Image is of a solar park in Cuba, donated last year by China, sourced from this article.
To be honest, I don’t have much to say about ongoing geopolitical events that hasn’t already been said in previous threads (e.g. with India/Pakistan, Trump/Putin, and of course occupied Palestine), so this is more of a “news roundup” preamble for this week.
As we all know, the US (and the imperial core generally) has only three permitted international actions: sanctions, color revolution, and war. None of these have been going well lately, but sanctions are in particularly dire straits right now. Three examples from the last week or so:
-
The EU is on its 17th sanctions package, apparently, which is surprising, as I thought they were on their 76th or something. It apparently targets Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, but I don’t think anybody actually gives a shit because we all know it won’t achieve anything, so, moving on…
-
The head of Nvidia (as well as many others) have come out and said that the US chip export controls on China have failed, remarking that China’s internal motivations to develop alternatives are strong and proceeding rapidly, especially as China’s number of skilled scientists is only growing. Nvidia has said that they had a 95% share of China’s AI chip market in 2020 or so, but now they only have 50%.
-
Lastly, an interesting one: Iran has received its first set of railway shipment of solar panels from China, and there is hope for accelerating shipments of even more products. Myself and many others have predicted a decoupling of Iran from the West and towards China and Russia (especially if any Western-built product could have Israeli devices implanted into them, such as with the pager terrorist attack on Lebanon’s doctors), and having a strong link with China will be a necessary step for Iran and their allies to continue their offensives against Israel.
Last week’s thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
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 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.
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.
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.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
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.
Second round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations ended after an hour, Turkey says “non-negative” outcome.
Looking into it more - Ukrainians presented completely unworkable demands that would effectively constitute Russian surrender. Including allowing them to join NATO, no limits on army size, and usage of Russian funds to reconstruct. Not surprising it was over so soon.
Confirmed Russian losses due to Ukraine’s “Spiderweb” attack on Russian tactical and strategic bombers.
Part 1, Olenya Airbase:
- 4x Tu-95 burning, severely damaged or destroyed:
- 1x An-12 transport plane burning, severely damaged or destroyed:
- In this photo, you can see that the 1st and 4th Tu-95s got consumed by flames, along with the suspected An-12 on the left
Belaya Airbase:
- 3x Tu-95s and 4x Tu-22M3s severely damaged or destroyed, 1x Tu-95 with some minor damage. I’ll upload the two SAR images once the website allows me to.
Total so far:
- 7x Tu-95 severely damaged or destroyed
- 4x Tu-22M3 severely damaged or destroyed. -1x An-12 severely damaged or destroyed.
- 1x Tu-95 with minor damage.
For a total of 13 aircraft damaged or destroyed, with 12 of them showing signs of severe damage. Ukraine initially claimed 40, but a success rate of 32.5%, or around 1/3, is nothing to scoff at for an attack like this.
- 4x Tu-95 burning, severely damaged or destroyed:
A senior Iranian diplomat told Reuters that Iran is working on drafting a negative response to the American nuclear proposal that was delivered to Tehran days ago. Iran’s response can be considered as a rejection of the completely unilateral American offer.
Starting to seem like there won’t be a negotiated settlement. It’s been nearly two months of talk. The question is really whether the entity and its allies are ready to swallow the consequences of a strike on Iranian facilities. I’m not convinced the US administration has the stomach for it…
I am at the point where I no longer know what to say in regards to the news coming out of Gaza. Anything I could say does no justice to the horrors of what is happening here. I feel numb and my lack of words reflects that. This is just as much of an American genocide as it is an Israeli one. I’m not exactly young, but this has crossed the point of being the most evil thing the US has done in my lifetime (saying this as someone who organized protests against the invasion of Iraq in 2003).
Oggy oggy oggy oi oi oi
Not sure why people are dooming about the drone attacks.
For one, Ukraine always massively exaggerates their supposed successes. For the other, there have been much worse incidents for Russia in this war, and things went on as if nothing happened.
Things aren’t looking good in Cuba:
https://xcancel.com/bellybeastcuba/status/1929158797173371202Cuba’s population has declined nearly 13% from 2020 through 2024, according to recently released data by the island’s National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI). In 2024, the population was 9.7 million, 1.4 million less than in 2020.
Cuba has been going through its largest emigration wave in history, as people flee a deepening economic crisis fueled by U.S. sanctions. The U.S. is by far the largest recipient of Cuban immigrants. Unofficial reports have put Cuba’s population loss at even higher numbers.
The long-term damage of the emigration crisis can be catastrophic for the island, since thousands of young people, and particularly young professionals, are part of the wave.
Cuba’s education, health and scientific sectors are facing personnel shortages. It is even more alarming considering Cuba’s aging patterns, to which low birth rates also contribute. Cuba’s around 71,358 births in 2024 are the country’s lowest in 65 years.
ONEI’s report points out that more than 25% of the population is over 60 years old, making Cuba one of the fastest-aging countries in Latin America.
China’s going to achieve net zero emissions just in time for North American sludge factories to start up due to whatever fucked up re-industrialization plans get pushed out.
Skulls of 19 Black people once subject to racist study in Germany are laid to rest in New Orleans. (Hexbear link)
The skulls of those 19 patients have now been repatriated to Louisiana after more than a century abroad. On Saturday, they were honored in a multi-faith memorial and laid to rest in a jazz funeral rooted in New Orleans tradition.
The remains were returned by the University of Leipzig, which in 2023 contacted the city archeologist in New Orleans, acknowledging the skulls had been acquired in a “colonial context and unethically.” The two-year return process involved city, state and academic institutions. It culminated in a notable international restitution, a return of African American remains from Europe — with many remains still lingering in archival collections across the U.S. and abroad, at museums and universities.
In Canada, a daughter’s fight to bring her murdered Indigenous mother home. Hexbear Link
Winnipeg police were first alerted to the then 35-year-old self-proclaimed white supremacist on May 16, 2022, when the partial remains of Rebecca Contois were found in a rubbish bin. Skibicki was charged two days later, and the following month, police began searching the Brady Road Landfill, a municipal landfill on the outskirts of the city, where they found more of her remains.
Morgan and Marcedes’s families were told that their relatives’ remains were likely in the privately operated Prairie Green Landfill, a sprawling waste disposal site north of Winnipeg.
To their dismay, police refused to search the landfill, believing they had enough evidence to convict Skibicki without the remains of his victims.
Utah lawmakers said gender-affirming care is harmful to kids. Their own study contradicts that claim. Hexbear post
SALT LAKE CITY — When Utah Republicans passed a ban on gender-affirming health care for children and teens in 2023, they argued it was needed to protect vulnerable kids from treatments that could cause long-term harm.
Years later, the results of a study commissioned under the same law contradict that claim, and the Republican-led Legislature is facing pressure to reconsider the restrictions.
for the Polish presidential elections with 99% of the votes counted, the right winger (who visited Trump recently to do a photo op) has 51.08% and the lib (who seems to be losing for the second time in a row) has 48.92%, the right winger is like a more aggressive version of the current right wing president Duda
apparently someone set some zionists in colorado on fire. thats really terrible it’s awful that they experienced what israel has been doing to Palestinian children for the past several decades. really really sad. i’m actually upset, i actually feel really upset now.
I’m watching a video of the ICE raid in San Diego and there’s a man interviewed who “asked to be identified as John Brown”
It was around the same time
had an event not too far away. And they don’t have many events in this (notably conservative) area. I’m not saying it’s related, but worth noting.Shitty embedded vid but here’s the link
There was a bombing in Boulder, Colorado against a march of pro israel “release the hostages”.
Fox News is very heavy up front lifting “terror attack”. Almost like “this us how you need to frame it”. Comments are a cesspool as usual.
Odds of this being a false flag?
https://abcnews.go.com/US/victims-attack-peal-street-mall-boulder-colorado-police/story?id=122401509
“Terror” attack against zionists getting FBI attention. Buckle up friends.
