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.


  • Torenico [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Another day, another diplomatic BANGER from our favorite ancaptain president:

    Javier Milei called Petro a “murderous communist” and caused a diplomatic crisis with Colombia

    In an interview, the president criticized his Colombian counterpart and said that “he is sinking” his country; Bogotá called its ambassador in Argentina for consultations

    One of the things that I learned thanks to this community is the idea that every accusation is a confession, as "Israel" taught us. milei claims Petro is "sinking his country" (??) while he's literally destroying the economy because muh anarchocapitalism, muh sister (whom he fucks) and muh deregulation. Pure projection.

    BOGOTÁ.- Colombia called its ambassador in Argentina for consultations this Friday after President Javier Milei described his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, as a “murderous communist” in an interview with journalist Patricia Janiot.

    Not sure who that journalist even is. He appears on very random telegram channels to be interviewed by absolute unknowns in channels called "LA PELUCA MILEI" or shit like that. He spoke in one of these channels after the 24th strike where he was clearly sedated lmao.

    ”The government of Colombia strongly rejects this statement, which attacks the honor of the president (...). President Milei's words ignore and violate the deep ties of friendship, understanding and cooperation," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

    Milei said that Petro “is sinking Colombia,” to a question asked by Colombian journalist Angela Patricia Janiot, in the program “¿Qué pasó con lo que pasó?”

    The Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alvaro Leyva, expressed “his most energetic protest against the disrespectful and irresponsible statements” of the Argentine president. "As a result of the circumstances created by the words of the President of Argentina, the Government of Colombia immediately calls Ambassador Camilo Romero, representative of Colombia in that country, for consultations," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. For its part, the Argentine Foreign Ministry did not comment on the matter when consulted by LA NACION.

    Ambassador Romero, for his part, wrote on his X account: “Milei is a hypocrite. While today he asks our government for approval for his new ambassador in Colombia, he calls the president a murderer.”

    The diplomat, who must return to Colombia following instructions from his government, added: "We can think differently, but the region and the historical brotherhood of our peoples must be above differences." He also recalled that Milei “had already attacked Lula in Brazil and even Pope Francis.”

    During the campaign, Milei had already said that he would not meet with “communist” rulers. “I would not meet with Lula da Silva. He is corrupt and that is why he was imprisoned and he is a communist,” the president said last November when asked about what his foreign policy and relations with Brazil would be like if he became president.

    On social networks, Petro often has discussions with the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, and is critical of the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, whose country declared him persona “non grata.”

    Bad relations

    Relations between Colombia and Argentina have been deteriorating since Milei came to power. The libertarian economist exchanged several messages with the first leftist president in the history of Colombia. Last year, still as a candidate, he stated on a Colombian radio station that “a socialist is trash” and “human excrement.”

    Petro, who in his youth belonged to a guerrilla who signed peace, compared him on his social networks to Adolf Hitler for that comment.

    Then, when Milei won the November elections by defeating the Peronist candidate, Sergio Massa, he declared that it was a “sad moment for Latin America.” Once installed in power, the leader of La Libertad Avanza clashed with the entire left in the region that had been a traditional ally of the Kirchners.

    n the interview with Janiot he also referred to the Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, as “someone who has the wrong ideas.”. In addition, he said of former president of the United States Donald Trump that he is “one of the leaders of freedom against global socialism,” and of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, he maintained that he was “someone who, despite adversity, “he managed to carry out his government program.”

    Original article in Spanish

    What a time to be alive. What a clown. What have we done to deserve this? Was it Maradona's handball goal? Was it Evita and Perón?

    • FuckyWucky [none/use name]
      ·
      8 months ago

      Petro, who in his youth belonged to a guerrilla who signed peace, compared him on his social networks to Adolf Hitler for that comment.

      W