Image is of a colectivo: an armed group, usually operating in impoverished areas, which act to support and defend the socialist government of Venezuela. They are often derided as vigilante terrorist groups which prop up the government, because cops are only bad when they are socialist and not murdering minorities, I suppose.
Maduro's party, the PSUV, has won the election after a staggering amount of propaganda by the opposition, who said their polls suggested they were going to win and that Maduro's loss was inevitable. The reaction across Latin America is what one would expect. Left-leaning leaders are generally respecting the results and congratulating Maduro, while those on the right and/or are US puppets (such as in semirecently-couped Peru) are calling for recounts, or even that the election was illegitimate. The US itself is also unhappy about the results. We shall soon see if their unhappiness boils over into yet another coup attempt.
Personally, I think they should have ran Guaido again.
Thank you to @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net for the election coverage here, and everything else they do in the news megathread.
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 Venezuela! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Please check out the HexAtlas!
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.
Trita Parsi on Haniyeh's assassination
spoiler
A few thoughts on Haniyeh's assassination.
No confirmation yet if it was Israel that killed Haniyeh and if it was through an airstrike. But if it was, the assassination provides Netanyahu several benefits beyond the obvious goal to take out Haniyeh in response to Oct 7:
It kills the ceasefire talks: Netanyahu has systematically sabotaged ceasefire talks because ending the war will likely end his political career. The signal he got from Kamala Harris was that she would not be as unforgiving as Biden has been of Netanyahu's obstinance. The assassination buys Netanyahu several weeks, if not months, in which there will be no serious expectation of a ceasefire deal. Thus, the war will continue, as will Netanyahu's reign as Prime Minister.
It may kill renewed US-Iran diplomacy: Pezeshkian campaigned on a platform of renewed US-Iran diplomacy. But with tensions heightening following the assassination, his chances to create a diplomatic opening with the US have been shut close, at least for now. Israel has opposed US-Iran diplomacy since the early 1990s, and creating political crises that raise the cost of starting talks has been the most effective way to prevent diplomacy.
It may get Netanyahu the war he's been looking for: The attack has been deeply embarrassing to Tehran. It has destroyed Iran's claim that it restored deterrence vis-a-vis Israel following Israel's bombing of Iran's consulate in Damascus on April 1. It has signaled Iran's allies that they are not safe - not even in Tehran - and that Iran cannot protect them. Iran is, as a result, very likely to retaliate. As a result, Netanyahu has likely triggered an escalatory spiral that can result in a full-scale regional war that likely will drag the US into it as well. The calculation is that such a war will destroy and/or degrade many of Israel's enemies and establish a new balance in the region that restores Israel's dominance and freedom to maneuver. Israel cannot establish such a balance on its own, but the calculation is that the US can.
It corners Kamala Harris: As I mentioned, Harris has signaled that she will adopt a tougher line against Netanyahu. But if Netanyahu manages to start a regional war before she potentially becomes President, Netanyahu will not only have forced the US into the war but also cornered Harris and removed her ability to adopt a tougher line against Israel. Biden voluntarily (and foolishly) bear-hugged Biden. Through the assassination and its consequences, Netanyahu may be able to force Harris to bear hug him.
As a reminder: If Biden had forced a ceasefire early on, all of this - including the risk of the US getting dragged into another senseless war in the Middle East - would have been avoided.
https://x.com/tparsi/status/1818511438668849329