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.
I hope Iran really goes hard after Israel's power grid / power generation. A country as small as Israel can only have so much in the way of power distribution.
I am a bit embarrassed to admit that a decade or so ago, I got really into prepping. I wasn't a reactionary or anything, but I was fascinated by the question of what could potentially shut down society. Got really into reading about the Carrington Event and EMPs that come from launching nukes in the atmosphere.
I think it's easy to underestimate just how much of our lives depend on electricity. If you don't have power, very few people can work or get around. You can't buy anything and stores can't open. No internet or telecommunications. Basically, society completely shuts down and shit hits the fan. People in Gaza are able to get by without electricity because they are in survival mode and they've had to build their lives around unreliable electricity anyway. But your average Israeli will have no way to cope with losing electricity.
I was on a college campus during a blackout here in the U.S. and I still laugh when I remember how many of their buildings had automatic toilets and sinks.
Perhaps relevant:
Yeah, the Resistance needs to keep fucking the money up. Electricity is a good target because of Israel's reliance on the tech industry. If there's no electricity, these tech business can't function, and a lot of of the high tech workers can leave Israel to go work elsewhere and potentially never come back. Natural gas or oil infrastructure are also good options.
America is going to get those Intel fabs, one way or the other.
no more half measures walter
The average “Israeli” has no way to cope with a disapproving look from a stranger in a public place. They don’t really cope with anything; they only rape and murder.
They need to get tips from Russia. The electric war in ukraine has been very effective
Strategically speaking, I think taking out the Knesset would be massive psychological impact without necessarily escalating into full scale war - assuming Iran still wants to avoid that.
Taking out the central government building of a country is definitely escalating into full scale war
It is definitely an act of war, no doubt about it, but it’s also the ultimate bluff call.
“No where is safe and we aren’t afraid to go for it, but we are still being limited. The decision is yours.”
If Israel wants war then it starts a war. If Israel isn’t actually ready for that, then their bluff is called.
Drone striking another airbase or taking out another iron dome won’t be enough because that’s what Iran did last time and it didn’t work, so if they limit themselves to that then they’re simply setting up a tit-for-tat routine, a cost calculus rather than deterrent. “You’re allowed to assassinate our ally’s in our own capital at will, so long as you’re willing to pay the price of a fighter jet.”
Maybe there are options short of the Knesset, maybe they could take out an Israeli politician and make it a 1:1 exchange. Still a cost calculus rather than deterrent but a higher cost?
For it to really be a deterrent though, you have to mean it. It’s business. The one willing to walk away from the deal completely gets the better deal. The one willing to escalate the most wins the bluffing contest. If the other side really is willing to go all the way then you need to choose if you are too. Bluffing doesn’t work in the long run. You have to mean it or you get called.
The symmetrical response would be an anti-terror airstrike eliminating a high-ranking zionist leader in their home. It would also remind the zionist leadership that they too could end up getting hurt in a war, not just som faceless conscripts that they don't give a shit about anyways. It might work, fascists are cowards.
Would be very tricky, the airspace between Iran and Israel is probably among the most monitored on the planet and Israel would have a warning long in advance for everybody important to enter bunkers
realistically Iran could only hit a building or a military installation of some kind and be guaranteed success
The IDF leadership is already fighting with the government because they don't want to go to war with Hezbollah.
Cough reichstag fire.
If their electricity goes out, who the hell else is going to send them any more?
lol probably Egypt and SA
Each american citizen will be obligated by corvee to send 3 diesel generators to Israel.
by covfefe
I actually think this is a funny bit that we could get creative with - American politicians love Israel so much they bring back the corvee system to give tribute to Israel.
Trump will
They'll have so much electricity
They will get to play out their The Last of Us fantasies
Attacking civilian infrastructure is bad, I would attack their ministry of war/congress/presidential house/etc instead
Are the civilian casualties that would be incurred by targeting densely populated areas like Tel Aviv more acceptable than those caused by electricity blackouts?
Good question
Yeah I see both sides