Image is of China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Zhao Sheng, meeting Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund in September 2023.

I know the Rambo title card is a hoax.

The COTW was chosen in the wake of the aborted sequel to the attempted assassination of Trump being performed by a guy who is VERY enthusiastic about Ukraine, to the point of trying to sneak Afghan soldiers into Ukraine by setting up a house in Pakistan to house them and then further transport them. He also apparently offered to send thousands of Afghan soldiers to Haiti to help them combat gang violence. Whomst among us doesn't have the numbers of thousands of Afghan soldiers on speed-dial. Do you reckon there's a group chat?

Anyway, while there is still no official recognition of the Taliban's government by any country, China has taken a different course than the late USSR and the US - forming economic in-roads, rather than trying their own invasion. This has been a big boon for the struggling country, with various mines and oil and agriculture deals helping keep things barely afloat. A total disintegration of the social fabric of Afghanistan is not in the interest of any of the powers that border it - China, Pakistan, and Iran, with Russia not too far away - so an interesting dynamic of helping-without-official-recognition has been established. I wonder who will be the first country to fully recognize them?

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 Afghanistan! 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 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.
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.

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.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
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.

  • Redcuban1959 [any]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Peace Process Between the Government of Colombia and ELN on the Verge of Collapse - Telesur English

    Article

    The Government’s chief negotiator, Vera Grabe, said that they will continue to persist in peace as a cry from the territories.

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged the National Liberation Army (ELN) on Thursday to abandon acts of violence if it really intends to continue with the peace process.

    Through the social network X, Petro wrote that if the ELN does not want to break the peace process say so. Do not be silent, that peace is to shout it and violence to bury it». In this way, the Colombian head of state responded to the words of the ELN leader, Antonio García. A peace process is broken if young people’s lives are broken and poor families suffer. If the ELN does not want to break the peace process, say so. Don’t be silent, that peace is for shouting and violence is for burying.

    Amid the growing tensions between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), new statements are emerging that call into question the future of the peace process. The ELN commander, Antonio García, published a statement on his Telegram channel about the current situation.

    According to García, despite the recent military operations against the ELN by the police and the military forces, the guerrilla organization does not consider the peace process to be broken. However, they point to President Gustavo Petro as the culprit of any potential break-up:

    «The ELN has been subjected to military operations against it by the police and the FFMM, but we have never said that the peace process is broken. Who breaks is the President @petrogustavo with his statements», he stressed.

    The top ELN leader said that the peace process between the government and the guerrillas is currently frozen, due to alleged breaches of agreements by the government of Gustavo Petro.

    Further stresses that this situation has led to a stalemate in the negotiations and increased mistrust between the parties. A crucial point in the deterioration of relations was the non-extension of the ceasefire. In this context, and in search of solutions, the Minister of Defence and the Commander of the Military Forces ordered the resumption of offensive operations against the ELN.

    Despite the resumption of military operations, sources suggest that it is still possible to continue the peace process: «Even in the midst of military operations peace processes can continue, that have done at various times different governments, now can not be the exception».

    Last August, the ELN issued a statement in which it stated that if it was in the interest of the government to continue the peace process, also taking into account the political nature of the ELN and its status as an armed rebel organization, should be removed from the GCO list.

      • Redcuban1959 [any]
        ·
        2 months ago

        Really sus for the ELN to attack a Military Base when theres an legislative coup attempt happening in Colombia recently. I wonder if it really was the ELN or some false-flag attack by the Colombian Far-Right.