United States Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau:

The US commends the armed forces of Mali 🇲🇱 in their fight against Islamic extremist militants (JNIM). Today I had an excellent conversation with Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop to discuss our shared security interests in the region. Look forward to greater cooperation!

Source

Looks like the US wants to get back in the region, and Trump's selling it to his base as "stopping Christian genocide in Nigeria".

Seems like some Ukranian Special Forces using a Black Hawk helicopter, attempted to break the encirclement in Pokrovsk and they were all killed a few minutes later by Russian Drones.

The Hill: At least 8 Senate Democrats, including, Jeanne Shaheen and Jon Ossoff, are meeting in hopes of finding a deal to end the monthlong government shutdown, but sources familiar with the closely held conversations say they will need strong assurances from the GOP before voting to reopen the government.

NYT PROJECTS IT FOR THE BOY

and where did that bring you? back to me!

John Helmer on Russian central bank policy and inflation measures, with commentary from Russian central bank head Nabiullina and her critics.

The focus of the article is how neoliberal ideology on interest rates and inflation may drive Russia into a recession in 2-3 years.

Left-ruled Kerala becomes the first Indian state to eradicate extreme poverty

Not super new news cause it was going around a week or two ago, but here's a good write up on it that looks a tiny bit at how this achievement was actually done:

On Saturday, November 1, India’s southern state of Kerala officially declared itself free of extreme poverty. This makes the left-ruled state the first and only state in the country to achieve such a milestone.

“Kerala has etched a new chapter in history—erasing extreme poverty to become the first place in India and the second in the world to achieve this milestone,”John Brittas, member of India’s parliament from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on X.

On Saturday, Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong also congratulated Kerala’s government for its achievement, saying “to eliminate poverty is the common mission of humanity.”

In May 2021, the LDF government launched the Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP). The project had initially identified over 100,000 households as extremely poor. However, after the final analysis on the basis of access to food, income, shelter, and healthcare the number of households in extreme poverty came down to 64,006.

In the last four years extensive targeted attempts were made to provide sustained access to whichever element a particular family was lacking among these 64,006 families. This involved different government agencies and local self government bodies across the state.

Due to long-term welfare and development policies based on socialist distribution, such as land reforms, decentralization, high social expenditure on health and education, a robust public distribution system, among others adopted by the successive left governments in the state, the percentage of poor decreased drastically to just over 11% in 2011-12, when the last pan-India census was held.

On Trump's talks about nuclear testing, and the USA seeking to resume nuclear testing on a like for like basis with Russia and China:

Believe it or not, this doesn't come solely from Trump. The State Department and Defence Intelligence Agency in the USA have indirectly accused China, and directly accused Russia, of carrying out covert supercritical nuclear tests that produce yield in violation of the CTBT for years.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) which is signed but not ratified in 1996 by all three nations (USA - Russia - China), has the following obligations:

-Each State Party undertakes not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion, and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosion at any place under its jurisdiction or control.

-Each State Party undertakes, furthermore, to refrain from causing, encouraging, or in any way participating in the carrying out of any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.

However the CTBT still allows for tests that produce zero yield/no explosion, known as subcritical tests. The US has carried out such tests since 1996 and publicised them, the last in 2020. However Russia revoked it's ratification of the CTBT according to Putin, in November of 2023. In April of 2020 the US State Department made the following allegations in its annual compliance report, direct PDF link to US government website towards Russia and China, in the context of violating the CTBT:

RUSSIAN FEDERATION (RUSSIA) FINDING:

The United States finds that, since declaring its testing moratorium, Russia has conducted nuclear weapons experiments that have created nuclear yield and are not consistent with the U.S "zero-yield" standard.

CONDUCT GIVING RiSE TO ADHERENCE CONCERNS The United States assesses that Russia has conducted nuclear weapons-related experiments that have created nuclear yield since renewing its nuclear testing moratorium in 1996. Despite Russia renewing its nuclear testing moratorium in 1996, some of its activities since 1996 have demonstrated a failure to adhere to the U.S. "zero-yield" standard, which would prohibit supereritical tests.

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (CHINA) FINDING

In recent years, China continued work at its Lop Nur nuclear weapons test site. China's possible preparation to operate its Lop Nur test site year-round and lack of transparency on its nuclear testing activities have raised concerns regarding its adherence to the U.S. "zero yield" nuclear weapons testing moratorium adhered to by the United States, United Kingdom, and France.

CONDUCT GIVING RISE TO ADHERENCE CONCERNS

In recent years, China's possible preparation to operate its Lop Nur test site year-round and lack of transparency on its nuclear testing activities have raised concerns regarding its adherence to the U.S. "zero yield" standard adhered to by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France in their respective nuclear weapons testing moratoria. China continued work at its Lop Nur nuclear weapons test site throughout 2020

This would explain comments by Trump that Russia and China are testing nuclear weapons. He's receiving intelligence reports that say so. Parts of these reports are public, such as the ones quoted above. Covert low yield (but not zero yield) underground tests that evade monitoring for the CTBT. The US, with Trump's statements, is loudly and publicly accusing Russia and China of violating the CTBT, and saying that they will do so themselves.

If the CTBT is kaput, we go back to the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) between Russia and the USA, which allows underground nuclear tests of a yield up to 150kt. However China is the big outlier, they are not part of such bilateral cold war treaties.

I know a lot of people are (rightfully) shitting PPB on Dick Cheney finally kicking the bucket, but his death has unfortunately completely overshadowed another prominent politician who coincidentally died on the same day: Kim Yong-nam.

I have yet to see anyone on Hexbear mention this, so I thought I'd bring it up here.

Who was Kim Yong-nam? He was a senior-level DPRK politician who served many positions in the WPK, but most notably was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, which is basically the DPRK equivalent of their head of state. The latter title in particular, Kim held for two decades until his retirement in 2019. He was considered one of the last OG revolutionary statesmen who served the newly created DPRK in Kim Il-sung's time, and was old enough to have witnessed the horrors of Japanese colonization, WWII and the Korean War. There are conflicting accounts on his childhood history, but according to his official state biography he was born in Pyongyang back when Korea was still occupied by the Empire of Japan. He often acted as a senior diplomat on behalf of Kim Jong-un and his father Kim Jong-il for various cross-cultural exchanges and multilateral negotiations, most notably he went to the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games in Occupied Korea, and has met three former ROK Presidents.

Kim Yong-nam passed away at the ripe old age of 97. May he rest in power.

@unusual_whales

"Chinese stocks and gold are the best hedges against an AI meltdown," per Bank of America, $BAC.

Lmao

18 trucks have entered Gaza this morning, 6 carrying cooking gas and 12 carrying fuel as on the ground sources also report:

“Since the early hours of this morning, humanitarian aid trucks have been flowing into warehouses and institutions to distribute it to the citizens.”

https://t.me/emsekamel/39

Anyone post this yet?

https://english.news.cn/20251105/79ad8e78cefc476184a25ac8c9e85835/c.html

Huge wave of Kinzhal and Iskander strikes tonight in Ukraine. I bet the targets are the new Patriot SAM batteries they just received from Germany.

It seems like Russia is using missiles targeting energy infrastructure as bait to get them to reveal their positions.

Deterrence might work. WSJ says Trump is hesitating about Venezuela strikes

https://archive.is/BdJxh

Trump Expresses Reservations Over Strikes in Venezuela to Top Aides

Administration is still deciding whether to push Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of power or extract concessions from him

Venezuela Repatriates Over 16,000 Migrants, Denounces US Xenophobia and Racism

Venezuela received 573 repatriated migrants from the United States this week aboard two flights that landed at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, La Guaira state.

This week’s arrivals bring the total number of Venezuelans repatriated from the US since the program resumed in February to 16,040.

The majority of Venezuelan migrants in the US originally left the country after being impacted by the economic crisis from 2015 to 2020, a situation exacerbated by illegal US sanctions. After being subjected to a widespread smear campaign and incidents of xenophobic violence in the US, which falsely labeled Venezuelan migrants as criminals or mentally ill, the US government initiated a policy of mass detention and deportation. This aggressive approach has targeted migrants, the vast majority of whom have no criminal record and many of whom had initiated legal regularization processes.

The repatriated citizens were received under the protocols of the Return to the Homeland plan. This comprehensive program, initiated by the government of President Nicolás Maduro in 2018, provides free repatriation for Venezuelans in vulnerable conditions abroad. The program is designed to assist those who have fallen victim to xenophobia and exploitation, ensuring their dignified and safe return to their homeland. Upon arrival, migrants receive immediate support, including healthcare, psychological services, and necessary identification and socioeconomic checks to facilitate a successful reintegration into society.

A Venezuela undergoing booming economic growth and further along in the process of constructing socialism can make lemonade out of the lemons of US racist immigration policy. These people can return to a homeland in healthier and stronger than when they left and having seen the real horrors of the empire firsthand from a very different perspective. I could see this being a real boon to the country and these migrants.