Image is of China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Zhao Sheng, meeting Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund in September 2023.

I know the Rambo title card is a hoax.

The COTW was chosen in the wake of the aborted sequel to the attempted assassination of Trump being performed by a guy who is VERY enthusiastic about Ukraine, to the point of trying to sneak Afghan soldiers into Ukraine by setting up a house in Pakistan to house them and then further transport them. He also apparently offered to send thousands of Afghan soldiers to Haiti to help them combat gang violence. Whomst among us doesn't have the numbers of thousands of Afghan soldiers on speed-dial. Do you reckon there's a group chat?

Anyway, while there is still no official recognition of the Taliban's government by any country, China has taken a different course than the late USSR and the US - forming economic in-roads, rather than trying their own invasion. This has been a big boon for the struggling country, with various mines and oil and agriculture deals helping keep things barely afloat. A total disintegration of the social fabric of Afghanistan is not in the interest of any of the powers that border it - China, Pakistan, and Iran, with Russia not too far away - so an interesting dynamic of helping-without-official-recognition has been established. I wonder who will be the first country to fully recognize them?


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 Afghanistan! 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

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 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.
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.

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.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
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]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Hold up. Let RT cook let-em-cook

    US accuses Russia’s RT of efforts to ‘destabilize’ Argentine government

    The State Department imposed sanctions on the state-funded network for alleged covert intelligence activities

    The United States government imposed sanctions on Russian media network RT after accusing the state-funded outlet of carrying out covert intelligence activities around the world to advance Kremlin interests. Among the countries allegedly targeted is Argentina: according to the Biden administration, RT is attempting to “destabilize” President Javier Milei’s government.

    “The Russian Government is also engaged in operations meant to destabilize the government of Argentina and escalate tensions between Argentina and its neighbors,” said a release by the State Department on Friday. However, it did not provide any concrete examples of how these alleged destabilization efforts were being conducted.

    Of course they didn't provide any concrete examples. OF COURSE.

    Milei has been vocal about his support for Ukraine. In June, he participated in the Global Summit for Peace and offered the country “full support” in its war against Russia. He has also expressed disdain for Vladimir Putin’s government: before becoming president, Milei had said he would not be partnering in business with “any communist countries,” including Russia. His government also declined entering the trading bloc BRICS Russia is a part of, an effort that had been spearheaded by the prior administration.

    Famous communist, Putin.

    In its briefing, the State Department said that RT was no longer just a media outlet, calling it “an entity with cyber capabilities.” It accused it of a series of “malign activities,” such as “engaging in information operations, covert influence, and military procurement in Europe, Africa, and North and South America.” This includes interfering in foreign elections and launching a crowdfunding campaign to procure weapons for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

    So like CNN, BBC and etc etc.

    According to the statement, these RT-managed influence and intelligence operations began in the Spring of 2023 by direct orders of the Kremlin. It also said RT head Margarita Simonyan and RT Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anton Anisimov have direct knowledge of this enterprise. The State Department explained that the U.S. government was “actively engaged in a diplomatic effort” to inform other governments about these “destabilizing actions abroad”, and encouraged them to “take action” against them.

    The United Kingdom and Canada also made similar claims about RT’s alleged covert activities on Friday.

    Last week, the U.S. also filed money-laundering charges against two employees of RT for allegedly using shell companies and fake personas to hire a Tennessee company in order to produce online content aimed at influencing the 2024 U.S. presidential election, purportedly in favor of Republican candidate Donald Trump. It also announced actions targeting RT, including Simonyan.

    ok still don't care lmao

    This is a new chapter in the U.S. and Russia’s strained relationship. Joe Biden’s administration has issued several sanctions against Russian individuals and companies since the war against Ukraine began in 2022. On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in her opening remarks at the BRICS media summit in Moscow that RT journalists are being “subjected to a real terrorist and information attack” from the U.S. based on “monstrous and baseless” accusations. She warned member countries that the same could happen to them.

    RT, our people yearn for destabilization of the milei regime so we can take back power.

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

      Why is Argentina being so unstable? Could it be because they have an incestuos fascist crackpot for a president who gets political and economic advice from his deceased cloned dogs and who is actively trying to sabotage every social support structure?

      Nah... It must be because Russia operates a news channel.