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Bulletins and News Discussion from March 17th to March 23rd, 2025 - The Kafue River Dies - COTW: Zambia

Image is of the breach in the tailings dam near Kitwe.

On February 18th, 50 million liters of acidic waste from a copper mine was accidentally released into the Kafue River after a tailings dam collapsed. The Kafue River stretches for a thousand miles across Zambia and a majority of the country - millions of people - rely on it, for both the economy and drinking water.

The results have already been catastrophic. The water supply for the city of Kitwe, home to 700,000 people, was completely shut off. As the wave of contamination moved downstream, a wave of death accompanied it as dead fish dotted the river surface. The government is dropping lime into the river to try and counteract the acid with an alkali and neutralize the water, but the tailings also contain toxic heavy metals that will undoubtably seep into the nearby environment and affect the area for years to come.

A considerable portion of the media attention to the accident has been devoted to the fact that the mine was Chinese-owned, as well as China's broader influence and investment in the region. Western anti-China propaganda aside, it has been clear to those in the know that these mines have been badly managed and needlessly dangerous for years now, and it is disappointing - to say the least - to see disasters of this magnitude occur from Chinese businesses. Hopefully this prompts a wave of investigations into China-owned mine managers all around the continent, who will then hopefully face real consequences for their actions.

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476 comments

  • The first footage has been released, Xcancel mirror of the US Air Force, Navy or Marine Corps using APKWS laser guided rockets to shoot down Ansarallah (known as the Houthis in western media) drones and cruise missiles. I was talking a few days ago about how this was already happening, but now it's confirmed by video footage from CENTCOM themselves.

    What is APKWS? To put it simply, APKWS is a conversion kit that turns unguided Hydra-70 rockets (of which 5 million exist) into laser guided short range missiles. Similar to how a Paveway kit turns an unguided bomb into a laser guided bomb, or a JDAM kit turns an unguided bomb into a GPS guided bomb, APKWS turns unguided rockets into guided missiles. APKWS was first designed only to be used against ground targets, but the Ukrainians, when firing them from their VAMPIRE ground and sea based launch systems, proved that it can be used successfully against cruise missiles and drones, and as a result the US military is doing the same, and even planning modifications to APKWS to make it even more effective against air targets, such as adding infrared terminal guidance.

    Ukrainian VAMPIRE system taking out Russian cruise missiles and drones

    Xcancel mirror

    Why is this significant? For two reasons: cost and magazine size. APKWS is very cheap, the guidance section only costs $15 000, and the warheads and rocket motors, of which millions are currently in US stockpiles, only cost a few thousand dollars each, for a total cost of between $20 000 - $25 000 per missile/guided rocket. In comparison, an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile launched from US fighter aircraft costs upwards of $400 000 each, and the ship launched SM series of interceptors cost anywhere from $2 -$9 million, depending on the model. So this is a very significant cost saving for the US, the APKWS guided rockets might even be cheaper than the drones and cruise missiles they shoot down.

    The second is magazine size. While a fighter aircraft can only carry a handful of sidewinders and other air to air missiles at a time, it can carry dozens of APKWS rockets at a time, as these rockets can be fitted on seven shot rocket pods, which only take up one hardpoint each. This F/A-18 has 14 APKWS guided rockets on one wing (two 7 shot launchers), for a total of 28 guided rockets if the loadout is replicated symmetrically on the other wing. Note with the adaptor, that two seven shot rocket pods are only using a single hardpoint.

    These two factors make defending against drone swarms a possibility, both in terms of being cost effective, and in terms of the amount of guided rockets available at a single given time for intercept missions. This could be why drone and cruise missile attacks on US Navy ships are not as effective as before. While in Ukraine the use of APKWS guided rockets is limited to their ground and sea based launching systems, such as technicals and fastboats, the United States does not have such limitations and can fit these to aircraft, enabling defence over a much wider area. The APKWS guided rockets themselves have a very short range, only a few kilometres/miles, meaning that they can only defend a very limited area from ground/sea based launch platforms. So mounting them to a fighter aircraft vastly increases the area that can be defended by them, and detection capabilities for drones out of range of the APKWS (fighter aircraft have their own radar).

    Make no mistake, the US military is learning their lessons when it comes to the Ukraine war, the confrontations with Ansarallah in the Red Sea, and defending against Iranian ballistic missiles.

    • This is a pretty important development. The cost of interceptors is less important than their availability. Good catch.

      • It's quite a depressing development from a resistance perspective (which I guess almost all of us share) because it means now that the US Carrier Strike Group (CSG) only needs to remain out of range of Ansarallah's anti ship ballistic missiles(ASBMs), (max range 500km for Tankeel/Raad-500, maybe 700km if Iran gives them Zolfogar Basir), and that the CSG can just absorb the long range drone and cruise missile attacks, the few that get through the air patrols can be dealt with by the ships themselves. While remaining outside of the range of ASBMs is blunting the CSG's attacks and US airstrikes as the US fighter planes have to fly longer distances, airstrikes are still happening, and the CSG is not being driven to the extreme north of the Red Sea or anything like that anymore (aside from maybe day two of this lastest conflict).

        Editing to say that satellite imagery from the 19th March 2025 has confirmed this, the USS Harry Truman is operating off of the coast of Jeddah, around 700-800km from Yemen. So outside of ASBM range (Zolfogar Basir has a 700km range), but within the range of cruise missiles and drones. This explains why Ansarallah did not launch any ASBMs over the past two nights, the CSG was out of range.

        The solution is probably to give Ansarallah longer range ASBMs, but that's an idea with its own big issues. The short range ASBMs Ansarallah currently use don't have any midcourse guidance updates, they fire them at the general location the enemy ship is expected to be at, the Manoeuvrable Re-entry Vehicle (MaRV) of the missile does a pull up manoeuvre and performs a short glide phase, in which it's terminal guidance systems (EO/IR sensors or radar) locate the target and dive down to it. This all happenes in a handful of minutes, the Tankeel/Raad 500 has a burnout velocity of Mach 8 (2.7 kilometres per second), and an impact velocity of probably around Mach 1.5-2. A ship can't move that far in that time, which is why this approach works, from missile launch to glide phase, the ship can't move out of the effective range of the terminal guidance systems on the MaRV. Once you start trying to hit ships over longer ranges, the ships can move further, and you need midcourse guidance updates to ensure that the MaRV arrives in a close enough proximity to the target for the terminal guidance systems to work. Who is going to provide that midcourse guidance? Iran with their own ships, or Iran giving Ansarallah long range radars that datalink to the ASBMs? I think the US would consider that an act of war. I also don't think Ansarallah has this capability themselves. China's ASBMs use AWACS aircraft to provide midcourse guidance updates for instance. That's a capability not currently in the possession of Iran or Ansarallah.

        Another solution would be really fast (Mach 3+) cruise missiles or really stealthy subsonic cruise missiles. But I don't see Russia or China giving these weapons to Ansarallah.

    • The only recourse Ansarallah has that I can see given their current technological limitations would be to increase the quantity of missile deployments (any missiles or drones), screen attacks through decoy maneuvers to confuse and distract radar teams/aircraft and stagger attacks to disrupt sleep/rotation schedules on US naval ships.....keeping all this up continuously day after day

      And most importantly threaten critical infrastructure across the Peninsula to increase the scale of the zone of engagement, every time the beast turns its head or wanders over to a decoy it burns calories

      • And most importantly threaten critical infrastructure across the Peninsula to increase the scale of the zone of engagement

        Abdul-Malik al-Houthi gave a speech yesterday specifically calling out all the Arab regimes for collaborating with Israel, so I guess striking them is an escalation option they are considering, and it makes sense given their capabilities. A lot easier to hit a static oil field or refinery than a moving ship.

  • Lazy Bastards: Danish Cops Admits Closing Cases Without Investigating And Lying to The Public To Fudge Crime Statistics

    The Danish police are embroiled in yet another scandal, this time over the systematic "washing" of criminal cases—deliberately closing investigations without proper inquiry while lying to the public about it. Thirty current and former police officers have come forward, revealing that police leadership routinely pressures investigators to abandon cases under false pretenses. This practice, known as "washing cases," has resulted in violent crimes and large-scale financial fraud being ignored, all to make case backlogs disappear on paper.

  • Niger orders three Chinese oil officials out of country, sources say

    NIAMEY, March 14 (Reuters) - Niger's junta has ordered three Chinese officials working in the oil sector to leave the country, two sources familiar with the decision told Reuters on Friday, in the latest move by regional military governments to assert greater control over resources.

    The request for the departure of the Niger-based directors of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the West African Oil Pipeline Company (WAPCo) and the joint venture oil refinery SORAZ was communicated Wednesday, the sources said.

    The Chinese officials were given 48 hours to leave, and one source close to the government said on Friday they were out of the country.

    The other source, who is close to the affected companies, said the directors were asked to leave because of disputes over pay for local staff and the pace of work on projects.

    Separately, Niger's tourism ministry last week rescinded the license for a Chinese-operated hotel in Niamey, citing discriminatory practices.

    Spokespeople for the military junta, which took power in a coup in 2023, and the West African country's oil ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

    WAPCo and CNPC did not respond to requests for comment. SORAZ could not be reached for comment. Niger last year signed a memorandum of understanding with CNPC worth $400 million linked to the sale of crude oil from its Agadem oilfield.

    The Niger junta has torn up defence agreements with the United States and former colonial power France. Authorities also took control of French nuclear fuels company Orano's Somair uranium mine.

    Military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso have similarly used legal disputes to assert greater control over resources including gold.

    Niger is not playing around with its nationalization, it seems. After kicking the French out, they’re even kicking Chinese officials out wtf. At least try to re-negotiate or something.

  • https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/the-iran-war-plan

    Ken on the escalation towards open war with Iran and differences between Biden and trump. I'm not sure I believe that the recent US strikes against ansarallah were as successful as stated here (hitting leadership)

    • Following his successful assassination of Iran’s top general Qassim Suleimani in 2020, Donald Trump seems to have taken the lesson that aggressive action is relatively cost-free.

      I would hope the past year would wake Iran up to the fact that their "restraint" is only seen as weakness by the empire. I have held my tongue on this here for a while, but I am increasingly of the opinion Khamenei is not the man for this moment.

      • The problem is Iran is not in a strong enough position as they'd like to be, this was revealed by IRGC General Behrouz Esbati's speech a few months ago. I commented on it here.

        The general gist of the part of his speech focused on Iran itself (most of the speech was about Syria), was

        • Washington is capable of striking our positions and those of the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq.
        • Our conventional missiles have little impact on American military bases.
        • If we attack their military bases, the U.S. will retaliate by targeting dozens of our sites.
        • The Islamic Republic has avenged the killing of Hassan Nasrallah.
        • Escalating the war in the region does not benefit the Axis of Resistance

        I think Iran will ultimately seek peace and the survival of their state by in effect giving up the Axis of Resistance (what currently remains of it on the battlefield, Ansarallah and limited Hamas operations?), and setting up for a new nuclear deal. While this is an extremely vulnerable position that many argue plays right into US hands, I can't see any other way. Maybe the fate of Iran is linked to a peace deal in Ukraine? Both the United States and Russia talked about limiting nuclear proliferation in the ME region (on a phone call that was mainly about Ukraine) according to both the White House and Kremlin, that can only mean one thing.

        White House statement:

        The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts. They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application. The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.

        Kremlin statement:

        Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump also touched upon other issues on the international agenda, including the situation in the ME and the Red Sea region. Joint efforts will be made to stabilize the situation in crisis areas, establish cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation and global security. This, in turn, will contribute to improving the overall atmosphere of Russian-American relations. One positive example is the joint vote in the UN on the resolution regarding the Ukrainian conflict. Mutual interest in normalizing bilateral relations was expressed in light of the special responsibility of Russia and the United States for ensuring security and stability in the world. In this context, a wide range of areas in which our countries could establish cooperation was considered. A number of ideas were discussed that go towards developing mutually beneficial cooperation in the economy and energy sector in the long term.

    • Trump had just conducted a strike on Houthi leadership as well as command and control elements — an unprecedented escalation from previous operations and a clear indication that we’re at war with Iran, as I wrote yesterday.

      What this is missing is that it wasn't just a strike exclusively on leadership and C2 elements. To assassinate these leaders, both in Gaza and Yemen, Israeli and US warplanes dropped bombs on the homes of these leaders in the dead of night, likely with their families inside. There is a clear parallel between this policy and Trump's 'you have to take out their families' 2015 comments

      If the news media are seeing all of what’s going on as some repeat of Biden tit-for-tat or limited attacks by Israel on Iran's early warning and air defenses, they are not understanding what’s going on behind the scenes.

      Two points. Yes the Trump administration's attacks on Yemen are quite different from the Biden administration in some ways. You can see this in the munitions used and the frequency and intensity of the attacks, as well as US military movements suggesting a wider air campaign could be on the horizon. However, it was under the Biden administration that the US sent a direct warning shot to Iran, bombing Yemen using the B-2A Spirit stealth bomber, equipped with the GBU-57 MOP 30,000-pound (14,000 kg) bunker buster bomb, capable of penetrating over 60m of reinforced concrete.

      Secondly, stating that the Israeli strikes on Iran were 'limited', is missing the point of the operation. Targeting early warning radars (Ghadir) and Iran's most advanced high level air defence systems (S-300 PMU-2 fire control radars) using Air Launched Ballistic Missiles (ALBMs) opens up the possibility for further air campaigns against Iran. When this is combined with the fall of Syria and the Israeli aerial campaign targeting most of Syria's air defence systems, the highway to Iran is open, so to speak. Iran is trying to patch the ALBM hole in their air defence (Iranian air defence capabilitiy against the ballistic vector was not great to begin with, which is why Israel used ALBMs in their attacks, Iranian air defence was set up to counter cruise missiles and aircraft), unveiling new air defence systems specifically designed to target ballistic missiles (Bavar 373-2 in particular, an Iranian equivalent of the Soviet/Russian S-300V system). But it remains to be seen if this will be effective.

      Tomorrow, for example, I’ll be reporting on the U.S.’s nuclear option for Iran.

      The USA has been flying nuclear capable B-52 bombers all around the world as part of Trump's "peace through strength" initiative. One such flight was off of the coast of Israel and Gaza, with seperate Israeli and UK escorts. These bombers were based out of RAF Fairford in the UK for this mission, but now all of them have returned to the USA. I think that if an attack on Iran's 'open air' (not in bunkers or mountains) nuclear facilities takes place, it might be on the electromagnetic spectrum, with the CHAMP missile. I think the use of nuclear weapons would be a step too far, even for the US.

      • I think the use of nuclear weapons would be a step too far, even for the US.

        I like to think so, but who would stop them? Is anyone ready to wage Mao's 10,000 year struggle?

  • I hate this fucking shithole irredeemable fascist world. What is worth saving? What is worth salvaging? Nowadays I actually start thinking about how nice it would be to not be alive, to not be forced to perceive any of this shit.

    How am I expected to believe that the world itself isn't ideologically biased towards the fash?

  • Donald Trump has tightened border controls to stop the trafficking of fentanyl, but immigration agents have seized more eggs than drugs! Since October, there have been 3,768 seizures of poultry products against 352 of opioids. In Texas, seizures of contraband are up 54%, and in San Diego, they've doubled. In some regions, a dozen eggs can cost as much as US$10, forcing consumers to seek out the illegal market. Bodegas in NY sell single eggs in plastic bags, and restaurants have added extra fees to their dishes.

    There have even been large-scale thefts, such as the theft of 100,000 eggs in Pennsylvania. The authorities have stepped up enforcement and now ask drivers directly if they are carrying eggs. Anyone caught can pay a fine of up to 300 dollars. The eggs are then incinerated.

    • Telegram

  • Middle East Eye: UAE lobbying Trump administration to reject Arab League Gaza plan, officials say

    The UAE is lobbying the Trump administration to torpedo a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip that Egypt drafted and which has been endorsed by the Arab League, US and Egyptian officials told Middle East Eye.

    The split is becoming increasingly bitter, with US diplomats concerned that it is harming US interests in the region. It reflects growing Arab competition over who calls the shots in the Gaza Strip’s future governance and reconstruction, as well as different opinions over how much influence Hamas should retain there.

    The Emirati pressure poses a dilemma for Cairo because both the UAE and Egypt broadly back the same Palestinian powerbroker for Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, an exiled former Fatah official.

    “The UAE could not be the lone state opposing the Arab League plan when it was agreed, but they are trashing it with the Trump administration,” the US official told MEE.

    The UAE is flexing its unparalleled access to the White House to criticise the plan as unworkable and accuse Cairo of giving too much influence to Hamas.

    The UAE's powerful ambassador to the US, Yousef al-Otaiba, has been lobbying US President Donald Trump’s inner circle and US lawmakers to put pressure on Egypt to accept forcibly displaced Palestinians, one US official and one Egyptian briefed on the matter told MEE.

    Otaiba was previously on record saying that he did not see “an alternative” to Trump’s call earlier this year for Palestinians to be forcibly displaced outside of the Gaza Strip.

    I am once again pressing the "do a missile strike on a comprador refinery" button.

  • Nixon’s vice president asked Saudis for money to fight US ‘Zionists’. Spiro Agnew, in letter to crown prince, said ‘Zionists orchestrated organized attack on me’ as ‘I’d never agree to continuance of unfair and disastrous favoring of Israel’ The late US Vice President Spiro Agnew requested money in 1980 from Saudi Arabia to “continue to fight” against American Zionists.

    Agnew, who served for three years under Richard Nixon before resigning in 1973 in a corruption scandal from his time as the governor of Maryland in the 1960s, wrote to Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, then crown prince of Saudi Arabia, saying “I need desperately your financial support,” MSNBC reported Thursday.

    “You highness is already familiar with the unrelenting Zionist efforts to destroy me,” Agnew wrote, adding that Elliot Richardson, who was attorney general when Agnew was vice president, “attacked” him because Agnew “could not be trusted to act properly in the Middle East.”

    The reason, he also wrote, “was that the Zionists in the United States knew that I would never agree to the continuance of the unfair and disastrous favoring of Israel and they had to get me out of office there so that I would not succeed Nixon.” Since 1974, “The Zionists have orchestrated a well-organized attack on me” through lawsuits, Agnew said, “to bleed me of my resources to continue my effort to inform the American people of their control of the media and other influential sectors of American society.”

    Agnew, who died in 1996, resigned amid revelations that he had engaged in corruption while governor and did not contest his conviction. But in his letter to the prince, he said the Zionists “framed” him. He spoke out frequently about what he called the “Zionist influences in the US.”

    He stated that he would use the funds to "continue my effort to inform the American people of their (i.e., Zionists') control of the media and other influential sectors of American society." He also congratulated the crown prince on his call for jihad against Israel, whose declaration of Jerusalem as its capital he characterized as "the final provocation". A month later he thanked the crown prince for giving him "the resources to continue the battle against the Zionist community here in the U.S.". Agnew's anti-Zionist views seemed to have developed after leaving office—as vice president, he expressed admiration for Israel and was friendly with his Jewish staff members.

  • I'm quite bothered by burned teslas ngl. This is what crosses threshold for property destruction in america? not making bombs, or selling oxycodone, or closing factories, or shipping bombs for genocide, it's fucking doge closing usaid. I dunno how to interpret it, is it opportunity vs premediation? Batshit civic religion?

    It puts me roughly in the same bafflement as gore vidal meeting kissinger and just thinking of quips

  • The Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has recognised the State of Palestine and also welcomed the ambassador.

    Mexico also continues support South Africa's case in the ICJ against piSSrael even after the elections.

    Death to ameriKKKa, Death to isnotreal

  • Georgetown scholar detained over American wife’s Palestinian ties, lawyer says

    ::: spoiler Article ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A Georgetown University researcher who is married to a Palestinian American was detained by immigration agents who told him his visa had been revoked, prompting another high-profile legal fight over deportation proceedings against foreign-born visa holders authorized to live in the U.S.

    Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University and citizen of India, was arrested Monday night outside of his Virginia home by officers who identified themselves as Department of Homeland Security agents, according to a legal filing by Suri’s lawyer.

    Hassan Ahmad, Suri’s Virginia-based attorney, wrote in a court filing that Suri was targeted because of his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech.”

    Suri was later taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, according to a government website. His lawyers are seeking his immediate release and to halt deportation proceedings through their habeas motion filed Tuesday against the Trump administration.

    “The Trump Administration has openly expressed its intention to weaponize immigration law to punish noncitizens whose views are deemed critical of U.S. policy as it relates to Israel,” Suri’s attorney wrote.

    Suri’s detention more than 1,000 miles (about 1,600 kilometers) away from his family and attorney is “plainly intended as retaliation and punishment for Mr. Suri’s protected speech,” his attorney added.

    The deportation effort comes amid legal fights over cases involving a Columbia University international affairs graduate student and a doctor from Lebanon.

    Suri was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and determined to be deportable by the Secretary of State’s office, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. Suri’s case was first reported by Politico.

    The filing by Suri’s lawyer said that federal authorities have provided no evidence that he’s committed any crimes and that his detention violates his free speech and due process rights. Suri, who has no criminal record, holds a visa authorizing him to be in the U.S. as a visiting scholar, and his wife is a U.S. citizen, according to the motion.

    His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to an messages seeking further comment Thursday.

    Suri’s lawyers say he’s currently teaching a course at Georgetown and hopes to become a university professor. A Georgetown webpage identifies Suri as a postdoctoral fellow at Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the university. The university said his areas of interest include religion, violence and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia. The bio said that he earned a doctorate in India while studying efforts to introduce democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq, and he has traveled extensively in conflict zones in several countries.

    The university said in a statement Thursday that Suri is an Indian national who was “duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

    “We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the school said. “We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

    The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainee locator website lists Suri as being in the custody of immigration officials at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.

    Separately, Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record, was detained earlier this month over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and is fighting deportation efforts in federal court. And Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported over the weekend despite having a U.S. visa

    : :

  • Canada claims China executed four of its citizens this year for "drug related offenses".

    I am always highly sceptical of 'China bad" news. The identities of the victims have not been made public. Nor the specific charges or details of the alleged crimes.

    However on the other hand, China does have the death penalty, and does not fuck around when it comes to drugs.

    I haven't had time to look into this closer. Chat, what say you?

  • I'm usually yapping about Lebanese government formations and Iraqi shia cults here, but this time I want other nerds to yap here. What's going on in Zambia or Zimbabwe or Mozambique or Angola or Botswana or Malawi or any African nation that isn't under French financial strangulation like the ones in West Africa? How are their economies doing? Native corruption or European shenanigans? Are the Chinese cooking anything there? Are they producing anything interesting? Any cultural output that is interesting? How does an average day look in Maputo or Lusaka or Luanda or anywhere? I only hear about these nations whenever their football team is playing in the AFCON, but I literally haven't read anything interesting about these countries in a long time.

  • Where did that take you? Back to me :IMPERIALIST-MONETARY-FUND:

    Argentina’s Lower House grants blind approval to Milei IMF deal

    The government has not given any information about the amount or conditions of the new loan

    Argentina’s Lower House has approved President Javier Milei’s executive order allowing the administration to seal a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the 23rd the country has made to date. The decree was approved with 129 votes in favor, 108 against, and six abstentions, after a heated debate Wednesday afternoon.

    The decree Milei sent last week does not contain any details of the new deal, meaning deputies voted without knowing how much money the lender will disburse or whether the nation will be required to change its monetary policy as a condition of the loan. Opposition deputy Aldo Leiva stopped during the vote to ask Lower House President Martín Menem how much the deal would be for.

    “The time is up,” Menem replied.

    Deputies from the ruling La Libertad Avanza coalition and the PRO, Unión Cívica Radical, Coalición Cívica, and Innovación Federal parties voted in favor of the decree, while the Peronist Unión por la Patria opposition and smaller left-wing parties opposed it. The Encuentro Federal bloc was divided.

    After the vote, several Peronist deputies remained in their seats, blasting Menem over the lack of transparency regarding the deal’s contents.

    Finance Secretary Pablo Quirno said on Tuesday that the deal would be a 10-year Extended Fund Facility with an interest rate of 5.63%. The IMF defines an Extended Fund Facility as providing “financial assistance to countries facing serious medium-term balance of payments problems because of structural weaknesses that require time to address.”

    It adds: “To help countries implement medium-term structural reforms, the EFF offers longer program engagement and a longer repayment period.”

    Quirno said the loan would be used to pay Treasury’s debt to the Central Bank.

    All other details, including the loan’s value and disbursement schedule, have yet to be decided, he added.

    A ‘serious violation’ of the constitution

    Presidential decrees can only be overturned if the upper and lower houses both vote against them, meaning the senate cannot overturn today’s result. However, the decree is likely to face legal challenges, since critics argue that approving an IMF deal this way violates Argentina’s laws and constitution.

    A 2021 law requires all new debt with the IMF to go through Congress. Conversely, emergency decrees such as the one Milei issued are law the moment the government issues them and can be only repealed if both houses vote against them.

    Constitutional lawyer Daniel Sabsay told the Herald it was a “serious violation” of the constitution, article 75 of which gives the legislative branch the power to negotiate foreign debt. “Issuing [the decree] as a closed book makes deliberation impossible, which is the fundamental activity Congress carries out when it discusses bills,” Sabsay said.

    Milei and other officials have repeatedly said that the new agreement does not need to go through Congress because it is not “new debt,” since the funds will be used to pay back the Central Bank. Former economy minister Martín Guzmán, the author of the 2021 law, contested that claim, saying the Fund “is not a charity,” and that the new debt will be used for capital flight and financial speculation.

    Guzmán also said that one of the rules of the IMF’s exceptional credits is “broad political support.” “What the government itself recognizes is that they do not have it and that is why they are not going to Congress. Therefore, the legitimacy of this debt will be questioned,” Guzmán told Revista Crisis.

    Peronist senators Juliana Di Tullio, José Mayans, and Anabel Sagasti wrote a letter to the IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and other senior officials on Tuesday, expressing their opposition to the deal. Like Sabsay, they argued that passing the deal by decree would violate the Constitution and the 2021 law. They said the contents of the agreement would be “covered by a mantle of secrecy that is incomprehensible unless [the conditions] are of such seriousness that they imply the handover of strategic assets of the Argentine Nation or establish austerity measures even more brutal than those the Milei government is implementing today.”

    Pensioners protest

    The decree was passed while a large protest took place outside Congress. Every Wednesday, retirees protest against austerity measures. Pensions account for 30% of the Milei administration’s cuts, according to a report by the Center of Argentina Political Economy (CEPA) think tank.

    The minimum monthly state pension in Argentina is currently AR$349,122 (US$321 at the official rate, US$284 at the MEP rate), a figure which includes an AR$70,000 monthly “bonus.” It falls far short of the basic basket for older adults, which is currently AR$1.2 million, according to the country’s ombuds office. Protests the previous Wednesday reached breaking point after football fans joined in. A police crackdown left 672 people injured, making it the most violent protest since the country’s catastrophic 2001 economic crisis, according to the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria human rights nonprofit.

    Photojournalist Pablo Grillo was shot in the head with a tear gas canister, and remains in hospital in critical condition. Oscar, 71, a retired dentist at the march, told the Herald: “I have always participated in demonstrations since I was very young. In 50-odd years, I have never seen such indiscriminate shooting of rubber bullets and gas.”

    After the vote, the President’s Office celebrated in a post on X.

    “This agreement will guarantee a public credit operation for the National Treasury to pay existing debt with the Central Bank and implies a reduction of the total public debt,” the post said.

    “The government will not rest for a minute until the disinflation process is definitive and the liberation of exchange restrictions is a reality, because that is what we have been elected to do.”

    We are fucked, so fucking fucked. We might be the most fucked nation of all the fucked up nations that were fucked up by the fucking IMF my fucking god end this fucking nightmare

    Fortunately the protest went on without serious incidents. A bunch of undercover cops tried to start shit up but they were ratted out by protesters and thrown away. A bunch of wannabe cops belonging to the libertarians (dressed as cops) also walked among the prosters to intimidate, but were all kicked out. The good thing here is that protesters are getting used to having undercover pigs among them and finding out who is who.

  • US airstrikes continue on Yemen for the fifth night in a row. First airstrikes reported at 16:47 UTC. Seperate, multiple strikes have taken place in Sadaa city, the capital city Sana'a, Al Bayda' Governorate, Sana'a Governorate and Al Jawf Governorate.

    Given that the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier is only 700-800km from Yemen today, I suspect an intense aerial bombardment is incoming, similar to the first night...

    Renewed airstrikes reported in Hodeidah and Sadaa Governorates.

    More strikes in Saada.

    Reports that another MQ-9 Reaper drone was shot down over Yemen, and reports of a Yemeni ballistic missile being launched at Israel. The missile was likely intercepted, given there is no reports of an impact. No statement from the Yemeni Armed Forces on either incident yet.

    Yemeni Armed Forces will provide a statement at 3:10 UTC.

    Al Masirah TV twitter

    Xcancel mirror

  • More than 1,000 US meatpackers have lost their export registrations to China, affecting big companies like Tyson and Cargill. The expiration could cause losses of up to US$ 5 billion and further damage US producers. The Chinese government has not renewed the registrations, despite repeated requests from the US. The US Department of Agriculture warns that this could violate the “Phase 1” agreement, which requires China to update its list of suppliers within 20 days of receiving information from the USDA.

    The US exported US$ 2.5 billion in meat to China last year, making it the country's third largest supplier. The suspension of sales would affect producers of chicken feet and pork offal, products that are little consumed domestically.

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