Image is of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Ansarallah.


The death of Zionism has just massively accelerated.

previous preamble

BRICS has expanded to include Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Argentina is currently experiencing technical difficulties due to the election of the ancap clown Milei - once he's out of office, maybe they can try again.

I don't really have much to say about this one way or another. BRICS has, so far, made only nervous and small steps towards challenging US hegemony. This isn't really that unexpected, as only China and Russia are the real "true believers" in ending US hegemony (and even then, China's government either believes, or is pretending to believe, that reconciliation is still possible). Brazil, India, and South Africa are less enthralled by the concept of dethroning the US, most especially India, who had to make a firm decision in 2023 whether they were going to be on the side of America, or on the side of the Global South, and chose the former, strengthening their military relationship. They're still best of friends with Russia, but they are very obviously the sussy imposter of the BRICS group.

The prospects of BRICS are only really loosely correlated with the prospects of multipolarism, though. It's not a process that hinges on BRICS's successes or failures. It is coming because the contender states (in Desai's terminology) are irreversibly rising, and the US is irreversibly falling. If it will not be BRICS that leads, it will be a different organization. A better world is not only possible, but inevitable - unfortunately for the US.


I'm taking a week off the updates because I've been swamped lately, and also feel the need to reconfigure (and find new) sources. Needless to say that I've grown tired of Financial Times headlines, even if they do represent the actual views of the bourgeoisie.


The Country of the Week is Ethiopia! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

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.

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.
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.


  • Redcuban1959 [any]
    ·
    8 months ago

    Lula, Petro, and Arab League declare support to South Africa’s case against Israel

    Colombia and Brazil join a growing list of countries that has expressed support for South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide

    Colombia and Brazil’s foreign ministries announced in separate statements that their governments support South Africa’s historic case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The two South American nations join a growing list of countries that have saluted South Africa’s initiative to demonstrate that Israel has violated its obligations under the Geneva Convention and oblige the state to cease all such acts.

    Colombia’s foreign ministry wrote in a statement that “South Africa’s lawsuit is a brave step in the right direction.” It added that the government of Gustavo Petro hopes that “the Court will rule without delay on the request for the urgent provisional measures requested by South Africa and adopt decisions that will allow the bloodbath in Gaza and the occupied territories to cease.”

    The statement also pointed out that Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, has sustained since Israel intensified its siege on Gaza, that, “it is very clear that the actions and measures adopted by the government of Israel constitute acts of genocide.”

    Itamaraty announced the support of the Brazilian government in a statement following a meeting held between Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Palestinian Ambassador in Brazil, Ibrahim Alzeben. The statement read: “In light of the flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, the president expressed his support for the initiative of South Africa to ask the International Court of Justice to determine that Israel immediately cease all acts and measures that could constitute genocide or related crimes in the terms of the Convention for the Prevention and Repression of Genocide Crime.”

    Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Secretary General of the Arab League, announced on the same day that “It is natural and logical for the Arab League to fully support the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide. We look forward to a just and bold ruling that will stop this aggressive war and put an end to the shedding of Palestinian blood.”

    The leader of the regional bloc added, “I express gratitude to South Africa and its government for adopting this principled stance, prioritizing morals and human values over any other considerations… and I reaffirm the Secretary General’s support for South Africa’s efforts in every possible manner.”

    South Africa submitted the 84-page application on December 29, the 84th day of the Israel’s bombardment of the besieged Strip. In the document, South Africa emphasizes the obligation of all State Parties to the 1948 Convention to take “all reasonable measures within their power to prevent genocide”. As such, it has urged the Court to recognize that Israel has breached this obligation.

    Citing Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, it argues, “The acts and omissions by Israel…are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial, and ethnic group.”

    South Africa will present its arguments before 15 judges of the ICJ on January 11.

    Israel, after supporting Bolsonaro and sending its diplomat to try to sabotage the Brazilian Air Force mission to rescue Brazilian-Palestinians from Gaza, really thought that Brazil would remain neutral?

    We need Gustavo Petro emojis.