Thread image created by yours truly, depicting Iran and Pakistan very impolitely not asking whether America, on the other side of the planet, is okay with them transporting gas around.
The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline has long been obstructed by American involvement in the region. Iran completed its section of the pipeline quite quickly, but Pakistan has been unable to finish its construction for a decade due to the fear of falling afoul of American sanctions on Iran. The United States has repeatedly tried to pressure Pakistan to give up the project and obtain gas from other countries instead. Recent articles on the state of the pipeline are contradictory, with some stating that Iran or Pakistan have given up on the pipeline while American sanctions persist. Pakistani officials reject this framing, saying that they are still working with Iran to try and get the project completed somehow. Nonetheless, Iran is becoming increasingly frustrated and is threatening a legal battle and a demand for reparations.
Meanwhile, back in Niger, the $13 billion under-construction pipeline connecting Nigeria and other West African countries to Spain and Italy will likely face delays due to the sanctions applied by the West and ECOWAS on Niger. Those following the European gas fiasco will be aware that while Spain and Italy have been impacted by the energy crisis, they have been very busy making deals with African countries to replace their Russian gas, and thus stand a better chance than Germany of making it through the crisis with their industries somewhat intact. The coup has thrown a wrench into their plans, though they can still obtain some gas from northern African countries.
And, last but not least, America tried for years to stop the construction of the Nord Stream pipelines between Germany and Russia, which culminated in them deciding to blow them up late last year.
All in all - the United States really does not like it when countries build up energy infrastructure and gain some independence from them.
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
This week's first update is here in the comments.
This week's second update is here in the comments.
This week's third update is here in the comments.
Links and Stuff
The bulletins site is down.
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can.
Resources For Understanding The War
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.
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 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
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.
Dude that jumped the border into the DPRK seeking asylum. Damn near uncritical support.
Show
spoiler
Over 25% of personnel across all branches of the military were food insecure in 2018, with some service members struggling to stay within their monthly budgets or finding themselves captive to their schedules, according to a report released earlier this year by the RAND Corporation think tank.
“[W]e actually looked at some of the predictors of food insecurity among service members and, actually, service members who live on-post are more likely to experience problems accessing food, more food insecurity,” said Dr. Thomas Trail, a behavioral scientist who co-authored the report.
“Which makes the situation at Fort Cavazos kind of concerning, because you think, ‘Well, you know, they have dining facilities there, they get a meal card, they should be able to eat.’”
Soldiers at the sprawling, 214,968-acre U.S. Army base, which sits about 70 miles north of Austin, have battled insufficient food access for much of the summer, Military.com reported earlier this week.
Just two of the base’s 10 major dining stations have been open every day this summer, with another three open only during limited hours, according to the report. Confusing or conflicting information on hours of operation has compounded the problem.
While some soldiers can head off-post to grab grub, not all have vehicles. And those who do face a lengthy drive — up to an hour round trip — plus the prospect of paying for food out of pocket, rather than with military-issued meal cards usable on-post. Without factoring in bonuses and allowances, annual base pay for active duty soldiers starts at just over $23,000.
The reported root of the problem at Fort Cavazos is a lack of staffing for the on-post facilities, with a majority of cooks either deployed or undergoing training elsewhere.
“What we’ve found and what the [Department of Defense’s] own surveys have found is that the rate of food insecurity is high among service members and their families, higher than it is among equivalent civilians even,” Trail told The Messenger. “It’s a fairly large and somewhat persistent issue.”
The research report, which was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, did find some trends. Two-thirds of those service members found to be food insecure were “in the early to middle stages of their career,” according to the report. They were also more likely to be of racial or ethnic minorities, and disproportionately in the Army rather than other branches.
“[I]f you’re living on-post, [and] you have a meal card, but you can’t use that meal card to purchase food because the dining facilities aren’t open or they’re not easily accessible, then you’re essentially not getting the pay you’re owed to pay for your food,” said Trail.
This issue comes up even on bases with ample kitchen staffing, with some soldiers’ work schedules incompatible with the hours of operation for on-post dining options.
“Some people are on shift work and they need to eat when the dining facilities aren’t open, so they’re spending money on food [off-post] that technically they’re not being reimbursed for from the military,” said Trail.
One person interviewed for the research report relayed that exact concern.
“We do a lot of shift work, which means that you won’t be eating in the [dining facility],” that interviewee said. “You get your BAS [Basic Allowance for Subsistence], and if you’re buying microwave dinners or eating takeout all the time, it adds up quick.”
New York’s Fort Drum is currently running a pilot program allowing soldiers to use their meal cards at non-military eateries, like Panera and Qdoba, according to Military.com.
So, the biggest military in the world has tactics that are entirely geared towards fighting shepherds in deserts, wunderwaffen that cost exponentially more than the hardware they may end up outmatched by, and they still can't feed their soldiers in their own country living on bases. I hope there's a lot of Qdobas and Paneras in Taiwan otherwise China's gonna have a cakewalk.
Yea that's not a good sign when your military logistics network can't provide the barest of necessities while in their home country. And the solution basically being subcontracting it out to fast food joints is too perfectly American. Next you'll hear about McDonald's on bases charging $500 for a big mac, can't leave those military contracting dollars on the table after all!
Can't wait for slop commercials with a low gravelly truck advertising voice talking about "military grade meat" and "eating like a warrior"
Every military base I've been on has had a wendy's and every foreign US base I've been on has had some form of Applebees or equivalent Amerikkan restaurant.
People don’t talk about rural poverty much - or when they do it’s about the absolute poverty of Appalachia - but there’s been a massive hollowing out of the rural regions between metropoles due to the end of military keynesianism. Bush gutted and neoliberalized the military during the Iraq war and in doing so started to drain out one of the only economic inflows into many of the poorer regions in the south. Recruiting numbers aren’t just down because people don’t want to be war criminals, they’re down because joining up is no longer the guarantee of economic stability that it used to be
I was gonna make a meaner joke about the difficulty of making your Dodge Challenger payments when you also have to pay for food.
i have infinite money and cheap food. someone please help me budget this my soldiers are starving
The average US military grunt gets treated like absolute shit, and the culture makes that the whole point. Follow that trail all the way up and you can see why they allow barracks to fall into disrepair and why they neglect to consider at all feeding the troops domestically. It's very much the sense of hyper-individualism striking again, "they get paid, they can find their own food" without sparing a glance at what that entails.
It's very much the sense of hyper-individualism striking again, "they get paid, they can find their own food" without sparing a glance at what that entails.
US Military Brass have the mindset of an Austrian commander in the 1600's, but think that they can contend with China militarily.
Officers are usually paid well-enough, breaking in at above 40k a year from the moment they start their careers as an O-1, with career officers climbing the ranks making over 200K a year.
Of course this doesn't include military bullshit that garnishes your pay or bonuses that can help subsidize your life in service.
So the only reason if and why we'd see any sort of officers revolt would likely be something spawned from pure ideology - which is also extremely unlikely.
Yes, but officers coups are generally only successful if they can get enough grunts to follow them.
Battleship Potemkin is one of my favorite movies, the first act especially
americans would rather drive an hour out of their way and waste all their money than go without fast food lol
One thing I'll never get over when visiting family in the US is seeing how strong military worship can be in some places. I remember going to some small rural town and having "US MARINE" bumper stickers or decals would have people honking their horns and a few going "YEAH! YOU'RE A HERO!" Another time a guy in a military outfit was buying groceries and some dad loudly said to his kid, "Go to that guy and tell him thank you for protecting us!"
Military people in my country are largely viewed as slackers or people too stupid to pick up a trade or go to school. The only people who do something similar to what I saw in the US are the far-right types that like the fashy aesthetic of it.
So I was browsing
and I saw a user post a video of Pyongyang taken from a very tall building. The user kinda admits the city looks cool but finishes by saying "these buildings are all empty and there are impoverished people", first commenter say Pyongyang is the cleanest city because people are "not allowed to do anything" (?????).May
burn and suffer a painful death. I am tired of better than thou white ass cracker motherfucker gringos. The world will be a better place without them.Argentina's primary election winner Javier Milei, the ancap, said that if he's elected he'll cut diplomatic ties with China because "they're Communists and I don't deal with Communists". Diplomatic, political and economic suicide, here we go!
Also he said the US and Israel would be "our top allies" if he wins, how original. He also gave names for a possible cabinet and how he's going to reorganize the government: A number of ministeries will be eliminated, state scientific institutions will be privatized (He's on the record saying "What have scientists done for us?, they need to be competitive") and the Central Bank will be "demolished". He mentioned the Ministry of Defense will be under a woman who is known for being a Videla apologist, she claims the last military junta did not carry out a genocide and denies 30,000 people were disappeared, tortured and killed by the state. He also wants a "voucher system" for education, public schools and universities are pretty much gone, instead, the state would give people "vouchers" for them to "spend on educative institutions of their choosing", thus "forcing schools and universities to compete among themselves". And probably his "top issue" is complete dollarization of the economy. His path will be most likely similar to Menem's neoliberal plan, first he'll "fix" high inflation (In the case of Menem it was hyperinflation of the late 80s), this will be seen as very positive by the general population. He'll most likely do this by cutting a deal with the IMF and other foreign entities, they'll let him "reign in peace" for two or four years, in exchange, Argentina will give up it's energy and lithium reserves (among other things, like labor reforms and shit like that), sealing our fate.
We're living in the wildest nightmare. Capitalism has brought this country to it's knees numerous times before, and the "libertarian" solution to capitalism is even more capitalism. I am contemplating more and more just leaving this hollow piece of shit behind and migrate to Spain, at least for a number of years. I just don't feel particularly safe here no more, this is a nightmare scenario, this isn't just your typical right winger taking power and getting kinda obstructed by democratic institutions, these are true Fascist demons taking power and going all in. I'm not sure he'll be able to fully implement his agenda, most likely he'll fail along the way, the problem is that this shit will bring high social tension, economic devastation and a massive drop in quality of life. Do I really want to live through this crap AGAIN? I grew up during the late 90s and early 2000s, I remember the December 2001 riots, I can still hear the echoes of the "Cacerolazos" (people banging pots to protest), I remember my school friends asking me if we could give them spare cardboards to their parents because these could be sold for some money, I remember the endless waves of unhoused people looking for food in the trash (who are more and more visible today) and, of course, I remember the police killing 30+ people during the protests as if this was 1978. No, I don't think I want to live through this again, even less when I'm a target for these lunatics. There is fight in me, but is there any fight in those around me?
Death and Eternal Suffering to all Fascists.
Lukashenko, to Ukrainian journalist, emphasis mine:
Lukashenko: "I've drawn this map specifically for you. Russia will crush your personnel and hardware over there. Those motivated, ideologically strong, Nazis as they are called, those ideologically strong men are no longer around. All of them have died already. Who is fighting here, then? Those you can catch in the streets and bring here. They are not prepared. Well, and a bit of military personnel. They will not be able to defeat this machine. Russia has changed. At present, Russia has cutting edge weapons at the front. There are plenty of drones now. Well, it is a totally different army now. And the most dangerous thing... I don't know whether I should tell you or not..."
Reporter: "Please do!"
L: "They have 250,000 volunteers! Russia has 250,000! Who are not at the front yet!"
R: "In reserve now?"
L: "Volunteers! They have been trained and they are in reserve. Do you understand how many people 250,000 are? Russia has fewer people at the front now. So they are staying on the defensive. Not because they cannot advance. They don't have to! And you keep walking like people who have had too much drugs and alcohol. You walk [with assault rifles] at the ready like German Nazis in movies. You walk towards these barricades. But you cannot even reach them. We can see it, and it is so. You cannot even reach the minefields. You are just getting slaughtered in thousands. Your counteroffensive cost 45,000 in dead and maimed. 45,000! So they are on the defensive. Your losses are 1 to 8. 1 to 8 at the front line. And 250,000 in reserve with cutting edge hardware. You will be crushed. Then they will do what you and your leadership fear the most. They will cut you off by advancing towards Moldova, towards Transdniestria. What will you do after that? And Poles rub their hands in glee. Pushed by Americans, they will cut off the western regions. You will have only this little bit left, if any at all. This is what will happen to you. And the state, the Ukraine you and I know, will cease to me. Our native land. Yours and mine."
R: "Has this history been determined? What you are saying now..."
L: "If you don't stop now, it will happen! If you don't start negotiations now. Russia suggests it. You don't want it? Well, if you don't want it, we don't need it! Russia is powerful enough. No West will help you in this regard. You have to take your head into your hands and act on the basis of reality. Act in the interests of this huge and beautiful territory. The West is already starting to understand that nothing will come out of it. Ukraine will not be able to survive even with the West's aid."
Every time I explain the war to libs I become 1% more pro-Russia and I'm a little concerned about it.
Like, can someone tell me what Russia or the separatists could have done differently that would allow the provinces some pathway towards secession or even just representation, while minimizing loss of life? There's an answer to that question, right? Help.
Marxism-Leninism is when the capitalists sell us the rope with which we will hang them.
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics is when we sell the capitalists the rope with which they will hang themselves.
It's a slow news week.
I've noticed a slight shift in the reporting on Ukraine in Danish media. There's less of the "Our superior Wunderwaffen will crush Russia!" stuff and a lot more stuff about how challenging things are for the Ukrainian armed forces, some even go as far as saying that the counteroffensive has failed.
Theyre still campaigning to give Ukraine F-16's and seems to think that this time superior Aryan technology will change the tide of the war.
Something suggests that at least some of the sources that western media get their Ukraine content from is winding down their bellicose stance.
I was pissed when the colonial government in hawaii did nothing to help us when we burn, and move mountains to evac tourists. And now that they've sent "aid", I'm even more pissed.
you want to know why?
Instead of sending extra volunteers, more firefighters, or further aid. Instead of stopping the landlord leeches currently using this crisis to further buy up land.
they sent a mortuary assistant to help identify our burnt corpses https://www.khon2.com/hawaii-fires/portable-morgue-unit-in-hawaii-to-help-identify-maui-fire-victims/
China puts dissident in 24-hour isolation for posting flyer about authoritarian state crackdowns
Then I was brought to an isolation room, and it was not explained why. It was around midnight at this point; we were arrested around 4:30 p.m. When I woke up the next morning, it sunk in that I was in isolation. Normal isolation is twenty-three-hour lockdown with one hour of access to a kiosk, a phone, and socialization. But for some reason I was put in double isolation, which is twenty-four-hour lockdown, with twenty-four-hour lights. At no point did I resist arrest, and I complied with the medical intake requirements. I felt very targeted. As the days went by, no one would really give me information.
I was trying to file a grievance, because the Bartow County Jail’s inmate handbook says that if an inmate is in an area without access to a kiosk, then the inmate can request a paper grievance form from the guard on shift. When I asked for this form, the guard said she didn’t have to do that. After I went to medical, because I was having some health problems while I was in isolation, the guard took pity on me and looked it up and there was nothing entered in the system as to the reason for my being put in isolation. Isn’t that funny?
Oops, why did I say China, it was the U.S. state of Georgia.
not looking great at all.
as these were the primaries - is there any hope that something can be done to stop the ancap destroying the country, like parties or contenders banding together or something, or is Argentina just toast now? he got like 30% of the vote I think, which is a lot higher than he should have gotten but still isn't a majority
IIRC Argentina has been indebted for decades and the case doesn't seem to improve. So it is just natural that there are actual Ancaps trying to push for abandoning the country's currency for the USD (according to Geopolitical Economy Report and that interview with Ha Joon-Chang).
I guess the optics the Ancaps are trying to sell to the population is that free market and a better integration with the US's economy apparatus are going to help with investment and jumpstart the economy, but we all know the real reason is to help with capital fly and it's just a way to the wealthy interest group to prepare for a rug pull.
We had a period where we could have ended all the debts the different neoliberals put on us to automatically funnel the money to their Panama accounts, but succdems gonna succdem and then people chose the same neoliberals to do the exact same thing again, and boy did they did it.
From that moment, economic policy became a stupid echo of the sequence we already lived:
last dictatorship ecopol (Macri gov) -> Alfonsin ecopol (Alberto Fernandez) -> Menem ecopol (Bullrich / Milei / Massa if some kind of planet alignment happen and he somehow wins)
First as a tragedy, now as farce, etc
I don't think they're going to band together, because who is even going to lead that coalition? The key issue here is that Milei and Bullrich are friendly to each other, in the past they held talks about forming a possible electoral front, promising cabinet positions and so on. So in reality, this race between the two is more like a friendly contest than anything else, it now depends on the individuals and their aspirations. Whoever wins is most likely going to make very friendly offers to the other (example: Milei winning and offering the Ministry of Security to Bullrich, a post she used to hold in Macri's presidency).
Another thing is the nature of the primaries. During the primaries, people vote because the vote is almost worthless (unless you're a small party trying to make it to the 1,5% minumum required to compete in the Generals or you have an actual primary going on within your party), and in the past we have seen very wild tendencies during the primaries and a completely different thing during the generals. Last election cycle, Fernandez absolutely wiped the floor with incumbent Macri during the primaries, but in the generals the election was so much closer. This can be the case of an anomaly, people voted Milei "to send a message", people might have voted Milei as a "punishment vote" against the Government and the principal opposition group, not because "they're serious about it". Punishment votes are a common practice, at least here, several candidates in the past were voted not for ideological reasons, but to punish certain parties for being shit.
The future is not uncertain, it's dark. An election between a Bolsonaro with long hair and a female Bolsonaro awaits, one wants to militarize the police because crime rates, the other wants you to sell your own baby if you can't make it to the end of the month, if you have a spare lung you might as well just sell it (He's legit about this, libertarian moment anyway). My only hope is that Peronism implodes and all the votes scattered around are taken by the left. Left-wing Christian Juan Grabois did a decent election (especially for a guy smeared by the media 24/7), 1.3 million votes is not bad even though he lost the primaries to Sergio Massa (5 million votes). The Left did pretty meh, 600k is all there is, but I think if we play our cards right (we will most likely wont, for a reason I'll explain soon) we can get a chunk of these 1.3 million voters, maybe.
And why we won't play our cards right? Because Trots, despite being my comrades, are dogmatic. Like I understand being the "party for the revolution" but holy shit, open up a little. In general I am in agreement with them, but there are key things I disagree with, one being the over-reliance on Dogmatic Trotskyism, it is their way and their way only, it's heavily disappointing because you can build a leftist movement but they're just excluding whoever because it doesn't fit in their own version of how things should be. This isn't natural to Trotskyism, but to many other more radical left wing parties, but it's disappointing to see regardless.
It's sad, Peronism has stolen leftist votes and Milei has stolen leftist messages. This could be a wonderful place to build Socialism but here we are, barely hanging on. I just hope the Gestapo-like officer who's going to execute me at least sold one of his lugs to pay for the bullet...
Regardless, Communism will win. Even in the most desperate and adverse situations, we will find a way out, because this fight is for our own survival. I feel like a positive message needs to be sent.
Speaking of which, wheres @RNAi@hexbear.net ? e: nvm they're here i just rarely saw them nowadays.
bussy being in physical pain
I see you touched more then just grass.
Since long ago I replaced the original word with that, someday this joke is gonna bite me in the ass
someday this joke is gonna bite me in the ass
And now we are back to your bussy being in phisical pain.
He just can't help himself, can he? Every single time there's a political fundraiser or some bougie event like that, his brainworms are free to writhe in his brain and he transforms into a slightly more put together Trump. "Folks, the Chinese! Not great! Not good! They can't do it, their economy just isn't up for it! They don't have the same number of geniuses that we do!"
And this inevitably comes after a US politician goes to China to try and "reduce tensions", so it's extra bewildering. The contradictions in policy are so plainly visible.
"They have got some problems. That's not good because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things,"
he sounds EXACTLY like trump. I remember there was this Q theory where "Biden" is secretly Trump wearing a mask and that real Biden is actually sitting in prison right now. Maybe there is something to that 🤔
Biden said, claiming that he did not want to hurt China and wanted a rational relationship.
Hawaii still refusing to do anything about the fires besides protect property and evac tourists
fuck this country
