs going insane at Rashida for the crime of... doing tiny and inconsequentional gestures that would put some pressure on Biden if Biden wasn't an insane person to begin with.
quite funny: the top seven, yes seven, articles featured on Reuters' site are about Navalny
Egyptian authorities are enclosing a vast area of the Sinai Desert spanning over 20 square kilometers with large concrete walls.
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt is building a large concrete wall on its border with the Gaza Strip to contain a potential influx of Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombings.
Egyptian authorities are enclosing a vast area of the Sinai Desert spanning over 20 square kilometers with large concrete walls near the Gaza border, the newspaper asserts, citing Egyptian officials and security analysts as sources.
It is described as a massive new complex to bolster the country's security in the event that "a large number of Gaza residents manage to enter" if an Israeli offensive erupts in the southern part of the Strip, in the border city of Rafah.
Egypt has already been trying to bolster security along the border in recent months to keep Palestinians away, deploying soldiers and armored vehicles and reinforcing fences.
The Wall Street Journal published satellite photographs taken by the company Planet Labs PBC showing earth movements in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, next to Gaza, within an area designated as a walled enclosure for the possible location of a Palestinian refugee camp.
Over 100,000 people could be housed in the camp, which is surrounded by concrete walls and far from any Egyptian settlement. A large number of tents have been delivered to the site.
The construction of this wall comes as Israel continues its military offensive along the Gaza Strip, and fears increase that the country will launch an attack on Rafah.
Thousands of Palestinians living in Gaza have moved to Rafah to protect themselves from Israeli attacks that began in the north of that territory but have spread throughout the Strip.
Notoriously corrupt Indonesia seems to keep having an issue with poll workers "dying from exhaustion".
2024 voting day marred by reports of violations
The Elections Supervisory Agency has received thousands of reports of election fraud that occurred on the Feb. 14 voting day, ranging from intimidation of poll workers and voters to double voting and glitches of the official vote tallying platform.
2024 Over 20 poll workers die of exhaustion, says KPU
2019 More than 300 election workers, police officers in Indonesia die of exhaustion
2014 - 150 workers died from similar causes during the 2014 presidential and legislative elections
THE SEALS AND THE DHOW - Seymour Hersh
In which we recall the 2 dead and 1 severely injured Navy Seals from that anti-smuggling operation that was kept under wraps but we all were distracted by the horrors of what's going on in Gaza:
The Somali dhow offered the White House a chance to justify its new offensive. It had been tracked by American intelligence since leaving Somalia because it was believed to be carrying ballistic missile parts needed by the Houthis in their ongoing campaign against Western shipping; The basis for that intelligence, which proved to be wrong, has not been made known.
American intelligence? Wrong? Damn audio is playin on loop
Back to the Lewis B. Puller. The more than a dozen senior officers from all services assigned to the ship’s command center were gung-ho to send the hot-shot SEAL team to intercept the dhow, compel the boat to stand to, and board it to find ballistic missiles or parts of weapons that were coming to the Houthis from Iran, known to American intelligence as a longtime supporter and supplier of weaponry to Yemen. But there was a serious problem. The issue is what is known in the Navy as the Sea State Code, which is based on terminology used in oceanography to describe the general conditions of the ocean’s surface, as determined by three key factors: wind, waves, and swell.
There are ten categories of sea state, and SEALs can operate with ease and safety up to sea state 3. One experienced retired senior American Navy officer told me that even four- and five-foot waves can sometimes create difficulties for a Navy tanker attempting to refuel an aircraft carrier, but it can be done with skilled maneuvering. No ship loaded with high-octane fighter fuel wants to crash into the side of a carrier.
When the seas get higher, to level 4 or 5, the waves and stronger current make boarding a targeted vessel, even a wooden dhow, an extremely dangerous prospect, in part because of the difficulty in handling steel ladders, known as caving ladders, that are standard SEAL boarding gear. The steps are lightweight aluminum tubes linked by equally lightweight steel cables.
What is hard to do at sea state 3 is deadly dangerous at sea state 4 or 5, a retired Navy officer, with years of experience in special operations, told me. “The waves are going up and down eight feet and more and you do not board a ship in heavy sea,” he said. He added that Navy captains of combat ships finishing a long deployment understand that crews due for shore leave are not permitted to leave the ship in such churning waters.
RuZZian propaganda against our Navy SEAL high level operators. They can handle it. Send them in!
The SEAL team leader said no. But he was ordered to carry out the mission, despite the obvious weather issues, and he did so.
The questions that were not asked, the retired officer said, were these: “Do we know if the dhow is carrying a ballistic missile or a box full of missile parts?” No. “Can you get a key to a launch site?” No. “Or a map of all the Houthi launch sites?” No. “Do Somali smugglers know the difference between a case of Johnny Walker Red and one of Johnny Walter Black?” Yes.
A RuZZian within our own ranks, it can't be!
The decision to ignore the concerns of the SEAL commander has been seen by the angered SEAL community in America as “beyond rational planning” and “a disaster waiting to happen.” I learned that one high-ranking member of the community, now retired, wrote a private letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, asking that the officer who overruled the SEAL commander be court-martialed for dereliction of duty as the buck-stops-here boss of the operation. “It will never happen,” the former officer told me. “Dead SEALs will go down in Navy annals as heroes, not victims.” His point was that the Navy would never acknowledge that the SEAL team had no business being sent on a search-and-destroy mission in such weather.
What the SEALS should do from my experience of watching other wars unfold is drive up to the capital in a caravan of military vehicles, then turn around halfway, then have your leader go on a lot of private jet rides
. I'm just speaking from experience here.Ezra calls for Biden to bow out gracefully. Will this be the opinion of the paper, or is he just wishcasting an opportunity to flex his knowledge of party nominating convention history/procedure?
is it just me or is google really pushing to take a phone number when im trying to log into my fake accounts
Every week we're going to get a new story about a scary Russian super weapon so the next weapon to promote is the microwave bomb from Batman Begins that now Poopin Putin has.
Hezbollah just fired a very deadly missile/rocket barrage toward Safed & Meron.
According to Zionist sources, there are ar least 2 deaths and a dozen wounded. There are reports of a “difficult” event at the IOF Northern Command HQ that was targeted. https://twitter.com/AryJeay/status/1757702577607602444
That's definitely a major strike, Hezbollah is still in the fight
Palestinian Factions To Seek Reconciliation in Russian Meeting
Russia has always supported the Palestinian aspiration to create an independent state within the borders prior to the 1967 Six-Day War.
On Friday, Russia announced a reconciliation meeting in Moscow between the main Palestinian factions, from the secular Fatah party to the Islamist movement Hamas.
"We have invited all Palestinian representatives, all political forces... There will be 12 to 14 organizations," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, adding that the meeting will take place between February 29 and March 1-2.
Bogdanov emphasized that Moscow has sent invitations to groups that are part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), but also to others such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement.
He stressed that the aim of these consultations is to pave the way for Palestinians to unite politically, noting that for Moscow, the PLO remains "the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."
Representing Hamas will be its political bureau member, Musa Abu Marzouq, announced Abdel Hafiz Nofal, Palestinian ambassador to Moscow. Fatah will be represented by Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the PLO executive committee.
The Islamic Jihad movement also accepted the invitation to participate in the intra-Palestinian consultations. The President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, urged Hamas this week to "quickly complete" an agreement to exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners to prevent "the evils of another catastrophe" in Gaza and a massive displacement of Palestinians similar to that of 1948.
In the current war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza - the second longest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948 - nearly two million Palestinians in the Strip have been forced to evacuate their homes as the Israeli offensive advanced in response to the brutal attack by the Islamist movement on October 7 against its territory.
Russia has been waiting for a visit to Moscow by Abbas, whose influence in the mediation process between Israel and Hamas is almost nil, as it does not act as an interlocutor nor has direct control over Gaza, where Hamas ousted the PNA from power in 2007.
Weeks ago, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov had expressed hope of bringing together representatives of the main Palestinian organizations in Moscow soon to overcome their divisions.
Similar reconciliation consultations took place in 2019 and 2017, when Fatah and Hamas demanded that Abbas form a national unity government.
Russia has always supported the Palestinian aspiration to create an independent state within the borders prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, with its capital in East Jerusalem and in accordance with UN resolutions.
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Nitter.cz is going down today, it was a fun ride, but Twitter blocked the last way of accessing their content without login. More info will be on https://nitter.cz
2/15/2024, 5:13:35 AM
A stock market that always goes up is just poor allocation of capital, right? Wealth must come from somewhere and flow somewhere. If a stock market continues to see growth, it inherently means wealth will flow towards those with the greatest stock value (the shareholders). By extension, wealth must be created by the workers, and this type of stock market serves only to transfer wealth from workers to shareholders.
A stock market is supposed to be used to efficiently allocate capital between different options, so assessing the aggregate value of a market sounds like it doesn't capture the actual point of the market, right? Assuming no economic growth and fixed interest in an entirely free market, you'd expect that stock market returns should be ~nil since it should efficiently allocate capital to where it's needed: profit in one sector and loss in another sector should equalize.
All this is to say: Japan's Nikkei has been going up despite a recession, and China's Hang Seng has been going down despite 5% growth. Yet, everyone points to the Chinese stock market as if it's an indicator for China's economy.
Ecuador cancels its decision to supply Russian armaments to the US. (Link in Spanish Only)
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.
Abu Obeida gives a speech for the first time in a month:
133 days since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, which has changed and will change the face of the region. It marked the beginning of the end for the longest and last occupation in contemporary history, leading to its defeat, disgrace, and exposure.
The Al-Aqsa Flood continues to evolve to eliminate injustice and aggression against Al-Aqsa and the land of Isra and Mi'raj, becoming a pivotal point in the history of our nation, by the will of Allah.
For 5 consecutive months, our steadfast Palestinian people in Gaza confront a Zionist-American war. Despite the brutalities and appalling massacres, this resilient and generous community stands resolute, refusing to surrender.
The defeat of those incapable of subduing a population whose children teach lessons of courage to the helpless adults. Women who raise generations and embody the essence of resistance, turning it into a legendary force of the era and an iconic symbol of courage, sacrifice, and heroism.
How can they defeat a population whose resistance is deeply embedded in their collective conscience, sharing the burdens of suffering, pain, and hope? They sacrifice their most cherished, with leaders and soldiers marching in the path of Allah, defending the holiest sanctuaries and the most significant causes.
Our fighters in Al-Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian resistance factions continue to confront a criminal army, the likes of which have not been seen in modern history in terms of its brutality, savagery, and repugnant racist ideology. They inflict unprecedented losses on the enemy's army, a level unseen in the history of our people's revolution.
Our fighters destroy the enemy's vehicles and armored units, engage heavily armed soldiers supported by tanks, aircraft, and military ships, setting well-prepared ambushes. They skillfully snipe at their officers and attack their soldiers from point-blank range.
Whenever the enemy thinks it is secure in a scorched area, our fighters emerge unexpectedly, conducting high-impact operations, fighting with the help, support, and guidance of Allah.
Simultaneously, battles with the fighters of our nation and its resistant forces continue on all fronts, expanding and intensifying in the face of the enemy's arrogance, aggression, and Nazi-like brutality.
We won't delve into listing the operations by Al-Qassam Brigades, as we announce them promptly 24/7. Some fighters' field conditions delay the announcement of certain missions. We prioritize security and complex field conditions, choosing to postpone the disclosure of some operations and scenes for safety reasons.
Additionally, Hamas in northern Gaza fired a barrage of missiles towards Ashkelon and Zikim in the northern Gaza Envelope, about 12 hours ago.
Like Gaza...
Children's Mercy hospital is treating 12 patients from the shooting at the Chiefs victory rally. 11 are children, 9 have gunshot wounds.
He can't keep getting away with it!!
ABC News: Two sources familiar with deliberations on Capitol Hill said the intelligence has to do with Russian Federation wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space
A high-altitude Nuclear-EMP creates an electric free field incident powerful enough to damage any microcircuitry onboard satellites (see: Starfish Prime Test), especially modern electronics due to increasingly thin structures (therefore electric breakthrough occurs already at relatively low voltages). We are hardening military systems against such EM incidents by shielding, e.g. on a ship using its hull as a Faraday cage. This can't be done on a satellite due to weight constraints.
First, a space nuke would disable recon satellites, both RF (radio frequency) and EO (electro optical), therefore making command blind. Second, it would disable GPS, therefore severely reducing effectiveness of ballistic and cruise missiles guidance (inertial guidance is drifting over time, losing accuracy over longer distances). Third, communication satellites (military but also commercial such as Starlink) would be disabled, leaving troops without orders in time of crisis. Finally, radars are cluttered for days by charged particles bouncing along earth's magnetic field lines, emitting EMI, making air defense and air operations almost impossible.
It would instantaneously nullify most of the US most powerful military assets. It's the ultimate preemptive strike weapon, so it's clear why they would be concerned.
So this is like Call of Duty MW3? I thought this was going to be like that CoD were the Venezuelans use a giant space station to send giant iron rods into California because they are ebil.
In Africa, Lula criticizes extreme right, talks about expanding partnerships and says Brazil has a 'historic debt' to the continent
Lula took part in a meeting of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In a speech, Lula also condemned attacks by Hamas and called Israel's response 'disproportionate'. He also advocated the formation of a global alliance against hunger.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) gave a speech during the 37th African Union summit on Saturday (17) in Ethiopia. In his speech, the Brazilian president criticized the extreme right, said he intends to expand partnerships with African countries and stated that Brazil has a "historical debt" with the continent due to the 300 years of slavery in the country.
The African Union brings together 55 countries from the continent and, in 2023, became a permanent member of the G20 - a group that brings together the world's largest economies, responsible for more than 80% of the global economy.
In his speech, Lula called for the reorganization of global governance, to increase the representation of African and Latin American countries, and said that the "racist and xenophobic" far right will not be able to solve world crises.
"Without the developing countries, it will not be possible to open a new cycle of global expansion that combines growth, reduction of inequality and environmental preservation with the expansion of freedoms," said Lula.
"The global South is becoming an unavoidable part of the solution to the main crises afflicting the planet. Crises that are the result of a model that concentrates wealth and that hit the poorest the hardest. And among them, immigrants. The alternative to the ills of neoliberal globalization will not come from the racist and xenophobic far right," added the Brazilian leader.
Before attending the African Union summit as a guest, Lula met with the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Shtayyeh.
According to the Planalto Palace, during the meeting with the Palestinian, Lula condemned attacks by Hamas and reiterated the need for peace in the Middle East, with the creation of a Palestinian state. According to the Brazilian government, Shtayyeh thanked Lula for his solidarity with the Palestinian people.
A meeting with António Guterres was scheduled for Saturday, but did not take place because the UN secretary-general canceled his trip to Ethiopia.
Also on Saturday, Lula will have other bilateral agendas and will attend a dinner hosted by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
In his speech, Lula also said that, as president, he wants to expand diplomatic and trade relations so that Brazil and Africa can grow "together".
Lula defended the formation of a "global alliance" against hunger, a Brazilian proposal during the presidency of the G20. And also partnerships in the areas of education, health and science and technology.
"We're going to work together to make Africa independent in food production and clean, renewable energy," he said. Lula pointed out that he has traveled to the African continent more than 20 times throughout his life. In his third term, this is the second time he has visited Africa.
"Brazil has always looked at the world without seeing the African continent. For many centuries, Brazil was governed looking at the United States and Europe. And Brazil didn't even see South America, let alone the African continent," he said.
Brazil owes Africa a 'historic debt. At the end of his speech, Lula said that Brazil doesn't have "all the money" and "scientific and technological knowledge" that he would like it to have, but that the country wants to "share" what it has with African countries. "Because we have a historical debt of 300 years of slavery and the only way to pay it is with solidarity and a lot of love," he said. Lula pointed out that "more than half of the 200 million Brazilians recognize themselves as people of African descent".
Lula spoke after the Palestinian representative at the African Union meeting. In his speech, the Brazilian president once again condemned attacks by the terrorist group Hamas on Israel, but called the Israeli response to the attacks "disproportionate", with the death of thousands of civilians. For Lula, the crisis in the Middle East will only be resolved with the creation of a "sovereign" Palestinian state and a "full member" of the United Nations (UN).
Still on the subject of international conflicts, Lula mentioned the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been going on for more than two years. He advocated a reform of the UN Security Council - with the inclusion of more developing countries and an end to the power of veto - in order to mediate disputes, and said that only politics and diplomacy will solve wars.
Lula said that, as president of the G20, Brazil will "support" discussions on the Global Digital Compact at the United Nations. For Lula, artificial intelligence "cannot become a monopoly of a few countries and companies", nor can it become "fertile ground for hate speech and disinformation".
"[Artificial intelligence cannot] cause unemployment and reinforce racial and gender biases, which accentuate injustices and discrimination," he said. "We hope to contribute to effective, multilateral governance in artificial intelligence that fully incorporates the interests of the Global South," said Lula. He also said that, together with African countries, he intends to "develop and build a family of satellites to monitor deforestation".
"The imperative to protect the two largest tropical forests in the world, the Amazon and the Congo, makes us protagonists in the climate agenda. The international instruments that exist today are insufficient to effectively reward the protection of forests, their biodiversity and the people who live there," he said. "With the recovery of degraded areas, we can create a real green belt to protect the forests of the global south," he added.
I’ve been thinking more and more about organizing psyops/disinfo against Zionists, and more broadly conservatives and liberals. Unfortunately, the kremlin and Beijing has cut our budgets and so we have to do everything from scratch.
What are some good resources to get learning about this? Particularly, more informative/instructional text on botting, COINTELPRO, and the likes. I know the military has war time psyop manuals and the FBI has a couple manuals as well. But I don’t remember what they’re all called.
The national security threat from Russia is the friends we made along the way
Army's testing out a new helmet to replace the ACH/ECH head protection systems. It's called the Next-Generation Integrated Head Protection System (NG-IHPS). Of course the dipshit nerds that make this shit brag about how it's lighter than the ACH, but leave out that they mean it's lighter than the original ACH but heavier than the Gen 2 model that's been out for almost 6-7 years now.
Also, while I'm sure they're keeping the more interesting details out of the press for now, they're bragging about using polyethylene instead of Kevlar saying it'll better "disperse the energy on impact" instead of "shattering like the latter" sure it'll probably at least do its job of catching some fragmentation, but would you be confident of your safety with a piece of camo-colored Styrofoam strapped to your head?
Tom Suozzi, of the Democratic party, and former Representative of the 3rd district of New York, won today's special election, due to the expulsion of Republican George Santos, and will return to Washington representing the district. The term runs until January 3, 2025.
George Santos, after the defeat of the Republican candidate in the 3rd district of New York, which he represented until his expulsion, posted the message below, in which he mocks the reduction of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, caused by his expulsion.
:troll:
The plot thickens. Yuliya Navalnaya made a surprise appearance at the Munich Security Conference 2024, which happens to start today, to appeal to everyone to punish the Russian regime. (NY Times)
News from Africa:
Constitutional Council of Senegal blocked the French neocolonial puppet from running another term in office:
The AES officially drafted the treaty of the confederation:
South Africa is sending some troops into the DRC. It doesn't seem like it's going to be a lot though:
On Wednesday, two Israeli airstrikes killed seven people in a building in Nabatieh and another three from the same family in a house in Souaneh.
On Friday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced the ongoing Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon.
"While Lebanon insists on the need for regional stability and calls on all parties to refrain from escalation, we have found that Israel continues its aggression, leading us to wonder what measures the international community has taken to stop this prolonged aggression," he said during the Munich Security Conference (MSC).
"Just two days ago, a family of seven was attacked in southern Lebanon, including women and children. Killing and attacking innocent women, children, and elderly people is a crime against humanity," Mikati added.
On Wednesday, two Israeli airstrikes killed seven people in a building in Nabatieh and another three from the same family in a house in Souaneh, marking a record number of civilian casualties in a single day since the beginning of hostilities four months ago.
Mikati reiterated Lebanon's commitment to "all" resolutions adopted by the United Nations in recent decades regarding Israel, a neighboring country to which he also urged to respect and implement those resolutions.
For that to happen, he pointed out that the Jewish state must end its attacks on Lebanon, stop violating its sovereignty, and withdraw from "all Lebanese territories occupied" in border areas, where there are 13 disputed points between the two nations.
"A stable, vibrant, and sovereign Lebanon is a basic necessity; not only for the Lebanese people but also for the peace and stability of the region," he said.
Mikati is expected to meet on the sidelines of the conference with a series of international officials as part of efforts to contain the border violence with Israel, including U.S. adviser and mediator Amos Hochstein.
Trade between the countries amounted to 21 million U.S. dollars in 2022.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that Cuba has established diplomatic relations with South Korea through the exchange of official letters in New York.
The letters were exchanged between the missions of the two countries to the United Nations to set up their ambassador-level diplomatic ties, according to the Cuban ministry.
"The establishment of official relations between the two countries was carried out in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and in conformity with the spirit and norms set forth in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961," the statement said.
For its part, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said that the establishment of diplomatic relations was an important turning point for Seoul to strengthen and expand diplomacy in Latin America.
The Ministry added that it would contribute to expanding substantial cooperation between the two countries.
Some 14,000 South Koreans had visited Cuba annually before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, while trade between the two countries amounted to 21 million dollars in 2022.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning that in May 2016, the chambers of commerce of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in the interest of boosting bilateral cooperation, especially the exchange of business-related information.
Cuba approved the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea, in 1949, but exchanges between the two countries had been cut off since the Cuban socialist revolution of 1959.
In a World Taking About War, Colombia Talks About Peace: Petro
"We are witnessing a genocide live and we cannot do anything or we are complicit with it," the Colombian president said. At the Security Conference held in Munich, Colombian President Gustavo Petro advocated for social justice as a way out of conflicts in the world.
"In a world that talks about war, Colombia is talking about peace and it's not the first time," assured Petro, who is the only South American leader at this high-level conference on Friday.
He participates on a panel alongside Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo, United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres, and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
"There is no nation that can be sustained and built by killing itself for 75 years," he said, alluding to the time during which Colombia has been experiencing an internal war.
When explaining the reasons for this long-lasting conflict, Pedro stated that Colombia is one of the world's most unequal countries, a nation in which colonial structures left a persistent legacy in its economy, culture and society.
He proposed building alternatives throughout the planet that would allow for the expansion of social justice as a mechanism to resolve conflicts between countries and within countries.
"We are witnessing a genocide live and we cannot do anything or we are complicit with it," Petro said, referring to Gaza. "What should we do? Barbarism, war, and bombing, or a new democratic pact between the North and the South?" he asked at the Munich forum, in which are also participating Israel President Isaac Herzog, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Making implicit reference to the numerous resolutions in favor of peace in the Middle East approved by the United Nations General Assembly, Petro called for listening to the voices calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
"Humanity has voted at the United Nations for the end of wars. Why don't they listen to us? Why do they have more planes?" the Colombian president asked, adding that "while more planes mean barbarism, more votes represent democracy, civilization, and humanity."
Cluster munition attack on a base with a concentration of forces and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Tsukurino
Footage of attacks on a Ukrainian military facility in the Tsukurino area in the part of the DPR temporarily occupied by Kiev regime
Coordinates: 48.089901, 37.290115
Reportedly destroyed:
- 2 infantry fighting vehicles;
- 4 trucks with ammunition and equipment;
- 2 minibuses and 4 pickups with personnel;
- warehouse wth military-technical equipment;
- up to 30 servicemen.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/88610
Syrskyi not off to a great start. Rushing in multiple reserve battalions to reinforce the crumbling Avdiivka front and concentrating forces behind the front has lead to sloppy logistics and Russia destroying whole battalions worth of equipment in a single strike.
Zaluzhnyi wouldn’t have made this error I don’t think, he would have retreated if he had his way.
War with Hezbollah to be 'Israel's' deadliest: 130-page Israeli report
spoiler
The potential war between the Israeli occupation and Lebanon's Hezbollah holds a grim reality for the Israeli occupation, as it would be the most devastating war it has gone through since its inception, as per a three-year study conducted by hundreds of experts at the Counter-Terrorism Policy Institute at Reichman University.
Israeli news outlet Calcalist shed light on the grim analysis of the potential war, which warns of unprecedented destruction and bloodshed in a conflict that could surpass the Israeli occupation's worst fears.
The exhaustive 130-page report was a collaborative effort of six think tank teams, consisting of 100 experts, former military and security officials, academics, and government officials. Notably, the team was led by Professor Boaz Ganor, a globally recognized pioneer in so-called "terrorism research" and the current president of Reichman University.
Despite the gravity of the findings, Calcalist suggests that doubts surround the timing of the report's release, hinting at possible concealment or manipulation. Ganor reportedly presented the report to various Israeli military and political leaders in the months leading up to the Palestinian Resistance's October 7 operation. However, the attempts to alert security agencies and decision-makers were allegedly unsuccessful, according to the Israeli media outlet.
The report was presented to senior Israeli officials over the span of 40 meetings with figures as high-ranking as former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Security Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and former Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, among others.
Ganor's report suggests that the war, anticipated to erupt from the north, will be overwhelmingly intense for the Israeli occupation, with Hezbollah launching a whopping 2,500 to 3,000 missiles per day. This barrage includes both statistically inaccurate rocket artillery and high-precision long-range missiles.
The relentless assault is projected to persist day after day, extending over three weeks from the outbreak of hostilities. The report warns that the resulting destruction will be unprecedented, accompanied by thousands of casualties on both the front lines and among Israeli settlers within occupied Palestine, sparking a state of panic and disarray.
The pace of the barrage will present unprecedented challenges to Israeli capabilities, depleting reserves of interception missiles for the Iron Dome and David's Sling within the early days of the conflict. The Israeli occupation could be left exposed to thousands of rocket and missile attacks without an effective and reliable defensive mechanism.
Intensive fire will target hangars storing military aircraft and precision missiles with explosive warheads will strike sensitive infrastructure, including power stations, electricity-related facilities, desalination plants, and transportation facilities in Haifa and "Ashdod", the report underlined.
The report's research team also issued a dire warning that a swarm of dozens of suicide drones flying at very low altitudes would target critical assets within occupied Palestine. These include weapons facilities, emergency storage facilities for the Israeli occupation forces, and hospitals that would be needed for the unprecedented casualties that would be incurred.
The assault won't be limited to physical attacks; critical transportation infrastructure, communication channels, and sites related to government ministries and local authorities are expected to face widespread cyberattacks, posing a serious risk of disrupting the economy.
The report highlights that chaos is expected to escalate within the Israeli occupation as Hezbollah prepares to send hundreds of fighters from the Radwan force into Israeli territories. Their primary objective would be to gain control of settlements along the border area with Lebanon and strategic military sites in the northern region.
Hezbollah plans to exacerbate panic and confusion through continuous psychological warfare, flooding the media and social networks with threats and information that deepen internal divisions. Additionally, those seeking to escape from occupied Palestine may discover that the country's air links with the world have been severed.
Ganor, a prominent figure in the region, pointed out that the Israeli public's expectations of the Air Force and intelligence formations preventing the majority of guided missile strikes on the Israeli occupation are likely to be disproven. The assumption that an intensive Israeli attack on strategically important properties in Lebanon will force Hezbollah to cease fire is also expected to be proven wrong.
Hezbollah will not be alone in this battle, as the report warns of involvement from organizations across the region. Resistance factions in Syria and Iraq, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, as well as Ansar Allah in Yemen, are expected to contribute to what the report describes as a "violent and extensive upheaval."
A report made in late January by Israeli media outlets saw the Israelis admitting to the Lebanese Resistance's capabilities, saying Hezbollah possessed the capability to launch approximately a thousand missiles at 'Tel Aviv' within a two-hour operational window. The report suggests that some of these missiles will be precision-guided, while others will be directed toward the skyscrapers in "Tel Aviv".
Israeli officials admitted that the Lebanese resistance, Hezbollah, has succeeded in emptying the settlements in northern occupied Palestine without the use of any force. According to the officials, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) commander of the northern region has received instructions not to escalate confrontations with the Lebanese resistance.
In a related context, a former Shin Bet official Dvir Karev told Israeli Channel 13 that "Israel" is currently in its third war with Lebanon and that Hezbollah has much more power than Hamas, both in weapons and in force. He questioned whether the IOF's power could be sufficient against Hezbollah and expressed hope that the confrontations would remain at a low level, acknowledging the many Israeli casualties.
https://nitter.cz/JakeSherman/status/1757775659475021938#m
There is supposedly going to be some hearing to declassify information about a "destabilizing foreign military capability".
https://nitter.cz/sentdefender/status/1757821213915611363#m
A U.S. Intelligence Official has reportedly told CNN that the National Security Threat is a “Highly Concerning and Destabilizing” Capability established by the Russian Armed Forces.
Edit: According to new reports, it's space-related and not urgent.
US eases restrictions on Wells Fargo after years of strict oversight following scandal
Best guesses until Wells Fargo fucks up on a royal scale again?
Ian Miles Cheong execution watch party when?
Yo, you cop those new Treezys?
When the newly rebuilt Mariupol apartments are better than mine
Told my mom Bolsonaro had his passport confiscated and was under investigation. She knew who he was but didn't know about Jan 8th, 2023, so that was a fun conversation.
The attack severely affected a shopping center housing a supermarket and a pharmacy.
On Thursday, Belgorod Governor Viacheslav Gladkov confirmed that at least five people died in a Ukrainian artillery attack on the city of Belgorod.
"According to preliminary data, 5 people died, including a child, and 18 others were injured, including five minors," he said on his Telegram channel.
According to the RIA Novosti agency, the attack severely affected a shopping center housing a supermarket and a pharmacy.
"Take cover in windowless rooms or, if you're outside, go to a shelter or other safe place," Gladkov urged Belgorod residents.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported the downing of 14 Ukrainian RM-70 Vampire rockets over the region throughout Thursday.
On December 30, 2023, twenty five people died and over a hundred were injured in a Ukrainian attack on a building housing a cafe and a bakery in Belgorod.
Subsequently, the bombings occurred on more occasions, and authorities decided to evacuate hundreds of people and extended the Christmas holidays for schoolchildren, among other security measures.
@TheCaconym@hexbear.net already posted this but top-level comment gang.
Republican warning of 'national security threat' is about Russia wanting nuke in space: Sources
Full Text
The White House's national security adviser said Wednesday that he had already scheduled a classified meeting with congressional leadership before a top House Republican requested that President Joe Biden "declassify all information" that relates to "serious national security threat."
Two sources familiar with deliberations on Capitol Hill said the intelligence has to do with the Russians wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space.
This is not to drop a nuclear weapon onto Earth but rather to possibly use against satellites.
"It is very concerning and very sensitive," said one source, who called it "a big deal." While not addressing the subject matter directly, multiple members of Congress have described the issue as serious -- but nothing that should cause public alarm.
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, was pressed several times by reporters at a White House briefing about the Republican intelligence request, but he declined to specifically say if Thursday's meeting will be to discuss that reported threat.
He also declined to provide further details about it beyond saying that, broadly, "Americans understand that there are a range of threats and challenges in the world that we are dealing with every single day," such as terrorism.
"i am confident that President Biden, in the decisions that he is taking, is going to ensure the security of the American people," Sullivan said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rep. Mike Turner, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that his panel had "made available to all Members of Congress information concerning a serious national security threat."
"I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat," Turner, an Ohio Republican, said.
A letter sent to members of Congress from the two top lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee, obtained by ABC News, indicated the threat is linked to "a destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known by all Congressional Policy Makers."
Turner, the intelligence chair, said he's making information on the matter available in a secure location to all members of the House in accordance with chamber rules. Sullivan said at the White House briefing on Wednesday that he planned to meet with lawmakers.
"I reached out earlier this week to the Gang of Eight" -- referring to the leaders of both parties in both chambers of Congress and the ranking intelligence members -- "to offer myself up for a personal briefing ... and in fact we scheduled a briefing for the four House members of the Gang of Eight tomorrow," he said.
"So I am a bit surprised that Congressman Turner came out today," he said, stressing that he was looking forward to the Thursday meeting.
He also said the White House has "has gone further and in more creative, more strategic ways dealt with the declassification of intelligence in the national interest of the United States than any administration in history. So you definitely are not going to find an unwillingness to do that."
"But just to be clear, Turner calls it an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability," ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked. "Are you aware that there is an emerging serious threat here that he's referring to?"
"'I'll just say that I personally reached out to the Gang of Eight. It is highly unusual, in fact, for the national security adviser to do that. I did that to set up a meeting. ... We'll have that conversation tomorrow," Sullivan said. "I'm not gonna say anything further."
Jeanne Shaheen, Thom Tilis, Chris Murphy and Cris Van Hollen is going to visit Hungary next week in the midst of the scandal about the fash president pardoning a pedo defender. I don't remember when was the last time US senators visited Hungary. Stuff seems a bit fishy. Edit: Apparently it's about Sweden and NATO btw.
some excerpts:
On Monday evening it was announced that Germany has the fourth highest rate of school dropouts among all EU countries, with only Hungary, Spain and Romania performing worse.
For almost two decades, the education ministers have drastically “underestimated” the need for educators, which is now taking its toll in the form of a historic teacher shortage.
OECD Education Director Andreas Schleicher researched the causes in two interviews. Quote: "To be honest, I have little sympathy for teachers who only insist that they are overworked." Furthermore, their job is "financially attractive, but not intellectually attractive."
The average school dropout rate in the EU improved from 10.5 to 9.6 percent from 2018 to 2022. In 2018, the Federal Republic of Germany was still above the line with 10.3 percent, but things have been going downhill since 2019. Germany was already in fourth-to-last place in 2021. “This is a sad revelation of German education policy,” said Bundestag member Nicole Gohlke(Die Linke). "Neither the federal government nor the Conference of Ministers of Education are able to decouple educational opportunities from the economic and social status of the family." And further: "A completely overburdened and underfunded education system is simply not a recipe for success."
Sorry but no education for you we got to buy some more weapons.
PMC KKKaren gets arrested for trafficking computer chips to Russia in the US https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7bnk3/globetrotting-millennial-woman-pleads-guilty-to-sending-dollar7m-of-drone-missile-parts-to-russia
Rule by pogrom
India: Renewed repression against Muslims amid upcoming electionsfull article
Repression against Muslims has increased in the run-up to India's elections in April and May. The scene of the latest violence against the country's largest minority is the northern state of Uttarakhand. It is ruled by the Indian People's Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is aiming to secure a third term in office in the upcoming vote.
On Thursday last week, the administration of the city of Haldwani razed a mosque with an attached Koran school to the ground with bulldozers. Apparently it was built on state property despite the lack of approval. However, the legal issue is still being heard by the highest court in Uttarakhand. When angry residents tried to prevent the demolition, emergency services used live ammunition against them, leaving five people dead. A state of emergency was declared over Haldwani. Police entered Muslim homes, attacked family members, including women, demolished property, and captured several men.
When a journalist from the news site Scroll.in visited Haldwani at the weekend, emergency services denied him access to the Muslim-inhabited Banbhoolpura district. Nevertheless, he went in and found locked houses and destroyed vehicles, while the residents no longer dared to go out on the streets. Many have already fled to other states.
Bulldozing the mosque is not the only anti-Muslim move by the Uttarakhand government. According to dpa, a law was passed in the state one day before the mosque was demolished, which, on the one hand, makes the cohabitation of unmarried people dependent on whether they receive official approval. On the other hand, it does not prohibit polygamy, which was previously permitted for Indian Muslims, for other Indians. The thrust is clear: under the motto “equal rights for all” the aim is to create a mood against Muslims. At the same time, legal options are created to take action against them.
This is not new in India. Rather, it has long been the recipe for success of Modi's Hindu nationalists, especially before elections, to turn the country's different population groups against each other and at the same time present themselves as defenders of the rights of the Hindu majority. This had already worked perfectly in 2002, when Modi was still Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat and allowed pogroms against Muslims to take place for weeks, whereupon he emerged as the radiant winner of the election at that time.
However, a polarization of the population and depoliticization of the election campaign is urgently needed this year. Farmer protests are currently being revived in India, as they completely paralyzed the metropolis of Delhi a few years ago. In India, too, fueling so-called ethnic or religious conflicts is a proven means of defusing and diverting legitimate social protest.
Does anybody know if there's any challenger to Modi in this election or will it be just another formality?
the best news to wake up to
Joe Biden
We have a live one, folks. A donkey-brained liberal (alleged) reporter who thinks that the way to do ethical journalism is to not give conservatives personal attention, but to seek out facts that boost their position and report those facts separately. Totally not manufacturing the illusion of consent for those conservatives' positions....
full comment
I can tell you, within the organization I work for, everyone is incredibly careful to avoid any indication of bias or reporting with an agenda. I realize that's not always true, especially with bigger outlets. However, I would have hoped that journalists would at some point get together and say no, we're not doing this, you report on it yourself. At CNN, they're not doing this, and don't seem likely to.
What's more, I have concerns that trying to treat both sides as equally valid tends to treat overt fascist, racist, and bigoted viewpoints as valid as those views which are not terrible.
I solve this by refusing to cover or quote any conservative politician for any reason, and when their positions or actions are involved to deluge an article in facts so that their actions and positions are accurately represented- something reporters don't achieve by printing quotes.
I would very much like to excoriate them from here and back and forth to the ending of all things, but then, even if I do that, I would give the impression of being a partisan hack. The best reporters are those whose names you generally don't know, regardless of how hard they work or how much they write.
It's a difficult vocation. I would just really like some more honesty within it.
I hereby copymarking Joe Dieden©™®
Nevertheless, Venezuela is willing to continue cooperating with international mechanisms for human rights protection on the basis of respect for national sovereignty.
On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil announced that Venezuelaz decided to suspend the activities of the Technical Advisory Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Caracas.
In the next 30 days, the Venezuelan government will carry out a comprehensive review of the terms of technical cooperation described in the Letter of Understanding signed with the OHCHR.
For this reason, the Foreign Affairs Ministry asked the OHCHR personnel to leave the country in the next 72 hours, "until they publicly rectify before the international community their colonialist, abusive and violating attitude of the United Nations Charter."
Gil explained that the previous decisions occur due to the improper role that the OHCHR has been carrying out as if it were the sounding board of the Venezuelan far-right, which has been planning five political destabilization plots in this South American country.
"The Office of the High Commissioner has maintained a clearly biased and partial position, constantly seeking to generate impunity for people involved in various assassination attempts, coups d'état, conspiracies and other serious attacks against the Venezuelan sovereignty and constitution, despite the damage that this type of criminal practices can generate on the peace and coexistence of a society," the Foreign Affairs Minister said.
"Venezuelan institutions have proceeded with patience and through dialogue, trying again and again to redirect the OHCHR actions towards respect for truth, international legality, and the norms ruling the treatment of human rights issues," he added.
Gil noted that the disinformation campaign about the human rights situation in Venezuela occurs precisely at a time when the world is witnessing the genocide that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian people.
Nevertheless, the human righs international bureaucracy acts with "a double standard" as it remains unmoved by the murder of over 10,000 Palestinian children and does not forcefully request an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
"On the other hand, the Office of the High Commissioner is very active in falsifying facts and prequalifying situations in relation to Venezuela, only to attack the sovereignty and self-determination of the country with lies, falsifications, disinformation and manipulations."
"With this performance, typical of the formulas of judicial colonialism, the OHCHR not only violates the UN Charter but also flagrantly fails to comply with the obligations contained in the Letter of Understanding signed with Venezuela and in UN General Assembly's Resolution 48/141, according to which the High Commissioner must 'respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal jurisdiction of the States'," the Venezuelan diplomacy pointed out
Although Venezuela suspends the activities of the OHCHR office in Caracas, Foreign Minister Gil confirmed that the Venezuelan state has every willingness to continue cooperating with international mechanisms and regimes for human rights protection.
This will happen "always on the basis of genuine dialogue and in strict adherence to the principles of objectivity, non-selectivity, impartiality, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs," he pointed out.
Nasrallah speaking now: https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/1758483880087069053
Indian Farmer Union Calls for 1-Day Rural Shutdown Amid Protest
The protest has erupted at a time when India is due to hold general elections this year.
A pan-India rural shutdown call given by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (United Farmers Front) and supported by Central Trade Unions evoked a partial response on Friday.
The farmer organization asked for the suspension of all agricultural work for a day and urged village shops, markets and businesses to remain shut. There was a mixed response to the shutdown call, which also saw public transport off the roads at many places in Punjab and Haryana, causing inconvenience to commuters.
Police fired tear gas shells to disperse protesting farmers when they moved towards the barricades at the Shambhu border near Ambala district in Haryana, about 200 km from Delhi. The fresh confrontation comes on the fourth day of the ongoing stand-off.
Scores of farmers with large convoys of tractors embarked on the Delhi march on Tuesday to press for their demands including a minimum support price for crops. The farmers were stopped near the Haryana border and tear-gassed.
On Thursday evening protesting farmers held the third round of talks with three federal government ministers over the issue. Though nothing concrete came out, the two sides were scheduled to meet on Sunday for another round of talks.
"We believe we will all find a solution together peacefully," Federal Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda said following the culmination of the meeting.
A farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said the farmers would hold off their march until Sunday. Meanwhile, farmer leaders said a 63-year-old farmer, who was among the protesters died of a heart attack at the Shambhu border.
The call for Delhi march was given by farmer unions to increase pressure on the federal government to fulfil their demands which also include pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases, compensation for families of farmers who died during the previous agitation.
India's opposition leaders have also extended support to the protesting farmers and condemned the government's action to use police force to stop farmers.
In September 2020, the Indian government passed three contentious laws aimed at "modernizing" the country's agriculture sector. However, farmers feared the new laws would weaken their position and make them dependent on corporates. Seeking revocation of the laws thousands of farmers sat on strike on the borders of the national capital then.
The strike went on for over a year after which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a surprise address to the nation announced his government was repealing the laws.
Farmers in India form a considerable size of voters. The farmer protests have erupted at a time when India is due to hold general elections this year.
Bolsonaro Admits Sending Money to US before Leaving Presidency
The Police suspected Bolsonaro intended to use the funds to finance his stay in the U.S. while awaiting a possible coup in Brazil.
On Friday, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro admitted to having sent US$163,265 to an account in the United States shortly before concluding his term, but claimed he did so out of fear of the economic policies his successor, Lula da Silva, would adopt.
Previously, the press leaked a document indicating that the Federal Police suspected Bolsonaro intended to use the funds to finance his stay in the United States while awaiting a possible coup in Brazil.
Bolsonaro clarified that the transfer was made from his savings account at Banco do Brasil to a branch of the same institution in the U.S., stating that the money remained in a Brazilian bank throughout. He added that sending money abroad is not a crime.
According to the Federal Police, the transfer was made on Dec. 27, 2022, five days before Lula assumed his third term as president of Brazil and three days before Bolsonaro traveled to Miami to avoid handing over the presidential sash to his successor.
"The Federal District (Capital) civil police have just charged Jair Renan Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro's fourth son, for the crimes of ideological falsehood, use of false documents, and money laundering."
Last week, a Supreme Court judge ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passport to authorities to prevent him from leaving Brazil. This preventive measure was taken while judicial authorities investigate his possible participation in the 2023 coup attempt.
A high-profile police operation, which led to the arrest of four prominent figures of the far-right, was carried out on February 8, 2023, following the order for Bolsonaro to surrender his passport.
According to the investigation, the core of the Bolsonaro movement discussed the possibility of preventing Lula's inauguration after his victory in the October 2022 elections.
Although this conspiracy did not materialize, it allegedly led the far-right leadership to encourage the violent assault on the three branches of government on January 8, 2023, which aimed to force a military intervention to overthrow Lula's government.
New York Supreme Court Schedules Criminal Trial Against Trump
Donald Trump is charged with 34 offenses related to the US$130,000 he paid to porn actress Stormy Daniel.
On Thursday, Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan announced that former President Donald Trump will stand trial for alleged irregular payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels starting on March 25.
The trial, which will commence with jury selection, could last around six weeks. Merchan has been in consultations with Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is to preside over the case of alleged election interference against Trump in Washington D.C., to coordinate the scheduling of both trials and avoid potential date conflicts.
However, the Washington case, initially slated for March, is on hold pending a decision on the appeal filed by Trump's legal team to dismiss the case on the grounds that it constitutes interference in the electoral campaign in which Trump is a clear favorite.
Dressed in his traditional blue suit and red tie, Trump addressed the press from a balcony before entering the courtroom, stating that Judge Merchan "already knows what he's going to decide" because he is "controlled by the Democrats".
"What's happening here is a disgrace. Our entire system is corrupt," Trump said, adding that he wanted to be present on Thursday to explain how "corrupt" the case is.
Trump is charged with 34 offenses related to the US$130,000 he paid to Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign to conceal an affair they had ten years earlier. This payment that was concealed with the collaboration of his lawyer, Michael Cohen.
On Friday, Trump also faces a complicated legal calendar given that another New York judge is expected to issue his final judgment in a civil case against the Trump Organization, which could result in a ban on operating in the real estate sector in New York state.
He will then face federal charges in Florida for mishandling classified documents after leaving the presidency, plus another case in Georgia for his attempts to overturn electoral results.
After announcing his decision on the date, Merchan engaged in a debate with Trump's defense, which sought to delay the start of the trial citing the intense schedule of Republican primaries, while the president scanned the room with a serious expression.
The lawyers also tried to discredit the main witness in the case, Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, but the prosecution maintained that they will have the opportunity to question Cohen as part of the process, as is customary.
Judge Merchan noted that he has already heard all these arguments on previous occasions and that the defense had nothing new to add.
Once the matter was settled, the prosecution's lawyers (the state of New York ) and Trump's lawyers sought to convince the judge to modify some of the questions that will be asked to potential jury members to determine their participation.
Some of the questions seemed to be aimed at identifying the political affiliation of potential jury members, something Merchan deemed unreasonable, although he clarified that he will address these issues later on.
I highlighted the dumbest parts:
Bundestag member Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) immediately called for even more money for rearmament in the form of a higher “special fund”.
"It's completely clear that we need 300 billion instead of 100 billion so that the Bundeswehr becomes combat-ready," he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday. It must also be ensured that this money is not “misused” to plug budget holes. Of course, he wants to stick to the two percent target set by NATO in parallel with the special fund: "This is only possible with re-prioritization and clear structural reforms."
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr said: “If we succeed in generating more growth, we will be able to invest more money in defense on a long-term basis.” That has already worked in the past: “The Cold War was there back then too won because the West was economically much stronger. We must therefore do everything we can to become competitive again.«
Andreas Schwarz (SPD) advocated in the SZ for permanently excluding defense spending from the so-called debt brake: "Excluding all defense costs from the debt brake would definitely be attractive." In this context, he particularly emphasized civil protection: "We need much more cyber defense , bunkers, mobile operating rooms, hospital supplies.«
Another Social Democrat has the home front in mind: The federal military commissioner, Eva Högl, wants a “serious and open discussion of concrete ideas and concepts” on the subject of compulsory military service, as she wrote in a guest article for the Table Media portal published on Monday. She suggested the formation of a "citizens' council" and suggested a "social year" based on the Swedish model, because "everyone should get involved in our society for a while." In order to make “the Bundeswehr omnipresent” and anchor it “firmly in the middle of our society,” “all young people should receive mail from the Bundeswehr once,” because “then everyone would actively engage with the Bundeswehr.”
Katarina Barley, SPD top candidate for the European elections. In an interview with the Tagesspiegel published on Tuesday, she expressed the view that the EU nuclear bomb could become an issue "on the way to a European army."
In light of Barley's comments, Fabio De Masi, the EU's leading candidate for the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht party, called for the European elections to be a "vote on this madness." Janine Wissler, co-chair of the Left Party, explained the demands of Kiesewetter and Barley: "The rearmament fantasies of Ampel and the CDU have apparently lost all measure." In this context, she also spoke out in favor of a "special fund," "but not for new weapons , but for a sustainable country with good schools, roads and rails."
Haven't seen this discussed here, sorry if it was mentioned a few days back or something:
Apparently a zionist group chat (well, at least two, one for creatives, one for lawyers) in Australia was organizing harassment campaigns against people who publicly supported Palestine and one of their members was disgusted enough to leak their chat logs to one of the targets. The group chat required everyone to use real names as display names so when the target made the logs publicly available, the group chat members' names were exposed.
Australia is now passing a law to ban doxxing.
LIVE VIDEO - ICJ hearigs over kegality of Israel's occupation of Palestine
CGTN streaming this is probably improtant subtext wrt to China's position.
Exclusive: Putin's suggestion of Ukraine ceasefire rejected by United States, sources say
"Everything fell apart with the Americans."
well yeah, no shit. sacrificing Ukraine is important to them
When the Ukraine War began my mind wandered towards wether the West would demonstrate the old Cold War pragmatism and eventually focus on winning the peace. Meaning that even if Ukraine lost the richer half of their territory, nothing could really stop the West from harnessing their still significant human and financial capital in order to ensure the western half is comparatively prosperous. It would mirror the situation with the Koreas as the US of the last century wasn't just a financial parasite. It made actual political investments whenever it was deemed necessary, in Latin America, in East Asia and in Europe. South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the whole of Europe and even LatAm at times - these countries all benefitted from american economic policy at one point. It wasn't just the libertarian romanticism of letting asset managers create wealth in a win/win scenario. It was ruthless pragmatism and a willingness to harness american power as part of world war competition. For an instance, what industry Brazil has today is because FDR did a major tech transfer during WW2. It was done to the chagrin of the american national bourgeoisie. It was one of the elements that lead to the Business Putsch conspiracy. All in all what mattered is that it secured Brazil's support and stability against the Axis.
Now? It's horrifying to see how the European Union is unable (nay, unwilling) to win the actual existing peace within itself. Sure, they treated Greece like garbage, and we all agreed to pretend that the country isn't stagnated into oblivion. But even so I wondered if the first peer conflict in the old continent in a century would light a fire under their arses. It didn't. Europeans are helping the Americans to hollow out the copper fillings of each other's homes. The trillion dollar investment required to make Ukraine more than just a lucrative tax farm and into an actual politically stable nation is never going to happen because the Europeans won't make that investment on themselves.
"I'm putting my foot down, Bibi! I'm putting it down. Do you hear me! I'm putting my foot down. Do you hear me! Do you hear—"
Softly at the President: "Mr. President - we lost the connection."
"What do you mean 'We lost the connection'? Did he hang up on me again?!"
The room is deadly silent as the president fumes like a fumarole which is an opening in or near a volcano where hot sulfurous gases emerge. The other people in the room are afraid. Their elderly president gets so mad at times like these they are afraid he'll give himself a stroke.
Tweet summary...
The Biden admin won't punish Israel for a Rafah military operation that doesn't protect civilians. Three U.S. officials told us no reprimand plans are in the works, meaning Israeli forces could harm civilians in the city with no American consequences.
US won't punish Israel for Rafah op that doesn't protect civilians - POLITICO
A section of Iran’s natural gas pipeline (pipeline 65) exploded near the city of Borujen. Firefighters are at the location. No injuries. The nature of the event is not clear as it’s getting investigated. The fire will expand as long as there is gas. https://twitter.com/AryJeay/status/1757539655795273837
Sabotage?
High-ranking SPD politician Katarina Barley expressed interest in a European army with the possibility of its own European nuclear weapons.
The words of Western barbarians are worth less than toilet paper: https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/spain-s-lies-about-ending-arms-to--israel--exposed--data-spe
lol Germany announced their plans to combat the rise of the far right
they aren't banning AfD
Key points from Nasrallah's speech on the Martyrs' Day of the Resistance:
The front in southern Lebanon provides pressure, support, and participation in defeating and weakening the enemy until the aggression stops. Political gains touted elsewhere will not affect them or make them cease the front.
The southern front is governed by deterrence measures and precise calculations by both sides, but there is excessive exaggeration, reaching the level of "moral decay and obscenity." Another scene of moral decay and obscenity is scaring residents of border villages through calls urging them to evacuate their homes, serving the enemy's interests.
Attention should be paid to the psychological warfare carried out by the enemy and its allies.
Providing information for free on social media to the Zionist enemy is unacceptable; they actively seek this information. Mobile phones are eavesdropping devices; thus, people are asked, especially fighters and their families in border villages, to refrain from using them to preserve lives and vital info. Mobile phones are lethal informants providing specific and deadly information. Israelis don't need to plant agents on roads; internet-connected cameras monitor all roads. Disconnecting these cameras from the internet is crucial to prevent further casualties, losses, and exposing the front to the enemy.
Hezbollah monitors all developments in the region, keeping all possibilities open, but Hezbollah’s focus is on the south of Lebanon, with their eyes on Gaza. When aggression stops in Gaza, the firing will stop in the south. Conversely, if firing stops in Gaza and the Zionist enemy engages in any action, Hezbollah will return based on the principles and equations that were previously established. The resistance's role is to deter the enemy, and their responses will be proportionate. Those who threaten Hezbollah with war expansion will be met with a similar threat. Anyone who imagines that the resistance in Lebanon feels fear or confusion for even a moment is suspicious and entirely mistaken. They build on incorrect assumptions.
Today, the resistance is more confident and has a stronger determination to confront the enemy at any level of engagement.
The Israeli Defense Minister must understand that if he starts a war against us, he will have 2 million displaced from the north, not a hundred thousand.
Found out a Croatian friend of mine was in Belgrade when NATO bombed it.
Xinjiang: Traffic light politicians demand VW withdrawal
Traffic light politicians are calling on Volkswagen to withdraw from the Chinese province of Xinjiang. This must "become a 'no-go' for Western companies, including VW," said FDP politician Renata Alt to the Tagesspiegel on Monday. “VW has to leave Xinjiang,” said Green Party politician Reinhard Bütikofer there. VW operates a factory there in a joint venture with the Chinese manufacturer Saic.Germans still on the Zenztrain
https://www.404media.co/taliban-shuts-down-queer-af-domain-breaking-mastodon-instance/
Taliban Shuts Down 'queer.af' Domain, Breaking Mastodon Instance
article
The Mastodon instance “queer.af” was effectively shut down by the Taliban, which has begun to operate Afghanistan’s “.af” top level domain after years of inactivity.
When the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, the fate of these domains and the websites on them became uncertain, and, three years later, another shoe now appears to be dropping. Last month, Erin Shepherd, the administrator of the queer.af Mastodon instance on the Fediverse posted that they have been “in limbo” since the Taliban retook control of the country, and had already planned to shut down in April. The Taliban shut the domain down roughly two months before it was scheduled to renew.
“queer.af has been suspended in the registry and will no longer be included in zone file generation. This means that any services connected with this domain, such as websites or email addresses will cease working shortly,” a message signed by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communications and IT, which is operated by the Taliban, reads.
queer.af was “a Mastodon instance for those who are queer or queer-adjacent who would like a more pleasant social media experience,” the instance’s description reads.
One particularly interesting quirk of the internet has always been the widespread use of country-level Top Level Domains (TLDs) by people and companies not actually in those countries. For years, “.tv,” which is administered by the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, was responsible for roughly 1/12th of the country’s gross national income, for example. Afghanistan’s TLD is “.af,” which worked well for anyone wanting to append “as fuck” to their domain.
“Until late last year, the .af registry had effectively ceased to exist, leaving everything in a state of limbo,” Shepherd wrote in a post last month announcing that queer.af was planning to shut down in April. “More recently, however, the registry has begun to operate again. Unfortunately, this is not really good news: this means it is now under the control of the Taliban government of Afghanistan.”
From “a practical perspective, this means that the present government has a desire to exert control over the country’s top level domain, and from an ethical and legal perspective this means that domain-related fees are now directed to the Taliban,” they added. “In light of this, the queer.af domain name (which expires on the 13th of April) will not be renewed. Because fediverse software does not support domain migrations, the queer.af instance must therefore close as a consequence.”
On Monday, Shepherd got the email from the Taliban, stating that it would shut down queer.af immediately. Shepherd said other .af domains registered by the domain registrar Gandi also got the same message, which suggests that there may be a wider purge of .af domains at the moment. Gandi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I made the proactive decision to shut things down upon it becoming clear that it wouldn't be practical (or, potentially, ethical!) to renew the domain. I assumed at the time that the domain would probably last until its expiration date; I wasn't expecting it to be terminated early,” Shepherd told me in an email.
queer.af was originally registered by a friend of Shepherd’s in April 2018 and became a Mastodon instance in July 2018: “It was a bit of an experiment—to see what kind of community one could create with exclusively ‘friend of a friend’ invites—it turned out it was a very nice one!,” they said, adding that a friend bought it “because it was neat, without a plan for it.
“We were very much aware that the .AF TLD belonged to Afghanistan and that there were potential upsets in the future,” they added. “In some strange ways, that made it more appealing —we knew that there were ways that this community experiment could end that were outside of our control, and not just due to us burning out or similar.”
Shepherd, a coder who contributes to various Fediverse projects, has migrated their own account to Akkoma, which is interoperable with Mastodon but has a handful of differences. The experience has highlighted that, while individual user accounts can be easily ported to other instances on the ActivityPub protocol, which Mastodon and Akkoma use, server instances cannot be. “Personally, I'm enjoying that I now get to revisit decisions we made 5 years ago. Mastodon was very much the right choice then for various reasons; but it's not my ideal ActivityPub implementation.”
They added that they will not be rebuilding queer.af elsewhere. “I've decided it's time for me to retire from that, for the time being at least. It'll be nice to be able to exist as just a user, not a representative of a community, where I can be a bit more relaxed knowing that things I do can't blow back on other people,” they said. “The community is mostly handling it pretty well; the vast majority of users have already found new homes. I still follow most of the users and still intend to keep in touch with them.”
The news has become quite notable on the Fediverse. One post I particularly liked: “no centralised social network could ever produce ‘the taliban deleted my account.’ that's a mastodon special.”
:::
Honorary fed of the day: Juliane Nagel
The demand from the Left Party's state parliament member Juliane Nagel to make the network of communist groups in Leipzig more transparent sounds like an application to the domestic secret service.full article
Leipzig is considered the Mecca of the so-called Antideutschen. Their name is misleading. Because the main political content of this movement, which can only be described as left-wing based on its self-image, is the unconditional defense of Israel and its actions against the Palestinians, in keeping with German reasons of state, with slogans such as “Street battle in Ramallah – the tanks are Antifa”.
The anti-fascist, NATO-compliant pseudo-radicalism of this hedonistic scene is increasingly repelling young leftists, who are now also joining forces in communist groups in Leipzig. As the “avant-garde of the day before yesterday,” the newspaper ND – the week now defamed “authoritarian” organizations such as Communist Construction (KA) or Young Struggle – with the obligatory accusation of anti-Semitism.
The left-wing state parliament member Juliane Nagel - patron saint of the "anti-German" scene based in the Connewitz district - is cited as the key witness against the Marxist-Leninists. These groups wanted to build a communist party, they acted in a non-transparent manner and tried to take over issues, for example in the course of tenant protests, warns Nagel. There is – oh horror – a “revival of class struggle motifs” to be seen. The KA network must be made more transparent, the politician is quoted in a long version of the ND article in Kreuzer Leipzig. Everyone must become aware that there are leading figures at work and that some of them are “front groups” in which the KA background is invisible.
This sounds a lot like an application letter from Nagel, who in 2021 called for “traditional anti-imperialism” to be subjected to a “general criticism” and to adopt left-wing peace policy based on GDR traditions, to the domestic secret service “Verfassungsschutz”.
Die Linke really deserves it's polling numbers. It's a disgrace what has become of the SEDs successor party.
Israel dropping bombs on residential homes in Gaza (cw dead injured)
Moody’s Just Told You So — Downgrades Israel, Warns That Weaker US Backing for Israel, War With Hezbollah Would Trigger Crash
By John Helmer, hosted at Naked Capitalism. Yves has a foreword:
Yves here. Helmer continues his discussion of the high and rising cost of the war in Gaza on Israel’s economy. Helmer was early to point out that Israel’s economy can’t endure a long war, even with US economic support. Too many important sectors are taking hits with no prospect of recovery under conflict conditions, and uncertainty when and if they could get back to their old level in the unlikely event that Israel backed down. Note that the ratings agencies are more timid about downgrades than Helmer indicates. For corporate issuers, the norm is to downgrade only when the bonds are already trading at a lower ratings level, as in to validate Mr. Market. Similarly, in the subprime mortgage securitization era, the agencies were extremely slow to downgrade, there out of reluctance to admit how poor their ratings practices had been. Mind you, that does not diminish the fact that presumed-late downgrades of Israel were pushed back a tad more by Israel and US temper tantrums.
Twice already the warning of the obvious has been posted in the money markets — Israel cannot survive a long war with the Arabs and Iran. In this long war, the gods do not favour the Chosen People, it was reported on October 27, three weeks after the Hamas offensive began. The decline in Israel’s export earnings from tourism and diamonds; the loss of imported supplies for manufacturing and consumption from the Houthi blockade of the Red Sea; and increasing risk to both imports and exports at the Mediterranean ports within range of Hamas and Hezbollah strikes were identified at that time. The international ratings agencies, Moody’s, Fitch and Standard and Poors, postponed announcing the obvious for as long as they could.
In attrition war, on the economic front just like the Gaza and other fire fronts, the Axis of Resistance wins by maintaining its offensive capacities and operations for longer than the US and US-backed Israeli forces can defend. Like troops, tanks, and artillery pieces, the operational goal is to grind the enemy slowly but surely into retreat, then capitulation. Last week, Moody’s had already decided in-house to downgrade Israel; for several days senior management fended off a ferocious attack from Israeli officials and their supporters in the US trying to compel postponement of the downgrade and the analytical report substantiating it.
On February 6, in a review of the shekel, bond, credit default swaps (CDS), budget deficit, and other indicators, the conclusion was there could be no stopping the money markets from moving against Israel. Negative ratings from the agencies raise the cost of servicing Israel’s state and corporate bonds, and put pressure on the state budget. A ratings downgrade is a signal to the markets to go negative against the issuer – this usually comes after the smart money has changed its mind and direction. In Israel’s case, however, there has been an exceptional delay between negative outlook and downgrade. The last Fitch report on Israel was dated October 17; Moody’s followed on October 19; Standard & Poors (S&P) on October 24. That Israeli and US tactics had forced postponement of new reports from the troika was obvious. A fresh warning was published on this website: as real estate and other tax collections collapse, Israel will have to make a large cash call on the US. This is going to come in the near future, just as the government in Kiev has been forced into calling on Congress as the Ukraine war is being lost. The longer both wars are protracted, the more obviously the loss of confidence expresses itself in Washington. Moody’s has now caught up. According to the Israeli press, this is the first credit and currency downgrade in their country’s history.
In a report dated last Friday but not issued until Saturday, the Jewish sabbath, the agency officially reduced Israel’s rating from A1 to A2, and added pointers of further downgrading to come. The Anglo-American press immediately reacted against Moody’s. “Israel hits back”, the Financial Times headlined. The newspaper added: “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, in a rare statement over the Jewish Sabbath, said: ‘The rating downgrade is not connected to the economy, it is entirely due to the fact that we are in a war. The rating will go back up the moment we win the war — and we will win the war.’” In the Associated Press report, “Israel’s finance minister blasts Moody’s downgrade”. Rupert Murdoch’s platform Fox claimed: “Israel has a strong, open economy despite Moody’s downgrade”. “Israel’s creditworthiness remains high,” according to the New York Times, “but the rating agency noted that the outlook for the country was negative… A rating of A2 is still a high rating.”
The press release version of Moody’s report is republished verbatim so that its meaning can be understood without the propaganda. Three points have been missed in the Anglo-American counterattack and Israeli government’s bluster. The first is the warning that Israel will soon have to request enormous cash backing from the US, and if there is any sign of weakening on that in Washington, the collapse of the Israeli economy and its capacity to continue its war is inevitable. The Moody’s report camouflaged the point this way: “The related issuances benefit from an irrevocable, on-demand guarantee provided by the Government of the United States of America (Aaa negative) with the government acting through USAID. The notes benefit explicitly from ‘the full faith and credit of the US’ and as per prospectus, USAID is obligated to pay within three business days if the guarantee is called upon.”
The second point strikes at announcements from Israel Defence Forces (IDF) generals and Netanyahu of their plan to expand their operations on the northern front – the Litani River ultimatum they called it in December. According to Moody’s report, “downside risks remain at the A2 rating level. In particular, the risk of an escalation involving Hezbollah in the North of Israel remains, which would have a potentially much more negative impact on the economy than currently assumed under Moody’s baseline scenario. Government finances would also be under more intense pressure in such a scenario.”
The third point is the most explosive. After cutting Israel’s rating to A2, Moody’s warned that further and deeper downgrades may follow, but that there is presently no way the ratings agency can predict what will happen next. “The ongoing military conflict with Hamas, its aftermath and wider consequences materially raise political risk for Israel as well as weaken its executive and legislative institutions and its fiscal strength, for the foreseeable future.” In flagging those last four words – “for the foreseeable future” — Moody’s has told the markets that the strategic initiative in this war has now passed to the Axis of Resistance. Of course, the Arabs and Iranians already know.
I just don't see why people could possibly think that the USSR will fall. It's been standing pretty securely there for the better part of a century and it has nukes, so if it does fall, it's not going out peacefully. You are all delusional if you think that the Soviet Union is just gonna collapse like that.
TeleSUR - entire housing blocks in Rafa destroyed CW devastation
Preparing for war
New “Operations Plan for Germany”: Expansion of “civil defense” called for in the event of a possible armed conflictfull article
Anyone who wants to wage war not only needs an army, but also has to ensure that relevant parts of the population support the armed conflict. One way to at least make this approval more likely is to give the impression that the protection of the civilian population would be guaranteed in the event of war. Similar to upgrading, it also makes tactical sense to create the idea that there is a deficiency beforehand so that appropriate measures become more plausible.
In this sense, the deputy chairwoman of the Union parliamentary group, Andrea Lindholz (CSU), said on Monday and told the dpa: "Germany is shockingly poorly positioned in the area of civil defense." Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is primarily responsible. Leon Eckert (Alliance 90/The Greens) explained: "Anyone who wants to protect human lives in the event of war must significantly strengthen civil protection in this changed security situation." Unfortunately, this message "has not yet reached everywhere despite the turning point" - an indication that rearmament is only is an aspect of preparation for war.
The debate about protecting the population in the event of war takes place in the context of the new “Germany Operational Plan” (Oplan). In this, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany receives a "defense plan" for a possible war (against Russia) with detailed specifications for military and civilian authorities. The Bundeswehr's Territorial Command (TFK) is supposed to complete the "operational plan" for the "overall state defense of the federal territory" by the end of March. The protection of the population and the defense of the infrastructure as well as the protection of a NATO troop deployment are explicitly part of the preparations.
While disaster control in Germany is a state responsibility, the federal government is responsible for protecting the population during war. Due to the enormous importance of involving the civilian population in a future war, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the federal states are listed in the plan as a “second pillar” alongside the Bundeswehr. A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed to the dpa that the ministry and the subordinate Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief closely monitored the creation of the "operational plan". The fact that there can be no talk of “protecting the civilian population” due to the immense destructive potential of an actual war between NATO and Russia or China is another matter.
Lindholz also called for the establishment of a civilian personnel reserve. In recent decades, the Bundeswehr's reserves have often been used in official and disaster relief, said the head of the planning department at the TFK, Frank Fähnrich, at an event organized by the "Bundestag Reservist Working Group" last October. In the future, however, it will primarily serve the “defense of critical infrastructure”. Because military strategists expect that in the event of war a large proportion of regular Bundeswehr soldiers will fight on the Eastern Front, some activities will have to be taken over by “homeland security regiments,” which primarily consist of reservists. So you have to rely on support on the home front. And what applies to professional soldiers applies even more to the civilian population, parts of which first have to be reacquainted with the topic of "defense of the fatherland" due, among other things, to the general conscription that was suspended in 2011: Anyone who wants to become a master should practice early.
Foundations for Volkssturm 2.0 being layed
Some news from another alpine country Austria:
Marxist-Leninist PdA drew positive conclusions at meetings in Linz
full article
Tibor Zenker left the Upper Austrian capital Linz satisfied on Saturday. The Labor Party (PdA) had just held its sixth party conference there. PdA chairman Zenker particularly emphasized "the young composition": "I think I was now the third oldest person present." In order to underline the perspective on the youth, the activists of the "Youth Front" also attended the meeting in the Volkshaus Linz. Ebelsberg took part.
The PdA was founded in 2013. It went back to the Communist Initiative (KI), which, according to its own statements, was formed in January 2005 as a "collective movement of Marxist-Leninist forces outside the KPÖ" after many years of factional struggle.
The party conference began on Saturday morning with a series of reports, including those from secretary Mathias Schneider and the international commission. Party leader Zenker's political summary focused a lot on the social emergency: "At the national level, the inflation crisis has had a full impact. Certainly, in a networked, internationalized economy, all countries have been affected in one form or another by rising inflation," he explained: "But it is astonishing: within the EU or the Eurozone, the inflation rate in Austria was one of the highest – and this in a constant way.«
He summarized the party's development not uncritically: »The past term of office made progress. Of course, these may seem too small or too slow to some. It cannot be denied that certain difficulties and inadequacies have still not been resolved." In the jW conversation, he remained just as realistic: "Inadequacies" were mentioned and there was "a lot of optimism." The difficulty: “Too much work for too few people.” A ten-member board is supposed to lead the PdA into the new term of office. Zenker was unanimously re-elected. The former KPÖ chairman Otto Bruckner remains his deputy. Also represented on the board are the Lower Austrian local councilor Armin Kollarik and Moritz Pamminger as representatives of the youth front.
The PdA is also a founding member of the European Communist Action (EKA), led by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Internationally, the task is to strengthen “the Marxist-Leninist pole in the international communist movement.” Requests for solidarity went to the Communist Party of Venezuela, Cuba and Palestine. Greetings from the DKP, the Communist Organization (KO) and the KPD-East arrived from Germany.
As part of the party conference, a rally was also held to commemorate the Austrian Civil War, the 90th anniversary of which began on February 12th. Three army soldiers died on the outskirts of Linz. After the fighting, the Schutzbund member Anton Bulgari was executed. Bulgari Square, where the PdA held the anti-fascist commemoration, is named after him.
“After ten years, the party conference showed that the party is alive and developing,” emphasizes Zenker to jW. He emphasized several times that "many young comrades would take part in the development": "We are on the right path, even if it will not be easy." Shortly before the party congress, the PdA had achieved a respectable success. The communist list she supported received more than 1,300 votes in the labor chamber elections in the state of Tyrol - an increase of 400 votes compared to a previous list. A move-in was narrowly missed.
Despite narrowly missing the mandate, the PdA was still satisfied when asked by jW. Top candidate Tobia Carfora now wants to continue working: "Under difficult conditions, the Communist List was able to convince over a thousand Tyroleans of class struggle demands and Marxist-Leninist content." He sees this as a "great and important success."
I know that Israel is certainly trying to force Palestinians into the Sinai/Egypt, but this final push in Rafah makes it all so real. This feels like the beginning of the end, and the realization of Israel's genocidal goal of ethnic cleansing and starving out the Palestinians in Gaza. It doesn't matter that Israel can't defeat Hamas. Their victory conditions and objectives are the destruction of the Palestinian people, not the annihilation of Hamas itself.
With Gaza and Hamas defeated, it's all but certain Israel will intensify its colonization of the West Bank and create a permanent and oppressed minority for generations to come.
The mantra behind liberal democracy and liberalism's virtues of human rights, rule of law, equality, fraternity, egalitarianism, and freedom are exposed as vicious lies and tools used to reinforce white supremacy and Euro-American hegemony.
In a twisted irony, the citizens of these polities are okay with the lie being exposed. The disillusionment is embraced, celebrated, and venerated. Human rights, equality, and dignity for us, not for you.
What is to be done?
A spectre is haunting Switzerland
Trotskyist organization mobilizes to establish the Revolutionary Communist Party
full article
A ghost is haunting the Alps – the specter of communism? The Swiss must have felt something like this in the past few weeks. In cities like Basel, Bern and Zurich, but also in smaller towns, posters repeatedly appeared asking whether one was a communist. If you answer this question in the affirmative, you should contact the group behind the campaign. Responsible for this is the Trotskyist organization “The Funke,” which is a section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) and claims to have members in more than 40 countries. The special thing about Switzerland is that the Funke is the largest association of Trotskyists and has a certain anchoring, especially in the university towns. But what kind of group is it exactly?
The organization was founded in 2007 and, according to its own statements, sees itself as a “Marxist movement within the Jusos and the trade unions”. It pursues the strategy of entrism, that is, working (openly or secretly) in reformist parties and organizations. While she hardly works in the Social Democratic Party (SP), her focus is on the Young Socialists (Jusos), who act independently of the SP. In some cantons, including Thurgau, the Trotskyists also temporarily formed the presidium and board of the Jusos. This was not always well received within the Federal Executive Board of the Jusos, who saw it as “infiltration.” The aim of the Funk was always to recruit “cadres” for its organization in order to build a “revolutionary party”. This goal now appears to have been achieved. As the Trotskyists announced in a statement on January 29, they wanted to create an independent party: the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP).
They emphasize the end of the “relative stability of Swiss capitalism” and the failure of the “SP and the union leadership,” which could no longer offer any prospects for working people. They see the climate and women's strikes as essential to this development, which brought "the question of revolution to the table." Since the Gaza War began on October 7, 2023, Palestine solidarity has also played a role. The organization also plays a role that should not be underestimated. So it is no longer a question of if, but when the revolution will begin. But the Funke is not only against capitalism, but also against the “crimes of Stalinism” and against so-called identity politics. He describes these as “divisive poison” and is particularly against “quotas, safe spaces and gender language”. With this attitude he is also relatively isolated in the Trotskyist spectrum. It remains to be seen whether he can also overcome the demanded lifting of the "isolation" of the "thousands of atomized communists" who are supposedly just waiting for a "fighting organization."
The Funke sees the Bolsheviks, especially Lenin and Trotsky, as role models. Caspar Oertli, a leading member of the organization, emphasized to the bourgeois Neue Zürcher Zeitung on February 9th that they were taking the lead to form “communist cells.” Although the population of the Alpine republic is not yet ready for communism, the "potential" is very great: "We are not the ones who wait, but the ones who fight." The Funke currently has around 300 members, pending the official founding conference on May 10th to 12th there should be 500. Whether the RKP will lead the revolution is anyone's guess.
The revolutionary movement in Switzerland was always relatively weak. The ambitions are definitely huge, even if they are a little too convinced of themselves: "Only the IMT has the potential." All other revolutionary organizations would "sleepwalk and sink into pessimism." The class struggle will definitely break out in Switzerland too - will the RKP become part of it? Let's see.
I think highly unlikely anything comes off it, but hey at least the Swiss get a new newspaper.
Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades (PFLP Military Wing) have announced the launch of West Bank groups under the name “Red Eagles”
Full text
🔴 Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades - West Bank: — In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. "Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the hearts of a believing people."
Statement No. (1)
We announce to our great people the good news of the reorganization and restructuring of the cells of the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in the West Bank. We address a word to the brutal zionist army occupying this land: the pure blood of our martyrs will not be in vain, and there will be vengeance for every drop of blood, and not just any vengeance.
We declare the launch of our groups in the West Bank, heralding the return of our Red Eagles to strike with an iron fist.
Long live the hands pressing on the trigger. Long live the sacrifices of our people and nation. Victory is ours. We will certainly be victorious.
And it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom. Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades - West Bank 12-2-2024
But muh NAME!!! Israelis might still want to be CALLED "Israelis"!!! Oh, the horror of not being able to rename the land you immigrated to out from under the indigenous people you've oppressed for a century. How could anyone survive such a thing‽
Why Iran is hard to intimidate
DETERRENCE IS A simple concept: using the threat of force to stop an enemy from doing something. America ought to have no trouble restraining Iran thus. The former has a globe-striding army; the latter relies on warships and fighter jets that predate the Moon landing. In practice, though, Iran has proved devilishly difficult to deter. It is hard to put off insurgents and militias with air campaigns; their goals are attrition and survival, not well-ordered governance, and they are willing to take casualties. Full-scale invasion may be the only sure way to deter them but the history of such interventions is salutary.
Hehe, they have SHIT PLANES and SHIT WARSHIPS, this should be like a walk in the park
. Also their tech being from before the Moon landing is just not true lmao, they might not have the most advanced weapons out there but they're far from being Iraq in the 90s, especially when it comes to their missile and drones tech.Also they have no interest in reliable "governance" (neither does the US then), they want chaos and their militians running wild through the region. Yes, this is pure orientalism. We must deter them, the future of mankind depends on it, we must have all options in the table and that includes FULL SCALE INVASION.
Since October the Islamic Republic’s proxy militias in Syria and Iraq have carried out more than 160 attacks on American troops. Some were harmless—more theatre than threat—but not the one on January 28th, which killed three American soldiers at a base in north-eastern Jordan. The Houthis, meanwhile, an Iranian-backed militia in Yemen, have for months waged a campaign of missile and drone attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea, choking off a waterway that handles perhaps 30% of global container trade.
Once again, western media lies about the Houthis and their motivations. They just attack random ships because they're "an iranian-backed militia".
America has begun to hit back. On February 3rd it bombed more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, the first round of what Joe Biden, America’s president, promised would be a multi-stage response to the drone attack in Jordan. It struck the Houthis the next day and again on February 5th. Two days later an American strike in Baghdad killed a leader of Kataib Hizbullah, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq. Yet the attacks from Iran’s proxies continue.
Common gringo L
Mr Biden’s hawkish critics think they know why: American threats are not credible because America is unwilling to strike Iran itself. They point to Operation Praying Mantis, during the “tanker wars” of the 1980s, in which America sank five of Iran’s warships and destroyed two of its oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
Critics on the left make a different argument. They see talk of deterrence as misguided warmongering and instead offer what they say is a simple solution: end the war in Gaza. If Israel stops killing Palestinians, Iranian-backed militias might stop their own violent acts.
Correct.
Both arguments miss the mark. It is true that hitting Iran’s navy in 1988 compelled it to reduce its attacks on oil tankers (and to stop targeting Americans altogether). But the Iran of 1988 was exhausted from a ruinous eight-year war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and bereft of strong allies. It had no choice but to back down. The Iran of today, by contrast, has a powerful network of proxies and a degree of support from both Russia and China. A round of American strikes might make it even more inclined to use those proxies—and, perhaps, to dash for a nuclear bomb as insurance against future attacks.
They absolutely hate the idea of Iran going for the nuke lol, they hate it that Iran has ways to deter the United States, their enemy, from doing something. A nuke-armed Iran will put the entire US presence in the ME at an existential risk.
As for the Gaza war, many of Iran’s proxies cite the conflict as justification for their acts. But history did not start on October 7th. Militias in Syria and Iraq have carried out dozens of attacks against American troops in the past decade. The Houthis, too, have a record of attacks on shipping; the war is merely an excuse to escalate what they were already doing.
What the fuck is this take lmfao? Suddenly and finally, western media acknowledges "history didn't start on October 7th" but they spin it in a pro-"israel" way. Yes, gringos were getting attacked in the Middle East before BECAUSE THEY'RE AN OCCUPYING FORCE.
America’s struggle to deter Iran stems from deeper contradictions in its Middle East policy, namely its desire to pivot away from the region while still keeping troops in it, leaving a military presence big enough to present a menu of targets but too small actually to constrain Iran. This reverse-Goldilocks arrangement had deadly consequences on January 28th. The drone attack in Jordan hit an outpost known as Tower 22, a logistics hub for nearby al-Tanf, a remote American garrison in Syria. Established during the campaign against Islamic State, no one can quite explain why al-Tanf still exists. American officials cite a range of missions, but in practice it mostly serves as a bull’s-eye for Iranian-backed groups whenever they want to lash out at America.
The Iranian regime views its proxies as vital for its survival: they are fighting a long war of attrition to drive American troops from the Middle East and hobble Israel and America’s allies in the Gulf. Deterrence can work only if that perception changes.
Perhaps Iran could be dissuaded from using its proxies if it thought America was prepared to topple its regime. After two decades of failed American adventures in the Middle East, though, neither Americans nor Iranians believe that is on the cards. America’s allies in the region do not believe it either. A decade ago, Israel and some Gulf states might have cheered American strikes on Iranian proxies. Then as now, the region was ablaze: Iran was helping Bashar al-Assad turn Syria into a charnel house, and the Houthis were sweeping down from their northern redoubts to seize control of most of Yemen’s population centres. A sustained campaign of American strikes might have changed the course of civil wars in both countries.
Today, though, those wars are basically settled—in favour of Iran’s allies. The regime has its hooks deep in four Arab countries. A few scattered sorties will not dislodge it. That is why Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have tried to improve their relations with Iran: if America cannot protect its partners, they reckon detente via diplomatic engagement and economic incentives is a safer alternative.
In a briefing with reporters after the strikes in Syria and Iraq, American officials talked not of deterrence but of trying to “degrade” the capabilities of Iranian-backed groups. That might be more realistic: if America blows up enough Houthi anti-ship missiles, they will have to stop firing (at least until Iran can deliver more). But that would require a prolonged campaign of the sort that Mr Biden may wish to avoid, which gets back to the crux of the problem. In the Middle East, America is torn between leaving and staying and cannot decide what to do with the forces it still has in the region. The status quo is not working—and, paradoxically, it is Iran that has deterred America from changing it.
Death to AmeriKKKa.
BRAZIL MENTIONED
I'm sorry, who approved this tweet?
Patrick Lancaster at an interview of Ukrainian defectors.
Edit. CW: homophobia, second guy should be shot.
Who would Netanyahu prefer as president? Biden or Trump.
This question is pertinent, because Netanyahu is in every position right now to royally fuck Biden over by leading him on behind closed doors and then making him accomplice to the horrors that are committed.
My take would be that Netanyahu would always prefer an even more right wing US, and that he would recognise his position of influence over the election. If I have recognised this I am certain he has.
Trump will win.
To make @Kaplya@hexbear.net post bellow on Gorbachev even worse i remembered this gem of Gorby straight up selling the GDR out ,Mitterand going "bruh what the fuck are you doing, lets support Honecker?" and Gorby being so excited to push ahead with the reunification that even Thatcher being like "shouldnt we slow down a bit?"
On the eve of the famous negotiations in Arkhyz regarding the future of Germany, Gorbachev, through his assistant Chernyaev, contacted Helmut Kohl and began to lament: “I have nothing to feed the people, give three or four billion deutschmarks, and in return you will get everything you need in Arkhyz.” This phrase contains all of Gorbachev. He took loans from the West and was ready to pay for them not only with the integrity of the community of socialist countries, but also with the existence of his own country.
In addition to the negotiations between Gorbachev and Kohl in Arkhyz, in December 1989 the Soviet leader met with French President Mitterrand in Kyiv. Mitterrand invited Gorbachev to fly to Berlin together to support Honecker. Gorbachev’s reaction: “If you want to fly, fly!” But I won’t fly.” I also remember how Thatcher suggested to Gorbachev not to resolve the issue with Germany solely personally, but to create a commission on this matter that would include England, France and the USSR. Thatcher feared that as a result of Gorbachev’s unification, the western part of the country would swallow the eastern, and instead of a single German nation, there would be an “Ossie-Wessie” conflict. Gorbachev, in my presence, reacted to the Iron Lady’s proposal in this way: “I don’t want to wash the British and French’s dirty laundry, but I will support the unification of Germany.” This is how Moscow surrendered the GDR, Honecker, and all the East Germans.
I know for sure that at the negotiations in Arkhyz, Helmut Kohl asked Gorbachev whether Moscow intended to somehow help Erich Honecker, the SED and the entire socialist elite of the GDR. Kohl clearly thought that Moscow intended to help its German generals. But Gorbachev answered him: “These questions are your internal matter, and you know better how to deal with whom.”
But Gorbachev’s decision to “surrender” the GDR was not his personal one. The decision to “surrender” the GDR was suggested to him in June 1989 by George Bush, when the Gorbachev couple were in Washington. On the eve of this historical “clue,” US First Lady Barbara Bush “processed” Raisa Maksimovna “just in case.” These women worked in a well-coordinated tandem on the eve of the collapse of the USSR. In order for Gorbachev to commit another betrayal, one thing was needed: for “dear Barbara” and Raisa Maksimovna to put pressure on the painful ambitions of Mikhail Sergeevich, and he, from the consciousness of his own historical importance, swelled like a soap bubble. In such an inflated state, he received his Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. This was both payment for the betrayal of the socialist bloc, and an advance for the already planned and agreed collapse of the USSR
Смотрите оригинал материала на сайте "Совершенно секретно" : https://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/banda-chetyryekh-i-gorbachyev/
they're really desperate for that money huh
Alexander Stubb has been prime minister and deputy director of the European Investment Bank.
On Sunday night, the presidential candidate for the National Coalition Alexander Stubb narrowly won the Finnish presidential election.
He got 51.6 percent of support in the final round, while Independent Green candidate Pekka Haavisto obtained 48.4 percent, according to the Justice Ministry.
"I can promise that I will do my best every single day for this task," Stubb said, adding that Finland is now entering a new era.
"I would like to continue along the lines of Niinisto, but it is understandable that a new era is starting," said Stubb, who will be sworn in as the Nordic nation's 13th president on March 1, replacing Sauli Niinisto.
Sami Borg, an election analyst for national broadcaster Yle, said the result is the tightest in the era of a direct popular vote.
During the election evening, Haavisto's share kept increasing as the count progressed, but he was not able to catch up with the difference. The voter turnout was 70.7 percent, down from 75 percent in the initial round.
Stubb, 55, had worked as a member of the European Parliament, member of the Finnish parliament, Finnish prime minister, foreign minister, and deputy director general of the European Investment Bank. He holds a Ph.D. in international politics and speaks Swedish, Finnish, English, French, and German.
A presidential election is held in Finland every six years. The election is conducted through a direct popular vote. Nine candidates competed in the initial round on Jan. 28 this year, with the top two advancing to the final round.
Ok so superbowl shit... Why do weird americans think Balenciaga is satanic? I'm not sitting through 20minute videos about a fashion brand.
Do not consider him a silent pawn in the hands of fate, which was carried along with the flow - Daria Mitina about Gorbachev
“Thirty-four years ago, on February 10, 1990, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, during a meeting in Moscow with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, expressed consent to the unification of Germany.... The fate of Germany largely depended on the position of the USSR. After this conversation with Gorbachev, the unification process started, the resolution of legal issues began. The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic signed the “Treaty on the Restoration of German Unity” in Bonn on August 31, 1990, it entered into force on the night of October 3. The German Democratic Republic with its course towards socialism ceased to exist..... ...However, it was not that specific meeting between Gorbachev and Kohl that influenced the course of history - it was preceded by many events that led to this,” historian Daria Mitina explained to 360.
She emphasized that Gorbachev “behaved like a full-fledged traitor,” but the February conversation with Helmut Kohl was only “a link in a huge chain of betrayals,” a logical result of the almost six-year policy of the Soviet leadership aimed at destroying the socialist bloc and ultimately leading to the collapse of the USSR.
“The problem is not what happened at the specific meeting on February 10, 1990. <…> Then, unfortunately, as a result of the policies of the sold-out Soviet leadership led by Gorbachev, little could be changed. In Germany, after the events of 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall and so on, public opinion was determined that Germany would be united and the Iron Curtain would fall. This entire set of myths and cliches was introduced into the heads of the population of the eastern bloc of socialist countries, people's democracies, including as a result of the treacherous policies of the Soviet leadership. But in 1990, no matter what Gorbachev said, no matter how he behaved at the meeting with Helmut Kohl, the process had already been launched. This snowball rushing down the mountain was unstoppable” (Daria Mitina).
She explained that the entire policy of the Soviet leadership since 1985 was aimed at destroying the socialist bloc, “the forcible closure of the socialist project,” which generally justified itself. Socialism collapsed not under the pressure of natural causes, but in a violent, voluntaristic way. This was preceded by a series of so-called velvet revolutions throughout the Eastern European socialist bloc. By 1990, German society was ideologically prepared for further events, the historian believes.
“The Germans were taught for many years in a row that it was the policy of the Soviet leadership that was preventing their united people, who longed for unification, from uniting. But this was objectively not the case. After World War II, Germany was divided into capitalist and socialist states, and it was not an artificial division - it was a natural process, a natural result of the war,” Mitina explained.
She urged not to consider Gorbachev “a silent pawn in the hands of fate, carried along with the flow” - in her opinion, he deliberately pursued a policy to eliminate the USSR and the entire socialist bloc of Eastern Europe.
Daria Mitina emphasized that the division of the Germans has still not been overcome. Between the two parts of Germany there remained a difference in ideology, social status, and sentiments.
“It is enough to at least look at the election results in these two parts of Germany (which still remain parts, despite the lack of borders): it seems that the same parties are operating, the same state policy, but completely different sympathies, moods, until now the difference in living standards has not been leveled out,” the interlocutor told 360.
According to her, it is capitalist society that creates “artificial barriers” between people."
https://360tv.ru/tekst/mir/kakuju-rol-sygral-gorbachev-v-obedinenii-germanii/
The Country of the Week is Brazil!
As mentioned in the preamble, feel free to post or recommend any material related to Brazil, whether from a thousand years ago or yesterday. You can post it anywhere in the thread, but you can also reply to this comment if you wish.
If you're feeling particularly ambitious and want homework, you could take on any or all of these questions (no reward, but I'll be very proud of you):
- Who are the main political actors? Are they compradors, nationalists, international socialists, something else?
- What are the most salient domestic political issues; those issues that repeatedly shape elections over the last 10, 20 years. Every country has its quirks that complicate analysis - for example, Brexit in the UK.
- What is the country's history? You don't have to go back a thousand years if that's not relevant, and I'm counting "history" as basically anything that has happened over a year ago.
- What factions exist, historically and currently? If there is an electoral system, what are the major parties and their demographic bases? Are there any minor parties with large amounts of influence? Independence movements? Religious groups?
- How socially progressive or conservative are they? Is there equality for different ethnic groups, or are some persecuted? Do they have LGBTQIA+ rights? Have they improved over time, or gotten worse?
- What role do foreign powers play in the country’s politics and economy? Is there a particular country nearby or far away that is nearly inseparable from them, for good or bad reasons? Is their trade dominated by exports/imports to one place? Are they exploited, exploiters, or something in between?
- If applicable, what is the influence of former colonial relationships on the modern economy and politics?
- Is the country generally stable? Do you think there will be a coup at some point in the future, and if so, what faction might replace them?
The previous country was Germany.
The Geopolitical Reading List is evolving...
I saw the Israeli twitter account posted a Memri TV video. Extremely funny considering Israeli government funds them. I'm just thinking about them responding to one of the fake memes we see saying something like: "Wow, this terrorist wants to be strapped to a rocket and fired at Tel Aviv! Still support Hamas?" or something like that
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is dead, the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where he had been serving his sentence said on Friday.
In a statement published on its website, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said that Navalny "felt unwell" after a walk on Friday, and "almost immediately lost consciousness".
It said that medical staff had been called, but that they were unable to resuscitate Navalny. It said the reason of death was being established.Lula's twitter post after meeting with the Arab League:
"I return to Cairo in the context of the terrible humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas attack on October 7 against Israeli civilians is indefensible and deserved Brazil's strong condemnation. Israel's disproportionate and indiscriminate reaction is unacceptable and constitutes one of the most tragic episodes of this long conflict. The human and material losses are irreparable. We cannot trivialize the deaths of thousands of civilians as mere collateral damage. In Gaza, there are almost 30,000 fatalities, mostly children, the elderly and women. 80% of the population has been forced to leave their homes. The situation in the West Bank, which was already critical, is also becoming untenable."
"At a time when the Palestinian people need support the most, rich countries have decided to cut humanitarian aid to the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The recent allegations against the agency's staff need to be properly investigated, but they cannot paralyze it. Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will also be left destitute. This inhumanity and cowardice must be stopped. The federal government (Brazil's govement) will provide new funding for UNRWA."
"We call on all countries to maintain and increase their contributions. The most urgent task is to establish a definitive ceasefire that allows for the provision of sustainable and unimpeded humanitarian aid and the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. The persistence of the conflict in Palestine goes far beyond the Middle East."
"We proposed and defended resolutions in the Security Council, which we chaired in October. We support the case brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa on the application of the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It is urgent to stop the killing. Brazil's position is clear. There will be no peace until there is a Palestinian state, within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders, which include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital."
"The decision on the existence of an independent Palestinian state was taken 75 years ago by the United Nations. There are no more excuses to prevent Palestine from joining the UN as a full member. The resumption of peace negotiations is a universal cause. And it is our cause. I renew my wishes of peace and prosperity to all."
the will it wont it over the chinese economy is overblown imo, china is just going to solve the current overproduction crisis like it's solved every other one: by sending everyone back to the countryside
the incentives are already in place, rural salaries going up, local governments propping up urban housing for the foreseeable future, consolidation and partial 'nationalization' of those deemed important enough, reduction or outright cancellation of previously tenured positions eg doctors. also a reality tv show about dumb d list celeb kids playing at being farmers and causing untold amounts of damage by driving tractors into ditches and power lines
the zoomers and alphas will get to come back once the current international situation stabilizes a bit, they'll have their own gpcr down in the tier 4-'s with drones and llms instead of universal healthcare and education
it's probably the only reason they haven't shuffled wen tiejun up into some comfy bureaucratic position where he can stfu and retire in peace, he's the only one who actually enjoys evangelizing for this shit
Gaza will be on the ballot, at least in one Houston congressional Democratic primary.
Some fascinating politics underway in a Houston Democratic primary where the war in Gaza is becoming a central issue. This text message went out to a bunch of voters, claiming to be from Lizzie Fletcher boasting of her AIPAC endorsement and her strong support for “Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorists.” She does say that and is indeed backed by AIPAC, but she’s crying foul, saying her campaign didn’t send the messages.
The suggestion in her statement is that her opponent or an ally did it to highlight her link to AIPAC.
https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1756508765304598870
https://nitter.net/ryangrim/status/1756508765304598870
Lizzie Flercher is the Democratic incumbent. Her primary opponent in this district (TX-07) is Pervez Agwan, a progressive Muslim man who has been accused by campaign staffers of hiring/protecting sex pests on his staff, as well as accused by staffers of being a sex pest himself.
Lizzie is a corporate girlboss backed by AIPAC/DMFI and big oil who the DNC/DCCC intervened on behalf of in the 2018 Democratic primary over a somewhat more progressive opponent, which pissed a lot of locals off. She defeated longtime GOP rep and all around scumbag John Culberson in 2018. In response to the "blue wave" of the 2018 midterms, in which Republicans in the Houston area in particular got their shit rocked, the state GOP redistricted, moving a bunch of the rich white neighborhoods into other districts to make them more safely Republican.
As a result, TX-07 is a majority-minority now includes what are probably the largest South Asian, Arab, and Muslim areas in the Houston, as well a significant portion of some of the largest East Asian neighborhoods. A significant portion of Houston's most established Jewish neighborhoods are also within the district. Almost every major Pro-Palestine protest I can think of in the Houston area has happened within the district, and the Israeli Consulate is also located in TX-07.
is reacting to the Navalny news...
: Low unemployment and high stocks means the economy is fantastic, jack
: 
news: crypto is again at 2 trillion evaluation
