Image is the famous photograph Raising a Flag Over the Reichstag, taken during the Battle of Berlin.
On Friday is May 9th, which is the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, which Russia, among other places, celebrates as the day when the Soviets defeated the Nazis. Naturally, one of the current hotspots of fascism in the world today, Ukraine, is essentially threatening that they might strike Russia or even Moscow itself during that timeframe. Any such strike would almost certainly be symbolic and not aimed at anything too important, as I doubt even Zelensky and his American handlers would actually want to kill a world leader, not least somebody like Xi Jinping. But I would not be surprised if they tried something nonetheless, if only to disrupt the event in some way and not actually kill anybody.
And, as we're on this topic, @EllenKelly@hexbear.net has reminded me that Tuesday is the anniversary of the Nazis burning the Institut für Sexualwissenschaf in 1933, an early institute advocating for the rights of LGBT people, and which also provided early forms of gender-affirming surgeries, as well as hormone therapies. We are currently seeing a crackdown on LGBT rights throughout swathes of the imperial core (as well as countries in the periphery, to the extent that those rights existed there already), and this Nazi-inspired movement will be similarly defeated in the future.
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.
Pakistan has started it's retaliation against India, they have named it Operation Bunyan Al Marsoos.
Goverment of Pakistan statement
Xcancel mirror
India and Pakistan are at war.
Pakistan has fired Fatah-1 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket systems (GMLRS) and Fatah-2 Short Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBMs) at military bases in India. All conventional missiles at this time. India is responding with air operations against Pakistan.
Pakistan is responding with air operations of its own, reporting that their fighter jets have crossed into Indian airspace to carry out strikes inside India.
Unconfirmed reports of both sides shooting down each other's fighter jets. Remember all 4th generation of 4.5 generation aircraft, no fifth generation stealth aircraft for both sides, and both sides have poor suppression of enemy air defence capabilities. In an all out war like this, there will be a lot of losses until a zone of control is established. Pakistan had the advantage in the initial engagement, but that doesn't mean it'll hold all the way through.
Srinagar being attacked by Pakistani fighter aircraft according to NDTV, Indian media.
Both sides reporting within visual range engagements, known as dogfights, between the Pakistani and Indian Air Forces.
Indian media reports that two Pakistani Air Force fighter jets have been shot down.
Pakistan Prime Minister Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calls urgent National Command Authority meeting, the government body overseeing nuclear weapons.
Pakistani sources say that their JF-17 aircraft targeted India's S-400 air defence system using "hypersonic missiles". That would explain the reports of Pakistani aircraft entering Indian airspace, none of their anti radiation missiles have the rage to hit Adampur from within Pakistan, so they would have to perform some kind of Wild Weasel mission within Indian airspace. As for the hypersonic claims, I guess the closest thing is the LD-10 anti radiation missile, a PL-12 missile converted to an air to ground anti radiation role with a top speed of Mach 4+. Anti radiation here means homing in on the electromagnetic radiation produced by radars, nothing to do with nuclear weapons.
Again, everything unconfirmed at this time.
There are a lot of questions about the potential nuclear aspects of such a war, the article I'll link below covers that quite well, despite the title it's not just about missile defeat strategy, and yes I'll repost it for a third or fourth time, if anyone has a better source describing it feel free to share:
Decker Eveleth, 26 April 2025 - Pakistan and Missile Defense Defeat Strategies
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
God damn
It's... A lot.
I hope I don't get bombed or nuked.
I know it sounds obvious, but shelter in place and stay away from any military bases if possible. Stay safe.
Increasingly obvious post but on the off chance it saves someone- look up right now, to the extent that you can, where military bases near you are and if one is remotely close, ask friends and family, right now, if you can stay with them. You'd have to feel out how safe/unsafe travel currently is.
Stay safe comrades
Stay safe comrade, always appreciate seeing your comments around here.