Due to American cluster bombing campaigns advised by Kissinger during the Vietnam War to damage supply lines, over 2 million tonnes of ordinance were dropped on Laos over about a decade, averaging a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes. Laos is thus the most bombed country on the planet up to this point. 80 million bombs failed to explode - the cleanup operation is expected to take centuries, and 25,000 people have been killed and injured by bombs in the last 50 years. About 50 people are killed or injured every year to this day.
After the United States withdrew from Laos, the Pathet Lao took power and abolished the monarchy. Kaysone Phomvihane became a dominant figure in Laotian politics, keeping the course on Marxism-Leninism and implementing the first Five Year Plan in 1981. The second Five Year Plan in 1986 was modelled on Lenin's NEP, and this doubled rice production and significantly increased sugar production. After the fall of the USSR, Laos allowed a small capitalist class to exist, with similar control over them as in China. Laos maintains a 48-hour work week with paid sick leave, vacation time, and maternity leave, and workers are well-represented in trade unions. They faired relatively well during coronavirus from a social standpoint due to quick and efficient action to lock down the country, experiencing ~750 deaths out of a population of over 7 million.
There is hope even after utter destruction by genocidal oppressors.
The weekly update is here on the website.
Your Tuesday Briefing is here in the comments and here on the website.
Your Wednesday Briefing is here in the comments and here on the website.
Your Thursday Briefing is here in the comments and here on the website.
Your Friday Briefing is here in the comments and here on the website.
The Country of the Week is Laos! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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Last week's thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish 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 (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
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.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
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.
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.
Earlier today I went out to walk to the corner store to grab some stuff. When I rounded the corner that a busy bus stop is on someone who was waiting for the bus had a seizure and went down HARD, smashed up their face, teeth and glasses. While I and a two of my unhoused neighbors stayed to provide aid, every single other person there (about 15) got on the bus and left her for dead on the sidewalk. She was overweight, the three of us were barely able to move her onto a bench to keep her upright and talking as we waited for an ambulance to come.
The most heart wrenching thing I've ever experienced is someone who just had a seizure, passed out and hit their head, try to tell me, as they can hardly speak, that they can't afford to go to the hospital. I stayed with her until the ambulance came, trying to talk to her to keep her conscious.
I'm a street medic, this isn't the first time I've had to give aid to someone who had a seizure. It is never any less terrifying. The most twisted part is that a lot of people with epilepsy don't need medical assistance afterwards, and it's important not to call an ambulance because we neither have enough to pick up everyone who needs emergency medical care, and the excessive cost of medical care in this county completely ruins people's lives. I hate it here so much. DEATH TO AMERIKKKA
I will tell you; Everyone freezes. Some people freeze the first time they're called to action. Some people are old soldiers, seasoned nurses, veteran firefighters, when they freeze for the first time. It doesn't mean you, or any of them, are bad people or that you failed. It's a function of our fight/flight system, of how we react to stressful and frightening situations. It's part of being human. It's a function of our deeply, deeply rooted survival systems. It's a physical, material, biomedical response. You saw the problem, you correctly identified the need for action, you wanted to help. In that situation your reflexes, or limbic system, or fight/flight response, whatever you want to call it, didn't cooperate. It's part of being human.
I'm not telling you that you need to forgive yourself, but I would like you to know that you're not alone, and I, at least, don't think that you failed to act due to any personal failure or lack.
Once we drove past an elderly man who fell and passed out on the sidewalk. We rushed to help, got him to sit up, takes to him to keep him awake and called for an ambulance. We were the only ones on the busy city street who did anything. It was at evening in the winter so the man could have frozen to death if nobody had helped him.
You could tell that the man had led a very rough life and when the dispatcher learned that the man was probably drunk they tried to send a cop car instead of an ambulance. We got them to send an ambulance but the medics seemed disinterested and took the man home instead of to the hospital.
I don't envy medics at all. It's a horribly traumatic job with horrible working conditions. Some are just assholes going in, but many become calloused trying to survive the trauma of constantly encountering people in horrible states and being unable to effectively help. Even when they do want to help they're subject to the for-profit medical system that binds their hands as to what they can actually do.
Drug addiction, horrible psychological burn-out, and PTSD are all very common with medics of all kinds. The folks who hold on to their drive to help people often have to leave after a few years bc of the constant trauma of seeing people in pain and being forbidden from helping those people by forces beyond their control. This system grinds up so many people, and especially the people who just want to help.
Yeah this kind of stuff is shocking and it's quite crazy how many people just kinda ignore it. I guess all those people have the mentality that someone else will deal with it or are completely distracted and unaware.
Here's some fun facts about epilepsy if anyone comes across someone. Most seizures aren't dangerous for the person and they tend to pass quickly. There's generally not much that needs to be done besides supporting the person, removing any sharp or dangerous objects around the person (or padding if they're close to a wall or something) and getting them into the recovery position(look it up but basically on their side so they don't choke if they end up vomiting) AFTER the seizure stops. Also try look for a medical bracelet when they stop seizing as that might have info or contacts!
When to call an ambulance:
-seizure lasts more than 5 minutes (useful to start a timer when you notice it)
-second seizure before person regains consciousness
I suspect the dehumanization of homeless people, maybe fat people, and anyone "weird" might also be at play. Also the contempt and dehumanization towards drug users and also perceived drug users.
A lot of people have been trained to fear homeless and mentally ill people as a dangerous threat of violence and to have absolutely dehumanizing contempt towards anyone they perceive the be a drug user.
Oh yeah totally, it's incredibly sad how that's the default assumption many people have. I remember on multiple occasions when I was a teen expressing concern about a homeless person looking like they needed help or medical attention and being told by the adults in my life that they're just on drugs or drunk so don't worry about it. Really fucked me up a bit ngl.
TBH as an epileptic, I wouldn't want someone to call an ambulance regardless. Not much for them to do other than letting me chill for a bit and leave to go be sore at home.
Of course, you can't know in the moment why someone is having a seizure. Kinda have to call 911 unless you know them
She smashed her teeth on the ground. She needed an ambulance.
Word. There are so many possible causes of seizure. : (
I know we all know, but it's so horrible that a calculation needs to be made between saving someone's life and ruining their life with debt.
I have never heard of a place that charges for an bulance response, if you don't get in the ambulance. You may want to confirm whether this is the case in your jurisdiction. If there's no cost, there should be no hesitation.
The fire department runs the ambulance service here. The cost ranges from 800-2k a trip. I know because I've gotten the bill before.