130
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net to c/news@hexbear.net

Image is of the Power of Siberia natural gas pipeline, which transports gas from Russia to China. This isn't an oil pipeline (such as the ESPO) but I thought it looked cool. Source here.


Trump has recently proposed a 500% tariff on goods from countries that trade with Russia, including India and China (who buy ~70% of Russia's oil output), as well as a 10% additional tariff on goods from countries that "align themselves with BRICS." Considering that China is the largest trading partner of most of the countries on the planet at this point, and India and Brazil are reasonably strong regional players, I'm not sure what exactly "alignment" means, but it could be pretty bad.

Sanctions and tariffs on Russian products have been difficult to achieve in practice. It's easy to write an order to sanction Russia, but much harder to actually enforce these sorts of things because of, for example, the Russian shadow oil fleet, or countries like Kazakhstan acting as covert middlemen (well, as covert as a very sudden oil export boom can be).

Considering that China was pretty soundly victorious last time around, I'm cautiously optimistic, especially because China and India just outright cutting off their supply of energy and fuel would be catastrophic to them (and if Iran and Israel go to war again any time in the near future, it'll only be more disastrous). Barring China and India kowtowing to Trump and copying Europe vis-a-vis Nordstream 2 (which isn't impossible, I suppose), the question is whether China and India will appear to accede to these commands while secretly continuing trade with Russia through middlemen, or if they will be more defiant in the face of American pressure.


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.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. 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.

English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.

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.


(page 4) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] OnceUponATimeInWeHo@hexbear.net 46 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] plinky@hexbear.net 46 points 2 weeks ago

https://usercontent.one/wp/www.cet.energy/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025-03-CET_Summary-of-Chinas-energy-and-power-sector-statistics-in-2024.pdf

weeeee, china energy mix started to visibly shift in 2024 🥳 (although some lib shit about market mechanisms)

(i was reading the https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/brics-in-2025/ as more copeful, so decided to check. i think oil elimination is a viable thingy for them, but like in a decade)

[-] LoveYourself@hexbear.net 46 points 1 week ago

US turning shipping containers into missile systems

https://asiatimes.com/2025/07/us-containerized-missiles-steathy-firepower-high-strategic-cost/

Palletized field artillery launchers (PFAL) that can be concealed on trucks, railcars, or ships.

spoiler

The US military’s turn to containerized missile launchers reflects a push for stealthy, mobile firepower that complicates targeting and enables rapid deployment but comes with operational, legal, and political concerns – especially regarding their use on allied soil and civilian cargo vessels.

This month, The War Zone identified a prototype launcher known as the palletized field artillery launcher (PFAL) at Fort Bragg, after it appeared unannounced in footage from US President Donald Trump’s June visit.

Currently owned by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), PFAL can fire most munitions in the multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) family – such as 227 millimeter guided rockets and Army tactical missile system (ATACMS) – from two pods housed in a standard container, though it cannot launch the precision strike missile (PrSM).

Concealable on trucks, railcars, or ships, PFAL supports the Army’s strategy to complicate adversary targeting. Originating from the US Department of Defense’s Strike X program, it also informed designs for future uncrewed systems like the autonomous multi-domain launcher (AML).

Containerized launchers like PFAL offer operational benefits– concealability, rapid mobility and modular integration across partner platforms. Yet their covert nature also introduces tactical weaknesses, legal risks and political complications. While these systems enhance deterrence through ambiguity and dispersion, they risk civilian targeting, escalation and backlash from host nations wary of entanglement.

In remarks delivered at a June 2025 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), US Army Pacific Commander General Ronald Clark stated that such systems “literally operationalize deterrence,” likening them to “a needle in a stack of needles” due to their ambiguous electromagnetic signatures and visual resemblance to civilian containers.

He emphasized that their dispersed posture enables US forces to hold Chinese targets at risk across the Indo-Pacific, while avoiding traditional launcher vulnerabilities.

In a June 2025 Proceedings article, Rear Admiral Bill Daly and Captain Lawrence Heyworth IV emphasized advantages of modular, containerized payloads: low cost, ease of production and quick scalability. They noted that mounting them on unmanned or optionally manned vessels increases survivability and complicates targeting. A standardized interface allows for rapid reconfiguration, while adaptability enables distributed maritime operations with flexible firepower suited to near-peer conflicts.


[-] Crucible@hexbear.net 46 points 1 week ago

Mr President, we cannot allow a perfidious war crime gap!

load more comments (8 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[-] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 45 points 2 weeks ago
[-] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 45 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Trump to announce "aggressive" Ukraine weapons plan tomorrow - Axios

Key takeaway:

Two sources told Axios they had reason to believe the plan was likely to include long-range missiles that could reach targets deep inside Russian territory, including Moscow. However, neither was aware of any final decision.

Trump told reporters Sunday evening that the weapons he would send Ukraine through European countries would include "various pieces of very sophisticated military (equipment)... Video here

Missiles with the range to hit Moscow from Ukraine means missiles with more than 500km range. That excludes a lot of weapons if this happens. The four potential missiles in the US arsenal are:

  • Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM). Subsonic low altitude surface to surface cruise missile. Range 1300-2500km, depending on variant.
  • Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), surface to air and surface to surface supersonic missile. Range of 500km possible in a surface to surface role.
  • AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER), Stealthy high altitude air to surface cruise missile. Range of around 1000km.
  • Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). Surface to surface ballistic missile. Range of over 500km.

If this goes ahead and if it refers to US made weapons (I have significant doubts), a possibility is Typhon launchers with TLAM and SM-6 missiles, which are set to be deployed to Germany next year. The first TLAMs were used over three decades ago during the Gulf War, not exactly new technology. SM-6 missiles would also give Ukrainian air defence the capability to engage Russian aircraft at much longer ranges then they currently can, (SM-6 max range is 370km in a surface to air role), and an ability to engage time sensitive targets in the ground at long range due to the high speed of the missile (3.5 Mach). The Typhon launcher can launch both of these. TLAMs can also be launched from the "ROGUE-Fires", a 4 wheeled unmanned ground vehicle capable of launching a single TLAM.

If JASSM is included, it would be quite concerning as it's a stealth cruise missile that can fly at high altitude, the only known missile with this capability. (most stealthy cruise missiles use a combination of low altitude and stealth to radar and IR sensors). Russian and Syrian air defences (using Russian equipment) failed to shoot down a single JASSM stealth cruise missile during US attacks on Syria. PrSM could also be concerning given the range and ballistic vector. Again, I have significant doubts, but unlike the SM-6 and TLAM, Ukraine already has the equipment needed to launch these missiles, F-16 fighter aircraft and M142 HIMARS trucks.

More likely I can see other weapons which have already been delivered, like ATACMS ballistic missiles and Storm Shadow subsonic stealth low altitude cruise missiles, being delivered again.

However, no one should be surprised if we see TLAMs and JASSMs flying into Russian military bases in the coming weeks. This is very much a possibility.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Awoo@hexbear.net 45 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Could we not just start calling every resistance group of every form "Partisans" ?

I support the partisans. Whether that's those in the middle east, those at home taking direct action as groups, antifa or otherwise.

Seems like a pretty useful way to fold all current anti-imperialist activities into one word with a history and an already existing body of extremely popular music that can't be erased. It would cut into the attempts to divide and conquer that we're seeing. It's an inherently internationalist word.

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 45 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Egypt confirms acquisition of Chinese HQ-9B long-range air defence system Military Africa

Egypt has officially confirmed its deployment of the Chinese HQ-9B long-range air defence system, a move that marks a notable enhancement of its military capabilities and reflects a growing partnership with Beijing. This confirmation came from retired Major General Samir Farag, a former high-ranking official in the Egyptian Armed Forces, during an interview on Sada El-Balad TV. Farag revealed that Egypt’s arsenal includes various modern defence systems, with the HQ-9B—a system comparable to Russia’s S-400—being a key component. This disclosure, reported by Israeli media outlet nziv, reveals Egypt’s strategic shift toward diversifying its arms suppliers and strengthening its air defence network. The HQ-9B’s advanced capabilities, including its ability to engage a wide array of aerial threats, position Egypt to better address regional security challenges while navigating complex geopolitical dynamics.

Egypt’s decision to acquire the HQ-9B stems from a combination of strategic, economic, and political factors. Frustrated by Western restrictions on arms sales, Cairo has turned to China for advanced systems that come without the political constraints often imposed by the United States and European nations. For instance, Egypt’s F-16 fleet, supplied by the U.S., is equipped with outdated AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, while France has withheld long-range MICA missiles for its Rafale jets. In contrast, China’s export terms are more flexible, offering Egypt access to cutting-edge technology without restrictive end-user agreements. The HQ-9B’s cost-effectiveness also makes it an attractive alternative to pricier Western systems like the U.S.-made Patriot PAC-3, which carries both a higher price tag and political strings. Compared to Russia’s S-400, the HQ-9B provides similar capabilities at a lower cost, though it lacks the same combat-tested pedigree.

The timing of this acquisition is tied to Egypt’s evolving security concerns. Tensions with Israel over its actions in Gaza, along with Turkey’s support for Islamist groups in Syria and Libya, pose direct threats to Cairo’s interests. The Western-backed assault on Libya in 2011, with Turkish involvement, left a lasting impression on Egyptian leadership, reinforcing the need for independent aerial warfare capabilities. Egypt’s air force, while sizable, remains constrained by its reliance on Western suppliers, who have been reluctant to provide the most advanced munitions. The HQ-9B, alongside other Chinese systems like the Wing Loong-1D drones and reported interest in J-31 stealth fighters, signals a deliberate pivot toward Beijing as a defence partner. This shift not only enhances Egypt’s deterrence capabilities but also strengthens its bargaining power with Western allies, who may now feel pressure to loosen restrictions on arms sales.

The HQ-9B’s deployment in Egypt also has broader implications for the Middle East’s balance of power. Israel, which maintains a qualitative military edge in the region, must now account for Egypt’s bolstered air defences. The system’s ability to detect stealth aircraft and intercept precision-guided munitions complicates Israel’s operational planning, particularly in scenarios involving strikes on Egyptian targets. Turkey, another regional rival, could face similar challenges if tensions escalate, as the HQ-9B extends Egypt’s defensive reach. Beyond Egypt, China’s growing role as an arms supplier challenges the dominance of Western and Russian systems in the Middle East. Countries like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan have already acquired the HQ-9B, drawn by its affordability and China’s willingness to transfer technology without political preconditions. Egypt’s procurement could inspire other nations to follow suit, further eroding the West’s influence in the region’s defence markets.

This is the end of Russian military industrial complex. The India-Pakistan conflict truly marked the turn of the tide and the ascendence of Chinese military technology displacing those of Russia’s among Global South countries.

I predict Russia’s economy will continue to worsen as it loses global market in military export, one of the few things Russia is actually good at and a major source of foreign income, and will in turn stifle investments in research and development over the longer term, ultimately leading to the demise of its status as a global leader in military technology.

PS. Europe’s as well, no doubt.

load more comments (14 replies)
[-] seaposting@hexbear.net 45 points 1 week ago

Southeast Asia and the ‘middle democracy’ trap

TLDR: Liberals in Southeast Asia are much more sophisticated in hiding their class affinities than those in the West.

the article with commentary

In Brief

The position of democracy in Southeast Asia has fluctuated since the Asian Financial Crisis, with democratic concerns gaining prominence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, particularly showcased in countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. But a recent shift toward prioritising economic development over democratic values has been observed, largely due to changes in global politics and the retreat of the United States from democracy promotion, leaving Thailand as the only exception to this trend with its continued struggle for political reform.

A familiar trope in the analysis of Southeast Asian politics is that development is a more urgent concern than democratisation. Popular pressures to increase democratic inclusion and protect democratic institutions may periodically arise. But the more fundamental and constant worry of Southeast Asia’s governments and citizens is thought to be making development—not democracy—work.

For the Western observer who live their lives on the throne of the blood and skulls of the colonized, Global South aspirations of development seem idealistic and nonsensical. But when you have lived in the villages tucked away in the jungles, with no running water or electricity, it becomes real, not rhetorical - something material that needs changing.

This was certainly true for the authoritarian regimes that dominated Southeast Asia throughout the Cold War period. Overcoming the historical hindrances and humiliations of colonialism meant that catching up with ‘the West’ or ‘the global North’ became the prime postcolonial imperative in anti-communist authoritarian regimes like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. They all dreamt of following in Japan’s development footsteps. It eventually became true in the reformed communist regimes of Vietnam and Cambodia as well. They sought to accompany China on its path from Second World to First.

For a professor of political science, you seem to jumble your words. The anti-communist states of Southeast Asia were Third World - not Second - and only Singapore was the only country who wanted to uncritically ascend and claim to “First World”. Here is also where falling-back to a generalising “Southeast Asian” umbrella without addressing the specificities that characterise the political-economy of each country results in an analysis without the facts, or in other words, a writing without meaning.

Yet in the quarter-century roughly following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–98, concerns about democracy came to loom much larger. A ‘regime cleavage’ within the elite and electorate alike thus came to characterise political competition in Southeast Asia’s wealthiest capitalist societies by the early 21st century.

This was especially true in Indonesia, where an exceedingly punishing economic downturn undid Suharto’s personalistic dictatorship and ushered in a competitive multiparty democracy. Malaysia experienced a vicious crackdown on reformist forces in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis, but reformist forces refused to fade. Thailand was no stranger to mass democratic protest—popular will prevailed over military rule in 1973 and 1992, with big assists from the widely beloved King Bhumipol Adulyadej. But the Asian Financial Crisis prompted constitutional reforms aimed at enhancing the electoral connection between voters and politicians.

History to liberals marks semi-connected events portrayed to them by mainstream media without any sort of introspection, which is why they are always wrong, having only gotten 5% of the entire picture.

After the wildly popular—and wildly unpopular—Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled in a 2006 coup, Thai politics fractured along the ‘yellow’ side of militarist, monarchist oligarchy and the ‘red’ side of inclusive and energetic populism. Malaysia saw questions of democratic reform rise in relevance with the launching of the Bersih movement for electoral integrity in that same year.

Indonesia’s 2014 and 2019 elections seemed to hold democracy’s survival in the balance, with Joko Widodo the final rampart against strongman Prabowo Subianto’s ascendance to the presidency. Even in Singapore, the historically weak opposition to the ruling People’s Action Party gained headway in the 2010s largely by promising to constitute a solid procedural opposition in the city-state’s pseudo-democratic institutions.

It would be a stretch to say that democracy had displaced development in the driver’s seat by the 2010s. Still, the fate of democracy certainly loomed larger in election campaigns in the first two decades of the 21st century than the final two decades of the 20th.

Democracy in the Global South is a perpetual victim that needs saving from the United States - this I think more accurately characterises the article’s position than the idealistic bubble it tries to insulate itself with.

But now, democracy is firmly back in the back seat. This is of course not merely a regional story. Donald Trump’s second, far more aggressively authoritarian presidency in the United States starting in early 2025 has taken democracy promotion entirely off the global agenda.

This marks a definitive end to a global era. If democratic concerns are to play any meaningful role in any country’s politics, it can only be through domestic dynamics, not geopolitical pressure or transnational diffusion. The ‘democracy versus autocracy’ framing of world politics so favoured by US administrations from Bush to Biden is dead and buried.

Perhaps an indirect admittance that colour revolution tactics elsewhere in the world failed to gained any sort of relevance in Southeast Asia. But regardless, this sort of “apolitical” “democracy promotion” throughout this article absolves the role of the United States in enacting economic siege on Southeast Asian economies, and blames the plight of under-development as merely inevitable. Will this lead to any thorough introspection of what democracy means beside the mainstream liberal understanding of “procedures”?

I doubt it.

Development is again sidelining democracy in Southeast Asia. The United States’ retreat from global leadership means that Southeast Asian nations will now maximise their economic ties to China, Europe and other Asian economies with less geopolitical hesitation. US tariffs on China will likely divert more lucrative investment projects to the region. As China begins transitioning from its unsustainable export-dependent economy to a domestic demand-driven growth model, Southeast Asian exporters will be first in line to feed the world’s most massive market.

Indonesia and Malaysia are currently the most vivid examples of what happens when development sidelines democracy in national politics. Indonesia’s 2024 presidential election saw questions of democracy become almost entirely irrelevant. Prabowo’s nice-guy makeover allowed him to ride on Jokowi’s long coattails—lengthened by Indonesia’s strong economy—to a comfortable victory. In Malaysia, the opposition’s fight to displace the long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition has produced a government which acts like it has no latitude to pursue deeper democratising reforms. At times it seems as if cost of living is the only political issue that matters in Malaysia, much like in neighbouring Singapore.

How much does this guy make writing articles about how the poors care too much about living and not much about crossing a paper every 5 years?

The fascinating exception to this trend is Thailand. Among Southeast Asia’s upper-middle-income countries, Thailand is at once the least democratic and the one where democracy still matters the most. Young voters in particular remain deeply committed to replacing the military–monarchy alliance with a far more democratic and inclusive political arrangement. In current times when external pressures for democratisation have evaporated, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian middle-income country where homegrown forces are pressing hard enough for a democratic breakthrough to threaten authoritarian elites’ entrenched interests.

You mean the country that suffered the most under the Asian Financial Crisis, now poorer than China, dealing with multiple instabilities at its borders, is the country in which political mobilisation is much more established? Color me shocked!

The lesson is an ironic one. When authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia stonewall on democratic reforms, they keep democracy at the forefront of the political agenda. When they concede even partial democratic reforms, politics is largely reduced to the quotidian demands of cost-of-living politics, which does not threaten political or economic elites in the slightest. The overall picture appears to be a ‘middle-democracy trap’ to accompany the ‘middle-income trap’.

You all get paid to speak nonsense.

which does not threaten political or economic elites in the slightest

The irony is so painful it’s searing my eyeballs.

The narrowing of political discourse between democracy and selective US foreign policy choices is about what I expected for the filth called the East Asian Forum. I critically support Amerikan (and in this case, Australian aswell) Academia in directly stunting and hampering effective countermeasures to Global South autonomy.

Dan Slater is the James Orin Murfin Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Emerging Democracies at the University of Michigan.

Midwest freak needs to go fishing instead of wasting everyone’s time talking about topics outside their intellectual capability.

[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 44 points 1 week ago

A Russian IL-76 military cargo plane landed in Tehran, unloaded its cargo, and returned to Moscow shortly after

  • Telegram

@MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net do you have any info/theory on this?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 44 points 1 week ago

The Cradle Telegram -

Iran says IAEA inspectors planted spy chips in their shoes

Iran has accused inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of espionage, saying they planted hidden surveillance chips in their shoes during inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.

The accusation was made by Mahmoud Nabavian, Deputy Chair of Iran's Parliamentary National Security Committee, who said the discovery of the chips proved the inspectors’ involvement in intelligence activities.

Nabavian also held IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi responsible for leaking confidential Iranian reports to Israel.

In an interview with Fars News Agency, Nabavian asserted that IAEA agents are “undoubtedly spies,” and that confidential documents were leaked to US and Israeli media even before being reviewed within the agency.

He stressed that Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA will remain limited and under the supervision of its Supreme National Security Council

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 44 points 1 week ago
load more comments (6 replies)
[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 44 points 2 weeks ago

trump-drenched : "Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro. I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year! He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE. I have gotten to know Jair Bolsonaro, and he was a strong Leader, who truly loved his Country — Also, a very tough negotiator on TRADE. His Election was very close and now, he is leading in the Polls. This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the “HOTTEST” in the World! The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President. I’ll be watching the WITCH HUNT of Jair Bolsonaro, his family, and thousands of his supporters, very closely. The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil — It’s called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!"

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 44 points 1 week ago

Trump toughens US policy on Cuba and orders restrictions on tourism and financial transactions. A memorandum signed by the US president on the 30th calls for a review of US policy on the island; a US economic embargo in force since 1960 is reinforced.

In the memo, Trump states that the reviews should focus on Cuba's treatment of dissidents, policies targeting dissidents and restricting financial transactions that “disproportionately benefit the Cuban government, military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people”. The prohibitions apply to direct or indirect financial transactions with entities controlled by the Cuban Army, such as Gaesa and its subsidiaries. The exception is for transactions that benefit the United States or “support the Cuban people”.

In a possible significant change, the order said the US should look for ways to shut down all tourism on the island and restrict educational tours to groups organized and run by US citizens only. Tourism to Cuba was banned, but was relaxed in some cases during the Biden administration.

The move comes as no surprise, given that Trump had already stated that he plans to revoke sanctions relief and other penalties on Cuba, instituted during the terms of Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In the days before he left office, Biden had moved to revoke the US designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Trump's memo “supports the economic embargo on Cuba and opposes calls in the United Nations and other international forums for its end,” according to the administration.

The Trump administration also added Cuba to the list of seven countries facing tighter visitor restrictions and revoked temporary legal protections for some 300,000 Cubans that shielded them from deportation. The White House also announced visa restrictions for Cuban and foreign government employees involved in Cuban medical missions, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio called “forced labor.”

In an interview with the Associated Press this month, Cuba's deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossio, accused the United States of trying to discredit the medical missions and criticized the reversal of the policy of welcoming Cubans to the US. Rubio, whose family left Cuba in the 1950s, before the communist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, has long been an advocate of sanctions on the communist island.

  • Telegram
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (10 replies)
[-] CleverOleg@hexbear.net 44 points 2 weeks ago

Watching Justin Podur’s sit rep from July 5 with Laith Marouf. Laith is clearly a guy who “knows things” and talks to people on the ground in Lebanon and Syria.

According to Laith, it seems like much of the “quiet” we have seen from Hezbollah in recent months is due to them preparing for an invasion both from Syria and Israel. This would seem to track at least to me in why they didn’t get involved when Iran was attacking Israel. Hezbollah is fundamentally a defensive force, and their primary objective is to keep the Israelis (or others) out of Lebanon. It’s not just their mission, it’s how their capabilities were designed.

For what it’s worth, Laith is also very bullish on how Hezbollah would handle an invasion.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] GoodGuyWithACat@hexbear.net 44 points 1 week ago
load more comments (7 replies)
[-] OnceUponATimeInWeHo@hexbear.net 43 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

“Guerrilla Work In Its Current Dilemma (1970)

A Marxist text written by Ghassan Kanafani that addresses the various issues surrounding the Palestinian resistance movement and analyzes the material conditions after the Naksa.

نص ماركسي كتبه غسان كنفاني يتناول العمل الفدائي المحيطة بحركةالمقاومة ويحلل الراهنة المادية بعد النكسة.

#literature@PalestineTunes“

https://t.me/PalestineTunes/474

Fortunately and unfortunately still relevant to current genocide

[-] seaposting@hexbear.net 43 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[-] smokeppb@hexbear.net 43 points 2 weeks ago

Don't know if this was posted, but Chinese Defense Ministry said yesterday that the J-10 fighter can be sent to "friendly countries".

https://www.newsweek.com/china-responds-after-reports-iran-seeks-j-10-fighter-jets-2096519

Iran are likely not the only country in talks for these aircraft after their success in India and Pakistan's dispute. So it's still not confirmed that they're letting Iran buy the aircraft.

It should be noted that China has interest in not letting these J-10s get bombed while they are on the ground, and that's just what Israel/US will try to do if they get shipped to Iran. It could be worth a shot to send a few over and see how they fare fighting US aircraft, though.

[-] SoyViking@hexbear.net 42 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Sweden's Finest: Bodyguards Leak Locations Of VIP's For Social Media Clout

In Sweden bodyguards from secret police agency SÄPO, tasked with protecting the safety of the nation’s most exalted figures, such as the king, the prime minister and fascist leader Jimmie Åkesson, appear to be engaged in an unintended exercise in radical transparency, broadcasting the precise whereabouts of the nation’s most guarded figures to anyone with an internet connection and an ounce of curiosity.

Read More...

In March of 2023, somewhere in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, on a private island accessible only to those of significant means, a figure was jogging beneath swaying palms. The air was thick, the sea a flawless blue. This enclave, where a beachside bungalow commands over RMB 7,500 per night, prides itself on discretion. "It is not just anyone who can come here," a resort employee confides, emphasising the sanctity of guest anonymity. The identity of the island’s most distinguished visitors – the King and Queen of Sweden – was a closely guarded secret. Or so hotel staff were told.

Yet, the meticulous veil of secrecy woven by the Swedish state proved remarkably porous. It was not an investigative journalist or a foreign spy who breached it, but the very agent assigned to protect the crowned heads. Upon completing his jog, the SÄPO bodyguard logged his exercise route on the popular fitness app Strava, thereby making the exact corrdinates of the Swedish head of state's luxury getaway available to anyone with an internet connection and an ounce of curiosity.

Two years on, the Royal Court maintains a glacial silence, citing security concerns. The luxury hotel, however, confirms the royal presence. "We were not allowed to say anything about who they were," an employee admits, highlighting the farcical disconnect between protocol and practice.

The scope of this inadvertent transparency campaign is striking. Over several years, a merry band of SÄPO's finest maintained fully public Strava profiles, recording over 1,400 training activities in obsessive detail. These digital records paint a remarkably detailed picture, not merely of the guards’ own fitness regimes, but of the movements and habits of those they are paid to shield. The King’s beloved winter sports retreat in Storlien, the secluded summer residence of Solliden Palace, the Prime Minister’s private home in Strängnäs, the secret visit of fascist leader Jimmie Åkesson to commune with his zionist pals in occupied Palestine – all have been pinpointed through the jogging routes and cycling paths shared online. As late as this June, location data was published from the Swedish kinkg's French Riviera luxury estate Villa Mirage. The timing, direction, and pace of these excursions offer a near real-time log of comings and goings.

In Swedish media commentators fret what would-be assassins could do with the Strava data. The fledgling nation knows political bloodshed; it stains their modern history. The case of Russian naval officer Stanislav Rzhitsky, murdered by operatives of the Kiev regime after his Strava data revealed his routines, stands as a grimly illustrative parallel.

SÄPO, now investigating, admit the leaks are taken "very seriously" and in what looks like an attempt to pass the blame to the stupidity of individual agents they claim that their internal guidelines were, in certain cases, "not followed".

As senior officials wring their hands, the Keystone cops tasked with guarding the safety of Sweden’s elite have, with a sort of childlike innocence, turned their security detail into a global scavenger hunt. Their quest for digital kudos has laid bare the shimmering emptiness of the Swedish state's security theatre — a paper tiger, limping through the digital age with a fitness tracker strapped to its leg.

Sources:

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
130 points (99.2% liked)

news

24185 readers
699 users here now

Welcome to c/news! Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember... we're all comrades here.

Rules:

-- PLEASE KEEP POST TITLES INFORMATIVE --

-- Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed. --

-- All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. --

-- If you are citing a twitter post as news please include not just the twitter.com in your links but also nitter.net (or another Nitter instance). There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/libredirect/ or archive them as you would any other reactionary source using e.g. https://archive.today . Twitter screenshots still need to be sourced or they will be removed --

-- Mass tagging comm moderators across multiple posts like a broken markov chain bot will result in a comm ban--

-- Repeated consecutive posting of reactionary sources, fake news, misleading / outdated news, false alarms over ghoul deaths, and/or shitposts will result in a comm ban.--

-- Neglecting to use content warnings or NSFW when dealing with disturbing content will be removed until in compliance. Users who are consecutively reported due to failing to use content warnings or NSFW tags when commenting on or posting disturbing content will result in the user being banned. --

-- Using April 1st as an excuse to post fake headlines, like the resurrection of Kissinger while he is still fortunately dead, will result in the poster being thrown in the gamer gulag and be sentenced to play and beat trashy mobile games like 'Raid: Shadow Legends' in order to be rehabilitated back into general society. --

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS