Argentina is an interesting microcosm of the more widespread war that every other currency is waging against the dollar - in this case, the yuan is taking on the dollar in gladiatorial combat.

The Argentinian economy, like many, is fully permeated by the American dollar, but it has its own official currency, the Argentinian peso. This may not be for long: one of the major contenders for the Argentinian presidency has proposed replacing the national currency of Argentina with the dollar, which would therefore mean that an even more substantial part of the economy would be decided, with no input from Argentina, thousands of miles away. This is not unprecedented - Ecuador already does this, as does Zimbabwe, Timor-Leste, Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. The motivation for doing so may also be convincing to Argentinian voters, as the country has faced hyperinflation, ever-increasing benchmark interest rates, and chronic shortages of dollar reserves.

However, the yuan has entered the scene, particularly over the last couple months. The Economy Minister met with Chinese officials in early June to sign a co-operation plan to promote the Belt and Road Initiative. Commercial banks can now open deposit accounts in yuan, and securities can now be issued in the yuan. The Western media, as one might expect, emphasizes how utterly desperate Argentina must be to go to the yuan - the yuan! - to sort out its economic crisis.

Whirlpool Corp, a major American appliances company, has said that it is considering paying with the yuan to import parts for a new factory in Argentina. Over 500 Argentine companies making a plethora of products have requested to pay for imports in yuan.

The share of yuan transactions in Argentina's foreign currency market hit a daily record of 28% in late June, compared to a high of 5% in May.

And last week, Argentina opted to use the yuan to settle part of its debt with the IMF for the first time, and it will be interesting to see if other countries follow their example.

Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Here is the archive of important pieces of analysis from throughout the war that we've collected.

The first update this week is here in the comments.

The second update this week is here in the comments.

Links and Stuff

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Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists

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. I recommend their map more than the channel at this point, as an increasing subscriber count has greatly diminished their quality.

Moon of Alabama, which tends to have decent analysis. Avoid the comment section.

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. Beware of chuddery.

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 journalist reporting in the warzone.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Telegram Channels

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

Pro-Russian

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 still quite reactionary in terms of gender and sexuality and race, so beware). 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 ~ Another 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's army.

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

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.

Last week's discussion post.

  • Teekeeus [comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    The U.S. Funds Shadow Police Units All Over the World

    Warning: It's a WSJ piece, so brainworms abound

    In more than a dozen developing countries where the U.S. believes police agencies are so riddled with corruption that they can’t be trusted, American embassy personnel handpick their own local law-enforcement units, screen them for misconduct and, to a large degree, assign them missions aligned with U.S. interests.

    Yeah, because america isn't corrupt at all. Note that they still admit the missions serve yankee interests.

    The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs says it has vetted members of 105 police units worldwide for agencies including the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security.

    Because some agencies do their own vetting, the State Department said it was unable to provide a global count of U.S.-aligned units or the officers they employ. It said there was no central office tracking all of the units’ activities or the total government spending that goes into them.

    Amazing levels of accountability

    The State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security alone says it has 16 vetted units established under agreements with governments from Peru to the Philippines. The Fish and Wildlife Service funds police in Uganda and Nigeria.

    The global spread of U.S.-vetted foreign police units is little known and faces little public scrutiny. Some Kenyans who do know of the units’ existence bridle at the notion that foreigners wield so much influence in domestic law enforcement.

    The DEA pioneered the strategy during the cocaine wars in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru in the 1980s. Resident American narcotics agents, frustrated by the drug cartels’ influence over local police, took it upon themselves to identify officers they felt they could trust, according to research conducted at the time by Ethan Nadelmann, then a Princeton University professor. At the time, the DEA’s ability to keep vetted units clean and effective depended on extensive diplomatic pressure from the U.S. government, Nadelmann found.

    Classic lich language "extensive diplomatic pressure"

    Now the practice has become routine and global for law-enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. government. The units operate under memorandums of understanding between the U.S. and local authorities.

    But muh secret commie police stations

    Kenyan officers who win positions in vetted units get upgraded training, the prestige of working in an elite squad and, depending on the unit, as much as twice their usual pay. U.S. agencies provide intelligence they might not share with ordinary Kenyan police.

    Literal bribery by a foreign power

    There's more written in that piece, but it's mostly just copaganda stories.

    • MolotovHalfEmpty [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      But secret Chinese police stations are helping people renew their drivers licenses!

      The DEA pioneered the strategy during the cocaine wars in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru in the 1980s.

      Which went so well and is definitely a model to follow. Just ask Kiki Camarena.

      • GrumpigPoopBalls [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        This doesn’t actually surprise me at all. For example countries that export seafood to the US have to ensure that their fisheries are compliant with the Marine Mammal Protection Act, in the case of FWS im choosing to hope (cope?) that the funding is directed towards something similar. Given that it’s Amerikkka though it’s probably like wildlife death squads who kill activists and claim they were poachers.

    • GnastyGnuts [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      American embassy personnel handpick their own local law-enforcement units, screen them for misconduct and, to a large degree, assign them missions aligned with U.S. interests.

      I'll have to bring this up to the libs whenever they whine about those "secret Chinese police stations".

    • pyrpelo [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Literally what they were accusing China of doing.

      ITS ALWAYS PROJECTION lenin-rage