Well, Iran and their allies' response may happen sometime this week and apparently they aren't talking to the US in order to negotiate how and where they will hit Israel (and Shoigu arrived in Tehran rather auspiciously), the Bangladeshi government just fell, F16s have been given to Ukraine, there are fascist riots in the UK, and Japan just had its worst stock fall since 1987 and seems to be taking several other countries/corporations with it. I don't really know where to look right now.
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.
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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.
Shehab News Arabic (Official Hamas Outlet)
Hamas selects Yahya Sinwar as head of the movement's political bureau to succeed the late Ismail Haniyeh. Praise be to God
Every day his prediction to that Israeli intelligence officer made during his long imprisonment comes closer to being true.
“One day I’ll be the one in power, and you’ll be the one being interrogated.”
Insha'Allah that time is rapidly approaching
Really clever move; it simultaneously affirms that he is still very much alive and not under significant threat (thus undermining, pun intended, the Israeli narrative of having dealt with many of the tunnels and having dealt a terminal blow to Hamas), but also means that Israel will find it basically impossible to do assassinations against Hamas when they feel angry and threatened. Sinwar is quite possibly the single most wanted and hunted man on the entire planet right now. Israel would pay anything to get hold of him. And yet, despite all that effort, despite the Zionists' attempts to hold Gaza, they cannot find him. They still fear the tunnels and cannot even come close to conquering them, even after 10 months of war and genocide, even despite the billions upon billions of dollars worth of equipment that America has been funneling into Netanyahu's bloated, distended maw.
It also means that a potentially less involved and less committed individual inside Hamas would not be made leader and try and capitulate under pressure. Sinwar knows that they either win or he's dead. Even if he, god forbid, sold out the entire movement just to save his own skin - and there is literally a 0% chance of that happening - he'd just get assassinated a month after he settled down in his new home. The Israelis will not and have never respected any deal or promise. They even attack their most committed allies if they think it has potential benefits. I think it was the single best option Hamas had, very happy with it.
Yes, ironically there is no safer place on the planet right now for a leader in Hamas than in the Gaza Metro.
Its also a huge blow to Khaled Meshaal's faction in Hamas that betrayed Syria and wants to work closer with Turkey and Qatar.
May Allah (swt) prolong the life of Mr Sinwar and protect him as he leads the path to victory over the zionists insha'Allah
Education:
15 minute documentary "Inside the Mind of Yahya Sinwar" (english subtitles)
The philosophy of Hamas in the writings of Yahya Sinwar
just curious, Any non-Telegram source for this? I can't get the telegram link to load
With subtitles? I don't think so. Maybe someone can download it from telegram and upload to rumble or something