Mere hours before Trump's 8pm Tuesday deadline yesterday, Pakistan's government contacted Iran with a US-written proposal for a two-week ceasefire, explicitly stated to also include Lebanon, during which they would negotiate a permanent end to the war on the basis of Iran's 10 Points. Among other things, these points include 1) maintaining strict control (joint with Oman) over Hormuz, complete with a toll; 2) the end of sanctions on Iran; 3) keeping their enriched uranium; 4) a withdrawal of US forces from the Middle East [stated by the Supreme Leadership Council but not in the 10 Points, so who knows], and 5) some plausible guarantee that Iran would never be attacked again. I've heard rumors that China may have prodded Iran to accept these terms.
In theory, these are relatively confident and maximalist demands. In practice, Iran has already achieved military and economic control over Hormuz and the withdrawal of many US troops and bases from the region, so at least a few of Iran's demands are, to a greater or lesser extent, already achieved, and with little hope for an increasingly exhausted US to undo these achievements short of nukes.
A couple hours after the ceasefire, the Zionist entity began a wave of airstrikes in Lebanon, killing hundreds of civilians, as well as flying drones into Iranian airspace. This was a strange move to make even if you assume - very sensibly - that the US is completely agreement non-capable: why not agree to the ceasefire and simply pretend to negotiate for two weeks while regrouping/repairing what assets you can and then start hitting Iran again?
One theory is that the Zionists are testing to what degree Iran is actually willing to have solidarity with Lebanon and Hezbollah. While the Resistance has been relatively united since October 7th, the formation of separate peaces instead of negotiating terms as a united front has been a major exploitable weakness. Alternatively, it's been proposed that the US didn't even consider using the ceasefire to regroup and deceive Iran, and that Trump merely wanted a way to chicken out of his threat on Iran's electrical grid - the fact that US officials have since stated that Iran's 10 Points were not the same ones they agreed to is a point supporting this, I suppose. If the conflict resumes and Trump does not deliver another 48 hour deadline (and/or makes it something silly like a month from now) then this could be the explanation.
From Iran, I am getting the sense that a lot is happening behind the scenes. Statements from top officials like Araghchi have stated quite plainly that there will be no ceasefire and no negotiations unless the Zionists stop attacking Lebanon, but as of ~24 hours after the ceasefire began, there has been no significant military response from Iran yet. There have apparently been phone calls between Araghchi and numerous regional officials, but it is unknown to what end. All the while, the global economic situation continues to deteriorate. Over the next week or two, the last tankers that left Hormuz before it closed will arrive at their destinations. If the missile exchanges begin once more, then the West, much like most of the rest of the world, will be experiencing all sorts of fuel, energy, food, and product shortages while trying to justify why they broke the ceasefire to kill more Lebanese civilians.
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 the Zionists' 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.
I want to preface this by saying I smoke more different than anyone, my shit is legitimately better than the stuff I tried in India, but I'll give it all up for this. I want to be free so bad. Targeting the amygdala specifically in a way to replace weed? I love China dawg, they're getting the libertarian firstoid vote w this one
Chinese scientists unlock potent, addiction-free pain relief – CGTN [2026-04-15]
Expand article
Cannabis has long walked a fine line between medicine and abuse. While it has shown potential for relieving pain and regulating mood, cannabis-based drugs are strictly controlled worldwide due to side effects such as tolerance, addiction and cognitive impairment. For years, scientists have sought a solution that could preserve therapeutic effects while eliminating these risks – a truly "safe and effective" approach.
Professor Li Xiaoming (2nd from left) and his team. /Zhejiang University
Professor Li Xiaoming (2nd from left) and his team. /Zhejiang University
A collaborative team from the School of Medicine and College of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Zhejiang University has rationally designed a series of small-molecule drugs. These compounds offer potent pain relief while effectively bypassing the risks of addiction and drug tolerance. The study, recently published in the international flagship journal Cell, represents a significant leap forward for chronic pain sufferers worldwide seeking safer, non-opioid alternatives.
Targeting the brain's pain and emotion centers
Previous studies from the team revealed that stress and other negative stimuli can trigger abnormal activity in the amygdala, a key brain region for emotional regulation. Reduced expression of type 1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1) contributes to this imbalance, potentially leading to anxiety and depression. Activating CB1 in the amygdala with exogenous cannabinoids can restore emotional balance, while CB1 in the thalamus influences pain thresholds, making it a critical target for central analgesic effects.
Molecular "surgery" and the bio-switch
CB1 receptors signal through two pathways: the Gi/o pathway, which mediates therapeutic effects like pain relief, and the β-arrestin pathway, which is linked to side effects such as addiction and tolerance. Conventional CB1 agonists activate both pathways, leading to undesirable consequences.
Comparison between traditional CB1 agonists and rationally designed biased small molecules. /Zhejiang University
The Zhejiang University team applied structure-activity relationship analyses to rationally design small molecules that selectively activates the Gi pathway while minimizing β-arrestin signaling. This "biased signaling" approach allows pain relief without the typical side effects of cannabinoid drugs.
Reviewers praised the study for its innovative approach. One noted, "This work is the first one to make a rational use of the differences in the binding pocket between G protein and arrestin coupled receptors." Another added, "The study is a tour de force presentation of structure-based design of CB1 agonists that appear to prefer G protein signaling over β-arrestin1 recruitment."
Promising results and the road ahead
In animal experiments, these compounds provided robust analgesia across multiple pain models, without evidence of addictive behavior or declining effectiveness. They also reduced side effects on motor activity and body temperature, successfully avoiding the central nervous system complications associated with conventional cannabinoids.
The Leading researcher, Professor Li Xiaoming, said the team is optimizing these compounds and conducting systematic validation in preparation for clinical trials.
"Our goal is to start from clinical needs, uncover disease mechanisms through basic research, identify therapeutic targets and develop drugs that genuinely improve patients' quality of life," said Li.
As research continues, this biased-signaling strategy could open a new era of precision medicine, offering transformative therapeutic possibilities not only for chronic pain but also for a wider range of complex disorders.
I usually find science articles lacking because they're almost always sensationalized headlines with seriously flawed conclusions. This one is actually really cool.
They basically used classical forward drug design and took advantage of mechanistic understanding to develop a selective agonist. This is peak drug design and it's pretty much what every small molecule drug project aims to do (with like a 0.1% success rate).
The big unspoken thing here that makes it very interesting is that the US drug development pipeline was literally designed to do this. It's not some off the wall approach or massively technologically gated finding, it's exactly what we do but we explicitly do not do it for "narcotic" drugs. We could have developed something like this 20+ years ago if we would have allowed it. China has historically been even more zero-tolerance than the US but clearly something has changed and they've gotten over their hangup while we're stuck in the 1700's.
Science has been begging the US to allow for the study of psychoactive drugs (and not in the MKUltra sense) for at least 50 years now and this is exactly why. If you understand how a substance meditates its full range of effects you might be able to design an analog that exhibits only/mostly the positive ones. This is a massive shift in scientific philosophy from China that will undoubtedly leave the US in the dust at the same time that we're putting the final nails in the coffin of US research and they're doubling down on funding.
It makes perfect sense for China. If you have a non-addictive, no-mind-altering, no-negative consequences legal alternative to narcotics that relieves pain then you disincentivize use of drugs and the drug trade for some amount of users.
More fent for the gweilo