Image is of Gazans breaking their fast with the Iftar meal during the ongoing Ramadan.
Due to a request by @miz@hexbear.net, this thread's COTW is Qatar.
The ceasefire deal broke down early last week after Israel unilaterally changed the terms of the agreement and then blamed Hamas for not meeting them. Violence against civilians has rapidly accelerated to pre-ceasefire levels, with many hundreds dead already, aid once again cut off, and Israeli soldiers once again entering and occupying the attritional labyrinth that is Gaza.
I'm not yet in a position to make any solid predictions or analysis, as the geopolitical situation in and around Israel has changed fairly substantially over the last 6 months; in some ways benefiting Israel, and in other ways not. We know for sure how Hamas and Ansarallah are reacting (thankfully, with open hostility to both Israel and the United States), but the state of Hezbollah has been a giant question mark for months now, and precisely what Iran plans to do (beyond the usual level of supplying weaponry and intelligence to all the allies it can) is unknown. Syria will be almost certainly be a big wildcard, and we'll have to see if the compradors in Damascus can weather the storm.
Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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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.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3303463/china-lays-down-law-facial-recognition-first-focus-privacy-security
SCMP – China lays down the law in facial recognition first with focus on privacy, security
article text
The use of facial recognition identification should not be forced upon people, and service providers will be required to offer alternative ID methods, under regulations due to come into effect in China on June 1.The new rules mark Beijing’s first major attempt to regulate facial recognition, a technology widely adopted around the country – such as at hotel check-ins, entrances to gated communities and to make digital payments.
Jointly released by the Cyberspace Administration of China and Ministry of Public Security on Friday, the final version of “regulations for the safe application of facial recognition technology” comes nearly two years after a public consultation on creating comprehensive guidelines.
The regulations aimed to address “growing concerns” among the public about the risks posed to personal data privacy and security, the authorities said.
China is a global leader in the adoption of facial recognition technology, driven by its robust internet industry and relatively lax regulatory environment on privacy protection. It has also heavily integrated facial recognition into its security surveillance network.
The new regulation mandates that “voluntary and explicit consent made on the premise of full knowledge” must be obtained “when processing facial information based on individual consent”.
Individuals shall also have the right to withdraw consent, and the body that processes the personal information should provide “a convenient way” for such withdrawal.
Also, when alternative methods to achieve the same ID verification are available, facial recognition shall not be offered as the only option. If someone refuses facial verification, “reasonable and convenient” alternatives shall be provided.
On data security, the new regulations specify that facial information shall not be transmitted externally through the internet, unless otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations or with the individual’s separate consent.
The retention period of facial information shall also not exceed the shortest time necessary for processing.
Further, facial recognition applications shall adopt necessary security measures such as data encryption, security auditing, access control, authorisation management and intrusion detection to ensure data security.
Facial ID processors are also required to register with their provincial cyber administration body within 30 working days when they hold more than 100,000 facial data sets.
In strict moves on privacy protection, the regulations ban facial recognition equipment in private spaces such as hotel rooms, public bathrooms and dressing rooms.
The pervasive use of facial recognition technology in daily life in China has prompted increasing concerns about privacy and security.
In July 2021, the Supreme People’s Court issued a judicial interpretation that effectively banned the use of the technology to verify identities in public places like shopping malls and hotels without consent. The ruling also allowed residents to request alternative methods of verification to enter their neighbourhoods, emphasising the need for consent and providing options for those who refuse facial recognition.
That November, China’s personal information protection law took effect, mandating consent for the collection of facial data and imposing heavy fines on companies that fail to comply.
In 2022, a resident of the northern city of Tianjin sued his estate management company over making facial recognition the sole ID method for entry. The court ruled in favour of the resident and ordered the company to provide alternatives.
...but at what cost???
Banning it in checkins and services by requiring an alternative be offered is neat. But will they also ban it in realtime CCTV use?
I distinguish "realtime" because I don't think we can stop its use in not-realtime. Anyone can run a video recording through facial recognition database, it's the realtime tracking of people's locations that poses a problem.