Chad, a country in north-central Africa, borders a lot of active geopolitical areas - Niger to the West, Libya to the North, Sudan to the East - but is scarcely discussed itself. I'm not really knowledgable enough to give anything like a decent history, but the recent gist is that the country was ruled for three decades by Idriss Déby until he was killed in battle in 2021 while fighting northern rebels. Idriss was part of a few wars - such as the one against Gaddafi in Libya, and also the Second Congo War. While he was initially elected democratically in 1996 and 2001, he then eliminated term limits and just kept on going.
After his death, Chad has been ruled by his son, Mahamat Idriss Déby. In early May 2024, elections began which were meant to result in the transition from a military-ruled goverment to a civilian-ruled one. Needless to say, Mahamat won the election - with 61% of the vote. Both father and son have been on the side of the French and the US, whereas the opposition is against foreign colonizers and has attempted to put pressure on the government in numerous ways to achieve a more substantial independence. France maintains a troop presence in Chad, and it's something of a stronghold for them - when French troops were forced out of Niger, they retreated to Chad. However, it's not clear even to the people inside Chad what precisely the French are doing there. I mean, we know what their presence is really for - imperialism and election rigging - but in an official sense, they don't seem to be doing much to help the country materially. What is clear is that they like to intervene on behalf of the ruling regime and against rebels a whole lot - the most interventions by France in any African country, in fact.
The United States, so keen on human rights and democracy in so many places around the world like Russia, Iran, and China, have - for some strange reason! - decided for the last 30 years that they can live with a couple dictators and wars in the case of Chad. In fact, various American state propaganda firms like the ISW and Washington Post have warned the current government about the Wagner Group interfering with the country and spreading anti-Western sentiments as in the rest of the Sahel.
Things are very tough for Chad. They are among the poorest countries in Africa and host about one million people fleeing from nearby conflicts, which is a pretty large number when Chad has a population of about 17 million.
With the French Empire fading, they are beginning to run out of places to retreat to in Africa. Macron, in January, said that his defense council had decided to reduce troop presence in Gabon, Senegal, and the Côte d'Ivoire, though has maintained troop levels in Chad and Djibouti. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet from France, anti-empire sentiments are boiling to the surface in New Caledonia/Kanaky, which is unfortunate for the French military as they really need that island, both for the massive nickel reserves, but also as an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Pacific just in case a conflict with China pops off.
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.
Military detects over 90 balloons presumed to be sent from N. Korea across border
The balloons that have fallen so far did not carry leaflets but trash and other waste, the source said, with the military and police currently collecting the fallen balloons.
On Sunday, North Korea said it will scatter "mounds of wastepaper and filth" over the border areas in a "tit-for-tat action" against the distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets.
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RFK really is a socialite's socialite with how much he got around in New York, eh?
Hello Israelis. I know you are hurt by the feeling that entire world thinks you want a genocide. You are hurt that world thinks you are a blood thirsty monster. I know it feels bad. Here is what you can do to fix this situation.
BURN DOWN THE FUCKING IDF HEADQUARTERS WITH MOLOTOVES. WE GAVE SHIT TO GERMANS SO MUCH BUT EVEN THEY HAD PARTISAN RESISTANCE AND SABOTAGE TO THEIR NAZI GOVERNMENT. IF YOU THINK YOU DESERVE BETTER TREATMENT THAN POST WW2 GERMANS, PROVE THAT YOU PIECE OF SHIT INSTEAD OF SAYING IDF IS NOT KILLING ENOUGH AND YOU HATE NETENYAHU FOR TREATING YOU BADLY. EVEN FUCKING RUSSIANS ATTACKED THEIR OWN MILITARY INSTALATIONS FOR KILLING HALF THE CIVILIANS IN 4 TIMES LONGER TIME FRAME
The funniest part about American tariffs is that they're actually strengthening Chinese relationships with.... Everyone in the world.
What are the tariffs actually achieving? They're NOT achieving replacement industries. New suppliers aren't appearing to produce and supply the products that are getting tariff'd away.
What is actually happening is that the products made by China are being sold to Vietnam and then those products are being sold to the US. Or they're being sold to I dunno, south american countries and so on.
This is strengthening Chinese relations with these countries, which are in turn becoming more reliant on China.
The US is cooked. The only way you're replacing these supply chains is with some sort of command economy. Even something Keynesian isn't really going to pull it off. Markets just won't do what you want them to do in this situation they're always going to just create more hoops to jump through for Chinese goods instead of creating an entirely new producer.
Obviously the problem with this is that you need to move away from neoliberalism to do this. But they're ideologically committed to it.
The White House is saying that the strike that killed so many innocents also killed two Hamas targets that the Israeli military says are responsible for attacks on Israelis.
Brandon now supports 'Netanyahu's' war crimes in Rafah. What ever happened to the red line. Atleast pretend to be mad at Israel
The IDF shooting at Egyptian troops at the Rafah border crossing earlier today, and killing that Egyptian soldier, has apparently been all over Egyptian news.
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No fucking chance, Wang. The attacks will continue until the genocidal entity of "Israel" stops doing genocide.
There was a midnight raid on the UCSC Palestine encampment. A lot of arrests. From what I’ve heard though, there’s still people in the encampment holding on. Unsure of the details at moment.
Three more UC campuses are going on strike next week. The Palestinian activists are inspiring. Some of the encampments elsewhere have settled for promises of meetings in the future, which has been noticed and refuted by people on the ground. There’s already been meetings between reps and admin staff where those kinds of offers have been refused. While the Union has had made a colossal fuck up that I can’t mention here for opsec reasons, there’s so much good stuff happening. I’m proud to do my part, however small.
For the first time in a year, opinion polls show that a majority of the Israeli population would back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection if ballots were to be held today. A survey presented by Channel 12 News on 29 May found that 36 percent of the electorate prefers Netanyahu over opposition leader and war cabinet member Benny Gantz when asked, “Who is better suited to serve as prime minister?” This marks a significant month-to-month surge from April, when support for Gantz stood at 35 percent, and Netanyahu lagged behind at 29 percent.
In the new survey, the current premier is also seven points ahead of opposition leader Yair Lapid and two points ahead of former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Netanyahu's party, Likud, also saw favorable results in the latest poll, picking up 21 of the Knesset's 120 seats. Nevertheless, Gantz's National Unity party edged ahead, picking up 25 seats. The Midgam Institute conducted the survey on Wednesday among 503 respondents via internet and phone, representing the entire population of Israel aged 18 and over.
The Zionists deserve a leader like Netanyahu. I'm glad to let them follow their wildly incompetent leader to their doom.
Politico: Dems in full-blown ‘freakout’ over Biden
Famed Russo-Chinese state propagandist, Politico, is also joining the chorus of panic over Biden and whether there's actually any reason to vote for him.
Some choice quotes:
A pervasive sense of fear has settled in at the highest levels of the Democratic Party over President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects, even among officeholders and strategists who had previously expressed confidence about the coming battle with Donald Trump.
“You don’t want to be that guy who is on the record saying we’re doomed, or the campaign’s bad or Biden’s making mistakes. Nobody wants to be that guy,” said a Democratic operative in close touch with the White House and granted anonymity to speak freely. But Biden’s stubbornly poor polling and the stakes of the election “are creating the freakout,” he said. “This isn’t, ‘Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president.’ It’s ‘Oh my God, the democracy might end.’”
Despite everything, Trump is running ahead of Biden in most battleground states. He raised far more money in April, and the landscape may only become worse for Democrats, with Trump’s hush-money trial concluding and another — this one involving the president’s son — set to begin in Delaware.
While he’s long lagged Biden in cash on hand, Trump’s fundraising outpaced the president’s by $25 million last month, and included a record-setting $50.5 million haul from an event in Palm Beach, Florida. One adviser to major Democratic Party donors provided a running list that has been shared with funders of nearly two dozen reasons why Biden could lose, ranging from immigration and high inflation to the president’s age, the unpopularity of Vice President Kamala Harris and the presence of third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [...] The adviser added, “The list of why we ‘could’ win is so small I don’t even need to keep the list on my phone.”
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But Democratic critics of the campaign’s approach — while agreeing that abortion should be a winning issue — said they’re challenged when pressed by friends to make the case for why Biden will win.
“There’s still a path to win this, but they don’t look like a campaign that’s embarking on that path right now,” said Pete Giangreco, a longtime Democratic strategist who’s worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “If the frame of this race is, ‘What was better, the 3.5 years under Biden or four years under Trump,’ we lose that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
Whatever the Biden campaign has been doing over the past two months — and it’s a lot of activity, including $25 million in swing-state ad spending, according to AdImpact — it has had only a limited effect. According to FiveThirtyEight, Biden’s average job-approval rating on March 7, the date of his State of the Union Address, was 38.1 percent. As of Friday, it’s 38.4 percent.
And his standing against Trump has also changed little. On April 22, the day Trump’s criminal trial began, the presumptive GOP nominee held a 0.3-point lead in national polls, according to FiveThirtyEight. Trump is up about a point since then, currently leading Biden by 1.4 points in the FiveThirtyEight average.
“New York Democrats need to wake up,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. “The number of people in New York, including people of color that I come across who are saying positive things about Trump, is alarming.”
“The greatest political challenge confronting the president starts with an “i,” but it’s not Israel, it’s inflation,” Torres said. “The cost of living is a challenge that we have to figure out how to manage.” He said Biden should focus on issues around affordability and continue to tout his success in capping insulin costs in areas with high rates of diabetes, like his Bronx district.
Judging from the socdems/social fascists I sometimes watch (e.g. at r/curatedtumblr), the anxiety is also heightening in the non-wonk population, too. Increasingly frequent shit like how you're transphobic if you don't vote for Biden, etc. Entirely plausible that if Biden can't get the cost of living down in the next five months, it is officially Joever. And just bleating "the economy is actually great, the best it's ever been actually" won't change that. You can't gaslight somebody into thinking that they haven't spent noticeably more money on bills lately no matter how many fancy indices you throw at them.
