An image of the wildfires in Rhodes, taken on July 23rd, showing the flames and the plume of smoke.


Greece, in late July, faced a heatwave in which over 8 million people experienced temperatures about 41C, with some areas reaching above 45C - all in all, both the longest heatwave in Greek history, as well as some of the highest temperatures on record.

Due to these high temperatures, Greece was then struck by hundreds of wildfires this summer, affecting nearly 200,000 hectares. About half of the total burned area was in the north-east of Greece, in the Dadia national park near the city of Alexandropoulis - the single largest blaze that the EU has recorded. Other parts of the country were also struck, such as Attica, Magnesia, and islands like Corfu and particularly Rhodes; the last one prompted an evacuation of 20,000 people, the largest evacuation operation the island had ever seen. Of course, this is just one country of many that have been caught in the European wildfires this year, of which the total burned area approached 500,000 hectares - the only consolation is that this was less than last year.

Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkiye were impacted in early September by flooding caused by massive storms bringing a deluge of water - in Greece, this mainly impacted Thessaly, in the centre of Greece.

Luckily for Greece, despite being a very earthquake-prone country, they have experienced no significant quakes lately to round out the four (I hope I haven't jinxed it) - though, of course, earlier this year, a major earthquake struck nearby Turkiye, killing 60,000 people and injuring 120,000.


The Country of the Week is Greece! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.


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

This week's update is here!

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.


  • mechwarrior2 [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/following-american-money-in-ukraine-60-minutes

    60 MINUTES OVERTIME In Ukraine, U.S. tax dollars are funding more than just military aid

    As the war in Ukraine grinds toward its third year, America has provided more than $70 billion in aid, with billions going not just toward the military, but also to help farmers, subsidize small businesses and pay the country's first responders.

    The bulk of America's contribution to Ukraine has gone toward military aid. American rocket launchers are now reaching deep into Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

    cope

    The war has also impacted Ukraine's financial standing, with the country's economy contracting by an estimated 31% last year, according to the United States Agency for International Development.

    The U.S. government is subsidizing small businesses in Ukraine, including Tatiana Abramova's knitwear company, to keep them afloat.

    American officials from USAID helped Abramova find new customers overseas. In the midst of war, her company is supporting over 70 families.

    The U.S. government has also bought seeds and fertilizer for Ukrainian farmers. America is covering the salaries of Ukraine's first responders, all 57,000 of them.

    A report from the Pentagon's Inspector General last year found the U.S. government was unable to monitor weapons transfers in the early months of the war, in part because the American embassy's staff was evacuated. Criminal groups in Ukraine stole some weapons and equipment from the country's military, though they were later recovered by Ukrainian intelligence services.

    same-picture

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren was recently in Kyiv, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Lindsey Graham, to monitor the situation.

    "We have to have confidence that the dollars we're spending are actually being spent in defense of the nation," Warren said. "All of that is important. But that's why we're here."

    The senators, and other U.S. officials, told 60 Minutes there have been no substantiated cases of American weapons being diverted.

    doubt

    Americans face their own financial challenges and many question if the country should be sending so much money overseas. Sen. Graham feels it's some of the best money the U.S. has ever spent.

    "Here's what we've gotten for our investment. We haven't lost one soldier. We reduced the combat power of the Russian army by 50%, and not one of us has died in that endeavor," Graham said. "This is a great deal for America."

    The outcome of the war may be decided by America's willingness to keep paying. Lieutenant Oleksandr Shyrshyn, a father of two who enlisted on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, pointed to the cost for Ukrainians.

    "Ukrainians pay with their lives," he said. "And I believe and I hope that their lives cost much more than money, much more than taxpayers' money."

    soviet-hmm

    • Parzivus [any]
      ·
      1 year ago

      "Ukrainians pay with their lives," he said. "And I believe and I hope that their lives cost much more than money, much more than taxpayers' money."

      Not for westerners

    • SoyViking [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Americans face their own financial challenges and many question if the country should be sending so much money overseas. Sen. Graham feels it's some of the best money the U.S. has ever spent.

      "Here's what we've gotten for our investment. We haven't lost one soldier. We reduced the combat power of the Russian army by 50%, and not one of us has died in that endeavor," Graham said. "This is a great deal for America."

      What a fucking arrogant ghoulish answer. People in America are hurting and ask if maybe some of their tax dollars could go towards easing at least some of the pain that is life in a collapsing late capitalist empire and this turd of a senator has the gall to say that allegedly giving the Russian state a bloody nose is just as good if even better.

      Do they expect to be able to drown material injustices in American exceptionalism forever?

    • PosadistInevitablity [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Killing foreigners who weren't even our enemy before we started killing them?

      Yes, this is worth more than anything we could possibly spend money on.