Image is sourced from this Economist article.
Most of the information in this preamble is from the Cradle; notably here, here, here, and here.
The features of an effective American war (proxy or otherwise) is that it is a) against opponents with much less military power than you; b) with very low American losses; c) with victories you can visibly show off from time to time to justify involvement, and d) with a profit margin beyond merely giving money to military corporations. The war against Yemen was none of those; airplanes tumbled off aircraft carriers, and the navy complained of the hardest fighting conditions in decades. Conquering Yemen for its resources was inconceivable given the terrain, lack of good intelligence, and the strength of Ansarallah, and all that seemed to be visibly harmed were empty patches of desert and civilians.
Apparently, the ceasefire last month merely stipulated that they stop attacking merchant vessels in the Red Sea; it said nothing about attacking Israel. Therefore, Yemen is absolutely free to create a new blockade of Israel by just striking their airports and seaports, and all Israel can seem to do is try and bomb them in retaliation, a futile strategy which has failed to produce a military or political change in Yemen for the last decade when many other countries have tried it. And if America directly attacks them in response to attacks on Israel, the ceasefire is off, and expensive equipment will continue to be lost.
Across the strait from Yemen is an interesting array of countries. Egypt’s position in this war is well-known, and Somalia is under a kind of US occupation under the guise of fighting terrorism (Trump withdrew most troops, but they were then sent back under Biden). The other three are Sudan, Djibouti, and Eritrea. All three are increasingly being drawn into the anti-imperialist camp, as they cooperate with Iran, Russia, and/or China. Sudan is undergoing a civil war, but the rebels fighting the government are famously backed by the UAE. Djibouti has refused to allow themselves to be a launchpad for US strikes on Yemen.
Eritrea has a fascinating history of flip-flopping between West and East over the past few decades, but has, since 2020, sided with the East. It was one of the five countries to oppose the 2022 UN resolution condemning Russia’s war with Ukraine. Eritrea sends two thirds of its exports to China, and Iran has reportedly supplied them with military equipment. If a stronger link could be reforged, then Iran would have significantly less trouble sending military technology to Ansarallah, and to other friendly groups throughout the region.
Naturally, the lidless eye of the imperial core is shifting its gaze onto Eritrea. Meanwhile, Ethiopia - a country that has experienced frequent conflict with Eritrea - is part of BRICS+ and their economy is increasingly reliant on China (as is most countries’ economies nowadays). If a permanent resolution between the two could be created, it would be a victory for themselves and the Resistance, and a defeat for America, which thrives on conflict and destabilization.
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.
Three security incidents in Gaza this morning, including one in which at least 6 IOF were killed. The most recent is described by Hebrew sources as “extremely serious”.
Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?
Would he himself do it and if so would it actually break the 2 party system this time like Reform (but less successful)? Obviously you can’t expect Mr “big things coming” to follow through on anything though.
Competitive 3 way races where democrats get 3rd place are probably easier for a socialist party to surpass them though.
The funny part is the amount of power they gave doge with all the databases they access makes them a national security risk
Tesla stock down. 284.70 USD −47.35 (14.26%)today. Just
at this company’s over valued stock
USA Today: Luigi Mangione’s diary entries unveiled in court documents
A new court filing details Luigi Mangione’s diary entries in the months leading up to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shedding light on how the murder suspect allegedly targeted the executive after initially planning a larger bombing attack.
The cops say Luigi’s spiral notebook has detailed diary entries about his motive and planning.
“I finally feel confident about what I will do. The details are coming together. And I don’t feel any doubt about whether it’s right/justified,” Mangione wrote in an entry dated Aug. 15, 2024, according to court records. “I’m glad-in a way-that I’ve procrastinated bc [sic] it allowed me to learn more about (UnitedHealthcare),” which he later describes as a company “that literally extracts human life force for money.”
Why would you write this down?? Just like the way he was found at McDonald’s, it’s almost unbelievable that the shooter would do these things after how well executed the attack was. But people have been known to make massive errors, or be very skilled in one aspect and ignorant in others.
In October 2023, about six weeks before Thompson was killed, Mangione wrote that “the investor conference is a true windfall” because “It embodies everything wrong with our health system,” court records say.
He hasn’t been proven guilty, but they phrase it as a fact that it’s his notebook. News will typically say something like ‘the writings say’ or ‘he allegedly wrote’ etc, no such privilege for Luigi.
Mangione continued, describing his train of thought in targeting a CEO who was set to attend an annual conference for investors. “So say you want to rebel against the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel. Do you bomb the HQ? No. Bombs=terrorism.”
Prosecutors argue that the writings and Mangione’s methodic planning of the attack justify the New York case and prosecutors’ charge of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism.
“All of these writings convey one clear message: that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change to the healthcare industry. Defendant’s targeting of UHC had nothing to do with anything that the company had done to him personally,” wrote Joel Seidemann, assistant district attorney for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The article ends with this:
Citing the evidence against, Mangione, Seidemann wrote, “If ever there were an open and shut case pointing to defendant’s guilt, this case is that case. Simply put, one would be hard pressed to find a case with such overwhelming evidence of guilt as to the identity of the murderer and premeditated nature of the assassination.”
Why did this paragraph need to be included? His lawyers have already complained about the public statements released by the prosecution potentially biasing the jury. It almost feels as if that’s the purpose of this article.
Ok news mega, how long do we give the Dems before they’re giving
a standing ovation like he’s Yaroslav Hunka?
The Yemenis are the moral compass of this wretched dunya
Ukraine is currently under a large scale Russian air attack, with 11 Russian strategic bombers currently airborne, 6 Tu-95MS and 5 Tu-160. Russian warships are also in the Black Sea, ready to launch cruise missiles. Ukraine is also launching attacks on Russia, there was a large explosion at Bryansk airport in Russia. Iskander-M ballistic missiles are currently hitting Kyiv and Chernihiv City. It looks like the Russian attack that was originally planned for June 1st is now going ahead. Maybe also some retaliation after Operation Spiderweb, the Ukrainian attack on Russian Strategic bombers.
As usual, AMK mapping provides English translation of Russian and Ukrainian sources
Today, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that the recent Kiev regime drone attacks did not destroy any planes. Damaged aircraft will be restored: https://www.rt.com/russia/618702-ukraine-failed-to-destroy-planes/
In other news, Russian forces recently captured two more US-built M1 “Abrams” tanks on the Kursk/Sumy front: https://www.rt.com/russia/618676-russia-seizes-two-ukrainian-abrams/
Elon Musk says SpaceX will decommission Dragon spacecraft after Trump threat
There goes the US manned space program, I guess? What else is there, besides Boeing’s crap bucket that ended up stranding astronauts on the ISS for 9 months?
Edit: Apparently we’re still using Soyuz, lmao. Decades-old communist technology is still doing laps around privatized space flight.
NBC is doing some
consent manufacturingAfraid he’s cooked. Prosecution got a gift
Bannon is calling for an investigation into Elon’s drug habits and immigration status
The night of the long knives but much much more stupid
Musk calls for Trump’s impeachment
Oh no, besties are fighting!Elon Musk unleashed a fresh round of tweets Thursday evening, calling for President Trump to be impeached and declaring that SpaceX would begin decommissioning a spacecraft essential to NASA's operation.
Why it matters: Trump’s threat to cancel billions of dollars of government contracts with Musk’s companies has ignited a new round of escalation in the explosive civil war between the two former allies.
Driving the news: “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” Musk wrote on X.
The Dragon spacecraft, both crewed and cargo versions, have been relied upon for years to keep the International Space Station supplied and operating. Shutting them down would leave the ISS reliant on Russia.The intrigue: Ian Miles Cheong, a prominent Musk supporter and right-wing activist on X, tweeted: “President vs Elon. Who wins? My money’s on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.”
Musk responded to Cheong: "Yes." When another follower suggested they could finally be honest about the stupidity of Trump's tariffs, Musk posted: "The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year."Musk, the world’s richest man, also spent much of the afternoon tweeting about Trump’s alleged ties to notorious sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
"Time to drop the really big bomb: Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" Musk posted.The big picture: The stunning collapse of the relationship was ostensibly triggered by Musk’s scathing criticism of Trump’s signature bill, which is projected to add trillions to the national debt.
Trump suggested that the Tesla CEO was upset about the rollback of electric vehicle credits, and that he — like other disgruntled former officials — was suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome." That's when Musk set the feud on fire — unleashing dozens of tweets highlighting the GOP's hypocrisy on deficits, claiming Trump would have lost in 2024 without him, and floating a new political party.What to watch: The MAGA coalition is now under massive pressure to pick sides, splintering after six months of a mostly harmonious relationship between the president and the world’s richest man.
Steve Bannon, a prominent MAGA voice who has long despised Musk, called for the South African-born billionaire to be deported in an interview with the New York Times.
