Image is of the Herðubreið tuya in northeast Iceland, formed when ice sheets covered Iceland thousands of years ago. It's not really relevant to the Grindavik situation but I think they look neat. The title also doesn't make much sense but I saw the pun and took it.
Off in Iceland, different kinds of tunnels are causing problems. Underneath the town of Grindavik in southwestern Iceland, not far from the capital of Reykjavik, tens of thousands of earthquakes are portending the movement of magma in tunnels underneath the peninsula, which could breach the surface and cause an eruption. The 4000 residents of the town have been evacuated as the magma has risen to less than a kilometer below the surface.TRG
Icelandic volcanism is pretty fascinating, with the country sitting on the mid-Atlantic ridge, the birthing line of new oceanic crustal rock running right down the Atlantic ocean for many thousands of kilometers, as well as a hotspot, an upwelling of mantle material of debated origin which also feeds otherwise-inexplicable volcanism in the middle of tectonic plates, like Yellowstone and Hawaii.
An additional factor here is the presence of glaciers. When a volcano erupts underneath a glacier, the melting water cools the lava rapidly, causing features usually seen in volcanoes that erupt under the sea like pillow basalts, but also unique features like tuyas, which are steep-sided but flat-topped volcanoes. The rapid melting of water can also cause glacial floods called jökulhlaups.
Icelandic volcanoes have had significant regional and even global impacts in the past. In 2010, the volcano Eyjafjallajökull, which was a volcano covered by an ice cap, erupted and the ash cloud spread across Europe, causing airline disruption for about a month which caused nearly $2 billion in total losses for airline companies - though this seems pretty quaint compared to the pandemic's impact on airlines in retrospect. Back in the 1780s, the Laki volcano killed a quarter of the Icelandic population due to sulphur dioxide causing massive crop failure and cattle death. This eruption's impacts spread to Europe and beyond, causing notable worldwide temperature drops and thus crop failures and may well have been a contributing factor to the outbreak of the French Revolution, which obviously heralded the death of the feudal order and the eventual primacy of capitalism in its place. That being said, any eruption at Grindavik is very probably not going to have any significant worldwide impacts - there are over a hundred volcanoes already in Iceland, and regular climate change is doing a great job at causing mayhem right now anyway. It's also still possible that there won't be an eruption at all, at least not in the short to medium term.
Friendly reminder: when commenting about a news event, especially something that just happened, please provide a source of some kind. While ideally this would be on nitter or archived, any source is preferable to none at all given.
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish 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 (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
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.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
The Country of the Week is Iceland! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
This week's update is here!
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
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.
Hexbear Travel Group presents the first Russian Ukraine group trip! Embark on a captivating 10-day journey through the heart of Russian Ukraine! Explore the charming cities of Donetsk, Avdiivka, Mariupol, Soledar, Bakhmut, Robotyne, Kherson and Tokmak, each offering a unique blend of history, culture, and natural beauty. From picturesque landscapes to rich traditions, this trip promises an unforgettable experience. Book now for an immersive adventure and discover the hidden gems of Russian Ukraine!
Day 1: Donetsk
Landing at the historic Donetsk International Airport
Experience the captivating life of a Donetsk civilian by dodging shells in central Donetsk
Day 2: Avdiivka
Guided tour of the famous Avdiivka Coke Plant
Visit to the Promka industrial zone
For a small fee, write a personalised message and lob your very own shell towards central Donetsk
Day 3: Bakhmut (Prigozhingrad)
Walking tour of beautiful downtown Bakhmut
Buy a bouquet and lay it on the feet of the Yevgeny Prigozhin memorial statue
Day 4: Soledar
VIP all inclusive experience in the Soledar Salt Tunnels
Free shopping day
Day 5: Kherson
Explore the natural beauty of the Russian countryside in a 9 hour train journey to Kherson
Pilot an FPV drone over the Dnieper at night and capture some unforgettable photos
Day 6: Kherson - Nova Kakhovka
Experience life like a solider in the newly-opened Kherson Surovikin Park
Pilot a small raft across the Dnieper and avoid the falling grenades from the sky
Fun and wet treasure hunt in the former site of the Nova Kakhovka dam reservoir
Day 7: Robotyne
Visit to the unique Leopard Graveyard Park
Capture amazing photos on top of the countless Bradleys, Leopards and Strykers
Landmine fun in the forest belts north of Robotyne
Day 8: Tokmak
Visit to the Tokmak Trench Center
Learn how to build a trench from world renowned Russian trench instructors
Day 9: Mariupol
Beach adventures on the Azov Sea
Immersive guided tour of Azovstal, including the VIP POW experience in the tunnels of Azovstal
Chechen-themed farewell dinner in Akhmat's Tunnel Bakery
Day 10: Mariupol
You can't visit Leopard Park and not also stop by Bradley Square, smh you're missing out on so much culture
Why does this actually sound sort of fun lmfao
It's the least we deserve after keeping up with this damn war lol
Needs to include visits to THE SLAG HEAP and PATRICE LUMUMBA STREET with an audio narration by Alexander Mercouris
Only if he narrates at 2x speed
Shame. I was really looking forward to visiting Chernobyl
after the revolution when opsec isn't necessary I'd be down for this tbh
by that time I imagine that the Ukraine War will seem positively ancient and quiant compared to the utter horrors that await us but we all stuck through the nine months of Bakhmut being a mere couple weeks away from being fully captured by Russia and I wanna fucking visit the place at some point in my life
we won't even need a tour guide, we have the map and all the infrastructure burned into our retinas
Newsthread meetup in Bakhmut where we all eat borscht and quote our favourite Prigozhin lines.