Bulletins and News Discussion from September 9th to September 15th, 2024 - Viva Sandino! - COTW: Nicaragua
Bulletins and News Discussion from September 9th to September 15th, 2024 - Viva Sandino! - COTW: Nicaragua
Image is sourced from this article.
It takes very little effort to find an article from Western state propaganda decrying Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas as authoritarian and rife with human rights abuses. This is the natural reaction the US has to any successful liberation movement. This fairly long report from Jason Cohen, a socialist who travelled to Nicaragua one week ago, should quell any suspicions.
He describes a country with high political consciousness among the masses, who are working to construct critical infrastructure for the country and their communities. There is a virtual education system that is free across the entire nation, which serves the dual goal of democratizing education and ensuring that those in rural areas or without much free time for university can still achieve degrees and a quality education; and these classes cover technical skills in the production of infrastructure and agriculture, but also political and ideological education in order to counter the fascist propaganda produced by imperialist nations abroad.
While Nicaragua is deeply invested in its nationality and national figures who led to their socialist revolution, such as Sandino, they are also immensely proud of their indigneous history, recognizing it as also part of their anti-colonial history which continues to the present day. Additionally, they honour the struggles of other nations on the continent, such as the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, as well as Castro in Cuba and Allende in Chile. Countries around the world are also celebrated and admired, such as Burkina Faso; during the Reagan administration, Nicaragua and Burkina Faso were comrades in arms, and now Traore is continuing the legacy of Sankara's anti-imperialism in the present. Perhaps most relevant today is their dedication towards Palestine, involving the creation of the Parque Palestina (shown in the post image), in which the Palestinian flag flies alongside the flag of Nicaragua. In July, Leila Khaled of the PFLP gave a speech in Nicaragua, in which the solidarity of the two nations was highlighted.
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 Nicaragua! 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.
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In two studies, experts reveal enormous deficits in the Bundeswehr's procurement and armaments system. There is a lack of money and speed, some scientists even speak of “state failure”.
“This offers no incentives for the arms industry because it is unclear how much money Germany wants to and can spend on defense after the 100 billion special fund expires,” said lead author and economist Guntram B. Wolff in a telephone conversation with the SZ. This is because defense companies that are thinking about building an additional factory have an investment horizon of ten years.
Give us more money!
Best part:
“At the current rate of procurement, it would take Germany up to almost 100 years to reach the military inventory of 20 years ago.” [...]
According to the scientists, Russia, on the other hand, would be able to provide the same quantities in a much shorter time. Moscow would need around half a year to produce the Bundeswehr's entire stock.
full article in German because archive.is no longer gets around SZ paywall
Brisante Studien zur Bundeswehr: Von wegen Zeitenwende
- September 2024, 18:01 Uhr
In zwei Studien zeigen Experten enorme Defizite im Beschaffungs- und Rüstungswesen der Bundeswehr auf. Es mangele an Geld und Tempo, manche Wissenschaftler sprechen gar von „Staatsversagen“.
Von Sina-Maria Schweikle, Berlin
Am Dienstag beginnen die Haushaltsberatungen im Deutschen Bundestag. Dabei spielt der Verteidigungsetat eine zentrale Rolle. Seit dem 24. Februar 2022, dem Beginn des russischen Angriffs auf die Ukraine, herrscht Krieg in Europa. Drei Tage später postulierte Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz in seiner Regierungserklärung, die Aggression markiere eine „Zeitenwende in der Geschichte unseres Kontinents“. Es werde getan, was notwendig sei, um den Frieden in Europa zu sichern. Deutschland müsse deutlich mehr in die Sicherheit des Landes investieren, um Freiheit und Demokratie zu schützen. „Das Ziel ist eine leistungsfähige, hochmoderne, fortschrittliche Bundeswehr, die uns zuverlässig schützt“, sagte Scholz damals.
Zweieinhalb Jahre später scheint dieses Ziel in weite Ferne gerückt zu sein. Nach einer Bestandsaufnahme bilanzieren Verteidigungs- und Sicherheitsexperten in einer am Montag veröffentlichten Studie der SPD-nahen Denkfabrik Dezernat Zukunft: „Staatsversagen“. Daran dürften auch die geplanten 53 Milliarden Euro im Verteidigungsetat nichts ändern.
Die Ampelspitzen hatten sich im Juli darauf geeinigt, dass die Bundeswehr im kommenden Jahr deutlich weniger zusätzliches Geld bekommt als von Verteidigungsminister Boris Pistorius (SPD) gefordert. Ab 2025 soll der Wehretat von derzeit 52 Milliarden Euro nur leicht um rund 1,2 Milliarden Euro steigen. Ab 2028, wenn das 100-Milliarden-Sondervermögen aufgebraucht ist, soll der reguläre Wehretat dann aber 80 Milliarden Euro betragen, um die Nato-Vorgaben zu erfüllen. „Mit dem Verteidigungsetat wird auch eine Lücke beschlossen.“
Sicherheitsexperten wie Christan Mölling von der Bertelsmann-Stiftung sehen diese Zahlen skeptisch. Er hat mit sieben weiteren Kolleginnen und Kollegen das Kapitel „Verteidigung“ in der Studie des Dezernats Zukunft verfasst und sagt im Gespräch mit der Süddeutschen Zeitung: „Mit dem Verteidigungsetat wird auch eine Lücke beschlossen: Wir wissen heute schon, dass für 2025 mehr als 53 Milliarden nötig wären. Bis 2030 fehlen rund 103 Milliarden Euro“, so Mölling.
Für ihre Studie haben die Expertinnen und Experten mit Politikern und Fachleuten gesprochen sowie öffentlich zugängliche Daten ausgewertet. Der deutsche Staat habe den Verfassungsauftrag, Streitkräfte zur Verteidigung zu befähigen, in den vergangenen Jahren nicht erfüllt, erfülle ihn heute nicht und könne ihn auch auf absehbare Zeit nicht erfüllen, heißt es in dem Bericht.
Für die militärische Verteidigungsfähigkeit müssten demnach in Deutschland kurz-, aber auch mittelfristig zusätzliche Finanzmittel aufgebracht werden. Ob die geplanten 80 Milliarden Euro ab 2028 für eine entsprechende Kehrtwende nicht ausreichen? Christian Mölling hat eher grundsätzliche Zweifel: „Ob es wirklich einen sprunghaften Anstieg um 30 Milliarden Euro im Jahr 2028 geben wird, steht in den Sternen.“ Den Rüstungsunternehmen fehlt das Vertrauen in die Haushaltsplanung
Eine Frage, die sich auch seine Kollegen vom Kieler Institut für Weltwirtschaft stellen. Dort haben Experten eine Studie mit dem Titel „Kriegstüchtig in Jahrzehnten: Europas und Deutschlands langsame Aufrüstung gegenüber Russland“ veröffentlicht. Wie Mölling und seine Kollegen haben auch die Kieler Wissenschaftler auf öffentlich zugängliche Daten zurückgegriffen. Und auch sie kritisieren die deutsche Haushaltsplanung. „Diese bietet keine Anreize für die Rüstungsindustrie, weil unklar ist, wie viel Geld Deutschland nach dem Auslaufen des 100-Milliarden-Sondervermögens für Verteidigung ausgeben will und kann“, sagte der Hauptautor und Ökonom Guntram B. Wolff in einem Telefonat mit der SZ. Denn Rüstungsunternehmen, die über den Bau einer zusätzlichen Fabrik nachdenken, hätten einen Investitionshorizont von zehn Jahren.
Mit Sorge blicken er und seine Kollegen auf das Beschaffungswesen der Bundeswehr: „Um den militärischen Bestand von vor 20 Jahren zu erreichen, bräuchte Deutschland beim derzeitigen Beschaffungstempo bis zu knapp 100 Jahre.“ Die Bestände des Jahres 2004 könnten beispielsweise beim derzeitigen Beschaffungstempo bei Kampfflugzeugen in rund 15 Jahren, bei Kampfpanzern in rund 40 Jahren und bei Artillerie-Haubitzen erst in fast 100 Jahren wieder erreicht werden.
Russland hingegen, so die Wissenschaftler, wäre in der Lage, die gleichen Mengen in sehr viel kürzerer Zeit bereitzustellen. Um den Gesamtbestand der Bundeswehr zu produzieren, bräuchte Moskau etwa ein halbes Jahr. Seit dem Angriff auf die Ukraine habe Putin seine Produktionskapazitäten bei Panzern verdreifacht und bei der weitreichenden Flugabwehr verdoppelt. Deutschland hingegen habe erst ein Jahr nach Beginn des russischen Angriffskrieges begonnen, seine Verteidigungsausgaben zu erhöhen, kritisieren die Autoren. Ein „Weiter so“ wäre angesichts der russischen Aggression fahrlässig und unverantwortlich.
Watching nato farcically eat shit like this is very edifying after all the times i've had natobrained people tell me it was an invincible juggernaut. They're gutting themselves fighting a proxy war.
It’s really barely a proxy war at this point, every single time Russia hits a military target with missiles the casualties include tons of mercenaries and trainers from NATO countries. The US command is coordinating the battles, they are providing intel and satellite and targeting information, and all of the funds and weaponry. It’s just a straight up war now and nobody wants to admit it
I'm kind of happy they don't admit it yet. If they did the consequences could be cataclysmic.
It really is.
Every thread right now on reddit is lamenting that Germany (and the US and everybody else) is deliberately making Ukraine lose by not sending more stuff, because they still cannot fathom that maybe they're actually out of stuff to send. They'd rather believe that the West in conspiring with Russia to make Ukraine lose, than face the reality that NATO cannot produce shit. Articles like this one are few and far between, so I understand why they'd come to that conclusion. If you think NATO is super OP, then the only explanation is that they don't want to do anything, rather than that they can't.
I've tried to hammer this in to people about their psychopathic need to start world war III with China. Literally yelling at them "CHINA HAS THE STUFF".
With the power of their Political Science degree they smugly informed me that it doesn't matter that China has literally all of the raw materials, manufacturing capacity, or expertise. they didn't give a reason or anything, they just smirked and kept saying it.
reminds me of this liberal trying to "give a Reason" that Ukraine is sure to prevail
check out the pure idealism:
Wars end long before armistices are signed. A war's end, after all, is a matter of will, of spirit—and popular will is only haltingly, grudgingly reflected in the political machinery of peace talks.