Image is sourced from this Economist article.
Most of the information in this preamble is from the Cradle; notably here, here, here, and here.
The features of an effective American war (proxy or otherwise) is that it is a) against opponents with much less military power than you; b) with very low American losses; c) with victories you can visibly show off from time to time to justify involvement, and d) with a profit margin beyond merely giving money to military corporations. The war against Yemen was none of those; airplanes tumbled off aircraft carriers, and the navy complained of the hardest fighting conditions in decades. Conquering Yemen for its resources was inconceivable given the terrain, lack of good intelligence, and the strength of Ansarallah, and all that seemed to be visibly harmed were empty patches of desert and civilians.
Apparently, the ceasefire last month merely stipulated that they stop attacking merchant vessels in the Red Sea; it said nothing about attacking Israel. Therefore, Yemen is absolutely free to create a new blockade of Israel by just striking their airports and seaports, and all Israel can seem to do is try and bomb them in retaliation, a futile strategy which has failed to produce a military or political change in Yemen for the last decade when many other countries have tried it. And if America directly attacks them in response to attacks on Israel, the ceasefire is off, and expensive equipment will continue to be lost.
Across the strait from Yemen is an interesting array of countries. Egypt’s position in this war is well-known, and Somalia is under a kind of US occupation under the guise of fighting terrorism (Trump withdrew most troops, but they were then sent back under Biden). The other three are Sudan, Djibouti, and Eritrea. All three are increasingly being drawn into the anti-imperialist camp, as they cooperate with Iran, Russia, and/or China. Sudan is undergoing a civil war, but the rebels fighting the government are famously backed by the UAE. Djibouti has refused to allow themselves to be a launchpad for US strikes on Yemen.
Eritrea has a fascinating history of flip-flopping between West and East over the past few decades, but has, since 2020, sided with the East. It was one of the five countries to oppose the 2022 UN resolution condemning Russia’s war with Ukraine. Eritrea sends two thirds of its exports to China, and Iran has reportedly supplied them with military equipment. If a stronger link could be reforged, then Iran would have significantly less trouble sending military technology to Ansarallah, and to other friendly groups throughout the region.
Naturally, the lidless eye of the imperial core is shifting its gaze onto Eritrea. Meanwhile, Ethiopia - a country that has experienced frequent conflict with Eritrea - is part of BRICS+ and their economy is increasingly reliant on China (as is most countries’ economies nowadays). If a permanent resolution between the two could be created, it would be a victory for themselves and the Resistance, and a defeat for America, which thrives on conflict and destabilization.
Last week’s thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
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.
IOF have boarded the Madleen
May the brave aid workers stay safe from the bloodthirsty fascists.
This is a huge propaganda win for the zionist entity. They’ll treat everyone great and fly them back home, probably first class. At least half of these people’s countries will disown them. Swedish state-controlled media is already mocking Greta by putting quotation marks around kidnapped. Western media will say this was all a vanity mission and a waste of everyone’s time and the zionist entity will have reminded the people of the world that they’re powerless against the genocidal war machine.
Absolutely. While I don’t wish that anyone comes to harm (nor should we condemn them for not loading up with rifles and missiles to fight to the shores of Gaza) Israel played this perfectly and the lack of escalation compared to the last flotilla will make it very easy for them to play it off as a vanity mission as you said.
The flotilla organisers have some blame to bear with this. A single ship, limited to nonexistent international backing, and no plan for nonviolent resistance to their eventual arrest (even some cooking oil on the deck to make the commandos slip wouldve been something) were all things that should’ve been considered. Instead, they loaded the ship with well meaning but otherwise untrained celebrities under the assumption that Israel would just… let them through? Or just arrest them which IMO was a terrible plan when Extinction Rebellion tried the tactic years ago.
Can we get a thread going of the updates to the LA anti ICE protests?
LAPD police chief on CBSLA talking about how they’re overwhelmed by getting shot at with fireworks, rocks, and bottles of piss. Admitting on TV that they got peed on by protesters, amazing.
bottles of piss
piss piggies!
Yeah for real, i don’t care about spats between elon and trump and would rather keep up with shit that matters.
I’d encourage people to post here if you have updates.
Megathrwad swere originally for breaking news event. My opinion is that when there is a major breaking news even like the LA Protests, the news mega should reset and be dedicated primarily to that.
this megathread is about global news, including geopolitics. It isn’t about local US politics or restricted to a single topic.
It’s going to change Monday tomorrow anyways.
i asked the admins in the mod chat
Hasan is covering the LA protests live. Things are getting intense
multiple Waymos on fire
I’m watching this stream as I read the madleen updates. Feels like decades may be happening
nothing is happening
Here is a video of part of the boarding of the madleen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm3MEc8CcVk
There is also this proton drive with unedited footage from the Freedom Flotilla website: https://drive.proton.me/urls/CDYKESS7SC#ab0CGGgdRpYg
They called the footage: “IOF INTERCEPTION RAM BOARDING” LMAO IOF is becoming the official term I love it.
When did that term start becoming so en vogue? Feels very recent to me. I love it, too lol.
I’ve heard it a lot over the years but I think it really gained mainstream traction since 7th October 2023.
Here’s an israeli opinion piece in the Jerusalem post from 2015 where the author is arguing for the IDF to be renamed IOF unironically: https://www.jpost.com/blogs/impact-in-rehovot/should-the-idf-be-the-iof-403199
Zionists are such ghouls.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
"The foreign ministry and the embassy in tel aviv are in touch with local governments and following the situation closely. Should a need for consular aid arise, the embassy and foreign ministry will judge how to best help Greta Thunberg resolve her situation. " - Press release from the Swedish foreign ministry.
Swedish state-controlled news current headline says “Greta Thunberg’s ship has been boarded - Greta Thunberg claims to be kidnapped, Israel says she is fine.”
Meamwhile Finnish national news just published the israel side of things only, along with the “selfieship” crap and how the ship has just been diverted and Greta is safely on her way to israel. Disgusting complicity.
deleted by creator
Two drones hovering over the Madleen
The crew on board the Madleen is now taking cover as two drones are hovering overhead, says UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
“Two drones over the Madleen. They say they are quadcopters, the dangerous ones. TEAM IS TAKING COVER,” Albanese wrote on X.
https://t.me/FFC_official_channel/482 🚨🚨The Madleen is currently under assault in international waters. Quadcopters are surrounding the ship, spraying it with a white irritant substance. Communications are jammed, and disturbing sounds are being played over the radio.
Image from the Madleen; appears to be white chemical powder rather than liquid. Crew are sheltering inside.
Possible its an irritant but usually those are dispersed via a gas or fluid so this is highly fucking concerning.
UPDATE; IOF on board. appears the crew are surrendering.
I dont wanna shit on them because this was insanely brave but I’m still left wondering if bending over backwards to be as nonviolent as possible was ever going to work to get the aid through. The IOF has essentially played this perfectly assuming their triggermen don’t get bloodthirsty.
I think the point was to be arrested. The ship can only carry a token amount of aid compared to what is truly needed
be arrested with all their high profile crewmembers (greta, member of euro parliament, etc) and use that to push their countries of origin to put pressure on israel. It probably won’t work but it’s better than nothing I guess. if no country/other actor is willing to push back in any way to guarantee gaza’s freedom of navigation rights I don’t see how it can work except to raise awareness of the siege.
It appears Israel is instead just using it as a different sort of propaganda play they tweeted that everyone is fine and they’re giving them sandwiches(jfc) they also said they would just send them back to their home countries and the aid on the boat would go to Gaza through “proper humanitarian channels”
While there is no such thing as proper “humanitarian” channels that aren’t entity controlled shells; I wouldn’t put it past them to use this as a devious opportunity for hasbara to do some photo ops of them distributing some of the aid (whether real or fake) from the boat in Gaza to try and own them.
I think it’s also probably too early to say for sure what they will do with them because it’s plausible they could find “weapons for Hamas”, “plans to kill Jews” or some bullshit along those lines and imprison them more permanently after all… who the fuck knows but there was never really a winning play with any of this barring Israel taking things too far(and by that I mean indefinitely imprisoning them or murdering them which would bring a new wave of negative attention on to the entity and I don’t think they’re going to do that even though they want to)
I will say that if the flotilla was just random activists… no European Parliament members and less white people they would have absolutely murdered everyone on board without thinking twice
Yeah, everything gets spun by the israeli side. They’re still doing the terror supporter allegations this time, just not as much in english.
I will say that if the flotilla was just random activists… no European Parliament members and less white people they would have absolutely murdered everyone on board without thinking twice
Yeah 100% I mean they tried with the last one. plausibly deniable explosions, a little jamming, and bam it just sinks. It was lucky they didn’t all die tbh. Good preparation I guess.
And in 2010… idk I assume the IOF plan was to do the same “capture the activists, arrest them, rough em up and take the ship” routine, but there was some dipshit american ex-troop who decided to put up a one man last stand and fight them and then 10 people died in the fighting. The deaths are still on the israelis really, but fuck that guy.
If they don’t use violence then we can just start sending hundreds of ships carrying aid
Any attempt at violence would’ve gotten them all killed.
You’re right, but the submission to the Israeli army is being used as a propaganda piece right now, essentially calling them attention-seeking larpers. Either way, these people are subject to the whims of the Israeli ““justice”” system with only their fame to help secure their release.
Perhaps there could have been ways to resist the abduction without violence that should be learned for future attempts. Even if you’re planning to peacefully submit when the commandos reach you, making their lives harder in the process can help make these missions frustrating to the entity.
I dunno. I still believe that they risked death purely by going near Gaza (and as such we should all commend their bravery), but it’s also an opportunity for Israel to be especially lenient and then launder this as evidence of their humanitarian nature.
Whatever this stuff is, I pray the soldiers boarding the Madleen slip and fall of the ship because of it.
https://xcancel.com/ResistEye/status/1931859782211694632
🇵🇸 French MEP Rima Hassan aboard Madleen:
A drone above us is spraying a white liquid.
#Palestine #Gaza #MadleenToGaza #Madleen #FreedomFlottila #GretaThunberg #FlotilleDeLaLiberté
Maybe Skunk? Would serve no purpose other than spite.
https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/4095
Ownership
The company is privately owned and directed by Dividian Haim, Igal Zafrir and Ehud Zafrir through Dan Mishurim Management and Consulting Ltd, and Yikuel Arieh through Tvunot 5766 Ltd.
This is the substance that the IOF sprayed on the Madleen using drones before boarding. Looks like a luminescent substance? Glow in the dark? Maybe a measure they take just in case anyone tries to escape the boat? They’d glow up in the water if covered in this stuff by the looks of it.
Possibly yeah, people fleeing or man overboard stuff? Even with a life jacket you can vanish in a moment at sea. They may want to make sure they can find everyone for arrests/avoid the PR of drowning a European citizen. Maybe it leaves a trail on the water or something?
US, Israel agree to end UNIFIL mandate in south Lebanon: Report – the cradle
Israel recently launched its largest attack on Beirut in months, and has threatened to intensify attacks against Lebanon
Their victory in Syria has made them over-confident
https://xcancel.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1932069227940213068
I’m not saying Brandon or Obama weren’t ghouls (Homan was appointed by Obama) but this isn’t normal even for the U.S.
https://xcancel.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1931838973502214364 seems Israeli boats have surrounded the Flotilla
It seems like a false alarm/temporary https://xcancel.com/seamus_malek/status/1931844288855650797 (I don’t have telegram to confirm the primary source)
https://xcancel.com/ResistEye/status/1931851125797347516?t=aBet3ukPBJC57cT9BKc2_Q And the Flotilla continues on
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
University of Michigan is spending millions on undercover agents to surveil students
I can’t imagine wanting to attend university in the US anymore, you spend so much money and ultimately it is going to you and your friend’s harassment and potential arrest.
The surveillance appears to largely be an intimidation tactic, five students who have been followed, recorded or eavesdropped on said. The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way, according to student accounts and video footage shared with the Guardian.
They don’t share this video, to my knowledge.
Students say they have frequently identified undercover investigators and confronted them. In two bizarre interactions captured by one student on video, a man who had been trailing the student faked disabilities, and noisily – and falsely – accused a student of attempting to rob him.
They do show this, it’s pretty funny.
One of the comments: “Peter Griffin from head to toe” lol. If this guy can be a private eye, I chose the wrong career path. They just let any loser be one apparently, and the contracts are lucrative for a job that’s literally just stalk a bunch of teenagers and claim your mentally disabled when you get caught.
my understanding of the PI industry is that you spend most of your time sitting in a parked car eating junk food and waiting for the person you’re snooping on to lift something heavy so you can record it and help their employer deny their injury claim
That sounds like the easiest job ever minus knowing you do snitchery for a living
I assume every PI is like that one guy on nathan for you lmao
you may not know this but this is what a peak male physique looks like. billions of years of evolution lead to socks and sandals and cargo shorts at the beach.
Russia is in the process of launching potentially the biggest Geran/Shahed one way attack drone attack of the entire war so far. There are currently around 100 Geran/Shahed drones in Ukrainian airspace, according to posts over the last 45 minutes. Long night of attacks incoming, anyone in the area and vicinity of Ukraine should be prepared to seek shelter. 600 Shahed/Geran drones are expected to be launched over the entire night and early morning.
Ukraine air raids altert telegram channel
AMK mapping telegram channel, provides English translation of Russian and Ukrainian sources
Russian strategic bombers are now airborne, 5 Tu-95MS and 4 Tu-22M3. Each Tu-95 can carry a maximum of 8 Kh-101 subsonic low observable low altitude cruise missiles, and each Tu-22M3 can carry 3 supersonic Kh-32/22 supersonic high altitude cruise missiles. 3 Russian guided missile frigates are also present in the Black Sea, each can carry 8 3M14T Kalibr subsonic low altitude cruise missiles. This means that a maximum volley of 76 cruise missiles (40 Kh-101, 12 Kh-32/22, 24 3M14T Kalibr) is possible, although this is highly unlikely. More Geran/Shahed launches hsve also taken place.
Russia just lobbed 4 Kh-32/22 supersonic cruise missiles at Snake island. The Tu-22M3s are now going back to their bases, Kh-32/22 attacks over for the night, it was one missile per plane. As expected, aircraft are not carrying maximum loads. Don’t know exactly why Snake island was hit by these missiles again, Russia did the exact same thing about a year ago. This was followed up by 2 Kh-31P anti radiation missiles targeting Teplodar, Odesa. So by best guess is that this was a preliminary strike to take out air defence systems and radars stationed at Snake Island and Teplodar before an attack on Odesa, which may come in the next few hours. Another guess is that the Kh-32/22s hit the oil facilities/platforms near Snake Island.
All 5 Tu-95MS bombers just conducted launch maneuvers for launching Kh-101 cruise missiles. Unknown if real or simulated launches at this time.
Second launch maneuver by the Tu-95s, and around 20 ballistic missiles were just launched at Ukraine over the last half hour, including Kinzhal air launched ballistic missiles from MiG-31K aircraft, and Iskander-M ground launched ballistic missiles. The first Kh-101 missiles are currently flying over Belarus to avoid Ukrainian airspace.
It sounds like the Ukrainians are expecting a big attack on energy infrastructure. I may be way too cynical, but it almost feels like they want that.
I think there’s a very good chance that it’s another fake-out where Russia instead focuses limited strikes on military targets.
You’d need a lot of Geran-2s/Shahed-136s to do that, their warheads are much smaller than cruise and ballistic missiles, they impact targets much slower, and they suffer from a high shootdown/interception/attrition rate. It would be very difficult to fly a group of Geran-2s into Western Ukraine and do significant damage to large targets like power stations, gas or oil storage, factories, etc. This is also the problem Ukraine has with their one way attack drones. They’ll successfully hit a Russian oil field with multiple drones, but only one or two of the 18 oil storage tanks at the oil field would be destroyed or significantly damaged.
Editing to say that AMK is saying that the Gerans are flying to Western Ukraine, which would explain the very high numbers of Gerans launched so far. Russia is expecting a lot of them to get shot down on the way there, plus they would need a lot of direct hits to cause significant damage.
As for the cruise missile numbers, the numbers are not that high right now, 76 maximum (40 Kh-101, 12 Kh-32 and 24 3M-14 Kalibr). We’ll probably see around 30-40 launched. Maybe some ground launched Iskander-K and air launched Kh-59 or 69 for 10 more missiles.
Big question mark is on the ballistic missiles, how many Iskander-M, Iskander-1000 and Kinzhal will be launched, if all three types even get launched. Iskander-1000 and Kinzhal have the ability to reach deeper into Ukrainian territory.
Multiple Kinzhals launched it seems. First time they’ve been deployed in a while.
this might be the response to the airfield strikes - daily tightening of the noose via increasing waves of saturation attacks.
Considering the update from AMK about the Gerans flying to Western Ukraine, that would explain the very high amount of Gerans launched. A significant amount of them will get shot down on the way there, and a lot of them would need to achieve direct hits to cause significant damage to large area targets there.
This story is kind of old but I saw some right wing slop promoting this as a “huge deal” and a “game changer” crediting the Trump admin with such brilliance.
The CIA is making Youtube videos in mandarin begging Chinese officials to defect and spill state secrets. Its hard to imagine anything more pathetic and desperate.
Imagine being a CPC official and doing a little trolling by releasing some state secrets saying the secret to Chinese success is central planning
Must be desperate lol
The CIA has never recovered their spy network since China liquidated them all a while back. They’re fishing to rebuild it because they know things are bad.
If the figures are true and there are 3.5million purged party members in the last 11 years I would argue that there’s very fertile ground for finding dissidents there. We all know what it kind of shitty reactionary behaviour kicks off when members get purged in an ml party or splits occur.
lol, it’s a fucking reflex at this point
an “israeli” stubs their toe, calls the couch anti-semitic
