Image is of a Russian missile impacting Ukraine.
As we rapidly approach the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Ukraine War (an anniversary I absolutely did not expect would occur while the two sides were still in combat), we have seen Russia turn to a new strategy, starting late last year but intensifying in December and now January.
Russia seems intent to disconnect Ukrainian cities from the electrical grid by focussing bombing on thermal, gas, and hydro stations, causing major power blackouts across the country. Russia is also bombing substations relatively close to Ukraine's three nuclear power plants (Zaporzhye, the fourth, remains under Russia control), studiously avoiding hitting the premises of the NPPs themselves for obvious reasons. Even if they're far away from the NPPs, striking the substations does have risks, because if the nuclear reactors aren't shut off before the substations are bombed, there is a possibility that there will be insufficient backup power to prevent a meltdown - hence why Russia hasn't really attempted to do this for four years.
Most of the electricity generated in Ukraine comes from the nuclear power plants, both because of the infrastructure they had initially (Ukraine was 7th in the world in nuclear electricity generation before the war) and because Russia has bombed most non-nuclear power stations and substations already. Over the last couple weeks, we have seen Ukrainian media fly into a frenzy about long-lasting blackouts, especially in the middle of winter. After the Zionist entity destroyed virtually all civilian infrastructure in Gaza while the West cheered on, they now appear to have changed their mind on whether such strikes are an effective and humanitarian option to subject millions of people to.
Regardless of whether you personally believe these Russian strikes are justified (I'm pretty iffy myself), it must be stressed that Ukraine has been bombing Russian tankers and oil refineries and power stations for a long time now, so in a sense, this is a retaliation. It's also remarkable, compared to Western wars, that Ukraine was even still allowed to possess a functioning electrical grid for nearly four years into a war of this magnitude. That all being said, while Ukrainian strikes have been somewhat but not overly impactful on the Russian oil sector, the response is clearly very asymmetrical: Ukraine's power grid is, according to Ukrainian energy corporations, now 70% degraded and is virtually impossible to now repair, and blackouts can last most of the day.
For everybody's sake, I hope a ceasefire and peace deal will be reached soon. But after four years of seeing opportunities for an end to this war squandered over and over, I'm not holding my breath.
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.
On BBC news channel today they've been going on and on about Keir Starmer's visit to China and how much the UK intends to deepen ties so I dug up an article to share on it. Keir even said "fair, transparent, rules-based" with regards to deepening ties with China. He seemed completely positive to me and it didn't seem to be a put on.
British PM's visit expected to deepen practical cooperation
https://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202601/28/WS6978e1a3a310d6866eb360e0.html
spoiler
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will make an official visit to China starting on Wednesday, marking the first such tour by a United Kingdom head of government in eight years.
The four-day visit, which will take Starmer to Beijing and Shanghai, is seen by officials and scholars as an opportunity to open a new chapter of sound and steady development in China-UK relations.
The two countries stepped up diplomatic engagement after Starmer took office in July 2024. In August the same year, President Xi Jinping held a phone conversation with Starmer at the latter's request, and a few months later in November, they met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, steering China-UK relations on the path of improvement and development.
On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said in Beijing that China and the UK, both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, share common interests in maintaining communication and strengthening cooperation, which benefits both peoples and contributes to world peace, stability and development.
After taking office, the government of the British Labour Party expressed clear willingness to develop relations with China in a consistent, long-term and strategic way, and it has actively promoted dialogue and cooperation between the two countries, Guo said.
China stands ready to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust with the UK and deepen practical cooperation, he added.
According to media reports, Starmer will be accompanied by more than 50 senior executives and institutional representatives from major British companies, covering sectors including finance, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, culture, and the creative industries.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday that the large delegation reflects the UK's strong desire to deepen bilateral economic and trade ties.
"China attaches great importance to economic and trade cooperation with the UK, and is actively working with Britain to prepare for the economic and trade cooperation outcomes from the visit, as well as a meeting of Chinese and British entrepreneurs," a statement from the ministry quoted the spokesperson as saying.
Chinese and British companies have shown keen interest in the meeting, and more than 100 of them have registered for participation, the spokesperson added.
Official data shows that the bilateral trade value of goods between China and the UK reached $103.7 billion in 2025, and the two-way investment stock stood at nearly $68 billion. The trade value of services is expected to exceed $30 billion. The UK is China's third-largest trading partner in Europe, while China is the UK's largest trading partner in Asia.
Starmer has previously said that failing to navigate relations with China would amount to a "dereliction of duty", describing the absence of engagement as "just staggering".
In an interview with Bloomberg ahead of his visit, the British prime minister reiterated his point, saying that ignoring China — "when it is the second-largest economy in the world and there are business opportunities" — would not be sensible.
On Tuesday, Peter Wilson, the UK's ambassador to China, said the visit aims to increase contacts and establish stabilizing mechanisms, including structured dialogues and concrete, commercially meaningful outcomes, to support bilateral ties.
"Two countries like ours not talking to each other is a problem," Wilson said at a briefing in Beijing. He emphasized that keeping channels open allows both sides to have honest conversations about differences. "We don't see everything in the same way — and that is precisely why we need to talk."
Against what he described as the world facing a period of "radical uncertainty", Wilson said the UK and China need to find areas where they can "make common cause", help stabilize the international system and contribute to conflict resolution.
Zheng Zeguang, China's ambassador to the UK, wrote in The Times on Monday that closer collaboration with China will benefit Britain in attaining its development goals. He called for expanded dialogue, coordination and cooperation in many areas, including trade and investment, financial services, clean energy, fighting cross-border crime, education and culture, scientific and technological innovation, climate change and public health.
British Trade Commissioner for China Lewis Neal said on Tuesday in Beijing that sustained, government-level engagement is critical to underpinning long-term and strategic business relationships.
"The UK is open to investment from Chinese companies," he said.
Even the top brass libs know deep down that China merely wants to trade with them, whereas the US clearly intends on subjugating them.
Probably no coincidence that US intelligence just dropped that story about supposed Chinese spying on UK officials. They were trying to torpedo this.
Yeah they're absolutely unhappy about most of the world turning to China as the US sits there in a pool of its own shit.
The BBC is talking about how China wants a "model country" to showcase that it can cooperate and show of what good it can do. This I think is the UK projecting that it wants the "special relationship" it has with the US to transfer to China, and is willing to become very important to China's connections with the west.
Quite promising really. Wouldn't have imagined this 3 months ago.
We have always been at peace with Eastasia!
I wonder how long before the BBC stops applying the Hell Filter.
its could literally be tomorrow. Media is much more a Military organisation then people like to imagine. And the Perception needs to be remanged and reforged now.
reverse ferret.
thats kind of what happend , in the "Councosious" - Trump went so insane, that every last lib can now "imagine" things he could "have never imagined before" , on a Mass institutional Skale ... like trump taking greenland. Invasion of Alberta.
So it forced them to calculate for the first time their leverage , their detterance and so on. The Insulted Pride of a European Legacy Burocract should not be underestimated. It was such a Burst of Full spectrum Impunity , inwards and outwards that its kinda broke the barrier of concssious , that is now reconstituting itself on new lines.
Yes I completely agree with you. Everyone is recalculating everything based on accepting that the old order is over now. The US is a scary threat that can literally kidnap world leaders and is not to be underestimated.
They did too much, too fast, like 4 straight weeks of one crazy thing after another since new year and it has broken the old world order into factions that are now looking at the US as a serious threat and assessing who isn't a threat - China. They're all realising that China is sincere in not being a threat and see China as the one and only thing that could protect them from the US.
This is very likely to lead to China as a hegemon. The west minus the US will start to position China in that role purely as a buffer to the US. As long as the west believes China is sincere about their sovereignty and non-interference they will go down that path. There is no other path available to them.
This is intensely optimistic.
I see both Trump and Eurolib reversals as extremely likely since they both strike me as self-sabotaging bluffs. Some changes are likely to last, such as the appearance of the US as an unreliable ally and looming threat, but can't see any real realignment as being probable outside of less outright antagonistic relationships with the PRC.
Europe is under no more illusions about what the US is doing and it does not consider this to just be a Trump thing. There is not going to be a reversal even in the best of circumstances where Trump is gone, they have not forgotten that this began with Biden bombing nordstream and they no longer believe that this will stop.
The recent events are a short shock but Europe has been building to this for years now. I've been saying that Europe has been working to de-vassalise for years and I've been called wrong for it every time, but the trend continues to hold true and is only growing.
There are many ties still that effectively create a leash and collar, but they're slowly working on them. Nothing in europe happens fast.
This isn't TERF island's submission to the Chinese Century just yet.
Keith is nothing more than self-interested idiocrat, who was equally willing to bark and roll over for Trump, let alone every other head of state he's visited thus far.
I don't think the UK flipping HARD should be underestimated. We share the same head of state as Canada which is actively being threatened. UK will take the same defensive stance Canada is being forced to take.
I'm mostly mad at how uncomfortable Keith looks the whole time when I'd love to hang out in China for a couple of days right now smh