Your Wednesday Briefing

In Italy, in opposition to the national budget to be approved on December 31st, the main trade unions have tried and failed to reach an agreement with the government to reduce the worst parts of it, including a pension law. The unions will therefore go on strike on December 15th.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party - which has 10% of the deputies in parliament - has announced that they will form a broad left-nationalist coalition with 16 pro-Russian, anti-EU parties. The leader, Ninova, has said: “The pendulum swings from extreme liberalism to the other extreme – fascism. We have to stop it in the middle,” and is reactionary on gender.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine are boycotting an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting if Lavrov attends.

Iran's President Raisi was a no-show for a visit to Turkiye yesterday which was personally announced earlier this month by Erdogan, which some are interpreting as Iran being unhappy with Turkiye for their lack of action on the Israel-Palestine war. Despite Erdogan regularly insulting Israel and calling Hamas a liberation group, Turkiye continues to allow oil to be sent from Azerbaijan to Israel, which constitutes 40% of Israel's crude.

120 people have been killed and 90,000 households displaced due to massive flooding in Kenya caused by El Nino, just after eastern Africa experienced its worst drought in four decades. Heavy rain will likely continue until January 2024.

Two colonels in the Madagascar army have been detained on suspicion of trying to contest the election and destabilise the government. as the opposition against President Rajoelina continues to oppose the election and do not recognize the results.

Mozambique has unveiled an energy transition plan that will take them to 2050, with the goal of securing investments totalling $80 billion. It will be formally presented at the COP28 climate summit on December 2nd. It will involve a substantial boost in hydropower and electric vehicles, and will use recent natural gas discoveries to fuel economic growth and uplift millions from poverty.

The Panama Supreme Court has declared that the Cobre Panama mine, the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America which mostly exports copper to China, is unconstitutional, opening the door to international arbitration by the concessionaire, Minera Panama, which is a subsidiary of the Canadian company FQM. The controversy over the contract has generated the largest peaceful protests in Panama in decades, as well as road blockades by environmentalists, labor unions, and indigenous groups, as well as strikes.

ExxonMobil is urging Guyana to provoke Venezuela into attacking it over the dispute over Esequibo, so that the United States has a pretext to invade Venezuela and finally destroy the socialist country. Venezuela, on the other hand, is seeking a peaceful outcome, and is holding a referendum on the issue. Votes over Esequibo have typically attracted even more votes than over elections, and unites most sections of the country.

Meanwhile, the US has found Guaido's replacement in Machado, who calls herself the "Iron Lady of Venezuela" and went through the same Yale program as Nalvany. She won the primary opposition election with 93% and Maduro has declared the election illegitimate because... I mean, it probably fucking was, to be honest. Polls show that Maduro would handily win an election against Machado. With the US's sanction regime deteriorating as it places everybody else on the planet except for them and their buddies onto the Naughty List and thus prompts them to just trade with each other instead - and as Maduro receives more support from the region as leaders realize he probably isn't going to be ousted any time soon (kinda like Assad) - the pressure that the US can exert on Venezuela is gradually falling. Hence, ExxonMobil.

The newest Seymour Hersh article further cements the narrative his sources are giving him shit now in order to poison the well.

TL:DR Fictional negotiations between Zaluzhny and the Russians.

I think just is a good start to explain why its nonsense.

Scandals happen for a reason. So Zaluzhny overtook Zelensky in terms of electoral trust.2

For those not following anymore, there is a long term dispute between Zelensky and other parts of the military led by Zaluzhny over the military strategy. Zelensky favors these stupid heroic defenses that obviously always fail why Zaluzhny apparently always wanted a more defensive approach. The focus point was Bakhmut defense vs retreat and then the failed offensive.

But now the narrative also includes the elections. Zelensky's government approval is tanking for obvious reasons and Zaluzhny is possibly the main opposition candidate as head of the military and embodying the people's trust on the military over the civilian government.

This conflict between them is nothing new but this scandal is hurting Seymour's credibility a lot. Again Mercouris makes a few more points even I missed at first glance today, starting here. I think this is just the third interesting thing that happened this year during this war, he is right this is the strongest indicator of a real political crisis in Ukraine that should be undeniable, he talks more about Zaluzhny vs Zelensky after this.

Anyway the points I think are not so obvious:

1- Even if true, Zaluzhny is in no position to carry out official negotiations, he can not claim to represent the government, he certainly can't claim to have any backing from the west. This should've been strike #1 for SH's trust on the source.

2- The same is true for General Gerasimov, he is not employed in any diplomatic capacity. He is Chief of the General Staff but most importantly, the fact the source picked him shows the they have no understanding of Russian government or politics, they actually believe Russia is a military dictatorship just like Ukraine, you know that smell of neolib BS? The point here isn't "democracy"(lol) but the fact Russia has an actual functioning government with clear division of roles and functions. The fact this isn't obvious to the source makes it clear the source is entirely speaking from a western biased perspective about Russia, you can almost dismiss it entirely based on this.

3- Lavrov was just on the news yesterday saying the exact opposite of all of this, that negotiations are impossible basically because western governments put their political credibility behind support for Ukrainian "democracy" and "western values". Any negotiation would mean admitting defeat and you can be damn sure Russia wouldn't take this without gloating over it to literally everyone in the world. Why conduct any of this in secret with some dumbass Ukrainian general lol.

Now for the obvious points you can skip

1- It is so remarkable Gerasimov would just so happily echo the same BS narrative about Russia being "incapable of winning the war". Not only it goes against everything pushed by own Russian "propaganda", it goes against every combat report and situation analysis since about week 2 of the failed counter offensive, when it became obvious it was a clown shitshow. Also Russia is making slow and steady in Avdeyevka, you'd lose some serious personal credibility to even suggest it in public.

2- SH needs to google what is a Minsk agreement, surely he must know already how we got here? Why would the Russians ever trust Ukraine let alone the west now.

3- The concessions are worse than what they were even back in April 22! At the time the terms was complete Ukrainian neutrality. Somehow this idiot thinks the Russians would accept Ukraine joining NATO? Maybe its not "impossible", but not without major concessions which they're not getting in the first place. Getting to keep what you conquered isn't a concession specially when the enemy already tried to take it back and failed lol.

If I said earlier Russia would gloat over defeating western "democracy" in Ukraine then the reverse is also true, it is inconceivable now that Russia would so easily allow Ukraine to join NATO which is exactly what Ukraine wanted. It would be seen as a victory for the west and allow the Biden admin a clear path to the '24 elections.

Al Jazeera reporter motions Palestinian to beat it when he starts criticizing Qatar: https://nitter.net/sh_akib_hq/status/1730944917671989382

~5:30

Evacuated from the north, being bombed in the south - YouTube

Israel is currently bombing all across the Gaza Strip. Since the truce ended, the focus is on the southern areas where, at the start of this war, Israel told people to evacuate to.

Most of those who evacuated from the north can’t go back.

We have met people who have been displaced two to three times since the war began. They left the north without anything and now they are in the south being bombed.

Israeli forces also published a map yesterday … asking people in Gaza to follow instructions and directions on evacuation and safe areas. However, people do not have electricity or internet to access the map. We are at a hospital where people have been asking us if we can connect to the internet for them so they can look up this map.

The map is confusing for people and they don’t know how to deal with it. At the same time, people do not trust the Israeli forces. People feel like no place is safe [in Gaza].

Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary in Deir el-Balah, Gaza.

Her recent tweets.

Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza)

A complete neighborhood was wiped off in Khanyounis. Remember the South, the safe area?

50 houses in Al Shujeyeh have been bombed by Israel today.

50 houses. 50.

Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed homes in Gaza.

Houses are being targeted by Israeli warplanes in the north of Gaza.

Israel has been imposing restrictions on our movement since 2007 since the blockade started. Today we are not even able to mobilize across the Gaza Strip.

Everything feels so dark and scary.

I am stuck in the middle area, can't go north nor south.

People do not have any place to go.

Israel asked everyone to evacuate to the South on the first week of the war. Now they trapped all the people in the South - asking them to evacuate to the South?

Israel is isolating the middle area from the southern area in Gaza.

We are not allowed to move South as the Israeli tanks are opening fire on anyone trying to cross.

That Donald Pabelou dude is not getting better

Britain and the Rise of Wahhabism and the House of Saud Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi

...

"During the 30 years of creating Saudi Arabia (1902-32), the fanatical Saudis-Wahhabis brutally killed and wounded over 400,000 Arabs throughout the Arabian Peninsula; and carried out over 40,000 public executions and 350,000 public amputations, respectively 1% and 7% of the then estimated population of 4 million. 13 In addition, the Saudi-Wahhabi terror forced more than one million inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula to flee for their lives to other parts of the Arab world, never to return. 14

Unlike a century earlier when the Egyptian Ibraheem Pasha under Ottoman orders punished the Saudi-Wahhabi warriors for their crimes against Hejaz’s holy cities and inhabitants, this time the Arab and Muslim worlds were under the brutal control of Western colonial powers. Accordingly, the fanatical Saudis-Wahhabis escaped punishment and found protection and safety in Britain’s power and friendship."

The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, made a statement today, together with his Economy Minister, Juan Carlos Vega, saying that they have received the country without any dollars, and that international loans will be necessary.

Venezuelan Opposition:

Parts of opposition is calling for a boycott of the vote, but some say they will vote in favor.

Henrique Capriles (Liberal/Socdem), the opposition candidate in the 2012 and 2013 elections, said he would vote in favor of the referendum because he considered it to be a matter "for Venezuelans" and not just for the Maduro government.

The Secretary General of the Democratic Action (Neoliberal) party, Henry Allup, who said he will vote in favor this Sunday of the 5 questions, because it is a "historic position of his party"

Maria Corina Machado (The new ~~Guaidó~~ USA puppet, the candidate elected in the primaries to be the opposition candidate in the 2024 elections, has said that she will not vote in the consultation because she considers that it will have no effect and that it is just a game played by Maduro. But she made her position clear: "The Guayana Esequiba belongs to Venezuela".

Also opec doing further oil cuts, and eternally loyal saudis couldn't even rp it as palestinian solidarity

looking forward to the return of my favorite character, TOR🅱️EDO

Norm tweet

New York Times Twitter Obit on Kissinger

Henry Kissinger died at age 100. He was reportedly very old when he died. He had a thick German accent that won him early tenure at Harvard. He wrote many learned tomes.

It's not known what is in them. Kissinger still wore horn-rimmed glasses when they were no longer fashionable. He was on the shorter side. The French would say, "more Napolean than DeGaulle."

Notwithstanding, he was very popular with the ladies. Blond bombshell Zsa Zsa Gabor once exclaimed, "Dahling, he's super-hot in the sack! Once he recited the names of the children killed in Bach Mai hospital while schtupping me in the rear."

He was a popular dinner guest among the rich and famous. He regaled gatherings with his bon mots. At a Hamptons soiree, he told Saudi Arabia's Muhammed bin Salman, "I hear you ground the bones of that Washington Post reporter to dust. I would have just crushed them."

The crowd laughed appreciatively. Human rights crusader Samantha Power posted on Twitter after news of his death, "I learnt everything I know about human rights from Dr. Kissinger." There are unconfirmed rumors that Kissinger killed millions of people.

Nitter

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Bạch Mai Hospital

Vietnam War bombing

During Nixon's Christmas bombing, Operation Linebacker II, on 22 December 1972, over 100 American bombs struck the hospital, obliterating the building and killing 28 hospital staff members and an unconfirmed number of patients, despite most taking refuge in the hospital's basement. Almost the entire hospital was destroyed, including the operating rooms and pharmacy stock. The US military claimed that the hospital "frequently housed anti-aircraft positions." According to the director of the hospital, Đỗ Doãn Đại, the US bombing served to break the morale of hospital staff and Hanoians.

The hospital was subsequently rebuilt, largely with private donations from the United States. A bas-relief memorial to the victims can be seen in the courtyard today.

It's Friday and we're barely at 1k comments. The posting presses have slowed considerably

The finnish ML party paper had a good editorial on the incredibly sussy refugee "crisis" on the russian border, in finnish, translated below:

NATO barbed wire on Finland's eastern border

Finland's foreign policy establishment, the coalition-led bourgeois government and Parliament are continuing where they left off in the previous term. Russia must be isolated at all costs.

The sanctions policy dictated by the US and the EU has driven Finland's economy into a deepening recession. Bilateral trade with Russia, which used to flourish, is dwindling to zero. Trade disruption and recession are now fuelling unemployment and poverty.

The policy of sanctions, slavishly pursued by the Finnish political leadership, has pushed up the price of electricity, fuel, food and housing. This is not an estimate, but a fact.

In addition to the economic hardship, the closure and blockade of the eastern border has now been added to the burden borne by Finns. Only Russia and the Russians are blamed for it. The bourgeois media are on duty at the eastern border and adding fuel to that propaganda. Party chairmen and ministers are making threats - we are back to being tough boys and girls.

The situation is ominously reminiscent of the anti-democratic era of the 1930s. The Civil Guard(anti-communist militia, basically the Whites from the civil war) practised warfare and schoolchildren practised weaponry. Communists, socialists and peacemakers were isolated in prisons and detention facilities. Russophobia was the number one concern of the state leadership and bourgeois newspapers.

During the wars, Finland was a brother-in-arms of Nazi Germany. Now that place has been taken by NATO. Reconnaissance planes and drones from the member countries of the military alliance fly along the eastern border. Helicopters buzz around the border, watching to see if some hapless Afghan is "sneaking" into Finland.

On top of all the fuss, Finland's eastern border is guarded by border guards from a foreign power. NATO barbed wire has been erected along the border, which is said to be more effective than domestic wire. The only reason for this is to prevent refugees from countries destroyed by the wars of aggression waged by the USA and NATO countries from entering Finland.

It is estimated that 25 000 asylum seekers will arrive in Finland this year. Most of them will come via the southern and western borders. Some will even be picked up by planes and buses.

Why is it that only the eastern border is being completely closed, but not the other borders? Why can an Afghan refugee not apply for asylum at the eastern border, but can at the western border? Is this a new NATO policy?

oh also lmao Kissinger is dead

Israel bans agricultural activities near Gaza fence: Army Radio

The Israeli Army Radio says that agricultural work has been banned in areas close to the separation barrier with Gaza.

It said in a post on X that the new rule is valid in the areas within 7km from the fence due to the resumption of hostilities.

In the Netherlands, if the right-wing parties can get their act together and form a coalition government, they will have 88 seats in parliament.👁️

Me too:

Blowback just announced Season 5 will be on Cambodia.

So with Israel forcing people to evacuate further and further south into Gaza, are we nearing the point of their invasion where they try to force people out of Gaza into Egypt? They're forcing over a million people into what is essentially a brick wall while they drop bombs at their heels. During the ceasefire I thought maybe there'd be a return to the status quo but it seems like they're determined to finish their genocide this time

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/israeli-defence-firm-elbit-q3-profit-up-ramps-up-production-war-2023-11-28/

good news folks: more genocide means line go up

In the new budget the Danish government has provided funding for "The Ukrainian-European Hub", an organisation that describes itself as "The European-Ukrainian Hub is a vibrant business hub on Copenhagen's waterfront for uniting to rebuild Ukraine."

In other writers it is a place for Ukrainians to go and learn how to bazinga. The hub offers interesting events such as

Company Link: Powering the future of business - Join the conference with incredible experts who are redefining businesses by technology, AI and innovation. Learn to accelerate your business growth

UAccelerate: AI Marketing Solutions - Join us to explore an array of diverse AI tools, all designed to enhance and streamline your small business's marketing efforts. This workshop will empower you with the tools and expertise to excel in the modern marketing landscape.

The point of the hub is to "help Ukrainians rebuild their lives and their country" and also to prove to people that refugees are not a liability.