Bulletins and News Discussion from February 26th to March 3rd, 2024 - Breaking The Siege Of Omdurman - COTW: Sudan
Bulletins and News Discussion from February 26th to March 3rd, 2024 - Breaking The Siege Of Omdurman - COTW: Sudan
The war in Sudan has so far been marked by a lot of incompetency and mismanagement by government forces (the SAF). After months of bitter fighting, in late 2023, the opposing Rapid Support Forces suddenly expanded their control towards the southeast of Khartoum after not a lot of resistance, most notably taking the city of Wad Madani. This led the SAF supporters and officials to panic and point fingers at each other about what the hell the army is even doing, while RSF soldiers looted the city.
These victories led to a short period in late December and early January where diplomacy and peace talks were considered, but such attempts fell apart. The leader of the RSF visited various African countries, including meeting Paul Kagame in Rwanda, to boost his legitimacy. Then, the RSF attacked into South Kordofan and consolidated their hold on other areas.
The Sudanese capital of Khartoum sits on a river which divides it from the city to its west, Omdurman (see the post image). The SAF and RSF have been fighting over this grand urban area for the whole war, with the RSF holding most of Khartoum (with an entirely cut-off SAF force holding on in the center), with a similarly cut-off SAF force also in eastern Omdurman, up against the river. For 10 months, this force has been under siege - but no longer. In perhaps the first actual W of the war for the SAF, they finally managed to break the siege a week ago, pouring supplies in. This leaves a section of the RSF now cut off, though Omdurman is still not under full SAF control (and, who knows, the whole situation could once again go badly for the SAF).
Meanwhile, the Sudanese socioeconomic situation has completely collapsed, with potentially a 20% fall in GDP and 8 million people displaced, with 2 million from Khartoum alone. 18 million Sudanese, or about a third of the population, is in acute hunger, and 20 million children are out in school. The refugees streaming out of the country are causing knock-on effects in neighorboring countries like Chad. Nobody is even really counting the dead anymore.
Red is the government forces, the SAF. Blue is the RSF opposition. Other colours are various factions.
The Country of the Week is Sudan! 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.
If anybody wants to know what the hell I've been doing for the last month that has disrupted the Goddamn News schedule, it's been creating this hefty list of theory that is now up on the bulletins website. It's far from finished, but I got to like 75 pages in Google Docs and I was just tired of sitting on it for any longer.
And these aren't all just crusty books from the 1940s. There are a couple on there from 2024 and quite a few from 2023, for example.
The regular posting schedule will be continuing ASAP.
Hamas statement on Aaron Bushnell
The heroic pilot, Aaron Bushnell, will remain immortal in the memory of our Palestinian people and the free people of the world, and a symbol of the spirit of global human solidarity with our people and their just cause.
Western leftists are the most domesticated and toothless people you'll ever see. The leader of the Danish conservatives just dropped dead at age 52 from a cerebral hemorrhage. As can be expected from a senior conservative politician he was a vile disgusting little turd of a man, a nationalist, a monarchist and a zionist who never saw a cop, a flag or a troop he didn't want to shag, never saw a refugee, a minority or a poor person he didn't want to harm and never saw an oligarch he didn't want to enrich. He was a pompous self-righteous prick who always kicked downwards.
And how does the Red-Greens, the self-described revolutionary socialists who are the furthest left you get in this deeply unserious country, react? I swear to God, they released a statement about how good and generous a man he was and about what a great loss for democracy him kicking the bucket is. Not a word about the evil he did or the pain he caused his victims.
With leftists like these, why do we need succdems?
PRESS RELEASE: #Nicaragua institutes proceedings against #Germany and asks the #ICJ to indicate provisional measures
Nicaragua accuses Germany on charges of abetting genocide in Gaza
my god reddit is a cesspool. I went to check out if the massacre is even being allowed on /r/worldnews:
> top post is titled "IDF says it fired on Gazans who endangered troops in stampede; Hamas claims 70 dead" from fuckin timesofisrael
> top comment is a guy agreeing with that IOF position saying something like 'I agree with the IOF, looks like they all died in a stampede or by trucks, looks chaotic!'
> looked through that guy's comment and it's an Israeli. guy also has comments denying the Tantura massacre.
incredible website. I'm gonna delete my account and block the website for good now, absolutely repulsive place.
Not sure if this has been posted about yet but after years of effort and fierce resistance the uyghur genocide article on wikipedia has changed its name from uyghur genocide to "Persecution of Uyghurs in China" the article itself is still really bad but the fact that this has finally happened is a pretty telling sign that reality is catching up.
when someone publicly martyrs themselves to protest genocide: I can't believe people are acting like there's anything to celebrate or condone here! Killing yourself for a cause is selfish, cowardly, and ineffective. Think of his poor children! when someone willfully delivers themselves to be imprisoned by the government that has already tried to poison them: the most noble of sacrifices, my epic sir. This sends a message of bravery and courage no one will forget. I'll ask my wife's boyfriend if we can name their child Navalny o7Aaron Mate is the most vindicated man on Earth
They finally admit it. He spent years interviewing people and investigating the source of the chemical attacks and they just tweeted it out
Skimming through the r/politics mega on the Michigan primaries when I see this gem:
For those of you unfamiliar with how the US government works, the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 gave pretty much all authority over arms exports to the President. Congress currently has no ability to veto arms deals and I believe they have never actually successfully stopped an arms sales. Biden, however, could simply revoke the export licenses on Israeli weapons, though.
What Congress has been doing for the past half century is giving Israel store credit that has to be spent on US weapons, of which only the president can authorize export.
Looking at the reactions to the self-immolation, it really is impossible for liberals to comprehend anyone sacrificing themselves over something they strongly believe in. Just a total ideology of selfishness. The two main ways to discredit or distract from what this guy did are either calling him mentally ill, or ignoring what he did entirely and focusing instead on that one cop.
RT - Ukraine ready for war with China – top MP [2024-02-24]
Kiev is ready to assist the US in a war against any enemy, be it Iran, North Korea, or China, a senior Ukrainian MP has said, claiming that his country would prove to be a valuable military ally.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday, Aleksey Goncharenko doubled down on calls for the US to send Ukraine more military aid amid gridlock in Congress.
”Ukrainians are ready… We are ready to stand with the United States shoulder-to-shoulder, either in trenches near Tehran, or in North Korea, or near Beijing. No difference,” he stated. “Because we appreciate your support.”
Despite his plea for more Western military aid, Goncharenko argued that Ukraine has “the second strongest army in the free world” after the US, making it “a very valuable ally.”
Xi (Foolishly) Plans Communist Answers For China’s Property Crisis. Forbes
If the leaks and rumors are true, Beijing stands ready to launch a new and radical solution to the economy’s property crisis – a government takeover. What the authorities refer to as “a new model” would replace the old emphasis on ownership with more rentals and use government funds to buy up bankrupt properties so that in time the government’s role in real estate would rise from 5% of the market at present to 30%. Such an act would surely take the nation back to its communist roots if not quite the days of Mao Zedong. If it would veil the property crisis for a time, it would in the long run do tremendous damage to China’s economic prospects.
Aaron Bushnell may have been reacting to mandatory deployment orders to Gaza. When liberals come at you with the blah, blah, blah, radicalized, blah, blah, blah, mental illness, blah, blah, blah you can throw in their faces that he was about to be forced to go conduct the genocide (even if this isn't necessary for his act to be heroic).
I feel like the whole world is unraveling.
This is a very depraved and evil society. I used to imagine it was out of willful ignorance, being overburdened, and exhausted. I still believe this is true to a certain extent, but I am coming around to the belief that this is deliberate and willful complicity; complicity of depravity, of indifference.
And where once there used to be a facade of attempt at denying this, everyone in power is openly embracing genocide. Israel supporters are brazenly celebrating this.
Geopolitics and its government administrators aside, I'm really disgusted at ordinary people choosing the wrong side - the side of genocide - in this moment.
latest Zionist atrocity is stomach-churning. the "Israeli" terrorists sent in an aid convoy with food, a bunch of starving Palestinians showed up, the IOF terrorists opened fire on the starving people killing at least 104 and injuring 750, running over many dead and wounded with tanks
Zionists Use Food-Baits To Attract And Kill Starving Civilians | Moon of Alabama
EDIT: PressTV now says 150 dead
Dot you Worry international Shipping Lanes , the Germans have Arrived.
Heavy losses inflict ‘dramatic manpower crisis’ on Israel
by The Cradle.
The Israeli military is demanding an addition of at least 7,000 soldiers to its forces due to a serious manpower crisis. The 7,000 are needed on top of the soldiers already enlisting, the Israeli army said on 1 March. “The army requires standards for another 7,500 officers and noncommissioned officers, while the Treasury currently approves only 2,500. These are unprecedented numbers, which indicate the shock that befell the IDF following almost 150 days of fighting, which began with heavy losses on 7 October,” Hebrew news site Ynet reported, citing the army’s General Staff. “The army is compiling the data that will explain how dramatic the manpower problem is,” it added.
Just one day ago, Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, called to end draft exemptions for members of the ultra-Orthodox community. Gallant said he would only support legislation allowing for continued exemptions if all members of the ruling coalition backed it. The minister asserted that “all parts of society” must “bear the burden” of service. Gallant’s position could result in tension with ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, viewed as integral to the current government's survival, according to Hebrew media. However, the army’s demand for a boost in manpower “has nothing to do with politics or the demand for equal burden: The situation is simply not good and does not match the threat map,” Ynet wrote.
Israel is taking severe losses in its genocidal war in Gaza and its attempt to eradicate the Palestinian resistance. While Israel claims that Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah is the final Hamas stronghold, the group’s military wing, along with several other factions, continue to fiercely confront Israeli troops across the strip. A source from within the resistance told Al-Mayadeen on Thursday that the Israeli army has been forced out of Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, where it had been operating over the past eleven days in an attempt to clear out Hamas fighters. The source added that the neighborhood is a “graveyard” for Merkava tanks, and the “bloodied and torn” uniforms of Israeli soldiers are spread out across the battlefield. Clashes between the resistance and the army continued to rage on 1 March in several areas of Gaza, including the southern city of Khan Yunis and the Jabalia area in the northern strip.
In all, the military situation still appears to be in Palestine's favour, which is quite remarkable given that we've been in this conflict for 5 months now. The bloody mathematics of attrition is playing out in both Ukraine and Israel.
Lmao. https://twitter.com/krystalball/status/1762664068727415088
On CNN right now, Nina Turner is speaking to the moral outrage of the US enabling a genocide in Gaza and the entire CNN panel + Anderson Cooper are all panicking and desperately trying to bring the convo back to the safe space of the horserace.
Nina Turner is explaining why ~16% is uncommitted and they're panicking.
🇨🇺 Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez: — Cuba joins the global mobilization in support of Palestine on March 2nd. In all provinces and in Havana, we will take to the streets in solidarity with our brotherly people and to condemn the Holocaust that "israel" aims to cause in Rafah. Everyone for Gaza!
Free Palestine.
It's really depressing how much worse shit has gotten globally. 1950s style sexism seems to have made a grand comeback, men in positions of power don't even face the minimal consequences they used to when caught abusing a woman, attitudes towards LGBT rights seems to be going backwards, racism has never left but people aren't even pretending to be "politically correct" anymore. That's not to mention ongoing wars and genocide because of Western military domination. The Ukraine war will probably end up being more devastating than Iraq when all is said and done, and Israel is killing Palestinians and committing genocide at an unprecedented rate. Not even during the height of the war on terror of the 2000s was Israel doing anything near as devastating as they are doing now.
Genuinely have no idea what my place in this world is. Should shit go south in South Africa (lol), and I was looking to try to move to one of the "pro LGBT humanist" western countries, they would probably hate on me if my partner was the wrong race. Yet if I were to go to another country on the African continent, there would be a ton of hate for being LGBT. Like is there any place on this planet for us? Trying to maintain hope with everything that's happening globally but it's getting really hard. Where do we go from here, honestly. Everything seems set in motion already, and there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it except for playing their expected part. Maybe the grass is greener where you water it, but community outreach is really difficult.
The ship, "Rubymar", reportedly sank today after a previous attack by Ansar Allah.. The article, for some reason, consults the "internationally recognized Yemeni government" (still operating in exile) who confirms that the ship did indeed sink.
The Rubymar was owned and registered by a U.K. company, flying under the flag of Belize, delivering cargo from Saudi Arabia to Bulgaria, and managed by a Greek shipping company. Naturally,
has decided that the ship is Lebanese.One idea under discussion among Trump allies as a way to drive the Palestinian wedge deeper into the Democratic Party is to run advertisements in heavily Muslim areas of Michigan that would thank Mr. Biden for "standing with Israel," according to two people briefed on the plans who weren't authorized to discuss them publicly.
lmao Trump is definitely going to win.
FRANKFURT, March 2 (Reuters) - Germany is investigating an audio recording published in Russian media reported to be a conference call of high-ranking German military officials talking about weapons for Ukraine, sparking concerns of espionage in Germany and calls for clarification from Russia. A German defence ministry spokesperson said on Saturday that it couldn't confirm the authenticity of the recording, but the Federal Office for Military Counterintelligence Service was investigating the matter and all necessary steps would be taken.
The recording can be found here on vk.com. I listened to it and think that it's authentic. Around 30:00 one of them says: "Imagine the press gets wind of this"
Edit: The German Ministry of Denfense confirms the authenticity of the recording (Article in germ*n)
The Intercept has posted an article saying that the push for the "Hamas weaponized SA" NYT story was largely pushed forward by senior leadership, and that journalists are concerned that the author of the piece will be used as a scapegoat.
“The New York Times said, ‘Let’s do an investigation into sexual violence’ — it was more a case of them having to convince me,” she said. Her host cut her off: “It was a proposal of The New York Times, the entire thing?”
“Unequivocally. Unequivocally. Obviously. Of course,” she said. “The paper stood behind us 200 percent and gave us the time, the investment, the resources to go in-depth with this investigation as much as needed.”A lot of the article is just Schwartz admitting that she couldn't find any evidence at all until she started asking the IOF/Israeli police, who said a bunch of shit that has since been debunked, and who pressured her to run the story as soon as possible. She also said that she had not spoken to a single woman who claimed to have been assaulted.
To be clear, Schwartz is former IOF and a terrible human being, but she is also totally unqualified as a journalist, and her being picked to lead the article makes it abundantly clear that NYT editors wanted an article from nothing.The Guardian: Several Nato and EU members considering sending soldiers to Ukraine, Slovak PM says
I remember back in 2022 how the "cooler heads" had to explain that NATO troops killing Russians fundamentally could not be allowed to happen. Impressive how far we've come.
Max Blumenthal brings up an important point: Aaron Bushnell - possibly among other Air Force members - were enlisted against their will to participate in the Palestinian Genocide:
US Airman Aaron Bushnell did not kill himself to protest some other country's war
The US Department of Defense has compelled the participation of Air Force members like Bushnell in Israel's Gaza genocide
Their orders to deploy to Israel read "mandatory"
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1762196403969728851
George Galloway's response to the Prime Minister is fucking good: https://youtu.be/J7p7CAyxHgg
looks like it's confirmed that Bushnell was a trans woman:
article by "DJ Muel", who Bushnell was a fan of: https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-can-we-do-99384971
A person, who by all accounts of what information I can find online, was a closeted trans person (he used he/she pronouns in other discords I shared with her, and overwhelmingly went by the name of "Lilly" on her youtube and twitch and discord accounts) who was in the US Air Force, an organisation that has indeed in the past simply disappeared individuals who express any sentiments that their operations are unjust or evil, who knew in fact that one day soon, she may be sent to murder innocent Gazans in one of the most despicable genocides in recent history.
Happening today: https://skwawkbox.org/2024/03/01/starmer-challenger-calls-for-new-left-mass-movement-outside-labour-party/
Starmer challenger calls for new left mass movement outside Labour Party
Former ANC MP and arms trade campaigner will address activists from around UK tomorrow at Collective launch – and poses real threat to friend-of-genocide ‘Labour’ leader
spoiler
Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP under Nelson Mandela and leading critic of the global arms trade, will use a speech this weekend to endorse a new political alliance billed as the foundation of the first organised mass movement of the left outside of the Labour Party.
Feinstein’s speech will be the centrepiece of a conference called by dozens of former Labour councillors and other independent candidates. The event will take place in ‘Labour’ leader Keir Starmer’s home constituency of Holborn and St Pancras in London.
Feinstein, who has lived in the constituency for more than two decades since moving to the UK, has already signalled his willingness to stand against Starmer as an independent candidate and has been selected as candidate by the OCISA anti-Starmer group, attracting a groundswell of support both locally and nationally.
Local campaigners say there is real vulnerability in Starmer’s majority, established under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party, especially given the controversies embroiling Labour over the war in Gaza. Starmer looks even more vulnerable after yesterday’s landslide victory for Workers Party GB leader George Galloway in Rochdale and the collapse of Labour’s vote from over 50% to less than 8%, with Starmer’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza a major driver.
The new movement – dubbed ‘Collective’ – has been established following months of deliberation amongst grassroots campaign groups and prospective independent candidates for both council and parliamentary elections. Though it is not establishing a new party in time to contest this year’s election, it intends to do so onceit has grown a mass membership base.
Feinstein said:
It’s not just Labour Party members who were the victims of Starmer’s entirely fictitious campaign for leadership of the party. The people of Holborn and St Pancras also elected him twice on a socialist platform under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Having lived in the constituency for over 20 years, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and strength of feeling amongst local communities – and across the country – who are crying out for a response to the deeply corrupt, anti-democratic and out of touch Labour Party under Starmer. Under his leadership, the party has now completely abandoned working people and marginalised communities in an escalating effort to out-Tory the Tories.
But this election must do more than just provide an alternative to the pro-genocide, pro-austerity Sunak-Starmer circus. It must also mark the beginnings of a new mass movement of working people that can challenge the Westminster bubble once and for all. That’s why I’m proud to be joining Collective which is uniting sections of the left and will eventually transform into a new political party backed by an organised and democratic movement.
Collective spokesperson Pamela Fitzpatrick, independent candidate for Harrow West:
Our political system – and now the Labour Party itself – is fundamentally anti-democratic and rigged against new parties, especially on the left. The only way to address this is to build a mass movement outside of the Labour Party as a foundation for a new political party that is truly free of vested interests and which can offer a real alternative to the pro-austerity and pro-war two party system. All around the country, independent candidates have and are coming forward to fight this election on a common platform calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a real pay rise and decent housing for all, higher taxes for the rich, an end to privatisation of the NHS, and an end to unnecessary and unjust war. That is the foundation which Collective will build on, and eventually transform into a political party that will change the face of British politics.
Some tweets about the Flour Massacre:
Ground level view (CW: sounds of gunfire): https://twitter.com/GozukaraFurkan/status/1763184975199818094
Bird's eye view: https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1763182831574884660
Screenshot of the bird's eye view with dead bodies labeled: https://t.me/QudsNen/97590
The IOF fucked up because even Zionist protestors are protesting the Flour Massacre: https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1763463757462725075
https://nitter.poast.org is the only Nitter instance that still works at this point. And it's probably going to go down soon.
"US to airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza — how it can help and why it’s so complicated" https://apnews.com/article/airdrops-israel-gaza-palestinians-biden-9e6cfb3a2c7d909ca2a8a2abd25793ca
No paywall, text in reply.
WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
The U.S. believes the airdrops will help address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, but they are no replacement for trucks, which can transport far more aid more effectively — though Thursday’s events also showed the risks with ground transport.
The fucking risk, AP, is that Israel will open fire on any gathering of people, no matter how docile or noble (hospitals). Not just "general risk."
Maddeningly both sides-y too.
The Biden decision comes after at least 115 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 others were injured on Thursday trying to access aid in northern Gaza under disputed circumstances, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
u N d E r D I S p U t E d C i R c U m S t A n C e S
After threats and abuse, British lawmakers question their safety over Gaza
have you considered the true victims of the genocide are some of the people responsible for carrying out the genocide?
ps is that the Iranian flag used by the diaspora? the Iranian diaspora truly is the worst diaspora why do they suck so bad
Rishi Sunak stood before the lectern outside number 10 today to give a speech where we thought something would be announced.
Instead, he talked non-stop about how forces exist in the United Kingdom that are trying to tear apart the very fabric of "our democracy", he talked about how extremists had taken over our streets (pro palestine protestors), he likened all pro palestine supporters to islamic extremism, and he specifically namedropped Galloway's win in the by election yesterday as a threat to our democracy. The only real thing of consequence in his speech was where he told the police that they should start actually policing the protests (inviting them to crack heads) and that the government would "have your back when you start doing this".
I never thought a speech by Rishi Sunak could leave me feeling so upbeat and optimistic but here we are. It's afraid.
Speech here: https://youtu.be/xlEKUxptTTA
Transcript: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-on-extremism-1-march-2024
The redacted part is about Galloway: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-downing-street-speech-gaza-israel-mps-safety-b1142682.html
Look at the user account that posted this, and the subreddit that they posted it to.
Yes it's their official account. Why is the torygraph posting to Green and Pleasant?
Another mod banned them, I'm tempted to allow them and to monitor it. I don't think they have anything to gain by being a poster in GaP, but GaP could gain a lot if they intend to start some drama with GaP at the center. I'm taking it as another sign an election is imminent.
With just how awful everything is this feels like me just adding stuff to it but here goes.
Germany currently is diving headlong into fascism after germans patting themselves on their collective backs for protesting the AfD and them polling 2% worse now (21% to 19%) all is fine again.
So fine that the German Landstag is currently thinking about forcing asylum seekers to work. Literally enforced labour, don't say slavery though because they'll be paid handsomely, 0,80€ per hour. Germany is quite literally doing a repeat of the last century and with the given trajectory they'll literally have work concentration camps up by the 2030s, only this time they've learned and will only do this against Muslims.
And worst is that germans feel very good and accomplished about themselves because again went on the street to hold up a cute little anti-AfD sign, when all politicians are currently falling each other trying to pass the latest fascist law and policy.
The endurance of Humanity is always something to behold and says something about the future, at least to me
Aight fuck it, here's milei trying to embrace a clearly uncomfortable Trump at CPAC
Be aware, it's extremely cringe.
Expelling US troops: Iraq's resistance efforts gain steam in Baghdad
The article's a little too long to quote in full so I'll be picking the most important parts out.
Against the backdrop of the widening, US-backed and armed Israeli war on Gaza, the US airstrikes against Iraq and Syria were meant to deliver a strong message of deterrence to Iran's allies in the Axis of Resistance, who are targeting US military interests in West Asia in response to the carnage in Gaza. But the strikes have instead served mainly to embarrass the Iraqi government and its domestic allies, prompting a reevaluation of the country’s relationship with Washington and reviving calls for an end to the US military presence in Iraq.
Despite a steady stream of US threats and intimidation tactics employed to deter the Iraqi resistance since late last year, these factions have incrementally increased and expanded their engagement in the region-wide war, driven by their commitment to the Palestinian resistance and its liberation goals. The Iraqi groups have a specific goal: pressure Washington until it forces a Gaza truce – a strategic target that reflects the unity of purpose among the resistance factions in Iraq and the region.
...In Iraq’s case, the greatest military burden was assumed by four of the resistance factions identified by Kataib Hezbollah Secretary General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi: his own group Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Ansarallah al-Aufiaa. As one IRI official tells The Cradle: "The fronts are opened at the discretion of the leaders (of these groups) themselves, based on religious, ideological, and moral commitments stemming from the nature of the Iraqi character in the first place."
Over the past few months, the IRI has demonstrated its versatility by employing a variety of tactics and weaponry in around 188 separate military operations against US targets. These range from missile strikes on US bases in Iraq to drone attacks against US occupation forces in Syria, and even include the targeting of distant Israeli territories such as Ashdod, Haifa, and the occupied Golan Heights. An official source in the IRI confirms to The Cradle that "We bombed with ballistic missiles American bases, even those in Iraq, and this was not limited to distant targets in the depth, or in the occupied territory."
However, as tensions escalated, strains in the relationship between Baghdad and Washington became palpable. The Iraqi government found itself caught between the embarrassment of complicity and the challenge of maintaining control over security affairs. Even some of the resistance factions themselves felt the squeeze of external pressures, notably Kataib Hezbollah, who on 31 January announced a temporary suspension of operations against US forces and Israeli targets. The halt came in the immediate aftermath of the killing of three US soldiers in Tower 22 along the Jordanian-Syrian border, in an Iraqi resistance operation unprecedented in its depth which was viewed as a direct challenge to Washington's perceived invincibility. As expected, the operation caused a spike in tensions, causing some ferocious shuttle diplomacy in the following days and provoking a strong, disproportionate US military response.
For factions like Kataib Hezbollah and Al-Nujaba, the decision to suspend operations was a calculated move to gauge Washington's response. Yet, the US military's targeted assassination of Kataib Hezbollah commander Abu Baqir al-Saadi caught them off guard, eliciting a sharp condemnation of the US attack from Baghdad. Saadi’s faction, it should be noted, is part of the Popular Mobilization Units that defeated ISIS, and is therefore under the umbrella of the Iraqi armed forces. This time, the Iraqi government had no choice but to side with the resistance, while the IRI issued a stern warning to the US in which it signaled a return to operations.
...What cannot be ignored, however, is that these diplomatic initiatives followed a series of coercive measures by the US Treasury to diminish the value of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar. While Iraq - both officially and among its various political factions - insists that leveraging the volume of Iraqi oil exports as a bargaining chip in the global market is an ineffective negotiating tool, there are those who anticipate seizing the opportunity of market scarcity to increase their share by two million barrels. Sudani mission is a difficult one. He must hammer out a solution that fulfills his government's commitment to remove foreign military forces forces from Iraqi soil without triggering negative US repercussions.
According to leaks, the Iraqi prime minister reportedly reached an agreement with the IRI to suspend its military operations against US bases in order to facilitate his negotiations for the complete withdrawal of international coalition forces from Iraq. Yet, any decision in this regard risks eliciting a negative response from Washington, which brandishes an ever-present arsenal of pressure tactics. This is particularly concerning given that Iraqi oil revenues are still required to pass through the US Federal Bank before being released to Baghdad. Members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives are actively working to proceed with a law to remove foreign forces from Iraq, with majority representation from Shia-dominated central and southern Iraq. However, Sunni factions remain ambiguous in their stance toward the coordination framework blocs' efforts to enact such legislation. In addition, Kurdish parties, notably the Kurdistan Democratic Party, vehemently oppose any consideration of US military withdrawal from Iraq.
In response to these dynamics, the Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed Moscow's willingness to bolster Iraqi forces following the departure of unwanted foreign troops. The Russian offer has compounded the pressure on Washington, prompting a reassessment of the waning US strategic position in West Asia.
Meanwhile in the Red Sea: https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/doppel-panne-im-roten-meer-deutsches-kriegsschiff-zielt-auf-us-drohne-87336152.bild.html
Deutsch:
Unfassbare Doppel-Panne bei der Deutschen Marine vor der Küste des Jemen!
Die Radar-Systeme des deutschen Kriegsschiffs erkannten eine über ihr kreisende Drohne fälschlicherweise als feindlich. Die „Hessen“ feuerte daraufhin zwei Raketen auf sie ab.
Doch in Wirklichkeit handelte es sich bei dem unbemannten Fluggerät um eine US-amerikanische Drohne vom Typ MQ-9 Reaper (20 Meter Spannweite, 30 Millionen Euro teuer).
Glück im Unglück für die Amerikaner: Beide deutsche Abfangraketen vom Typ SM2 erreichten ihr Ziel aus technischen Gründen nicht, sondern stürzten unverrichteter Dinge ins Meer.
English:
Incredible double mishap in the German Navy off the coast of Yemen!
The German warship's radar systems incorrectly recognized a drone circling overhead as hostile. The “Hessen” then fired two rockets at them.
But in reality the unmanned aircraft was a US MQ-9 Reaper drone (20 meter wingspan, 30 million euros).
A blessing in disguise for the Americans: Both German SM2 interceptor missiles did not reach their target for technical reasons, but instead fell into the sea without achieving anything.
lol
EU's von der Leyen proposes using frozen Russian profits for Ukraine's military
do it, continue to damage the west's credibility, make no one trust you again
Some people are claiming Aaron Bushnell's reddit account is /u/acebush1. Last comment on the account: "Whiteness erases culture"
Welp, looks like Hungary just voted Sweden into NATO.
My leftie partner is Swedish and is very distraught, I'm trying to remind her that this changes absolutely nothing (as we see with earlier military treaties with the US), and also looking at Swedish foreign policy during the cold war (pretty clear which side they were on).
Also it's really really fucking funny how long this shitshow has taken. Welcome to the hellzone fellow Ikea shoppers.
Israeli army morale plummets over 'lasting victory' in Gaza
by The Cradle.
A growing number of Israeli service members, from senior commanders to rank-and-file soldiers, are expressing doubts that a “lasting victory” against the Palestinian resistance in Gaza is an achievable goal, according to interviews conducted by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). “Fighting the enemy is like a game of whack-a-mole,” an Israeli reservist fighting with the 98th Division in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis told the US daily. He said many soldiers believe the government lacks a plan and wonder what their efforts are for. “It will be very hard to destroy Hamas.”
Nearly five months after Tel Aviv launched its campaign of genocide in Gaza with the stated aim to “destroy Hamas,” the Israeli army has destroyed most of the enclave's buildings and infrastructure, killing tens of thousands of civilians in the process, but is nowhere near eradicating the resistance. Furthermore, the WSJ cites Qatari sources as saying Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar recently told officials from the Palestinian group in Doha: “Don’t worry, we have the Israelis right where we want them.”
The message reportedly added that the Qassam Brigades "were doing fine" and stood at the ready to confront Israel's planned invasion of the southernmost city of Rafah, where over one million displaced Palestinians are taking refuge. Despite Israeli claims of having killed “12,000 Hamas fighters” since October, the Qassam Brigades and the Quds Brigades – the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), respectively – have continued to fiercely confront the invading troops across the entirety of the Gaza Strip. The WSJ highlights that, after a two-week ceasefire in November, the Palestinian resistance markedly switched its strategy to confront Israeli forces, moving away from large-scale firefights to small-scale ambushes and “zero distance” attacks that have caused great pain to Tel Aviv.
Israel claims only 242 soldiers have lost their lives in Gaza since the start of the ground invasion, plus an extra 300 during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October. However, in December, Hebrew media revealed that hospital records contradicted the army's claims about the number of casualties, as Tel Aviv was reportedly undercounting by half. Moreover, the official numbers of wounded only included soldiers in the army, excluding wounded security personnel such as special reconnaissance fighters and members of SWAT units, the police, Border Police, Shin Bet, and emergency and rescue units like Magen David Adom. “The human losses announced by the security establishment are usually binding on hundreds of media institutions, and these are allowed to work basically according to this rule. The death toll always comes from one source, and no one questions it," The Cradle’s Palestine Correspondent reported last year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not backed away from his promise of “total victory” against the Palestinian resistance, ignoring global calls to stop the mass murder of civilians in Gaza. His recently-revealed “day after” plan for Gaza stipulates that Israel will maintain freedom to carry out military and security operations across the strip indefinitely. Netanyahu also seeks to oversee the total demilitarization of Gaza – excluding weapons "necessary to maintain public order" – and has plans for a "deradicalization" of Gaza's civil, religious, educational, and welfare institutions. Nevertheless, the WSJ reports that many within the military believe the government’s “reluctance to flesh out a plan for who should govern Gaza after Hamas is leaving a political vacuum that could help Hamas to grow back.”
Opinions of Gazans on Bushnell's self-immolation: https://twitter.com/BIG__Brother7/status/1762090633873752093
Supreme Leader Sunak is going to do his first speech in Downing Street since he was given power over the hermit kingdom a year or so ago. Apparently the speech is going to be about the need to 'defend democracy'. Could be the most mask off we have seen him so far.
edit: Triggered by what happened in parliament last week and even moreso by George Galloway's win last night
edit: "New robust framework" being presented to parliament this this month. Terrifying stuff. I wonder what it will introduce? It is sounding extremely terrifying. Deporting people they deem in violation of their "values", there is a lot more
edit: a source is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-68451380
The New York Post is reporting that, the day before his death, Aaron Bushnell told one of his friends that his job invovled processing top secret intelligence data, and that info of US soldiers on the ground in Gaza fighting Palestinians has crossed his desk.
The Danish military is relaxing physical requirements for new recruits in what the regime terms a modernisation. Height requirements are being removed, the minimum BMI is being removed and the maximum BMI is being made a guideline rather than a demand. Mental health requirements are being relaxed as well, for instance medicated ADHD will no longer save young Danes from conscription.
On the more colourful side, a maximum bust size requirement for women is being removed. An archaic rule that has not been used in decades that made it possible to reject potential recruits for "sexual deviancy" is also being abolished.
The Danish regime has embarked on an aggressive rearmament effort that includes a desire to expand the use of forced conscription. Although regime propaganda disks of modernisation, thr relaxed physical demands is probably intended to help recruitment efforts.
AP: French President Macron says sending Western troops on the ground in Ukraine is not ‘ruled out’He added that “we will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war.”
I read that poll from a while ago that most Israelis support the events in Gaza.
But I was thinking, that 20% of the population are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship; Israel's demographic has that minority of people. How could 97% support the genocide if 1/5th of the eligible voting/citizen population is Arabian. I get that even Palestinians with Israeli citizenship live under an apartheid regime, privileged in comparison to their kinsfolk in the West Bank and Gaza, but that poll seems suspicious.
Workers in the DPRK are allowed to leave the country for work? Clearly this is a slavery plot. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-does-secretive-north-korea-have-no-problem-sending-workers-overseas/ar-BB1j002Z
With the news of Russia destroying an American made Abrams tank in Ukraine, I think it's important to note that the export models of the Abrams tanks are significantly worse than those the US itself uses. They have no depleted uranium armour to protect them, and none of the latest optics and ammunition. Same story with the Soviet export model tanks Iraq had during the Gulf war of the 90s, they had none of the lastest features the Soviet tanks had. So I'd expect more Abrams tanks to be destroyed.
[Oppose renaming article Al-Rashid humanitarian aid incident → Al-Rashid massacre] absolutely no one has cited anything that shows this is commonly called a massacre. I searched up the incident and found these results: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. 2 of those sources don't even say "massacre" once, the other three only attribute it to Hamas, Fatah, and Qatar. Meanwhile, the term incident is used in all sources multiple times, unattributed. No one bothered to look at and use the sources on this. Absolutely no arguments on policy whatsoever. Wikipedia is supposed to function on policy, not on opinions devoid of policy.
Wikipedia brain is terminal. Wikipedia policy of going purely on "trusted sources" (i.e. Western sources) instead of "original research" (describing what you can plainly see) is harmful.
George Galloway calls on Jeremy Corbyn: "Announce an alliance of the remaining socialists in the country, you lead it, I'll support it, and let's go. Time is running out."
I wish he wasn't shit on so many topics, I want to like this guy so badly lol
Biden administration officials met Tuesday at the Pentagon to discuss ways to fill some of Ukraine’s urgent needs for artillery and ammunition quickly, including possibly drawing down U.S. stockpiles without replenishing them immediately or without waiting for more money from Congress, say two senior administration officials and a congressional official.
In the meeting, officials discussed various ways the Pentagon could resupply critical artillery and ammunition that Ukraine is expected to run out of soon, even while the White House’s request for new funding from Congress remains stalled, the officials said. No decisions have been made, according to the officials.
The discussions reflect growing alarm in the administration that Ukraine is poised to run out of key weaponry in the next few weeks, including 155 mm artillery rounds and air defense munitions.
yes please give away US stockpiles of weaponsYour March 3rd Briefing
We are so back.
The world has run out of cholera vaccines as outbreaks continue to occur throughout the world. This is due to all cholera vaccines coming from a single vaccine manufacturer, EuBiologics in South Korea, who has limited production capacity. Other companies are projected to enter the market soon, and hopefully by 2025 things will be largely back to normal.S
A broad coalition of EU lawmakers have called for a ban on all Russian energy, including gas, presumably as secret communist agents to accelerate the collapse of the EU.E
Increasing numbers of Arabs and Muslims are planning to vote for Donald Trump out of spite due to Biden’s fervent licking of the blood and mud on Netanyahu’s jackboots.MEE From the Red Clarion: The Democrats Have Nothing Left To Offer You.
After many protests in the UK particularly over Gaza, Prime Minister Sunak has ordered a crackdown on protestors which would essentially make any act that isn’t sitting silently in a public field a criminal offence. A human rights campaign group is suing the government due to this.NC
AMLO proposed a package of 20 constitutional reforms in early Februrary, which is unlikely to survive congressional pushback but nonetheless represents the government’s latest attempt to reorient away from neoliberalism. Canada is also quite angry at AMLO, as Canadian companies have interests in 70% of Mexican mining operations, and AMLO wishes to grant property rights over Mexico’s energy and mining assets to all Mexican citizens.MR
Libertarian President Milei has stated his intention to implement reforms by decree due to the democratically elected parliament opposing him.MP
Algeria hosted leaders from 13 countries in Algiers, including Russia, Iran, Qatar, and Venezuela, in order to co-ordinate on natural gas investments. Algeria is the second largest supplier of natural gas to Europe, after Norway. However, despite aggressive plans to expand production up to 2030, infrastructure is limiting the amount of gas that can actually be supplied - and domestic needs from a growing population also need to be balanced.AN
Ghana has passed an anti-LGBTQIA+ bill which makes same-sex relationships, sexual activity, and public displays of affection illegal. People who support or fund related activities could face up to a decade in prison. This has faced international comdemnation from several countries, and the UN has called it "profoundly disturbing".AN
UN peacekeepers have begun withdrawing from the DRC, in which 12,000 troops have been located since 1999, with the government accusing the UN of not doing their goddamn jobs, which does seem like a fairly accurate view of how things have gone in practice.RT
At least 25 million Sudanese are suffering from hunger or malnutrition as the war continues to decimate the country. Less than 4% of the $2.7 billion in assistance that Sudan needs has been provided by donors so far this year, and last year, last than half was funded.MEE
Russia's Rosatom has received applications from several African countries for the construction of new nuclear power plants, such as South Africa, which has expressed interest in a floating NPP. An Egyptian NPP is under construction and Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Uganda also want them.BNE
Chinese company Transsion, with its three brands of Tecno, Infinix and iTel, have 48% of the African market share and are expanding into other markets, and experienced large growth in 2023 in both Africa and the Middle East, surpassing Samsung. This is due to a combination of relatively low prices, better marketing, and producing camera phones which work better with darker skin tones.SCMP
China has warned New Zealand not to harm its own security interests after it expressed interest in an AUKUS security partnership on cyberwarfare, AI, and hypersonic weapons.SCMP
The US has approved a $75 million weapons package to Taiwan which involves the Link 16 communications system - which completes Taiwan as the final link of the “transnational coalition kill chain”, giving Taiwan access to the jam-resistant tactical data network for co-ordinating NATO weapons systems that can be linked with countries like Japan, Australia, South Korea, and the US.GPE
The Biden administration has announced that they’re launching a probe into Chinese smart cars to protect the American car industry, with all the usual “Xi Jinping himself is spying on you through the car cameras and hidden microphones and, uh, kills a Ughyur every time you brake, or something.”.RT
The US has revealed that they have struck 230 targets in Yemen in response to their blockade; notably, the focus on big number rather than effect (HUNDREDS of sanctions on Russia!!!) is a tacit admission of the actual impotence of the attacks. In general, we’re seeing a rather uninspiring repeat of the propaganda that the US has used against Russia; that they’re running out of missiles, etc. NC
Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, the last premier of the council of ministers of the Soviet Union has just passed away today.
As a man who made many rightist mistakes and later lived in the world that resulted from those mistakes, he lived the rest of his life working with the KPRF to undo the damage that was wrought by Glasnost, Perestroika, and the fascist wave that overtook many of the former Warsaw pact nations.
Lula calls Bolsonaro a "coward" and mocks call for "amnesty"
In a harsh message to Bolsonaro, Lula said that his opponent was "cowardly" and didn't have the courage to carry out a coup d'état
Former President Jair Bolsonaro's (Liberal Party) request for amnesty for the coup plotters arrested on January 8 was mocked by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party). On Tuesday night (27 February), in an interview the president dismissed the possibility of the Executive branch taking the initiative for a measure that would benefit the imprisoned Bolsonaro supporters and called his opponent a "coward".
"Are you asking for amnesty? Do you want to erase the nonsense you've done? The nonsense is that he [Bolsonaro] chickened out, thought up the coup, didn't have the courage," Lula told journalist Kennedy Alencar.
The possibility of Lula's government proposing an "amnesty" to Congress was raised by Bolsonaro in an interview. But he admitted that this is a "very difficult" scenario. "I know that Parliament is the body that decides this issue, but if it comes from the Executive, it would be very welcome," he said.
That wasn't enough to convince Lula. The president pointed out that, for the "barbarities he has done", Bolsonaro should submit to the legal process to which every citizen is entitled in a democracy, including the "presumption of innocence" which, he repeated, he did not have during the Lava Jato process, in reference to the operation led by former judge and now senator Sergio Moro.
"First you'll be judged, you've committed a lot of barbarity. You will be judged, appreciated. You'll have your defense lawyer. I just want you to have the presumption of innocence that I didn't have. I want you to be able to say what you did and didn't do. It's your right, a right of democracy. And that's what I guarantee my best friend and my worst enemy: the right to a full defense," said Lula.
President Lula da Silva then went on to say that his opponent "chickened out" and didn't have the courage to carry out a coup d'état.
"Are you asking for amnesty? Do you want to erase the nonsense you've done? The nonsense is that he chickened out, thought up the coup, didn't have the courage. He left for the US in advance, thinking that it [the coup] would happen, that society would all leave terrified and he would come back anointed by the masses. And that's not what happened. What happened is that the institutions took responsibility for democracy and you are now in the process of being investigated," he said.
Finally, Lula also criticized Bolsonaro for the fact that the former president kept quiet during his statement to the Federal Police about an alleged criminal organization that was plotting a coup d'état in 2022.
Although he himself used the artifice in April 2019, at a hearing before the PF in Curitiba, where he was being held, as columnist Guilherme Amado, from Metrópoles, recalled.
"I know that when a guy is a coward, he doesn't talk. When the guy is a coward and goes to give evidence, his lawyer says: 'Don't say anything'. And I know that he went there and kept his mouth shut," said Lula.
"Because he talks nonsense all day long, when he was president it was morning, noon and night. Now in the process, he comes in all thin, not wanting to talk. So that's what's going to happen, he's going to be investigated, he's going to give evidence and one day he'll be tried. If he's innocent, he'll be innocent," he concluded.
Europe running out of materials to make war supplies, blames China.
Here I was under the impression the superior Europeans didn't want Chinese cotton because it's all harvested by muslim slaves that are being ruthlessly oppressed by the soulless Chinese communists.
Glorious cope from the garden as the continually find out the results of their fucking around in years past.
Of course Brandon walked back the Monday ceasefire thing.
lol George Galloway won his byelection:
“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” he said. “You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Gaza, in the Gaza Strip.”
Galloway won 12,335 votes – 39.7% of the total – in a much more sweeping victory than anyone had predicted, giving him a 5,697-vote majority.
Labour, which abandoned its candidate over inflammatory comments he made about Israel, finished in fourth place with just 7.7%, having held a near-10,000 vote majority in the constituency.
"Israel" has done another aid massacre https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/3/israels-war-on-gaza-live-every-minute-counts-as-hunger-kills-in-gaza
The ethical response would be to [redacted]
What Aaron Bushnell Did in the Military (Ken Klippenstein)
article here
Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old U.S. Air Force servicemember who immolated himself in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, was a top secret cleared worker bee in the global American intelligence machine.
But Bushnell was not a spy or an intelligence analyst scouring through the intercepts and imagery. He was not even focused on the Middle East in his work. He was a backend IT guy, one of countless young tech support people who now staff the national security community, similar to what Edward Snowden was.
Despite widespread coverage, the press hasn’t done a very good job of explaining what exactly Bushnell did in the military. He was assigned to the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron, and stationed at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. “Freedom is What We Reap,” reads the squadron’s motto, wrapped around a roman centurion helmet that constitutes the unit patch.
Bushnell’s squadron is assigned to the 543rd ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] group, which is focused on producing intelligence covering the North America and South American “theaters” of war, as well as providing intelligence support to the drug war and the Department of Homeland Security. Contrary to much speculation online, it’s extremely unlikely that Bushnell had any involvement in the U.S.’s support to Israel amid the Gaza war.
In fact, there’s no evidence that he was ever even deployed overseas.
Though described as a cyber defense operations specialist, Bushnell’s LinkedIn reveals that he had many of the same hardware and software skills as people in the civilian IT world. Think of the intelligence machine as something akin to a Niagara of incoming data, and knowledge creator, and a vast data center where the network plays the central role in moving information to each stage along the way (and then must act as a giant search engine to find that information). It is all essential, but like the civilian world, these essential workers are unheralded and ignored.
From the Pentagon mouthpieces, to the Air Force leadership, to the Air Force intelligence apparatus, to his numbered Air Force commander, to his Wing commander, all the way down to his Group commander, there's no evidence whatsoever that any of them knew or even knew of Bushnell. That's the case with the vast majority of junior enlisted men and women in the military. Washington, meanwhile, lives in another reality, focused on budgets and paperwork, barely connected to the peons like Bushnell who keep the system running.
I didn’t know Bushnell, but I know servicemembers whose backgrounds sound just like his. They’re the competent young people who shoulder 99% of the responsibility but have 1% of the power in the military. The power differential coupled with a torrent of ugly news once concealed by network television but now delivered to them directly via social media, moves them to action.
Sometimes they leak stuff to people like me.
They’re motivated by genuine disgust at an elite class disengaged and disinterested in the mess they leave behind for the rest of us to pick up after.
Yet to the elites, it is the Bushnells of the world who are the problem, as demonstrated in the Pentagon’s press briefing on Monday.
“On the Airman Bushnell, would he be considered an extremist under the Pentagon’s definition of extremism?” one reporter asked Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.
I've been so depressed about the ME and the looming nothingness I haven't been able to play video games to escapism in a week.it's like I want to vidya game to escapism, but I can't.
I can't shake the feeling that if Swedish unions lose the conflict with Tesla, it will have a domino effect on labor in the EU. It would be a huge symbolic victory for Capital, showing that big multinationals now have the power to weather the strikes and deny collective bargaining so long as they don't mind bleeding money for a while. The silver lining would be that it could lead to a renaissance for labor organizing and active participation as contradictions deepen, but that may also be wishful thinking on my part, times being what they are.
If anybody wants a good source to follow what's going on in Sudan, then I've been using the Sudan War Monitor substack.
Also, I want to briefly re-state my incandescent hatred for journalists. The audacity of journalists - the people who are, hypothetically, meant to keep the population informed of what's going on - calling what's going on in Sudan the "forgotten war"... my brothers in christ, it wouldn't be forgotten if you fucking talked about it.
From that FT article:
With no let-up in the war, the stalled diplomatic process must be urgently revived. Two developments provide the tiniest crumbs of hope. Last month, Sudan’s warring factions participated in secret talks in Bahrain, a sign that even the deluded generals may realise that neither side can win. And the US, better late than never, is about to appoint a special envoy, widely trailed as Tom Perriello, a former Democratic congressman. He needs strong White House backing to be effective.
There are no good solutions to the deep-seated crisis in Sudan, which threatens to become another Somalia. The hope — if it can be called that — is that the genie of war can somehow be put back in its bottle.
"Which threatens to become another Somalia?" I am going to go insane.
A great comment from @Frank@hexbear.net a few months ago:
I would like to object to the term "random act of piracy". Somali piracy has a long history tied in to geopolitics. It's a fascinating history; After the collapse of the Somali government back in the 80s there was no coast guard or navy to police Somali waters. Foreign fishing vessels entered somali waters and essentially strip mined the fisheries, leaving the somali fishing industry devastated. At the same time foreign firms began dumping toxic waste in to Somali waters. The first pirates were semi-organized militias trying to protect Somali waters from these foreign depredations. The militias quickly realized that seizing ships and crews for ransom was a profitable way to bring in hard currency in a region where the economy was devastated.
Pirate raids by Somalis have always been incredibly dangerous, with a terrifying death rate for the raiders, but for a long time there were no other real prospects and income from ransoms provided one of the few sources of hard currency for coastal Somalia.
International forces, of course, made no attempt to aid Somalis in keeping those pirating fish and dumping waste out of Somali waters, but were quick to respond militarily to Somali piracy. Such is geopolitics.
Also, Biden re-sent hundreds of troops to Somalia when Trump withdrew them.
NSFW/L CW MURDER
rams two Palestinian teens riding a bike. One ethno-fascist gets out and murders one of the teens point blank in the back of the head.The Axis of Asymmetry takes on the 'rules-based order'
Foreword:
World War III is here, playing out asymmetrically in military, financial, and institutional battlefields, and the fight is an existential one. The western Hegemon, in truth, is at war against international law, and only 'kinetic military action' can bring it to heel.
by Pepe Escobar at The Cradle.
The Axis of Asymmetry is in full swing. These are the state and non-state actors employing asymmetrical moves on the global chessboard to sideline the US-led western rules-based order. And its vanguard is the Yemeni resistance movement Ansarallah. Ansarallah is absolutely relentless. They have downed a $30 million MQ-9 Reaper drone with just a $10k indigenous missile. They are the first in the Global South ever to use anti-ship ballistic missiles against Israel-bound and/or -protecting commercial and US Navy ships. For all practical purposes, Ansarallah is at war with no less than the US Navy. Ansarallah has captured one of the US Navy's ultra-sophisticated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), the $1.3 million Remus 600, a torpedo-shaped underwater drone able to carry a massive payload of sensors. Next stop: reverse engineering in Iran? The Global South eagerly awaits, ready to pay in currencies bypassing the US dollar.
All of the above – a maritime 21st-century remix of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War – spells out that the Hegemon may not even qualify as a paper tiger, but rather as a paper leech.
Lula tells it as the Global South sees it
Into the Big Picture – linked to the relentless ongoing genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza – steps a true leader of the Global South, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula spoke in the name of Brazil, Latin America, Africa, BRICS 10, and the overwhelming majority of the Global South when he cut to the chase and defined the Gaza tragedy for what it is: a genocide. No wonder the Zionist tentacles across the Global North – plus its Global South vassals – went bonkers. The genocidals in Tel Aviv declared Lula as persona non grata in Israel. Yet Lula did not assassinate 29,000+ Palestinians – the overwhelming majority of whom were women and children. History will be unforgiving: it’s the genocidals that will eventually be judged as personae non grata to all of humanity.
What Lula said represented BRICS 10 in action: this was obviously cleared before with Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and, of course, the African Union. Lula spoke in Addis Ababa, and Ethiopia is now a BRICS 10 member. The Brazilian president was extremely smart in timing his Gaza fact-check to be on the table during the G20 meeting of Foreign Ministers in Rio. Way beyond BRICS 10, what’s happening in Gaza is a consensus among the non-Western G20 partners – who are actually a majority. No one, though, should expect any serious follow-up inside a divided G20. The heart of the matter remains in the facts on the ground.
Yemen’s fight for “our people” in Gaza is a matter of humanistic, moral, and religious solidarity – these are foundational tenets of the rising eastern "civilizational" powers, both domestically and in international affairs. This convergence of principles has now created a direct link – extrapolating to the moral and spiritual spheres – between the Axis of Resistance in West Asia and the Slavic Axis of Resistance in Donbass. Extreme attention should be paid to the timescale. The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) forces and Russia have spent two hard-fought years in Novorossiya just to arrive at the stage where it becomes clear – based on the battlefield and cumulative facts on the ground – that “negotiations” mean only the terms of Kiev’s surrender.
In contrast, the job of the Axis of Resistance in West Asia has not even started. It’s fair to argue that its strength and full sovereign involvement have not been deployed yet (think Hezbollah and Iran). Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, with his proverbial subtlety, has hinted there’s, in fact, nothing to negotiate on Palestine. And if there would be a return to any borders, these would be the 1948 borders. The Axis of Resistance understands that the whole Zionist Project is unlawful and immoral. But the question remains how to throw it, in practice, into the dustbin of History? Possible – avowedly optimistic – scenarios ahead would include Hezbollah taking possession of the Galilee as a step toward the eventual retaking of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Yet the fact remains that even a united Palestine does not have the military capability to reconquer stolen Palestinian lands.
So the questions posed by the overwhelming majority of the Global South that stands with Lula may be: Who else, apart from Ansarallah, Hezbollah, Hashd al-Shaabi, will join the Axis of Asymmetry in the fight for Palestine? Who would be willing to come to the Holy Land and die? (After all, in Donbass, it’s only Russians and Russophones who are dying for historically Russian lands) And that brings us to the way towards the endgame: only a West Asian Special Military Operation (SMO), to the bitter end, will settle the Palestinian tragedy. A translation of what happens across the Slavic Axis of Resistance: “Those who refuse to negotiate with Lavrov, deal with Shoigu.”
The menu, the table, and the guests
That out-of-his-depth closet neocon, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, let the cat out of the bag when he actually defined his much cherished “rules-based international order”: “If you're not on the table, you are on the menu.” Following his own hegemonic logic, it’s clear that Russia and the US/NATO are on the table while Ukraine is on the menu. What about the Red Sea? The Houthis defending Palestine against US–UK–Israel are clearly on the table, while Western vassals supporting Israel in a maritime way are clearly on the menu. And that’s the problem: the Hegemon – or, in Chinese scholarly terminology, “the crusaders” – have lost the power to place the name cards on the table. The main reason for this authority collapse is the build-up of serious international meetings sponsored by the Russia–China strategic partnership during the past two years since the start of the SMO. It’s all about sequential planning, with long-term targets clearly outlined. Only civilizational states can do that – not plutocratic neoliberal casinos.
Negotiating with the Hegemon is impossible because the Hegemon itself prevents negotiations (see the serial blocking of ceasefire resolutions at the UN). Additionally, the Hegemon excels in instrumentalizing its client elites across the Global South via threats or kompromat: see the hysterical reaction of Brazilian mainstream media to Lula’s verdict on Gaza. What Russia is showing the Global South, two years after the start of the SMO, is that the only path to teach a lesson to the Hegemon has to be kinetic, or “military-technical.” The problem is no nation-state can compare to nuclear/hypersonic/military superpower Russia, in which 7.5 percent of the government’s budget is dedicated to military production. Russia is and will remain on a permanent war footing until Hegemon’s elites come to their senses – and that may never happen.
Meanwhile, West Asia's Axis of Resistance is watching and learning, day after day. It’s always crucial to keep in mind that for all the resistance movements across the Global South – and that also includes, for instance, West Africans against French neo-colonialism – the geopolitical fault lines could not be starker. It's a matter of the collective West versus Islam; the collective West versus Russia; and sooner rather than later, a substantial part of the West, even reluctantly, versus China. The fact is we are already immersed in a World War that is both existential and civilizational. As we stand at the crossroads, there is a bifurcation: either escalation towards overt “kinetic military action,” or a multiplication of Hybrid Wars across several latitudes.
So it’s up to the Axis of Asymmetry, cool, calm, and collected, to forge the underground corridors, passages, and trails capable of undermining and subverting the US-led, unipolar, rules-based international order.
My newest discovery in the saga of George Galloway, Rishi Sunak and Sky News is a strange one.
The video Sky News posted. This one. I've just discovered through a friend that Sky News have set it to be blocked in Russia.
They don't block their other content in Russia.
Only this video.
Very strange and curious behaviour. I have no idea what they're thinking.
another retired Polish general going off, happens quite often actually
General Skrzypczak proposed that the Polish government take a drastic measure to support Kyiv by deporting all Ukrainian men residing in Poland back to their homeland. He believes this action would strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities. “The Polish government should assist Kyiv in the deportation of Ukrainians living abroad. We need to reach out to Ukrainian citizens who are living abroad to address this issue. This initiative should be directed towards the governments in Warsaw, Paris, Prague, and wherever else they may be residing. These governments should help Kyiv in carrying out the deportations,” Skrzypczak stated during a TOK FM radio interview on January 23.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-calls-studies-into-ugly-gender-theory-2024-03-01/
Pope Francis calls for studies into 'ugly' gender theory
I did not have pope francis coming out as against "gender ideology' on my cards for 2024
so much for the woke pope
Was looking at some of the “no party affiliation” candidates in CA senate primary election. I came across a questionnaire that Laura Garza filled out for the OC Register (link). It first mentions she was “Former vice presidential candidate on Socialist Workers Party ticket in 1996”. I’m thinking hmmm… that’s sounds kinda Trot-y, but maybe not. Let’s see what her positions are. First question was about Palestine, “israel”, Ukraine, and Russia… and this was the response:
I defend Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews and condemn the Jew-hating pogrom organized by Hamas with the backing of the Iranian regime. The capitalist regime in Tehran and the reactionary forces it backs in Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are enemies not only of Jews but of working people of all nationalities. So long as capitalism exists, in times of crisis, the rulers will turn to scapegoating Jews to smash the working class as they did in Nazi Germany. The fight for workers’ power and socialism is the only solution to end the anti-working class poison of Jew-hatred.
I stand with the people of Ukraine in their battle for independence and sovereignty over all of Ukraine and against Moscow’s reactionary invasion.
I don’t support the policies of the U.S. capitalist class and their military, which is used worldwide to defend U.S. profits and imperialist domination, not the interests of working people here or elsewhere. I am for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea, the Middle East and Europe. I defend the Cuban Revolution and call for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba, which is used to suffocate the Cuban population for their decision to reject living under Washington’s boot.
What a fascinating mix of leftist language and absolute dogshit, sprinkled with some good takes (but also ones that even normal libs support, like ending the blockade on Cuba). Honestly, her takes on “israel” sounds like what an actual neo-Nazi would come up with if they were trying to make a caricature of a leftist.
Some of these points are things me and some few others, definitely a minority here, have been saying for months.
Yes its an opinion piece, but there are also quotes from relevant people including Vijay Prashad.
A ceasefire and the two-state solution, which China has persevered with despite Israel’s rejection, are seen as largely unattainable by Palestinians. They want Beijing to be more precise and forceful in its support for their liberation, as they say it has become increasingly clear that the Western position does not align with theirs. While China cannot “resolve” the conflict, as a superpower and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, it could “do more to mitigate” it, according to Razan Shawamreh, a doctoral researcher of international relations at the Eastern Mediterranean University.
“The Palestinian sense of marginalisation and vulnerability, stemming from US policies that support Israel’s crimes, have prompted them to find potential alternatives for support and solidarity, and they find it in China,” the Cyprus-based Palestinian academic said. Beijing’s reactions signified both its support as well as its policy of not interfering or meddling in other countries’ affairs. But that should not be construed as an unwillingness to facilitate negotiations in international conflicts, Shawamreh said.
In November, President Xi Jinping called for an end to the “collective punishment against the people of Gaza” with Beijing later issuing its formal position paper on the conflict, urging a comprehensive ceasefire and the establishment of a UN conference to draw up a road map for a two-state solution. “I contend that it can engage in serious bilateral discussions with both parties, extending beyond its peace proposals, given the positive regard in which both sides of the conflict hold China, in recognition of its rising influence,” Shawamreh said. Zoon Ahmed Khan, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Centre for China and Globalisation, said the capacity for China to act positively towards a resolution was enhanced by the fact “it has historically been sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause while maintaining pragmatic relations and broadened engagement with Israel”.
Then there is some explanation that the US is using the same "You're against Ukrainian Nazis then you're a Putler bot" shit but with the geopolitical equivalent of "do you condemn Hamas". This is not as important the better part is this
US politicians’ portrayal of ceasefire demands as being Chinese or Russian-led efforts to destabilise the West may have impeded the bid for Palestinian liberation, pushing it further out of reach. A more involved Global South is the answer, according to Rula Shadeed, co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, which advocates for the embattled population. Shadeed said China’s clear support for Palestine would have a “very powerful effect” on the conflict, giving a boost to smaller states that may have been concerned about the consequences of doing the same.
“China has an important role, but it definitely can do much, much, much more,” she said. “The trade relationship between China and Israel has been ongoing, for example. There has not been anything that was stopped, no calls for summoning the Israeli ambassador. There was not even mentions or threats of cutting ties [as Israeli offensives continue].”
In January, state-owned China Cosco Shipping Corporation reportedly planned to stop delivering goods into Israel because of actions by Houthi militants in the waters. Chinese ambassador Cai Run was reportedly summoned by Israel’s foreign ministry over the move. Shadeed said Beijing had to shift its position away from a two-state solution, which was an “ancient stock” that had been proven to be “merely impossible” by the pervasive system of segregation that Palestinians have faced for more than seven decades.
“I think that most Palestinians don’t care about states any more – what they care about, which is rightly important, is liberation. They want the entire killing to stop, they want their economic situation to flourish, they want to have normal lives, access to health and education, and the right of movement.” Israel has maintained its “declaratory decision” to reject any recognition of Palestinian statehood. Top-ranking minister Eli Cohen said recently that peace agreements should be given up “if the price of expanding peace agreements is a Palestinian state”, reinforcing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that his country needed full security control over “the entire area in the west of Jordan”.
The average daily death toll in Palestine has exceeded that of any other major conflict of recent years, according to a January report by Oxfam. But that killing could be stopped with some practical solutions, according to Vijay Prashad, historian and director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. He said permanent members of the Security Council, including China, could bring forward proposals similar to those imposed on Libya during the civil war of 2011. “To stop the bombing, China can put forward a motion for a no-fly zone over Gaza and have Egypt monitor the flights over the area,” Prashad said. “It can also propose a full arms embargo – not even dual-use technology [goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications] should be allowed to be shipped to Israel.”
Prashad said the fact that member states were not offering such motions was “perplexing” and “part of our colonial sensibility” that the UN’s agenda could not be set by non-Western states, who were not traditionally the decision-makers. “There are moments like when the Chinese representative to the UN [Zhang Jun] stopped the Israeli ambassador from talking in a very undignified way – so it’s not like people aren’t asserting themselves, but why not assert themselves with a resolution?”
Prashad acknowledged that the proposals would likely be vetoed by the US, making Washington appear “even more complicit in the massacre than they are right now”.
The US again blocked a ceasefire resolution on Tuesday. It was the third US veto of a draft resolution since October 7. Zhang said the US vote – the only one against – was “nothing different from giving the green light to the continued slaughter” in Gaza. The veto power has become increasingly controversial as it effectively prevents UN action against the permanent members and their allies, leading to inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity.
China and other countries could further consider recalling their ambassadors in Israel and removing Israeli diplomats in their countries in order to “put Israel on notice diplomatically”, Prashad said. They would be “straightforward” and “non-interventionist” moves to make a palpable stance against the unceasing violence.
Last week, Brazil recalled its ambassador to Israel while summoning the Israeli ambassador for a reprimand, amid tensions deepened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s comparison of Israel’s war on Gaza to the Holocaust.
Prashad said that among his Palestinian peers, there was “a lot of respect” for China’s infrastructure investment in the West Bank, but in response to the current Palestinian suffering, the Global South in general has been “pretty timid”.
Yes there is a lot of anti-Zionism protesting, but at the top level, as the article makes clear, there is no global stance to oppose Israel yet. Maybe when people like Prashad are out there saying China needs to do more maybe we can get a more critical stance towards China?
Just 2 simple points imo going forward:
#1 We need China to step up and actualy take an active role if we want the world to actualy get better, transactional and billateral relations will not work in a world divided by a clear anti-communist block. If China needs allies they actually need to stand up and show they'll defend these alliances beyond token gestures. Everything happening around certain BRICS countries and their relation with Palestine is also a major pain, a huge embarrassing contradiction that needs to be resolved or else China will never be global leader for any sort of leftist/communist movement.
You absolutely can't say "material conditions" on one side to justify China and Egypt/UAE/Saudi relations and then continue to have relations with these countries as they facilitate the genocide.
#2 The inherent contradictions of SCC(or just Chinese capitalism if you want) are abundantly clear in this conflict, China's hypocritical stance towards Israel is not fooling anyone in the global south actually paying attention. When you refuse to actually harm Israel even with token gestures like economic relations then you have lose credibility and people are starting to notice. People will demand real support for their cause, not just grandiose statements at the UN.
The sad part is all of this should be the common communist position, yet it is published on the South China Liberal Rag Post.
The US Army is breeding a new kind of Arctic warrior by 'testing the mettle of the human' in frigid, freezing Alaska, commander says
Alternative title: The Army sends a bunch of southern hicks (that's all of you in the mainland USA, from Washington to Florida) up to Alaska to go cold-weather camping.
This shit ain't exactly new but the clowns in the Pentagon love to reinvent the wheel to show everyone how out of touch they are with reality.
In the early morning, just as the sun slowly rises up from behind the mountains, gusts of icy wind sweep across the US Army camp, whipping up snow from the ground and the trees in the surrounding forests. It's a bone-chilling cold, one felt even through any protective layers or garments.
An average day in Alaska
Soldiers come and go in and out of tents, some surprisingly wearing just t-shirts, seemingly unbothered by the conditions. One sits outside eating breakfast. The temperature of six degrees Fahrenheit is practically spring weather, they say. Just a week before, it was -40 degrees, temperatures many have never had to endure.
No joke 6 degrees Fahrenheit does feel like a warm day after you're freezing your tits off during the deep cold parts of winter. In fact when it's 0C/32F it feels so warm you get the zoomies and want to go around town in only a t-shirt and shorts
Out on the snow-covered Alaskan tundra, US Army Pacific is pushing its soldiers to prepare to fight in subzero temperatures and hostile, unpredictable environments. It is a challenge unlike anything else in the Army, top generals told Business Insider, and a relatively new training experience that tests "the mettle of the human," one brigade combat team commander said.
Basically they're saying your biggest enemy up here is nature and the moral of the dumbasses you sent to play in nature
Earlier this month, USARPAC held its annual Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center training exercise near Fairbanks, Alaska that BI was able to observe firsthand.
Folks it fucking sucks up there, take it from me.
Throughout the training, soldiers with the US Army's 11th Airborne Division and troops from over a dozen international allies and partners ran wargames in the Arctic, with one side posing as enemy forces. Troops adapt to freezing temperatures and unpredictable conditions, making adjustments to gear, kits, and equipment in real time.
God I wish I was there because the complaining and whining you'd hear from them would be a beautiful orchestra to me.
Some days, the temperature is well below zero, and snow piles feet-deep in fields and forests. Others, the weather is considerably "warmer" than usual — in the tens or twenties. Snow isn't as prevalent, but the ground remains frozen solid. Any warmer, and it's muddy, caking to boots and vehicles.
If there's one thing I've learned from my times getting lost in the wilderness during winter, it's that forests are friends and fields are foes if you don't have snow shoes. Holy shit I'm having flashbacks to my first time trying to cross a field filled with snow to bury me twice over standing up, my body hated me so much that day. No wonder why moose have those long fucking legs!
"It's a harsh environment," Maj. Gen. Brian S. Eifler told Business Insider in an in-person interview at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. "If something happens in those conditions, you got to have a force that's ready."
Shit ain't happening if there's a war in the snow.
On the ground, soldiers echoed similar sentiments. Some told Business Insider the Arctic was the most difficult environment to fight in, while others noted it took a specific type of mindset to survive there, let alone excel.
Tormenting the soldiers so they actually like freezing their asses off to own the Russians and Chinese
"There are not a lot of forces in our Army, or really in our military, that can operate here," Col. Sean Lucas told Business Insider, calling the JPMRC training an opportunity "to experiment with how much soldiers can endure" and "test the mettle of the human."
"Operate" is doing heavy lifting here. The fuckers up in Fairbanks not only need to keep their cars plugged in so their oil pans don't freeze and their batteries don't discharge, they also keep heated blankets on their engines so they're barely warm enough to actually go through the ignition cycle. Arctic warfare would be a drone operator's playground.
JPMRC is the Army's newest combat training center, only a few years old. It conducts rotations in both Alaska and Hawaii every year, giving soldiers the chance to train for combat in both the wet, humid jungle and the icy, harsh Arctic.
They've been doing Arctic survival training for decades. The only reason this article exists is to jack off the military industrial complex for blowing another load of taxpayer dollars on more useless shit
Both environments are at the ends of the pendulum of what the Indo-Pacific region has to offer in terms of battlefield conditions, and according to Gen. Charles A. Flynn, USARPAC's commanding general, they are the "environments and conditions where our forces are most likely to operate."
Lol cope
The Pentagon has long identified China as the US' "pacing challenge" and made determined efforts to shift American military focus towards the Indo-Pacific region for a potential conflict there, but the area is also home to Russia and North Korea, presenting a host of possible threats.
Only possible threat is the U.S struggling to encroach on the region.
US Indo-Pacific Command and its forces have increased their training, particularly with allies, in order to deter enemy forces and maintain the ability to fight across the Pacific should that fail. For many in the Army, it's a major shift in focus from over two decades of counterinsurgency fighting in the Middle East.
A major shift for the army that its failing at lmak
With great power competition and possible conflict on the horizon, particularly in the Pacific, there are new investments, like JPMRC, to help ensure readiness.
jerking off motion
Difficulties of the JPMRC's Alaska rotation are constant and visible everywhere you look.
Yeah so maybe fucking stop then
Equipment breaks, troops have to be ready to combat threats to their health like hypothermia, artillery pieces have to be maneuvered across ever-changing ground conditions, paratroopers land hard on icy, snowy ground. Conditions change on a day-to-day basis, making everything tougher to anticipate. Many things are an experiment, being worked on in real time.
I can picture some artillerymen dipshits not properly digging in the feet of their artillery, only shoving it in the snow, yanking the cord to fire a round, and yeeting the artillerypiece right into some poor dipshit. Or some paratrooper trying to land on a glacier only to break through a light snow shell straight into a ravine.
One example is the new cold weather clothing gear, including several layers, or "levels." During the JPMRC exercise, troops were giving feedback on the gear, how much of it was needed on a day-to-day basis, and whether it made sense to overdress or remain "comfortably cold" so as not to wind up sweating too much in the heat of battle.
If there's a lesson for you nerds to actually learn here, it's about how to dress for the cold in a way that is relevant to your situation.
"Our soldiers here are encouraged to innovate," Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Gaskin told Business Insider, explaining that "we don't have all the answers for this environment."
Fucking corporate words. Innovate yourself in a winter workshop to avoid quiet quitting during an ecological downturn
When the 11th Airborne Division was re-activated in 2022, Army leadership specifically tasked it with developing "innovative ways of operating in this environment," which Eifler has called the "most challenging" on the planet.
Lol throwing a new Division of dipshits straight into the freezer as a funny joke
Without a clear guide book on how best to fight in the Arctic, a region for which the Army released its new strategy only a few years ago, troops sometimes make it up as they go.
If you remember the article I posted early about tanks, here's the same fucking problem! ITS ALL FUCKING MADE UP ON THE GO! The army is relearning how to function as an army in 2024!
Soldiers develop new tactics and techniques, exploring what gear is needed or how to fortify a position when there's little snow on the ground. The latter seems to be solvable by chopping down trees and using the wood. And that's not even the half of it.
Fuck I can feel it in my bones the jackbooted mini dictators that make up the military command structure definitely made those dumbasses try and dig trenches and foxholes in the frozen dirt
The Arctic is tough and challenging, but Army leaders said the harsh environment and difficult training produces prepared and pioneering troops unlike any other unit. In a 2022 paper written with another Army officer called "Forging the Arctic Warrior," Eifler wrote that "it takes a special breed of Soldier to thrive in the Arctic."
It takes a special kind of person to live here, get on my level groundpounders.
Lucas said that if you can handle the Arctic, you can handle anything, telling Business Insider that "if you can lead, or you can be a soldier in the extreme cold, you can lead or be a soldier anywhere."
That's a fucking lie, I can't handle humidity for shit and I definitely can't handle humid heat. I would rather broil myself alive in Phoenix Arizona during the worst summer than spend any time in the most mildest of Floridian winters!
Danish Leader Urges Military Buildup At The Expense Of Welfare
In a recent interview with oligarch-aligned newspaper Financial Times Denmark's iron-fisted supreme leader, the social democrat Mette Frederiksen, is calling for American satellite states in western Europe to increase military buildup, painting Russia as an imminent threat to the imperialist bloc, claiming that Russia will soon be able to attack a member of the American-dominated NATO pact. Russian officials has repeatedly stated that they have no such intentions.
In the interview given in the Marienborg government compound outside of Copenhagen, the supreme leader bombastically started that "the naive continent" of Europe "must not repeat the mistakes of the 1930's". She claims that western European nations within the American sphere of influence has spent too little money on military buildup over the years, instead leaving their American overlords to foot the bill.
That this is not just empty sabre rattling is demonstrated by the frenzied rearmament programme Frederiksen's regime has embarked on, raising concerns for the stability in the Baltic and Arctic regions. Numbers released by Denmark's Liberal Party-controlled ministry of defense, suggesting that the Nordic kingdom is already spending a whopping two percent of GDP on its armed forces this year, thereby fulfilling American dictates for minimum military spending.
Despite Denmark being neighboured by fellow members of the Washington-controlled NATO pact and being at no risk of an unprovoked attack, Frederiksen claims her struggling nation is in dire need of spending even more money on military posturing. In the Financial Times interview she claims that "freedom comes with a price" and that funding for social welfare must be curbed to fund the regime's grand military plans.
The supreme leader goes on to say that "if the world is changing in the direction I think it will, then you cannot spend your penny, or your dollar, or your euro, or your krone two times."
Far away from the halls of power the people of Denmark are already paying the price for their dear leader's freedom. The nation's social welfare system, once lauded as a ray of light and progress in the heart of the otherwise bleak and uncaring imperialist bloc, is buckling under the stress of decades of economic mismanagement and chronic underfunding. The people of Denmark are now looking forward to seeing their schools, hospitals and public transit system decay even further, as the regime splurges on guns and missiles.
Biden is now goading Trump to support his fascist border bill. (I don't understand why Trump doesn't just accept it? they get everything they want) remember to vote though, most important election of our lifetimes, This. Is. An. Investment. In. Democracy. etc
umm actually it's not a big deal, it's an old tank (but still much better than any Russian tank!) and tanks just aren't effective in modern war so it doesn't matter, also it's not even destroyed, actually it's already been repaired again and the crew definitely survived unlike in inferior Russian tanks and Russia loses 50 tanks and planes and ships per day so I don't understand why they're celebrating
Get in, it's time for another random turboshitlib doing an article talking about Ukraine:
This time, the article is written by some wanker called "John Carlin" (I hope he has nothing to do with our beloved George Carlin) in the Argentinian version of CNN, the multimedia liberal giant "Clarín". Original article in spanish, translation by me.
spoiler
According to his particular reading of history, Putin considers that Ukraine “is an artificial state” that belongs to the Russian sphere.
All states are artificial, mr. liberal.
I read article after article warning that Russia could win the war in Ukraine. It surprises me. There is no way for them to win. Yes, everyone loses. As Martha Gellhorn, a writer who lived through the Spanish Civil War with her future husband Ernest Hemingway, said, “In war there is neither victory nor defeat. There is only catastrophe.”
But Russia is not going to win in Ukraine. Not even if Vladimir Putin achieved his initial objective: conquering all Ukrainian territory and imposing a puppet government in Kiev. Because in the long run that is the worst thing that could happen.
Putin wants to take ALL of Ukraine? Is this Hearts of Iron IV? I'm sorry man but I don't think Putin wants ALL of Ukraine, just the eastern and southern parts. The western regions will be handled by Poland, however.
Imagine the mess the Russians would get into. They would have to install an occupying army in a country twice the size of Germany, most of whose citizens detest them. The resistance would consist of a militia of at least 100,000 combat veterans armed by Western governments. Military orthodoxy says that in such circumstances the occupation army troops need to outnumber the partisans by a factor of 25 to 1.
Talk about having a shit starting point. His entire base for this analysis is the idea (a fact, to him) that Putin wants to take over ALL of Ukraine, something that only warmonger liberals believe in. Political, military and economic realities say otherwise, Russia will most likely cripple Ukraine and leave it to whatever western company to dismantle what remains. Also imagine thinking a "100,000 combat veterans armed by Western governments" will pose a massive threat to the Russians in the scenario, holy fuck, the already-existing, western-supplied ukrainian army is getting annihilated as we speak right now. STOP FANTASIZING ABOUT COMPLETELY ARTIFICIAL "WESTERN SUPREMACY" lmao.
In other words, Russia would have to deploy more than two million soldiers in Ukraine sine die, all of them vulnerable to death under fire every day. The wear and tear in lives and money would be permanent; the consequences for Russian internal politics, progressively more destabilizing.
Russia is in a full blown war with Ukraine and parts of NATO right now and the so-called consequences are nowhere to be seen. If anything, Putin is more popular than ever. The guy is even liquidating weak opposition leaders lol.
Let's move on to a less unlikely scenario. That an end to the war be finally negotiated in which Ukraine gives up Crimea and a good part of the territories in the southeast of the country that the Russians control today. A defeat for Ukraine? At first glance maybe yes. But consider.
Actually, the most likely scenario suddenly becomes the most unlikely lmfao.
By far most of the gigantic cost of post-war reconstruction, of cities like Mariupol that the Russian army has reduced to rubble, would have to be paid by Moscow. The Ukrainian government would be free to invest the billions that would come from friendly countries in the development of a nation whose size would be perhaps 80 percent of what it was, but whose potential is enormous. Ukrainian fertile land is abundant; young talent in new technologies, too. The Ukrainian army would be the most formidable in Europe.
He got paid to write this shit down. Mariupol is a miniscule city and it has been largely rebuilt by Russia DURING THE WAR. Whatever costs the Russians have to pay, they can pay. However Ukraine is in deep shit, and their government would not simply "invest" money from "friendly countries" in "development" with a crippled country lmao. How he thinks the postwar ukrainian army would be "the most formidable in Europe" is beyond me, that title would actually go to the Russian one because they won lol.
Europe: here is the crux of the matter. Ukrainians would only accept the cession of territory to Russia in exchange for security guarantees and a reasonable prospect of future prosperity. A negotiated solution to end the war would have to include Ukraine's accession to the European Union, the dream of its citizens and Putin's nightmare. That is why we must continue to arm Ukraine: so that, when the time comes to negotiate, Ukraine is in the best military conditions to insist that EU membership be an inalienable part of the plan.
Hell yeah let's keep sending helpless ukrainians to their death with our weapons so that they can join the EU afterwards. Actually, I don't think Putin gives a single fuck if Ukraine goes into the EU or not, he cares about NATO. On the other hand, I don't think the EU would want a war torn Ukraine into their ranks... better keep it outside and let companies like BlackRock ravage the area.
In fact, if this were the final outcome Putin would have lost the war. Their motive for the invasion on February 24, 2022 was the desire of the Ukrainian government to join the European club and free itself from the Russian yoke. Putin, let us remember, considers the collapse of the Soviet Union to be “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.” The dictator also thinks, according to his particular reading of history, that Ukraine is “an artificial state” that belongs to the Russian sphere. It is difficult for him to think of Ukraine as an independent nation, as was seen in the grotesque interview he gave a couple of weeks ago to that parody of the journalist, the American Tucker Carlson.
Putin is right, the collapse of the USSR is the greatest catastrophe in the 20th century, could be in history even.
The interview began with a half-hour diatribe in which Putin explained that Russian sovereignty over Ukraine dates back to the 9th century. (He also explained, among other nonsense, that Poland, not Germany, caused the start of World War II...) The ultra-Trumpist Carlson had arrived in Moscow convinced, like so many more idiots on the international right and left, that Putin had invaded Ukraine to prevent NATO from invading Russia. Carlson then confessed that it came as a “shock” to him to discover that it was not true; that he had done so because of Russia's “historical claims” to Ukrainian lands.
I can tell this article is directed to argentinians because he uses the term "ultra-trumpist", which is not used in the US. The origin of the "ultra-[PERSON]" comes from Clarín calling everyone who is "bad" a "ultra-kirchnerista", due to their never-ending crusade against Kirchnerism. Also he plays the "adult in the room" card by saying that "everyone in the left and right believed Putin invaded because of NATO".
What Putin didn't tell Carlson was the other reason why he can't stand the idea of Ukraine opting for the European path. He fears that such a large neighboring country, with so many cultural ties to Russia, will become a dangerous example of Western prosperity and democratic freedom for its crushed people.
Pure orientalism.
There are other possible scenarios for war in Ukraine. Let it last until Putin completes his umpteenth presidential term in 2030, or beyond. Let Russian mothers rebel, and, fed up with the carnage to which Putin subjects their children, pressure for a withdrawal of troops, as happened during the failed Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Or that there is a miracle and the Ukrainian army expels the Russian one.
Oh so Russia can't win, but neither can Ukraine.. considering their military victory is barely a "miracle".
In any case, in any imaginable or unimaginable scenario, the Russian fiasco is assured. Putin's idea was to obliterate the concept of Ukraine as a free nation and return it to its Soviet status as a submissive daughter of Mother Russia. Well no. The war has forged a nationalist sentiment never seen before in Ukraine, expressed in an infinite hatred towards the Russians.
Cool, the ukrainians embraced nazism and mr. turboliberal loves the idea.
Incidentally, far from weakening democratic Europe, a habit implanted in his brain since his days in the KGB, Putin has managed to rearm the continent and expand NATO to two more countries, Sweden and Finland. There is nothing to celebrate. Ukrainians have had to suffer a tragedy as catastrophic as it is unnecessary. But there is a prize. There is light. No one in the world - no one with half a brain - who aspires to decency and freedom will doubt from now on, and even less so after the death of the charismatic Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, that Putin and his regime represent not only the worst, but the most stupid thing in humanity.
Copium. Nobody other than six liberals care about Navalny, not even the russians themselves. On the other hand, Putin becomes more and more popular in the global south. But as always, mr. shitlib lives in a bubble called "The West".
The brain damage is real. There is another article by this man where he denies "Israel" is carrying out a genocide. I will post that one soon.
https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1763243520230371523
US Department of Defense is Hamas.
Seeing that Kraut fuck in the modlog reminded me of this tweet
https://twitter.com/MKarnitschnig/status/1761792453953105935
New Trump nickname just dropped: Governor New Scum
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-68402672
George Galloway is an MP again huh. A lot to say here but I just got up so just read the article bearing in mind it's the BBC.
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I came across some interesting numbers today that put China's fisheries in perspective. China contributes something like 35% of the world's fish output and from that China makes up 19.2% of the world's wild catch and 61.5% of the world's aquaculture production. In fact, 73% of China's fish output is from aquaculture, and much of the remaining 27% includes freshwater sources.
Damn, intercept also has layoffs (according to latest pod), fucks sake, the only good liberals
Some Belarussians in Poland are auditioning for CIA/State Department/NED money
A group of Belarusian dissidents say they are planning a coup against the country’s authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, to be executed “at the right time.”
The partisan resistance group BYPOL — which operates from Poland — has been training officers and actively sabotaging the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine, all in preparation of a coup d’état against Minsk’s regime, one senior figure said publicly.
“We have worked out a plan and will put it into effect at the right time,” former Belarusian officer Aliaksandr Azarau told Belgian media outlet VRT.
According to Azarau, ensuring Russian President Vladimir Putin’s defeat in Ukraine is necessary to weaken Lukashenko’s regime.
Are the libs getting ready to cut their losses on Ukraine? Less and less journalists are Slavaing their Ukrainis and near-realist pieces are being published.
I just finished reading an article from Danish government broadcaster DR titled "War expert on Ukraine's shortage of western weapons: I can't see the Ukrainians do an offensive the next 12 months" where they interviewed a guy from the military academy who has previously made outright delusional predictions about western Wunderwaffen and the like are realising that western armaments industry can't keep up with Russian, how Ukraine's hand-me-downs are a logistical nightmare, how the promised arms shipments are getting delayed and how Ukraine is lacking soldiers.
He doesn't like it though and we get wonderful quotes like "We know that Russia can shoot around 20.000 shells a day while Ukraine is around 4.000 to 7.000. So on some points the Russians have advantages".
Although more realistic than before he is still delusional and he predicts things will begin to look up for the Ukrainians once they switch to a more defensive position.
He then goes on to be mad at the Ukrainians for not conscripting those under 27, calling it a luxury position when you are in "an existential war". This line is probably going to be one of the go-to soundbits once the libs switches to blaming the Ukrainians for losing the war.
When reporting about the end the Nordstream investigation, Danish government broadcaster DR is presenting the public with two possible explanations: Ukrainians on a boat or scary Russians with submarines. The third and most likely option, ie. that the yanks who achieved several geopolitical goals by doing it also did it, is simply not mentioned.
They mention that Danish authorities refused to work with Russia on the investigation but only when prefixed with a "Russia claims that". They do not report on how the Danish regime rejected the Russian proposal of an independent international investigation under UN auspices.
Yvan Gil called the operation "shameful theft of the aircraft".
The United States (US) government scrapped the Venezuelan plane seized from the Cargo del Sur Transport Company (Emtrasur), a subsidiary of the state-owned Conviasa.
The plane had been retained since June 2022 by the Argentine government. The main reason for its seizure was its membership of Iranian corporation, Mahan Air, to which the US had imposed sanctions for alleged financing of terrorist groups.
Since its seizure, the US government had asked to be given the ship as part of evidence of an alleged Iranian terrorist network. In 2024 President Javier Milei unconstitutionally ceded the plane to the US.
The Bolivarian government rejected the hijacking and protested the illegitimacy of the action. Yvan Gil called the operation "shameful theft of the aircraft".
Faced with this situation, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro affirmed "Milei’s bandit stole the plane from Venezuela, Javier Milei, the hero of the extreme right of the surnames, that hero of the extreme right of the surnames stole a large plane from Venezuela".
This Wednesday, it was announced that the plane already owned by the United States, was scrapped and destroyed in North American territory.
The Venezuelan Transport Minister and President of Conviasa stated in X "In the Arizona desert, the US government maintains a cemetery of more than 5,000 planes, degrading the environment of the planet. Yesterday they tore apart the EMTRASUR plane, to demoralize the Venezuelan people and demonstrate its imperial character."
Destroying a plane to own the chavistas???
EURACTIV - West’s Ukraine strategy ‘completely failed’, says Slovak PM ahead of Paris summit [2024-02-26]
On Sunday (25 February), Fico announced he would be convening the Slovak Security Council, together with the government and coalition parties, due to the “chilling” nature of the topics to be discussed in Paris.
Several NATO and EU member countries were considering sending their soldiers to Ukraine based on their bilateral agreement, he claimed.
“Proposals for the direct physical presence of soldiers from EU and NATO member countries in the territory of Ukraine, albeit only on a bilateral level, will lead to a significant escalation of tensions if implemented,” he stated.
According to Fico, the Paris talks would be a “battle meeting” to “prevent the direct participation of Slovak soldiers in the war in Ukraine”.
Fico noted that his country will focus on civilian and non-lethal assistance, and would continue to help Ukraine with de-mining activities.
Live footage of a Hermes 450 drone catching on fire as it falls from the sky after Hezbollah shot it down using a surface-to-air missile over the Iqlim al-Tuffah area - deep inside Lebanese territory: https://twitter.com/EyesOnSouth1/status/1762033111049629751
The 24-hour strike will affect around 35,000 people who were scheduled to travel on approximately 300 flights with Aerolineas Argentinas.
The Association of Aeronautical Personnel (APA), the Airline Pilots Association (APLA), and the Union of Superior and Professional Personnel of Air Commercial Companies (UPSA) will hold a strike on Wednesday to demand a salary adjustment that compensates for the accelerated loss of purchasing power in Argentina.
"Given the intransigence adopted by Aerolineas Argentinas and Intercargo, the aviation unions APA, APLA, and UPSA communicate that we are forced to declare a total 24-hour work stoppage," aviation workers said.
Previously, Aerolineas Argentinas and Intercargo offered their workers a 12 percent salary increase starting in March. This proposal was rejected by the workers as there is currently a salary gap equivalent to 70 percent of the recorded inflation.
Since the strike begins at midnight on Tuesday, the unions have warned companies to take necessary precautions to avoid inconvenience to passengers.
However, it is estimated that the 24-hour strike will affect around 35,000 people who were scheduled to travel on approximately 300 flights with Aerolineas Argentinas.
Currently, Argentinians are experiencing a dramatic economic situation. Since far-right economist Javier Milei assumed the presidency in December 2023, the poverty rate has increased to 57 percent due to inflation that has not subsided so far.
The recovery of the purchasing power of Argentines is not in sight even in the medium term. At the beginning of February, Milei signed a decree that will allow the gradual increase in taxes on gasoline and diesel, which will encourage greater inflationary expansion.
The cynics might be right, but Biden might legit have done the Monday announcement in order to make the protest vote go down.
He's ignoring that even the "uncommitted" voters are people who are already registered. A lot of them have just tapped out. He's not doing well with young voters, Black voters and Arabs/Muslims. Like I don't get the copium about a win.
@Tervell@hexbear.net you're gonna love this one
The Army is standardizing how armor crews train and shoot
Armor brigades with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia are training with a new set of qualification standards, or gunnery tables.
That's right folks, the U.S Army armored and Mechanized forces HAVE NOT had a standardized training program for their gunners for who knows for how fucking long and have completely relied upon skills of individuals - usually a mix of whatever retained passed-down knowledge in the magical game of telephone between generations and whatever personal experience each master gunner accrues in their time in service!
The Army is standardizing the way crews of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles keep up with their combat skills.
Fucking embarrassing it took until 2024 for the clowns in the Pentagon and TRADOC to figure this out
Brigades with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia have taken the last month to train under a new set of qualification standards, or gunnery tables, against targets set at longer distances for their M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
People think ww3s gonna happen while the fucking Army that they think will fight it is just realizing what actual modern warfare looks like and has vaguely grasped how jacked up their combat capabilities are and are in a mad scramble to fix themselves while stumbling on their shoelaces
“What we are trying to do is train our crews to be more adaptable and be more lethal as our adversaries change,” said 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Roush. “Everyone will go through the exact same validation process. Once these tables are implemented Army-wide, we could receive a new soldier from any unit in the Army and know that the training standard that the soldier has used, are the exact same across the entire Army that we have and then base our performance and expectations off of that.”
Fucking magical they've figured out standardized training is a necessity IN MOTHERFUCKING 2024!
Tank crews have to validate their skills twice a year on a unit’s gunnery tables. Under the current integrated weapons strategy there are six gunnery tables that crews must be certified in: Table I gunnery skills test; Table II simulations; Table III proficiency to train with live rounds; Table IV basic skills of the platform; Table V practice and Table VI qualification for crew to participate in live-fire exercises.
Blah blah blah they had all the shit that's needed to make a standardized system but didn't
Master gunners could previously use their own discretion to create tables with time and distance categories for targets. But with this initiative, there would be set standards that soldiers and crews have to complete, said Sgt. Daniel Blandon, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team Abrams Master Gunner.
Fucking lol
Large scale combat operations
Over the last two decades, training for Iraq and Afghanistan was focused on counterinsurgency operations “for a whole career of a soldier,” said Steve Krivitsky, chief of the weapons and gunnery branch at the Directorate of Training, Tactics and Doctrine for the Maneuver Center of Excellence. “There was a series of soldiers that never experienced the long range and then the large-scale, combat-operations-type training.”
Translation: we had a brain-drain because we spent too many years playing whack-a-mole games now we're struggling with basic concepts of war fighting
Tank crews often were tested only on skills and targets their commanders deemed essential for Iraq and Afghanistan deployments, or that could be shot within the confines of the ranges of their own base.
Translation: our training over the past 20+ years has been checkpoint guarding and occupation force intimidation tactics with the rare masterbatort larp session stateside to make our tankmen feel like they still matter
“When you look at Fort Stewart and Fort Stewart’s ranges, they made a scenario that was tailored to their facilities and their training needs of their unit based on their past performance,” Krivitsky said. “What they chose to shoot would not be exactly the same as what something at Fort Carson might shoot.”
Translation: each base, like feudal kingdoms, had their own ways of doing shit.
Soldiers at Fort Stewart, Krivitsky said, are “pushing the limits of the training ammunition and the system itself to hit targets up to 2,200 to 2,400 meters.”
Translation: we've fucked up so bad so we're scrambling to make up standards to teach everyone based off of the knowledge we've gained from the Ukraine war
The current qualification for the farthest main gun engagement is a single target at 1,800 meters. The requirements under the new tables would increase main gun engagements to seven targets between 1,800 and 2,400 meters.
Translation: Ukraine wars teaching us modern war isn't like battlefield 4 or world of tanks
The new tables also focus on multiple stationary and moving main gun engagements. Now, Tables V and VI will include an offense and defense four-target engagement.
Translation: we've fucked up on training for more basic shit, again.
With the current gunnery qualifications – for all of the different types of engagements – the average is 31 seconds to defeat a single target, Kravitsky said. But the new standard would involve four targets in a shortened time frame.
Learning how to cowboy quickdraw shooting but with a tank.
“On a four target engagement, they don’t have two minutes, they have 75 seconds. And so that 31 seconds might overlap with another target’s 31 seconds because it’s exposed,” he said. “That speed in combat, the speed at which you deliver accurate fires first, your reward is you win. So our goal is to hit first, hit fast and move on to the next one.”
Reminder that U.S tanks require a manual loader so there's a dude that's busting his ass loading 4 big ass tank rounds while huffing depleted uranium fumes in 75 seconds or less.
Fucking lol
Officials are finding new ways to use the latest sensors and optics on Bradleys and Abrams. On the M1, for example, the vehicle commander has a Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, or CROWS system for on-the-move target acquisition and first-burst target engagement.
Fancy thingamabobs that theoretically work but aren't rigorously combat tested. Who knows, maybe it'll accidentally do some friendly fire if a war happens.
The new standards for Table IV force the tank’s gunner to run through five defensive machine gun skills rather than use the main gun, while the vehicle commander has five tests on the CROWS system.
More basic shit
“When the gunner is executing the machine gun engagements, the vehicle commander is using the commander’s independent thermal viewer to identify supplemental targets,” Krivistky said. “It speeds the process of target acquisition and target hand-off to rapidly defeat multiple targets in sequence.”
More basic shit
The Maneuver Center of Excellence looked at all of the different possible target engagements that a tank crew might see and found 3,264 different variables. With the gunnery tables, officials need to decide which types of engagements are the best use of time and show a crew’s gunnery skills.
Aka standardization of training. Fucking fluff to pad out this article
“We only have 30 engagements for live fire so we have to be really selective of which engagements have the biggest payoff to the crew’s experience because the other 3,234 would have to be done in simulations,” Krivistky said.
Lol simulations means they're making soldiers play videogames like ARMA. Unless they got one of those fancy facilities with theater screens and mock vehicles on pneumatic pads to play videogames but IRL
Once they collect all of the data from 3ID’s training, they will hand it off to the Maneuver Center of Excellence for analysis. Officials from the center will take their findings to the Armor School’s Commandant and if he approves the manual, they’ll go through the publication process which can take three to six months.
Bureaucratic shit
When a new book is published and there’s a “significant change in how we do things,” there will be an implementation period across the Army which takes about a year, Krivitsky said. The 3ID initiative “accelerates the completion of this training strategy and publication by at least nine months which in the Army system, that’s fast.”
Army isn't planning to do a cheeky ww3 this year unless someone higher than the Pentagon pencil pushers screws the pooch
Republicans are trying to emotionally manipulate their Christo-fascist base on Franklin Graham being CANCELED by the "far left". As if Graham ever had anything of "the left".
But you know they aren't snowflakes
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The crimea bridge might be the strongest bridge on earth since Ukrainians launch a terrorist attack on it every month and nothing really happens except making crimeans hate them even more.
Concentrated cope on display here, Q&A with a bunch of RAND drones, courtesy of nakedcapitalism links.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/02/two-years-after-russia-invaded-ukraine.html
This is not actually worth reading btw
From the beginning of an article I won't read the rest of:
Now in his mid-nineties, Jürgen Habermas is one of the pre-eminent philosophers and public intellectuals of our time. In Germany his generation enjoyed the mercy of being born too late. In 2004, in a speech given on receipt of the Kyoto prize in arts and philosophy, he observed that “we did not have to answer for choosing the wrong side and for political errors and their dire consequences”. He came to maturity in a society that he judged complacent and insufficiently distanced from its recent past. This experience sets the context for his academic work and political interventions.
Only took him twenty years after this to find a wrong side he could choose. ("Despite all the concern for the fate of the Palestinian population, however, the standards of judgement slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israel’s actions.")
new cope dropped, interview with a recently retired Polish general, translated by duckduckgo with slight edits:
The former Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army stressed that "the Russians do not attack when they have a strong opponent against them." "They always attack when they feel weakness" he said, adding that "the European 'Fit For 55' program, which was supposed to tighten the European Union's climate policy, was like using a red cape on a bull."
(The Russians) have understood that this is the last 5 minutes when they can use their energy advantage to implement their strategy to push the US out of Europe, destabilize individual countries and at the same time prevent the integration processes of Ukraine and Belarus. Otherwise, they may lose the battle for energy supremacy, as the U.S. and China compete to build an advantage when it comes to carbon-free energy. (...) They simply began to calculate and estimated that the West is weak, that there are no arguments in this clash, and there will be no better opportunity. I think that they were aware of their impeding loss in the energy race during the 2020-2030 window" argued General Rajmund Andrzejczak.
Bidenomics wins again!
Putin plots sweeping infrastructure boost in pre-election economic push
I'm just now hearing that Putin rubbed his hands together and gave out a comically evil cackle while "plotting' this change
I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say you deserve love!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68420519
Biden wins Michigan primary despite Gaza protest vote
Just learned that the Megachurch shooter is supposedly an anti semitic crank with a Palestine sticker on her gun. Have any of these ghouls try to capitalize on this? Also, she was using her son as a human shield and they shot him anyway.
kLakewood Church asked people to "pray for Lakewood and our community".[8] Joel Osteen, its pastor, said: "Of course, we're devastated. We don't understand why these things happen. We're going to pray for the 5-year-old little boy, the lady who is deceased and the other gentleman. We're going to stay strong and continue to move forward."
Bro is literally the leader of this cult and this is all he had to say to comfort people lol. Live Joel Osteen reaction:
There’s a wildfire next to the Pantex Plant, which has been evacuated
I know this is self indulgent but if you still have a reddit account please go upvote this so it manages to get some algorithm steam: https://www.reddit.com/r/animememes/comments/1b5hv7f/free_palestine/
I dont want to go full lib here but is it somehow possible to track if someone is a hasbara bot? I would be down to build a database and an webpage, but not like the lib version of the isralis that track "antisemites", I would only give access to people with rich comment and post history or i could make it that every entry has to be reviewed... My motivation is that we won't forget who took part in this and maybe build a ban list. Sorry if its extremely lib, in my currently situation I can't do much more and I really want to do something.
as What_Religion_R_They posts below, apparently this story about Ukraine asking for reparations from Mongolia was a rumor/fake, so I'll cross it off, thanks for the correction
Information about the existence of such an appeal appeared in May 2015, but then it was not confirmed. Namsrai's statements in an interview with the radio station were interpreted by some media outlets as confirmation of the veracity of the story.
"No, no, no. I said that I read it on the Internet. I did not confirm anything," Namsray told RIA Novosti, answering the question whether he really meant that such an appeal of the Rada exists.
When asked whether the Mongolian authorities had confirmed the receipt of the Rada's appeal, the diplomat replied: "No, there was no such thing, it was just an Internet sensation."
Earlier, the media referred to the resolution allegedly adopted by the Verkhovna Rada "On the genocide of the Ukrainian people in the 13th century by the criminal regime of the Mongol Empire." Such a document was not registered in the Parliament of Ukraine, the deputies did not adopt it.
flashback to the Poroshenko government in actionAKIpress - Embassy of Mongolia confirms demand from Kiev for reparations [03/03/2016]>Press attaché of the Embassy of Russia in Mongolia Lhagvasuren Namsrai has confirmed the information about the country’s Parliament receiving an official letter from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with the requirement to pay compensation for the destruction of Kiev by the troops of Batu Khan in the 13th century, reports Jewish Business News.>“The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine wrote an official letter to the State Great Khural that said in the thirteenth century Batu Khan (Golden Horde, the grandson of Genghis Khan) organized the genocide of the Ukrainian people. Ukrainians demand the payment of compensation. Both Russian and Mongolian websites have written about it,” said Namsrai.>“Then our correspondent asked our Chairman of the State Great Khural: the letter is factual? And our Chairman of the State Great Khural replied that, generally, in the history of the Middle ages it was the Kievan Rus, the Ukrainian State did not exist then. But if the Verkhovna Rada writes all the names of the Ukrainian citizens who died as a result of genocide, and their families, we will be ready to pay,” said the press attaché.Yves' commentary as well as the quoted Helmer piece are worth reading for the current state of ukraine. The meta discussion at the beginning sources and analysis is good. Yves is very level headed.
Election turnout being more or less identical to last time (which was coming only a few weeks after the Ukrainian airline & suppression of Aban protests) is not a clear victory for anyone. Just means things haven't changed.
Khatami not voting though is new. He was always a "moderate" reformist, that believed in change within system no matter not. That he finally abandoned the voting box (but Hassan & Javad didn't) has a lot of implications on mainstream reformist groups.
Iran had elections today, the only real narrative around it was supposed to be what the turnout looked like. ended up being normal I guess.
Ancap Update:
Attacking Lula while trying to ask Lula for money:
Milei shares messages associating Lula with Hamas and praising Bolsonaro's act
A message shared by Milei also described Bolsonaro's speech as "a historic speech" and in defense of freedom
A message shared by Milei also described Bolsonaro's speech as "a historic speech" and in defense of freedom. The Argentine president also shared a message stating that Sunday would define "the course of politics in Brazil and the resistance against the dictatorship of Lula da Silva".
Lol
A final message described the event as a "massive anti-Lula protest" and showed a video of Bolsonaro waving an Israeli flag, referring to the diplomatic crisis generated by the statement in which Lula compared Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip to those of Adolf Hitler against the Jews.
I saw a tweet showing a flag with Bolsonaro and Bibi with Genociders in Hebrew there. :troll:
At the beginning of February, Argentina's Economy Minister Luis Caputo said that he was counting on Brazil to help Argentina overcome the serious economic crisis it is facing and that the only difference between the two countries is in soccer.
Caputo rn:
Chairwoman of the Workers' Party, Gleisi Hoffman, says Milei is making a mockery of himself by acting like a kid and sharing messages associating Lula with Hamas "Talking about dictatorship in Brazil is totally irresponsible, and it's even more serious if it's reproduced by the president of a neighboring country, a friend and trading partner," said Gleisi.
"Milei should first take care of solving the serious problems of the people of Argentina. He was elected to do that, but he prefers to offend Lula and persecute Brazilian students in his country", said Gleisi.
Governors Revolt in Southern Argentina
The governors of the 6 provinces of Argentine Patagonia want to suspend oil production in the provinces from Wednesday. The provinces are demanding that the government unblocks the provincial participation funds.
La Pampa, Chubut, Río Negro, Tierra del Fuego, Santa Cruz and Neuquen have all agreed on the issue and have formed a kind of bloc.
Btw, Macri's party gave support to the governor of Chubut. Milei is fucked lol.
@ThomasMuentzner@hexbear.net hey you should repost that Abrams tank here
American elections seem like they’re getting kind of predictable. It’s all pretty much reaction to the previous election.
Trump gets elected in 2016, voters react by giving the house to the Dems in 2018 and the senate and presidency in 2020.
…to which voters reacted by giving Republicans the house in 2022.
I think I can predict the next few elections with probably reasonable accuracy.
2024: Trump wins, Rs get senate and house
2026: Ds get control of the house
2028: Some Dem wins the presidency, Ds take back the senate also.After that it might be more like 2008-2016 where Rs slow burn getting Congress back and whatever dem is president gets re-elected. That’s just the same thing but slower.
There are reports of an attempted coup d'état underway in Chad, after a group of soldiers reportedly headed towards the presidential palace in N'Djamena in an attempt to take control of it. Violent clashes are underway in the capital of Chad, N'Djamena, between the armed forces loyal to the transition president Mahamat Deby and the dissidents led by the political opponent Yaya Say it. This was reported by sources quoted by the information site "Tchad One", according to which several deaths and injuries were recorded on both sides in the fighting.
Oh wow first
As always,
to our poster in chief 72TSpy Hunt At Danish University: Secret Police Cracks Down On Foreigners
"Avoid becoming the Russian intelligence agency's employee of the year"
- Propaganda poster put up by the secret police at Denmark's University of Aarhus.
According to reports coming out of Denmark, the regime is getting increasingly paranoid about the risk of foreign infiltration of academia. A pilot project at the University of Aarhus has screened foreign applicants for research jobs in order to single out not only those suspected of being foreign spies but also those suspected of becoming spies in the future.
The screening project was initiated at the request of PET, the regime's secret police, who has been running a propaganda campaign to make academics look for suspicious activity. The project targets applicants of Russian, Chinese and Iranian origin. Applicants are being investigated for having co-authored articles with people the regime finds suspicious, it is investigated whether they have personal circumstances making them likely of being compromised by foreign spy agencies and the dean of the institute they are applying to is asked to assess whether the applicant will work with information deemed sensible if they get the job. Sensitive information can be found in fields such as energy infrastructure or arctic policy.
Just short of 200 applicants were screened by the university last year and 10% of applicants screened were rejected for being potential spies. Unsurprisingly government media reports that students and academics at the university are in favour of the screenings but the paranoia is likely to have consequences for academic freedom and will have chilling effects for academics and complicate international academic exchange.
Bolsonaro Fails again
A study by Torabit cited in Estado de S. Paulo shows 46.2% of all social media comments on Bolsonaro's anti-Supreme Court protest this morning were negative, 27.5% positive & 26.2% neutral. The Federal Police crippled Carlos Bolsonaro's social media "hate cabinet".
According to the conservative Estadão newspaper, Bolsonaro's anti-Supreme Court protest didn't make Brazil's top ten most popular google search queries today. The list was dominated by football teams, topped by Santos, who beat São Bernardo in the S.P. state championship
Bolsonaro shoots himself in the foot again. During his speech at the anti-Supreme Court protest in S. Paulo today, he admitted there was a written plan to coup the Lula govt, falsely claimed it was legal & demanded amnesty for jailed coup plotters - acknowledging their guilt.
180,000 is still a big crowd. How did it happen? There'll be 5568 mayoral elections on 10/06. Conservative candidates from across the S. and SE. paid for social media ads and brought thousands to SP via hundreds of charter buses.
Greater Sao Paulo packs 22 million people into an area half the size of Greater New York. Organizers clearly assumed that more locals would come out. Obviously many did, but they didn't come close to hitting he expected numbers.
3x lower than expected turnout, Bolsonaro incriminating himself by providing evidence for the Federal Police in the Jan. 8, 2023 coup attempt investigation, and underwhelming social media stats make this hard to call a success, regardless of how the inter. far right frames it.
Bolsonaro's anti-Supreme Court protest organizers said they expected a turnout of 700,00 yesterday. University of S. Paulo researchers using P2PNet methodology say the number was closer to 180,000. Conclusion: there was a failure of organic reach.
Seems like Bolsonarists are angry at the Police because the Police agrees that there only 180k people there.
Sometimes framing in jacobin leaves me baffled, mates are you leftwing journal or fucking politico. (article in question)
Kojima is gonna bust Hunter Schafer out of jail (she got arrested with JVP)
In December 2023, Rachel Corrie also blew herself up in protest against the genocide in Gaza.
On Sunday afternoon, an active-duty US soldier immolated himself in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest against the genocide in Palestine.
In a video posted on social media, 25-year-old soldier Aaron Bushnell is seen dousing himself with flammable liquid and setting himself on fire until engulfed in flames. While he performs this act that would lead to his death, the US soldier shouts "Free Palestine."
"I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. Free Palestine!," he said in the video.
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now," Bushnell posted on X hours before immolating himself.
The Metropolitan Police of Washington responded immediately to the incident. The U.S. Air Force confirmed that a member of its ranks had been involved in the incident but did not provide further details.
The fire department and emergency services indicated that Bushnell was rushed to the hospital with "critical" injuries. The U.S. soldier died a few hours later.
In recent weeks, opposition to the Israeli offensive in Gaza has spread across the United States, where human rights activists demand an immediate ceasefire.
"This isn't the first incident of self immolation in the U.S. over the ongoing Gaza war. In December, a protester set herself on fire outside Atlanta’s Israeli Consulate," the Industan Times recalled, referring to Rachel Corrie, a peace activist who also chose self-sacrifice as an extreme form of protest.
"Many in the United States are angry over Biden administration's ‘insensitive stand’ with the nation vetoing a ceasefire resolution at United Nations Security Council on several occasions," it added.
Cubana de Aviacion Restarts Flights Between Havana and Caracas
There was no air traffic between Havana and Caracas for 4 years
The Cuban airline announced the restart of its flights between Havana and Caracas. From February 25, 2024, passengers will be able to travel between these two Latin American capital.
The schedules of these flights will be at 7:45 in the morning from Havana, Cuba time, to reach Caracas at 11 am, Venezuela time.
The return flight from Caracas is scheduled for 1 pm Venezuelan time and will arrive at 4:15 pm Cuban time.
Flights will run once a week. The airline will fly to Caracas every Sunday. There was no air traffic between Havana and Caracas for 4 years
According to Cubana de Aviación, the round-trip ticket, for the period from 10 to 17 March 2024, will be priced from US$ 865.20.
The ticket price between Havana and Caracas includes taxes, surcharges and supplements. Travel will be made on Tupolev 204 equipment.
Palestinian Authority Government Submits Resignation to Abbas
The U.S. wants the PNA to assume executive functions in Gaza when the war ends. Israel, however, has been reluctant to that possibility.
On Monday, Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayeh and his cabinet presented their resignation to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
"I put the government's resignation at the disposal of President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, February 20, and today I present it in writing," Shtayeh said at the beginning of a meeting with the PNA cabinet in Ramallah, in the West Bank.
Shtayeh explained that this decision comes "in light of the political, security and economic developments related to the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, and the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank, including the city of East Jerusalem."
"The resignation comes in light of what our people, our Palestinian cause and our political system face: a ferocious and unprecedented attack, genocide, attempted forced displacement, famine in Gaza, intensification of colonialism, settler terrorism and repeated invasions of fields and villages in Jerusalem and the West Bank," Shtayeh lamented.
"We will continue to be in confrontation with the occupation, and the Palestinian National Authority will continue to fight to establish the State on the lands of Palestine, against its will," said Shtayeh, who thanked President Abbas for "his wisdom and support" and his ministers "for his exceptional work in exceptional circumstances."
Shtayeh considered that the current government, which has served for five years, did a good job under difficult circumstances. However, he opted for "a new stage whose challenges require new governmental and political agreements that take into account the new reality in the Gaza Strip and dialogue for national unity."
"We have an urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus, with a national basis, broad participation, unity of ranks and the extension of the PNA throughout the land of Palestine," he stated, making tacit reference to the failed efforts at national reconciliation after several unsuccessful dialogue attempts between Fatah, a secular party that controls the ANP, and Hamas and other groups such as Islamic Jihad.
The PNA cabinet resignation comes at a time when Israel has presented a "post-war plan for the Gaza Strip." This proposal has sparked a discussion about who will assume civilian control of that Palestinian territory, where the Zionist state will not consent to the Islamist group Hamas regaining power.
Presented on Feb. 22, the Israeli Post-War Plan does not mention the existence of a civilian government. However, it does highlight that Zionist troops will control security in Gaza with freedom of movement, just as it is currently happening in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli soldiers regularly come in to arrest "terrorism suspects."
It seems that the United States wants the PNA, which currently governs small areas of the West Bank, to assume executive functions in Gaza when the war ends. Israel, however, has been reluctant to such a possibility.
Apparently Portuguese legislative elections are in a week. AFAIK Bloco de Esquerda is cool enough to participate in electoralism for. There’s a call for an arms embargo on Israel signed by parliamentarians from Israel supporting nations. Portugal has five signatures, which are the entirety of BE and no one else.
I’ve never gotten the chance to vote because I live in America and have only realized elections are coming up too late to get my documents in order (i.e. go to DC). Same thing happened this year.
Mkb on Russian relations with central Asian countries, including economic ties with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and diplomatic relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan
https://www.indianpunchline.com/russias-victory-in-ukraine-resonates-in-central-asia/
According to CMC, the matter will be included in the Georgetown Final Declaration and the bloc will call on all parties involved to make the necessary concessions to unblock the impasse in the French-speaking nation.
On Thursday, official sources announced that Jamaica will soon host a meeting with Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders and other stakeholders interested in finding a lasting solution to Haiti's political, economic and social instability.
The regional news agency Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) indicated that sources close to the matter confirmed that the meeting will be held within two weeks.
Its celebration arose from the conversations between the Caribbean and the Haitian delegation present at the 46th Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom, held from Sunday to Wednesday in Guyana.
According to CMC, the matter will be included in the Georgetown Final Declaration and the bloc will call on all parties involved to make the necessary concessions to unblock the impasse in the French-speaking nation.
Caricom leaders said in a statement that Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to hold elections in Haiti before August 2025. However, Henry has promised several times to hold elections since taking office following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, but he and other officials have said gang violence has prevented them from keeping those promises."
The Caribbean countries analyzed the Haitian crisis with representatives of Canada, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the United Nations, acknowledged its seriousness, showed concern for the continued deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation there, and emphasized the need to make way for a "participatory and inclusive" solution.
This issue was one of the priorities of the Caricom meeting and the leaders reiterated from the outset their commitment to finding strategies to put an end to the ongoing problems in Haiti.
This is all the USA and France's fault. They should have never removed president Jean Aristide from power.
So, I'm in my second semester of diploma of engineering, and I'm a little disappointed in the lack of spark in my class. While everyone is there ostensibly to learn (para)-engineering, most of them regard it as pretty onerous work and aren't particularly interested in design or the specifics of. Sometimes they know things because of their jobs (which are in industry), but they don't seem to want to find out why a machine is built a particular way or what one particular material does. Like, I get finding the more procedural stuff like keeping track of parts lists or signing off designs boring, but the actual engineering part? Why are they even here?
(was gonna post this in the regular mega, but that's about to go down, and we talk about engineering here. I have war nerd engineering thoughts)
(even like... When Ian "NATO shill" Forgottenweapons interviews gun designers, a lot of them don't seem to be particularly interested in their projects, though maybe that's an autism thing on either my part or their part)
(warnign twitter link)
ummmmmm the nuclear weapon factory is on fire is that bad?
the Polish president happily airing out some pipe dreams here in a recent interview with French media
Mr. President, are you afraid that Russia could fall apart? In your opinion, is it even possible that Russia can fall apart? That individual nations in Russia will demand independence, as the Ukrainians and others did in the past?
I will say this, from the Polish point of view – taking into account our history, where we have been struggling with Russia for five hundred years and several times, unfortunately, we were under Russian occupation for a long time, which ended tragically for us: hundreds of thousands of Poles died in Siberia and were murdered, also during World War II by the Russians, by the Soviets at that time – of course it would be best, if Russia simply did not exist.
Here, in Western Europe and across the Atlantic, they can talk about the need for strategic balance. In Poland, everyone will say that these are fairy tales. Because it would be best if there was no strong Russia in this part of the world. Because then the potential, dramatic threat that it poses to us will disappear.
also 2 weeks ago the lib speaker of the house (#1 in the order of succession after the president) said 'we will crush Putin into the ground' at a local campaign rally, he did a 'sorry not sorry' walk back later by saying he was just mad Navalny died, lol
yle.fi - Defence minister Häkkänen rows back on plans to ban reservists from resigning [06/02/2024]
Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) has backtracked on plans he revealed last week to introduce legislation that would prohibit people from resigning from the Finnish Defence Forces' (FDF) military reserve.
In the wake of the minister's comments, some 650 people resigned from the reserve in the space of about five days.
The number is significant, given that a total of 1,600 reservists resigned from the service in the entire 12 months of last year.
Häkkänen had told the local paper last week that he considered it "unpatriotic" for reservists to resign.
His blog post on Tuesday also confirmed that no legislative reforms on this matter are in the pipeline, but added that the option could be considered by parliament at a later date.
The Radio WarNerd did an interview to the prelude of the crisis in Sudan a year ago, it's pretty informative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLBJ7KDDVQs&ab_channel=RadioWarNerd
Also I know Indonesia was a last week, but I forgot to mention two documentaries about the Indonesian Mass Killing of 65-66 and the perception in nowadays Indonesia by Joshua Oppenheimer:
Act of Killing and Look of Silence
Good analysis from Robert Inlakesh from Al Mayadeen https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/the-reason-why-a-rafah-invasion-is-so-dangerous-is-because
As a result of a legal reform approved in 2023, El Salvador now only has 44 municipalities.
Even though the period of electoral silence has not yet begun in El Salvador, several political parties have already closed their electoral campaigns with public events ahead of next Sunday's elections, in which citizens will elect mayors and members of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN).
As a result of a legal reform approved by Congress, which is controlled by President Nayib Bukele, most of the 262 municipalities were converted into districts in El Salvador, a country that now only has 44 municipalities.
Thus, for example, the municipality of San Salvador became part of San Salvador Centro, which includes the towns of Mejicanos, Ayutuxtepeque, Cuscatancingo, and Ciudad Delgado.
Among the candidates who closed, despite the fact that electoral silence has not yet begun, are the current mayor of San Salvador, Mario Duran, who is competing to become the first mayor of San Salvador Centro for the ruling New Ideas party.
His main contender is the candidate of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) Simon Paz, who denounced that the Bukele administration and its legislators have tried to eliminate this leftist organization by all possible means.
"To eliminate the FMLN, they have invested millions and changed several laws. What they did not consider is that it is a party with tradition and structure," he said.
Rommy Jimenez, an academic from the Central American University (UCA), expressed her concern about the Municipal Restructuring Law since numerous unresolved doubts persist that generate uncertainty in the face of the municipal elections on March 3.
When referring to the disappearance of dozens of municipalities, she pointed out the lack of clarity on issues such as the fate of previous municipal ordinances.
Jon Stewart lost his dog Dipper yesterday (cw sad)
He was a 3 legged rescue dog and a good boy.
This latest Roderic Day twitter beef must be his most pathetic yet, he seems like he can't decide whether a disagreement is meant to be 15 rounds in Manilla or a friendly discussion over coffee, so he ends up repeatedly accusing someone of lying, distorting the truth, misleading etc, but then switching into birthday boy mode and calling for civility when accused of not reading the other person's points properly.
I mean I like his work in general but sometimes when he has a disagreement with someone basically on the same page as him, it's like pulling teeth having to read through the resulting days long dispute.
#Tradle #725 3/6
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https://games.oec.world/en/tradleToday's tradle is deeply distressing. I recommend trying to see if you can figure out which country it is, it may really shock you.
The debate was characterized by insults, humiliation and personal attacks, but it also had general ideas before the 5 May elections.
On Tuesday, in Panama, the first presidential debate was held with 7 of the 8 candidates for power. The main themes were citizen insecurity, sustainable development, the Social Security Fund (SSC), quality education and unemployment.
The participants in the presidential debate were: Ricardo Lombana, from the Movimiento Otro Camino (MOCA); José Gabriel Carrizo, from the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD); former president Martín Torrijos (2004-2009), from the Partido Popular (PP) and Rómulo Roux, from Cambio Democrático (CD) and the Panamanian Party, in addition to Maribel Gordón, Zulay Rodríguez and Melitón Arrocha for free nomination.
The debate was characterized by insults, humiliation and personal attacks, but it also had general ideas before the 5 May elections.
On the other hand, candidate Ricardo Martinelli, former president from 2009 to 2014, was absent due to his isolation in the Nicaraguan embassy and faces the 10-year sentence he faces for money laundering and corruption.
The dynamics of the debate consisted of a round of 5 questions, with a confrontation between two candidates.
All the candidates agreed on the fight against unemployment, the main scourge of Panamanian society. Despite the importance of this issue, the time devoted to addressing it was very short, which is the focus of questions and complaints.
In Panama, according to official figures, the presence of unemployment is currently 7.4 percent, since youth unemployment reaches a rate of 15 percent, being higher among women, and informality is 47.4 percent.
The next two presidential debates are scheduled for 13 March and 17 April. The second will be popular participation and the third will deal with issues of economy and democracy.
Front-runner Ricardo Martinelli was convicted on money laundering charges in July 2023, and the Supreme Court's rejection of his appeal on 2 February 2024 rendered him ineligible to be president. Jose Mulino, Martinelli's choice for vice president, will be the party's candidate for President
Permanently Deleted
Breaking News:
Joe Biden has sanctioned israeli settlers who are also Pell Grant recipients who start a business that operates for three years in disadvantaged communities.
Been trying to read through Joe Sacco's Footnotes In Gaza and holy shit the authors liberalism is infuriating, every time he insists his sources try and focus on 56' I start shouting at him to pay fucking attention, as if his one anecdote would matter at all in the grander context of the Nakba
It's a good read, but I hope this gets better
go on Twitter see a disgusting Aaron Bushnell mortal combat edit instant regret
Why are people so callous?
Hey hextards, how's it going? Has Hamas killed all the Jews yet? Has Yemen nuked evil America yet?
Weird how you guys can only rally behind pathetic losers. Have fun deluding yourselves into thinking you're on the winning side when your precious terrorists have lost half their territory and your spicy terrorists in Yemen can't do anything other than whine and moan as their backwards and decrepit "military" is pulverized
