Bulletins and News Discussion from April 8th to April 14th, 2024 - First Iran-Israel War Megathread
Bulletins and News Discussion from April 8th to April 14th, 2024 - First Iran-Israel War Megathread
Iran has struck Israel.
previous preamble
The continuing fall of the remains of the British Empire is pretty entertaining from the outside: an archaic royal family that is seemingly being smote with disease by God itself for their past crimes; a navy that virtually no longer functions, ramming into foreign ports and under constant repair; and an economy that cannot seem to stop sputtering, fucked whether they're in the EU or outside it. Watching the impacts on people from the inside is a little more worrying, though.
A fifth of the population is in poverty, including nearly a third of all children. These figures have barely shifted since the Labour government in the early 2000s, aside from a decreasing poverty rate for pensioners. Actually, poverty hasn't substantially shifted since Margaret Thatcher. Before her, the poverty rate was around 14%, but her catastrophic policies caused a major increase, and poverty levels since then are still 50% higher than over 50 years ago, because neoliberal economic policy since then has not fundamentally changed. Parties and corporations have impoverished the usual vulnerable groups, such as large families, minority ethnic groups (including half of Pakistani and Bangladeshi households!) and disabled people. These differences are also regional, with the North more impoverished than the richer Southeast (but some of the poorest boroughs are in London, so it's a complex pattern).
With Corbyn's defeat in 2019 mere months before the pandemic began, the Labour Party shifted back towards the right, with left-wingers purged from the party if they did not kowtow to Keir Starmer. This leaves us with a situation where the only substantial difference between the two parties would be on social policy, but it goes without saying that economic policy is the overwhelming factor that determines if minorities can have a decent life. Worker-oriented movements since then have been largely not under the umbrella of major party leaderships, such as the Don't Pay movement in late 2022 that arose in the wake of dramatically rising energy prices where 3 million people vowed to not pay them (which did lead to results).
Most notably recently is the major upset in the constituency of Rochdale - the victory of George Galloway - who is the leader of the Workers Party of Britain, which describes itself as both socialist and socially conservative. This took place both in the context of aforementioned economic troubles, as well as anger over Israel's genocide of Gaza in the British population, especially in British Muslims. It remains to be seen how much of this is an isolated event, especially as Corbyn has, understandably, refused to collaborate with Galloway due to his socially conservative stances. The UK general election will be held at some point within the next 9 months or so, and might well be a shitshow depending on what happens domestically and geopolitically before then; parallels to the current American electoral shitshow with increasing anger over Biden are pretty apparent. The Conservatives are quite likely to lose given 14 years of uninspired rule if current polling is correct, but it truly is a race to the bottom.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is the United Kingdom! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Please check out the HexAtlas!
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.
I go shopping for rare Korean foodstuffs to bring back to Alaska and I come back to a megathread that's popping off like there's gonna be a massive military conflict.
Folks make sure to try to double-check your sources when you post them, try to keep parent comments on topic - I don't mind a bit of anxiety posting but try and keep that as contained as possible aka don't spam comments - make sure to hit the report button if anything is rule breaking, and generally have a nice morning/day/night wherever you're posting from.
Semper post, time to get a beer.
Edit: I'll keep this up for like 24 hours or whenever the fireworks taper off
Omg lmao this CNN guest saying “Israel has no choice but to retaliate for this. And we have to remember, this is what Ukraine has been dealing with every…single…night.” Just like, the fucking gall to say that about the entity that has been committing genocide with bombs against civilians every night for 7 fucking months
Permanently Deleted
There's this fascinating contradiction that we've seen now in both Ukraine and Israel where they're simultaneously asserting that everything is good because their air defense systems intercepted everything, Iran/Russia is seething and coping because of it, etc etc; but also that this was a massive and brutal escalation and Iran/Russia must be punished for all the harm they've done to us. I can't personally say I care that much about whatever narratives that Israel produces to cope with their losses, and the last six months show well how Israel even more so than Ukraine is putting all their cards into propaganda in the hopes that it'll affect things in the real world somehow, as if saying that your military bases aren't being BTFO will un-explode them.
Last night really was a paradigm shift, which was easy for me to forget in the videos of drones and missiles smacking into Israeli installations. Israel's sense of invulnerability shattered on October 7th, and their operations and propaganda inside the Gaza Strip since then has been one big attempt to not just attempt the impossible task of destroying Hamas, but to rebuild that sense of strength in their society. When Hezbollah and Yemen joined in, it was two further blows to them. But one thing that Israel could tell itself while rocking back and forth in the fetal position was that there was still one last shield it possessed, one way in which it was still strong - it knew that Iran would never attack them directly. They simply would not dare. It would be too massive of a hurdle to jump, too dangerous for Iran to strike them, a nuclear-armed power. They would only ever act through resistance groups, they thought. And that has been more-or-less true for many decades now.
Until last night. The Rubicon has been crossed. There's now little left for Israel's sense of protection. Weeks where decades happen.
https://twitter.com/fadiquran/status/1779426300760850642
"On Iran’s strike:
At Stanford, I attended a masterclass on military strategy led by a person with decades of experience, including serving at the highest levels in the military and government.
One lesson he thought that I always remember was this:
He asked us:
“Say the US decided to attack Iraq with a new stealth jet it hadn’t used before that evaded all radars? The attack was a success. Was it strategic?”
Many in the class raised their hands to say “yes, it achieved its goal”. But the professor said: “It may not have been”.
Why?
“Because now your adversaries know your capabilities and it’s a matter of time before they find ways around them. If this attack could be done with conventional weapons, it’s better to keep your top weapons until you need them. Using them creates a disadvantage.”
My analysis is that the scale of Iran’s attack, the diversity of locations it targeted, and weapons it used, forced Israel to uncover the majority of anti-missile technologies the US and it have across the region.
The Iranians did not use any weapons Israel didn’t know it had, it just used a lot of them. But the Iranians likely now have almost a full map of what Israel’s missile defence system looks like, as well as where in Jordan and the Gulf the US has installations. It also knows how long it takes to prepare them, how Israeli society responds…etc
This is a huge strategic cost to Israel, while Arab regimes now are being blasted by their peoples, particularly the Jordanian monarchy, for not doing anything to protect Gazans but then going all out to protect Israel.
Crucially, Iran can now reverse engineer all the intel gathered from this attack to make a much more deadly one credible. While the US and Israel will have to re-design away from their current model which has been compromised. Its success in stopping this choreographed attack is thus still very costly.
Moreover, with the threat of a regional war that neither the US nor the Arab regimes want feeling nearer, it’s likely their pressure on Israel to back down will increase, making a ceasefire more feasible.
Anyone assuming this is just theatrics is missing the context of how militaries assess strategy versus tactics. Theatre is an important factor, but gathering intelligence of the “enemy’s” posture is more valuable, especially if one believes they’re in a long war of attrition.
Netanyahu and the Israel government prefer a quick hot and urgent war where they can pull in America. The Iranians prefer a longer war of attrition that bleeds Israel of its deterrence capabilities and makes it an ally for Arabs and the US that’s too costly to have.
Lastly, if you are a person who hates war, if you want peace, the best and only way to get there in the region is to support the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and dignity.
There is no sustainable peace possible as long as Palestinians live under an oppressive system of apartheid."
It's wild that Iran seems like it has entirely stopped caring about what The Great Satan thinks and will directly strike military bases if the US helps Israel. I kept thinking that after Oct 7th and Israel's response to it, that there would be no going back and the nature of the occupation of Palestine would change going forward. Now I know that the fascists really will suicidally destroy their own project and are willing to burn the entire middle east to ashes around them. We can't predict what will happen at this point. There truly is no way out but through.
To everyone in the middle east, stay safe.
this is why they tried to foment regime change and support terrorists in Syria
I’m at a hotel and I threw on CNN, and they have on John Bolton lmao IRAN IS HAPPENING SOMEBODY GET BOLTON
Edit: Jesus Christ, he is calling for Israel to bomb any sort of nuclear facilities in Iran, and he said if there “happens to be a nuclear holocaust in the future, we’ll know who to blame”
Update: he’s bringing in North Korea now lol saying Iran and North Korea are working together to produce nuclear weapons for Iran
Western media is running zionist propaganda and making its viewers dumber by refusing to assign blame for the attack on the Iranian consulate. They're all "Iran attacked 'Israel' who they accuse of being responsible for attacking the consulate". Everything to make the Iranians look aggressive and unreasonable.
Who else would have attacked the consulate? Fucking Bolivia?
And of course they're humanising the Zionists and making their feelings relatable to viewers "Danish-'Israeli' in 'Tel Aviv': I haven't slept for 48 hours" reads the current headline on one news website, complete with a picture of a sad-lookibg white woman. The poor little settler went to get her Lebensraum and be the master race and now the subhumans are disturbing her sleep. The fucking tragedy.
Meanwhile when brown people gets murdered by the thousands all we get are statistics and even these statistics are being smeared as probably being unreliable by the "Hamas-controlled health authorities" bullshit.
I hate western journalists so much it's unbelievable.
Israel grouping together injuries and "people treated for anxiety" is just so funny. Not a serious country.
Also, I guess if after the smoke clears Israel is seriously listing cases of anxiety, the damage wasn't that bad and Iran's response was pretty calculated. Switching my brain to nothing ever happens mode until the morning.
US trade representative says China's economy is a system “that we’ve articulated as being not market-based, as being fundamentally nurtured differently, against which a market-based system like ours is going to have trouble competing against and surviving”.
IRAN JUST HIT THE ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ACROSS MY VILLAGE IN HEBRON. THESE SETTLERS KILLED MY COUSIN IN 2017. FOR THE FIRST TIME WE FEEL REVENGE. 🇮🇷🇵🇸🔥
When the Zionists carpet bombs civilians by the tens of thousands the so-called civilized west does jack shit except giving a half-hearted performance of asking the Zionists nicely to perhaps not be as murderous the next time.
When Iran retaliates for an illegal and unprovoked terrorist attack by the zionist entity against a diplomatic mission the west sends planes and missiles and hangar ships to defend the zionists.
No wonder the rest of the world hates the west.
Dems already condemning Iran and reasserting “israel”’s right to “self-defense”
I can only hope that one day they too get they deserve
"The Israelis entered this war under the childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else and no one was going to bomb them"
- Iranian Bomber Harris, probably
I'd like to thank the Islamic Republic of Iran for bestowing me with such confidence today that multiple ladies were coming up to me telling me I looked cool as hell tonight. All praises to Allah, he works in mysterious ways
jesus I should not have looked at reddit. even /r/thedeprogram is full of people from the /r/newiran hitler praising subreddit, people concern trolling, people going "ummmm don't you know Iran is reactionary and therefore bad", and "ummm actually Iran doesn't actually care about Palestinians"
fuck offfffffffffffff, what a cesspool
holy shit lmao, the Zionists released images like this as proof that their airbase is fine:
extremely obvious that they quickly dug a hole in a ground and they're so stupid that they forgot to not include the mound of material that they unearthed. I guess this is indirect proof that the airbase truly has been fucked or they'd release something of substance instead
China: Global Times newspaper: Iran responded with strategic intelligence, with missiles and drones, successfully destroying major military targets in “Israel.”
Palestinians tearing apart the apartheid wall following Iran's strikes against occupied territories
Mr. Khamenei, tear down that wall
Amerifat brainrotted dem voters when Putin wins an election with 99% of the vote
Genocide-supporting Russiagate facebook minion-posters when Israel intercepts 99% of the Iranian drones
looks like Iran is next in line for not receiving any explanation for America's lack of healthcare despite the promises of bloodthirsty angloids
For any of you confused as to why Trump supporters were changing "Genocide Joe" at a Trump rally, some of that is just wanting to meme on the libs, but a lot of that is also the Tucker crowd. He's been dishing out some criticism of Israel, specifically around it's treatment of Christians, that has pissed a lot of the Republican neoliberals off. Also Fox News has been using the moniker more lately.
Israelis react after Iran launches drone and missile strikes
every single "Israeli" in this video has either a NY or English accent. one guy is named Jeremy Smith. just incredible stuff.
This headline made me laugh.
US wants advanced notice should Israel attack Iran – report
CNN reports that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has asked his counterpart Yoav Gallant to give Washington a heads up before Israel attacks Iran, should it go that route. The request was made when the two spoke Saturday evening, CNN reports.
Source timesofisrael.com. That's the entire "article". I love how they used "CNN reports" twice.
Impacts in the Ramon airbase near Eilat, in southern Israel, which is protected by patriot defense systems. Israel has called for an emergency meeting of the UN
Iran's retaliation is now over, damage assessments will show the real extent of the destruction. Iran has made it clear: If Israel responds, they will receive an attack much larger and more powerful than this.
Algeria praised Iran for its attack, and pledged its support. Iranian Media: 'The myth of the invincible Zionist entity has been shattered, and with this, we have only showed them a fraction of our might'
NHS just announced the cancellation of all trans healthcare appointments for under 18s and it's putting over 18s "under review". Given the context I expect this to be a build up to trying to cancel all trans healthcare.
- NHS England has already announced that it is bringing forward its review of the adult service specifications, and we have written to the Chief Executives of the organisations that host the GDCs to inform them that this will be undertaken in the context of a broader, systemic review of the operation and delivery of the GDCs. NHS England will provide more detail very soon, but we envisage it will be informed by the deployment of external quality improvement experts into the services. In view of your advice about the need for caution in the initiation of medical interventions for young people under 18 years of age, our letter instructs the adult gender clinics to implement a pause on offering first appointments to young people below their 18th birthday.This letter also makes clear that NHS England expects full cooperation from the GDCs in the delivery of the data linkage study, on which we have corresponded separately.
Reason - FBI Agent Says He Hassles People 'Every Day, All Day Long' Over Facebook Posts [29/03/2024]
The FBI spends "every day, all day long" interrogating people over their Facebook posts. At least, that's what agents told Stillwater, Oklahoma, resident Rolla Abdeljawad when they showed up at her house to ask her about her social media activity. Three FBI agents came to Abdeljawad's house and said that they had been given "screenshots" of her posts by Facebook. Her lawyer Hassan Shibly posted a video of the incident online on Wednesday.
Abdeljawad told agents that she didn't want to talk and asked them to show their badges on camera, which the agents refused to do. She wrote on Facebook that she later confirmed with local police that the FBI agents really were FBI agents. "Facebook gave us a couple of screenshots of your account," one agent in a gray shirt said in the video.
"So we no longer live in a free country and we can't say what we want?" replied Abdeljawad.
"No, we totally do. That's why we're not here to arrest you or anything," a second agent in a red shirt added. "We do this every day, all day long. It's just an effort to keep everybody safe and make sure nobody has any ill will."
Abdeljawad's Facebook timeline is public, so the FBI agents could have found it themselves. For the past week, she has made multiple angry posts per day about the war in Gaza, referring to Israel as "Israhell." But none of the posts on her feed call for violence.
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24357
According to Yemeni sources, behind closed doors the US has offered Ansarallah everything they could possibly ask for if they drop the embargo and stop supporting Gaza/attacking Israel.
“The sources further reveal that the Americans pledged to immediately release withheld Yemeni public sector salaries from the National Saudi Bank, lift the country’s siege entirely, reopen Sanaa Airport, ease restrictions on the port of Hodeidah, and facilitate a comprehensive prisoner exchange agreement with all involved parties.” They also offered to recognize Ansarallah as the legitimate government of Yemen and to remove Ansarallah from the US terrorist list.
That’s how much the Biden government wants this genocide to happen, they’re willing to give up all of their imperialist ambitions and investments of the last decade against Yemen. They could have done all of the things above at any time, but they don’t, they hold it back as leverage. This is how US does its foreign policy, they sanction nations and hold their economies hostage and then make them bargain and haggle back to neutrality by giving up all of their sovereignty.
They do the same shit with Iran, sanctioning them into the ground so that Obama and the EU can do an “Iran deal” where Iran gives up a bunch of concessions in exchange for the US to end its sanctions. Basically, the US never has to give up anything they just hold everyone at gunpoint as their leverage
I find the Economist an interesting source since it's closer to what US elites are actually feeling. Even as this article admits that war is probably coming, it is couched in the same propaganda they feed the proles, and it becomes difficult for even the leadership to tell reality from imperialist fiction.
CNN, citing an American official: US President Joe Biden informed Netanyahu that the United States will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran Biden told Netanyahu that he should consider tonight's events a 'win' for Israel – CNN
Biden told Netanyahu that he should consider tonight's events a 'win' for Israel – CNN
Brazil ends all contracts with Elon Musk's Starlink after he refused to censor users on X. Elon Musk says "Starlink will provide free Internet for schools in Brazil if the government won't honor their contract."
Good news indeed for environmentalists. Elon Musk sold this crap not to be used by schools, but by illegal miners. Bolsonaro openly gave them to miners who were invading indigenous lands. Elon Musk did nothing to ensure that Starlink would be used for education.
By cutting this off, the illegal miners will have no Internet connection and no way of communicating, which will leave them stranded in the deep Amazon jungle.
⚡️BREAKING: ABC News per U.S. officials on Iran’s attack:
🔻4 ballistic missiles hit Ramon Air Base
🔻5 ballistic missiles hit Nevatim Air Base
if the UN was based they should state to Israel that "so we aren't hamas now?"
Unfortunately they are headed by spineless liberals,, felt bad for the 150 UN employees who got killed by Zionists.
Couple of thoughts about what happened (and happens):
1 - "Israel" is open to attacks. Not only they'll have to be careful with Hezbollah in the north and they fully understand Iran is capable of striking them at any time. Their false sense of security is going to slowly fade away, which in turn might probably make their leadership and radical elements of society even more unhinged. Here is when the internal contradictions within the Zionist entity are going to show themselves.
2 - Iran successfully struck "Israel" despite the absolute lack of the element of surprise. "Israel" had plenty of time to prepare for any scenario, and still they failed to fully protect their assets. Despite their "Iron Dome", all the support they get from the comprador countries around them and of course, the US and the UK -- Iran still managed to sneak through and score numerous hits.
3 - Iran announced their attack and delivered an attack. They gambled, they knew if their attack was stopped they would have been ridiculed. But they went forwards with it and delivered an iconic missile and drone package on "Israel".
4 - Speaking of iconic. Pro-"Israel" and pro-genocide fucks are too quick to jump into the "let's look at the numbers" course to minimize Iran's assault. And yes, while material damage doesn't seem to be too big, it doesn't really have to. You just have to listen to the people cheering on the missiles as they flew past to understand the nature and effect of this attack, it is there to make people understand Iran can strike back. You got the pictures, you got the videos, such as the one where you hear the sirens and see the missiles flying above Al Aqsa Mosque and descending to strike at the Zionist targets, that is going to circulate through the Muslim World over and over again, it's their own Epic is in the making. As excessively white westerners say: It's a propaganda victory. If Iran wanted to do some real damage, a huge (and I mean HUGE) coordinated attack between Iran and it's regional allies would have been carried out instead, however, Iran has to be wary. They know crippling "Israel" with just missiles and drones is going to prove difficult, and the number required is huge. To deplete your entire stock (and the one of your allies) leaves you without deterrence against the other, much bigger genocidal entity -- The United States. And that's the one parking their aircraft carriers, missile destroyers and submarines in front of your home.
All in all, Iran comes out on top. They told "Israel" that they were going to strike, they launched their strike knowing "Israel" was prepared for it, the strike went through, "Israel" despite it's apparent strenght then presents itself as the victim but was unable to fully protect itself and now they have the ball. Now they have to either strike back at Iran, provoking further escalation, or take the L and probably listen to those few in the US who are telling them to stay put for a while. Meanwhile, more and more arabs are probably looking at Iran as the only one doing something about "Israel". It is a measured response of course, go way over the line and you have two genocidal entities unleashing nuclear hell over you. For us Global South peoples who oppose the US and it's allies, survival comes off as the first priority. And when we respond, we have to do so in a clear and efficient way, because our enemies are absolutely barbaric and will stop at nothing.
A long war has just started (resumed?), and it's one of attrition and of multiple fronts. Let's see if "Israel" can keep up with it, now you will see why settler-colonialism projects are completely unviable and are enemy of time itself. Can Zionism still be "Israel's" way of thinking? Can they continue to feed their "Lebensraum" at the expense of others? Or soon it will reach a breaking point from external pressure plus internal contradictions? Remember Nazi Germany and Rhodesia, both completely unviable projects. The Nazi project was doomed to fail because Fascism and Nazism are lost causes, they eventually grow so big they eat themselves. Rhodesia as in the settler-colonialism sense, can't have a minority ruling a majority in the way they ruled, through segregation and violence. Colonialism is a doomed project, read serious colonial studies and you will find out. The only peculiar thing it has is that it probably lasts for more time than expected, but overall it's just doomed to fail. We just gotta give it a small push, though, especially to secure a better outcome after it's downfall.
Pretty good footage of missile impacts on the Nevatim military airport
This base has F35s and is protected by Patriot systems. East of Beersheba, in the occupied Palestinian Negev, direct hits.
Nicaragua v. Germany #ICJ #Germany Germany’s agent weakens case by admitting that Holocaust guilt is the overriding consideration in putting Israel’s security beyond other normative imperatives. This “raison d’etat” (her words) of Israel’s security above all else vs intl law.
https://x.com/howserob/status/1777609769861136652
something has to be done about deutSSchland, this is insane
RAF pilots defending Israel, may rishi sunak burn in hell god willing
Miami Herald - Have more Palestinians or Israelis died in war? Half of Americans don’t know, poll says [22/03/2024]
About 32,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, marking a casualty ratio of roughly 26 to 1, according to officials from both governments. But despite this massive disparity, half of Americans do not know which side has had a higher death toll, according to a March 21 poll from the Pew Research Center. The poll, conducted in February, sampled 12,693 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. When asked via a “basic knowledge” multiple choice question whether the death toll was higher among Palestinians or Israelis, 48% of respondents did not select the correct answer. One-third, 34%, selected “not sure,” while 7% chose “higher among Israelis” and 7% chose “about the same.” A slim majority of respondents, 52%, correctly reported that more Palestinians have died.
So I dunno if this counts as news but it's funny.
For context, Ben Brody is a Jewish dude who Elon accused of being a neo-Nazi because he looked vaguely like some fascist from Portland. Brody got the same lawyer that reamed Alex Jones a while back, hopefully the actual trial gets filmed
Iran has stated that its goals for the attack were to strike the Ramon and Nevatim airbases, which have both strategic and symbolic significance as they are the attacks from which the Israeli attack on the consulate was conducted from. They also wished to hit the Israeli Air Force intelligence HQ where the attack was planned. More generally, they wanted to understand and degrade their air defence.
Both the airbases are in the south of Israel. The HQ is in the north of the Golan Heights.
The Intelligence HQ was hit and seemingly levelled. Ramon was "badly hit", Nevatim was hit by over 7 missiles. There is probably more damage to other installations but their distance from civilians who could record them means that the extent of the damage is only something the military commands know via satellite images. In short, Iran was very successful in their strikes.
This attack was historic because it was an attack directly from Iran, but also because it was the most advanced and longest range peer-to-peer exchanges in history, crossing several countries over 1000-2000 kilometers with not only hundreds of drones and missiles, but also hypersonic weapons possibly involved in some capacity. This attack seems to have drawn inspiration from Russia's campaigns in Ukraine, first sending in drones to be shot down and deplete Israeli air defense and then sending in low-flying cruise missiles, and then finally the ballistic missiles - all timed such that they would arrive at the appropriate time to best exploit Israeli defenses.
The US scrambled the combined power of themselves, Israel, the UK, France, and Jordan to try and intercept as many drones and missiles as possible. This seems to have not been successful, with several images online of "intercepted" ballistic missiles actually just being the ejected booster stages of two-stage rockets. There is evidence that the ballistic missiles were largely not shot down and sliced through the dense Israeli defenses like butter. The videos that suggested interceptions were occurring may have in fact been the stage separation of Israel's Arrow missiles. As Iran's ballistic missiles hit their targets, they seem to have been moving at approximately Mach 3.5 to 5.
While Iran has definitely hit the airbases, it's not terribly clear what precisely on those airbases they hit, with satellite images being unclear, though a hangar may have been directly hit. Israel has coped by releasing images and footage that are meant to imply (but don't really show) that the airbase was unharmed; at least one of these videos (of an F-35 landing) is possibly old footage based on reverse searching, and Israel more generally released confirmed old footage (from 7 years ago, even) throughout the attack.
There is controversy about whether the Iranians used hypersonic missiles - there is no definite proof that they did, but there is some speculation for the missile nerds in the piece.
Iran has warned that they will respond to further Israeli attacks in a similar and expanded manner; even 10 times more than the previous level of strikes, which would be about a thousand ballistic missiles at once.
This failure of Western interception demonstrates that the excuses made during the Ukraine War about how Russian strikes were only getting through due to Ukrainian inexperience were false. Iran penetrated several layers of the absolute cutting edge of Western interception technology and made them spend over a billion dollars, with Iran spending ten times less or even less than that. It demonstrates that Iran is indeed perfectly capable of hitting any target they wish in the Middle East, and Iran actually has an advantage that they alone hold in the world. Russia and the US were beholden to the Intermediate Ballistic Missile Treaty until 2019 when Trump withdrew from it (and Russia did in turn), meaning they have less experience in creating the kinds of ballistic missiles that Iran possesses; Russia has instead generally focussed their cutting edge on cruise missiles, which are more expensive and slower.
The main problem that Iran might now experience is accuracy, depending on their technology. They have demonstrated they can get missiles through Israel's defenses, but due to a lack of real evidence (which Israel will obviously never release unless somehow forced), it's hard to say how precise Iran's missiles truly were either way. It's entirely possible that they hit every single target exactly, but it's entirely possible that only a few managed to hit something of value. We simply do not know, beyond vibes. Israel has leaned into that with their propaganda, which is neither here nor there as Israel is a compulsive liar.
“‼️🇮🇷🇮🇱Urgent convening of the UN Security Council. Biden asks Israel not to respond to Iran strike
▪️The telephone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Biden has ended. As a result, the US President asked Israel not to respond to Iran’s attack in order to prevent escalation in the region.
▪️Israel has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with the attack by Iran.
▪️The Chairman of the UN Security Council plans to hold an urgent meeting on April 14 due to Iran’s attack on Israel, the Permanent Mission of Malta reported.
▪️Saudi Arabia is monitoring the military escalation in the region and calls on the parties to show restraint, the Foreign Ministry said.
▪️Israel was attacked by Iran because the US under the Biden administration is showing its weakness to the world - Donald Trump.
▪️The head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense informed the Pentagon chief about defensive operations during an attack on Iran.
▪️If Israel attacks Iran, Tehran will respond with redoubled force, one of the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told the state television channel Press TV.
RVvoenkor (Russian Z reporters channel)
White House condemns ‘Death to America’ chants at rally in Dearborn, Mich.
spoiler
The White House on Tuesday condemned “death to America” chants that surfaced online from a recent rally in Dearborn, Mich., protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied, “yes” when asked if President Biden condemns the comments in the chants, which were captured on video by some attendees.
“Peaceful protests are something that the president has also been very clear that, its important to give folks space to peacefully protest. But any type of violent rhetoric, we are going to denounce,” she said.
Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud (D) has also denounced the chants, sharing in a statement on X that “Dearborn is a city of proud Americans.”
The chants, which also included “Death to Israel,” took place at a rally on Friday to mark the International Day of Al-Quds, according to The Detroit News. Fox2 reported that the chants came from members of the audience at the rally.
Dearborn, a Detroit suburb where Arab Americans make up the majority of the population, was under increased security in February after an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal called the city “America’s jihad capital.” Biden called out the “anti-Arab hate” against Dearborn at the time.
When questioned by Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich about whether Biden is concerned if Dearborn faces a risk of becoming a hot bed for homegrown threats, Jean-Pierre reiterated that the White House denounces violence.
“I don’t have any intelligence to share with you on that, obviously that’s something we’re always very vigilant about,” she said.
She added, “obviously, we will condemn any, any violent rhetoric.”
Iranian missle juking to dodge IOF Aries defense system: https://streamable.com/gvxsrs
Permanently Deleted
Sources for Al Jazeera: Hamas adhered to the proposed ceasefire framework in 3 phases, each lasting 42 days
Hamas stipulated the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the dividing line in all areas in the first phase
Hamas demanded the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip and the guarantee of freedom of movement in all its areas
Hamas stipulated that a permanent ceasefire be announced in the second phase before the prisoner exchange could begin
Hamas demanded the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip in the second phase
Hamas offered, in exchange for the release of any civilian prisoner, the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners
Hamas demanded the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners for every captured Jewish female soldier, including 30 life sentencers
Hamas demanded the lifting of the sanctions imposed on all Palestinian prisoners after October 7
Hamas demanded that the third phase include a commitment to end the Siege on Gaza Strip and begin the process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip
Source: Aljazeera arabic https://t.me/AjaNews @ 1hr20mins ago. Posts start here: https://t.me/AjaNews/260449
Biden told Netanyahu US will not participate in offensive operations against Iran, US official says
From CNN's MJ Lee
The US will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran, US President Joe Biden has made clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior administration official told CNN. The comments were relayed during the phone call that the two leaders shared in the aftermath of Iran's retaliatory strikes against Israel.
At least 9 Iranian ballistic missiles hit Israeli strategic airbases
The Nevatim airbase in the Negev was struck by 5 ballistic missiles, damaging the main runway, a C-130 transport aircraft, and several storage facilities.
Ramon airbase, also located in the Negev, was struck by at least 4 ballistic missiles, causing unspecified damage.
– U.S. Officials to ABC News
The heaviest damage of Iran's ballistic missile attack occurred on a secret intelligence base in the Golan Heights, for which the IDF has imposed a media ban, so the damage cannot be assessed – Hebrew Sources
Iran in the UN Security Council: 'We have no proxies in the Middle East' :troll
The Axis of Resistance is a system of carefully funded and crafted allies, based on a common ideology and common political goals, despite the fact that there are slight differences.
Hezbollah, Ansarullah, Hamas, PIJ, Syria and the PMU all have their own domestic interests, but they work together in a wider framework to achieve common goals, in this case the resistance against Israel, which is seen as a fundamental threat to the region.
The only country that has proxies is the United States, which uses young Ukrainians as meat shields against Russia, and funds extremist groups with totally different ideologies to carry out its dirty tasks.
Iran: 'Israel does not exist'
This has been my third act of innocentic rule after seeing the Insulindian Phasmid during the total eclipse, and the first one to make the News mega. Y'all are welcome.
from al jazeera's live coverage (14 apr 2024)
Zeenskyy condemns Iranian attack, says Ukraine needs help, like Israel
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated in a post on X that “Iran’s actions threaten the entire region and the world, just as Russia’s actions threaten a larger conflict, and the obvious collaboration between the two regimes in spreading terror must face a resolute and united response from the world”.
Speaking later in his nightly video address, the Ukrainian president said the world had seen that “Israel was not alone in its defence – the threats in the sky were also destroyed by its allies”.
“And when Ukraine says allies cannot turn a blind eye to Russian missiles and drones, it means that it is necessary to act, and act strongly,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s skies, he added, were “not protected by rhetoric”.
Zelenskyy has urged Ukraine’s Western allies, particularly the United States, for months to summon the “political will” to provide Ukraine with sufficient air defences and weaponry.
In September 2022, Zelenskyy said he was “in shock” at Israel’s failure to give Kyiv anti-missile systems to help counter Russian attacks.
The Ukrainian government has been a strong supporter of Israel during its war in Gaza, despite many critics pointing to what they perceive to be the hypocrisy of decrying Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory while supporting Israel as it occupies Palestinian territory.
cybertruck accelerator pedals are getting stuck. just incredible design.
The IDF have stated that they and their partners have intercepted over 200 munitions so far, mainly drones and cruise missiles, and that the Iranian attack is ongoing as we speak, and the Israeli Air Force is still intercepting drones and missiles.
What we can deduce from this message is that ballistic missiles fired from Iran are likely connecting with their targets and Israel is struggling to intercept them.
Iran signals it will limit response to Israel attack to avoid escalation
Incredible how responding to an attack on your consulate and the assassination of a senior official is painted as a serious escalation but the actual incident is just cool and good de-escalation and part of the Rules-Based Order^tm
https://twitter.com/ArmchairW/status/1778682534123172215
The MV Dali collided with the Key Bridge in Baltimore three weeks ago and so little has been done for remediation that if this was happening in Russia or China we'd have people writing Ph.D dissertations on this website about poor state capacity and shaken trust in "regimes." ⬇️
Let's look at the current status of things three weeks in:
- M/V Dali remains aground and has not been freed from bridge debris, let alone unloaded, refloated, and evacuated to drydock
- Practically no progress has been made clearing debris, because:
- The handful of small floating cranes on site are obviously not up to the task, because:
- Apparently the Biden Administration decided this would be an ALL AMERICAN salvage effort and refused to bring in foreign crane ships with far greater capacity, thus:
- Workers are being endangered by being ordered to cut the bridge debris into small chunks manageable by the low-capacity cranes on site, complicated by the fact much of this work must be done underwater
- The Port of Baltimore remains closed to all heavy traffic and authorities expect it to remain closed through at least May, which is very optimistic
- Officials expect a replacement bridge might be inaugurated in a decade, which could itself be optimistic
Let's be real - if this had happened in China the port would have been open in days and construction on a replacement span would be underway as we speak. This incident is beginning to illustrate the decline in the real state capacity of the United States of America in the starkest possible terms.
Turkey imposes export restrictions to Israel over Gaza invasion (MME, 9 apr)
Effective immediately, the ministry has restricted the export of 54 products to Israel, encompassing items such as aluminium wire, steel, cement, construction materials, granite, chemicals, pesticides, engine oils, jet fuel, and bricks.
⚡️China: Global Times newspaper: #Iran responded with strategic intelligence, with missiles and drones, successfully destroying major military targets in “Israel.”
300 drones and missiles. I reckon that air defences uses two missiles per target. According to Google iron dome missiles are USD 100.000 a pop. That's 60 million dollars just for last night's strikes. I don't know how many of these missiles they have out this fast they can produce them but I reckon it takes some time to do. On top of that comes the cost of the disruption caused by grounding air traffic, cancelling school, settlers not going to work etc.
I'm sure a prolonged war is sustainable for the illegal zionist entity.
After Iran's attack, Netanyahu has decided to postpone the planned Israeli operation in Rafah
Idk if this is true, anyone can confirm this? I saw a reuters article saying the exact opposite.
Jordan summoned the Iranian ambassador, telling Iran to 'stop insulting' Jordan and to 'stop criticizing its foreign policy decisions'
All schools will be open in Israel starting tomorrow – IDF
A shower thought on "Chinese vassalage":
The DPRK, whose dependence on China is extensive and extremely well-documented, still has an absurd amount of flexibility, self-determination, and independence from Chinese policy. It's essentially the "worst case scenario" in terms of Chinese influence... And the DPRK was still allowed to develop it's own nuclear weapons despite Chinese opposition. What are the odds that Canada would be allowed to develop an independent nuclear weapons program today? Cuba? Mexico?
Zero.
Small bloomer news incoming:
A swiss organisation called 'Climateseniors (f)' (Klimaseniorinnen) won a case in front of the European Court of Human Rights, they argued that because Switzerland is not doing enough against climate change their human rights have been violated. Women seniors are especially at risk during heatwaves and are much more likely to get sick or even die, so they argued Switzerland was putting their lives at risk. The ECHR agreed with the Climateseniors and now Switzerland has to 'do more'.
Some background info on this group, it was funded in 2016 with around 150 members but has since attracted up to 2500 members, they were contacted by Greenpeace who saw a legal argument that climate policy that harms people be brought in front of the court of justice.
4 Individuals also brought their forth but were denied by the court.
This thing is somewhat historic and opens up a path for similar arguments in the other 46 countries that are party of the European Council.
Iran's operation against Israel went better than expected — IRGC commander
"Our reaction to any aggression from Israel will be more severe," Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami said. Iran carried out a successful operation against Israel; missiles and drones were able to penetrate the missile defense systems of the Zionist entity [correction], Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami said.
"We know that our operation was more successful than expected. <…> Our reaction to any aggression from Israel will be more severe," the Iranian state television channel Press TV quoted him as saying.
TASS (Russian state media 😈)
As part of that network, Army long-range Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense surface-to-air missile batteries have been deployed in Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and at the secretive Site 512 base in Israel. These assets — plus American aircraft based in Kuwait, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia — are knitted together in order to communicate and cooperate with each other to provide a dome over Israel (and its own regional bases). The United Kingdom is also intimately tied into the regional war network, while additional countries such as Bahrain have purchased Patriot missiles to be part of the network.
https://theintercept.com/2024/04/14/israel-iran-regional-war/
they need air defense missiles in 7 different countries just to get hit by Iranian missiles anyway
Apparently Iran spent 35 million yesterday while Israel spent 1.35 billion, not including all the support from US, UK, France, and Jordan ofc
Source is the Resistance News Network Telegram. Communists seem to widely it's a good source
Ofc, USD is somewhat infinite for the US but the important thing here is that Iran can produce these missiles and drones way faster than the West can produce the AA missiles
This is old but relevant again with the news about Israel-Iran escalations.
America controls oil. Not only does it produce its own oil, but it’s just been able to block the rest of the world from importing Russian oil, and it’s been able to blow up Nord Stream. And now it’s pushing Israel to essentially act as another Ukraine. It’s pushing Israel to incite Lebanon and Iran into a provocation, into a military response to the Israeli attacks that is going to enable Israel to do what a Senate majority leader, the Republican leader, has been pushing for, and what Biden is pushing for, and what the neocons have been pushing for for 20 years, war with Iran to grab the oil reserves of what were Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Libya. And if it can control the oil reserves of the Near East and be able to block off their energy exports to all the other countries, just as it’s been able to block Russia’s oil exports to Europe, then it can control the industrialization of other countries because industry basically runs on oil and gas. Industry is energy, and without energy, you’re not going to be able to have your own industrialization independently of the United States. So the U.S. foreign policy, as we’ve talked before, I think, in our last show, for 100 years, the United States has used oil as an attempt to control the world’s economy.
I guess Hezbollah was restrained enough they went right for the throat.
Once more even even the Clinton Nonsense Network is calling Israel on its lies: Dying for a bag of flour: Videos and eyewitness accounts cast doubt on Israel’s timeline of deadly Gaza aid delivery
Choice Exceprts
We are now under siege, a tank is beside us and it’s shelling
Many said they were undeterred by the bullets, believing that if they weren’t killed attempting to get the flour, they would die of hunger instead.
CNN’s analysis of dozens of videos from the night and testimonies from eyewitnesses’ casts doubt on Israel’s version of events. The evidence, reviewed by forensic and ballistic experts, indicated that automatic gunfire began before the IDF said the convoy had started crossing through the checkpoint and that shots were fired within close range of crowds that had gathered for food.
Al Za’anoun, who was at the scene and witnessed the incident, said the chaos and confusion that led to people being hit by the trucks only started once Israeli soldiers began shooting.
[the limited and edited drone footage] shows just how difficult it would have been to fire with any degree of accuracy at what the IDF described as “suspects” among the tightly packed people surrounding the convoy.
Eyewitnesses told CNN that they had started to gather in anticipation of the arrival of food – aid convoys often travel at night to avoid being inundated by crowds en route – but that the trucks hadn’t even crossed the threshold of the checkpoint when Israeli tanks started shooting.
In a video recorded by eyewitness Belal Mortaja, which was shared directly with CNN, gunfire can be heard ringing out and people can be seen running away, urging others to flee, warning of a tank. The video was recorded at 4:22 a.m., seven minutes before the IDF said the convoy had crossed over into northern Gaza.
Abu Watfa, the 27-year-old, told CNN that he started filming just after he heard gunfire. The video’s metadata showed that it was recorded at 4:28 a.m., two minutes before the IDF said it fired warning shots.
the bursts indicated heavy automatic gunfire at 600 rounds per minute.
Another survivor, Hamouda Zamil, told CNN that he was shot at after he was given a bag of flour from the convoy. “As soon as I carried the bag of flour and started to walk, they (the IDF) shot at me,” he said. “I started to ask people to help me, they (the people) left me.”
Dr. Amjad Aliwa, a physician at Al-Shifa, told CNN he had gone to Al Rashid Street to get food for his family...was shot in his left thigh. He said he quickly bandaged his leg before returning to the hospital to provide treatment for the many wounded who had been taken there.
Ahmed said the charity [Ummah Welfare Trust] had been successful in delivering aid to southern Gaza before, but this was the first time they had attempted to go to the north. “We were very, very excited and happy that finally we have gone through,” he said.
That joy was short-lived. Still, Ahmed said the tragedy would not deter the team from trying again because they have “no other choice.”
“People are either going to die from starvation, from the famine, from the desperate situation, or they will be killed by indiscriminate shooting or targeted killings,” he said.
I think even the suspicion that a lot of us leftists seemed to have of some IDF soldier getting spooked and then them going on a berserk rampage was far too generous. The facts here seem to me to paint the picture of an absolute, cold-blooded ambush. Israel "finally" lets aid into northern Gaza, and it's literally just as bait.
how come not a single left party in europe far away from russia makes an argument "nobody can attack us, fuck your defense spending". I can sort of get like baltics and poland, but why spanish or french parties (british are cursed by definition) not say we will spend 0 on defense, you can donate to our military through charity (form attached)
UPDATE - White House now says Biden not to speak.
is he asleep already, or is there not enough time to get him out of the cryochamber and drug him for him to seem alive?
Rows of abandoned ambulances because the Zionist drivers all fled to some bomb shelter:
https://nitter.poast.org/revolutionaryem/status/1779343261204918586The talk on some specific amateur us-biased "analysis spaces" in the Internet is "iran did this to save face and hit nothing". Please explain to me then how are you able to record stuff flying above historical and key buildings and be having a success rate on intercepting things? Curiously and with no coincidence, the same who say this believe the Israeli army is amazing and the referential NATO army, that Russian an Ukrainian armies are weak, and that Iran has a weak army.
How to take it seriously? Anyone who is informed by analysis, including from military analysts, be them amateur or from some military who is not completely submissive to NATO bullshit propaganda talk and who knows how wars and military strategy and tactics work for more than 10 years, how missiles hit things, how air raids happen, and how propaganda in the Web and in TV works and live in a relatively non-natosphere Web, know that this has likely been controlled by a propaganda harm reduction effort inside Israel, the ue and the US to reduce the number of hits which really happened and the number of people killed, and to pave way for media.
Wikipedia or whatever other liberal and Anglocentric entity to fabricate the real story (or, historical revisionism in the present). For no coincidence, they did the exact same propaganda tactics in Syria, Ukraine and against Hamas. This trick ain't gonna work for everyone for the fourth time, it didn't even work for the second.
The Danish Navy shooting down a Yemeni drone from a month ago:
https://nitter.poast.org/Malrahabi6/status/1777138994796441786The thing I can't get over is them yelling out random English phrases. Is this how Danes talk irl?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVgAc_oJ6DY
Zizek is such a social-fascist joke. "I think we must do everything to stop Russia"
Who's WE motherfucker? You identify with the western imperialists?
- US President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will not take part in any counteroffensive against Iran
- Following the Iranian attack, Biden is also urging congress to pass a bill that includes over $14 bln in security aid to Israel
CBS News live stream is reporting the iron dome has been 100% effective and no drones or missiles hit the ground.
One report of an Israeli boy being injured by shrapnel from an interceptor missiles.
CBS points out most were targeting the Negev which is unpopulated, highlighting that Iran was clearly not targeting civilians.
tl;dr of what happened for people who don't want to read 1000+ comments:
https://nitter.poast.org/hassanhamiehh1/status/1779297062120505744#m
Mr. Borelo moment
Talking about getting cucked by 15 inch dicks in the middle of your “research” on Israeli laws is crazy
Lula da Silva on Twitter: "There are people who don't believe that deforestation and burning are damaging planet Earth. And many people don't take seriously what maintaining forests means for maintaining the quality of life in this enormous home that is Earth."
"And we can't get away from that. There are even billionaires (Elon Musk) trying to build rockets to find something in space, but there isn't one. He's going to have to learn to live here (on Earth). He's going to have to use his money to help preserve the environment."
The Brazilian Federal Police are preparing the first steps in the investigation into evidence of crimes on Twitter, instigated by entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The first step is to listen to X's representative in Brazil.
The chances of the Senate voting on Moraes' impeachment after the Musk factor are zero and the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (Social Democrat Party - Centrist), has no chance of putting Moraes' impeachment on the agenda.
And it's not just a question of the senator's lack of will. The Bolsonarists MPs themselves admit that they are far from amassing the 54 votes needed to remove the magistrate.
So far, those in favor of impeachment total between 30 and 35 senators. This calculation is based on the same parliamentarians who opposed Flávio Dino's (Former Member of the Communist Party) appointment to the Supreme Court in a secret ballot last year.
X representatives in Brazil will be summoned to testify in investigation into Elon Musk
The first step in the Federal Police's investigation into Elon Musk was to add all of the millionaire's Twitter rants, which are considered criminal, to the inquiry launched on Monday.
At any time, the Brazilian Federal Police can raid X's offices in Brazil and arrest any X representative there.
The aim is to preserve the messages so that they can be examined. The PF's next step will be to call the platform's representatives in Brazil to testify.
Among the topics to be discussed during the interrogations will be the businessman's attacks on STF minister Alexandre de Moraes and the platform's actions to release profiles blocked by court order.
Elon Musk can still try to legally appeal these actions. However, they will be judged by the Supreme Court, of which Alexandre de Moraes is a member. And the judges have already guaranteed that they will form a majority against any action by Elon Musk.
Video of a resistance ambush on an IOF deployment from planning to execution, with subtitles (~8 min)
Even the Bloomberg ghouls thought Yellens China EV/solar comments were deranged.
Air Force secretary is going to go for a ride in an AI-controlled F-16
spoiler
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said, during a recent senate hearing on the service’s 2025 budget, that he will fly in one of the F-16s that are being used to test autonomous technology. The flight will reportedly take place later this spring and will allow the service top civilian leader to experience firsthand how the new technology performs in the air.
“I’m going to get a ride in an autonomously flown F-16 later this year,” said Kendall when asked about Collaborative Combat Aircraft by the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel. “There will be a pilot with me who will just be watching, as I will be, as the autonomous technology works. Hopefully neither he or I will be needed to fly the airplane.”
AI has a chance to be a comradeGoing from weeks when decades happen to weeks when minutes happen
BREAKING: Reports of attack targeting base housing US troops near Erbil airport in Iraq
comrades i don't like living in intresting times
Roughly 50% of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran failed to launch or crashed before reaching their target, WSJ reports.
U.S. officials said Iran launched between 115 and 130 ballistic missiles that targeted Israel.
When asked for more details about those strikes, the officials acknowledged that only about half of them were intercepted successfully.
The rest failed in flight and didn't reach their targets, the officials said.
"So much for the vaunted ballistic-missile capability of Iran," said a U.S. official.
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1779614655347830988
lmao
local FOX news has on Richard Medhurst somehow to comment on Israel-Iran relations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCT4oUgO5Zw
"He is based"
Janet Yellen is trying to gather up more countries so they can have a collective complaint about Chinese “overproductivity.”
The vibes of western mainstream media reporting on Ukraine has become a lot darker than it used to be. This is an exerpt from an article about Ukrainian conscripts receiving five weeks of rudimentary military training in England before being shipped off to the trenches:
The war is a meat grinder, where Russia willingly sacrifices wave after wave of soldiers to reveal the positions of the Ukrainians as they defend themselves. Then Russia attacks again with large bombs or their best and freshest soldiers.
It's a war of attrition, where the soldiers we met in England are some of those who will be attrited. They are the gravel to be thrown down to stop Putin's war machine.
The Ukrainian soldiers I met in England were well aware of this fate, I could sense.
For some of them, their fate is likely determined: Death or mutilation. For them, training is simply an opportunity to improve their chances of surviving the war.
They do this by working hard from morning till night to learn as much as possible, so they can survive the encounter with the trenches.
Writing stuff like this would have gotten you labelled as a traiterous Putin bot a year ago.
Reports coming in that it's actually over now so I guess the "waves" were closer together than expected? Or bullshit.
Israel has told the population that they don't need to stay near "safe places" anymore (bunkers).
Full extent of damage will need to be tallied up and will be hidden by Israel. And we'll have to wait and see if Israel responds to escalate this or if they shrivel up into a corncob.
The US transferred thousands of machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition seized from Iran to Ukraine last week, US Central Command announced on Tuesday.
Ukraine has been suffering from shortages of weapons and munitions on the battlefield in its war against Russia, with the US unable to send more equipment from its own stockpiles until more funding is approved by Congress.
CENTCOM said the materiel transferred to Ukraine is enough to equip one Ukrainian brigade — around 4,000 personnel — with small-arms rifles. “These weapons will help Ukraine defend against Russia’s invasion,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
The munitions were originally seized by the US military and its partners “from four separate transiting stateless vessels between 22 May 2021 to 15 Feb 2023,” but the US government did not obtain ownership of the equipment via the Justice Department’s civil forfeiture process until December of last year, CENTCOM said.
It is not the first time the US has transferred seized Iranian military equipment to the Ukrainians. The US transferred over one million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces in October, CNN previously reported.
Zelensky just crying in the corner
US officials say Iran to launch 100 drones, dozens of missiles, report
babe wake up new contradictory intelligence report just dropped
Congratulations to Elon Musk, because of his Twitter meltdown, China's BYD Auto has won and is now firmly established in the Brazilian market. Meanwhile, Tesla will enter the Brazilian market, Elon Musk will probably be banned from entering Brazilian territory and Twitter will also be banned and, if we're really lucky, the FBI will give him a good scare by raiding his house.
It also makes Lula da Silva and the Brazilian Supreme Court more popular. There's nothing better to unite people than an idiot American bad-mouthing a country he doesn't understand or speak the language of. Now, Congress and/or the Supreme Court could easily pass a law establishing more regulations for the Internet, since the majority of the population would support it.
Sweden expels Chinese journalist over national security fears (Reuters)
STOCKHOLM, April 9 (Reuters) - Swedish authorities have ordered the expulsion of a Chinese journalist, saying she could pose a serious threat to national security, a lawyer representing the woman said on Monday.
Full article
The 57-year-old Chinese woman has lived in the country for almost 20 years and denied all the accusations, lawyer Leutrim Kadriu told Reuters. Kadriu did not name the woman or say whether she had already left. He said he could not go into details on the charges as they concerned national security and were officially confidential.
"The security police have argued that it can be assumed that my client may pose a serious security threat. This assessment has been agreed by the Migration Agency, the Migration Court and the government," the lawyer said.
The Migration Agency declined to comment. Public broadcaster SVT did not give details of the charges, but said, without identifying its sources, that the woman had published articles on her website and had received payments linked to the reporting from the Chinese embassy in Stockholm. She had also hosted Chinese authorities and business delegations on visits to Sweden and sought to arrange meetings with Swedish officials, SVT said.
A spokesperson for China's Stockholm embassy said its government always requests Chinese citizens to comply with the laws of their country of residence, and expects Sweden to guarantee that the rights and interests of Chinese citizens are not violated.
SVT said the woman was detained in October and Sweden's Migration Agency decided to expel her soon after, in a ruling later upheld by a migration court. The government upheld the court's decision last week, SVT added.
"On April 4, the government decided to reject an appeal against a decision on deportation under the law on the special control of certain foreigners," Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told Reuters. "Beyond that, I cannot comment on the individual case."
A Swedish Security Service spokesperson also declined to comment on the case but added: "The Security Services' mission to protect Sweden and democracy includes preventing people who are not Swedish citizens - and who are deemed to pose a threat to Sweden's security - from residing or establishing themselves in Sweden."
Swedish security services said in February that China, Russia and Iran posed the biggest security risks to the country.
General warns House on Ukraine: ‘The side that can’t shoot back loses’
Celeste Wallander, a senior Pentagon official, appeared alongside Cavoli during the hearing and said that the Biden administration’s goal of delivering a strategic defeat to Russian President Vladimir Putin remains. China, she said, is watching how the United States behaves in meeting its commitments to allies and partners.
“We are doing this out of self-interests, out of American national security interests, as well as — of course — the admiration that we Americans feel for Ukraine,” Wallander said. “But in the end, we are doing this so that Americans can be secure at home and abroad.”
Malaysian PM defends Hamas, condemns West hypocrisy [40m video] (removed scare quotes around "hypocrisy")
Shitty interviewer, of course. Keeps pushing the usual Western/Zionist propaganda narratives. But pretty well responded to.
Kind of a gross bit at the end where he talks positively about military collaboration with the U.S. (as well as some apologia for homophobia), but otherwise pretty good.
Clowns exempt from Ukrainian military draft
I know this is just an RT slop piece but like, come on lolI’m starting to feel concerned that the US is going to respond to this disproportionately. Like, the Zionist-in-Chief is going to try make this Iraq 3.0 and try to have full US military involvement for everything but boots on the ground in Iran i.e. massive amounts of US missiles fired from US cruisers at military targets in Iran, plus US fighters/bombers all over Iranian airspace.
The thing with American Zionists like Biden is they see attacks on “israel” as an attack on the US. Maybe even worse than an attack on the US, because they see “israel” as the smol bean underdog surrounded by those scary brown people.
Someone talk me down…
This is one of them decade-weeks lenin talked about huh
BREAKING: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps:
—
Statement No. 2
spoiler
After more than 10 days of silence and neglect by international organizations, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to condemn the aggression and criminality of the zionist regime in attacking the consular section of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus as part of targeting our country's territories and the martyrdom of 7 legal advisors of the country without punishing the criminal regime according to Article 7 of the United Nations Charter, in response to these crimes and in execution of previous warnings and securing Iran's rightful demands and in order to punish the aggressor, using its strategic intelligence capabilities, missiles, and drones, the military institution attacked targets of the zionist terrorist army in the occupied territories, successfully hitting and destroying them.
Within the strategic policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard declares the following:
-
Warning the terrorist government of America that any support or participation in harming Iran's interests will result in a decisive and regrettable response by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Furthermore, America is held responsible for the evil actions of the zionist regime, and if this child-killing regime is not restrained in the region, it will bear the consequences.
-
With emphasis on the policy of good neighborliness with neighbors and countries in the region, any threat by the terrorist state of America and the zionist entity from any country will be met with a reciprocal and proportionate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the source of the threat.
We assure the heroic people of Iran that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the other armed forces in the country will stand until death in defense of national interests and will neutralize the efforts of enemies to destabilize the security and peace of the people.
-
Iran warns Jordan over any moves to support Israel: Report Al jazeera
Iran’s semi-official news agency Fars, quoting a military source, reports that Iran is watching Jordan for any moves in support of Israel during Tehran’s retaliatory attacks, warning the country may become the “next target”.
“A military-informed source said [we] are closely monitoring Jordan’s movements during the punitive attacks … and if they participate in any possible action [to back Israel], they will be the next target,” Fars stated.
new front time
RAF jets deployed to intercept any airborne attacks in Middle East: UK MoD
The Ministry of Defence says British Royal Air Force jets in the Middle East “will intercept any airborne attacks within range of our existing missions, as required” after Iran targeted Israel with drones and missiles.
“In response to increased Iranian threats and the growing risk of escalation in the Middle East, the UK Government has been working with partners across the region to encourage de-escalation and prevent further attacks,” it said in a statement.
looks like the sick man of europe is going to try to join a new conflict after losing to yemen
The Grand Mufti of Oman, Ahmad bin Hamad Al-Khalili, praised Iran's attack on Israel:
'What was reported in the media regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s response to the Zionist entity - following its aggression against its consulate and the killing of some of its people - with this bold response; This is something that really pleases the mind, and hopefully it will bear fruit soon.
Hence, we applaud this step and others like it, which we hope will preserve the nation’s forces’ prestige and presence. Evil must have a deterrent, otherwise it will become more widespread. We hope that this has caused pain to Zionism and those who support it, and we look forward to something that will break their power, repel their plots in their throats, and rid the Muslims of their evil.
While we thank God Almighty for granting success to this; We call on the entire nation to take the initiative in supporting the oppressed in Gaza and Palestine, and not to be satisfied with partial actions. This is part of the preparation of strength that God Almighty commanded in His saying: “And prepare for them what you are able."
Milei announces break-up with actress Fátima Florez: "We decided to stay friends"
"We decided to end our relationship and maintain a bond of friendship," wrote the Argentine president on social media. The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, announced on Friday night (12) the end of his relationship with actress Fátima Florez.
In a post on social media, Milei said that his now ex-girlfriend has received numerous job offers both in the United States and in Europe. "This is the result of her enormous professional success," he added.
Milei: "As a result of the overwhelming professional success that Fatima, of whom I am extremely proud, is experiencing, she has received numerous job offers to work both in the United States and in Europe. This, added to the complex task that I am facing today and that the Argentines have entrusted me with, has led us to live apart, making it impossible for us to have the couple relationship that we would like to have, despite how much we love each other."
"That is why we decided to end our relationship and maintain a bond of friendship given how much we feel for each other and how much we love, respect and admire each other."
Jordan shooting down dozens of Shahed drones
It looks like Israel red alert sirens are not working tonight. Iran hackers may have attacked the system.
In Lebanon, Jordan, and the West Bank, eyewitnesses document the largest drone attack in history, as the drones and missiles launched by Iran reach their targets across the length of occupied Palestine at this moment.
I'm telling y'all Iran is just going to keep the Zionist entity waiting and sweating in suspense. They can make a move on their own time, not according to some western prediction. So I ain't buying the hype coming out rn even if I got rinsed on Russia a couple years ago.
There's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again.
From earlier this morning, it's your latest edition of "Things You Don't Want To Hear From Your Interior Minister". This week, we hear from Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is threatening Bibi to invade Rafah or else:
Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition, offered to protect Netanyahu in the Knesset if he goes through with a peace deal. Not sure he can do much to protect Bibi in the streets, though.
I still maintain the best way out of this is offering Netanyahu and his family asylum/protection from extradition in the US in return for helping to mop up the more "intractable" elements within settler movement.
Here's a fun memory that just surfaced: had some neighbors in the 90s in Houston who were Israeli, an older couple whom my parents sort of befriended. They ended up moving back to tel aviv and gave my parents their ancient tv which we didn't really need (don't have room for a bunch of TVs in an apartment). After a few months my parents gave it to another friend of ours because it was just taking up space.
The next year the couple moved back to the US, back to the same apartment complex we lived in. They wanted their TV back. My parents explained that they didn't have room to just store it, and they didn't need it, so they gave it to another friend as it had been given - explicitly given, not "hold on to this for us" - to them originally. The Israeli couple were outraged. The friendship ended.
i have a very bad feeling that this thread is going to break 2k comments.
i am trying to find a way to lay out all the thoughts in my head without it feeling like i’m using the news mega as a journal. but the agony of knowing that courses have already been decided on, and a manmade monster of gunpowder and blood looms over us, waiting to feed…i’m mortified. the potential for things to escalate even further out of control has never felt this strong. Iran’s next move feels like watching someone pull out the last jenga block on that layer, hoping the structure can reconstitute itself when the top half drops down a story. but the blocks are made of plastic explosives.
Video of the ambush that was teased, insane video (Telegram linked probably blocked, try looking up the video on twitter)
Actor Rob Schneider attacked Brazilian president Lula da Silva on Twitter, calling him a "socialist dictator". The actor says he is on the side of the Brazilian people in their "fight" for freedom of expression.
Brazilian Twitter users responded by calling the actor Adam Sandler and Deuce Bigalow, in reference to his role in the film Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, and spamming his replies with Vampetaço (nude photos of soccer player Vampeta).
Oh no, now Lula will resign because Rob Schneider called him a socialist dictator
So we’re supposed to see a cabinet reshuffle next month but I’m getting rumors from Duma deputies that according to advanced notice, there will be no significant personnel change.
If so then it really is disappointing. Even with such popular support, Putin still fails to take on the challenge. The neoliberals will remain in control, the nationalists’ “coup” attempt had failed, and Russia will continue to get stuck in what some call a hybrid state: a state that is fighting its imperialist oppressor on the one hand but also undermining its own advantages to the benefit of its neoliberal imperialist oppressor on the other.
Still, all will be revealed by early May.
Impacts purportedly taking out an iron dome battery
The US dangles Yemen bait, but Ansarallah doesn’t bite (The Cradle, Apr 11)
Informed Yemeni sources reveal to The Cradle that the US offered Sanaa – in exchange for its neutrality in the ongoing Gaza war – “an acknowledgment of its legitimacy.”
This would involve severely reducing the role of the Saudi-backed Presidential Council led by Rashid al-Alimi and accelerating the signing of a roadmap with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to end the aggression against Yemen.
The sources further reveal that the Americans pledged to immediately release withheld Yemeni public sector salaries from the National Saudi Bank, lift the country’s siege entirely, reopen Sanaa Airport, ease restrictions on the port of Hodeidah, and facilitate a comprehensive prisoner exchange agreement with all involved parties.
In terms of reconstruction, the sources say:
[Washington] pledged to repair the damages, remove foreign forces from all occupied Yemeni lands and islands, and remove Ansarallah from the State Department’s ‘terrorism list’ – as soon as they stop their attacks in support of Gaza.
Despite these tempting offers, which have been the subject of negotiations between Sanaa and Riyadh for over two years, the Yemenis remained steadfast. Ansarallah leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi’s consistent position, as reiterated in his speeches, has been to continue operations as long as Israeli aggression against Gaza persists.
Some guy on AlJazeera is saying that this is bad for the war on Gaza because this will make Israel look like a victim and people (the West) will now side with Israel as they have just begun to side with Palestinians in the past weeks.
I disagree, but I also don't see Iran as some boogeyman. Thoughts?
Hey how's that harm reduction going america?
that absolute freak Israeli spokesperson who got fired is doing the George Costanza thing where he's pretending like he never got fired. he did a fake press conference today - Israeli Civilian Spokesperson's Office lmao. yesterday he was begging people to have him on their show.
so pathetic
Iranian missiles. Above the Israeli Knesset. Huge moment in Middle East history underway tonight.
An Event can only happen when Hexbears are not observing it.
The very act of observation from Hexbears prevents the Event from occurring, but rest assured, that merely delays the inevitable, for there will eventually come a moment when the grand total of observer on Hexbear drops to zero. Even just for a second. It is only then, that the Event will physically manifest itself in our universe.
Why are Musk and lackeys like Shellenberger attacking Brazil's democratic rule of law when X normally complies with local government's user bans? Intercept Brazil reveals Musk is losing big to China's BYD in bids to capitalize on Brazil's lithium reserves and electric car market
Intercept Brazil's Article (Portuguese Only)
ELON MUSK'S attitude towards Brazil, especially in confrontation with the Brazilian judiciary, is unusual. With regulatory challenges in several countries, the billionaire often puts his extreme right-wing activism on the back burner to facilitate the entry of his conglomerate's companies into other nations.
In India, for example, X (formerly Twitter) has even taken a stand against court rulings in the country, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party, for more than a decade. But he made a point of saying that he would abide by every one of them. There, Musk intends to invest US$ 3 billion in Tesla factories to curb the advance of his main competitor, the Chinese company BYD, in the region.
In Brazil, however, the billionaire took a different tack. By buying Twitter and turning it into X, Musk also bought a powerful political tool that brings together world leaders, communicators and researchers from all over the world. Now, he is using this communicational power to destabilize the country and boost his own business.
The onslaught was coordinated: first, on the 4th, the Twitter Files, which show the company's lawyers complaining about the orders of Alexandre de Morais, who called for the blocking of accounts involved in coup demonstrations.
Then, a provocative tweet from Musk himself, like a dog whistle, to mobilize Bolsonaro supporters against 'censorship'. The circus was set up: Bolsonaro's father and Eduardo did a live, Nikolas Ferreira, Paulo Figueiredo and Allan dos Santos, who was banned, did another.
The far right mobilized, Musk used his network to challenge a court order from the Brazilian Supreme Court - which is illegal, according to the Marco Civil da Internet - and call for the impeachment of Alexandre de Moraes. Our minister ended up including the billionaire in his extensive investigation into digital militias.
What explains Elon Musk's escalation on the Supreme Court? It's not just political alignment with the far right, coup-plotting or an unconditional defense of freedom of expression. It's a commercial strategy that involves the interests of other companies in the conglomerate: SpaceX, Starlink and Tesla.
The race for 'white oil'
On Monday 8th, following his affronts to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, Elon Musk began following a powerful Norwegian investor. Nicolai Tangen is CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, an investment fund that has businesses in various parts of the world - many of them in the mining sector.
The two set up a conversation in a circle, the live audio tool on X (formerly Twitter). Only Tangen made the meeting public; Musk was more discreet.
In 2023, Norges Bank Investment had investments in more than 8,000 companies in 72 countries. Brazil is among them. The bank owns just over 1% of Petrobras, 3% of Cosan, 5% of the construction company Tenda, to name but a few.
It is also an investor in the Canadian mining company Sigma (with 17.6 million dollars, less than 1% of the company) and the Spanish Rio Tinto (with 2.5 billion invested, more than 2%). He also has more than 2% of the Dutch metallurgical company AMG.
This is where the interests of the CEO of Norges Bank and Musk begin to intersect.
In 2023, a Bloomberg report showed that Elon Musk was interested in buying Sigma Lithium, one of the largest lithium miners in the world. The metal is essential in the production of Tesla's electric cars. One of Musk's company's suppliers is Brazil's Vale, which sells lithium and nickel.
In 2022, when Musk came to Brazil - officially to launch his satellite internet, Starlink - two researchers from USP raised doubts about the real interests of the visit. In an article, Eliane Cristina Silva dos Santos, from the Institute for Advanced Studies, and Maria da Penha Vasconcellos, a professor at the School of Public Health, showed that the visit took place at an extremely strategic moment in Brazilian lithium production.
Lithium, the lightest metal in existence, is considered "white oil". The material is essential in the production of batteries, solar and wind energy, as well as electric cars. In other words, in times of energy transition, it is essential. Latin America, especially Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, has 68% of the world's reserves of the metal.
It was right there in Bolivia, in 2020, that Elon Musk was involved in an intrusion similar to the one in Brazil. That year, the billionaire responded to a tweet critical of his support for the coup against the government of Evo Morales because of his interest in Bolivian lithium. "Let's coup whoever we want! Deal with it," Musk replied (the tweet has since been deleted, but has been recorded in this report).
Back to Brazil: in recent years, the Brazilian Geological Survey has discovered several reserves of lithium, especially in the Jequitinhonha Valley, in the north of Minas Gerais. Three companies exploit the ore in the region: Companhia Brasileira de Lítio, Canada's Sigma and AMG Mineração.
Only the first one was national - the government of Minas Gerais owned 33% of the company. The scenario looked promising for us to manufacture our own Brazilian batteries. However, the partner company in the venture, Oxys Energy, went bankrupt in 2021 - and the government of Minas Gerais began to argue that the state should not enter the business.
In October 2022, the state's share was sold to the British company Ore Investimentos. Vale do Lítio was handed over; at the end of 2023, Governor Romeu Zema, from Novo, went to New York to secure new foreign investment for the region.
According to Observatório da Mineração, which covers the subject, three companies, Latin Resources, Atlas Lithium and Lithium Ionic, are already probing the area for new lithium reserves. Sigma Lithium and AMG are already in production - and both have investments from Norges Bank Investment.
Sigma, founded in 2011, saw its shares explode after discovering lithium reserves here, and global demand for the metal increased. In 2023, the company confirmed that it was negotiating with potential buyers.
Negotiations with Musk, however, did not progress, and the issue became urgent for the billionaire: this year, a Chinese competitor entered the game.
China's BYD advances worldwide and takes the lead in Brazil
In January, the Financial Times reported that China's BYD, Tesla's main competitor in the production of electric cars, had overtaken Musk and started negotiating the purchase of Sigma. The deal is valued at R$14.3 billion.
Brazil is one of the pieces on the board of the trade war, as it has become the center of BYD's global investment strategy. The company has announced that it will increase its investments in Brazil by up to 1 billion euros. In October last year, BYD took over Ford's factory in Camaçari, Bahia, and will initially have the capacity to produce up to 150,000 vehicles a year.
BYD's meteoric growth in Brazil is visible on the country's streets: in 2023, 17,947 of the Chinese company's cars were sold in Brazil, an increase of 6,900%. More than that: sales of BYD electric models exceeded all other electric models combined.
If BYD is gaining ground in Brazil, the scenario is even more worrying for Musk in the rest of the world. In 2023, the Chinese manufacturer sold 1.57 million electric vehicles, up 73% on 2022, and added 1.44 million hybrid cars to the market. With this, it overtook Tesla, which delivered 1.8 million units in the same year, and faces a forecast drop in sales for 2024.
The three leaders of the parties making up Denmark's succdem-led right-wing regime are angry, shocked and scared after having their fun quiz night for lanyard nerds mildly inconvenienced by protesters who held them to account for their tacit support for the zionist genocide against Palestine.
Below is an article from government broadcaster DR:
The politicians' reactions has a vibe of unintended absurd comedy to it. There's some really nice bits in there:
Shortly after, they expanded their repertoire with chants like "child murderer" and "you have blood on your hands," while filming the scene with their mobile phones, just as the aforementioned man referred to [prime minister] Mette Frederiksen as "Mrs. Genocide."
"Speak nicely about people," admonished a still irritated [foreign minister] Lars Løkke Rasmussen, while the other two ministers and the lead candidates remained silent and grim-faced at the café tables they had set up behind the stage.
The most emotionally shaken of the three is minister of defense Troels Lund Poulsen.
"I fundamentally experienced it as a disgrace to Danish democracy. A deliberate sabotage action to ruin an EU quiz," said Troels Lund Poulsen:
Democracy itself is in peril! They ruined the most cursed pub quiz ever!
"I know it's strong words I'm saying, but I'm actually very, very sad that well-integrated people living in Denmark – that they can do it."
The "well-integrated people living in Denmark" part is a racist dog whistle. He's essentially saying that some non-white people acted very un-Aryan.
"[…] I usually think that when a meeting is held, you respect it, that you can either say something to us before we arrive or do it afterward. That wasn't what was wanted. They wanted provocation; they wanted the fight in the room to ruin an evening."
The uppity riffraff didn't want to be ignored away from the spotlight as they're supposed to.
"There is no easy solution to that, but it basically shows a societal problem that is emerging. That a conflict in the Middle East moves into the streets of Copenhagen and is used – and to a great extent now abused – to ruin our democracy."
More racist dog whistles. Plus pearl clutching over "our democracy".
Prime minister Mette Frederiksen manages to cram every brainworm there is into her reaction:
And no matter how you look at it, it is extremely un-Danish to try to shut people up and thereby quietly – and that's probably also what some of them really want – step by step destroy our democracy. And they certainly should not be allowed to do that.
She takes all the nasty stuff from before and adds to it a claim that she, the prime minister who has unhindered access to mass media, is at risk of being silenced as well as adding vague conspiracy theories to the mix.
The Euros are not okay.
⚡️Urgent || A security source :
During the past few days, the air-space force of the Revolutionary Guards has completed its preparations for a comprehensive war, and dozens of targets have been identified in the region, in coordination with all the armed forces in #Iran. And if #Israel responds to our attack, we are ready to strike the entity with bursts of precision ballistic missiles, as are all the countries that Aid will be provided to the Zionist entity.
-ME_Observer
Israeli military instructs residents of high-risk areas to stay close to bomb shelters
Interesting how suddenly they communicate so effectively when the target isn't Palestinians
they Launched the First Ballistic ones at 1:20 it seems , teh time Qasem Soleimani was killed.
Also
Edit: evtl.. no Ballistics ...
EDIT 2: False false Alaram .. All good on the Ballistic Front
Israelis running to bunkers
Very interesting footage of the Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile performing an evasive move in the last second of its flight before impact.
Before He Died in Prison, Alexei Navalny Wrote a Memoir. It’s Coming This Fall. (NYT)
In the book, Navalny tells his story in his own words, chronicling his life, his rise as an opposition leader, and the attempts on his life.
...
The book, telling his story in his own words, comes as a final show of defiance, his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in a statement, and could have a galvanizing effect on his followers.
...
Navalny wrote the entire memoir himself, dictating some parts, and Yulia Navalnaya is working with the publisher to edit and finalize the manuscript, according to a Knopf representative. A Russian-language edition of the book will be available, the representative said.
...
Navalny maintained a presence on social media even behind bars, and remained a ferocious critic of Putin. His team, which was living and working in exile, continued to release exposés on corruption in Russia. He also kept working on the book, which includes never-before-seen correspondence from prison, according to the publisher
The more they try to convince readers that he wrote the entire thing himself, the less likely it seems. CIA and books bruh
Iran for the love of Allah, Muhammed and Ali please stop the edging and just do the attack on the illegitimate Zionist Entity already. I've been on my nerves for a week and all my relatives in Lebanon and Syria have been stressed as hell waiting for some kind of definitive vision of whatever hellscape future awaits.
I have been discussing the pros and cons of the Islamic Republic with my friends and family for years now, but this will be literally me the second the missile hits "Israel"
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1779584557664088533
A Saudi official speaking on condition of anonymity to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster says “Iran engineered the war in Gaza to ruin normalization with Israel”:
“Iran engineered the war in Gaza in order to destroy the progress Saudi Arabia was making in normalizing relations with Israel.
Iran is a country that sponsors terrorism, and it should have been stopped a long time ago.
Any suspicious object that enters Saudi Arabian airspace is intercepted.”
this made things really heat up in the West Bank too
Feels like we're between waves now.
Speculating here but wave 1 probably targeted iron dome and defence systems. Wave 2 and 3 probably going to aim at actual targets.
Stupid hyperlinking not working for me
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has communicated to Iran that it was not involved in an air strike against a top Iranian military commander in Damascus, the White House said on Thursday.
"We communicated to Iran that the U.S. had no involvement in the strike that happened in Damascus and we have warned Iran not to use this attack as a pretext to escalate further in the region or to attack U.S. facilities or personnel," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Just the most evil fuckers. Warning Iran not to use this attack as a pretext lmao “don’t you dare get any ideas about responding to me burning your house down”
FT brainrot: The US is right to target TikTok
The Iranian Ministry of Defense warns:
We will retaliate against anyone who opens their airspace or territory to Israel for attacking Iran.
Qatar and Kuwait have reportedly informed the US today that they would not allow the US to use its bases or airspace in their country to attack Iran. I'm seeing it on Twitter but I'm trying to find an article from somewhere reputable.EDIT: 6 hours later, no reputable news stories. I'm calling tentative shenanigans.
anybody else getting the same vibe as when Prigozhin was hurtling towards Moscow
like, there are momentous events that are currently occurring but we aren't gonna get much payoff for hours so like, what do we even do right now. play fucking tradle?
edit: also, if the drones and missiles did in fact come directly from Iran and directly hit Israel then I shall take my L without hesitation, as I predicted they'd be launched from resistance groups in Syria and Iraq who just so happened to obtain Iranian missile technology very quickly. I can't win 'em all.
We deeply condem the cruel and unjustifiable 1. April Attack by the IDF Terror Organization and we want to reiterate that Iran has the Right to Defend itself.
At this point, the only way Ukraine can “win” is if NATO fully and openly joins in on the war, likely starting WW3 in the process (which means no one really “wins”). Anything less - another $100 billion, some old ass F-16s, etc - is only prolonging the inevitable. Prolonging the conflict won’t change the outcome but will kill a lot more people. Thus, the only humanitarian and just response to western countries wanting to give Ukraine more money is to fully oppose it. Like, giving Ukraine more money is actually an immoral decision and we should explain to folks as such.
25 minutes until sirens sound again for the next wave according to israeli media
(maybe sooner, not sure how quickly this got to me)
The may-you-have-a-very-bad-day reporter from Al Mayadeen has the biggest grin ever lol:
https://nitter.poast.org/aliimortada/status/1779247521576992897from a palestinian guy i follow on tumblr:
RAMON AIRPORT HAS BEEN STRUCK BY IRAN!
When Ben Gurion airport shuts down, this is used as the backup airport by the occupation to evacuate its population. IT GOT HIT.
Al Jazeera Mubasher is my source.
A lot of videos of new launches coming out of Iran now. Iranians are in the streets filming and partying to the launches.
In the weeks preceding the attack, the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom all warned Iran not to attack Israel, and that such an attack would be a major escalation and could lead to a military response by the West against Iran.
Iran was warned by Israel that such an attack could lead to a direct Israeli military response on Iranian soil.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Kuwait have reportedly taken steps to prevent the US from using its bases in their territories for a possible attack against Iran.
Israel’s air defence system has not faced attack of this magnitude before - Al jazeera
We’ve been looking out from the balcony here across the Jerusalem skyline. And we’ve seen a succession of air defence interceptors going up from various points around the city to meet targets in the sky.
And now the police seem to be going around on the streets in their cars with an announcement going out which is telling people to go to their nearest air raid shelters as quickly as they can.
The military has been telling people that the air defence systems that Israel has – that’s the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow 2 and 3 – are very capable systems designed to deal with multiple types of threats.
It’s a layered air defence system to deal with rockets, to deal with ballistic and cruise missiles and to deal with drones as well.
And that is what we’re likely to be seeing over the next few minutes and hours as these different waves of projectiles come in.
The big test of course, for this layered air defence system is, [can it] cope with an assault of this magnitude, because this is not something that Israel has faced before, on this scale.
with the Iranian bombarment Israel may have depleted their ammunition for their air defence systems which will make them vulnerable to bombarments by Hamas and Hezbollah plus according to some reports this may be wave 1 of many more strikes by Iran
Iran launched a drone attack targetting Israel on the evening of 13 April 2024. The attack would consist of 'dozens of drones' according to Israeli and US officials.
Israeli officials estimated that around 100 drones were launched, while a US official predicted that 400 to 500 drones and missiles would be launched from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, though the majority would be from Iran. The presence of missiles was possible.
Israel said that only military sites were targeted. Hezbollah and Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen also launched rockets towards Israel. Some of the released videos indicate the presence of Shahed 136 drones.
Iran only targets military sites, meanwhile the "OnLy DeMOcrAcy in the middle east" attacks embassies and civilian targets.
Jon Stewart applies U.S. criticism of Russia to Israel, but forgets to apply U.S. criticism of Russia a little closer to Russia.
Javier Milei underwent medical checkups with the intention of getting on an F-16 plane in Denmark
As part of his international tour, the President will visit Copenhagen where he will fly as co-pilot in one of the military fighters that Argentina bought from the European country.
President Javier Milei underwent medical check-ups in the last few hours with the intention of getting on one of the F-16 supersonic planes that Argentina bought from Denmark, as LA NACION was able to confirm from sources at the Casa Rosada. The head of state left for Miami in the United States at the beginning of his second international tour, which will include a visit to Copenhagen, where he would travel as co-pilot in military fighter jets.
The acquisition of the aircraft was signed by the Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, through a joint letter with his Danish counterpart, Troels Lund Pousen. This provides for the purchase of 24 American F-16 fighter aircraft from the European government.
“Minister Luis Petri and his Danish counterpart, Troels Lund Pousen, signed a letter of intent to advance the purchase of F-16 aircraft. Investment in defense is once again a priority. We are equipping our Forces and recovering the country's supersonic capacity,” the Defense Ministry announced in recent weeks.
In October 2023, the United States authorized the sale of 24 F-16 fighter aircraft equipped with air-to-air missiles from Denmark to the country and at that time talks began to put together a financing package for 40 million dollars for this way to facilitate the purchase by the Argentine government, an operation of enormous geopolitical impact in which Washington competes directly with China, since the Asian country had offered the sale of JF-17 aircraft from Pakistan. On that occasion, the government of Alberto Fernández had to evaluate what decision to make among its different options.
For her part, Mira Resnick, the Deputy Secretary for Regional Security of the State Department, explained that the State Department approved the transfer of aircraft to Argentina without objections in Congress. Resnick maintained that the transfer is “of national interest for the United States,” and although he stated that the final decision was Argentina's, he insisted that the North American offer was “superior” to that of China, and that, if finalized, it would serve to deepen the long-term relationship between both countries. At the end of March, Petri moved forward with the operation.
International tour
Milei began his second international tour this week since taking office in December 2023 and the third since winning the runoff in November of that same year. On this occasion, he will travel first to Miami in the state of Florida in the United States, where he has planned a series of activities. In the first instance, he will receive, together with his sister Karina Milei - the secretary of the presidency - a distinction from the Jewish community. This is recognition as an “International Ambassador of Light”. This event will be held at the Chabad Lubavitch “The Shul” Synagogue, in Bel Harbour, north of Miami Beach.
Later, he has a meeting scheduled for Thursday with the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Ilan Goldfajn, and a dissertation at the Jack D. Gordon Public Policy Institute at Florida International University.
However, the meeting with the greatest international impact will be the one held together with the businessman who created Tesla, Space X, Starlink and owner of the social network X, Elon Musk, in the state of Texas. It is an anticipated meeting that was fueled by the numerous exchanges that both had on social networks.
PLEASE DANISH F-16 PILOT, FLY TOWARDS UKRAINE AND GET SHOT DOWN BY S-400 MISSILE. I BEG YOU. YOU WILL BE A NATIONAL HERO!
Also, imagine if this turns out to be a Piñera moment. Huh...
can any Spain Understanders in the news mega let me know what the vibe is like in spain, politically speaking? especially with respect to optimism/pessimism for the future. like on a scale from 1-10, where 1 is argentina or uk levels of fucked vibes, and 10 is china where life is actually improving as the years go by, what is spain at? i'm considering moving there to escape amerikkka but i don't want to go somewhere where the future is worse/as bad as in the us
Death to America
Elon Musk's attacks made Alexandre de Moraes known to the rest of the world. On an international level, social networks are registering comments of criticism and support for the Supreme Court Justice.
The Brazilian government will suspend million-dollar contracts with Starlink, Elon Musk's company, said Minister Paulo Pimenta, according to Valor Econômico.
Elon Musk publishes fake news and accuses Moraes of interfering in President Lula's election. Elon Musk claims, without proof, that he is going to remove Twitter employees from Brazil because they received information that they would be arrested. However, when he bought the social network, he closed the company's office in São Paulo.
Ricardo Cappeli (Member of the Communist Party and Federal Interventor of Brasilia during the coup attempt of 2023) calls for "Musk to be banned from Brazil with his businesses", after the billionaire attacked Lula and Moraes.
Milei: ‘We must strengthen strategic alliance with United States’
President travels to Tierra del Fuego, where he meets with US General Laura Richardson and commits to forging closer ties with Washington; New aircraft incorporated into Argentina’s Air Force.
President Javier Milei travelled to Tierra del Fuego on Thursday for a two-day visit that underlines Argentina’s ever-closer ties with the United States. In two speeches, the La Libertad Avanza leader called for a strengthening of ties with Washington and for a deepening of their “strategic alliance.”
"The best way to defend our sovereignty is to strengthen our strategic alliance with the United States and with all countries that embrace the causes of freedom," said Milei in a brief speech Thursday night. The focus of the president’s trip down south was a meeting with and head of the US Southern Command, Laura Richardson in Ushuaia. The trip was designed to underline the Milei administration’s ties with the United States.
The scenario was not chosen by chance, as the United States is wary of China's advance in the region – specifically a deep space station – and in the southern part of Americas. Milei was due to meet the US general at around 9pm on Thursday night, though he eventually arrived more than two hours later, delayed by a late departure and an unscheduled stopover in Río Gallegos. Despite the wait, shortly after his arrival, Milei – accompanied by Defence Minister Luis Petri – met with Richardson and US Ambassador to Argentina Marc Stanley.
Also travelling south were Interior Minister Guillermo Francos, presidential chief-of-staff Karina Milei, and Cabinet Chief Nicolás Posse.
‘Natural affinity’
Milei, dressed in Army fatigues, didn’t waste time in highlighting his administration’s shift in foreign policy. Thanking the US officials for their support, he observed that "Argentines as a people have a natural affinity with the United States” thanks to its principles of “freedom and the defence of life.”
milei in military fatigues:
The La Libertad Avanza leader has criticised previous Argentine governments for drawing closer to nations like China and Russia and called for a new relationship with the West, hailing the United States and Israel as his nation’s new allies. "Sadly, Argentina turned away from these ideas for a long time. Today we are embracing them again," Milei insisted in his Ushuaia speech, stressing that “the West is in danger” from populist and Communist ideas.
Wow cool.
"We both belong to the Western tradition with a culture, a political history and a way of living in society that is largely shared. A tradition that has at its base the ideas of freedom, the defence of life and private property, which were the banner of the founding fathers of both nations when they drew up their first constitutions,” said Milei.
“It is important to strengthen the ties of friendship with the United States" and in this respect anticipated that a new "logistics centre that will be set up will be the closest port of development to Antarctica.”
"Port of Development" = Military base. He complained about a supposed chinese military base in Argentina and now allows for the US to set up one lmao.
"We will continue to claim our sovereign right in Antarctica. Many governments have filled their mouths with talk of sovereignty, but have done nothing for it," he remarked, citing the threat of “drug-trafficking or Islamic terrorism.”
Not sure what drug smuggling and islamic terrorism have to do with Antarctica tbh.
“The best way to defend our sovereignty is to strengthen our strategic alliance with the United States and with all countries that embrace the causes of freedom,” he declared.
Milei’s trip south came after the governor of Tierra del Fuego Province, Gustavo Melella, announced that he would not receive Richardson during her trip to Ushuaia. The government’s response was to send the president instead. One of the key issues mentioned during talks with the US general is the controversial Chinese deep space station installed in Neuquén, Patagonia, which operates under permanent monitoring by Beijing.
US officials have regularly expressed concerns over the site and the Milei government is looking to carry out an inspection of the site, which was authorised under former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government. Construction was finished during ex-president Mauricio Macri’s time in office.
New aircraft
This is Richardson’s third trip to Argentina and she came bearing gifts. On Wednesday, during a meeting with Petri, Posse and other officials, she made official the transfer of a C-130H Hercules aircraft to Argentina’s Air Force.
The purpose of her visit was to promote strategic defence relations and strengthen military collaboration in pursuit of regional security and the shared interests of both nations, said the US government in a statement. On Friday, after the Argentine and US delegations returned to Buenos Aires, Milei and Richarson met again at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery for a ceremony marking the handover of the Hercules plane. The government said it views the transfer as “a symbol of solid bilateral cooperation".
"This iconic aircraft, with a history of service in 70 countries, will strengthen our capabilities," said the Defence Ministry in a statement. In a short speech, Richardson said Washington had “heard loud and clear” Argentina’s “desire to align yourself with the United States."
She said that US President Joe Biden had asked her and other officials to “travel to Argentina to continue strengthening our bilateral relationship, which has been going on for 201 years, and also our common values of democracy and freedom.” Richardson said the two nations "are bound together by friendship."
"Our bond is based on an unwavering commitment to democracy and the underlying values of respect for human rights and respect for the rule of law," she added.
They're so friendly to us they had to stage a coup in the 70s to "cleanse the country" of communists and save us, or something.
President Milei cuts short international trip over Middle East crisis
President Javier Milei is ending his international trip early to handle his country's response to the crisis in the Middle East.
President Javier Milei is ending his international trip early to handle his country's response to the crisis in the Middle East, his spokesperson said Saturday, after Iran launched a wave of drones and missiles at Israel. "The President is returning to Argentina to form a Crisis Committee due to the latest events in Israel, to take charge of the situation and coordinate actions with the presidents of the Western world," Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni said on X, formerly Twitter.
Iran launched more than 100 drones towards Israel on Saturday, an Israeli military official said, warning that more "waves of drones" would likely come from the Islamic Republic. The government on Saturday expressed its "solidarity and unwavering commitment" to Israel in the face of the Iranian attack.
"The Office of President Javier Milei expresses its solidarity and unwavering commitment to the State of Israel in the face of the attacks launched by the Islamic Republic of Iran," the press release said. "The Argentine Republic recognises the right of nation-states to defend themselves, and emphatically supports the State of Israel in the defence of its sovereignty, especially against regimes that promote terror and seek the destruction of Western civilisation," it added.
I support the destruction of the Western civilisation
Milei was scheduled to travel from the United States on Saturday to Copenhagen to participate in the official ceremony marking an agreement for Argentina to buy two dozen F-16 fighter jets from Denmark.
The President reportedly took the decision with his sister, presidential chief-of-staff Karina Milei, after analysing the situation. Infobae reported that he has requested calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his support. Upon his return to Buenos Aires, Milei will prepare a series of emergency measures to prevent possible terrorist attacks, government sources told local outlets. While in the United States, Milei met with tech billionaire Elon Musk and received an award from the Chabad Jewish group. He also announced his break up with his girlfriend, actress and comedian Fátima Flórez.
Life sucks for poor Javier. He had to end his international tour, his favorite genocidal entity was struck with missiles and he broke up with this girlfriend. Protests are happening and the IMF is not willing to help for much longer if the social reality doesn't improve.
The libertarian leader has shifted Argentina's foreign policy since taking office. Milei's latest decision is part of his geopolitical alignment with the United States and Israel, a chance he has outlined on multiple occasions. In an interview earlier this week, Milei – who grew up Catholic but has a professed "fanaticism" for Judaism – said "he important thing is to ally with Israel." He has promised to move Argentina's Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem as a show of support for the Jewish state.
Forming an emergency committee for something that is happening in the Middle East is pathetic, it is the most pathetic "show of force" or "solidarity" that I have ever seen, maybe on par with New Jersey governor saying that they're closely monitoring the situation or the LAPD issuing a similar statement. This motherfucker is using the state and the entire government to push for his own PERSONAL agenda, his own personal feelings towards Judaism in general and Zionism in particular. It's insane, there's barely any Zionist lobby to speak of here, this man is doing all of this out of personal needs. On the other hand, some time ago there was a huge storm that ravaged the city of Bahía Blanca, which caused deaths and material damages. He travelled to the city and pledged no state support for the residents, saying that "He's confident that they will find the resources and the way to fix the issues", then left. Why should we pledge financial and material support for both Ukraine and "Israel" if we can't help our own fucking people? God, I hope this fucking ghoul dies a terrible death.
Also quite fitting to be worried about "terrorist attacks" when there are protests and strikes every week huh?
Missiles over the Dome of the Rock, Al-Aqsa
Breaking: Soviet troops have moved into the north of Iran. President Joe Biden has accused the Soviets of sinking the USS Los Angeles off the coast of Iran. American bombers have been destroyed by a Soviet nuclear-tipped air defense missile. The US has detonated a nuclear bomb over Mashhad in response.
Oops sorry that's the plot of Threads (1984).
Hezbollah said it launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli air defense site in the Golan Heights. The group said the attack took place shortly after midnight local time. - CNN
At around 2:00 am local time, explosions were heard in Jerusalem, while air raid sirens sounded across Israel, the West Bank, and the Dead Sea. It is unknown whether the explosions were interceptions by the Iron Dome or missile strikes. Tel Aviv and Dimona, which is home to a nuclear facility, were also targeted.
Good article in this other /c/politics thread: ettingermentum: Biden Might Be Set On a Regional War
Full paywalled text posted by a comrade within.
What Happens If Israel Goes To War With Iran?
pretty good video by hexbear user SecondThought
BREAKING: Iran has refused to update its payment method for Amazon Prime; drone delivery will require modest shipping fee and delayed several days
The ukrainian mobilization bill passed
https://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2024/04/11/7450771/
Dropped the age of conscription from 27 to 25, no mechanism for demobilization so once you're in you're in. Citizens abroad have to register as well. I wonder if that runs afoul of international law on refoulement or not
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/14/israel-calls-up-two-reserve-brigades-send-gaza/
Looks like that talk last week of a slowdown may have been premature
The Invitation Offensive -- A Popular-Frontist Strategy and Tactic of Undermining Fake 'Anti-Fascist' Opposition
Cases occur in which during a struggle against imperialism or fascism, some organizations that collaborate with the imperialist/fascist foes pretend to be struggling against it, so to mislead otherwise genuine anti-imperialists/anti-fascists. In their struggle against imperialism and fascism, the communists can expose such organizations by what I call "alliance offensives" or “invitation offensives.” It entails exposing collaborationists through proposing an overt alliance with them. That is, the communists would propose an alliance to this organization for a joint struggle against the imperialist/fascist occupation. Owing to their collaborationist nature, the collaborationists would not benefit from establishing friendly contacts with the communists for that might expose their collaboration with the enemy. As such, it puts the covert collaborationists into a difficult position:
(1) If they reject the proposal, they would lose face in front of the public by appearing not serious about combating the enemy occupation. By contrast, the communists would rightly appear serious in combating the enemy occupation. This would tilt the balance more so towards the communists and would expose to many the collaborationist nature of the organization. It would draw many of the genuinely anti-imperialist/anti-fascist supporters of the covert collaborationist organization away from the collaborationists and towards the communist-led popular front.
(2) If the collaborationist organization accepts the alliance proposal, then they would face two options: (1) break their word/promise/deal and thus risk being exposed as collaborationists. Exposure would have almost the same results as rejecting an invitation in the first place, except it would be more intensively in favor of communists and a more intensive blow at the collaborationists. Option (2) would be that they would actually go through with the deal, carry out their promises, which would indeed harm the imperialist/fascist enemy occupation. This would force the collaborationists into fighting their own imperialist/fascist bosses hence causing division and friction in the enemy camp. All of these cases are wins for the communist-led popular front and losses for imperialism/fascism and collaborationism.
In order to render it harder for the collaborationists to betray their deal, communists shall try to negotiate as precondition, some degree of transparency on the part the collaborationist organization, so that it would become easier for communists to gather intelligence on the collaborationists’ potential betrayals of the deal, so to expose the collaborationists’ betrayal of the deal more easily. The establishment of transparency measures would be useful in dissuading the collaborationists from betraying their deal in the first place.
Related to this strategy is the "invitation offensive" strategy. Socialist and anti-imperialist states can expose imperialists' Wilsonian hypocrisy by calling for universal disarmament. No one with a basic understanding of class struggles would ever seriously think that universal disarmaments are realistic in the epoch of modern imperialist warmongers. The point though is to show that contrary to their Wilsonian calls for peace and unity, the imperialists are but hypocrites committed to terror. The USSR, the Peoples' Democracies, and the Comintern frequently used the peace offensives strategy.
Resistance fighters open fire on the colonial "Shaked" checkpoint near
Iranian Fars Agency, quoting an informed source: The Iranian attacks were planned to take place in several stages, and each stage will be more severe than the previous stage depending on the circumstances.
Missile sirens are ringing again in the southern West Bank, Dead Sea, southern occupied Palestine, northern occupied Palestine, and the occupied Syrian Golan.
Milei celebrates the country's fall in inflation with data from fake ex-Twitter profile X
The posts, which featured supposed variations in the price of the basic food basket, were part of "a social experiment", with the aim of showing how many people seek "results that reality denies"
Javier Milei used false data published by a fictitious profile on X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate a supposed reduction in inflation, which impacts on the prices of the country's basic food basket. The president attributed this supposed reduction to the measures taken since he took office four months ago.
Milei referenced the profile, called "Jumbot", during the interview, mentioning a price variation from +5.22% to -4.52%. However, a few hours later, the profile in question revealed that it was a "social experiment", apologizing to those who were misled, including the president and the economy minister, Luis Caputo.
The misinformation spread by the fake profile led Milei and Caputo to be called out on social media. Last week, it was Economy Minister Luis Caputo who used the same source to report a slowdown in prices in April. However, the data was also false.
Argentina is facing a challenging economic situation, with an annual inflation rate of 276.2%, the highest in the world. Since Milei took office, prices have risen considerably, reflecting the official strong devaluation of the peso and Milei's neoliberal policies.
gonna sleep for real this time, bye comrades (dont do anything stupid israel, oh who am i kidding)
Touchdown!
We are now in a new world.
The government of Mexico, through the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, has filed a lawsuit against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice. They are asking for Ecuador to be condemned for the damage to the embassy and to be expelled from the UN.
Elon Musk vs. Brazil Update:
Musk has apparently figured out that Alexandre de Morais is a conservative who served as coup Pres. Michel Temer's Justice Minister and voted in favor of Lula's imprisonment, so today he started attacking 2 Justices actually appointed by Lula: Flavio Dino (Former Minister of Justice and Former Governor of Maranhao under the Communist Party of Brazil between 2014 - 2022) and Cristiano Zanin (Former Lawyer of Lula da Silva).
X Brazil's director resigned this week after a petition to exempt the company from Brazilian law was rejected by the Supreme Court & Musk restored accounts of suspects in the police investigation on the Jan. 8, 2022 coup attempt. He doesn't want to be Musk's "free speech" patsy.
Professional disinformation campaign manager Shellenberger has twisted this event around in a panic-mongering fundraising tweet in which he asks Brazilian's for personal donations to his foundation.
This Shellenberger guy was investigated by the Supreme Court for links with Cartels. Free Speech is when you help drug dealers.
Veteran Brazilian journalist Reinaldo Azevedo (Liberal, critical of Lula da Silva but hates Bolsonaro) accuses Glenn Greenwald of thinking his duty is to "civilize the natives" in a long post in which he systematically dismantles the lack of any coherent legal argument in his criticism of Alexandre de Morais.
Reinaldo: "Glenn Greenwald writes an article in Folha (Right-Wing Brazilian Newspaper) in which he accuses the Supreme Court of Brazil of illegal decisions. There are no legal arguments. Just the slurry oozing from the Bolsonaro dunghill. "
Why does he do this? I won't speculate on that now. I'll stick to another question. Glenn accuses the left of being servile to Alexander, ignoring past differences. That's right.
Everything has to be seen in its own time. If the minister, within the rules of the game, stands up to the fascists and coup plotters, there is nothing strange about such support. If Glenn sees this as an inconsistency, he himself is the character of a contradiction that he finds reprehensible.
When Bolsonaro tried to kick him out of Brazil - in a mixture of authoritarianism, illegality, xenophobia and homophobia - Glenn received the unanimous support of the left, which he is now attacking.
It looks like a draw of contradictions, but it's not. I'll explain:
1: The left was, yes, hostile to Alexander and today supports many of his decisions because he stands up to the neo-fascists;
2: Glenn, once supported by the left against neo-fascist threats, is now in the opposite camp and aligns his positions with those who wanted to expel or arrest him.
As you can see, in both cases, the progressives are actually coherent. It's Glenn who needs to explain his new bad company, not the left. By the way: Glenn reveals a somewhat colonialist soul in relation to Brazil: he takes the laws of his country of origin as universal.
And in his case too, it's fortunate that it's not. In the US, an episode like that of the hackers could land you in jail for "contempt of court". In Brazil, attempting a coup d'état could result in prosecution and jail time - for a journalist or not.
But a journalist will never be threatened for not revealing his source. Moro, now Glenn's ally, tried. But the left, now enemies of the boisterous and bellicose American journalist, denounced the illegal threat. Glenn needs to stop this mania of thinking he's here to "civilize" the natives.
When it comes to defending democracy, the US has a lot to learn from contemporary Brazil, not the other way around. Since leaving The Intercept, Glenn has been trying to find a place in the marketplace of ideas here.
So far, he hasn't achieved anything other than being an auxiliary line for Bolsonaro, which wanted to expel him from Brazil and even accused him of being part, with his then-husband, of a plot to get a seat in the House of Representatives.
The left is coherent when it supports an Alexandre who has never been a leftist. What is incomprehensible is that Glenn has found shelter in the breasts of those who essentially hate him. But then, in the benevolent hypothesis, it's up to Freud, not me. What about the "non-benevolent" hypothesis? That's a matter for investigative journalism.
They made a poster making fun off the IOF member who got shot 20 times in his butt
translation CW// non vegan friendly language
Translation: "When the moment of truth and battle comes, you see them running and screaming and crying for help like children, and our Mujhaideen hunt them like a field of ducks"
Khamenei just posted: "The Zionist regime has made a mistake. It should be punished and it will be punished."
Someone was telling me that Jong Un is pissed at Xi and the dprk has built some kind of fortified wall on the dprk prc border, ended their foreign worker program in china, and have been shooting at chinese rail workers?
Is this a real thing or just the usual dprk hermit kingdom kremlinologist delusions?
The atmosphere in Eilat as an Israeli frigate intercepts missiles, probably from Yemen. Very clear video of the interception by the frigate if you look at the missile trail lines when it lights up.
Allegedly Jerusalem right now: https://streamable.com/y5zist
Can not verify, pinch of salt. There are SHIT LOADS of videos like this right now though, I think real. Social media is lighting up and they look like average people posting videos, not bot accounts.
Explosions reported in Erbil, northern Iraq. An American consulate is located there.
(no verification)
EDIT:
5 powerful explosions rock Erbil Governorate in the north
A drone attack on the Harir base and the Birmam product in Erbil Governorate.
- Asyrria News Network
"Oh Jodi Dean got fired? Time to go on twitter and call her a reactionary"
