No update today.
Somebody commented during my small break last week that I should try and insert breaks in, say, a day or so every week or two weeks, which I think I will try and do - though they might be irregular (i.e. on different days).
Happy International Day for Biological Diversity!
Links and Stuff
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can, thank you.
Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map, who is an independent youtuber with a mostly neutral viewpoint.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)
Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict and, unlike most western analysts, has some degree of understanding on how war works. He is a reactionary, however.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Yesterday's discussion post.
Russian telegram:
"According to the German TV channel N-TV, Europe depends on the supply of enriched uranium more than on oil or gas. It buys about 40% of nuclear fuel from Russia and Kazakhstan.
At the same time, the EU receives not only raw materials from Russia, but also technologies.
"Over the past years, the Kremlin has invested billions in improving the technological process of uranium enrichment and has been able to achieve success: Russian installations are considered among the best in the world," the @ino_tv channel quotes.
In addition, there are 18 countries in the EU where Russian nuclear reactors are located: two in Bulgaria, six in the Czech Republic, two in Finland, four in Hungary and four in Slovakia.
Journalists draw attention to the fact that Rosatom has not yet been sanctioned, although it is a state concern and a very suitable target for restrictive measures."
Also:
"Turkey Should Veto NATO Expansion for Next 20 Years — Retired General
Turkey should take full advantage of the historic opportunity provided by Finland and Sweden's bids to join NATO, retired Turkish Brigadier General Naim Baburoglu said."
Thanks to its veto power, Turkey has now received a strategic card, which must be used to make sure than not only Helsinki and Stockholm, but all NATO members, designate the PKK as a terrorist organization, Baburoglu told a Turkish outlet.
“Who has the most interest in Sweden and Finland being in NATO? It's the US because it wants to surround Russia from the northern Baltics. Therefore… Turkey should discuss this matter with the US in the first place,” he said."
Finland seems to be ready to throw pkk under the bus already
:shrug-outta-hecks:
Nazi country does Nazi shit? :surprised-pika:
So western democratic liberals are readily sacrificing the values they claim to uphold, the moment it benefits them politically? I'm shocked, absolutely shocked!
Sorry we had to chose between Kurds or Ukros, and only one of them is the victim of the week
Am I reading this right? Turkey just wants NATO members to be even more oppressive of communist parties? Seems like a trivial ask but I'm guessing it's much more complex.
The PKK aren't communist.
that would change things. I hear "workers party" and my US brain jumps to comparative conclusions
What do you base this on? I know very little about them but after a short look around their leader and their original manifesto seem to be Marxist Leninists. Maybe they have changed over the years but they seem pretty based to me.
They were originally ML, but abandoned it after the destruction of the USSR. This is coming from Hakim, from his video on Kurdish nationalism and a couple Deprogram episodes iiirc. If you want it in their own words, you'll find plenty of attestation if you just google it. "Democratic confederalism" is their thing now, and it seems very light on socialism. They seem to be mostly concerned with Kurdish nationalism at the moment. Which may or may not be based; I'm not trying to make a value judgement here, just clarifying.
So Democratic confederalism does seem to still be ML based but its an alternative to state based socialism. They want to make pockets of socialist communities within other nation states. They are trying to break out of the Ethno-state idea even though that is how they started. They are extremely environmentally aware and theoretically every political job has a male and a female position as a way to combat patriarchy? Interesting stuff. Obviously they are going through some teething but it seems like their hearts and minds are in the right place.