Also known as "Foucault's boomerang" or the "imperial boomerang".
Image is of a sniper on the roof of the Indiana Memorial Union at Indiana State University, overlooking a student protest.
The Imperial Boomerang is the observation that the tactics of mass oppression and totalitarianism used by Western countries in their colonies and neocolonies will, sooner or later, return home to be used against the citizens of those Western countries. While the people living at the time of WW2 were, rightfully, in deep shock of the concentration camps used by Nazi Germany, those paying attention to what was occurring in Africa would not have been terribly surprised. Concentration camps were used in several countries in order to separate out ethnic groups and place them in more easily controlled environments which aimed to prevent them from rising up and fighting back against the Western governments which exploited them. There is the additional factor of governments taking notes from each other - Hitler was inspired by America's racial segregation and genocide of indigenous groups, which author Carroll Kakel among others have written books on.
Today, the totalitarian strategies used by the Zionist entity in occupied Palestine are being brought home to Western countries as the American Reich and its global influence accelerate in their decline. Gaza was and is a cyber-concentration camp, with digital surveillance taking place alongside old-fashioned techniques of paying informants. Aside from being an unsinkable aircraft carrier and disrupting the entire Middle East, Israel's primary role appears to be to generate new ways to monitor entire populations. Propaganda about China being an authoritarian police state with social credit scores and AI which knows where everybody is at all times was probably created, at least in part, to deflect attention from Israel doing those exact things. The paranoid and flimsy American regime with its gerontocratic upper circles now use these tactics at home: cracking down on any and all protestors with political views left of Mussolini; placing snipers on roofs ready to fire at the slightest provocation; and arresting organization leaders. Pegasus has wormed its way around the world, with a notable recent example in Poland, in which the previous conservative government used the spyware to monitor the current liberal ruling party. The Israeli military, experts only in killing children and not actual warfare, have trained the police of other nations.
It would be easy to end the preamble there, on a gloomy note about the brick wall - or, indeed, iron curtain - that upstart left-wing groups are up against. What history has shown is that these regimes are, in fact, beatable. Liberation movements around the world have found ways to counter imperialism, even if they required wars in which millions of their countrymen were murdered. The legacy of Israeli propaganda psyops and digital tracking is not victory, as Hamas demonstrated on October 7th and continues to show with every ambush executed and every Merkava destroyed. The legacy of Western military defence equipment is not success, demonstrated by every missile fired by Hezbollah and Iran which hits Israel. The legacy of the American Navy is not competence, with a naval blockade of the Red Sea still maintained after months by one of the poorest countries on the planet.
The protests of at least the last couple decades have been marked by failure to produce material results: from those against the Iraq War, to Occupy Wall Street, to the BLM protests of 2020. Of course, it would be silly to tell American protestors to start digging tunnels. But sooner or later, the failure of Western protest movements will be overcome, and a more effective strategy will be devised, in order to deflect the boomerang.
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 the United States! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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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.
SEA Headlines
VietnamPlus - Vietnam secures remarkable economic successes since national reunification
Bernama - ASEAN FOUNDATION COLLABORATES WITH HUAWEI TO HARNESS DIGITAL POTENTIAL
The Manila Times - China-Asean interpersonal exchanges pushed
The Bangkok Post - Asean centrality in a changing world
full article
things to different people, but broadly, it can be seen as a regional framework that supports Asean's role as the dominant regional platform to overcome common challenges and engage with external powers.
For citizens of the Asean community, they know its intrinsic value as it has kept the region stable and resilient throughout its more than five decades of existence.
In a fast-changing world, questions are frequently asked about whether the Asean centrality concept should be redefined. Indeed, the concept of Asean centrality was one of the major issues that Asean leaders discussed in the bloc's latest meeting in Hanoi last week.
The discussion on Asean centrality is lively and stimulates questions and even cynicism. At a lunch retreat, Vietnamese scholar Nguyen Hung Son, vice president of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, gave a good account of the evolution of Asean centrality. He said back in the 1980s, when the concept of Asean centrality did not exist, the region was depicted as "flying geese", meaning that member states, such as Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, had the potential to develop quickly.
In the following decade, Asean was perceived as a "driver" for regional cooperation. Questions were raised about whether it was just a driver and whether the passengers (member states) were setting the direction. No matter what the answer was, Asean would go on to assume that it was in the driver's seat, which helped to drive regional processes. Complaints were also made about there being too many hands on the wheel. As Mr Son observed, when Asean entered the 21st century, the bloc turned itself into a "central hub"--akin to an airport able to provide navigation and protection services. But when it came to regional issues that required the bloc's reactions or action, Asean was seen as a "talk shop" or the "Nato" (no action, talk only) of Asia.
Today, Asean centrality is recognised for its part in driving high economic growth in the region. But what form will Asean centrality take over the next 20 years?
Asean is currently wrapping up its new Asean Vision 2045, which envisages a bloc that is future-ready, future-proof, nimble, and agile. In the not-too-distant future, it is projected that the Asean region will become the world's third-most populous region and fourth-largest economy, with a fast-growing middle class that will outweigh the ageing population. Moreover, given its diversity and good connectivity, the region will become an innovative society.
Mr Son said he believes that Asean should be bolder in the future. It should become the leading "goose" of growth, a pioneer in green transformation, digital connection and innovative economics. Asean also can be an example of turning contestation and confrontation in the South China Sea into cooperation and connectivity.
In addition, Asean can serve as an example of how to successfully address multiple crises, such as climate change and water and food security in the Mekong region, thus providing solutions to other regions.
On centrality, Mr Son concluded with a proviso that the concept must not make the bloc complacent; Asean, after all, must not shy away from attempting to lead and shape in future.
In retrospect, similar observations were made in 1977 when Asean opened up for dialogue, market access, and assistance with foreign partners. At that time, Asean officials were only concerned about locations and setting agendas. They insisted all meetings be held in an Asean capital and all agendas fixed by the rotational chair and its members. Back then, the Asean centrality concept was merely a procedural affair.
Subsequent economic cooperation and engagement with the dialogue partners increased the bloc's confidence that its agenda should be further discussed and shared with others. From the 1990s onwards, the bloc has increased Asean-led mechanisms that take in dialogue partners on cooperation on matters related to political/security, economic, social/cultural, and development. At the 9th East Asia Summit in Nay Pyi Taw in 2014, its key agendas were initiated by the US, especially on global health issues and epidemic disease (Ebola).
Because Asean aims to be the main driving force in the region and prevent any hegemony from outside, active engagement from dialogue partners such as the Asean Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit, and the Asean Defence Ministerial Meeting is a must. Luckily, Asean is not a military grouping; it only promotes peace-making and peace-keeping. It has never weaponised conflicts, near or far. Today, Asean centrality has already gained traction as the great powers, particularly the US, China and EU, continue to woo Asean.
During the first special Asean-US summit in California in February 2016, the Obama administration, for the first time, openly supported the Asean centrality and Asean-led mechanism in the evolving regional architecture. Other dialogue partners such as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand have long accepted Asean centrality as a pivotal tool for forging closer cooperation and partnership between the bloc and dialogue partners.
To make Asean centrality sustainable and relevant, its members' governments and their lawmakers must show goodwill and implement all Asean agreements and policies in a way that only promotes the bloc's centrality.
Meanwhile, younger generations also need to be exposed to Asean affairs in a more holistic way, not fragmented as it is currently. For instance, the region's school children should be able to sing the Asean Way, the bloc's anthem. Activities and programmes promoting the Asean identity and strengthening the sense of belonging should be encouraged.
With its convening and convincing power, Asean centrality 2.0 can go global and create a milestone, especially the efforts to build a better and peaceful world.
Taking advantage of the current situation, with the ongoing desire of the US-China to improve their strained relationship, Asean could provide a neutral venue for them or, for that matter, any conflicting parties to exchange views and mend their relationship because the bloc does not take sides.
The Conversation - Long before politicians called to ‘stop the boats’, First Nations people welcomed arrivals from Indonesia
Antara News - RI, Malaysia propose ASEAN-GCC collaboration for new economic power