Image is of the Te Pati Maori (Maori Party) cofounders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. They have 6 of the 123 seats in the New Zealand parliament.

Officially confirming that the Republican primaries were a gigantic waste of time for everybody involved, Trump has massively beat everybody else in Iowa, and will very obviously be the Republican candidate for 2024. Given the abysmal state of the US economy (for everybody who isn't in the top 1-10%, which is mainly what national statistics reflect when they aren't telling blatant falsehoods), it's more plausible than ever that Trump may indeed once again become President - though I personally refuse to predict one way or another due to how volatile politics and geopolitics currently are. Project 2025 is coming, folks - either as the official Republican governance program, or as what the Democrats will do in 2026 after the midterms, stating that they have no other choice and have to reach across the aisle as they are the Adults In The Room™.

In other news...

Late last year, New Zealand voted in a new and very right-wing government, composed of the center-right National Party, the libertarian ACT Party (ACT stands for the "Association of Consumers and Taxpayers", good lord), and the fascist New Zealand First party. By what I can tell, this was the well-trodden path of "Vaguely center-left party does neoliberal austerity and causes a recession and workers fucking hated it and voted in a different party out of desperation," though the flooding and cyclones did add challenges to Chris Hipkins' short reign after Jacinda Ardern resigned.

It's worth noting that Hipkins was at least fairly China-friendly, meeting up with Xi Jinping on a five-day visit in the summer. They still do the whole "We have concerns about human rights" thing, but of all the countries of the imperial core, New Zealand is - or, perhaps, was - one of the most amicable. In 2021, China was New Zealand's single largest trading partner, with a third of exports going to China (more than Australia, the US, Japan, and South Korea combined), and they receive 22% of their imports from China too, more than any other single country.

Christopher Luxon, the new Prime Minister and sentient thumb, has said that he is exploring a closer relationship with AUKUS:

Luxon said New Zealand was interested in becoming involved in AUKUS Pillar 2: a commitment between the three partners to develop and share advanced military capabilities, including artificial intelligence, electronic warfare and hypersonics.

“We’ll work our way through that over the course of next year as we understand it more and think about what the opportunities may be for us,” Luxon said. “AUKUS is a very important element in ensuring we’ve got stability and peace in the region.”

This is not to say that Hipkins wanted nothing to do with AUKUS or Western organizations aimed generally against China - in fact, pre election, "he was open to conversations about joining Pillar II of AUKUS". But the current government is pushing down on the accelerator pedal.

The left-wing Maori party, Te Pati Maori, has stated that they want New Zealand to remain non-aligned, as joining AUKUS would erode the sovereignty of the country:

As Maori we cannot allow our sovereignty to be determined by others, whether they are in Canberra or Washington. Aotearoa should not act as Pacific spy base in the wars of imperial powers. Joining AUKUS will severely undermine our country’s sovereignty, constitution, and ability to remain nuclear free. There is too much at stake for our government to make a commitment of this magnitude without a democratic process.

In general, the party leaders of Te Pati Maori want New Zealand to be the "Switzerland of the Pacific", which is perhaps not the greatest analogy given all the problems Switzerland had and has, but we understand the intended meaning of desiring neutrality.

The Country of the Week is New Zealand! 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.

  • Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
    ·
    10 months ago

    https://archive.is/qb97J

    Some more wunderweapons failures of our military industrial complexes

    Did you know a man bought all the spare B-2 windshields and used them in his daughter’s tree house? The USAF had to buy them back to replace a damaged Spirit windshield.

    That's fucking right folks!

    The B-2 Spirit

    The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. A dramatic leap forward in technology, the B-2 brings massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses.

    The revolutionary blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large payload gives the B-2 important advantages over existing bombers.

    The B-2’s low observability is derived from a combination of reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar signatures. These signatures make it difficult for the sophisticated defensive systems to detect, track and engage the B-2. Many aspects of the low-observability process remain classified; however, the B-2’s composite materials, special coatings and flying-wing design all contribute to its “stealthiness.”

    Obvious exception being the fucking windshields lmao

    Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB), Missouri, is the only operational base for the B-2.

    Spare B-2 windshields sold as surplus

    Brion Edwards, former communications technician at Whiteman AFB and a reader of The Aviation Geek Club contacted us to share an interesting story regarding the B-2 Stealth Bomber.

    ‘I had the privilege of serving as a US Air Force communications technician at Whiteman AFB, which is the home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber fleet.

    ‘One day a maintenance NCO came in to pick up a laptop, because he was driving a few states away to pick up some spare B-2 windshields. He told me that over 20 years of service and thousands of hours flying transcontinental missions, a B-2 has never needed a windshield replaced. The windshields were believed to be indestructible. During a routine flight, a B-2 struck a Canadian Goose and the impact left a hairline crack on a windshield.

    honk-enraged

    The maintenance squadron placed and order with the Air Force parts depot, but they replied back that there were none in stock. The spare windshields had been in the warehouse such a long time with no orders for them, that someone thought they belonged to a discontinued air frame. The windshields were sent to the Air Force DRMO [Defense Reutilization Marketing Office] program, which sells surplus items to the public.

    Lmao bruh

    A stealthy tree house

    ‘The maintenance squadron reached out the company that manufactured the windshields to see if they had any spares, or could make a new windshield. The company stated they did not have any spares and the molds were disposed of a long time ago. If the Air Force wanted them to manufacture a new windshield, the company would need to retool an entire site, due to the windshields’ complexity. The cost would be astronomical.

    Astronomical costs because of both the grift and the lack of industrial capacty

    ‘In the meantime, the parts depot reached out to DRMO to try and identify anyone who may have purchased a windshield. It turns out, that the windshields were sold as a lot to one individual a few years prior. After much effort, the Air Force was able to locate the man and sent a representative to his residence. The man still had all of the spare windshields in his possession and through an undisclosed amount, agreed to sell them back to the Air Force.’

    God I hope he ripped them off

    Edwards concludes;

    ‘I am sure you are wondering why someone would purchase surplus aircraft windshields? He used them in his daughter’s tree house. How stealthy is your tree house?’

    Not that stealthy since the chairforce found it to pay a princely price to get their military secret windshields back.

    • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      10 months ago

      This is the whole reason the B-21 bomber is being made. It's not because the B-2 is out of date, it's because making a new aircraft is easier then maintaining the B-2 fleet.

      • FALGSConaut [comrade/them]
        ·
        10 months ago

        I love that a multi-million (billion?) dollar aircraft has the same problem as an iPhone where a single crack means you have to replace the whole thing. The USAF should start lobbying for right to repair lmao

        • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          10 months ago

          It's not just the windscreen, it's the maintenance of the entire airframe. The US airforce wants to retire all B2s within the next decade, by 2034. It's because production of the plane got impacted by the end of the cold war, and it was so ahead of its time and expensive that it is still the only stealth bomber in the world capable of firing standoff nuclear weapons. Spares and maintenance is very tricky due to the fact that they only made around 20 B2s, and a lot of production got shut down due to the expense and expertise needed to build and maintain such an aircraft. So it's easier to just build a new plane than reverse engineer a B2, and keep it flying beyond 2034.

          • FALGSConaut [comrade/them]
            ·
            10 months ago

            Yeah I know the cracked glass isn't why they're being replaced, I was just having a little fun with hyperbole

    • zephyreks [none/use name]
      ·
      10 months ago

      During a routine flight, a B-2 struck a Canadian Goose and the impact left a hairline crack on a windshield.

      Who would win: the pride and joy of the US Air Force, or the pride and joy of the Royal Canadian Air Force?

    • ziggurter [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      10 months ago

      God I hope he ripped them off

      Yeah. But imagine how much better still it would be if he'd said "FUCK YOUR BOMBER!!!" and run out to his garage with a sledge hammer.

    • RyanGosling [none/use name]
      ·
      10 months ago

      The company stated they did not have any spares and the molds were disposed of a long time ago.

      Ok, I can understand selling off parts that seemingly never get used. I can understand no longer manufacturing something that no one ever buys

      But I don’t understand why you would get rid of the mold. Surely the Air Force has enough room in its storage closet to put in there for a few years