There's way too much going on right now for me to really focus on any one country this week. The aftermath of the fall of the Nepal government has, somewhat surprisingly, reverberated around the world, and not only in countries that are enemies to the West as you'd expect; for example, Morocco's government battle fiercely with Egypt's and Jordan's to be first in line to lick the dogshit off the boots of Zionists, and yet Morocco is currently embroiled in a large protest wave based primarily around a youth unemployment crisis (though their population is also remarkably pro-Palestinian, which generates additional friction). We're also seeing similar protests in Madagascar, Peru, and Paraguay, and perhaps more will come. I'm personally fairly doubtful in the potential for meaningful economic results from these protests (the current imperialist system seems too deeply embedded for a movement that isn't explicitly communist and anti-imperialist to alter conditions), but it is quite possible for new political results at least.
Outside of the developing world, it appears that the unpopularity of western leaders, such as in the UK, France, and Italy, is creating new levels of unrest. In Britain, the political system has become so utterly moribund that even the artificial democracy of a two-party system (more-or-less; the Lib Dems do exist I suppose) no longer suffices, with both Conservatives and Labour gradually sinking. The Reform party appears like it may become the new standard-bearer of the capitalists and petit-bourgeois - that is, the historical wellspring of fascism - and the Left Party (whatever name they eventually choose) may or may not rise to meet the occasion. In France, they're on their fifth Prime Minister in two years, after Lecornu lasted about a month, attempting the liberal classic: promising change, and then appointing the exact same people who have ruled for the last few decades. And pro-Palestinian protests and general strikes have erupted in Italy, in defiance of their rightwing government under Meloni.
While there's plenty of other events (e.g. continuing aggression against Venezuela that might soon erupt into a war) it would be remise of me not to mention the very much ongoing events vis-a-vis Palestine and a potential peace deal there, seemingly supported to some degree by Trump. It could be legitimate, and it could be some big act (very likely the latter, IMO). Both Trump and Netanyahu seem to believe that they're very talented political masterminds, producing manoeuvres and feints that would make Machiavelli blush. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I trust the militant organizations inside Palestine to outplay these American failsons. Hamas and similar groups are not nearly as gullible as the Iranian reformist faction - though few people are!
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.
The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. 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.
Source: China's Ministry of Transport
Full translation
Ministry Announcement/Notice Announcement of the Ministry of Transport on Imposing Special Port Fees on U.S.-Flagged VesselsOn April 17, 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced Section 301 investigation measures targeting China's maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries. Effective October 14, 2025, additional port service fees will be imposed on vessels owned or operated by Chinese enterprises, Chinese-flagged vessels, and Chinese-built vessels. This action gravely violates relevant principles of international trade and the China-U.S. Maritime Transport Agreement, causing severe disruption to maritime trade between China and the United States.
Pursuant to the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on International Maritime Transport and other laws, regulations, and fundamental principles of international law, and with the approval of the State Council, effective October 14, 2025, the following measures shall apply: vessels owned or operated by enterprises, other organizations, or individuals in which U.S. enterprises, other organizations, or individuals directly or indirectly hold 25% or more equity (voting rights, board seats); vessels flying the U.S. flag; and vessels constructed in the United States. The maritime administration authority at the port of call shall be responsible for collecting the special port dues. Relevant matters are hereby announced as follows:
I. For the aforementioned vessels, the special port dues shall be levied per voyage on a phased basis, with the specific rates as follows (any fraction less than 1 net ton shall be rounded up to 1 net ton):
(1) For vessels berthing at Chinese ports on or after October 14, 2025, the rate shall be RMB 400 per net ton;
(2) For vessels calling at Chinese ports on or after April 17, 2026: RMB 640 per net ton;
(3) For vessels calling at Chinese ports on or after April 17, 2027: RMB 880 per net ton;
(4) For vessels calling at Chinese ports on or after April 17, 2028, the fee shall be RMB 1,120 per net ton.
II. Where a vessel calls at multiple Chinese ports during the same voyage, the special port fee shall be paid only at the first port of call. Subsequent ports of call shall not levy the fee. For the same vessel, the special port fee shall not be levied more than five times within a calendar year.
III. The Ministry will formulate specific implementation measures.
Ministry of Transport October 10, 2025
lol if this was the extent of the port charges there would be literally 0 ships impacted by this. There are no ships, especially no commercial cargo ships, that are built in the United States at all. That said, this is still a nothingburger because of the top 30 largest shipping firms in the world, only one (Matson) is an American company with an incredible 0.2% market share.
This might expand it quite a bit.
Yeah that's the only part I don't know a lot about. I assume the officials who cooked up this regulation do though, and are specifically targeting some firms that do meet this threshold.
Yeah, it's a specific addition that was definitely meant to capture some large amount of US influence over shipping.
There is a fleet of US vessels, which are mandatory due to the Jones Act for delivery between US territories. Most notably Puerto Rico, but Hawaii is also impacted due to many of the super-container ships not stopping there.
At first it seems more like a symbolic move, but according to Kun Cao, deputy chief executive at consulting firm Reddal, it explicitly targets any ship with meaningful U.S. links.
this fucks Matson pretty hard though because they hit Shanghai on the other side of their cash cow Hawai'i routes
Based.