This year really is just gonna be us swinging from election to election, I suppose. I feel Lenin's beaming red eyes on me.
Up next on our electoral tour is Portugal. The current government - a coalition of the center-left Socialists and the center-right Social Democrats - has been mired in corruption scandals, resulting in a general election being called a mere two years after the last one. The fascist and vaguely populist Chega party has gained significant support over the last two years due to the economic hardships. Yesterday, the Social Democrats secured a narrow win of 79 seats compared to the Socialists' 77. Chega, in third place at 48, would appear to be the best candidate for a coalition, though the leader of the Social Democrats has said that they would refuse a coalition with them due to their xenophobic views. Regardless, the fascist surge is worrying, if expected.
Portugal's economy is going pretty badly even as European countries go, with little growth in productivity or investment over the last decade. The origins of this crisis date back to Portugal making the euro their national currency in the early 2000s, thus surrendering their ability to control their own currency, becoming reliant on investment from Germany and France, and suffering greatly in the 2012 European debt crisis. Unemployment and low wages spurred emigration; in 2013, the youth employment rate was about 40%; this has only come down to 25% recently and is increasing again. The government is heavily reliant on debt for public spending, with a debt-to-GDP ratio skyrocketing to over 100% in the two decades since the turn of the millennium. The capitalist sector is simply not profitable enough and hasn't been for 40 years, which is only a problem if you are a capitalist economy. For more on the Portuguese economy, check out Michael Roberts' recent analysis, from which I obtained a lot of this information.
Inside Portugal is the same story playing out across much of Europe. A failing center or center-left political party, unable to cope with the economic troubles of the last few years due to absolute obedience to neoliberal policies. A fascist party rising, but with no alternative economic plan, hoping that perhaps oppressing minorities and going after "wokeism" will make their God, The Economy, rain blessings down on them again.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Portugal! 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
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.
And the necessary follow-up:
🚨🟡 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - Military Council (1/2): — In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. "Those who take disbelievers as allies instead of believers, do they seek honor with them? Indeed, then to Allah belongs all honor." This is the truth of Allah Almighty.
Let them worship their enemy... and our bullets know their way.
Our patient and steadfast Palestinian people, stationed at all their locations, whom Allah has honored with the blessing of jihad and persistence:
Today, we face a paid group that has singled out our great movement, Fatah, and its decisions to write a poisoned statement that holds no value to the paper it was written on in the eyes of the Brigades' men and the honorable members of the Fatah movement who have sacrificed their precious lives for the sake of Palestine and its steadfast people.
This statement stabs the resistance in the back, adopts the occupation's narrative, and legitimizes its killing and violation of our people and honor. This traitorous declaration is nothing but a zionist dagger in the side of Palestine and its steadfast people, and its noble resistance that has given everything in defense of our land and the path [Al-Aqsa] of our beloved prophet, peace be upon him.
This statement was drafted by trembling zionist hands to legitimize the occupation's agents who have wreaked havoc in our movement and squandered the blood of our martyrs and the suffering of our prisoners as a last attempt from them to sow discord, protect their positions, and save their rotten lives from their inevitable fate the day after the war ends.
🚨🟡 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - Military Council (2/2): — We, in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, in the face of this treacherous statement written by a rogue group and falsely attributed to our movement and under the name of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the West Bank,
By Allah, we do not fear the blame of the blamer, We affirm the following:
Firstly: We call on all our groups and cells operating in the field to escalate the resistance action against the occupation and its herds, in victory for our Palestinian people and its resistance in steadfast Gaza.
Secondly: We affirm our outright rejection of any government formed under American-zionist dictates which derives its legitimacy from the senile agent of the [PA] headquarters (who tyrannizes over the sons of the Palestinian people against their will).
Thirdly: The work of the resistance to liberate the land and to work towards the release of prisoners by all means is a right guaranteed to every Palestinian religiously, customarily, and legally, and there is no consultation in it with any party. Therefore, we affirm to you that we were and still are part of the glorious October 7th operation, and the blood of our leaders and the bullets of our brigades in the West Bank are the best witness and evidence.
Fourthly: Those who accuse the valiant resistance, in its various military formations and names in the West Bank and Gaza, of being behind the destruction occurring in Palestine should carefully review their accounts. Let us question those who brought us agreements of humiliation, disgrace, and destruction in exchange for money and power, and who handed over our leaders and men, leaving them as easy prey to the clutches of the occupation, and who pursued our heroes in the West Bank through the filthy security coordination.
Finally: We announce our full readiness to arm our heroic people and the sons of our great movement, Fatah, in the West Bank, and all those who wish to join the ranks of the martyrs, and to side with the resistance as a primary response to the worshipers of the sons of Zion and their followers. We also assure you that we have prepared and readied Brigades and cells known only to Allah in the proud West Bank, from Al-Khalil in the south to Jenin in the north, to participate imminently the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, God willing.
Their conspiracy against the consciousness of stones is unforgivable. Indeed, the bullets of our brigades, by Allah, will neither spare nor forgive.
The covenant is the covenant, and the oath is the oath. And it is indeed a revolution and a flood until victory, God willing.
Your brothers and your soldiers, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - West Bank March 16, 2024 — Note: The united Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades Military Council was established earlier this year in mid-January in order to unite the various wings of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in all parts of Palestine-
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