Over the last week, Sri Lanka has been hit by their worst national natural disaster since the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Over 2 million people (about 10% of the population) were affected; the death toll is currently climbing past 600; nearly a hundred thousand homes have been damaged or destroyed, transport infrastructure is heavily damaged; industry has been damaged; and farmland has been flooded. The cost of damage so far looks to be about $7 billion, which is more than the combined budget spent on healthcare and education in Sri Lanka.
While there is plenty to say meteorologically about how this yet another concerning escalation as a result of climate change (Sri Lanka does experience cyclones, but they are usually significantly weaker than this), it's important to note that such disasters are, to at least a certain extent, able to warned about and their impacts somewhat mitigated. However, this requires both access to early detection and warning equipment, and an economy in which development is widespread - in this case, particularly in the construction of drainage systems and regulated construction, which has not generally occurred.
The IMF, on its 17th program with Sri Lanka, is doing its utmost to prevent such an economy from developing, as they instead promote reductions in public investment. On top of this, the rebuilding effort for Sri Lanka is already being planned and funded, and such donors include, of course, many Sri Lankan oligarchs, who will rebuild the damaged portions of the country yet further according to their visions, while sidelining the working class.
Perhaps neoliberalism's decay into its eventual death occurring concurrently into the gradual intensification of climate change and renewed wars signifies the rise of the era of disaster capitalism.
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.
Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.
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.
A UN fact-finding mission has accused the Bolivarian National Guard of crimes against humanity
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/12/venezuela-bolivarian-national-guard-responsible-systematic-violations-and
Can't comment on how true it may be but seems like something we should have on our radar and understand fully.
spoiler
GENEVA – Officials of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) have committed serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity for more than a decade, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela said in its latest report today.This report was prepared during the mandates of the three Members – Marta Valiñas, Francisco Cox Vial, and Patricia Tappatá Valdez – the latter two having concluded their terms on 31 October 2025.
The report – which includes an in-depth analysis of the internal operational structures of the GNB, including its chain of command – concluded that GNB officials perpetrated arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary detentions, sexual and gender-based violence, as well as torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment during law enforcement operations in the context of protests and in actions of targeted political persecution since 2014. The persistence of these abuses reflects structural failures within Venezuela’s accountability and political system which have further entrenched impunity.
“The facts we have documented show the role of the GNB in a pattern of systematic and coordinated repression against opponents or those perceived as such, which has continued for more than a decade,” said Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission. “The persistence of these crimes and the absence of adequate justice require a determined response from national and international accountability mechanisms.”
The report details how Venezuela’s “national security” doctrine has merged military and police functions, legitimising the militarization of public security and expanding the role of the GNB in operations aimed at social control and internal repression. The highly centralised chain of command – under the direction of the President of the Republic as Commander-in-Chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) – has facilitated the execution of unlawful actions without effective internal control mechanisms or accountability.
During protest peaks in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2024, the GNB used excessive force, including the improper use of lethal and less-lethal weapons. The Fact-Finding Mission has reasonable grounds to believe that GNB officials fired firearms indiscriminately, including shots aimed directly at vital areas of victims’ bodies. The Fact-Finding Mission also received information regarding the practice of modifying projectiles to cause greater harm.
The report also documented mass and targeted arbitrary detentions, physical violence during arrests, planting of evidence, torture and other ill-treatment, and sexual and gender-based violence inside GNB facilities used as temporary detention centers.
“The torture, ill-treatment, and acts of sexual violence we have verified – including assaults andremoved – were not isolated incidents. They form part of a pattern of abuse used to punish and break victims,” said Valiñas.
The Fact-Finding Mission found that the GNB was a central actor in the commission of the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds. According to data collected by civil society, it carried out the highest number of politically motivated detentions in 2019 and 2020. It also played a key role in the 2024 post-election “Operation Tun Tun,” aimed at targeting and criminalizing opponents through unfounded accusations of terrorism or incitement to hatred.
The report identifies a pattern of structural impunity sustained by systemic failures within the Venezuelan judicial system, revealing its inability or unwillingness to investigate or prosecute violations committed by the GNB: stalled investigations, prolonged procedural paralysis, manipulation of evidence, deliberate obstruction by the GNB, and accountability limited exclusively to low-ranking personnel.
The Fact-Finding Mission considers that there are reasonable grounds to believe that GNB officials, as well as senior military and political authorities, may bear criminal responsibility under Articles 25 and 28 of the Rome Statute as direct and indirect perpetrators, co-perpetrators, and through command responsibility.
“The Mission has reasonable grounds to believe that GNB officials made essential contributions to the crimes under investigation, including arbitrary detentions, torture and ill-treatment, gender-based violence, and persecution,” said Valiñas.
ENDS
Read the full report (in Spanish only) here.
So they're cops in a capitalist society? No shit? You can level this exact accusation against every single major US city's police departments. Bombs away against American cities.
How much of this is exaggerated whining from the right opposition freaks like Miami gusanos?
The timing of this of course is manufacturing consent for war.