Get it? "Revolting" is a double entendre! Anyway...
As the Trump administration continues to accelerate the flagrant disregard of "international law", we have seen various European leaders flock to China (alongside Canada), seeking deals. Some trips have been more successful than others - for example, Macron's was fairly dire despite his lavish reception by Xi Jinping, but Starmer's resulted in some actual deals and tariff reductions. The intent of this wave of diplomacy with China is clear: leverage.
Nobody should be fooled into thinking this revolt immediately benefits the developing world, of course. While a relative weakening of the US compared to Europe is progressive in a limited sense (insofar as the US is the locus of imperialism), every indication shows that, when it matters, the European consensus remains aligned in most respects with the US, such as with them and the Zionist entity against Iran, against national sovereignty in Africa (e.g. ECOWAS), as well as in Latin America (either in support or not sufficiently opposing American designs there against Cuba and Venezuela, to name but two countries). It is also unclear how long such a divide will last - perhaps Trump leaving office in 2028 and a slightly less bellicose leader in power will result in many cancelled deals with China.
Despite the very shaky initial steps over the past couple years, Europe still has many miles it must traverse to achieve sovereignty, let alone socialism. For now, it will cheer on the sanctions against millions of vulnerable people and incoming bombing of Iran and Hezbollah, though perhaps it will also share a degree of the economic/military retaliation.
Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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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.
Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigns
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmers-chief-of-staff-morgan-mcsweeney-resigns-4222309
spoiler
Morgan McSweeney has resigned as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, saying he took “full responsibility” for advising Keir Starmer to appoint Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.
In a resignation statement released on Sunday, McSweeney said the decision to appoint Mandelson – who was forced to step down from the role in September – was “wrong”, adding: “He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself.”
McSweeney said: “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.
“In public life responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it is most convenient. In the circumstances, the only honourable course is to step aside.”
His departure follows mounting pressure from Labour MPs and peers, many of whom blamed McSweeney for pushing through Mandelson’s appointment despite his past association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The i Paper reported earlier this week that McSweeney was being touted as a “sacrificial lamb” by MPs to allow the Prime Minister to stay on in Downing Street.
The row intensified in recent days after the release of further Epstein files, which suggest Mandelson shared sensitive Government emails with Epstein during his time as business secretary. Mandelson has previously said he regrets his association with Epstein and denies any wrongdoing.
Several Labour MPs privately welcomed McSweeney’s resignation, arguing it was necessary to draw a line under weeks of turmoil and refocus the Government on delivery.
One Labour MP said: “I think it’s the correct decision. We need an end to games and a focus on delivery and governing. Mario Cuomo said you campaign in poetry but govern in prose – it’s a different skill.”
Another Labour MP described the move as “the bare minimum”, arguing that McSweeney’s strengths were better suited to internal party management than running Downing Street. “For all Morgan’s undoubted skills when it comes to organising to win elections and internal factional fights, he has not proved good at governing,” the MP said.
They added that the Mandelson appointment, and the fallout that followed, had exposed deeper problems at the heart of Number 10.
“The advice to appoint Mandelson and the subsequent fallout is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” the MP said, arguing that McSweeney’s departure must “mark a turning point, away from the culture of the backroom boys and towards a more inclusive, authentic No10 operation”.
The revelations have prompted growing questions over Starmer’s judgement, with senior figures warning that the controversy was damaging public trust in the Government.
Earlier on Sunday, Labour peer David Blunkett said the Government was in a “major crisis” and argued that Starmer needed to rethink who was advising him at the centre of power.
“My view now is that he needs a new chief of staff,” Blunkett said, calling for “an opening up of the routes to him so that people can reach him and he can hear what people are thinking and feeling”.
He added that in moments of crisis, prime ministers must “go back and take a look at who gave you advice and who turned out to be right”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said McSweeney’s resignation did not absolve Starmer of responsibility.
“It’s about time,” she said in a post on X. “But once again with this PM it’s somebody else’s fault: ‘Mandelson lied to me’ or ‘Morgan advised me’. Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions. But he never does.”
Downing Street has not yet said who will replace McSweeney or whether an interim chief of staff will be appointed.
Even if Starmer resigns, that doesn't guarantee snap elections, right? They will just appoint some other pedo.
Correct. New prime minsiter is selected from within the government. Snap elections thing of the previous Tory PMs were just opportunistically seizing the initiative of press support to knock back Corbyn and win a few years extra in power; they didn't even bother with snap elections for Liz and Rishi because it would've been a loss either way.