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submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net to c/news@hexbear.net

Image is of the leaders of various parties making up the French left coalition in the coming parliamentary elections, from this article.


Macron has recently called a snap parliamentary election in the aftermath of the far-right getting a large proportion of the votes in the EU elections. Why exactly he called an election at a point of profound weakness is a little beyond me. Explanations that I've seen range from "He thinks the element of surprise will benefit his party and not others," to "WW3 is about to start and he doesn't want to be leader for it," (which, like, isn't true - Macron is the President of France, not Prime Minister, he won't be unseated by this election and he has said he will not stand down regardless of result), to "He doesn't want to swim in the shit-filled Seine."

While we still have a couple weeks to go, the polling I've seen generally puts the far-right in first place with the left-wing coalition slightly behind, with Macron's party all the way back in third place. Anybody who knows anything about French politics knows that while France does actually have something of a left opposition in aggregate (in contrast to the two wings of the Capitalist Party in the UK and the US, for example), French left coalitions are profoundly unstable and this one will inevitably split - perhaps even before the voting begins - meaning they aren't nearly as useful as they otherwise could be.

Living in a France governed by far right parties would be awful, but maybe they might at least be against the carnage in Ukraine, and sue for peace with Russia? Well, possibly not, if the example of Meloni in Italy is anything to go by. It seems that the differences between the "centrist" parties and the fascist ones truly are not that great, beholden to the exact same set of capitalists regardless of which party wins, and will likely bend the knee to NATO, though they may grumble a lot. Would a left coalition be better on Russia/NATO? They have already helpfully told us that they won't (only opposing sending French troops to Ukraine but otherwise being full steam ahead), and additionally are genocidal Zionists. Western leftists have long been hampered by a dramatically faulty misunderstanding of how geopolitics works, with many seemingly believing "imperialism is when countries interact with other countries" and "democracy is when you can vote between two parties even if widely popular policies aren't at all represented by either of them, and if those popular policies are enacted but it's by a one-party state then that's authoritarian evil" and other such strange ideas, making them terminally useless on foreign issues and pretty unremarkable on domestic issues too. France is no exception.

And just to top it all off, this is coming in a period of further imperial decline for the tattered remains of the French empire, with West Africa rebelling and Kanaky (New Caledonia) deeply unhappy with recent French decisions.


The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.

The Country of the Week is France! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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Last week's thread is here.

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 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.


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[-] companero@hexbear.net 59 points 5 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2024_Ukraine_peace_summit#Themes_and_joint_communiqu%C3%A9

Iraq, Jordan, and Rwanda have withdrawn their signatures from the Ukraine "peace" summit joint communique. zelensky-pain

Sorry about the source. There's no good article about all three yet, but it seems to be real.

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[-] anaesidemus@hexbear.net 59 points 5 months ago

today is the national day of Iceland, it is celebrated on the birthday of the most prominent leader of the nationalist independence movement, Jón Sigurðsson, who married his niece, as was the style of the time. He may also have died from syphilis.

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 60 points 5 months ago

Jón showed little interest in politics prior to his bout with syphilis.

Many such cases.

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[-] plinky@hexbear.net 58 points 5 months ago

clare daly and mick wallace both got got kitty-birthday-sad

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[-] puff@hexbear.net 58 points 5 months ago

Heartwarming:

"On the eve of his arrival, Vladimir Putin looked back on Russia and North Korea’s long history in an article published on the Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

Putin wrote that Moscow was “the first among the world’s states” to recognise and establish diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.

“Our country helped the Korean friends to build their national economy, create a healthcare system, develop science and education, and train professional administrative and technical staff,” he said.

The Soviet Union also“extended a helping hand” to North Korea during the Korean War, the Russian President added in the piece.

“I am convinced that our joint efforts will take our bilateral interaction to a higher level, which will facilitate mutually beneficial and equal cooperation between Russia and the DPRK." "

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[-] bbnh69420@hexbear.net 58 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Drone boats are crazy, black ops 2 was so right, the millenium challenge could have never predicted this

Cw: birds on the Tutor being blown to shit https://t.me/PalCommie/958

Damn this appears to be a test? I’ve lied to you all and spread misinformation, see emizeko for the real shit

The real shit

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[-] LargePenis@hexbear.net 57 points 5 months ago

Slovakia 1-0 Ukraine after 20 mins. A breakthrough on the flank put Ukraine's defence in a pincer before the Slovak winger closed the pocket into Ukraine's goal. A familiar movement for us in the news mega, very reminiscent of the battle of Popasna

[-] Xx_Aru_xX@hexbear.net 57 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Discussion:

Mossad files after the zionist entity falls, I think even if they went full force destroying the files and the documents that there will be enough interesting stuff to look at, they will probably go straight to burning it instead of cutting the paper, they've learned their lesson from Iran.

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[-] mechwarrior2@hexbear.net 57 points 5 months ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgxxjzlg89zo

The schoolchildren being lured by rebels on TikTok

Fighters belonging to breakaway groups associated with Colombia's largest rebel movement are posting videos on TikTok to entice young people to join them.

The BBC has investigated the growth of guerrilla "recruitment" videos, with dissident factions yet to agree to a peace deal with the Colombian government.

“One or two start the trend and it becomes fashionable in the classroom,” says Lorena (not her real name), a 30-year-old teacher in Cauca, a rural region in south-western Colombia.

She says as she enters her class, she is often met by students filming themselves on their smartphones, drawing symbols inspired by the now-demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group (Farc) on the blackboard, or dancing to revolutionary tunes.

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[-] QuillcrestFalconer@hexbear.net 57 points 5 months ago

A taste of things to come as climate change gets more insane

PODGORICA, June 21 (Reuters) - A major power outage hit Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania and most of Croatia's coast on Friday, disrupting businesses, shutting down traffic lights and leaving people sweltering without air conditioning in the middle of a heatwave.
Montenegro's energy minister said the shutdown was caused by a sudden increase in power consumption brought on by high temperatures, and by the heat itself overloading systems. Power distribution is linked across the Balkans for transfers and trading.
"This was just waiting to happen in this heat," Gentiana, a 24-year-old student in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, told Reuters. Temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across the southeastern European region.
Electricity and wifi networks went down from around 1 p.m. (1100 GMT), officials and social media users said. Suppliers in the four countries said they started restoring supply by mid-afternoon and power was largely back by the evening.
At the start of the blackout, traffic light failures caused gridlock in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo and the cities of Banja Luka and Mostar, Reuters reporters said.
Many lost water in Podgorica as pumps stopped working, locals reported. Air conditioners shut down and ice cream melted in tourist shops. Cars also ground to a halt in the Croatian coastal city of Split, state TV HRT reported. Ambulance sirens rang out across the city, it added.
"The failure occurred as a result of a heavy load on the network, a sudden increase in power consumption due to high temperature and the high temperatures themselves," Montenegro's energy minister, Sasa Mujovic, said in a TV broadcast.

https://archive.is/Q1THa#selection-1323.46-1344.1

[-] WilsonWilson@hexbear.net 57 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)
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[-] trompete@hexbear.net 57 points 5 months ago

The Bundeswehr is buying 8.5 billion € worth of 155 mm shells from Rheinmetall. (n-tv | archive)

Actually it's a "framework contract" for "up to" 8.5 billion, upped from 1.3 billion previously. They want to start shipping by the beginning of 2025, and want to produce 100,000 per year by the second year, and 200,000 eventually. Mainly this is to replenish stocks in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia, but Germany wants to send some of it to Ukraine.

This is... not that much. I guess Ukraine can hope to get three weeks worth of extra ammunition in 2026 from that.

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[-] shitholeislander@hexbear.net 56 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Watching the Ukraine v Romania match, and the Ukrainians are really having trouble with their counter-attacking strategy here. Their opponents have settled into a well-organised and manned defensive line which the Ukranians have failed to breach, instead only making themselves vulnerable to the enemy offensive. Romania have taken a 1-0 lead with a truly hypersonic strike and will hope to further press their advantage by rotating fresh players into the squad later in the game.

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[-] Torenico@hexbear.net 55 points 5 months ago

Under Communism, the Political Commissar comes into your common housing unit and takes all your jewelry which will be given to the State, then sold to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and with that money buy new tanks to kill people when they protest. Under the Anarcho-Capitalist Wonderland, you have to sell your jewelry, which you might have a strong sentimental attachment to, in order to survive because The Market (TM) demands you to. Problem is, one is a complete lie and the other is very real. Can you guess which one is which?

SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S JEWELRY, COMMIE ancaptain

Argentines pawn the family jewels to make ends meet

*Hundreds of Argentines are selling their jewellery at gold dealerships every day as a last resort to face the economic crisis. *

In Argentina's strangled economy, one sector is thriving: the pawn shops buying up gold and other family treasures that many are forced to sell to pay their bills. "When you are drowning in debt, sentimentality falls to the side," said Mariana, 63, who went to a hub of gold dealerships in Buenos Aires to sell a watch her grandfather gave her father as a graduation present.

Reminder that indebtedness is one of the key components of capitalism. Everyone has and should have a debt, this is how the economy functions.

Inflation of around 270 percent year-on-year has gnawed away at her pension as a court employee, and she will use the cash for housing expenses and overdue health insurance payments. With an austerity-hit economy in recession, as President Javier Milei carries out his vow to slash decades of government overspending, Mariana – who asked not to give her last name – is far from alone.

While a neighbouring shoe store hasn't had a single customer in hours, hundreds line up daily at El Tasador, one of the main cash-for-jewellery pawn stores in the heart of Buenos Aires, where "we buy gold" signs abound. "There have been a lot of people lately, I think because of what is happening in the country," said Natalia, one of the four appraisers at the store, who did not give her surname for what she called “security reasons.”

She said the surge in clients came from "people who perhaps had pieces that they did not plan to sell and decided to do so because they cannot make ends meet."

Natalia said the business had been swamped with over 300 daily transactions – triple the amount seen a year ago. "We have increased staffing and working hours because we cannot cope."

Victorian jewels and cufflinks

Daniel, a 56-year-old unemployed accountant, enters several stores to have a silver keychain appraised but leaves dejected. He was barely offered the price of a few Subte subway rides. "The situation is difficult. Life in Argentina is very expensive," he sighs.

Carlos, who manages a small jewellery store, said he has a constant flow of customers but no-one is there to buy. "They bring in anything to be appraised, especially at the end of the month, when the bills arrive." The most usual thing is the sale of small gold pieces.

Natalia, a gemologist, said her store, next to the busy Once railway terminal, is frequented by customers from all walks of life.

While half of Argentina's population now lives in poverty, it was once one of the world's richest countries between the 19th and early 20th centuries, and many people have something valuable to pawn. "The classic thing is the wedding ring, but they also bring Victorian jewels, from the 'belle époque' that come from grandparents and great-grandparents, unique pieces," said Natalia.

Even a few decades ago it was common for men to have gold cufflinks, or for women to be gifted a gold watch when they turned 15, she added. "Gold has always been sold. What has changed is why it is sold," said Natalia.

But the use of these pieces has long ceased for security reasons. This, added to the economic constraints, reinforces the desire to sell. "Before it was to remodel a house, buy a car, throw a party. Today it is because, 'I can't make ends meet', 'my utilities have increased' or 'I'm out of work.'"

Thorough destruction of the Capitalist regime! Death to those who stand in the way of working people!

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[-] CoolerOpposide@hexbear.net 55 points 5 months ago

Statewide 911 emergency services outage in Massachusetts

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[-] What_Religion_R_They@hexbear.net 55 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Sudan has accused the U----- A--- E------- of arming a paramilitary force in the country’s 14-month civil war, prompting a clash at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (AJ)

The AlJazeera article is so skewed to what the


said it's not even funny. Also, I am told the


envoy speaks in English, what a joke.

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[-] wheresmysurplusvalue@hexbear.net 55 points 5 months ago

Following a racially-motivated stabbing of a 12 year old girl at a shopping center in Oulu, Finland last week, a teenage boy stabbed a "foreign-looking" man at the same shopping center in a copy-cat attack. The injuries are not life-threatening, and the boy can be tried criminally since he is over the age of 15.

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[-] Awoo@hexbear.net 55 points 5 months ago

Huh, the US banned Kaspersky as Spyware yesterday.

https://youtu.be/IZ1E5MTSgs0

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[-] ThomasMuentzner@hexbear.net 55 points 5 months ago

happy "Titanic Titan and the waterpressure" anniversery..

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[-] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 54 points 5 months ago

US airbase signs a visa-free agreement with Israel:
https://twitter.com/MintPressNews/status/1803443484117852520?mx=1

This decision, approved by Israel at the request of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, will be effective on September 19, 2024.

[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 54 points 5 months ago

Lula da Silva will visit AMLO in Mexico

The trip to Mexico promised by President Lula da Silva right after the Claudia Sheinbaum election, to "thank" comrade Andrés Manuel López Obrador, should take place in September.

The president wants to combine his visit to Mexico City with a trip to the UN General Assembly in New York. AMLO's successor will take office on October 1st.

[-] bbnh69420@hexbear.net 54 points 5 months ago

BREAKING: Kendrick Lamar has been elected to the chair of the West Coast Supreme Soviet

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[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 53 points 5 months ago

Noam Chomsky didn't die.

---

In reality - he suffered a stroke 7 days ago. There is not a single google result showing that he died. Sites like Jacobin & New Statesman are using SEO manipulation. Sometimes I hate the internet.

https://www.google.com/search?q=noam+chomsky+dead

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[-] Rojo27@hexbear.net 53 points 5 months ago

Sorry if its already been discussed, but what the news peeps opinion of Biden's announcement of a legal path for up to 500k undocumented migrants? As is Dem tradition there's a bunch of means testing that seems to be behind it. I get the feeling that this is a big nothing burger that's being announced to give the illusion that Biden is a fair president after his border order from last week.

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this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2024
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