If anybody wants to know what the hell I've been doing for the last month that has disrupted the Goddamn News schedule, it's been creating this hefty list of theory that is now up on the bulletins website. It's far from finished, but I got to like 75 pages in Google Docs and I was just tired of sitting on it for any longer.

And these aren't all just crusty books from the 1940s. There are a couple on there from 2024 and quite a few from 2023, for example.

Post explaining it here.

The regular posting schedule will be continuing ASAP.

How China is covering the massacre

“Israel attacks civilians gathered to seek aid, killing 112”

It is worth noting that 袭击 carries a more sinister connotation, implying surprise and deliberate deception.

In case y’all wanted to know what actual journalism looks like.

Hamas statement on Aaron Bushnell

The heroic pilot, Aaron Bushnell, will remain immortal in the memory of our Palestinian people and the free people of the world, and a symbol of the spirit of global human solidarity with our people and their just cause.

Arabic text

One thing I have seen on Arab twitter today is them saying an American Soldier is braver and stood up more for Palestine than their leaders.

gonna start concern trolling about mental health on every post about westoid troops dying for their country. "No sane person would commit suicide by fighting the Russians, mentally ill people should not be used for political gains :/"

Live look at the inside of the NYT offices

Another Slammer banger 🫡

Western leftists are the most domesticated and toothless people you'll ever see. The leader of the Danish conservatives just dropped dead at age 52 from a cerebral hemorrhage. As can be expected from a senior conservative politician he was a vile disgusting little turd of a man, a nationalist, a monarchist and a zionist who never saw a cop, a flag or a troop he didn't want to shag, never saw a refugee, a minority or a poor person he didn't want to harm and never saw an oligarch he didn't want to enrich. He was a pompous self-righteous prick who always kicked downwards.

And how does the Red-Greens, the self-described revolutionary socialists who are the furthest left you get in this deeply unserious country, react? I swear to God, they released a statement about how good and generous a man he was and about what a great loss for democracy him kicking the bucket is. Not a word about the evil he did or the pain he caused his victims.

With leftists like these, why do we need succdems?

IDF ran over the people they shot and killed/injured with tanks.

Remember when westerners were talking about the Chinese tanks running over civilians in Tiananmen Square?

Permanently Deleted

PRESS RELEASE: #Nicaragua institutes proceedings against #Germany and asks the #ICJ to indicate provisional measures

Nicaragua accuses Germany on charges of abetting genocide in Gaza

NYT is targeting their journalists based on ethnicity(!) to try to find whoever is leaking internal communications

Not sure if this has been posted about yet but after years of effort and fierce resistance the uyghur genocide article on wikipedia has changed its name from uyghur genocide to "Persecution of Uyghurs in China" the article itself is still really bad but the fact that this has finally happened is a pretty telling sign that reality is catching up.

my god reddit is a cesspool. I went to check out if the massacre is even being allowed on /r/worldnews:

> top post is titled "IDF says it fired on Gazans who endangered troops in stampede; Hamas claims 70 dead" from fuckin timesofisrael

> top comment is a guy agreeing with that IOF position saying something like 'I agree with the IOF, looks like they all died in a stampede or by trucks, looks chaotic!'

> looked through that guy's comment and it's an Israeli. guy also has comments denying the Tantura massacre.

incredible website. I'm gonna delete my account and block the website for good now, absolutely repulsive place.

when someone publicly martyrs themselves to protest genocide: I can't believe people are acting like there's anything to celebrate or condone here! Killing yourself for a cause is selfish, cowardly, and ineffective. Think of his poor children!

when someone willfully delivers themselves to be imprisoned by the government that has already tried to poison them: the most noble of sacrifices, my epic sir. This sends a message of bravery and courage no one will forget. I'll ask my wife's boyfriend if we can name their child Navalny o7

Gaddafi would never have put up with this shit

Aaron Mate is the most vindicated man on Earth

https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2024/02/opcw-identifies-isil-perpetrators-2015-chemical-attack-marea-syria

They finally admit it. He spent years interviewing people and investigating the source of the chemical attacks and they just tweeted it out

Skimming through the r/politics mega on the Michigan primaries when I see this gem:

For those of you unfamiliar with how the US government works, the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 gave pretty much all authority over arms exports to the President. Congress currently has no ability to veto arms deals and I believe they have never actually successfully stopped an arms sales. Biden, however, could simply revoke the export licenses on Israeli weapons, though.

What Congress has been doing for the past half century is giving Israel store credit that has to be spent on US weapons, of which only the president can authorize export.

Looking at the reactions to the self-immolation, it really is impossible for liberals to comprehend anyone sacrificing themselves over something they strongly believe in. Just a total ideology of selfishness. The two main ways to discredit or distract from what this guy did are either calling him mentally ill, or ignoring what he did entirely and focusing instead on that one cop.

US media is so insane man

here is how Uncommitted can still win

RT - Ukraine ready for war with China – top MP [2024-02-24]

Kiev is ready to assist the US in a war against any enemy, be it Iran, North Korea, or China, a senior Ukrainian MP has said, claiming that his country would prove to be a valuable military ally.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday, Aleksey Goncharenko doubled down on calls for the US to send Ukraine more military aid amid gridlock in Congress.

”Ukrainians are ready… We are ready to stand with the United States shoulder-to-shoulder, either in trenches near Tehran, or in North Korea, or near Beijing. No difference,” he stated. “Because we appreciate your support.”

Despite his plea for more Western military aid, Goncharenko argued that Ukraine has “the second strongest army in the free world” after the US, making it “a very valuable ally.”

I can't stop thinking about Zelensky's claim that 31k Ukrainian troops have died and the comparison to how many people have been murdered in Gaza by Israel in a fraction of the same time.

Xi (Foolishly) Plans Communist Answers For China’s Property Crisis. Forbes

If the leaks and rumors are true, Beijing stands ready to launch a new and radical solution to the economy’s property crisis – a government takeover. What the authorities refer to as “a new model” would replace the old emphasis on ownership with more rentals and use government funds to buy up bankrupt properties so that in time the government’s role in real estate would rise from 5% of the market at present to 30%. Such an act would surely take the nation back to its communist roots if not quite the days of Mao Zedong. If it would veil the property crisis for a time, it would in the long run do tremendous damage to China’s economic prospects.

“Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’” … “The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

-Aaron Bushnell

Scholz pulled the "Fuck it, i gonna tell them then"

I feel like the whole world is unraveling.

This is a very depraved and evil society. I used to imagine it was out of willful ignorance, being overburdened, and exhausted. I still believe this is true to a certain extent, but I am coming around to the belief that this is deliberate and willful complicity; complicity of depravity, of indifference.

And where once there used to be a facade of attempt at denying this, everyone in power is openly embracing genocide. Israel supporters are brazenly celebrating this.

Geopolitics and its government administrators aside, I'm really disgusted at ordinary people choosing the wrong side - the side of genocide - in this moment.

Aaron Bushnell may have been reacting to mandatory deployment orders to Gaza. When liberals come at you with the blah, blah, blah, radicalized, blah, blah, blah, mental illness, blah, blah, blah you can throw in their faces that he was about to be forced to go conduct the genocide (even if this isn't necessary for his act to be heroic).

latest Zionist atrocity is stomach-churning. the "Israeli" terrorists sent in an aid convoy with food, a bunch of starving Palestinians showed up, the IOF terrorists opened fire on the starving people killing at least 104 and injuring 750, running over many dead and wounded with tanks

Zionists Use Food-Baits To Attract And Kill Starving Civilians | Moon of Alabama

EDIT: PressTV now says 150 dead

China strongly condemns Israel’s actions in the Flour Massacre

r/worldnews has motherfuckers posting that Biden brokered the saudi-yemeni ceasefire, I am losing my mind here

Dot you Worry international Shipping Lanes , the Germans have Arrived.

never stop hating on israel comrades, even when its dead. Even when YOU are dead. Imma get 'fuck israel' put on my gravestone even if i have to carve it in as a corpse.

Lmao. https://twitter.com/krystalball/status/1762664068727415088

On CNN right now, Nina Turner is speaking to the moral outrage of the US enabling a genocide in Gaza and the entire CNN panel + Anderson Cooper are all panicking and desperately trying to bring the convo back to the safe space of the horserace.

Nina Turner is explaining why ~16% is uncommitted and they're panicking.

Heavy losses inflict ‘dramatic manpower crisis’ on Israel

by The Cradle.

---

The Israeli military is demanding an addition of at least 7,000 soldiers to its forces due to a serious manpower crisis. The 7,000 are needed on top of the soldiers already enlisting, the Israeli army said on 1 March. “The army requires standards for another 7,500 officers and noncommissioned officers, while the Treasury currently approves only 2,500. These are unprecedented numbers, which indicate the shock that befell the IDF following almost 150 days of fighting, which began with heavy losses on 7 October,” Hebrew news site Ynet reported, citing the army’s General Staff. “The army is compiling the data that will explain how dramatic the manpower problem is,” it added.

Just one day ago, Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, called to end draft exemptions for members of the ultra-Orthodox community. Gallant said he would only support legislation allowing for continued exemptions if all members of the ruling coalition backed it. The minister asserted that “all parts of society” must “bear the burden” of service. Gallant’s position could result in tension with ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, viewed as integral to the current government's survival, according to Hebrew media. However, the army’s demand for a boost in manpower “has nothing to do with politics or the demand for equal burden: The situation is simply not good and does not match the threat map,” Ynet wrote.

Israel is taking severe losses in its genocidal war in Gaza and its attempt to eradicate the Palestinian resistance. While Israel claims that Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah is the final Hamas stronghold, the group’s military wing, along with several other factions, continue to fiercely confront Israeli troops across the strip. A source from within the resistance told Al-Mayadeen on Thursday that the Israeli army has been forced out of Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, where it had been operating over the past eleven days in an attempt to clear out Hamas fighters. The source added that the neighborhood is a “graveyard” for Merkava tanks, and the “bloodied and torn” uniforms of Israeli soldiers are spread out across the battlefield. Clashes between the resistance and the army continued to rage on 1 March in several areas of Gaza, including the southern city of Khan Yunis and the Jabalia area in the northern strip.

In all, the military situation still appears to be in Palestine's favour, which is quite remarkable given that we've been in this conflict for 5 months now. The bloody mathematics of attrition is playing out in both Ukraine and Israel.

🇨🇺 Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez: — Cuba joins the global mobilization in support of Palestine on March 2nd. In all provinces and in Havana, we will take to the streets in solidarity with our brotherly people and to condemn the Holocaust that "israel" aims to cause in Rafah. Everyone for Gaza!

Free Palestine.

One idea under discussion among Trump allies as a way to drive the Palestinian wedge deeper into the Democratic Party is to run advertisements in heavily Muslim areas of Michigan that would thank Mr. Biden for "standing with Israel," according to two people briefed on the plans who weren't authorized to discuss them publicly.

lmao Trump is definitely going to win.

The ship, "Rubymar", reportedly sank today after a previous attack by Ansar Allah.. The article, for some reason, consults the "internationally recognized Yemeni government" (still operating in exile) who confirms that the ship did indeed sink.

The Rubymar was owned and registered by a U.K. company, flying under the flag of Belize, delivering cargo from Saudi Arabia to Bulgaria, and managed by a Greek shipping company. Naturally, has decided that the ship is Lebanese.

It's really depressing how much worse shit has gotten globally. 1950s style sexism seems to have made a grand comeback, men in positions of power don't even face the minimal consequences they used to when caught abusing a woman, attitudes towards LGBT rights seems to be going backwards, racism has never left but people aren't even pretending to be "politically correct" anymore. That's not to mention ongoing wars and genocide because of Western military domination. The Ukraine war will probably end up being more devastating than Iraq when all is said and done, and Israel is killing Palestinians and committing genocide at an unprecedented rate. Not even during the height of the war on terror of the 2000s was Israel doing anything near as devastating as they are doing now.

Genuinely have no idea what my place in this world is. Should shit go south in South Africa (lol), and I was looking to try to move to one of the "pro LGBT humanist" western countries, they would probably hate on me if my partner was the wrong race. Yet if I were to go to another country on the African continent, there would be a ton of hate for being LGBT. Like is there any place on this planet for us? Trying to maintain hope with everything that's happening globally but it's getting really hard. Where do we go from here, honestly. Everything seems set in motion already, and there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it except for playing their expected part. Maybe the grass is greener where you water it, but community outreach is really difficult.

The Intercept has posted an article saying that the push for the "Hamas weaponized SA" NYT story was largely pushed forward by senior leadership, and that journalists are concerned that the author of the piece will be used as a scapegoat.

“The New York Times said, ‘Let’s do an investigation into sexual violence’ — it was more a case of them having to convince me,” she said. Her host cut her off: “It was a proposal of The New York Times, the entire thing?”
“Unequivocally. Unequivocally. Obviously. Of course,” she said. “The paper stood behind us 200 percent and gave us the time, the investment, the resources to go in-depth with this investigation as much as needed.”

A lot of the article is just Schwartz admitting that she couldn't find any evidence at all until she started asking the IOF/Israeli police, who said a bunch of shit that has since been debunked, and who pressured her to run the story as soon as possible. She also said that she had not spoken to a single woman who claimed to have been assaulted.
To be clear, Schwartz is former IOF and a terrible human being, but she is also totally unqualified as a journalist, and her being picked to lead the article makes it abundantly clear that NYT editors wanted an article from nothing.

The Guardian: Several Nato and EU members considering sending soldiers to Ukraine, Slovak PM says

I remember back in 2022 how the "cooler heads" had to explain that NATO troops killing Russians fundamentally could not be allowed to happen. Impressive how far we've come.

Russia releases wiretapped recording of german military officials discussing Taurus delivery for ukraine

FRANKFURT, March 2 (Reuters) - Germany is investigating an audio recording published in Russian media reported to be a conference call of high-ranking German military officials talking about weapons for Ukraine, sparking concerns of espionage in Germany and calls for clarification from Russia. A German defence ministry spokesperson said on Saturday that it couldn't confirm the authenticity of the recording, but the Federal Office for Military Counterintelligence Service was investigating the matter and all necessary steps would be taken.

The recording can be found here on vk.com. I listened to it and think that it's authentic. Around 30:00 one of them says: "Imagine the press gets wind of this"

Edit: The German Ministry of Denfense confirms the authenticity of the recording (Article in germ*n)

George Galloway: "I'm no Jeremy Corbyn you see. I won't turn the other cheek. If you slap me I'll slap you back"

I know he has his bad sides but this is the energy the left needs. Generations of polite boyscouts has done nothing but to make the western left irrelevant and weak.

Max Blumenthal brings up an important point: Aaron Bushnell - possibly among other Air Force members - were enlisted against their will to participate in the Palestinian Genocide:

US Airman Aaron Bushnell did not kill himself to protest some other country's war

The US Department of Defense has compelled the participation of Air Force members like Bushnell in Israel's Gaza genocide

Their orders to deploy to Israel read "mandatory"

https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1762196403969728851

George Galloway's response to the Prime Minister is fucking good: https://youtu.be/J7p7CAyxHgg

Context

looks like it's confirmed that Bushnell was a trans woman:

article by "DJ Muel", who Bushnell was a fan of: https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-can-we-do-99384971

A person, who by all accounts of what information I can find online, was a closeted trans person (he used he/she pronouns in other discords I shared with her, and overwhelmingly went by the name of "Lilly" on her youtube and twitch and discord accounts) who was in the US Air Force, an organisation that has indeed in the past simply disappeared individuals who express any sentiments that their operations are unjust or evil, who knew in fact that one day soon, she may be sent to murder innocent Gazans in one of the most despicable genocides in recent history.

Biden has lost Thomas Friedman.

I repeat Biden is to the right of Thomas Friedman

Apparently the nasty comments and edgy remarks made on Aaron Bushnell’s reddit account largely came from Destiny fans after he sent them there.

There’s few people I would like to see die and Destiny is one of them.

How it started:

How it's going:

Some tweets about the Flour Massacre:

Ground level view (CW: sounds of gunfire): https://twitter.com/GozukaraFurkan/status/1763184975199818094

Bird's eye view: https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1763182831574884660

Screenshot of the bird's eye view with dead bodies labeled: https://t.me/QudsNen/97590

The IOF fucked up because even Zionist protestors are protesting the Flour Massacre: https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1763463757462725075

https://nitter.poast.org is the only Nitter instance that still works at this point. And it's probably going to go down soon.

Happening today: https://skwawkbox.org/2024/03/01/starmer-challenger-calls-for-new-left-mass-movement-outside-labour-party/

Starmer challenger calls for new left mass movement outside Labour Party

Former ANC MP and arms trade campaigner will address activists from around UK tomorrow at Collective launch – and poses real threat to friend-of-genocide ‘Labour’ leader

spoiler

Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP under Nelson Mandela and leading critic of the global arms trade, will use a speech this weekend to endorse a new political alliance billed as the foundation of the first organised mass movement of the left outside of the Labour Party.

Feinstein’s speech will be the centrepiece of a conference called by dozens of former Labour councillors and other independent candidates. The event will take place in ‘Labour’ leader Keir Starmer’s home constituency of Holborn and St Pancras in London.

Feinstein, who has lived in the constituency for more than two decades since moving to the UK, has already signalled his willingness to stand against Starmer as an independent candidate and has been selected as candidate by the OCISA anti-Starmer group, attracting a groundswell of support both locally and nationally.

Local campaigners say there is real vulnerability in Starmer’s majority, established under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party, especially given the controversies embroiling Labour over the war in Gaza. Starmer looks even more vulnerable after yesterday’s landslide victory for Workers Party GB leader George Galloway in Rochdale and the collapse of Labour’s vote from over 50% to less than 8%, with Starmer’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza a major driver.

The new movement – dubbed ‘Collective’ – has been established following months of deliberation amongst grassroots campaign groups and prospective independent candidates for both council and parliamentary elections. Though it is not establishing a new party in time to contest this year’s election, it intends to do so onceit has grown a mass membership base.

Feinstein said:

It’s not just Labour Party members who were the victims of Starmer’s entirely fictitious campaign for leadership of the party. The people of Holborn and St Pancras also elected him twice on a socialist platform under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Having lived in the constituency for over 20 years, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and strength of feeling amongst local communities – and across the country – who are crying out for a response to the deeply corrupt, anti-democratic and out of touch Labour Party under Starmer. Under his leadership, the party has now completely abandoned working people and marginalised communities in an escalating effort to out-Tory the Tories.

But this election must do more than just provide an alternative to the pro-genocide, pro-austerity Sunak-Starmer circus. It must also mark the beginnings of a new mass movement of working people that can challenge the Westminster bubble once and for all. That’s why I’m proud to be joining Collective which is uniting sections of the left and will eventually transform into a new political party backed by an organised and democratic movement.

Collective spokesperson Pamela Fitzpatrick, independent candidate for Harrow West:

Our political system – and now the Labour Party itself – is fundamentally anti-democratic and rigged against new parties, especially on the left. The only way to address this is to build a mass movement outside of the Labour Party as a foundation for a new political party that is truly free of vested interests and which can offer a real alternative to the pro-austerity and pro-war two party system. All around the country, independent candidates have and are coming forward to fight this election on a common platform calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a real pay rise and decent housing for all, higher taxes for the rich, an end to privatisation of the NHS, and an end to unnecessary and unjust war. That is the foundation which Collective will build on, and eventually transform into a political party that will change the face of British politics.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/after-threats-abuse-british-lawmakers-question-their-safety-over-gaza-2024-02-28/

After threats and abuse, British lawmakers question their safety over Gaza

have you considered the true victims of the genocide are some of the people responsible for carrying out the genocide?

ps is that the Iranian flag used by the diaspora? the Iranian diaspora truly is the worst diaspora why do they suck so bad

Look at the user account that posted this, and the subreddit that they posted it to.

Yes it's their official account. Why is the torygraph posting to Green and Pleasant?

Another mod banned them, I'm tempted to allow them and to monitor it. I don't think they have anything to gain by being a poster in GaP, but GaP could gain a lot if they intend to start some drama with GaP at the center. I'm taking it as another sign an election is imminent.

Rishi Sunak stood before the lectern outside number 10 today to give a speech where we thought something would be announced.

Instead, he talked non-stop about how forces exist in the United Kingdom that are trying to tear apart the very fabric of "our democracy", he talked about how extremists had taken over our streets (pro palestine protestors), he likened all pro palestine supporters to islamic extremism, and he specifically namedropped Galloway's win in the by election yesterday as a threat to our democracy. The only real thing of consequence in his speech was where he told the police that they should start actually policing the protests (inviting them to crack heads) and that the government would "have your back when you start doing this".

I never thought a speech by Rishi Sunak could leave me feeling so upbeat and optimistic but here we are. It's afraid.

Speech here: https://youtu.be/xlEKUxptTTA

Transcript: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-on-extremism-1-march-2024

The redacted part is about Galloway: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-downing-street-speech-gaza-israel-mps-safety-b1142682.html

Far-left RAF terror suspect Daniela Klette arrested - DW

The Pentagon will lift the ban on flights by the grounded V-22 Osprey next week, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Friday, following a high-level meeting where Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin endorsed the military services’ plans for a safe and measured return to operations.

lol, lmao

EXTREMELY critical support to the British communists in their spanking of genocide starmer

"US to airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza — how it can help and why it’s so complicated" https://apnews.com/article/airdrops-israel-gaza-palestinians-biden-9e6cfb3a2c7d909ca2a8a2abd25793ca

No paywall, text in reply.

WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

The U.S. believes the airdrops will help address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, but they are no replacement for trucks, which can transport far more aid more effectively — though Thursday’s events also showed the risks with ground transport.

The fucking risk, AP, is that Israel will open fire on any gathering of people, no matter how docile or noble (hospitals). Not just "general risk."

Maddeningly both sides-y too.

The Biden decision comes after at least 115 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 others were injured on Thursday trying to access aid in northern Gaza under disputed circumstances, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

u N d E r D I S p U t E d C i R c U m S t A n C e S

Aight fuck it, here's milei trying to embrace a clearly uncomfortable Trump at CPAC

Be aware, it's extremely cringe.

Expelling US troops: Iraq's resistance efforts gain steam in Baghdad

by The Cradle.

The article's a little too long to quote in full so I'll be picking the most important parts out.

---

Against the backdrop of the widening, US-backed and armed Israeli war on Gaza, the US airstrikes against Iraq and Syria were meant to deliver a strong message of deterrence to Iran's allies in the Axis of Resistance, who are targeting US military interests in West Asia in response to the carnage in Gaza. But the strikes have instead served mainly to embarrass the Iraqi government and its domestic allies, prompting a reevaluation of the country’s relationship with Washington and reviving calls for an end to the US military presence in Iraq.

Despite a steady stream of US threats and intimidation tactics employed to deter the Iraqi resistance since late last year, these factions have incrementally increased and expanded their engagement in the region-wide war, driven by their commitment to the Palestinian resistance and its liberation goals. The Iraqi groups have a specific goal: pressure Washington until it forces a Gaza truce – a strategic target that reflects the unity of purpose among the resistance factions in Iraq and the region.

...In Iraq’s case, the greatest military burden was assumed by four of the resistance factions identified by Kataib Hezbollah Secretary General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi: his own group Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Ansarallah al-Aufiaa. As one IRI official tells The Cradle: "The fronts are opened at the discretion of the leaders (of these groups) themselves, based on religious, ideological, and moral commitments stemming from the nature of the Iraqi character in the first place."

Over the past few months, the IRI has demonstrated its versatility by employing a variety of tactics and weaponry in around 188 separate military operations against US targets. These range from missile strikes on US bases in Iraq to drone attacks against US occupation forces in Syria, and even include the targeting of distant Israeli territories such as Ashdod, Haifa, and the occupied Golan Heights. An official source in the IRI confirms to The Cradle that "We bombed with ballistic missiles American bases, even those in Iraq, and this was not limited to distant targets in the depth, or in the occupied territory."

However, as tensions escalated, strains in the relationship between Baghdad and Washington became palpable. The Iraqi government found itself caught between the embarrassment of complicity and the challenge of maintaining control over security affairs. Even some of the resistance factions themselves felt the squeeze of external pressures, notably Kataib Hezbollah, who on 31 January announced a temporary suspension of operations against US forces and Israeli targets. The halt came in the immediate aftermath of the killing of three US soldiers in Tower 22 along the Jordanian-Syrian border, in an Iraqi resistance operation unprecedented in its depth which was viewed as a direct challenge to Washington's perceived invincibility. As expected, the operation caused a spike in tensions, causing some ferocious shuttle diplomacy in the following days and provoking a strong, disproportionate US military response.

For factions like Kataib Hezbollah and Al-Nujaba, the decision to suspend operations was a calculated move to gauge Washington's response. Yet, the US military's targeted assassination of Kataib Hezbollah commander Abu Baqir al-Saadi caught them off guard, eliciting a sharp condemnation of the US attack from Baghdad. Saadi’s faction, it should be noted, is part of the Popular Mobilization Units that defeated ISIS, and is therefore under the umbrella of the Iraqi armed forces. This time, the Iraqi government had no choice but to side with the resistance, while the IRI issued a stern warning to the US in which it signaled a return to operations.

...What cannot be ignored, however, is that these diplomatic initiatives followed a series of coercive measures by the US Treasury to diminish the value of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar. While Iraq - both officially and among its various political factions - insists that leveraging the volume of Iraqi oil exports as a bargaining chip in the global market is an ineffective negotiating tool, there are those who anticipate seizing the opportunity of market scarcity to increase their share by two million barrels. Sudani mission is a difficult one. He must hammer out a solution that fulfills his government's commitment to remove foreign military forces forces from Iraqi soil without triggering negative US repercussions.

According to leaks, the Iraqi prime minister reportedly reached an agreement with the IRI to suspend its military operations against US bases in order to facilitate his negotiations for the complete withdrawal of international coalition forces from Iraq. Yet, any decision in this regard risks eliciting a negative response from Washington, which brandishes an ever-present arsenal of pressure tactics. This is particularly concerning given that Iraqi oil revenues are still required to pass through the US Federal Bank before being released to Baghdad. Members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives are actively working to proceed with a law to remove foreign forces from Iraq, with majority representation from Shia-dominated central and southern Iraq. However, Sunni factions remain ambiguous in their stance toward the coordination framework blocs' efforts to enact such legislation. In addition, Kurdish parties, notably the Kurdistan Democratic Party, vehemently oppose any consideration of US military withdrawal from Iraq.

In response to these dynamics, the Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed Moscow's willingness to bolster Iraqi forces following the departure of unwanted foreign troops. The Russian offer has compounded the pressure on Washington, prompting a reassessment of the waning US strategic position in West Asia.

lately whenever I read about the genocide in Palestine, I get flashbacks of those videos of Pete Butt fans dancing to high, high hopes

With just how awful everything is this feels like me just adding stuff to it but here goes.

Germany currently is diving headlong into fascism after germans patting themselves on their collective backs for protesting the AfD and them polling 2% worse now (21% to 19%) all is fine again.

So fine that the German Landstag is currently thinking about forcing asylum seekers to work. Literally enforced labour, don't say slavery though because they'll be paid handsomely, 0,80€ per hour. Germany is quite literally doing a repeat of the last century and with the given trajectory they'll literally have work concentration camps up by the 2030s, only this time they've learned and will only do this against Muslims.

And worst is that germans feel very good and accomplished about themselves because again went on the street to hold up a cute little anti-AfD sign, when all politicians are currently falling each other trying to pass the latest fascist law and policy.

Meanwhile in the Red Sea: https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/doppel-panne-im-roten-meer-deutsches-kriegsschiff-zielt-auf-us-drohne-87336152.bild.html

Deutsch:

Unfassbare Doppel-Panne bei der Deutschen Marine vor der Küste des Jemen!

Die Radar-Systeme des deutschen Kriegsschiffs erkannten eine über ihr kreisende Drohne fälschlicherweise als feindlich. Die „Hessen“ feuerte daraufhin zwei Raketen auf sie ab.

Doch in Wirklichkeit handelte es sich bei dem unbemannten Fluggerät um eine US-amerikanische Drohne vom Typ MQ-9 Reaper (20 Meter Spannweite, 30 Millionen Euro teuer).

Glück im Unglück für die Amerikaner: Beide deutsche Abfangraketen vom Typ SM2 erreichten ihr Ziel aus technischen Gründen nicht, sondern stürzten unverrichteter Dinge ins Meer.

English:

Incredible double mishap in the German Navy off the coast of Yemen!

The German warship's radar systems incorrectly recognized a drone circling overhead as hostile. The “Hessen” then fired two rockets at them.

But in reality the unmanned aircraft was a US MQ-9 Reaper drone (20 meter wingspan, 30 million euros).

A blessing in disguise for the Americans: Both German SM2 interceptor missiles did not reach their target for technical reasons, but instead fell into the sea without achieving anything.

lol

Aleppo - widespread use of solar panels - From industry to infrastructure and households. The use of solar energy is becoming widespread in Syria. Due to US occupation of Syrian dams and resources, people in the government areas are trying to get their energy needs from Sun.

The endurance of Humanity is always something to behold and says something about the future, at least to me

I'm convinced that doing big controversial posts on reddit on a Sunday is most effective because 99% of the feds don't work Sunday. You get much less glowy shit.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eus-von-der-leyen-proposes-using-frozen-russian-profits-ukraines-military-2024-02-28/

EU's von der Leyen proposes using frozen Russian profits for Ukraine's military

do it, continue to damage the west's credibility, make no one trust you again

The general mega is catching up to the news mega. It's joever

Permanently Deleted

Israeli police break up ultra-Orthodox Jews’ military service protest

US Senate approves spending stopgap to avert government shutdown lol how are they STILL kicking the can down the road on this, it's been 5 fucking months

steals 650 acres in the West Bank.

Welp, looks like Hungary just voted Sweden into NATO.

My leftie partner is Swedish and is very distraught, I'm trying to remind her that this changes absolutely nothing (as we see with earlier military treaties with the US), and also looking at Swedish foreign policy during the cold war (pretty clear which side they were on).

Also it's really really fucking funny how long this shitshow has taken. Welcome to the hellzone fellow Ikea shoppers.

Some people are claiming Aaron Bushnell's reddit account is /u/acebush1. Last comment on the account: "Whiteness erases culture"

Liberals who want NATO to start a war with Russia are in my view essentially the same kinds of people that would commit murder-suicide when things aren't going their way.

Israeli army morale plummets over 'lasting victory' in Gaza

by The Cradle.

---

A growing number of Israeli service members, from senior commanders to rank-and-file soldiers, are expressing doubts that a “lasting victory” against the Palestinian resistance in Gaza is an achievable goal, according to interviews conducted by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). “Fighting the enemy is like a game of whack-a-mole,” an Israeli reservist fighting with the 98th Division in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis told the US daily. He said many soldiers believe the government lacks a plan and wonder what their efforts are for. “It will be very hard to destroy Hamas.”

Nearly five months after Tel Aviv launched its campaign of genocide in Gaza with the stated aim to “destroy Hamas,” the Israeli army has destroyed most of the enclave's buildings and infrastructure, killing tens of thousands of civilians in the process, but is nowhere near eradicating the resistance. Furthermore, the WSJ cites Qatari sources as saying Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar recently told officials from the Palestinian group in Doha: “Don’t worry, we have the Israelis right where we want them.”

The message reportedly added that the Qassam Brigades "were doing fine" and stood at the ready to confront Israel's planned invasion of the southernmost city of Rafah, where over one million displaced Palestinians are taking refuge. Despite Israeli claims of having killed “12,000 Hamas fighters” since October, the Qassam Brigades and the Quds Brigades – the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), respectively – have continued to fiercely confront the invading troops across the entirety of the Gaza Strip. The WSJ highlights that, after a two-week ceasefire in November, the Palestinian resistance markedly switched its strategy to confront Israeli forces, moving away from large-scale firefights to small-scale ambushes and “zero distance” attacks that have caused great pain to Tel Aviv.

Israel claims only 242 soldiers have lost their lives in Gaza since the start of the ground invasion, plus an extra 300 during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October. However, in December, Hebrew media revealed that hospital records contradicted the army's claims about the number of casualties, as Tel Aviv was reportedly undercounting by half. Moreover, the official numbers of wounded only included soldiers in the army, excluding wounded security personnel such as special reconnaissance fighters and members of SWAT units, the police, Border Police, Shin Bet, and emergency and rescue units like Magen David Adom. “The human losses announced by the security establishment are usually binding on hundreds of media institutions, and these are allowed to work basically according to this rule. The death toll always comes from one source, and no one questions it," The Cradle’s Palestine Correspondent reported last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not backed away from his promise of “total victory” against the Palestinian resistance, ignoring global calls to stop the mass murder of civilians in Gaza. His recently-revealed “day after” plan for Gaza stipulates that Israel will maintain freedom to carry out military and security operations across the strip indefinitely. Netanyahu also seeks to oversee the total demilitarization of Gaza – excluding weapons "necessary to maintain public order" – and has plans for a "deradicalization" of Gaza's civil, religious, educational, and welfare institutions. Nevertheless, the WSJ reports that many within the military believe the government’s “reluctance to flesh out a plan for who should govern Gaza after Hamas is leaving a political vacuum that could help Hamas to grow back.”

Supreme Leader Sunak is going to do his first speech in Downing Street since he was given power over the hermit kingdom a year or so ago. Apparently the speech is going to be about the need to 'defend democracy'. Could be the most mask off we have seen him so far.

edit: Triggered by what happened in parliament last week and even moreso by George Galloway's win last night

edit: "New robust framework" being presented to parliament this this month. Terrifying stuff. I wonder what it will introduce? It is sounding extremely terrifying. Deporting people they deem in violation of their "values", there is a lot more

edit: a source is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-68451380

Opinions of Gazans on Bushnell's self-immolation: https://twitter.com/BIG__Brother7/status/1762090633873752093

When I'm old and crotchety and the kids tell me, "Relax, dude. Capitalism is long dead. You don't have to be skeptical of words like 'innovation' anymore."

One must imagine the USAmerican left being competent

I read that poll from a while ago that most Israelis support the events in Gaza.

But I was thinking, that 20% of the population are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship; Israel's demographic has that minority of people. How could 97% support the genocide if 1/5th of the eligible voting/citizen population is Arabian. I get that even Palestinians with Israeli citizenship live under an apartheid regime, privileged in comparison to their kinsfolk in the West Bank and Gaza, but that poll seems suspicious.

I hate that we're (once again) watching the US government support pure evil, comparable to the nazis, yet we're powerless to stop it

It shows that the empire isn't a paper tiger yet, I guess

are we back, Transnistria bros?

The Kremlin being accused of killing Navalny to prevent a prisoner swap is just amazing.

They’d be the ones in charge of allowing the swap!

American media will publish literally anything.

AP: French President Macron says sending Western troops on the ground in Ukraine is not ‘ruled out’

He added that “we will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war.”

The Danish military is relaxing physical requirements for new recruits in what the regime terms a modernisation. Height requirements are being removed, the minimum BMI is being removed and the maximum BMI is being made a guideline rather than a demand. Mental health requirements are being relaxed as well, for instance medicated ADHD will no longer save young Danes from conscription.

On the more colourful side, a maximum bust size requirement for women is being removed. An archaic rule that has not been used in decades that made it possible to reject potential recruits for "sexual deviancy" is also being abolished.

The Danish regime has embarked on an aggressive rearmament effort that includes a desire to expand the use of forced conscription. Although regime propaganda disks of modernisation, thr relaxed physical demands is probably intended to help recruitment efforts.

The New York Post is reporting that, the day before his death, Aaron Bushnell told one of his friends that his job invovled processing top secret intelligence data, and that info of US soldiers on the ground in Gaza fighting Palestinians has crossed his desk.

It's getting harder to see settler colonialists as anything other than freakish abominable flesh constructs filled with nothing but malice and hatred.

Workers in the DPRK are allowed to leave the country for work? Clearly this is a slavery plot. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-does-secretive-north-korea-have-no-problem-sending-workers-overseas/ar-BB1j002Z

https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/348473-irish-senate-votes-to-impose-sanctions-on-israel-prevent-us-weapons-from-crossing-its-airspace

Some positive news

With the news of Russia destroying an American made Abrams tank in Ukraine, I think it's important to note that the export models of the Abrams tanks are significantly worse than those the US itself uses. They have no depleted uranium armour to protect them, and none of the latest optics and ammunition. Same story with the Soviet export model tanks Iraq had during the Gulf war of the 90s, they had none of the lastest features the Soviet tanks had. So I'd expect more Abrams tanks to be destroyed.

Zionists posting footage of George Galloway being incredibly based in a desperate attempt to own him

Marc Lamont Hill is in a Twitter Space right now debating some DNCbot about whether it's correct/OK to call Joe Biden "Genocide Joe", and I am extremely tempted to join as an "expert" on that nickname.

Lula calls Bolsonaro a "coward" and mocks call for "amnesty"

In a harsh message to Bolsonaro, Lula said that his opponent was "cowardly" and didn't have the courage to carry out a coup d'état

Former President Jair Bolsonaro's (Liberal Party) request for amnesty for the coup plotters arrested on January 8 was mocked by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party). On Tuesday night (27 February), in an interview the president dismissed the possibility of the Executive branch taking the initiative for a measure that would benefit the imprisoned Bolsonaro supporters and called his opponent a "coward".

"Are you asking for amnesty? Do you want to erase the nonsense you've done? The nonsense is that he [Bolsonaro] chickened out, thought up the coup, didn't have the courage," Lula told journalist Kennedy Alencar.

The possibility of Lula's government proposing an "amnesty" to Congress was raised by Bolsonaro in an interview. But he admitted that this is a "very difficult" scenario. "I know that Parliament is the body that decides this issue, but if it comes from the Executive, it would be very welcome," he said.

That wasn't enough to convince Lula. The president pointed out that, for the "barbarities he has done", Bolsonaro should submit to the legal process to which every citizen is entitled in a democracy, including the "presumption of innocence" which, he repeated, he did not have during the Lava Jato process, in reference to the operation led by former judge and now senator Sergio Moro.

"First you'll be judged, you've committed a lot of barbarity. You will be judged, appreciated. You'll have your defense lawyer. I just want you to have the presumption of innocence that I didn't have. I want you to be able to say what you did and didn't do. It's your right, a right of democracy. And that's what I guarantee my best friend and my worst enemy: the right to a full defense," said Lula.

President Lula da Silva then went on to say that his opponent "chickened out" and didn't have the courage to carry out a coup d'état.

"Are you asking for amnesty? Do you want to erase the nonsense you've done? The nonsense is that he chickened out, thought up the coup, didn't have the courage. He left for the US in advance, thinking that it [the coup] would happen, that society would all leave terrified and he would come back anointed by the masses. And that's not what happened. What happened is that the institutions took responsibility for democracy and you are now in the process of being investigated," he said.

Finally, Lula also criticized Bolsonaro for the fact that the former president kept quiet during his statement to the Federal Police about an alleged criminal organization that was plotting a coup d'état in 2022.

Although he himself used the artifice in April 2019, at a hearing before the PF in Curitiba, where he was being held, as columnist Guilherme Amado, from Metrópoles, recalled.

"I know that when a guy is a coward, he doesn't talk. When the guy is a coward and goes to give evidence, his lawyer says: 'Don't say anything'. And I know that he went there and kept his mouth shut," said Lula.

"Because he talks nonsense all day long, when he was president it was morning, noon and night. Now in the process, he comes in all thin, not wanting to talk. So that's what's going to happen, he's going to be investigated, he's going to give evidence and one day he'll be tried. If he's innocent, he'll be innocent," he concluded.

Your March 3rd Briefing

We are so back.

---

The world has run out of cholera vaccines as outbreaks continue to occur throughout the world. This is due to all cholera vaccines coming from a single vaccine manufacturer, EuBiologics in South Korea, who has limited production capacity. Other companies are projected to enter the market soon, and hopefully by 2025 things will be largely back to normal.^S

A broad coalition of EU lawmakers have called for a ban on all Russian energy, including gas, presumably as secret communist agents to accelerate the collapse of the EU.^E

Increasing numbers of Arabs and Muslims are planning to vote for Donald Trump out of spite due to Biden’s fervent licking of the blood and mud on Netanyahu’s jackboots.^MEE From the Red Clarion: The Democrats Have Nothing Left To Offer You.

After many protests in the UK particularly over Gaza, Prime Minister Sunak has ordered a crackdown on protestors which would essentially make any act that isn’t sitting silently in a public field a criminal offence. A human rights campaign group is suing the government due to this.^NC

AMLO proposed a package of 20 constitutional reforms in early Februrary, which is unlikely to survive congressional pushback but nonetheless represents the government’s latest attempt to reorient away from neoliberalism. Canada is also quite angry at AMLO, as Canadian companies have interests in 70% of Mexican mining operations, and AMLO wishes to grant property rights over Mexico’s energy and mining assets to all Mexican citizens.^MR

Libertarian President Milei has stated his intention to implement reforms by decree due to the democratically elected parliament opposing him.^MP

Algeria hosted leaders from 13 countries in Algiers, including Russia, Iran, Qatar, and Venezuela, in order to co-ordinate on natural gas investments. Algeria is the second largest supplier of natural gas to Europe, after Norway. However, despite aggressive plans to expand production up to 2030, infrastructure is limiting the amount of gas that can actually be supplied - and domestic needs from a growing population also need to be balanced.^AN

Ghana has passed an anti-LGBTQIA+ bill which makes same-sex relationships, sexual activity, and public displays of affection illegal. People who support or fund related activities could face up to a decade in prison. This has faced international comdemnation from several countries, and the UN has called it "profoundly disturbing".^AN

UN peacekeepers have begun withdrawing from the DRC, in which 12,000 troops have been located since 1999, with the government accusing the UN of not doing their goddamn jobs, which does seem like a fairly accurate view of how things have gone in practice.^RT

At least 25 million Sudanese are suffering from hunger or malnutrition as the war continues to decimate the country. Less than 4% of the $2.7 billion in assistance that Sudan needs has been provided by donors so far this year, and last year, last than half was funded.^MEE

Russia's Rosatom has received applications from several African countries for the construction of new nuclear power plants, such as South Africa, which has expressed interest in a floating NPP. An Egyptian NPP is under construction and Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Uganda also want them.^BNE

Chinese company Transsion, with its three brands of Tecno, Infinix and iTel, have 48% of the African market share and are expanding into other markets, and experienced large growth in 2023 in both Africa and the Middle East, surpassing Samsung. This is due to a combination of relatively low prices, better marketing, and producing camera phones which work better with darker skin tones.^SCMP

China has warned New Zealand not to harm its own security interests after it expressed interest in an AUKUS security partnership on cyberwarfare, AI, and hypersonic weapons.^SCMP

The US has approved a $75 million weapons package to Taiwan which involves the Link 16 communications system - which completes Taiwan as the final link of the “transnational coalition kill chain”, giving Taiwan access to the jam-resistant tactical data network for co-ordinating NATO weapons systems that can be linked with countries like Japan, Australia, South Korea, and the US.^GPE

The Biden administration has announced that they’re launching a probe into Chinese smart cars to protect the American car industry, with all the usual “Xi Jinping himself is spying on you through the car cameras and hidden microphones and, uh, kills a Ughyur every time you brake, or something.”.^RT

The US has revealed that they have struck 230 targets in Yemen in response to their blockade; notably, the focus on big number rather than effect (HUNDREDS of sanctions on Russia!!!) is a tacit admission of the actual impotence of the attacks. In general, we’re seeing a rather uninspiring repeat of the propaganda that the US has used against Russia; that they’re running out of missiles, etc. ^NC

George Galloway calls on Jeremy Corbyn: "Announce an alliance of the remaining socialists in the country, you lead it, I'll support it, and let's go. Time is running out."

twitter

I wish he wasn't shit on so many topics, I want to like this guy so badly lol

In other news, Biden is just lying about inflation now

Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, the last premier of the council of ministers of the Soviet Union has just passed away today.

As a man who made many rightist mistakes and later lived in the world that resulted from those mistakes, he lived the rest of his life working with the KPRF to undo the damage that was wrought by Glasnost, Perestroika, and the fascist wave that overtook many of the former Warsaw pact nations.

Biden officials weigh giving Ukraine weapons without replacing U.S. stocks right away or waiting for Congress funds

Biden administration officials met Tuesday at the Pentagon to discuss ways to fill some of Ukraine’s urgent needs for artillery and ammunition quickly, including possibly drawing down U.S. stockpiles without replenishing them immediately or without waiting for more money from Congress, say two senior administration officials and a congressional official.

In the meeting, officials discussed various ways the Pentagon could resupply critical artillery and ammunition that Ukraine is expected to run out of soon, even while the White House’s request for new funding from Congress remains stalled, the officials said. No decisions have been made, according to the officials.

The discussions reflect growing alarm in the administration that Ukraine is poised to run out of key weaponry in the next few weeks, including 155 mm artillery rounds and air defense munitions.

yes please give away US stockpiles of weapons

Houthis say they have a suprise tool that they will talk about later.

[Oppose renaming article Al-Rashid humanitarian aid incident → Al-Rashid massacre] absolutely no one has cited anything that shows this is commonly called a massacre. I searched up the incident and found these results: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. 2 of those sources don't even say "massacre" once, the other three only attribute it to Hamas, Fatah, and Qatar. Meanwhile, the term incident is used in all sources multiple times, unattributed. No one bothered to look at and use the sources on this. Absolutely no arguments on policy whatsoever. Wikipedia is supposed to function on policy, not on opinions devoid of policy.

Wikipedia brain is terminal. Wikipedia policy of going purely on "trusted sources" (i.e. Western sources) instead of "original research" (describing what you can plainly see) is harmful.

The Transnistria Russia merger thing is real lol.

Europe running out of materials to make war supplies, blames China.

Here I was under the impression the superior Europeans didn't want Chinese cotton because it's all harvested by muslim slaves that are being ruthlessly oppressed by the soulless Chinese communists.

Glorious cope from the garden as the continually find out the results of their fucking around in years past.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3253928/europe-battles-gunpowder-shortage-supply-shells-ukraines-defence-against-russia

Heads up, there's photos of some Palestinian man who got ran over by an IOF bulldozer all over Twitter. And it's super gory. So gory that it didn't even register as human viscera when I first saw it.

sure are a lot of layoffs happening, huh

I'm sure the economy is fine

Of course Brandon walked back the Monday ceasefire thing.

lol George Galloway won his byelection:

“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” he said. “You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Gaza, in the Gaza Strip.”

Galloway won 12,335 votes – 39.7% of the total – in a much more sweeping victory than anyone had predicted, giving him a 5,697-vote majority.

Labour, which abandoned its candidate over inflammatory comments he made about Israel, finished in fourth place with just 7.7%, having held a near-10,000 vote majority in the constituency.

"Israel" has done another aid massacre https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/3/israels-war-on-gaza-live-every-minute-counts-as-hunger-kills-in-gaza

The ethical response would be to [redacted]

I've been so depressed about the ME and the looming nothingness I haven't been able to play video games to escapism in a week.it's like I want to vidya game to escapism, but I can't.

Went down a wikipedia rabbit hole and found out there is a town named after Alexei Stakhanov.

Ukraine renamed the city 'Kadiivka' in 2016, and refers to the city by this name, however Ukraine has not controlled the city since early 2014.[2][3][4]

Lol

I can't shake the feeling that if Swedish unions lose the conflict with Tesla, it will have a domino effect on labor in the EU. It would be a huge symbolic victory for Capital, showing that big multinationals now have the power to weather the strikes and deny collective bargaining so long as they don't mind bleeding money for a while. The silver lining would be that it could lead to a renaissance for labor organizing and active participation as contradictions deepen, but that may also be wishful thinking on my part, times being what they are.

What Aaron Bushnell Did in the Military (Ken Klippenstein)

article here

Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old U.S. Air Force servicemember who immolated himself in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, was a top secret cleared worker bee in the global American intelligence machine.

But Bushnell was not a spy or an intelligence analyst scouring through the intercepts and imagery. He was not even focused on the Middle East in his work. He was a backend IT guy, one of countless young tech support people who now staff the national security community, similar to what Edward Snowden was.

Despite widespread coverage, the press hasn’t done a very good job of explaining what exactly Bushnell did in the military. He was assigned to the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron, and stationed at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. “Freedom is What We Reap,” reads the squadron’s motto, wrapped around a roman centurion helmet that constitutes the unit patch.

Bushnell’s squadron is assigned to the 543rd ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] group, which is focused on producing intelligence covering the North America and South American “theaters” of war, as well as providing intelligence support to the drug war and the Department of Homeland Security. Contrary to much speculation online, it’s extremely unlikely that Bushnell had any involvement in the U.S.’s support to Israel amid the Gaza war.

In fact, there’s no evidence that he was ever even deployed overseas.

Though described as a cyber defense operations specialist, Bushnell’s LinkedIn reveals that he had many of the same hardware and software skills as people in the civilian IT world. Think of the intelligence machine as something akin to a Niagara of incoming data, and knowledge creator, and a vast data center where the network plays the central role in moving information to each stage along the way (and then must act as a giant search engine to find that information). It is all essential, but like the civilian world, these essential workers are unheralded and ignored.

From the Pentagon mouthpieces, to the Air Force leadership, to the Air Force intelligence apparatus, to his numbered Air Force commander, to his Wing commander, all the way down to his Group commander, there's no evidence whatsoever that any of them knew or even knew of Bushnell. That's the case with the vast majority of junior enlisted men and women in the military. Washington, meanwhile, lives in another reality, focused on budgets and paperwork, barely connected to the peons like Bushnell who keep the system running.

I didn’t know Bushnell, but I know servicemembers whose backgrounds sound just like his. They’re the competent young people who shoulder 99% of the responsibility but have 1% of the power in the military. The power differential coupled with a torrent of ugly news once concealed by network television but now delivered to them directly via social media, moves them to action.

Sometimes they leak stuff to people like me.

They’re motivated by genuine disgust at an elite class disengaged and disinterested in the mess they leave behind for the rest of us to pick up after.

Yet to the elites, it is the Bushnells of the world who are the problem, as demonstrated in the Pentagon’s press briefing on Monday.

“On the Airman Bushnell, would he be considered an extremist under the Pentagon’s definition of extremism?” one reporter asked Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

shot a Palestinian carrying a bag of flour after a crowd gathered to recieve aid. (Cw graphic)

Far right makes gains in Israeli municipal elections from Al Jazeera

Occupied East Jerusalem – Far-right and ultra-orthodox Zionist parties made significant gains in Israel’s municipal elections this week, raising fears among secular Israelis and Palestinians in Israel.

Jerusalem saw one of the largest victories for Israel’s far right, which captured a majority of local municipal seats. Centrist mayor Moshe Leon won a landslide victory to remain mayor. But Leon will be at the mercy of the far-right bloc in the municipality, which could lead to significant tension with Jerusalem’s roughly 362,000 Palestinian residents.

Most Palestinians in East Jerusalem boycotted the municipal elections to protest the occupation, as they have traditionally done in the past.

Israeli far-right Mayor Yair Revivo was elected as the mayor of the mixed Palestinian-Israeli city Lydd, or Lod in Hebrew. Palestinian citizens in Lydd say that Revivo has deliberately bulldozed Palestinian homes and overseen the immigration of far-right Jewish Israelis – including settlers from the West Bank. Revivo, in tandem with Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has also armed Israeli civilians in Lydd with M16 rifles following Hamas’s October 7 attack, arguing that they need weapons for their protection.

NSFW/L CW MURDER

rams two Palestinian teens riding a bike. One ethno-fascist gets out and murders one of the teens point blank in the back of the head.

when is the icj meant to meet again in regards to South Africa-Israel? i recall the ICJ said a month from that point in late Jan.

If anybody wants a good source to follow what's going on in Sudan, then I've been using the Sudan War Monitor substack.

Also, I want to briefly re-state my incandescent hatred for journalists. The audacity of journalists - the people who are, hypothetically, meant to keep the population informed of what's going on - calling what's going on in Sudan the "forgotten war"... my brothers in christ, it wouldn't be forgotten if you fucking talked about it.

From that FT article:

With no let-up in the war, the stalled diplomatic process must be urgently revived. Two developments provide the tiniest crumbs of hope. Last month, Sudan’s warring factions participated in secret talks in Bahrain, a sign that even the deluded generals may realise that neither side can win. And the US, better late than never, is about to appoint a special envoy, widely trailed as Tom Perriello, a former Democratic congressman. He needs strong White House backing to be effective.

There are no good solutions to the deep-seated crisis in Sudan, which threatens to become another Somalia. The hope — if it can be called that — is that the genie of war can somehow be put back in its bottle.

"Which threatens to become another Somalia?" I am going to go insane.

A great comment from @Frank@hexbear.net a few months ago:

I would like to object to the term "random act of piracy". Somali piracy has a long history tied in to geopolitics. It's a fascinating history; After the collapse of the Somali government back in the 80s there was no coast guard or navy to police Somali waters. Foreign fishing vessels entered somali waters and essentially strip mined the fisheries, leaving the somali fishing industry devastated. At the same time foreign firms began dumping toxic waste in to Somali waters. The first pirates were semi-organized militias trying to protect Somali waters from these foreign depredations. The militias quickly realized that seizing ships and crews for ransom was a profitable way to bring in hard currency in a region where the economy was devastated.

Pirate raids by Somalis have always been incredibly dangerous, with a terrifying death rate for the raiders, but for a long time there were no other real prospects and income from ransoms provided one of the few sources of hard currency for coastal Somalia.

International forces, of course, made no attempt to aid Somalis in keeping those pirating fish and dumping waste out of Somali waters, but were quick to respond militarily to Somali piracy. Such is geopolitics.

Also, Biden re-sent hundreds of troops to Somalia when Trump withdrew them.

My newest discovery in the saga of George Galloway, Rishi Sunak and Sky News is a strange one.

The video Sky News posted. This one. I've just discovered through a friend that Sky News have set it to be blocked in Russia.

They don't block their other content in Russia.

Only this video.

Very strange and curious behaviour. I have no idea what they're thinking.

The Axis of Asymmetry takes on the 'rules-based order'

Foreword:

World War III is here, playing out asymmetrically in military, financial, and institutional battlefields, and the fight is an existential one. The western Hegemon, in truth, is at war against international law, and only 'kinetic military action' can bring it to heel.

by Pepe Escobar at The Cradle.

---

The Axis of Asymmetry is in full swing. These are the state and non-state actors employing asymmetrical moves on the global chessboard to sideline the US-led western rules-based order. And its vanguard is the Yemeni resistance movement Ansarallah. Ansarallah is absolutely relentless. They have downed a $30 million MQ-9 Reaper drone with just a $10k indigenous missile. They are the first in the Global South ever to use anti-ship ballistic missiles against Israel-bound and/or -protecting commercial and US Navy ships. For all practical purposes, Ansarallah is at war with no less than the US Navy. Ansarallah has captured one of the US Navy's ultra-sophisticated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), the $1.3 million Remus 600, a torpedo-shaped underwater drone able to carry a massive payload of sensors. Next stop: reverse engineering in Iran? The Global South eagerly awaits, ready to pay in currencies bypassing the US dollar.

All of the above – a maritime 21st-century remix of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War – spells out that the Hegemon may not even qualify as a paper tiger, but rather as a paper leech.

Lula tells it as the Global South sees it

Into the Big Picture – linked to the relentless ongoing genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza – steps a true leader of the Global South, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula spoke in the name of Brazil, Latin America, Africa, BRICS 10, and the overwhelming majority of the Global South when he cut to the chase and defined the Gaza tragedy for what it is: a genocide. No wonder the Zionist tentacles across the Global North – plus its Global South vassals – went bonkers. The genocidals in Tel Aviv declared Lula as persona non grata in Israel. Yet Lula did not assassinate 29,000+ Palestinians – the overwhelming majority of whom were women and children. History will be unforgiving: it’s the genocidals that will eventually be judged as personae non grata to all of humanity.

What Lula said represented BRICS 10 in action: this was obviously cleared before with Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and, of course, the African Union. Lula spoke in Addis Ababa, and Ethiopia is now a BRICS 10 member. The Brazilian president was extremely smart in timing his Gaza fact-check to be on the table during the G20 meeting of Foreign Ministers in Rio. Way beyond BRICS 10, what’s happening in Gaza is a consensus among the non-Western G20 partners – who are actually a majority. No one, though, should expect any serious follow-up inside a divided G20. The heart of the matter remains in the facts on the ground.

Yemen’s fight for “our people” in Gaza is a matter of humanistic, moral, and religious solidarity – these are foundational tenets of the rising eastern "civilizational" powers, both domestically and in international affairs. This convergence of principles has now created a direct link – extrapolating to the moral and spiritual spheres – between the Axis of Resistance in West Asia and the Slavic Axis of Resistance in Donbass. Extreme attention should be paid to the timescale. The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) forces and Russia have spent two hard-fought years in Novorossiya just to arrive at the stage where it becomes clear – based on the battlefield and cumulative facts on the ground – that “negotiations” mean only the terms of Kiev’s surrender.

In contrast, the job of the Axis of Resistance in West Asia has not even started. It’s fair to argue that its strength and full sovereign involvement have not been deployed yet (think Hezbollah and Iran). Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, with his proverbial subtlety, has hinted there’s, in fact, nothing to negotiate on Palestine. And if there would be a return to any borders, these would be the 1948 borders. The Axis of Resistance understands that the whole Zionist Project is unlawful and immoral. But the question remains how to throw it, in practice, into the dustbin of History? Possible – avowedly optimistic – scenarios ahead would include Hezbollah taking possession of the Galilee as a step toward the eventual retaking of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Yet the fact remains that even a united Palestine does not have the military capability to reconquer stolen Palestinian lands.

So the questions posed by the overwhelming majority of the Global South that stands with Lula may be: Who else, apart from Ansarallah, Hezbollah, Hashd al-Shaabi, will join the Axis of Asymmetry in the fight for Palestine? Who would be willing to come to the Holy Land and die? (After all, in Donbass, it’s only Russians and Russophones who are dying for historically Russian lands) And that brings us to the way towards the endgame: only a West Asian Special Military Operation (SMO), to the bitter end, will settle the Palestinian tragedy. A translation of what happens across the Slavic Axis of Resistance: “Those who refuse to negotiate with Lavrov, deal with Shoigu.”

The menu, the table, and the guests

That out-of-his-depth closet neocon, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, let the cat out of the bag when he actually defined his much cherished “rules-based international order”: “If you're not on the table, you are on the menu.” Following his own hegemonic logic, it’s clear that Russia and the US/NATO are on the table while Ukraine is on the menu. What about the Red Sea? The Houthis defending Palestine against US–UK–Israel are clearly on the table, while Western vassals supporting Israel in a maritime way are clearly on the menu. And that’s the problem: the Hegemon – or, in Chinese scholarly terminology, “the crusaders” – have lost the power to place the name cards on the table. The main reason for this authority collapse is the build-up of serious international meetings sponsored by the Russia–China strategic partnership during the past two years since the start of the SMO. It’s all about sequential planning, with long-term targets clearly outlined. Only civilizational states can do that – not plutocratic neoliberal casinos.

Negotiating with the Hegemon is impossible because the Hegemon itself prevents negotiations (see the serial blocking of ceasefire resolutions at the UN). Additionally, the Hegemon excels in instrumentalizing its client elites across the Global South via threats or kompromat: see the hysterical reaction of Brazilian mainstream media to Lula’s verdict on Gaza. What Russia is showing the Global South, two years after the start of the SMO, is that the only path to teach a lesson to the Hegemon has to be kinetic, or “military-technical.” The problem is no nation-state can compare to nuclear/hypersonic/military superpower Russia, in which 7.5 percent of the government’s budget is dedicated to military production. Russia is and will remain on a permanent war footing until Hegemon’s elites come to their senses – and that may never happen.

Meanwhile, West Asia's Axis of Resistance is watching and learning, day after day. It’s always crucial to keep in mind that for all the resistance movements across the Global South – and that also includes, for instance, West Africans against French neo-colonialism – the geopolitical fault lines could not be starker. It's a matter of the collective West versus Islam; the collective West versus Russia; and sooner rather than later, a substantial part of the West, even reluctantly, versus China. The fact is we are already immersed in a World War that is both existential and civilizational. As we stand at the crossroads, there is a bifurcation: either escalation towards overt “kinetic military action,” or a multiplication of Hybrid Wars across several latitudes.

So it’s up to the Axis of Asymmetry, cool, calm, and collected, to forge the underground corridors, passages, and trails capable of undermining and subverting the US-led, unipolar, rules-based international order.

frustrating seeing people still call the invasion of ukraine "stupid" two years on. to say nothing of its morality one way or the other, whether or not it was a mistake is not the sort of thing that anybody can reasonably call at this point but it seems pretty far from stupid. russia's economy has grown as they have been able to pivot towards the east, and they have all but destroyed the second-biggest army in europe (after their own), and they have drained the coffers and supplies of the NATO countries. sure, some more countries have joined nato, but it's not like there was any chance of them ever joining the antiimperialist bloc anyways. maybe some years down the line it will be a mistake in hindsight, very possible with the demographic challenges in russia and the whole unstable state on their doorstep thing, but for now from an outsider's perspective it looks like it was a risky gamble that has at least broken even if not paid off a little bit.

another retired Polish general going off, happens quite often actually

Poland Daily 24 - Polish General Said Deporting Ukrainians from Poland Would Help on the Frontline… But Would It Really? [06/02/2024]

General Skrzypczak proposed that the Polish government take a drastic measure to support Kyiv by deporting all Ukrainian men residing in Poland back to their homeland. He believes this action would strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities. “The Polish government should assist Kyiv in the deportation of Ukrainians living abroad. We need to reach out to Ukrainian citizens who are living abroad to address this issue. This initiative should be directed towards the governments in Warsaw, Paris, Prague, and wherever else they may be residing. These governments should help Kyiv in carrying out the deportations,” Skrzypczak stated during a TOK FM radio interview on January 23.

Understanding that most jobs are bullshit, while also thinking AI is just a parlor trick kinda stikes me as a major blind spot for the left and a big point of cognitive dissonance.

Of course this tech won't be good at writing original shit like groundbreaking new TV shows. It's always going to produce derivative dreck. But how much of your spreadsheet job is like Shakespeare?

Not necessarily talking about the current state of the art, necessarily. But this stuff is advancing daily at this point and it kinda feels more and more like this a monster that escaped the lab. You don't have to like bazinga brain silicon valley bro tech culture to realize they still might be making real gains faster than we can manage.

Norfolk Southern freight train cars derail in Pennsylvania

Do yanks know how to operate trains? Do they need China to teach them?

Was looking at some of the “no party affiliation” candidates in CA senate primary election. I came across a questionnaire that Laura Garza filled out for the OC Register (link). It first mentions she was “Former vice presidential candidate on Socialist Workers Party ticket in 1996”. I’m thinking hmmm… that’s sounds kinda Trot-y, but maybe not. Let’s see what her positions are. First question was about Palestine, “israel”, Ukraine, and Russia… and this was the response:

I defend Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews and condemn the Jew-hating pogrom organized by Hamas with the backing of the Iranian regime. The capitalist regime in Tehran and the reactionary forces it backs in Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are enemies not only of Jews but of working people of all nationalities. So long as capitalism exists, in times of crisis, the rulers will turn to scapegoating Jews to smash the working class as they did in Nazi Germany. The fight for workers’ power and socialism is the only solution to end the anti-working class poison of Jew-hatred.

I stand with the people of Ukraine in their battle for independence and sovereignty over all of Ukraine and against Moscow’s reactionary invasion.

I don’t support the policies of the U.S. capitalist class and their military, which is used worldwide to defend U.S. profits and imperialist domination, not the interests of working people here or elsewhere. I am for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea, the Middle East and Europe. I defend the Cuban Revolution and call for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba, which is used to suffocate the Cuban population for their decision to reject living under Washington’s boot.

What a fascinating mix of leftist language and absolute dogshit, sprinkled with some good takes (but also ones that even normal libs support, like ending the blockade on Cuba). Honestly, her takes on “israel” sounds like what an actual neo-Nazi would come up with if they were trying to make a caricature of a leftist.

https://archive.is/q7Ld8

The US Army is breeding a new kind of Arctic warrior by 'testing the mettle of the human' in frigid, freezing Alaska, commander says

Alternative title: The Army sends a bunch of southern hicks (that's all of you in the mainland USA, from Washington to Florida) up to Alaska to go cold-weather camping.

This shit ain't exactly new but the clowns in the Pentagon love to reinvent the wheel to show everyone how out of touch they are with reality.

In the early morning, just as the sun slowly rises up from behind the mountains, gusts of icy wind sweep across the US Army camp, whipping up snow from the ground and the trees in the surrounding forests. It's a bone-chilling cold, one felt even through any protective layers or garments.

An average day in Alaska

Soldiers come and go in and out of tents, some surprisingly wearing just t-shirts, seemingly unbothered by the conditions. One sits outside eating breakfast. The temperature of six degrees Fahrenheit is practically spring weather, they say. Just a week before, it was -40 degrees, temperatures many have never had to endure.

No joke 6 degrees Fahrenheit does feel like a warm day after you're freezing your tits off during the deep cold parts of winter. In fact when it's 0C/32F it feels so warm you get the zoomies and want to go around town in only a t-shirt and shorts

Out on the snow-covered Alaskan tundra, US Army Pacific is pushing its soldiers to prepare to fight in subzero temperatures and hostile, unpredictable environments. It is a challenge unlike anything else in the Army, top generals told Business Insider, and a relatively new training experience that tests "the mettle of the human," one brigade combat team commander said.

Basically they're saying your biggest enemy up here is nature and the moral of the dumbasses you sent to play in nature

Earlier this month, USARPAC held its annual Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center training exercise near Fairbanks, Alaska that BI was able to observe firsthand.

Folks it fucking sucks up there, take it from me.

Throughout the training, soldiers with the US Army's 11th Airborne Division and troops from over a dozen international allies and partners ran wargames in the Arctic, with one side posing as enemy forces. Troops adapt to freezing temperatures and unpredictable conditions, making adjustments to gear, kits, and equipment in real time.

God I wish I was there because the complaining and whining you'd hear from them would be a beautiful orchestra to me.

Some days, the temperature is well below zero, and snow piles feet-deep in fields and forests. Others, the weather is considerably "warmer" than usual — in the tens or twenties. Snow isn't as prevalent, but the ground remains frozen solid. Any warmer, and it's muddy, caking to boots and vehicles.

If there's one thing I've learned from my times getting lost in the wilderness during winter, it's that forests are friends and fields are foes if you don't have snow shoes. Holy shit I'm having flashbacks to my first time trying to cross a field filled with snow to bury me twice over standing up, my body hated me so much that day. No wonder why moose have those long fucking legs!

"It's a harsh environment," Maj. Gen. Brian S. Eifler told Business Insider in an in-person interview at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. "If something happens in those conditions, you got to have a force that's ready."

Shit ain't happening if there's a war in the snow.

On the ground, soldiers echoed similar sentiments. Some told Business Insider the Arctic was the most difficult environment to fight in, while others noted it took a specific type of mindset to survive there, let alone excel.

Tormenting the soldiers so they actually like freezing their asses off to own the Russians and Chinese

"There are not a lot of forces in our Army, or really in our military, that can operate here," Col. Sean Lucas told Business Insider, calling the JPMRC training an opportunity "to experiment with how much soldiers can endure" and "test the mettle of the human."

"Operate" is doing heavy lifting here. The fuckers up in Fairbanks not only need to keep their cars plugged in so their oil pans don't freeze and their batteries don't discharge, they also keep heated blankets on their engines so they're barely warm enough to actually go through the ignition cycle. Arctic warfare would be a drone operator's playground.

JPMRC is the Army's newest combat training center, only a few years old. It conducts rotations in both Alaska and Hawaii every year, giving soldiers the chance to train for combat in both the wet, humid jungle and the icy, harsh Arctic.

They've been doing Arctic survival training for decades. The only reason this article exists is to jack off the military industrial complex for blowing another load of taxpayer dollars on more useless shit

Both environments are at the ends of the pendulum of what the Indo-Pacific region has to offer in terms of battlefield conditions, and according to Gen. Charles A. Flynn, USARPAC's commanding general, they are the "environments and conditions where our forces are most likely to operate."

Lol cope

The Pentagon has long identified China as the US' "pacing challenge" and made determined efforts to shift American military focus towards the Indo-Pacific region for a potential conflict there, but the area is also home to Russia and North Korea, presenting a host of possible threats.

Only possible threat is the U.S struggling to encroach on the region.

US Indo-Pacific Command and its forces have increased their training, particularly with allies, in order to deter enemy forces and maintain the ability to fight across the Pacific should that fail. For many in the Army, it's a major shift in focus from over two decades of counterinsurgency fighting in the Middle East.

A major shift for the army that its failing at lmak

With great power competition and possible conflict on the horizon, particularly in the Pacific, there are new investments, like JPMRC, to help ensure readiness.

jerking off motion

Difficulties of the JPMRC's Alaska rotation are constant and visible everywhere you look.

Yeah so maybe fucking stop then

Equipment breaks, troops have to be ready to combat threats to their health like hypothermia, artillery pieces have to be maneuvered across ever-changing ground conditions, paratroopers land hard on icy, snowy ground. Conditions change on a day-to-day basis, making everything tougher to anticipate. Many things are an experiment, being worked on in real time.

I can picture some artillerymen dipshits not properly digging in the feet of their artillery, only shoving it in the snow, yanking the cord to fire a round, and yeeting the artillerypiece right into some poor dipshit. Or some paratrooper trying to land on a glacier only to break through a light snow shell straight into a ravine.

One example is the new cold weather clothing gear, including several layers, or "levels." During the JPMRC exercise, troops were giving feedback on the gear, how much of it was needed on a day-to-day basis, and whether it made sense to overdress or remain "comfortably cold" so as not to wind up sweating too much in the heat of battle.

If there's a lesson for you nerds to actually learn here, it's about how to dress for the cold in a way that is relevant to your situation.

"Our soldiers here are encouraged to innovate," Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Gaskin told Business Insider, explaining that "we don't have all the answers for this environment."

Fucking corporate words. Innovate yourself in a winter workshop to avoid quiet quitting during an ecological downturn

When the 11th Airborne Division was re-activated in 2022, Army leadership specifically tasked it with developing "innovative ways of operating in this environment," which Eifler has called the "most challenging" on the planet.

Lol throwing a new Division of dipshits straight into the freezer as a funny joke

Without a clear guide book on how best to fight in the Arctic, a region for which the Army released its new strategy only a few years ago, troops sometimes make it up as they go.

If you remember the article I posted early about tanks, here's the same fucking problem! ITS ALL FUCKING MADE UP ON THE GO! The army is relearning how to function as an army in 2024!

Soldiers develop new tactics and techniques, exploring what gear is needed or how to fortify a position when there's little snow on the ground. The latter seems to be solvable by chopping down trees and using the wood. And that's not even the half of it.

Fuck I can feel it in my bones the jackbooted mini dictators that make up the military command structure definitely made those dumbasses try and dig trenches and foxholes in the frozen dirt

The Arctic is tough and challenging, but Army leaders said the harsh environment and difficult training produces prepared and pioneering troops unlike any other unit. In a 2022 paper written with another Army officer called "Forging the Arctic Warrior," Eifler wrote that "it takes a special breed of Soldier to thrive in the Arctic."

It takes a special kind of person to live here, get on my level groundpounders.

Lucas said that if you can handle the Arctic, you can handle anything, telling Business Insider that "if you can lead, or you can be a soldier in the extreme cold, you can lead or be a soldier anywhere."

That's a fucking lie, I can't handle humidity for shit and I definitely can't handle humid heat. I would rather broil myself alive in Phoenix Arizona during the worst summer than spend any time in the most mildest of Floridian winters!

Some of these points are things me and some few others, definitely a minority here, have been saying for months.

Yes its an opinion piece, but there are also quotes from relevant people including Vijay Prashad.

Palestinians call for China to step up pressure on Israel as they seek an end to ‘collective punishment’ on Gazans

A ceasefire and the two-state solution, which China has persevered with despite Israel’s rejection, are seen as largely unattainable by Palestinians. They want Beijing to be more precise and forceful in its support for their liberation, as they say it has become increasingly clear that the Western position does not align with theirs. While China cannot “resolve” the conflict, as a superpower and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, it could “do more to mitigate” it, according to Razan Shawamreh, a doctoral researcher of international relations at the Eastern Mediterranean University.

“The Palestinian sense of marginalisation and vulnerability, stemming from US policies that support Israel’s crimes, have prompted them to find potential alternatives for support and solidarity, and they find it in China,” the Cyprus-based Palestinian academic said. Beijing’s reactions signified both its support as well as its policy of not interfering or meddling in other countries’ affairs. But that should not be construed as an unwillingness to facilitate negotiations in international conflicts, Shawamreh said.

In November, President Xi Jinping called for an end to the “collective punishment against the people of Gaza” with Beijing later issuing its formal position paper on the conflict, urging a comprehensive ceasefire and the establishment of a UN conference to draw up a road map for a two-state solution. “I contend that it can engage in serious bilateral discussions with both parties, extending beyond its peace proposals, given the positive regard in which both sides of the conflict hold China, in recognition of its rising influence,” Shawamreh said. Zoon Ahmed Khan, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Centre for China and Globalisation, said the capacity for China to act positively towards a resolution was enhanced by the fact “it has historically been sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause while maintaining pragmatic relations and broadened engagement with Israel”.

Then there is some explanation that the US is using the same "You're against Ukrainian Nazis then you're a Putler bot" shit but with the geopolitical equivalent of "do you condemn Hamas". This is not as important the better part is this

US politicians’ portrayal of ceasefire demands as being Chinese or Russian-led efforts to destabilise the West may have impeded the bid for Palestinian liberation, pushing it further out of reach. A more involved Global South is the answer, according to Rula Shadeed, co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, which advocates for the embattled population. Shadeed said China’s clear support for Palestine would have a “very powerful effect” on the conflict, giving a boost to smaller states that may have been concerned about the consequences of doing the same.

“China has an important role, but it definitely can do much, much, much more,” she said. “The trade relationship between China and Israel has been ongoing, for example. There has not been anything that was stopped, no calls for summoning the Israeli ambassador. There was not even mentions or threats of cutting ties [as Israeli offensives continue].”

In January, state-owned China Cosco Shipping Corporation reportedly planned to stop delivering goods into Israel because of actions by Houthi militants in the waters. Chinese ambassador Cai Run was reportedly summoned by Israel’s foreign ministry over the move. Shadeed said Beijing had to shift its position away from a two-state solution, which was an “ancient stock” that had been proven to be “merely impossible” by the pervasive system of segregation that Palestinians have faced for more than seven decades.

“I think that most Palestinians don’t care about states any more – what they care about, which is rightly important, is liberation. They want the entire killing to stop, they want their economic situation to flourish, they want to have normal lives, access to health and education, and the right of movement.” Israel has maintained its “declaratory decision” to reject any recognition of Palestinian statehood. Top-ranking minister Eli Cohen said recently that peace agreements should be given up “if the price of expanding peace agreements is a Palestinian state”, reinforcing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that his country needed full security control over “the entire area in the west of Jordan”.

The average daily death toll in Palestine has exceeded that of any other major conflict of recent years, according to a January report by Oxfam. But that killing could be stopped with some practical solutions, according to Vijay Prashad, historian and director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. He said permanent members of the Security Council, including China, could bring forward proposals similar to those imposed on Libya during the civil war of 2011. “To stop the bombing, China can put forward a motion for a no-fly zone over Gaza and have Egypt monitor the flights over the area,” Prashad said. “It can also propose a full arms embargo – not even dual-use technology [goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications] should be allowed to be shipped to Israel.”

Prashad said the fact that member states were not offering such motions was “perplexing” and “part of our colonial sensibility” that the UN’s agenda could not be set by non-Western states, who were not traditionally the decision-makers. “There are moments like when the Chinese representative to the UN [Zhang Jun] stopped the Israeli ambassador from talking in a very undignified way – so it’s not like people aren’t asserting themselves, but why not assert themselves with a resolution?”

Prashad acknowledged that the proposals would likely be vetoed by the US, making Washington appear “even more complicit in the massacre than they are right now”.

The US again blocked a ceasefire resolution on Tuesday. It was the third US veto of a draft resolution since October 7. Zhang said the US vote – the only one against – was “nothing different from giving the green light to the continued slaughter” in Gaza. The veto power has become increasingly controversial as it effectively prevents UN action against the permanent members and their allies, leading to inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

China and other countries could further consider recalling their ambassadors in Israel and removing Israeli diplomats in their countries in order to “put Israel on notice diplomatically”, Prashad said. They would be “straightforward” and “non-interventionist” moves to make a palpable stance against the unceasing violence.

Last week, Brazil recalled its ambassador to Israel while summoning the Israeli ambassador for a reprimand, amid tensions deepened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s comparison of Israel’s war on Gaza to the Holocaust.

Prashad said that among his Palestinian peers, there was “a lot of respect” for China’s infrastructure investment in the West Bank, but in response to the current Palestinian suffering, the Global South in general has been “pretty timid”.

Yes there is a lot of anti-Zionism protesting, but at the top level, as the article makes clear, there is no global stance to oppose Israel yet. Maybe when people like Prashad are out there saying China needs to do more maybe we can get a more critical stance towards China?

Just 2 simple points imo going forward:

#1 We need China to step up and actualy take an active role if we want the world to actualy get better, transactional and billateral relations will not work in a world divided by a clear anti-communist block. If China needs allies they actually need to stand up and show they'll defend these alliances beyond token gestures. Everything happening around certain BRICS countries and their relation with Palestine is also a major pain, a huge embarrassing contradiction that needs to be resolved or else China will never be global leader for any sort of leftist/communist movement.

You absolutely can't say "material conditions" on one side to justify China and Egypt/UAE/Saudi relations and then continue to have relations with these countries as they facilitate the genocide.

#2 The inherent contradictions of SCC(or just Chinese capitalism if you want) are abundantly clear in this conflict, China's hypocritical stance towards Israel is not fooling anyone in the global south actually paying attention. When you refuse to actually harm Israel even with token gestures like economic relations then you have lose credibility and people are starting to notice. People will demand real support for their cause, not just grandiose statements at the UN.

The sad part is all of this should be the common communist position, yet it is published on the South China Liberal Rag Post.

President Biden invites former President Trump to work together on a border bill while challenging congressional Republicans to “show a little spine.”

Biden is now goading Trump to support his fascist border bill. (I don't understand why Trump doesn't just accept it? they get everything they want) remember to vote though, most important election of our lifetimes, This. Is. An. Investment. In. Democracy. etc

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-calls-studies-into-ugly-gender-theory-2024-03-01/

Pope Francis calls for studies into 'ugly' gender theory

I did not have pope francis coming out as against "gender ideology' on my cards for 2024

so much for the woke pope

Danish Leader Urges Military Buildup At The Expense Of Welfare

In a recent interview with oligarch-aligned newspaper Financial Times Denmark's iron-fisted supreme leader, the social democrat Mette Frederiksen, is calling for American satellite states in western Europe to increase military buildup, painting Russia as an imminent threat to the imperialist bloc, claiming that Russia will soon be able to attack a member of the American-dominated NATO pact. Russian officials has repeatedly stated that they have no such intentions.

In the interview given in the Marienborg government compound outside of Copenhagen, the supreme leader bombastically started that "the naive continent" of Europe "must not repeat the mistakes of the 1930's". She claims that western European nations within the American sphere of influence has spent too little money on military buildup over the years, instead leaving their American overlords to foot the bill.

That this is not just empty sabre rattling is demonstrated by the frenzied rearmament programme Frederiksen's regime has embarked on, raising concerns for the stability in the Baltic and Arctic regions. Numbers released by Denmark's Liberal Party-controlled ministry of defense, suggesting that the Nordic kingdom is already spending a whopping two percent of GDP on its armed forces this year, thereby fulfilling American dictates for minimum military spending.

Despite Denmark being neighboured by fellow members of the Washington-controlled NATO pact and being at no risk of an unprovoked attack, Frederiksen claims her struggling nation is in dire need of spending even more money on military posturing. In the Financial Times interview she claims that "freedom comes with a price" and that funding for social welfare must be curbed to fund the regime's grand military plans.

The supreme leader goes on to say that "if the world is changing in the direction I think it will, then you cannot spend your penny, or your dollar, or your euro, or your krone two times."

Far away from the halls of power the people of Denmark are already paying the price for their dear leader's freedom. The nation's social welfare system, once lauded as a ray of light and progress in the heart of the otherwise bleak and uncaring imperialist bloc, is buckling under the stress of decades of economic mismanagement and chronic underfunding. The people of Denmark are now looking forward to seeing their schools, hospitals and public transit system decay even further, as the regime splurges on guns and missiles.

A Hexbear post from 3 years ago that highlights the Biden campaign's position on BDS

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei

"The situation in Gaza is too much even for that young person who was brought up in that culture. Even his conscience was hurting.

Of course, instead of one person, a thousand people should have set themselves on fire. But being immersed in corruption doesn't allow for this.

Now one person's conscience has been awakened by chance and he set himself on fire.

Western Culture has truly exposed itself and revealed how corrupted, perverted, and cruel it is.

We hope that Almighty God will provide a complete victory to Islam, Muslims, Palestine, and especially Gaza."

Source

Seeing that Kraut fuck in the modlog reminded me of this tweet

https://twitter.com/MKarnitschnig/status/1761792453953105935