Bulletins and News Discussion from December 4th to December 10th, 2023 - The Legacy of Kissinger - COTW: Laos
Due to American cluster bombing campaigns advised by Kissinger during the Vietnam War to damage supply lines, over 2 million tonnes of ordinance were dropped on Laos over about a decade, averaging a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes. Laos is thus the most bombed country on the planet up to this point. 80 million bombs failed to explode - the cleanup operation is expected to take centuries, and 25,000 people have been killed and injured by bombs in the last 50 years. About 50 people are killed or injured every year to this day.
After the United States withdrew from Laos, the Pathet Lao took power and abolished the monarchy. Kaysone Phomvihane became a dominant figure in Laotian politics, keeping the course on Marxism-Leninism and implementing the first Five Year Plan in 1981. The second Five Year Plan in 1986 was modelled on Lenin's NEP, and this doubled rice production and significantly increased sugar production. After the fall of the USSR, Laos allowed a small capitalist class to exist, with similar control over them as in China. Laos maintains a 48-hour work week with paid sick leave, vacation time, and maternity leave, and workers are well-represented in trade unions. They faired relatively well during coronavirus from a social standpoint due to quick and efficient action to lock down the country, experiencing ~750 deaths out of a population of over 7 million.
There is hope even after utter destruction by genocidal oppressors.
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.
Horny copypasta takes the trend a step further, using sexual innuendos to memorialize major world or news events. While they’re purposefully made NSFW, the texts are intended to be copied wholesale and then sent to as many friends as possible. (Think replacing a portion of Christopher Columbus with the peach emoji.) While horny copypasta usually thrives during holidays, a swath of recent deaths and events have sent copypasta writers into overdrive. But several writers tell Rolling Stone that the meme format isn’t just a good laugh— it’s a way for people to use humor to address a world that has become increasingly dystopian.
What?
“In recent years, as the internet has become a shell of what it used to be, where it is no longer this free realm of information and connection but rather a hyper-sterilized wasteland of ads and sensationalized content, that we yearn for something novel and familiar,” Dravved says. “That’s where the exaggerated removed of the copypasta comes in. You take something either mundane — like a holiday or tragic, like a death — and you turn [it] into this weird amalgamation of what you remember the internet being like, when you had to sneak downstairs to the family computer to sign on to AIM.”
Yes, the internet has turned to shit, but I still fail to see how exactly horny copypasta is a pleasant recall to the days of yore.
“There are definitely people in my life that I almost only have emoji pasta touchpoints with anymore, folks that I was friends with years ago and their lives have taken them different places,” he tells Rolling Stone. “I enjoy having a reason to reach out to folks that I might not otherwise talk to on a day-to-day basis.” One writer, who asked not to be identified in order to protect their budding emoji text chain empire, acknowledges that the past two weeks have been full of news items perfect for more sexy emoji rants. But they tell Rolling Stone, the fear of burnout won’t prevent them from staying “the juiciest source for [everyone’s] horny copypasta desires,” mostly because shitposting has no office hours.
Amazing how this article keeps getting weirder and dumber at the same time, wow.
Dravved also notes that while copypasta surrounding death might seem gauche, they’re a common way for people on the internet to deal with an excess of seemingly massive world events. “It’s a form of coping for a lot of people. Focusing on making the stupidest, most depraved copypasta you can come up with helps distract you for a bit, and maybe laugh instead of focusing on how many lives will be ruined,” he says. “The more people who are able to just turn off their brain and post some horn garbage, the better. The world sucks. It helps to know that there’s always people willing to laugh at it.”
The absolute state of Western liberalism going into 2024, huh.
What in the sweet beejesus even is this crap.
I think I've twisted my head into the "wtf am I reading" meme at least 15 times going through the article.
The VOLCEL POLICE are on the scene! PLEASE KEEP YOUR VITAL ESSENCES TO YOURSELVES AT ALL TIMES.
نحن شرطة VolCel.بناءا على تعليمات الهيئة لترويج لألعاب الفيديو و النهي عن الجنس نرجوا الإبتعاد عن أي أفكار جنسية و الحفاظ على حيواناتكم المنويَّة حتى يوم الحساب. اتقوا الله، إنك لا تراه لكنه يراك.