Image is from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ recent article on Kashmir.
It looks like the spat between India and Pakistan could be dying down, due to a new ceasefire. As of the time of me writing this paragraph, it seems both sides want to maintain it (despite some reports of violations here and there).
Both sides have declared victory, which is completely expected given their mutual political parties and nationalist histories. It’s a little harder to say which side has actually won, as both sides seem to have managed to shoot down aircraft and hit military bases. India has, in my opinion, had the more embarrassing moments, but international conflicts aren’t cringe compilations. I feel no good-will towards Pakistan’s comprador government, but it is at least nice to see Modi knocked down a few pegs. Regardless of the final technical victor, it’s obvious that - if the ceasefire is maintained - who won are the hundreds of millions of people who won’t have to live in fear of dying in nuclear hellfire.
This conflict is a good example of what multipolarity will truly entail. Countries that have been previously limited in their nationalist ambitions by American pressure will now take opportunities to revolt, sometimes against America itself, and sometimes against other countries in their regional neighbourhood. It’s also why, as communists, our goals do not stop at multipolarity; it is merely the establishing act of a new era of agitation against peripheral and semi-peripheral capitalist countries that are forming powerful national bourgeoisie classes as the international American capitalists are forced away.
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.
Last
Hezbollah declares sweep in Baalbek municipal elections as alliance with Amal holds firm
Hezbollah secured a decisive victory in the third round of Lebanon’s municipal and mukhtar elections, with its “Development and Loyalty” lists winning all seats in Baalbek and across the Bekaa region.
The results were announced by Hussein Al-Nemr, Hezbollah’s official in the Bekaa region, who hailed the outcome as a reflection of strong grassroots support for the party’s local governance strategy.
Commenting on the results, MP Hussein Al-Hajj Hassan reaffirmed the strength of the alliance between Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, noting the consistency of their joint electoral performance.
Al-Hajj Hassan dismissed the intentions of the rival list in Baalbek, stating that its goal was not development but rather political change.
“The response came clearly through the ballot boxes,” he said, underscoring the electorate’s rejection of efforts to shift the city’s political direction.
Oh no.
Africa Muslims Agency had an advertisement to donate for Qurbani as Eid-al-Adha is about 3 weeks away and the programme didn’t mention Palestine this time around, at least not directly. There is of course, many obstacles to get food into a city-state under the iron heel of the West, where the average person has less food in a month than a typical South African has in a day.
So a major South African humanitarian aid group is now totally shut off too.
Death to piSSrael, may the Nazi colony never know peace
CNN: Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive form’ of prostate cancer
Zionism gives you prostate cancer.
metastasis to the bone
He’s cooked
Oh man exit polls in portugal showing the incumbent center-right winning, which isn’t shocking, what is surprising is some of them show the center-left and far-right being neck in neck. Right-wing liberals in third place, then in fourth place the europhile pro-war greens, having succeeded in their mission of emptying out the far-left of its less radical voters by taking their program for itself while also presenting itself as safe and european.
Communists could rise a little bit, though it’s not looking likely that we’ll regain our strongholds in the interior where anti-immigration sentiment has turned the region to the far-right and tactical “anti-fascist” voting leads people to vote for the center-left.
And the Left Block, which just a few years ago was the 3rd most voted party, could end up being the least voted on the left. It’s ironic, the europhile green party has done to the Left Block and it itself did to the communist party back in the early 2000s, it came in with a bunch of positive media coverage, an image of being fresh and unimpeded by historical debates (it’s anti-ussr) and supported a similar program but less radical and so voters who used to vote for a party to their left (the communist party) shifted right to support the new one, now it happened to them and, again ironically, they could end up getting even less votes than the communists.
I’ll be happy if the communist party increases its vote share since that defeats the ever present media narrative that they’re about to just poof disappear, especially in the context of having taken a strong anti-war position regarding ukraine, which made it pretty hard to publicly be a communist the past few years tbh, and it gives us a better base to keep growing.
Though, all in all, pretty bad results for the left in general and only the pro-war greens will be heartily celebrating.
These are just exit polls but if the results are confirmed then the governmental situation will stay as it was before the elections, there is no right wing majority without the far-right, and the center right still can’t collaborate openly with the far right, so they’ll have to depend on the center-left (who are currently being lead by a guy from the left-wing of the party) to pass laws, all the while the questions regarding the PM’s personal business dealings are still in the air, though from the results it seems like people don’t really care, and really the fact that people don’t care that the PM might be corrupt will probably be the greatest factor of stability for this government to last.
Also, of note: Higher turnout than last time, fair to say that maybe in portugal high turnout favours the far right since a lot of people who don’t vote get activated by anti-immigration shit.
article
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said on Sunday Russia planned to conduct a “training and combat” launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile to intimidate Ukraine and the West. The overnight launch was ordered to be implemented from Russia’s Sverdlovsk region, the GUR agency said in a statement on the Telegram app. It added the flight range for the missile was more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles).
"In order to demonstratively pressure and intimidate Ukraine, and also EU and NATO member states, the aggressor state of Russia intends to make a ‘training and combat’ launch of the RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yars complex," GUR said in the statement.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the Ukrainian military intelligence statement.
Russia does not answer questions about its plans to test launch nuclear missiles, the details of which it classifies as a military secret, although it issues statements after such launches.
More than three years into the war against Russia, Ukraine is under enormous pressure as Russia seeks frontline gains in the Ukrainian east, and diplomatic efforts to end the war have so far yielded no results.
Unsure if this will happen, but most “missile experts” expect similar with Russia’s current line of strategic thought.
If current direction of Russian strategic thinking holds, Russia will not take this [European demand of unconditional 30 day ceasefire] and attempt to coerce NATO with kinetic displays.
The Result of special military operation must be long-term peace - Prensa Latina
Article
Moscow, May 18 (Prensa Latina) Russia considers that the necessary result of the special operation is long-term peace, guarantee of its security and protection of the interests of Russian speakers in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said today.
The head of state, who spoke to VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin, assured that Moscow has sufficient strength to complete the special military operation with the desired result. “That result is the elimination of the causes that provoked this crisis, the creation of conditions for long-term sustainable peace and ensuring the security of the Russian state,” he said.
Putin also stressed that it is necessary to ensure the interests of the Russian people in those territories. “Where people live who consider Russian their mother tongue and consider Russia their homeland,” he explained. Putin. Russia has been conducting a special military operation in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, Putin said, to protect the population from “genocide by the Kiev government” and to tackle the national security risks posed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s advance eastward.
Senior Ansarallah leader Nasr al-Din Amer:
In the coming hours, the Yemeni Armed Forces, relying on God, will carry out military operations targeting “Ben Gurion” Airport in Lod and other “israeli” airports. This is due to the recent “israeli” escalation against the Gaza Strip and the aggression against Yemen, and in continuation of the Yemeni leadership’s decision to impose a ban on this airport and other airports, in addition to the naval blockade and closure of the Umm al-Rashrash port until the aggression stops and the siege on Gaza is lifted.
Disclaimer: Airlines remaining at the airport must depart immediately, and all those present there, especially foreigners, must leave for their own safety.
(RNN)
Chat, what is your take on this guy? Does anyone know about the DEFUSE DARPA program and the bat pathology stuff that he is talking about in this?
Jeffrey Sachs: COVID was 99% Likely From the US
Israeli military announces beginning of widescale ground offensive in Gaza
The operation involves forces from the military’s Southern Command, operating on the ground in both northern and southern Gaza, according to a statement.
The ground forces are supported by Israel’s air force.
As we’ve been reporting, Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed at least 135 people today.
https://aje.io/klape0?update=3718420
This is allegedly the beginning of “Gideon’s Chariot”.
Latest propaganda attack on China seems to be that they have “kill switches” in all solar panels
spoiler
US finds ‘kill switches’ on solar panels sold by China - sparking fears of energy grid attack
Engineers on American solar farms have discovered secret switches installed in Chinese-manufactured parts which could wreak havoc on Western power grids.
One source familiar with the matter told an outlet they are “built-in way to physically destroy the grid.”
The US government has not publicly acknowledged the discoveries, and the existence of the rogue devices had not previously been reported.
Asked for comment by Reuters, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it continually assesses risk associated with emerging technologies and that there were significant challenges with manufacturers disclosing and documenting functionalities.
The source also told Reuters that more unexplained communication devices, including cellular radios, have been found in batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers over the past nine months.
Mike Rogers, a former director of the US National Security Agency, said: “We know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk of destruction or disruption.”
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington said: “We oppose the generalisation of the concept of national security, distorting and smearing China’s infrastructure achievements.”
Two former U.S. government officials have said that the U.S. and other countries are reassessing China’s role in strategic infrastructure due to escalating tensions between the U.S. and China.
Renewable energy systems across the Western world rely on Chinese-manufactured parts. It is not yet known if the “kill switches” are present in any power converters on UK solar farms.
Nonetheless, shadow energy minister Andrew Bowie yesterday asked Labour’s Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, to order an ‘immediate pause and review’ of its efforts to transition to green power.
Bowie told The Telegraph yesterday: “Ed Miliband’s Made in China transition – clean power at the expense of everything else – is a threat to our national security and makes a mockery of his claims on energy security.”
The discovery of the devices in American solar panels follows a pledge from British energy minister Michael Shanks earlier this week to put solar panels on “every possible rooftop right across the country.”
Government plans will also force house builders to fit solar panels on all new properties by 2027.
I feel embarrassed that this entire time I read Robert Hur as Ben-Hur
One Last Swing against the Invader.
I don’t understand why any of these countries shedding crocodile tears for Palestinians are even pretending to care. What would they even lose by fully and publicly committing themselves to Israel’s genocide?
Fucking hell all of Israel’s allies (like, 99% of the world) might as well drop all pretenses and self-annex themselves into Greater Israel.
Here’s an extremely black-pilled take:
spoiler
I’m gonna say this now. With all the continued support Israel’s been getting from nearly the whole fucking world, this isn’t just Palestinians vs. Israel, it’s Palestinians vs. (almost) the whole world. They all want Palestinians gone. Every country wants them gone just so they can shrug their shoulders and stop thinking about them, because they’re “inconvenient” for their relations with Israel. They want them gone so they can embrace Israel as the forever empire of the Middle East.
