Image is sourced from this article.

It takes very little effort to find an article from Western state propaganda decrying Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas as authoritarian and rife with human rights abuses. This is the natural reaction the US has to any successful liberation movement. This fairly long report from Jason Cohen, a socialist who travelled to Nicaragua one week ago, should quell any suspicions.

He describes a country with high political consciousness among the masses, who are working to construct critical infrastructure for the country and their communities. There is a virtual education system that is free across the entire nation, which serves the dual goal of democratizing education and ensuring that those in rural areas or without much free time for university can still achieve degrees and a quality education; and these classes cover technical skills in the production of infrastructure and agriculture, but also political and ideological education in order to counter the fascist propaganda produced by imperialist nations abroad.

While Nicaragua is deeply invested in its nationality and national figures who led to their socialist revolution, such as Sandino, they are also immensely proud of their indigneous history, recognizing it as also part of their anti-colonial history which continues to the present day. Additionally, they honour the struggles of other nations on the continent, such as the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, as well as Castro in Cuba and Allende in Chile. Countries around the world are also celebrated and admired, such as Burkina Faso; during the Reagan administration, Nicaragua and Burkina Faso were comrades in arms, and now Traore is continuing the legacy of Sankara's anti-imperialism in the present. Perhaps most relevant today is their dedication towards Palestine, involving the creation of the Parque Palestina (shown in the post image), in which the Palestinian flag flies alongside the flag of Nicaragua. In July, Leila Khaled of the PFLP gave a speech in Nicaragua, in which the solidarity of the two nations was highlighted.

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 Nicaragua! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

Please check out the HexAtlas!

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

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.

  • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]
    ·
    2 months ago

    English summary of an article in Arabic:
    https://xcancel.com/leb313shihin/status/1833651362565177659

    Original article:
    https://www.al-akhbar.com/Politics/386790/%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D9%87%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%81%D8%B5%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88

    The report describes that "israel" is planning military maneuvers targeting both Lebanese and Syrian territories, aiming to cut off Hezbollah’s land supply routes (whether through Syria or Iraq) and sever the connection between the Bekaa and the south.

    In order to do this, it requires a ground operation to invade southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria, "advancing eastwards toward the heart of Lebanon to cut off the route between the Bekaa and the south."

    According to the sources, IOF plans include striking Syrian forces to weaken their ability to assist Hezbollah, and encouraging Syrian opposition forces to escalate operations against the Syrian Arab Army.

    Twitter thread

    The supposed zi0nist plan for an invasion of Lebanon (and Syria):

    Today, Al-Akhbar editor-in-chief Ibrahim Al-Amin published a bombshell report regarding leaked "israeli" plans for an aggression against Lebanon, in light of constant threats by zionist leaders to do so and assurances about the return of over 100,000 settlers displaced from northern occupied Palestine.

    Western diplomatic efforts to separate the Gaza and Lebanon fronts have failed, with Hezbollah rejecting proposals to reach a ceasefire agreement independent of the Gaza genocide war, according to the source citing envoys.

    This is despite numerous efforts and threats by western envoys to Lebanon, using the pretext of "returning settlers" to justify a larger war.

    Such ridiculous proposals included demilitarization of the south, large deployment of UNFIL forces, and disarmament up to 10km from the border

    Envoys suggested that the likelihood of an aggression on Lebanon increases "day by day," stating that American efforts to prevent it are futile.

    The report describes that "israel" is planning military maneuvers targeting both Lebanese and Syrian territories, aiming to cut off Hezbollah’s land supply routes (whether through Syria or Iraq) and sever the connection between the Bekaa and the south.

    In order to do this, it requires a ground operation to invade southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria, "advancing eastwards toward the heart of Lebanon to cut off the route between the Bekaa and the south."

    According to the sources, IOF plans include striking Syrian forces to weaken their ability to assist Hezbollah, and encouraging Syrian opposition forces to escalate operations against the Syrian Arab Army.

    Further, Lebanese factions hostile to Hezbollah are meeting with Syrian opposition groups, discussing the potential role of Syrian opposition in a possible "israeli" war against Hezbollah; these talks (which were held in Germany, Turkey, and elsewhere and whose members are known) have focused on Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Syrian opposition groups. They seek to play on sectarian chords to incite refugees against the Lebanese resistance, under assurances of regime change in Syria.

    American intelligence also suggests Lebanese politicians inciting against Syrian refugees could face U.S. sanctions, as part of broader efforts to manipulate regional dynamics against Hezbollah.

    Lastly, there are worries of Syrian opposition groups that previously had ties with "israel" to express readiness to cooperate with the IOF in this potential offensive (one such opposition member now lives in a zionist settlement in the Golan).

    • Hexboare [they/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      under assurances of regime change in Syria

      Imagine still holding on to this a decade and a half later

      I reckon you'd want to still be in Syria to have a chance but I guess that won't impact how much you can grift

    • bbnh69420 [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      Good, do it, push the country further off the cliff, lash out at your neighbors like good little übermenschen

    • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      there are people who talk shit about Iran's response being seemingly delayed, but imagine being an Israeli and watching your government promise to invade Lebanon in a few weeks for almost a year straight and it never happening