Image features Haitian Creole, meaning in English: "Let's Join Hands To Remove Haiti From The Boot Of Domination-Occupation!"
Welcome to the first news megathread of 2024! Last year saw rather little territorial movement in Ukraine (though shocking levels of attrition), and while BRICS has made some important moves, such as the upcoming expansion, there's no massive anti-imperialist offensive yet for us to really analyze. Instead, a lot of things have been going on behind the scenes, with the anti-hegemonic axis of China, Russia, Iran, and others forming a lot of bilateral currency deals as they distance themselves from the dollar. This all culminated in a rather boring year, or so I had thought until October 7th. The courage and heroism of the Gazan Resistance showed us that the imperialists truly are paper tigers, and Ansarallah demonstrated that American naval control is more illusory than the likes of John Bolton would like to admit.
This year will almost certainly be even more interesting and horrific. Debt across the developing world is at record levels, and the incoming hurricane that is the global recession not just on the horizon, but rapidly moving inland. Russia seems to once again be escalating in Ukraine with the return of large missile strikes, and the Zionist entity is failing to make much progress against Hamas, let alone Hezbollah, let alone Iran - instead vying for civilian bombings and propaganda campaigns (e.g. wedding proposals and drawing stars of David in Gaza to prove just how not mad and not owned they are, as their soldiers shit their pants due to insufficient military preparation and brigades are withdrawn due to the tremendous casualties they are experiencing). I'm sure there will be other sudden events that will occur this year. Here's my bingo grid:
In the midst of all this, it's easy to forget the other underdog nation on the other side of the world from Palestine - Haiti. Since I last covered them, about half a year ago, the UN was on the verge of allowing a Kenyan police force to enter Haiti to "restore order", as the country is in a chaotic, perhaps potentially revolutionary situation. This has been described by various Haitian analysts and experts as essentially a US military force in blackface - white blows from a black hand - and Kenya's president, Ruto, has received a lot of aid from the US because of their willingness to step up, including a five year military deal. It took a while longer than I thought for the vote to occur, but on October 2nd, the UNSC allowed Kenya to do this (Russia and China abstained). However, the Kenyan Supreme Court needs to confirm that this is constitutional, and will give their verdict by January 26th. Many Kenyan lawyers and opposition leaders say that this is blatantly not constitutional, but given all the US aid on the line, breaking the constitution might be worth it to Ruto, whatever the backlash.
From the article from which much of the above information has been sourced:
But Washington now has its hands full with other problems. Its proxy war against Russia via Ukraine is going very badly, a fact that even the U.S. mainstream media is now forced to acknowledge. Meanwhile, the successful Oct. 7 uprising by Palestinian fighters against Israeli occupiers has apparently blindsided both the U.S. empire and its foremost client state. The entire Arab world and Global South are both horrified and outraged by Israel’s ever-growing war crimes, as over 20,000 Palestinians, half of them children, have been slaughtered and starved. Meanwhile, the dysfunction in Washington is deepening, Biden’s approval rating is plummeting, and the U.S. economy is lurching toward another crash.
All this means that Haiti may finally catch a break. The desperation in Haiti is very intense but so is the apprehension of and indignation against another foreign intervention. That resistance continues in the streets of Haiti and its diaspora.
Viva Haiti!
The weekly update is here on the website.
Your Tuesday briefing is here on the website and here in the comments.
The Country of the Week is Haiti! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
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.
Unfortunately relevant
Inconsistencies Between Arabic and English Broadcast Programming: Al Jazeera Walks a Tightrope
"... A prominent example of US influence in Al Jazeera’s journalistic policy was the reduction in the frequency of airing images of children targeted by the Israeli enemy in Gaza. These were images that garnered worldwide sympathy. This step came during the temporary ceasefire in November 2023 when Washington requested Doha “tone down” the intensity of its criticism towards “Israel,” given its impact on the awareness of Arab youth especially and the global public opinion overall. This reduction was also reflected in the decrease in the quantity and quality of field coverage, and when the correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh was transferred to Khan Yunis in the southern region. However, the channel’s journalists remained targets of Israel’s brutal war machine, leading to the martyrdom of the photographer Samer Abu Daka (1978 – 2023) and the injury of Al-Dahdouh on December 15.
It seems that Al Jazeera does not care about its journalists as much as it claims. One might cynically observe that it actually gains popularity when they are targeted. Most of its news prior to that was from US or “Israeli” sources, including “Israeli” channel Keshet 12, “Israeli” newspaper Maariv, the spokesperson for the “Israeli” occupation forces Daniel Hagari, the families of settler “hostages,” and “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among others. However, following the attack on its journalists, it resumed airing some scenes of children being targeted, but with a heightened focus on clips released by the Palestinian resistance of their operations against the enemy.
In response to the above, Syrian writer Naram Serjoonn published an article on his blog entitled “Al Jazeera Performs the Dance of Salome* for the Arab People … and It Will Demand a Head in Return for Its Dance in Gaza.” He stated that the channel “is pleased to lose some reporters because that will grant it credibility. Just as the US killed the Kuwaiti journalist Tariq Ayoub (1967 – 2003), a correspondent for Al Jazeera during the US invasion of Baghdad, and Al Jazeera reclaimed ‘innocence’ following his death. Despite fueling the bloodbath of the Arab Spring, today the outlet will present its reporters’ injuries as a certificate of innocence, claiming to be targeted because it poses a threat to Israel.” Thus, the channel walks a tightrope, gaining viewers’ trust in some circumstances, while exploiting it politically in subsequent phases.
The constant shifting in Al Jazeera’s coverage according to circumstances is also present in its English-speaking channel, which generally targets a Western audience. It does not dedicate its full broadcast and bulletins to Palestine despite having the most airtime on the subject. In its coverage of Palestinian news, it focuses on what matters to the Western audience—similar to international and UN positions— demonstrations, boycotts, and calls for ceasefires. It almost entirely neglects what the Palestinian Resistance’s Military Media publishes, seemingly due to considerations of broadcasting in Western countries and fear of potential repercussions.
Consequently, a defeatist tone dominates the content of Al Jazeera English. Meanwhile it fails to showcase the capabilities of the resistance that prove the futility of the occupation’s actions and its inability to achieve any of its declared objectives. Mostly, its coverage involves the killing of innocent civilians. Al Jazeera’s English channel’s coverage of Palestinian resistance operations can be likened to how its Arabic-speaking channel deals with operations in Lebanon. It treats them as if they do not exist. However, despite this, Al Jazeera English plays a striking role in shaping public opinion in the West.
This is another episode in the ongoing saga of double standards since October 7. However, this time, the illness strikes viewers in their own homes, creeping in through the “virus” of Al Jazeera, which changes its performance according to circumstances, alongside the “bacteria” of Western channels that, if not for the risk of losing viewers, would not shed light on the suffering of Palestinians or validate their humanity at all."
setting aside the story, I'm not a huge fan of the cartoon at the top of the page there. Big schnoz and vampire fangs with the star of david is pretty on the nose (oh ho ho)