Image is from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' recent article on Kashmir.
It looks like the spat between India and Pakistan could be dying down, due to a new ceasefire. As of the time of me writing this paragraph, it seems both sides want to maintain it (despite some reports of violations here and there).
Both sides have declared victory, which is completely expected given their mutual political parties and nationalist histories. It's a little harder to say which side has actually won, as both sides seem to have managed to shoot down aircraft and hit military bases. India has, in my opinion, had the more embarrassing moments, but international conflicts aren't cringe compilations. I feel no good-will towards Pakistan's comprador government, but it is at least nice to see Modi knocked down a few pegs. Regardless of the final technical victor, it's obvious that - if the ceasefire is maintained - who won are the hundreds of millions of people who won't have to live in fear of dying in nuclear hellfire.
This conflict is a good example of what multipolarity will truly entail. Countries that have been previously limited in their nationalist ambitions by American pressure will now take opportunities to revolt, sometimes against America itself, and sometimes against other countries in their regional neighbourhood. It's also why, as communists, our goals do not stop at multipolarity; it is merely the establishing act of a new era of agitation against peripheral and semi-peripheral capitalist countries that are forming powerful national bourgeoisie classes as the international American capitalists are forced away.
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.
Not gonna happen without moving a million people through Egypt, which means it won't happen
This is gonna piss off the Egyptians
it's going to piss of the Qataris, the Saudis, the Omanis and the Turks as well. None of these places have hit a breaking point yet where they will outright oppose America and Israel in more than words, but keep pushing it and it can reach that point. The arab states are not as stable as they appear
I just have trouble believing this anymore. We've been hearing about how "Oh if Israel does X it's going to push Arabs across the red line." I've said it a myself in the past, or at least hoped for it, and it just hasn't materialized, despite it being pretty much universally acknowledged among anyone with eyes that Israel is doing a genocide. Pan-Arabism has been dead for 40+ years, and the concept of an Ummah, at least among non-Palestinian Sunnis, seems pretty effectively dead and buried now, as well.
All of the Arab/Muslim countries to continue to actively do business either directly with Israel or with the Western countries who are directly complicit. Turkey is Israel's gas station and Erdogan and the AKP have been and continue to be enriched through that relationship. MBS talks out of both sides of his mouth and is almost certainly still entertaining signing the Abraham Accords in private. The Qataris just gifted the guy arming the genocide a $400M plane and pressured Hamas to give up their final leverage of American in return for absolutely nothing. People here keep saying out "Oh this is going to piss of the Egyptians" like what the fuck have the Egyptians done up to this point? If they can stomach what is happening right now without rising up, why is removing Palestinians from Gaza going to be different?
I’m not talking about the leadership of these nations, I’m talking about the populace
Yeah, so am I.
No you were talking about MBS, Erdogan, Qatari’s ruling party and Sisi. Egypt clamps down on any pro-Palestine activity with an iron fist so it is all done clandestinely but do you think the Muslim brotherhood are sitting around doing nothing? Where do you think those smuggling routes and tunnels that Hamas received weaponry came from? There are allies embedded everywhere, working underground
If Egypt’s populace really was totally neutered as you say, then Gaza’s resistance would have looked like the West Bank’s (non-existent). The difference between the two is one borders Egypt and the other borders Jordan, it’s no coincidence that the radical factions all came up in Gaza.
Yes, I bring them up because the claim is that "Oh the people are going to rise up" but their leaders are already letting genocide happen and there are no uprisings. There's no military coups. The discussion isn't about smuggling routes (that smugglers are paid handsomely for), it's about this idea that the masses are going to finally say enough is enough. If they can stomach what is going on now, why is the resettlement of Gazans going to be the red line? They have learned to stomach the same activity in the West Bank, why would this be different?
I'm not trying to personally antagonize or attack you, so apologies, please don't take this personally. I have said the same thing you are saying over the past 2 years. I am just having trouble believing it's going to happen anymore, but I would love to be wrong.