Analysis and images of the parades is all over the internet and in the last megathread; for the China-India stuff I recommend this article, as well as the Tricontinental in general.
Image is from @xiaohongshu@hexbear.net’s comment in the last megathread.
Last week was the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2, and on such an occasion, China put on quite an impressive military parade, especially in comparison to the rather drab and corporate parade that the USA recently had. In attendance were many world leaders, including Putin, Kim Jong Un, and a very happy-looking Lukashenko.
This took place shortly after the SCO summit in Tianjin, in which Modi was notably in attendance. That one of the world’s most powerful fascists was in attendance in China near the anniversary of the World Antifascist War is obviously pretty ironic. Regardless, the mood was still relatively positive; for example, Xi announced the acceleration of the creation of the SCO development bank, and Indian-Chinese relations are once again in the thaw cycle of their long-term cyclical pattern, with direct flights resumed and links expanded. The fact that there is this much projected optimism from China about a Global South which is being increasingly tariffed, infiltrated, starved, looted, bombed, invaded, and massacred in the hundreds of thousands by rabid imperialist dogs is perhaps a little tone-deaf, but buoying up the SCO is better than doing nothing at all, I suppose.
Any astute Geopolitics Understander can tell you that this is certainly not India joining the side of the Global South, but instead a move somewhat forced upon them as they seek to balance both sides for their own gain. As Trump amps up pressure on India via tariffs, it is natural that India would seek leverage, and there is much that India gains: industrial development, increased intra-regional trade, and scientific knowledge from a China which has, in numerous fields, now pulled ahead of the USA. India is also facing numerous internal crises, ranging from run-of-the-mill capitalist incompetence and corruption, to worsening conditions for farmers, to the ravaging impacts of climate change, and increasing their links with China is a way to vent off a little of that pressure and protect Modi’s regime.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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Israel'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.
Interesting post by Saudi propagandist Malek Al Rougi:
The Iranian-Israeli War
Attack on Abqaiq
The Bombing of Doha
Events and stances that raise strategic questions for decision-makers.
Those who read the context of Gulf security find that the Gulf Cooperation Council was established due to the Iraqi-Iranian War, welcomed American and European bases after Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, and after 2011, the Gulf intervened directly to protect Bahrain by deploying the Peninsula Shield Forces despite Western opposition and despite the presence of the U.S. Fifth Fleet on its soil. In 2015, the Gulf intervened in Yemen through Operation Decisive Storm to support Yemeni legitimacy against the Houthi coup, and there was also Western opposition to this at various stages. Years ago, we witnessed the attack on Abqaiq and Aramco and the Western stance, as well as what happened in the Iranian-Israeli War, Iran’s bombing of Doha, and the evacuation of Al Udeid Air Base. This week, Israel bombed a Gulf country for the first time in history by targeting Doha, which hosts the largest American base, and despite Israel being an ally of Washington, Netanyahu bombed in a criminal manner without regard, with a soft American stance toward what happened.
If those who intend to attack the Gulf knew that Kuwait’s borders extend to Jazan, Doha’s borders extend to Jeddah, and Tabuk’s borders extend to Muscat, they would not consider attacking. What reassures is that the Gulf is distinguished by flexible leadership that possesses bold and informed decision-making to understand and organize Gulf national security.
My own comment: the shift in rhetoric by Gulf propaganda figures has been very interesting to follow. It doesn’t mean anything yet, but they’re sensing that populations in the Gulf are livid, and a dominant theme within policy nerd discussions right now is “why not China if America can’t protect us?”.
I’m not sure it even can mean anything. The gulf militaries are such a joke they might actually help anyone they try to fight.
Yeah they’ve basically bought a bunch of expensive military gear from the USA as status symbols. Highly doubt that they’re proficient with it, as shown by their campaign in Yemen. Qatar’s 11 Patriot batteries, and F-15s, one of which was airborne, didn’t see the Israeli aircraft or munitions either.
I wouldn’t say it’s a status symbol as much as it’s something between an insurance plan and a protection racket. If you have the US weapons (and the US bases), the implicit guarantee is that the US military is supposed to show up and backfill/stand up/stand in for your military when the shit hits the fan. It would be interesting to see what happens if the GCC started cancelling Western arms deals and going to China instead, but I just generally have a low opinion of GCC leadership, and China hasn’t exactly shown a huge willingness to take on a US-style miltiary role.
Their own militaries were pretty much always just an “honor guard” and tripwire force. Something to say they have on most days and when actively used, just supposed to slow down an enemy long enough for the US military to show up.