it is july 17 and stalin saved the world from fascism

In a direct reference to President Donald Trump, Lula was emphatic: "We don't accept anyone, from any country outside Brazil, meddling in our internal problems. This is the first time in the history of this country that we have three four-star generals in jail. And they're not in jail for nothing. They're in prison because they tried to stage a coup. And they're going to be tried, not because Lula wants them to be. They're going to be tried on the basis of the case file."

The president compared the Brazilian situation to the attempted coup in the United States in 2021: “If Trump had tried here in Brazil what he did on Capitol Hill, he could also be arrested.” Lula continued in a confrontational tone. "It's not a gringo who's going to order this president of the Republic. I know who I have to respect in this country. That person's name has only four letters: his name is the Brazilian people."

• Telegram

Belgian court bans further transit of all military equipment to Israel in landmark ruling

https://pers.11.be/belgian-court-bans-further-transit-of-all-military-equipment-to-israel-in-landmark-ruling

In its ruling, the court immediately prohibits the Flemish government from authorizing any new transit to Israel. Since 2009, there has been an agreement that no arms strengthening Israel's armed forces would be exported — a policy that in practice has been severely undermined. To enforce the ban on new transits, the court has imposed a penalty of €50,000 per shipment that still leaves for Israel. The judge criticized the Flemish government for providing little to no information and stated that Flanders gave the impression it "did not have the situation under control." This passive attitude is particularly problematic given the “crushing responsibility,” the judge said.

Trump has been diagnosed with Chronic venous insufficiency

Idk what that means though but I hope he suffers

Did trump just order coke to put cane sugar back in the soda the same week as slapping Brazil with a ludicrous tariff?

I always thought the whole "Russia is baiting Ukraine into a war of attrition what a smart strategy" thing was dumb, because who wants to get into a war of attrition? Especially when you're trying to make the land you're taking a part of your country, you're going to have to rebuild all of that depopulated land. I don't think they could have avoided it but it's not a good thing to spend years and thousands of lives grinding through fortifications, even if you're the Russian army and you have to go through a mandatory set of purges for incompetence in the first 2 years of any given war.

also who remembers the T-14 Armata? that was fun

The portuguese socialist party has reached new levels of low, the socialist party mayor of Loures sent machines to demolish a neighborhood of 60 shacks where over 100 people live because they can't find housing anywhere else, much like many people in portugal. The mayor informed the inhabitants so late that they had little time to file a complaint, but they did and the district court ordered the demolitions to stop but the mayor has proclaimed that the demolitions will continue.

This prompted cries of condemnation from party members and hails of support from...also party members including the current socialist party leader, as well as from the right, which is cheering this on.

The communist party lost the mayorship of Loures by 3%(around what other parties left of the PS got) in 2021 after leading it for 2 terms, and since the socialist party took over not a single piece of new housing was built, there are local election later this year and this move is being seen as a pretty transparent campaign act to show "mercilessness" for people who build their own, technically illegal, housing to allegedly "skip over waiting lines", as well as a pandering move to the current extremely anti-immigration mood in portugal. Of note is that Loures is also where the far-right party leader got his start with a mayoral campaign when he was still inside the center-right party.

Portugal has a history of shack towns and neighborhoods, back in the estado novo period they were everywhere and it was seen as a success of the revolution that for years the central and local governments made efforts to relocate the people to proper housing BEFORE demolishing the shacks, so the return of shacks is a sign of how bad the housing situation is and the act of demolishing like this is a sign of how politically things have changed.

Cuban Labor Minister Resigns After Statements on People in Vulnerability - Telesur English

The situation in Syria is complex and deteriorating.

An agreement brokered by the United States last night is in place, which has led to Al Jolani/HTS official forces withdrawing from Suwayda and south of Damascus, and Israel ceasing airstrikes on HTS forces. However, this is not the end, as sectarian violence between the Bedouin and Druze is escalating, with reports of massacres on both sides, Druze factions "taking revenge" and sectarian violence against the Druze continuing, despite HTS withdrawal. Armed groups seperate from HTS, part of various tribes/clans or factions, could still go towards Suwayda, and the Druze would be vastly outnumbered. It's unknown what the Israeli response would be, or the response by other groups such as ISIS, who have carried out massacres in the region before.

Israel has begun airstrikes against Bedouin groups, according to Israeli sources

On NATO warning sanctions on India, China, Brazil over Russian trade, senior journalist Waiel Awwad says, "A lot of rhetoric coming from the US and the NATO forces because they know that war in Russia is going to be continued, and will send more sophisticated arms to hit Moscow. It seems the US President has given up. They wanted to isolate Russia, but they have failed to do so in the last 3 years. This rhetoric is about putting pressure on Russia.

• Telegram

tfw you miss bond posting/collapse of dollar imminent time-window and now yields are lower than 5% again. mr trump, fire jpow pls

Video: British police are using Palestine Action proscription to target even mentioning Palestine, Gaza or freedom in protests of any kind. If you tick off having 2 opinions that are associated with Palestine Action the police have reasonable cause to suspect you of support for a proscribed terrorist organisation and to act on that. For example supporting Palestine and wishing for Gaza to be freed meet this threshold.

https://skwawkbox.org/2025/07/15/video-police-using-palestine-action-proscription-to-target-even-mention-of-palestine-gaza-freedom/

So yeah. Currently the vast majority of the population would meet the criteria.

Venezuelan and Colombian Diplomats Discuss Strengthening Bilateral Trade - Telesur English

https://archive.ph/xZ6Kr

Second Israeli ultra-Orthodox party to quit government in blow to Netanyahu

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party says it will leave the government in response to dispute over mandatory military service. A key partner in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government says it is quitting, dealing a major blow to the Israeli prime minister that could leave him heading a minority coalition in parliament. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party said on Wednesday that it was leaving the cabinet in protest against lawmakers’ failure to guarantee future exemption from military conscription for religious students.

“Shas representatives … find with a heavy heart that they cannot stay in the government and be a part of it,” said the group in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether the decision would leave Netanyahu with a minority in parliament. Without Shas, Netanyahu’s coalition would have 50 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

Shas, which has long served as a kingmaker in Israeli politics, said it would not work to undermine the government once outside it and could vote with it on some laws. It also said it would not support its collapse. The departure of Shas from the government comes one day after another ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), resigned from the government over the same issue, which has prompted an explosive debate in the country after more than 21 months of war with Hamas in Gaza.

While ultra-Orthodox seminary students have long been exempt from mandatory military service, many Israelis are angered by what they see as an unfair burden carried by other groups who serve. The moves by Shas and UTJ come just before the Israeli parliament starts a three-month recess on July 27, giving the prime minister several months of little to no legislative activity to bring the parties back into the fold.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders say full-time devotion to holy scriptures study is sacrosanct and fear their young men will turn away from religious life if they are drafted into the military. Last year, the Supreme Court ordered an end to the exemption. The parliament has been trying to work out a new conscription bill, which has so far failed to meet the demands of both Shas and UTJ. Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli, a member of Shas, said on Wednesday that rabbis were angered after Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein reneged on promises regarding the bill, according to a report in the Times of Israel. Malkieli, reading from a statement by the Council of Torah Sages, also hit out at actions taken by the Israeli military and attorney general to pursue draft dodgers, describing the move as “nothing less than cruel and criminal persecution against yeshiva students”.

https://archive.ph/QLFo4 weapon line go down

France, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary don’t plan to participate in NATO program to purchase weapons from USA for Ukraine

Denmark and Germany have so far agreed to participate in the new format of arms supplies to Kyiv, proposed by US President Donald Trump, while France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary have refused, Western media reported on Wednesday. In addition, Bloomberg noted on Wednesday that Europe increasingly feels the need to end its dependence on American weapons.

"Europe relies heavily on the US defense industry. However, due to trade tariffs, President Trump's attitude toward NATO and his lack of commitment to defending the alliance's countries, European countries will increasingly prioritize investments in their own defense complexes," the agency's sources said.

According to the European portal Politico, France has refused to participate in the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine. The publication's sources reported that the country's government intends to focus instead on increasing its own defense budget, which last weekend the president of the republic, Emmanuel Macron, promised to increase by 2027 almost twice as much as the 2017 budget. In addition, Paris wants to support European manufacturers who previously supplied Ukraine with anti-missile systems and other weapons.

Italy also does not intend to purchase weapons from the USA for delivery to Ukraine, but will continue to provide military assistance to Kyiv. Unnamed representatives of the Ministry of Defense told the ezine La Stampa - the department has never discussed purchasing American weapons for Kyiv. The ezine also notes that Italy does not have the means to carry out such operations. According to the publications’ sources, this problem is so acute that the only purchase from the USA that Italy has planned for the next ten years is a batch of F-35 fighters for its own needs.

The Czech government, in turn, stated that military aid to Kyiv would continue, but through participation in other initiatives and purchases from Czech, not American, manufacturers.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest does not intend to participate in the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine.

Official consent to purchase weapons from the USA has so far been given by Berlin and Copenhagen. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen has declared his full readiness to join in the financing. The Dutch Foreign Ministry, in turn, said that it was considering the possibility of participating in the program. However, despite the government's positive assessment of the initiative, Amsterdam has not yet confirmed its commitment to direct participation in it. According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, it is expected that Sweden and Norway, as well as the United Kingdom, may join in the funding.

On July 11, Trump announced that USA’s NATO allies would buy weapons from Washington that could later be transferred to Ukraine. Rutte, during a press conference with Trump on Monday, called it "logical" that European countries would pay for the supply of American weapons to Ukraine. The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, said on Tuesday that EU countries would prefer Washington to provide some military aid to Ukraine free of charge. "If we pay for these weapons, it means that it is we, and not the United States, who provide this military aid," Kallas said at a press conference in Brussels. She stressed that Brussels "would like to see a distribution of these costs."

Shot: https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/07/16/labour-conference-passport-gender-checks/

Kerr Stürmer has decreed that the national labourite conference will mandate that participants report the gender on their passports, which is both useless and performatively evil in equal measure.

Chaser: https://skwawkbox.org/2025/07/16/starmer-on-track-to-lose-his-seat-to-the-corbyn-party-that-doesnt-even-exist-yet/

Corbyn's still-hypothetical party that has already been mired in a power struggle behind the scenes... is polling highest for Starmer's own seat.

Of course we're 4 years off the next GE and the party hasnt even registered itself yet (and these polls don't even know who would run for the seat!!) so don't take this at any deeper than "lol lmao get fucked kerr stürmer"