Image, sourced from this article, is of George Bush in 2002 meeting with María Corina Machado, who was even then being trained as a figure to oppose Venezuelan socialism, and very briefly succeeded with the Carmona Decree. Now the latest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, she has begged the Zionist entity to drop bombs on the Venezuelan people.
As of me writing these sentences, it appears that the ceasefire in Gaza is underway. Zionist ceasefires are, of course, an oxymoron - not only in the grand sense that their work to continue genocidal atrocities against others locally and regionally will not cease until the Zionist entity’s occupation of Palestine is overthrown and Palestinians can resume the governance of their territory - but also in the literal sense; that bombings and shootings are often only merely reduced, and rarely cease entirely (as was/is the case on their northern border with Lebanon). Nonetheless, hopefully the population can receive some aid, and the long process of rebuilding can begin.
On the other side of the world, it seems increasingly likely that a new war is set to begin. Because the US is eschewing the usual process of generating pro-war propaganda and casus bellis (aside from a laughably transparent Nobel Peace Prize award) and seems content to just skip straight to the “bomb and depose” step, it’s quite hard to predict what precisely they want to do. Anything seems to be on the table - from freely striking Venezuelan territory where “drug dealers” are to try and prompt a Venezuelan response, to assassinating Maduro and/or his generals and hoping a power vacuum can be filled with compradors, to attempting to outright invade Venezuela and establish direct American control over important government sites. All appear to be possibilities, though as of right now, the most drastic measures seem unlikely due to their difficulty.
We know that the US has almost totally abandoned diplomatic communication with Venezuela, and that the US has deployed warships, a nuclear submarine, F-35s, surveillance planes, and at least 4,000 military personnel to the Caribbean, with some sources putting the numbers higher. Some people have suggested that the point is to try and force Maduro into a situation where he must begin hostilities, or be seen as weak and perhaps overthrown from within. It is at least encouraging that Maduro is not like Allende in Chile, and is taking this situation extraordinarily seriously; the masses are being trained and mobilized in the event of an invasion, and military drills are ongoing. Venezuela has no real capacity to stop the US from attacking and bombing them, but it is much more possible to prevent a West-friendly puppet from gaining meaningful control of the country. A comprador might be able to make a brief statement or decree in a Venezuelan city saying that Chavismo is over, but actual power will hopefully prove very elusive.
2020, and particularly 2022, has clearly become a turning point for the Western imperial system, in which increasingly aggressive and reckless moves are required to keep the system functional (stability is, at this point, out of the question). Unfortunately, this has also resulted in the deaths of many long-lasting, inspiring figures, such as Nasrallah, and many more will certainly die before the empire collapses. If Maduro is assassinated - and I’m having trouble imagining how he won’t be doggedly pursued in the days. weeks, and months to come - I have hope that a successor will rise to continue to lead the Bolivarian Revolution.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Inshallah.
Do you have a sense of the mood? Are the people largely fed up with Milei’s bullshit by now? Regardless, hope you and your loved ones can keep your heads above water through all this.
I suppose the “good” news is that all it takes is for a leader to repudiate the US and its debts and maybe get help from countries that are interested in helping others achieve sovereignty. I don’t mean to make that sound easy as it would be fairly painful immediately but it seems to me Argentina is a country with resources and an educated population; possibly self-sufficiency in food and energy, which is really what’s needed for sovereignty along with your own currency. It’s the currency and debt issues (and thus fealty to the US) that are at the core of Argentina’s problems (not “spending more than taxes bring in”, which is nonsense), and there is a way to resolve those that’s the opposite of what Milei is doing.
The mood is of course not very good, but I think it’s similar to the situation in the US. A lot of people are not very happy, and the current administration is not THAT popular as it is with Trump. milei is definitely in his greatest moment of weakness, however the mood hasn’t reached the low point that would force a president to resign or something, far from it actually, I think he’ll make it to complete his full term. I also think people are just too busy just trying to get by, and they remain largely indifferent to milei’s shit. Everyone seems so depoliticized these days though. And thanks for the good wishes!
The issue is that the local oligarchy is completely tied with the US and their interests. The US-aligned oligarchs have completely won over the historic UK-aligned oligarchs, especially since the 1960s onwards (Which is, more or less, why the oligarchy allowed for the military junta to attack Britain in 1982).
And so, as it stands right now, maintaining a somewhat hostile attitude towards the US is borderline suicidal. First there are few actors that are willingly anti-yankee, and unsurprisingly those are both from the far left and the far right, some because they are anti-imperialists and others because they are nationalists. Everyone else will try to keep somewhat warm relations with the US, some prefer warm-ish relations (like the first Peronist governments + Kirchnerism) and others prefer warm, I would even say extremely hot relations with the US empire (milei, Menem, the Juntas and so on). With this kind of “national” bourgeoisie it is unpractical to take a posture like that, in mere months the would-be government will be facing a deep institutional crisis and a coup (most likely directed from the Justice) will take place. So, if you play following the rules you lose, only a revolutionary moment, through the physical and cultural extermination of the oligarchy, could save them.
Anyways, I am certainly rambling now…, but I do think we’re screwed for the time being. As I’ve said before we’re now fully tied to the US, but perhaps our only hope remains with the US losing it’s position as the world’s leading superpower. If the US collapses (fully or partial, I do not know) that might just free us from their influence, sending us into completely uncharted territory. That goes for pretty much everyone else though, if the US is powerless to discipline us through soft or hard power… then a lot of things will be possible. This is why I am so keen on reading about the internal issues in the United States, as the situation continues to worsen and the inherent contradictions within their society manifest themselves with more and more clarity. I am even more in touch with the events currently unfolding within the United States than I am with our own internal events. My attention, ultimately, has to be there…