Image is of the American military during their occupation of Haiti at the beginning of the 20th century, taken from this NYT article from 2022: Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged. The U.S. Obliged.


In the aftermath of the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and his replacement by Western comprador Ariel Henry, the situation in Haiti is the most dire it has been in decades - by some metrics, even worse than the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake (CW: rape, violence including against children). Millions do not have enough food. Outbreaks of disease are rampant. The government - such that it still exists, which is becoming increasingly debatable - has only a minority control over the capital city, with some estimates putting the influence of armed groups at 80%.

America's search for somebody, anybody, to intervene in Haiti has ended, with Kenya answering the call. President Ruto has announced that he will send 1000 police officers to Haiti. Kenya's Foreign Minister has tried to sell this intervention as pan-Africanism. Other Caribbean states, like the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, have offered to send police officers too.

I can't really say it any better than the Black Alliance for Peace's own statement:

Kenya has offered to deploy a contingent of 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police, ostensibly to “restore order” in the Caribbean republic. Yet, their proposal is nothing more than military occupation by another name; an occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face. By agreeing to send troops into Haiti, the Kenyan government is assisting in undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of Haitian people, while serving the neocolonial interests of the United States, the Core Group, and the United Nations.

There is an urgent need for clarity on the issue of occupation in Haiti. As described in a recent statement on Haiti and Colonialism, Haiti is under ongoing occupation. No call for foreign intervention into Haiti from the administration of appointed Prime Minister Ariel Henry can be considered legitimate, because the Henry administration itself is illegitimate. BAP has repeatedly pointed out that Haiti’s crisis is a crisis of imperialism. Haiti’s current unpopular and unelected government is propped up only by Haiti’s de facto imperial rulers: the unseemly confederacy of the Core Group countries and organizations, as well as BINUH (the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti), and a loose alliance of foreign corporations and local elites.

Henry and the UN have made a mockery of sovereignty by mouthing the slogan “Haitian solutions to Haitian problems,” yet finding the only solution in violence through foreign military intervention. After repeated failed attempts to organize an occupying force to protect their interests and impose their will on the Haitian people (including appeals to the multinational organization, the Caribbean Community [CARICOM] for troops), they have now found a willing accomplice in Kenya, an east African country with its own set of internal problems.

Indeed, what’s in it for Kenya? An opportunity to both train and enhance the salaries of local police forces and garner a patina of prestige, or at least bootlicking approval, from the West. And for Haiti? White blows from a Black hand and a further erosion of their sovereignty.


And, by the way, here's the Black Alliance for Peace's statement calling for no intervention by ECOWAS in Niger, calling the organization a Western comprador organization similar to CARICOM's role in Haiti.


Welcome to our friends throughout the Lemmyverse!

Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.

This week's first update is here in the comments.

This week's second update is here in the comments.

This week's third update might not happen because I'm busy dunking.

Links and Stuff

The bulletins site is down.

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists

Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Add to the above list if you can.


Resources For Understanding The War


Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.

Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.

Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.

Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.

On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.


Telegram Channels

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

Pro-Russian

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

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.


Last week's discussion post.


  • companero [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Any economics knowers want to shed some light on the current situation with the Ruble? Is it a big deal that it's losing so much value? What caused this?

      • ImOnADiet@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        so what's the likelihood that the government will win out over the neoliberal scum? Like, why not just fire all their asses and hire new people? I don't really know the politics of russia

          • ImOnADiet@lemmygrad.ml
            ·
            1 year ago

            ig, it just seems pretty apparent to me to look at the west and its crises and go "whatever the fuck is happening over there, we are not going to do that" and tell the financial ministry to pound sand. Is there fear of retaliation?

              • ImOnADiet@lemmygrad.ml
                ·
                1 year ago

                The Russian government is conservative, which means they’re afraid to try new radical changes.

                honestly might start a struggle session but this kinda how I feel about China rn, I really think it's time to stop catering to the fucking neoliberal ghouls in the world bank and the like and start hitting the planned economy socialism button (I know they've been doing it some by nationalizing industries but I'm talking actually starting to racket it up). I'm not sure how much capital is even left for the PRC to attract, the west has completely hollowed itself out and is actively trying to move away from China already, accelerating the transition is not going to make it any easier for the west to stop relying on China

                • TreadOnMe [none/use name]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  I disagree, right now the biggest shield that China has is it's economy. If anything they should lean harder into trying to direct these institutions until they control them or break them or the U.S. actually declares war and there is no need for pretense. There is only a couple ways out of this, but jumping the gun is not the proper solution. Even with demographic shifts, time is ultimately on China's side.

                  • ImOnADiet@lemmygrad.ml
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    1 year ago

                    right now the biggest shield that China has is it’s economy

                    I… agree? They’re already trying to decouple from China and failing, I fail to see how accelerating the transistion will make the neoliberal ghouls any more competent at this.

                    If anything they should lean harder into trying to direct these institutions until they control them or break them or the U.S. actually declares war and there is no need for pretense.

                    The US will never ever in a million years let Chinese leaders control their institutions, and BRICS already covers the job of breaking them. Im not convinced the US wouldnt collapse within a year of trying to go to war to China, there’s hardly manufacturing left here and once the US is cut off from China where the fuck is it going to get the goods needed to run the country? Again, the neoliberal ghouls would need to somehow be replaced by what little industrial capitalists are left in the US.

                    There is only a couple ways out of this, but jumping the gun is not the proper solution

                    Could you elaborate then please?

                    Even with demographic shifts, time is ultimately on China’s side.

                    I would normally agree, but climate change is extremely pressing, that’s part of where my problem with this extremely slow pace is. I understand that China is doing more to combat climate change than anywhere else in the world, but that’s not enough, we have to get these neoliberal ghouls in the west out of office somehow like, 10 years ago

        • CyborgMarx [any, any]
          ·
          1 year ago

          Putin is a hardcore neolib, so presumably he actually believes in the neoclassical nonsense being pushed by the central bank, he always figures shit out way too late

          • CTHlurker [he/him]
            ·
            1 year ago

            I don't know how much of Putins economics is him being a neobliberal versus him just making the calculation that his entire ideology is "don't rock the boat too much. The country needs stability" which means he never takes advantage of moments of radical transformation untill things are almost passed. He does however seem to learn slightly quicker than the Western politicians, but that doesn't really say much.

      • Teapot [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Interest rate increases are the opposite of devaluation. The currency is more appealing if you can earn a higher interest rate in that currency vs the dollar, driving the relative value of that currency higher. If anything, a large devaluation would suggest the interest rate increase was not large enough

    • immuredanchorite [he/him, any]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I am not an expert and don't quite remember what decisions they have made lately, but it is my understanding that there are competing factions of economists in russia, with a strong contingent of neoliberals/liberals who still hold tremendous sway. They were able to build monetary mechanisms and build alternative trade relations with china etc, but they still have some liberal true-believers behind the wheel, making bad decisions because they can't ideologically "go too far"