New preamble:
Palestinian resistance groups have launched an operation in and around Gaza to fight the genocidal settler state oppressing them. Thousands of rockets have been launched towards the so-called state of Israel, overwhelming the Iron Dome. Settlers and the troops protecting them are being killed in the settlements surrounding Gaza, with many caught by surprise in the first few hours of the operation.
Palestinians are taking many Israeli settlers and soldiers hostage and bringing them back to Gaza. An Israeli general, Nimrod Aloni, has been confirmed captured. Palestinians are also taking military and civilian equipment back. Drones and MANPADS appear to be in use, and a number of Merkava tanks have been destroyed/disabled and their occupants removed and taken hostage. Palestinian forces appear to be heading in two main directions so far: southeast in the direction of Be'er Sheva, and along the coast in the direction of Ashkelon, but settlements all around Gaza have been assaulted and taken. It is obviously unknown how far they intend to go, or what their intermediate goals are.
Israel is bombing the Gaza Strip with aircraft, destroying buildings. It appears that their intelligence on the location of Palestinian forces outside of Gaza is very poor, and haven't been able to meaningfully strike them. Netanyahu has given a statement declaring that Israel is in a state of war. Iran has issued statements in support of the uprising, and Israel has responded with hostility to those comments. In all, the IDF appears to still be in a shockingly bad state hours after the assault began.
Old preamble on Antarctica:
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Much of the information for this news post, including both the images in the preamble, came from this article at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which has been circulating in the media lately.
Image has been taken from this article.
Antarctica has had a uniquely bad year.
While the sea ice extent in the last 50 years or so has been very gradually declining, it has done so very slowly on average - by 0.1% per decade. This began to change in 2016:
Even so, this year is different, showing a remarkable decrease in the maximum sea ice extent. It is unconfirmed (I think) but this year may be the first in which the maximum extent fails to reach 17 million square kilometers - and is more than one million square kilometers lower than the previous record low maximum in 1986.
The fall in sea ice has been linked by some researchers to warming in the uppermost ocean layer caused by lateral and upward mixing of warmer water. The ocean is a gigantic heat sink, and has been absorbing much of the excess heat that humanity has generated via the greenhouse effect. But put enough heat into a heat sink and it will eventually fill up.
These changes in sea ice extent is no mere abstract climate worry or scientific curiosity. It is having a direct, catastrophic impact on the Antarctic's ecosystem. Emperor penguin colonies have had trouble breeding, so much so that:
...there is high probability that no chicks had survived last year in four of the five known emperor penguin colonies in the central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea. This was because the sea ice had melted well before chicks would have developed waterproof feathers. ... Today's report says about one-third of the 62 known emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica were affected by partial or total sea ice loss between 2018 and 2022.
And, last year, scientists conducted a study on the two plants that are able to grow near Antarctica, looking at a single Antarctic island for simplicity, and found that the populations of these plants had exploded in the last decade - growing as much in the last decade as they had in the last 50 years - due to rising air temperatures. It was warm enough for the scientists to wear shorts and remove their shirts.
The Country of the Week is Syria! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
The weekly update is here!
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.
Part 2
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Slovakia's election is on the 30th of September;BNE the two parties (liberal Progressive Slovakia and populist and more anti-Ukraine Smer) are neck-and-neck,BNE and Russian propaganda is flooding in.EN The Smer party has won the election with 23% vs the Progressive Slovakia's 18%. It is likely that the third-place party at 14.7% will side with Smer.BNE
Slovenia is going to send more police to the border with Croatia.Euractiv
Spain is unable to form a new ruling coalition without regional separatist parties, as Feijoo has recently experienced first-handDW, but he is unwilling to give any concessions to them so he will likely not be the next Prime Minister,MP meaning that Sanchez, who just lost the election, might very well end up the next Prime Minister anyway.EN Tens of thousands of people protested in Madrid over reports that Prime Minister Sanchez could grant amnesty to Catalan separatists.MP
A mosque in southeastern Sweden has been destroyed by arson.MEE Sweden's former PM and leader of the opposition is open to using the military to combat gang violence.Euractiv
Switzerland's glaciers are melting at a record rate - losing as much ice in the last two years that had been lost between 1960 and 1990.DW
Ukraine's central bank wants to cut interest rates to 18% by the end of the year, as inflation slowed to 8.6%.BNE Hungary has said that Ukraine is unlikely to join the EU because of the war.EN
The United Kingdom has firmly given up even the vague idea of climate-friendly policyNature and are going all-in on North Sea oil and gas again.DW Sunak’s trade deal with India will not include legally enforceable commitments on labor rights or environmental standards.Bilaterals British exporters face hefty EU carbon tax bill after Sunak weakens climate policies.FT Scotland's waters have been gripped by a Category 4 marine heatwave since March, which is causing mass marine mortality due to sea lice outbreaks.EN The UK has signed a MoU on trade with Washington state, and wants to sign one with Florida next.Bilaterals
A US tech firm has been lobbying UK councils and police forces to scale up surveillance using an AI-powered platform used against Black Lives Matter protestors.NC Many doctors, nurses and other personnel who enter professional training never join the full-time workforce; a health thinktank has suggested writing off student debt for those who agree to stay in the NHS for 10 years.FT The UK Health Secretary has accused striking medics of withholding cancer treatment.FT The UK housing market has seen its first annual price drop in over a decade.EN The Bank of England is planning a permanent lending facility for non-banks such as insurers and pension funds.FT The majority of drivers support 20mph speed limits despite the Conservatives pushing back on plans to enact more 20mph zones.OD Asylum seekers claim they are put in isolation for feeling depressed.OD
Western Asia:
The China-Arab trade fair has concluded with deals worth a total of $23 billion in various sectors.SCMP Chinese high-end EV brand Zeekr expands into the Middle East.FT America is proposing new sanctions that target US allies normalizing Syria's government, including proposals that would force them to inform the US of any meetings with Syrian ambassadors, and a review of all transanctions and donations over $50,000.MEE
Various Armenian experts expect Pashinyan to ride out the storm despite being weak and unpopular, because the opposition is even weaker.BNE The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has dissolved itself; it will officially no longer exist from January 1st, 2024.BNE Tens of thousands of people are streaming into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh;BNE at least half of the Armenians have already fled;EN now over three quarters have fledEuractiv, at least 65,000 people;BNE now over 100,000 people have fled.CGTN A UN mission has arrived in Nagorno-Karabakh for the first time in 30 years to assess humanitarian needs.EN
Plans for doubling Azerbaijan's gas flows to Europe on hold as Europe has yet to confirm that they'll take the gas.BNE Azerbaijan has arrested a Russian-Armenian billionaire fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh, who briefly held a top political job in the state.FT
Georgia's economy could grow by 6% this year.BNE The IMF has formally suspended its programme for Georgia after the National Bank of Georgia shielded from US sanctions a former official close to the ruling party's founder.BNE
Iran has warned Turkey and Azerbaijan not to take advantage of Armenia's current weakness to try to secure a land bridge between the two countries across Armenia’s Syunik region.BNE Erdogan and Aliyev are entertaining the possibility of creating a land corridor via Iran rather than through Armenia (via the proposed Zangezur corridor), and that "Iran currently considers this positively".BNE Iran and the Maldives have resumed diplomatic ties after seven years.CGTN Iran has successfully put its Noor-3 satellite into orbit.DW Iran has dismissed over 50 university professors in the last two years as the government tightens control over higher education.MEE
The US is refusing to give any kind of compensation to hundreds of Iraqi prisoners kept in detention centers like Abu Ghraib.SP
Israel's Tourism Minister has become the first Israeli minister to lead a delegation to the kingdom as part of a UN event.CGTN Israeli police will be allowed to use Pegasus spyware to investigate a mass shooting of Palestinian citizens.MEE
Saudi Arabia has agreed to grant the UN greater oversight of its nuclear activities, as the kingdom also demands that the US assist them in creating a civilian nuclear programme.MEE Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to the Palestinian Authority has made his first visit to the West Bank.FT
The Syrian first lady, Asma al-Assad, has thanked China for standing by Syria.SCMP Files Expose Syrian ‘Revolution’ as Western Regime Change Operation/ Syria won some big symbolic victories in China, but what material benefits will actually follow?MEE I am curious about this as China has been notoriously anxious to supply goods to sanctioned countries, though obviously it doesn't always stop them (in the case of Russia for example)
Erdogan has said that he will let Sweden into NATO if the US keeps its promise to sell F-16s to Turkiye; this statement comes in the wake of a corruption scandal involving a US senator, Menendez, who has opposed selling F-16s to Turkiye,Euractiv and the Quincy Institute imagines Erdogan happy.RS In Turkiye's Akbelen Forest, villagers and activists are fighting to protect the environment from a massive coal mine.ENN
Four main hurdles remain for a Yemen peace deal. First is salary payments for public sector employees in the Houthi-controlled areas (where most of Yemen's population lives); there are concerns that this will fund Ansar Allah's military activities. Second is the distribution of Yemen's national oil and gas revenues. The third is Houthi demands that the Saudis permit the full reopening of airports and seaports. The fourth issue is the Houthi's access to funds in Yemen's Aden-based central bank. However, there is also the overarching problem that even if the Houthis and Saudis agree to make peace, then domestic enemies and rivals inside Yemen might still battle the Houthis and the war will continue in another way.RS Tracking women’s mental health amid trauma in Yemen.Nature
Central Asia:
The construction stage of the two-and-a-half-decade-old China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway project was set for activation this autumn,BNE but has now been indefinitely postponed by China, which Kazakhstan will like as it means they can keep their custom fee income in Astana.BNE
Why, so they can give whoever did it a medal?
deleted by creator
Part 3
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America’s War in Afghanistan Devastated the Country’s Environment in Ways That May Never Be Cleaned Up 450 needy families receive China-donated assistance in west Afghanistan.PD Afghanistan's currency was the best-performing in the world in Q3 2023, and the third best this year so far (behind the Colombian peso and the Sri Lankan rupee).FT
Kazakhstan is ready to increase oil deliveries to Germany over the long term, and described Germany as a strategic partner country and invited Scholz to visit Astana.DW More on the charm offensive by Germany hereEuractiv and here.EN
Kyrgyzstan is facing an energy crisis in the winter after the government announced in July that there is a state of emergency in the energy sector that would last for over three years.BNE Lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to allow the president to overturn the Constitutional Court rulings, which were deemed to contradict "moral values", which has prompted criticism that parliament is a mere rubber-stamp now.EN
Pakistan's crackdown on smuggling across the Iranian border is impacting millions who depend on it.DW The Pakistan rupee is set to be the best performing currency worldwide this month after the government took measures against illegal dollar transactions.MEE China is apparently balking at proposals from Pakistan to expand cooperation in their shared China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), revealing growing problems in the key Belt and Road Initiative project.CGS Over 50 people have been killed in a suicide bombing as people gathered outside a mosque to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.DW
Russia has done a little trolling and placed the President of the ICC on the country's wanted list, in retaliation for the ICC placing Putin on their list.PD Russian crude exports increase 50% despite sanctions by the G7.Euractiv Navalny loses appeal over 19-year prison sentence.EN Russia is increasingly using China’s currency to evade sanctions,FT and Russia is suffering from success as China is sending so much shit to them that there are 150,000 excess containers stacked up.RT The Russian elite have said that "the worst is over" in regards to the economic pain.BNE Russia's lithium reserves are probably both larger than Australia's (the lithium superpower of the West) and have lower production costs than Australia.NC Putin has eased entry rules for Ukrainians, allowing them to enter Russia even if their national passports have expired, as well as other documents (including, for children under 16, a mere birth certificate).RT Russia may soon exempt volunteers who fight in Ukraine from paying income tax, which members of the Russian military proper already do not have to pay.RT
Tajikistan's president has handed control over border airports (which have remained essentially idle since the fall of the USSR) to the armed forces, which may be a response to bellicose remarks from the head of Kyrgyzstan's security service.BNE
Uzbekistan and American global conglomerate General Electric have signed a $69 million agreement for the renewal and maintenance of power plants,BNE and the strengthening of military cooperation with the US.BNE The government has announced the privatization of a profitable subsidiary of Uzbekistan Railways, which forms a part of the CKU railway project.BNE Uzbekistan and China have concluded agreements worth $1.4 billion in the energy and engineering sectors,BNE which includes (I think) a proposal for Chinese EV producer BYD to build a plant in Jizzakh region.BNE
Eastern Asia and Oceania:
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews resigns amid developing political crisis in Australia.WSWS
CW: mention of child abuse.
Horrific abuse of children at Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home from 1924 to 1970, involving the physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of hundreds of children.WSWS
CW ends.
The youth employment crisis is important, but does not signal an impending collapse of China (so long as it is adequately managed).SCMP China's manufacturing PMI rose to 50.2 in September from 49.7 in August, indicating expansion once more after five months of contraction.SCMP Trading Evergrande shares was suspended in Hong Kong.DW China has opened its market to Colombia beef, with concerns from Brazil.MP Xi has told the children of fallen policemen to follow their "heroic fathers" (that is, become policemen themselves, he's not telling them to die).SCMP Xi will post an article on handling Chinese modernization issues properly which will be out by the time this update is published.CGTN The anti-corruption drive has enetered its second decade; tens of thousands of officials have been brought down in that time and some of them have snared senior figures that Xi previously personally selected for promotion.SCMP
China has openened its first 350 km/h cross-sea high-speed railway, connecting various cities including Fuzhou and Xiamen.CGTN They have also launched their first smart suspended monorail line in Wuhan.CGTN China plans to build a giant chip factory driven by a particle accelerator, in accordance with its lithography technique, steady-state microbunching.SCMP China is planning a second satellite megaconstellation to compete with SpaceX's Starlink.SCMP China has stepped up cooperation with the International Rice Research Institute to promote the quality of rice varieties,CGTN and has produced the world record peanut test crop, producing nearly 30,000 pounds of crop per hectare.SCMP
The DPRK has handed Travis King back over to the United States.CGTN The government has opened the country up to foreigners in accordance to regulations, with a 48 hour quarantine period.CGTN The government has enshrined nuclear weapons in its constitution, effectively ending any hypothetical negotiations that would involve them giving them up.DW South Korea's unification minister has accused Russia and CHina of undermining sanctions on the DPRK; he also says that South Korea is trying to push China to put pressure on the DPRK's nuclear program.FT
The monsoon in India has badly impacted Himachal Pradesh with over 400 fatalies, and both heavy rainfall and haphazard urbanization playing a role.MB Bhadrakumar continues to talk about India and current events in diplomacy,IP and so is Naked Capitalism.NC India and Taiwan may sign a deal for Indian workers to come and bolster the infrastructure and agriculture sectors.RT
Indonesia has banned all transactions on social media platforms, which has dealt TikTok a major blow as TikTok Shop's largest market is in Indonesia and involves 6 million sellers.FT TikTok is unhappy about this and is sending a team to Jakarta to talk to the government.SCMP Environment, rights and the palm oil dispute between Indonesia and the European Union. A new financing tool that allows Asian governments to force coal plants into early retirement is set to launch in Indonesia soon.CCN
Japan is beginning its second round of water release from Fukushima after detecting no problems in the first release.TS More South Korean firms are heading to Japan than China for the first time since the 1980s.SCMP Temperatures across Japan reach unusual autumn high of more than 35C.EN
Malaysia to double palm oil exports to China in effort to dodge EU restrictions.FT
The pro-China candidate has won the Maldives election, beating the pro-India candidate.DW
Myanmar and the DPRK may be cooperating, as both are under sanctions.DW
An interview by Global Times with Nepal's Prime Minister, Prachanda.GT
The Solomon Islands has joined the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) days after its leader, Sogavare, snubbed an invitation to meet Biden at a Pacific summit; Tanzania and El Salvador have also joined, pushing the number of countries to 109.SCMP
Korea Zinc, the world's largest zinc smelter by output, is expanding into the nickel business to try and reduce the West's dependence on China for nickel.FT
Part 4
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Sri Lanka fails to reach agreement to unlock next IMF bailout tranche.FT
In Vietnam, a climate activist has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax fraud.[DW](Climate activist sentenced to 3 years in prison)
Africa:
Africa’s Sahel is undergoing a second decolonisation as nations overthrow neo-colonial rule
Algeria and Morocco fought in the UN over the Western Sahara, with Algeria claling for a referendum on the fate of the territory.AN
Dozens have been killed in Benin when a warehouse for smuggled fuel exploded (Benin's informal economy relies on smuggled Nigerian fuel).DW
Botswana has launched community clinics on wheels that will offer HIV testing and other health services.TS
Burkina Faso's anti-France government has foiled an attempted coup; people gathered in the streets in support of the current leaders.AN Is Burkina Faso edging closer to the Wagner mercenaries? Burkina Faso suspends French media "Jeune Afrique" magazine.AN Traore has said that security is a greater priority to elections, which sounds fairly reasonable given all the coups.AN
The former Prime Minister of Burundi is in court, accused of undermining national security and insulting the President.AN
The president of the Congo, President Nguesso, is strengthening ties with China.TS
The DRC's state-owned cobalt company may be revving into action after a long period of inactivity.AN The DRC wants to become one of the world's largest battery producers in 2030 or 2040, and also wants to make electric vehicles, and so will require a shitload of infrastructure and funding as right now it basically just exports cobalt to other countries to make batteries out of.DW
The Egyptian government has announced that presidential elections will be held in December and the results will be announced in mid-January.AN In the meantime, dozens of people are being detained in a crackdown.MEE Egypt and Iran have agreed to revive a joint bank after a decade.BNE Egypt has signed a currency swap agreement with the UAE.TS The new US Senate Foreign Relations chair is planning to block some military aid to Egypt until it improves its human rights.MEE
Eswatini is having parliamentary elections; the country is an absolute monarchy with no political parties, and where the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and judges are appointed by King Mswati III, and the politicians being voted on are all loyal to the king.AN
The US has suspended aid to Gabon as they review the situation.AN Gabon's new prime minister has outlined plans for a "national dialogue" which would pave the way for drawing a new constitution.AN The curfew in Gabon has been relaxed slightly.AN Residents of Gabon haven't seen visible improvements yet post-coup, but some are confident that things will improve in the coming months or at least are willing to wait and see.AN
There have been protests in Ghana over the cost of living crisis and their leaders's moral decay; weirdly enough, Ghana is also the African country most indebted to the IMF.AN
Kenya and the US have signed a defense agreement ahead of a potential deployment of 1000 security officers to Haiti to combat gang violence (after everybody else awkwardly shuffled and averted their eyes when asked by the US if they wanted to send cops there).AN The Communist Party of Kenya have condemned this.HL Construction on a 1000 MW nuclear power plant will begin in 2027.BNE Kenya's Chinese-built expressway nominated for regional award.PD Kenya has given the WHO a patch of land for the establishment of a regional public health emergency response center.TS
Liberia is siding with China on the One China Policy, which is an interesting stance as President Weah usually sides with the West on issues like Xinjiang.CGS
Authorities in eastern Libya have announced the creation of a fund for the reconstruction of Derna.AN 8 officials have been arrested for their role in the flood disaster.AN Media completely ignores NATO war role in Libya chaos, notably by the Quincy Institute. Libya and Italy are discussing ties and cooperation,TS and flights have resumed between them after 10 years.AN Marshal Haftar, who rules eastern Libya, met with Putin in Moscow - which is kind of fascinating as this guy is one of the most CIAest CIAers to have ever CIAed.AN
The Malian government has postponed the presidential vote in early 2024 that was supposed to bring back civilian rule, with new dates to be announced later; parties in Mali are obviously upset.AN The Wagner group swears that the Soviet-era plane that crashed a week ago had nothing to do with them.AN
Chinese battery groups invest in Morocco to serve western markets.FT Climate change is threatening argan forests, the source of argan oil, a substance used in the beauty industry, which has been a big source of money for the country and the women farmers who harvest it.MEE
Namibia has suspended imports of South African chickens due to avian flu outbreaks.AN Chinese-invested uranium mine in Namibia makes progress toward environmental sustainability.PD
Niger has said that they are awaiting official acts by France after Macron announced that French troops will withdraw from the country by the end of the year.AN
Nigeria's light rail project will be completed in eight months by their Chinese contractor.CGS President Tinubu has offered a temporary minimum wage hike for lower-paid workers, as well as promises for cheaper public transport and more social security, two days before major unions are due to begin an indefinite strike in protest against the cost of living.AN
A suicide bomber has killed dozens in Somalia.AN
South Africa's Foreign Minister went to Washington to meet Blinken for discussions and stuff.AN South Africa has launched a new HIV prevention method: a vaginal ring that diffuses an antiretroviral drug.AN
Putin held talks with the leader of South Sudan, President Kiir.CGTN
The Sudanese date industry (the country is 7th in the world for date production and it makes up 40% of their GDP and 80% of their labor force) has been hit hard by the war, with farmers unable to access financing.AN The obvious solution is for the United States to put more sanctions on Sudan, as that has done a remarkable job so far of ending conflicts.CGTN
Tanzania has exterminated five million birds, Quelea Quelea, to protect rice fields.AN
Uganda is in talks with the World Bank to reverse their loan freeze that the World Bank enacted when the government launched its harsh anti-LGBTQIA+ law.BNE
Chinese telecoms company ZTE is going to build a smartphone factory in Zambia.BNE
Zimbabwe is officially the riskiest country in Africa to do business in, with Ethiopia, the DRC, Cameroon, and Uganda also quite risky.BNE
Part 5
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North America:
Ding, dong the efficiencies defence is dead, an article on the Canadian Competition Act. More gravesites have been found near a former residential school.TS Meanwhile, the Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline in British Columbia is running into ever more problems and First Nations groups are coming out strongly against it.MR Northvolt, a major European battery manufacturer, is building its first factory outside of the EU, in Canada (and its fourth factory overall).FT
Canada got their spat with India out of the news by then having their parliament plus Zelensky give a standing ovation to a Waffen-SS member, the volunteer militia of the Nazi party, though this is just one small look into Canada's extremely fascist-friendly history.GZ Trudeau has done the very sensible step of simply blaming it all on Russia, while Poland is taking advantage of the event by saying they want the Nazi extradited (this won't actually happen).PW The speaker, Rota, who introduced the Nazi, has resigned.EN Canada’s top general won’t apologize for applauding the Nazi.GZ Kremlin Spokesman Peskov has called the whole thing "outrageous".TS Apparently this Nazi was allowed to settle and work in the UK after WW2, and was part of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, and then emigrated to Canada in 1954.PW The University of Alberta has shut down an endowment fund named after Hunka.RT How Thousands of Ukrainian Nazis Were Smuggled Into Canada after WW2. The concidences behind Canada's Nazi-honoring debacle are deeply unsettling.Jacobin This article is on the two case studies of Hunka and Freeland's grandfather.
Articles on the FTC case against Amazon, which I can't imagine will result in anything meaningful.
Dianne Feinstein is now dead, although "alive" might be too generous a word for what she's been for the last couple years.WSWS Dianne Feinstein helped lead the Democratic party's neoliberal turn.Jacobin
A US steel company is developing a 500 MW nuclear fusion plant to power their production, via a company with the backing of the CEO of OpenAI, and two Facebook co-founders.BNE Microsoft also wants to use nuclear power to power their facilities.BNE The TSMC chip fabrication site in Arizona having trouble and delays (side-note: the article contains the lovely line "And while TSMC does not share Biden’s love for unions", lol).SCMP There has been record growth in the energy storage sector, but few are celebrating as growth is still extremely limited.ICN
Thousands of water utilities across the Great Lakes region and nationwide will decide in the next three months whether to join two multibillion-dollar, class-action settlements against the largest producers of toxic PFAS chemicals that have tainted drinking water supplies.CoB The Sunrise Movement has launched it Green New Deal for Schools Campaign in 50 highschools.CD Why Medical Debt Forgiveness Drives Are Not Enough Universities axe diversity statements in wake of US Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.Nature Poverty in Puerto Rico has risen to the point where over half of all children live in poor households.GPE Maui's indigneous community is fighting landgrabs by capitalists after the wildfires.MEE US home insurers are leaving climate risk areas.OD The US leads the World in solitary confinement, which destroys prisoners' mental health.MR US public schools are seeing significant enrollment drops; NYC lost more than 100,000 students since the pandemic hit.PD In Washington State, activists fight to save Elwha River watershed from clear-cut logging. Californian lawmakers want to suspend gas tax as gas prices surge.PD A month of rain fell on New York City in a day, causing widespread flooding.DW An article on NYC's food waste problem, and America's problem more broadly.ICN An article on Oregon Senate Bill 85, which places a moratorium on factory farms' ability to use unlimited amounts of groundwater, which was the product of years of organizing.SP
The US government has announced that 472,000 Venezuelan refugees and asylum-seekers will be eligible for legal immigration status and work permits. An attacker threw Molotov cocktails at the Cuban embassy in Washington DC, with no injuries or damage.PW China is not in fact buying up American farmland for nefarious purposes; in fact, no foreign countries really are.SCMP We've gotta expand the immigrant DNA database, which takes DNA from everybody in immigrant detention and has the DNA of 21 million people, says the FBI.SP US House Republicans have opened the first impeachment inquiry hearing against Biden.CGTN And we're doing the fucking government shutdown thing again. Can we just skip to the part where Biden gives the Republicans everything they want, rather than going through days and days of shitty media coverage?FT The Hypocritical, Phony Outrage About Chinese Spying The FCC is coming back.FAIR
Latin America:
Avian flu has reached the Galapagos islands.Science
The president of Paraguay has said that he will halt the Mercosur-EU talks if there is no deal by December.Bilaterals Vietnam wants a trade deal with Mercosur.Bilaterals New container line linking EU main ports with Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.MP Back to Business As Usual: The US Is Once Again Vigorously Stirring the Pot in Its Own “Backyard”
The Economy Minister has proposed to scrap income tax for all but a fraction of registered voters as the ruling government tries to generate some popularity ahead of the election in October where the weird libertarian guy who wants to destroy the economy to save it might win.FT The Senate has greenlit the reform.MP The black market is once again rising.MP Argentina can probably join the New Development Bank.TS Argentina wants to create a national park on the Falklands.TS The UK and US support the sovereignty of the British Falklands, but Spaniards, Germans, and Italians favor Argentina's claim.MP
Evo Morales has announced his bid for the presidency of Bolivia, which he held prior to the right-wing US-backed coup (and the counter-coup in which his party was reinstated by Luis Arce took his place). Arce has called Morales the "king of cocaine".MP
Brazil's government is proposing using money from the Amazon Fund, a way for countries to invest in the Amazon, to pay for a road going through the AmazonEcologist to connect Manaus and Porto Velho.CCN
Chile’s Communists elect a new leader, Barbara Figueroa, who was formerly the ambassador to Argentina.PW
Colombia's Petro is going to China to meet with Xi, to discuss the future of Bogota's subway which is currently being handlded by a Chinese consortium.TS
Costa Rica is planning on declaring a state of emergencyMP due to a wave of migrants going to the US.DW
Abortion in Cuba and the Attacks against It
Violence has become so bad in Ecuador that schools are returning to online schooling so that children are less at risk of being shot.MP
El Salvador's Bukele has now rounded up and imprisoned 70,000 people in the name of stopping crime, which has caused his approval to skyrocket while the families of the incarcerated express concern over the suspended civil liberties.RNN
An article on Guyana, which recently found its fortune in the oil industry to become the Norway of South America - and whose leaders are becoming nervous that the bonanza may be truncated by oil phaseout plans (he shouldn't worry, the West is a bunch of deeply unserious puppets of the fossil fuel industry).MP
Mexico's AMLO has said that elections in the US are a contest to see who says the most atrocities and who is the most brazen in threatening Mexico; no lies detected.PD
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Nicaraguan court hands down prison sentences to two women opposing Ortega.MP
A report by a US embassy in Paraguay discusses trying to influence President Pena to curb China's increasing presence in the country.SCMP Paraguay and the US have extended an agricultural trade deal until 2025.MP
An article on Trinidad and Tobago, the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the Caribbean.TS The European Commission has proposed classifying them as a non-cooperative country in the fight against illegal fishing.TS
Venezuela has evicted over 14,000 illegal miners from Yapacana Park.TS The Venezuelan Amazon reforestation plan has begun.TS Maduro has met with the Qatar Foreign Minister to cooperate on stuff.TS Venezuela and Guyana are fighting over their disputed territory again.TS
War:
How America Hides the Human Toll of its Forever Wars
Avoiding the War on Terror Would Have Saved Over 10 Million Lives at Home and Abroad
Seymour Hersh: A Year of Lying About Nord Stream
A book by Sam Roggeveen of the Lowy Institute, "The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace", which argues that Australia doesn't need submarines and military ties with America and instead proposes aggressive diplomacy and the creation of defenses to turn the continent into a spiky echidna (like the West is trying to do with Taiwan).RS
Chinese commentators are obviously rather dismissive of the US's recent rhetoric in the PacificCGS, going over the countries' colonial legacies.CGTN China, Japan, and South Korea have agreed to revive their summit at the "earliest convenient time".SCMP Taiwan has unveiled its first domestically manufactured submarine.DW The PLA conducted ground exercises on their side of the Taiwan Strait.GT The US has recognized two Pacific nations, the Cook Islands and Niue, to counter China.DW The Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands has called on the US to show more respect to Pacific leaders.PD China and the Philippines had an incident in the South China Sea to do with a barrier being removedSCMP or something, I don't fucking know.CGS China has sent its security chief to Germany for talks.SCMP Turns out that Western companies are rather reluctant to actually start decou--derisking from China.FT
The Czech government wants to buy 24 F-35s from the US.CGTN the US is to loan Poland $2 billion for military modernization.DW The Marshall Plan: first as tragedy, then as farce. An NPR report on how depleted uranium really isn't that bad is, uh, wrong.FAIR Gaetz tried to rally up support to ban sending cluster munitions to Ukraine once again, and once again failed by 160-269 (with, notably, 26 more Democrats than last time).RS Most Americans probably don't actually care about Ukraine either positively or negatively, let alone follow the conflict, and polls that suggest otherwise have obvious problems.FAIR Finland is making quiet deals with landowners to enable the military to build barriers on its border with Russia.RT
Russia claims to have destroyed a German-crewed Leopard tank, whose occupants claimed to be from the Bundeswehr.CGTN Russia has sunk to a new low in its disinformation campaign by bringing back a commander from the dead that Ukraine truthfully said that it killed.DW Russia launched another wave of drone strikes.DW It's really funny at this point because the media writes like 30 articles whenever a Ukrainian drone manages to crashland into a fucking cabbage field in Crimea on its way to a depot that it would have mildly damaged anyway, but entire drone strike raids by Russia are covered by a few mainstream sites maximum, so you get this weird impression that Ukraine is somehow doing better than Russia in hitting key targets even though Russia has such a massive advantage that you may as well be comparing a pinprick to being stabbed by a broadsword. The IAEA has told Russia to leave the ZNPP, in a truly catastrophic blow for Putler.DW Putin met with one of the most senior former commanders of Wagner, Troshev, to discuss how best to use volunteer units in the Ukraine war.Euractiv
An article on how NATO can't make negotiations with Russia. Not "there's no willingness or trust", but almost literally cannot. NATO doesn't really have the ability to enter into treaties because of its structure. Any negotiations will be between the US and Russia directly.NC Russia has formally withdrawn from the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, as Western members paralyzed the institution in the wake of the war in Ukraine.RS The American empire asks us to simultaneously believe that the war was completely unprovoked and that the war, just by pure coincidence, advances the strategic interests of the US.SP
Labour:
Biden’s Picket Line Visit Doesn’t Mean He Is On Our Side
The Writer's Guild of America has reached a tentative deal with studios after five months of striking.DW After a five day strike, Inghams Chickens’ workers win better pay and conditions.GL
Canadian autoworkers ratify deal with Ford.GL Workers internationally are standing with US autoworkers.MR 7000 autoworkers at two more assembly plants walked off the job on Friday.LN The first tire plant workers to organize in 40 years have won a contract.LN Las Vegas-area hospitality workers vote by 95 percent to strike casinos at mass rally.WSWS Workers at Ontario, California Amazon facility to vote on joining Amazon Labor Union.WSWS French unions hold nationwide protest against police violence, with 80,000 people taking part.WSWS Thousands protest in Germany against the crisis in education, calling for substantial improvements.WSWS University and College Union (UCU) members at just 42 UK universities, less than a third of universities nationally, began another round of strikes Monday for five days over pay and conditions.WSWS 1,700 nurses have been on strike for eight weeks at the Robert Wood Johnson hospital complex in New Brunswick, New Jersey.PW Food delivery workers in New York City must be paid at least $18 per hour, Acting Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Moyne ruled on Thursday.RT New York City school bus workers form rank-and-file committee.WSWS Sri Lanka workers begin sit-in strike at government-owned company to defend jobs.WSWS
Under new contract, former UPS air drivers in Northern Virginia working in record heat for nearly 50 percent less pay.WSWS The NYT has platformed one of the largest union-busting firms in the country.FAIR Scabs have been deployed at GM parts distribution centers.LN Quebec unions plot betrayal of contract struggle of 650,000 public sector workers.WSWS
Left and Right:
Germany bans neo-Nazi group Artgemeinschaft for indoctrination of children.DW Police Seek a Radio Silence That Would Mute Critics in the Press
I Was the Only US Official Imprisoned Over the Torture Program — Because I Opposed It
Jacobin interviews Jeremy Corbyn, where he compliments Chris Smalls, talks about Thatcher and her legacy, the impact of unions and why he believes them to be the future, how the Green Industrial Revolution should be pro-worker rather than guilt-tripping people, and why the Left should be for negotiations and peace in the conflict in Ukraine (even if they hate Russia).Jacobin^ Jacobin also talks about the lessons of Orban crushing the Left; somebody with more knowledge can dunk on it if they want (or perhaps Jacobin has achieved a rare W).Jacobin
A piece on the Israeli Communist Party.RNN
Sánchez asks EU socialists to follow ‘Spanish example’ to stop far-right in June 2024.Euractiv
All Black feminisms ain’t created equal
Decolonising development with Frantz Fanon
There Is No Middle Class
Part 7
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LGBTQIA:
Content Warning - this section is not usually good news.
An article on the Ghana LGBTQIA+ situation (not good), with a case study of a man from Ghana who was the victim of a violent hate crime, who then reported it to the police and refused to take an out-of-court settlement.OD A popular Iraqi transgender personality Noor BM was shot dead in Baghdad.Advocate
Romania’s Social Democrats reluctant to recognise same-sex marriage
NYPD Officers May Be Cleared in Killing of Gay Black Man, According to Draft Report
Bomb Threats Target LGBTQ+ Events Across the U.S. Over the Weekend
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs 9 Pro-LGBTQ+ Bills Into Law
Gavin Newsom Vetoes Bill Requiring Custody Decisions Involve Affirming Children’s Gender Identity
Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr Says She's 'Thankful' After Judge Blocks Trans Care Ban Sylvia Swayne Aims to Make History as Alabama’s First Trans State Representative Kentucky and Tennessee Bans on Trans Care for Youth Upheld in Court Florida School District Bans LGBTQ+ Books From K-8 Libraries ‘I was arrested for protecting a pub from the far-right’
The conservative ‘debate’ over trans rights is no debate at all
Cancel culture? Trans-inclusive writers say they face abuse and censorship.
Climate:
Hydrogen: A reality check. Belgium prepares harbours for massive green hydrogen imports.Euractiv
Governments are starkly divided over plans for a loss and damage fund, with two months to go until it is due to be established.CCN The International Energy Agency calls on countries to bring forward net zero targets and rely less on fossil fuel technofixes like carbon capture.CCN Carbon capture is mainly used to extract more fossil fuels from the earth, rather than permanently locking away carbon,DS and has other problems like potential escape of CO2 and the potential for earthquakes and groundwater contamination.ICN Italian oil giant Eni knew and did not care about climate change in the 1970s, based on a report on the "catastrophic" climate risk of burning fossil fuels.DS The rate of decarbonisation is falling dangerously short of what is required for a safe future climate.Ecologist
The cruise industry is saying that LNG is a solution to emissions, when it very obviously isn't.CCN Antarctic winter sea ice hits 'extreme' record low.DW A new report finds aluminum manufacturing worldwide emits more than a billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, as well as chemicals called perfluorocarbons that warm the planet for 50,000 years.ICN Is the Great Barrier Reef dying, "in danger", or just "under serious threat"? Hmm...MR Is China at peak oil? Maybe.CGS More offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico,CD which organizations are unhappy about.CD Biden Creates the American Climate Corps, 90 Years After FDR Put 3 Million to Work in National Parks
A report from the Tufton Street group Civitas claimed that achieving net zero emissions will cost the UK £4.5 trillion, or £6,000 per household, by 2050, though came to that conclusion through embarrassing mathematical errors (confusing megawatts and megwatt-hours) and just false statements (claiming that onshore wind turbines will cost £1.3 million per MWh when in reality it is only £50-70), and even if you use their figures, they still do the maths wrong.DS
Megaherbivores like elephants, rhinos, wild water buffaloes, and gaurs could potentially be used to combat invasive plant species.MB
An article on how infectious diseases could change as the climate continues to change.Science
A Chinese scientific expedition has reached the summit of Cho Oyu, the sixth tallest mountain on the planet, to investigate environmental changes in the region.SCMP
Science and Technology
Months after hospitalization for COVID-19, MRIs reveal multiorgan damage.Science
Chinese scientists set a record in water desalination with solar power, which is more green and efficient and capable of filtering significantly more water than similar methods.SCMP Enhanced optoelectronic coupling for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells.Nature An article on "inverse" vaccines, which, in contrast to regular vaccines which train your body to attack something (a virus or bacteria), instead train your body not to attack something, which could be very useful for treating autoimmune diseases.DW
An article on digging up ancient, 35 million year old animals in Amazonia.Nature Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology.Nature Scientists have found a way to compress liquids - on a technicality.Nature The weak equivalence principle, which essentially states that anti-matter does not experience anti-gravity and instead is regularly attracted to regular matter (but is quite hard to actually prove because antimatter doesn't like to exist), has been tested and it looks like it's true.Nature
The first image from China's Wide Field Survey Telescope is of the Andromeda galaxy, available in the article. Earthworms boost crop yields significantly, adding the equivalent of one slice of bread for every loaf for wheat alone. LEGO is giving up on a plan to make its bricks out of recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottles, but is working on finding other sustainable alternatives. A volcanologist monitors water safety and volcanic activity on the Congo-Rwanda borders, where violence is common. And an image of the inside the sample-return capsule from the NASA mission OSIRIS-REx, which took samples from an asteroid three years ago and just landed back on Earth.Nature
Miscellaneous Analysis:
JPMorgan’s Settlements Reach $365 Million Over Civil Claims It Banked Jeffrey Epstein’s Sex Trafficking of Minors; Criminal Charges Could Lie Ahead
Bank of America’s Unrealized Losses on HTM Debt Securities Total $106 Billion; 34 Percent of All Such Unrealized Losses Reported by 4,645 Banks
The Perfect Storm Hits Big Banks: Tumbling Deposits, Rising Unrealized Losses, and Higher-for-Longer Interest Rates
Why Are People Frightened That Kids Will Learn About Sex? Why The Problem Isn’t Single-Parent Families
Precariousness and surveillance: digital platforms, ever richer thanks to Europe’s poorest regions 'Torture and barbarism' endemic in porn industry, finds study
“Welfare for Markets: A Global History of Basic Income” – book review
Dipshittery and Cope
South Africans’ support for Russia is rooted in misplaced nostalgia, in which the author argues that South Africans are too stupid to tell the USSR and Russia apart.
How China can avoid the Japan trap. My brother in christ, China is the biggest economy, largest industrial power, and may quite possibly, within years and not decades, possess the most powerful military on the planet (with a little help from Russia).
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Trailblazing LGBTQ+ Rights Advocate, Dies at 90.
Maybe politics should be more mindful.FT
I Love My Trans Comrades!
Can’t wait for them to report back that we’re all going to die from climate change 2.5 years sooner than expected
I’d love to read this one but archive doesnt actually get through the pay wall and they want 20 fucking dollars a month!?!?! Who the fuck pays that kind of money for a single news source ???
Source on the BKU project seems to be broken