Image is of the King of Morocco meeting with John Kerry (a species of demon that plagued Hexbear in the misty past).
This preamble comes courtesy of @LargePenis@hexbear.net:
Morocco (Al Maghrib), or more officially the Kingdom of Morocco (Al Mamlaka al Maghribiya), is a country located in the northwestern edge of the African continent. The name Morocco comes from the Spanish name Marruecos, which itself comes from the name of the city of Marrakesh. In Turkish for example, Morocco is known as Fas, mainly because Turks knew the land of Morocco through the city of Fes. Morocco is regarded as part of the Arab World and Arabic is the main language amongst the population, with French and Berber languages also widely spoken in the country.
Morocco was the home of mostly Berber tribes until the Muslim conquest and the subsequent Arab migrations in the 700s under the Umayyads drastically changed the character of the country. A Berber commander, Tariq ibn Ziyad, would later cross the Strait of Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq) from the northern shores of now-Morocco and conquer Andalusia, which remained under Muslim rule for nearly 800 years. The country emerged as a significant regional power during the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties in the medieval period, known for their contributions to architecture, philosophy, and trade across North Africa and southern Europe. The current ruling dynasty of Morocco, the Alaouite dynasty, came to power in the late 1600s. The Alaouites claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad through his grandson Hasan ibn Ali, giving them religious legitimacy and political authority in the region. Despite the Shia-coded claim to legitimacy, the Moroccan royal family and the population mostly follow the Maliki school of Sunni Islam.
In the early 20th century, the Treaty of Fez (1912) created the French Protectorate of Morocco, negotiated largely without input from the Moroccan people. Moroccan lands were completely divided under French and Spanish zones, with thousands of colonists pouring into the country. The royal family frequently collaborated with colonial powers, suppressing local resistance movements and prioritizing European interests. Prominent anti-colonial uprisings, like the Rif War (1921–1926), were met with brutal crackdowns, enabled by Western-backed forces. Post-independence in 1956, Morocco maintained close ties with its former colonizers, fostering economic dependence on France and Spain. The monarchy’s alignment with Western geopolitical interests often undermined Pan-African and Arab unity movements.
During the Cold War, Morocco positioned itself as a staunch ally of the West, marginalizing leftist and nationalist factions within the country. The Green March of 1975 was a Moroccan state-organized movement to assert control over Western Sahara, a territory decolonized from Spanish rule but still awaiting self-determination. This march, supported by Western powers, particularly the United States, is often criticized as a colonial expansion disguised as a popular movement. By settling Moroccans in the disputed territory, the march disregarded the Sahrawi people's right to sovereignty. U.N. resolutions on Western Sahara have seen limited enforcement, largely due to Morocco’s Western alliances shielding it from accountability. Western-backed security and intelligence partnerships continue to be the cornerstone of Morocco’s repressive nature towards any anti-colonial and leftist movements. In 2021, Algeria again severed diplomatic ties with Morocco, citing hostile actions and concerns over Morocco's ties with Israel, which Algeria views as a betrayal of pro-Palestinian solidarity. The two countries have mostly clashed over the issue of Western Sahara other than a short war in the 60s over a border dispute, with Algeria continuing to support the Sahrawi independence movement.
Morocco's relations with Israel have historically been discreet but significant, rooted in the presence of a large Moroccan Jewish diaspora in Israel. Former King Hassan II played a significant behind-the-scenes role in fostering covert ties between Morocco and Israel during his reign. King Hassan II is reported to have allowed Israeli intelligence access to critical information from a meeting of Arab leaders in Casablanca in 1965, which may have helped Israel prepare for the Six-Day War in 1967. His government provided a platform for discreet diplomatic exchanges and intelligence-sharing, including Morocco’s facilitation of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel in the 1970s. In 2020, Morocco formally normalized ties with Israel through the Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States, in exchange for U.S. and Israeli recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Diplomatic and trade relations have since deepened, with agreements in fields like defence, agriculture, and technology. Despite official ties, Moroccan public opinion remains largely sympathetic to Palestinians, but such opinions are rarely considered by the royal family.
Morocco's future is split between ambitious global aspirations and permanent domestic issues. The country’s co-hosting of the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal is seen as a significant opportunity to showcase its shiny infrastructure and global presence. However, these achievements are often overshadowed by criticisms of its political culture, including the monarchy's ceremonial practices, such as the humiliating tradition of publicly kissing the crown prince's hand. Allegations surrounding King Mohammed VI's personal behavior, including incidents of public drunkenness and alleged homosexuality continue to be a hot topic within opposition circles.
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The bulletins site is here!
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Last week's thread is here.
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 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.
Diplomacy over Lebanon has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last major war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (20 miles) from the Israeli border, behind the Litani River, and the regular Lebanese army to enter the frontier region.
Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of failing to implement it in the past; Israel says a new ceasefire must allow it to strike any Hezbollah fighters or weapons that remain south of the river.Not hard to see where this goes - ceasefire for some months, Israel continues airstrikes claiming they are not violating the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah retaliates, Israel invades again once Trump is president, no Hezbollah troops in the south means Israel can actually advance. Unless Hezbollah is much worse off than what I would guess, it's hard to see what they get out of this.
They know Israel is diplomacy incapable by now, there's no way they take the deal.
Unless Hezbollah is much worse off than what I would guess.
Territory gains by Israel have started to increase within the last few weeks, and while Hezbollah were able to restrict Israeli territory gains beforehand, it came at a huge cost for them. 1294 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since the Israeli pager terrorist operation and decapitation strike on September 17. If we assume an injury to death ratio of 4.2 to 1 (the same ratio as the total statistics in Lebanon among the civilian population, 3 670 deaths and 15 400 injured), that means 8 080 injuries, for a total amount of casualties of 9 374 since September 17. Nearly 10 000 casualties in 70 days of fighting... 136 casualties a day on average. And that is without considering the civilian cost with unrestricted Israeli bombings. That is not sustainable long term.
The Lie of Singapore
I have written a lot about Singapore and Malaysia here. Posts, here and there, that showcase aspects of their incestuous relationship.
But I never really stated explicitly, or more clearly debunk, the pernicious state narratives that both states and their comprador classes vehemently adhere to.
So I am going to rectify that right now.
Note: communal and racial are synonyms in Singapore and Malaysian politics. See here for elaboration.
General Background
The region was known as Malaya and Northern Borneo, back in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, consisting of the Malay Peninsula and their surrounding islands and the British controlled part of Borneo, but explicitly did not include the Riau Islands, were under Dutch administration or the Southern Thailand provinces, which were seceded to the Thai Monarchy in 1909, even though both regions had Malay majorities.
This region was sorted in more or less 3 distinct types of administrations, the federated and unfederated Malay Sultanates, in addition to the the protectorate of Brunei, in which over time the role of the Sultans diminished as the power of the colonial British advisers grew. The second was the Strait Settlements, British crown colonies which British laissez-faire Capitalism was allowed to flourish, especially in goods that the British were particularly good at trading (smuggling), opium. The colonies in Borneo, Sarawak and North Borneo Chartered Company (Sabah) was land “given” by the British protectorate Brunei to the British. Unlike in Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo was also under direct control of the British, and Sarawak in particular was under the rule of the “White Rajah” (White King). Missionary influence especially was prevalent here, which resulted in more extensive use of English and Christianity being the majority in the state.
The Strait Settlements were crown colonies located in strategic positions within the Straits of Malacca, and were concentrated in the 3 main ports of Melaka, Penang (now officially called Pulau Pinang) and Singapore. These ports were fully controlled by the British and had appointed governors. The infamous one being Stamford Raffles, so-called founder of Singapore.
Nearing independence in the 1940s and 1950s. Guerrilla warfare was being waged by the Communist Party of Malaya, with membership within their mass organisations nearing 50% of the entire workforce. Furthermore there were unrest in others parts of the Malayan economy. Indian labourers in rubber plantations, Chinese miners in Tin mines, the Malay peasantry facing accumulation by dispossession and oppression by the Chinese capitalists, local Malay landlords, and the general comprador Malay Sultanates and their British advisors.
Independence was the name of the game, with waves of unrest and decolonization swept across East Asia at that time. In China, in Korea, in the Philippines, in Indonesia and in Viet Nam.
Malaya was no exception.
The Official Narrative™️
We gained independence in 1957 - under the "good graces" of the British, who simply let us free after of course, negotiations by the Malay sultans themselves. One infamous speech in which the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the elected King) screamed the word "Merdeka!" (independence) 7 times and centuries of colonial exploitation just vanishes! At this point, this independence was only for the Malay Peninsula sultanates, and so logically lead to the official name of the federation of Malaya.
After a decades spanning communist guerilla warfare, the so-called 'insurgency', and British inability to maintain and sustain their prized colony in Southeast Asia, and fear of the so-called domino effect if communists and anti-colonial forces were to win, they came up with the Malaysia Agreement. An opaque document that mainly involved negotiations and consultations with the comprador elite and their masters. It stipulated that the British colonies of Sarawak, the North Borneo Chartered Company (Sabah), Malaya and Singapore were to merge into Malaysia.
This was to the dismay of the Malays, the British-educated elites in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) proclaimed, because the indigenous were a minority in their own native land. The Malays, they proclaim, do not want to include Chinese majority Singapore in the federation. Even including Sarawak was contentious, because Sarawak was majority Christian.
Singapore’s British educated Chinese elite, influenced by the British Labour Party and the Fabian society, formed the People’s Action Party. There was a more radical sect within the party that called for the creation of a unified proletarian state. The party, was in theory, on-board with unification.
The various state actors signed the agreement in 1963 to form a unified and federated Malaysia.
However, the official narratives warns us, racial tensions were simmering. The Malays were not giving equal voting representation the Chinese majority in Singapore. The Malays, were also afraid of a secret Chinese communist takeover, precipitated itself by the super-liberal People’s Action Party!
The Racialised Class Realities laid bare
Secret negotiations were taking place between the reactionary comprador elements of the PAP and UMNO, even before the signing of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, of an eventual secession of Singapore.
The elites in Singapore publicly welcomed the idea of unification, and so the infamous clip of Lee Kuan Yew crying after Singapore being “kicked” from federation was widespread. Little did others know until decades later that it was merely a facade, when he was the head of the clique that lead the negotiations for separation.
It would be good for Singapore because they would remain in a singular currency market with the underdeveloped parts of Malaya and North Borneo, without dealing with rising labour militancy. Think the Eurozone with the European periphery. As I mentioned before, Singapore's departure would secure the politial hegemony of UMNO.
"When the Tunku (the first Prime Minister of Malaysia) first informed Keng Swee in December last year (1964) of his desire to have Singapore "hive off" from Malaya, it generated considerable excitement amongst us first because this showed their realisation that we cannot be fixed in Malaysia and the supremacy of Malay communalists assured forever. Next, it gave us an escape, if there is to be trouble in Malaya with communal clashes over language and other issues. We might in such a rearrangement insulate ourselves from communal conflict which is building up in Malaya.
"[The] greatest attraction of this rearrangement is our hope to get the benefits of all worlds - the common market, political stability with economic expansion, and autonomy in Singapore without interference from KL. The picture of a prosperous and flourishing Singapore doing better than the rest of Malaysia is most attractive."
And here is where the whole story crumbles, from the words of Singapore's infamous and first Prime Minister himself, Lee Kuan Yew.
The fake stories about our so-called independence laid bare for what it was and continues to be. Lies, regurgitated by compradors and foreign Capital.
Epilogue
This brief exposition of independence was of course simplified and did not include many of the nuances that made up the whole story. From the inclusion of North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, disagreements between the various Sultans, the specific amendments to accommodate Singapore's brief inclusion in the federation, the voting boycotts, racial riots and the Northern Borneo Communist uprisings, and the many grassroots shifts that had occurred by the time of independence and the couples of decades after. Many had to be foresaken for brevity.
History does not spare the sympathy to give us breaks.
In my previous characterizations of Singapore, I tried to convey this Europhilia that was/is heavily present in the elite's unsophisticated and underdeveloped minds.
Just read their own words -
Next, it gave us an escape, if there is to be trouble in Malaya with communal clashes over language and other issues
Who has not had the displeasure of interacting with a white European who has definitely exclaimed that they are not racist, while actively benefitting, supporting and instigating racism? How are these words any different?
The guardians of so-called "Asian values", while in actuality mirror their European counterparts in crystal clear clarity. This is recognised by many of the European chauvinists, who often emphasize that the Orientals can only be prosperous if they imitate the West, with Singapore being their prime example.
Singapore's role in the world economy is like that of South Korea, Rwanda, United Arab Emirates, or Panama. It is, and continues to be, a colonial outpost of US hegemony. Treat it as so.
Learn to read through the libspeak that a lot of the Singaporean and Malaysian elites like to shroud themselves in.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Social fascist has horrible take, gets even more racist
In an upcoming book Peter Hummelgaard, head of Denmark's Social Democrat-controlled ministry of justice, recounts growing up as a victim of domestic violence. He is using the account of his childhood trauma to advocate for what he himself terms "a far-reaching proposal": introducing a so-called "strict reporting requirement", making it a criminal offence not to report child abuse to authorities. A similar requirement already exists for teachers and other professionals working with children.
But there is a catch to his proposal, it should be geographically limited to "at risk areas on the parallel society list". Yes, that is an actual legal term in Denmark.
These areas, formerly officially termed "ghettos", are social housing estates officially characterised by residents being significantly poorer and significantly less white than average. The term "parallel society" is a dog whistle targeting Muslims. These areas are portrayed as dangerous, hostile and foreign in public discourse and all the social problems associated with the term are heavily racialised. Residents are treated as second-class citizens by the state with regards to everything from housing law and unemployment benefits to daycare options.
Hummelgaard has no problem being up front about his racism, he says:
Whole families are often complicit, as part of efforts to prevent girls and young women from fully integrating into Danish society—fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and older siblings alike.
When asked by state media DR, the Social Democrat-controlled ministry of Housing and Social Affairs had no data indicating an elevated incidence of child abuse in the targeted areas.
This does not give Hummelgaard pause. He continues his racist screed:
I believe we have been far too passive for years when it comes to addressing violence against boys and girls in specific communities.
He defends only targeting racialised housing areas by saying:
Initially, I have targeted these communities where we already know there is significantly higher crime and a prevalent culture of silence, often involving arbitration councils and imams [referring to a moral panic about mosques mediating in conflicts between community members without involving authorities]. This is why it’s a particularly far-reaching proposal.
These fucking Rosa-killers are the "progressive" option in electoral politics, you either put these ghouls in office or you get someone who's even worse.
- Source DR (state media), November 25th 2024
so this danish man tragically experienced abuse during his childhood, presumably at the hands of his danish family members
how could Muslims do this?
Significant progress made on Lebanon ceasefire - France
Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, told Israel's GLZ radio an agreement was close and "it could happen within day ...We just need to close the last corners", according to a post on X by GLZ senior anchorman Efi Triger.
Hidden in the last paragraph of the article:
Hezbollah, militarily more powerful than Lebanon's regular army, has said it is defending the country from Israeli aggression.
It vows to keep fighting and said it will not lay down arms or allow Israel to achieve political gains on the back of the war.
So what does this mean? Is Israel exhausting it's stocks of missiles? Has Lebanon been beaten down to much by Israeli airstrikes to keep going?
Also if Hezbollah keep fighting, and they will, this doesn't seem likely to change much. There's also the likelihood of Israel just not honoring any kind of deal.
Smarter hexbears please chime in
Never trust any talk of a ceasefire. It wont happen. isisrael will not stop its genocide in Gaza unless it is forced to. usa will not force isisrael to stop its genocide. The resistance will not stop until the genocide stops. There will be no ceasefire.
Its a cease fire between Lebanon and isisrael and it is just a PR win for isisrael. It has no value because Lebanon's government and military aren't fighting isisrael, Hezbollah is. It will change nothing except isisrael will say "Hezbollah violated our ceasefire so the Lebanese people have no one to blame but Hezbollah for the genocide we are about to commit."
Hezbollah isnt involved in the ceasefire talks. The current proposal is that Hezbollah would disarm and leave the border, the Lebanese's military would take their place and isisrael would withdraw. No mention of Gaza.
If Hezbollah wants to honor the memory of Nasrallah and not go back on their word, there will be no ceasefire with Hezbollah unless there is also a ceasefire in Gaza. This, as it stands, is a non-starter. Unless Hezbollah wants to capitulate to Israeli demands, the only "ceasefire" the Israelis can get is the "Lebanon" aka the government which is not currently fighting Israel anyway.
Is this ceasefire actually a ceasefire or is it capitulation on Israeli terms? The key thing to look for in these stories is if a term of the agreement is Hezbollah pulling back past the litani River. If that is part of the purported deal, it is negotiation of a Hezbollah surrender and not a ceasefire.
Elias Bou Saab, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, to Al-Mayadeen:
In the coming hours or days, we will witness the announcement of a ceasefire
- We will remain cautious because the experience with Netanyahu is not encouraging
- Information received from the American mediator indicates that the last sticking point has been overcome
- The committee that will supervise the implementation of Agreement 1701 may expand, but what is currently on the table are the United States and France
- The committee tasked with supervising the implementation of the agreement is not authorized to work outside the text of Resolution 1701
- The agreement will lead to the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces to the armistice line and the cessation of aggression and hostilities
- We have not heard or been offered by anyone that there will be guarantees for any party’s freedom of movement
Elias Bou Saab
is an British educated Christian. He knows less about Hezbollah than isisrael does. He probably knows more about MI6 than he does about Hezbollah.
I could see making a “ceasefire” deal with the Lebanese government and not Hezbollah as political cover. Perhaps “Israel” pulls its troops out of Lebanon and stops the bombing campaign. Then when Hezbollah continues attacking the north, the “Israelis” will say that they’re just being peaceful and Hezbollah is attacking them despite a “ceasefire” being signed. And then basically everything goes back to where it was just before “Israel” tried to invade Lebanon.
But I am seeing reports (particularly on Al-Jazeera) that it’s a ceasefire with Hezbollah, and for that I have no idea. It would be hard to imagine Hezbollah capitulating, but just as hard to imagine Israel ending the genocide in Gaza.
Additionally unless Hezbollah has ceased to tie their struggle to Gaza there is simply no ceasefire with Hezbollah until Gaza is released from occupation.
From the beginning Hezbollah has been clear about this. The new leadership has also reaffirmed it
psyop to create impression of impending resolution, same way the Biden administration has been "working tirelessly for a ceasefire" for a year and continually promised something would resolve within "the next two weeks" like a dozen times
if Hezbollah is not party to it then it is theatre
EDIT: I forgot to say that the purpose of this is to deflate urgency because if people think a ceasefire is imminent they theoretically won't consider action necessary
Imam Khamenei Calls for Netanyahu’s Execution:
https://english.almanar.com.lb/2277596https://xcancel.com/political_aya__/status/1860788814328869127
According to Al-Akhbar, Hezbollah has captured over 200 suspects in Beirut's Southern Suburbs, believed to be spying for the Zionist entity. Of those arrested are Americans, French, Brazilians, and over 50 Syrians.
Incoming Biden blast in 3...2...
I am surprised the news isn't yelling about hezbollah hostages yet.
this article on nakedcapitalism speaks about the mechanisms and implications of the oreshnik missile in the context of broader trends viz a viz NATO vs russia. I don't have time to summarize at the moment but Yves' round-up articles are as always, wide ranging and worth reading.
I wouldn't say it's equivalent to Sputnik or a Sputnik-2 moment given what we know as of now. It's only a Sputnik-2 moment if the 6 MIRVs are capable of maneuvering at hypersonic speeds within the Earth's atmosphere before dropping their submunitions, in other words every MIRV is a hypersonic MaRV. But otherwise, the United States has conceptualised similar weapons before, Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapons based on ICBM technology during the Bush Jr administration in the 2000s even. CPS weapons are not a new idea, even Russia was stating that they could build one over a decade ago.
U.S. Faces Choice on New Weapons for Fast Strikes, New York Times, 22 April 2010
The US/NATO don't have one that is operational as of now as they chose to focus on hypersonic glide/boost vehicle technology instead of ballistic missile technology for a CPS weapon. But they do have the capabilities to manufacture a CPS weapon based off of ballistic missile technology. Ultimately it's a MIRV capable missile designed to operate over shorter ranges/at a lofted trajectory, with conventional warheads and submunitions. Biggest issue would be the submunitions, getting them to cut through the air at low altitude, while travelling at 3 kilometers per second, without disintegrating.
Updates on the failed coup in Brazil: It was recently revealed, via leaked audios from the Federal Police (Brazil's FBI, Lula purged the entire organization day one and they are now his bodyguards instead of the Army's GSI), that a rogue Federal Police agent was investigating Lula da Silva in 2022 in an attempt to poison him during a hospital visit. It's not known what he meant by Lula's constant visits to hospital, because, due to the fact that Lula didn't go to the hospital once in 2022, his plan to poison Lula failed. Perhaps this is a projection because Bolsonaro goes to hospital every week?
In addition, it was revealed that there were plans for a coup within the coup. Braga Neto, Bolsonaro's vice-presidential running mate in 2022, and the coup's main conspirator, had documents planning to remove and probably kill Bolsonaro after a successful coup against Lula and the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro was considered useless to the military after the coup. It's not known if this is related to the fact that he went to the US for a while. Perhaps they planned to exile him there, but Bolsonaro had plans to return to Brazil, since he left all his clothes and other things in the Presidential Palace (the first lady, Lula's wife, threw all this shit away along with strange things like oxygen tanks, probably due to the fact that Bolsonaro was always extremely ill or something related to Covid-19, remembering that oxygen tanks were needed in the north of Brazil and Bolsoanro said he had none).
This whole coup within the coup didn't seem to be known to Bolsonaro, because he got very angry when it was revealed (like two days ago) and called Braga Neto, who made a strange post on Twitter saying that the coup within the coup is fake, but he didn't say that the coup was fake. It seems that, like most right-wing civilian idiots, the military planned to get rid of Bolsonaro and his family. Not even they could stand Bolsonaro.
DPRK are massively increasing their missile production
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/satellite-images-suggest-north-korea-expanding-missile-plant-researchers-say-2024-11-25/
The new assembly building is about 60 to 70 percent the size of the previous building used to assemble missiles.
Reuters are focusing this news on "increasing supply to Russia" but I personally think it should be viewed as dprk carrying out productive preparations for war.
Honestly, it's hard to believe that the US isn't planning a Korean Civil War Pt. 2 in the near future. I can't see how the US would ever start a civil war in China + Taiwan Authority before Korea.
Rumours of an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal was reached and is about to be announced are flying around telegram and twitter.
Zionist media says the security council is convening to approve it tomorrow.
I feel like this headline has been printed on a weekly basis for the past month.
For this to be real it would have to include a Gaza ceasefire, and for that reason I'm skeptical.
What does US electoral politics have to do with anything? Trump and Biden have identical positions on the Israel issue, it’s immaterial who is president in the US and Hezbollah has said as much very clearly on multiple occasions.
I swear some of you make up reasons to get panicked and feel like you are losing, even while we are winning
Is there any reason to assume they would? Trump doesn't take power for 6 weeks and a lot could change in that time. Also, would Hezbollah assume Trump will be much different anyway?
Hezbollah has stated very clearly that who is US president doesn’t matter whatsoever
He might send troops to avenge the base that got blown back in the day or he might go full Iran contra and pull peace in our time out of his ass like super Reagan. (Antichrist tech tree)
US troops in Lebanon would face the same fate they faced last time, sitting around doing nothing until their barracks get blown up. The US population has no appetite for more extended endless occupations in the Middle East and will quickly grow disillusioned, and Trump’s base will see it as a betrayal of his promises of ending conflicts. There is no incentive whatsoever for the US to send troops into Lebanon and it no longer even has the capability for extended ground based occupations.
Didn't they just say that they couldn't do a peace deal anymore because the ICC warrant meant French mediators couldn't participate or something? Like yesterday? Makes my head spin trying to keep up with it
Trump might return US troops to Lebanon so expect betrayal.
I am convinced that the Zionists want another civil war in Lebanon. If the government agrees to a ceasefire without taking Hezbollah into account, then it could easily spark a civil war.
Death to Zionism.
I am convinced that the Zionists want another civil war in Lebanon
They definitely do, Israeli statements have highlighted the tension between Lebanon the state and Hezbollah before.
I am convinced that the Zionists want another civil war in Lebanon.
I agree. One of the rumoured terms of this ceasefire is that a new presidential election in Lebanon is required.
What’s never clear to me when a “ceasefire” is being discussed is whether it’s an agreement with the Lebanese government, or with Hezbollah. I usually assume it’s the former so it’s not going to be an actual ceasefire since it’s not the Lebanese government but rather Hezbollah that’s doing the actual fighting.
what are the odds of "Oh no guys we were SO close to a ceasefire but then
they retalliated against our aggressionthey attacked us unprovoked, guess that means the deals off"Possible but I think Israel has resoundingly lost this war with Hezbollah and wants to disengage.
Not by a little bit either, Hezbollah have kicked the shit out of them.
In what ways have Hezbollah kicked the shit out of Israel? I've not been following this particular issue much. Is it that Israel has failed to make any real gains since invading?
Israel has been completely incapable of taking territory. Hezbollah meets them in conventional warfare and has defeated their attempt to take territory over and over again. Israelis no longer want to fight them.
Situation has changed in the last week or two, Israel have started to take some territory.
I don't agree with that only because Israel's goal here is ethnic cleansing. They are at war with the civilian population, militants are just bonus kills.
Killing civilians doesn't win a war, destroying 20% of the peace-time active tank stock does, which is what Hezbollah has done to Israel in the last two months
doing an ethnic cleansing of civilians while not defeating your enemy militarily is called "losing"
I can make it my "goal" to shit my pants; if I then proceed to violently doo-doo myself, if I then say "mission accomplished. victory has been achieved, all objectives secured" then everybody around me isn't gonna start clapping and cheering at my success
Let's put this in sportsball terms:
If you were deliberately trying to injure the other team's players instead of trying to score points (pursuing real military goals that can actually debilitate the side you are fighting), you will end up losing 0-100 or something. Saying that your goal all along is just to injure the other team's players and that you are accomplishing your goals doesn't change the fact that you're losing 0-100.
Never trust any talk of a ceasefire. isisrael will not stop its genocide in Gaza unless it is forced to. usa will not force isisrael to stop its genocide. The resistance will not stop until the genocide stops. There will be no ceasefire. Any talk of a ceasefire is just gaslighting to make it sound like isisrael and the us are trying to stop the killing.
Confirmation from the Russian MoD, Russian Air Force linked telegram channels, video and photo evidence, and from Ukraine, that last night's ballistic missile attack on the Kursk region within Russia's internationally recognised borders, was in fact an ATACMS attack. The United States and Ukraine have once again attacked Russia with US made and targeted ATACMS missiles.
Russian sources say 8 ATACMS missiles were fired, and either all, or 7/8 missiles were intercepted. Video footage of an ATACMS strike with a cluster munitions warhead shows otherwise, with 4-5 seperate cluster munitions strikes visible. In the video, we can see an air defence site's location (as visible by the trail left by surface to air missiles) take a hit from a bunch of cluster munitions.
Videos and photos
Full video of the strike itself from a distance:
Air defence site location and hit:
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Video of the strike from the ground:
Extended footage of the strike from the ground, showing the location of a Russian air defence system taking a hit:
There is photographic evidence of a destroyed 92N6E, NATO name: "Grave Stone", fire control radar vehicle from the S-400 air defence system. It is unknown if this vehicle was destroyed in last night's attack, or the previous attack on the 23rd of November, with claims of both. The pro Russian claims about this being an old photo from Crimea, or confusing it for a tracked radar vehicle, or claiming it's an 30N6E “Flap Lid” radar vehicle from the S-300 system, are false. The 92N6E is a wheeled vehicle, the photos from Crimea do not match (the antenna was still standing, and not destroyed), and the 30N6E vehicle has a different driver's cabin and headlight structure that does not match the photos, which do match the 92N6E. So an S-400 system has taken a hit.
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Destroyed 92N6E
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Intact 92N6E
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Ukraine also has claimed to destroy two launchers, there are no photos of that, though it is plausible with cluster munitions. If the 92N6E was operating in combat, it's likely that there will be casualties from such an attack. Ukrainian sources claimed to have killed 5 Russian troops, with no words on injuries. I don't think I have to explain how an attack with direct US involvement killing Russian service members within Russia itself could be a large escalation. It seems that, at least for now, Russia is attempting to de-escalate by claiming that it's air defence intercepted most to all of the missiles, even with evidence to the contrary.
there is apparently construction work going on in this Khalino airport (as well as other airports) building shelter hangars for planes (Su-30SM in this case), it's assumed the strike also hit some construction workers and construction vehicles pouring the concrete there, apparently the construction work is going on all day and night in rotating shifts
Yeah in the videos taken of the strike from the ground, it appears that a construction worker is in his vehicle when the cluster warheads hit.
These kinds of events really show how far missile/drone technology has advanced. Even Russia, which has arguably the best air defence systems in the world, in a region where loads of AD are deployed and active, and where threat vectors are well understood (i.e. ATACMS aren't a surprise anymore), regularly have their defences penetrated by missiles. ATACMS aren't even top of the line missiles. At this point in history, defence is so much harder and expensive than offence.
Ballistic missile technology in particular has advanced rapidly. In the past few years, we've seen air launched ballistic missiles go from a concept, to reality, to being used effectively in war by Russia and Israel, in the Kinzhal and ROCKS respectively (we should be very glad that the USAF abandoned development on an air launched variant of ATACMS under the JTACMS programme to focus on cruise missiles, that would have been a devastating weapon).
Maneuverable Re-entry Vehicles (MaRVs) have gone from something the US put on the Pershing II to scare the USSR, to actively being used in war by Iran and Yemen, in their medium range and anti ship ballistic missiles. We even got a MaRV with a thrust vectoring sustainer rocket in the Fattah-1 and it's variants, a first for any missile, that blurs the lines between a MaRV and a hypersonic boost/glide vehicle.
Short Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBMs) have gone from being inaccurate "lob and pray" weapons in Scud and Lance rockets, to demonstrating pinpoint accuracy even under Electronic Warfare (EW) conditions and jamming, in the Iranian attack of a US based in 2020, and the accuracy of ATACMS and Iskander-M demonstrated in Ukraine.
ATACMS may not be the newest system, but it's still extremely capable. It's Ring Laser Gyroscope based inertial guidance system ensures high accuracy even under EW conditions when GPS is banned, it comes in from an altitude in excess of 50km while travelling at over Mach 3/1 kilometrer per second, while executing quasi ballistic maneuvers to complicate interception. Such a weapon is hard to stop even under the best of conditions.
We've also seen the first use of a conventional prompt strike weapon in the Russian Oreshnik IRBM. Such weapons were previously only conceptual in nature, and the last time they were a big issue in the political sphere was during talks between Obama and Putin over a decade ago.
These more static in position, asset defending air defence systems seem increasingly vulnerable in modern warfare. We have seen so many Patriots, S-300s and now S-400s being damaged or destroyed in Ukraine, Russia, and Iran. Without a dedicated Anti Ballistic Missile Defence system acting above them, they are vulnerable. The Serbs were the first to understand how vulnerable more static systems were after going up against a full on NATO SEAD/DEAD campaign, and they were the first to adapt. Obviously not every air defence system can be mobile, especially when defending a specific location.
I was basically an "antiwar-ism" guy when this all started (operating from my position of 4 brain cells with 2 of them dedicated to breathing)
Every single piece of news, since they stopped trying to make it seem like the Russians were exclusively using rusty hammers to kill civilians or whatever, has pushed me toward 'fully understanding geopolitics' and now it's like holy shit thank you Russia for not doing the
logicaljustified thing and turning this into a full warBeing instinctively against killing fellow human beings is nothing to be ashamed of. It's something to be considered only with the utmost seriousness.
Even if one is full anti war/neither Russia or Ukraine, the US and UK/France directly attacking Russia within it's borders using weapons programmed, targeted and loaded by US/UK service members, should be seen as a large escalation that could easily spiral out of control.
To be clear i was never team Ukraine or team NATO just a cloudy headed 'everyone involved should maybe cut it out please' because i really dislike war in my gut
That's what I meant by "neither Russia or Ukraine". But yes, I also deeply hate war.
Oh you did say that. This is why i will never make a top level comment in this mega. Can't read
Don't worry about it, we all read and learn as we go along. Feel free to post, the more posting the better.
Russia appears to not want to take the next escalatory step. I don’t blame them
Yeah having to respond to every single strike could put Russia on an escalatory path that is undesirable, to say the least. So I admire the restraint shown.
On another note, the full on copium shown by pro Russian social media channels has been both entertaining and a bit embarrassing. First the ballistic missile attacks were done using Ukrainian made missiles and all shot down, then they were ATACMS missiles but it was fine because they all got shot down, then it was only 7/8 that got shot down, but the pictures of the destroyed 92N6E fire control radar from the S-400 are fake/from Crimea/from an S-300 system. And then after the videos got released showing multiple impacts, crickets. Some of them act as if the Russian government is incapable or lying, or the S-400 is some kind of wunderwaffen that can't be destroyed. You know it's bad when even the Russian Air Force linked "FighterBomber" telegram account is calling it out:
Now, or a little later, there will undoubtedly be a video of the attacks, which everyone already has, except maybe the [Russian] MoD, where it will be difficult to identify the attacks in any other way than ATACMS and count them, but you can say that "And these are the other 8 ballistic missiles. And we shot down 8, leave me alone." But this is just me thinking, it is clear that no one will comment on anything...
Can't Russia just give a big red button to Houthis that fires the new missiles on US air craft Carriers? By Liberal logic, the Houthis would be shooting them and Russia would be innocent.
America has gone to war over freedom of navigation multiple times. The day Russia hits an aircraft carrier is the day stealth bombers shoot at Russia's pacific ports.
Hezbollah got 12 of those missiles during 2020, so it's possible. But I think if it happens, there will be restrictions on the targets.
War against nature: The Siege of Svartsengi
The gigachad heroes of labour contractors have been raising the defence walls that safeguard the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon tourist trap.
It was hairy for a moment as the lava was close to breaking through sector L3
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To buy time for the raising of the walls they brought heavy duty waterpumps to cool the lava, requiring up the 26k liters of water every minute.
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This has worked well enough that the power plant is not considered to be in danger at this time. But inevitably raises the question of how long this defence can be maintained
New climate change solution: drill a hole to a magma vent, constantly fill it with water from the north pole.
To buy time for the raising of the walls they brought heavy duty waterpumps to cool the lava, requiring up the 26k liters of water every minute.
I hate to be the soyfacing wojak pointing at the screen, but this is some Volcano (1997) shit Wtf. I wonder if that film took that strategy from another real-life volcano emergency response.
I knew I had read about it somewhere. Thanks!
How difficult and time consuming is the clean up process from a disaster like this ?
In that map it looks like the lava has spread across the road there, I can't even imagine what needs to be done to fix that.
You don't fix it, you pave a new road, sometimes over the lava if it's cool enough
There is no clean up after lava, it's just there now
Iceland is an amazing place but the Blue Lagoon was very very disappointing. I kinda think they should let the lava devour it
I went to the lagoon because I was too tired to do literally anything else when I got to Iceland. It was fine and enjoyable in that context. But there are better hot springs of all varieties all over the country.
this is a common sentiment here, but the "lagoon" is just runoff from the geothermal powerplant which is kind of important. If we could keep the power plant but scuttle the "lagoon" I would be happy
There is even another blue lagoon up north!
of course the tourism association has been pointing out that the presence of the tourist trap gives billions of ISK to the national treasury, but I don't really care what they think
