Bulletins and News Discussion from March 3rd to March 9th, 2025 - Austerity And Its Consequences - COTW: Greece (hexbear.net)

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Image is of a crowd protesting in Athens.

Last week, on Friday, hundreds of thousands of Greeks poured into the streets to strike and protest on the second anniversary of the deadliest train crash in Greek history, in which 57 people died when a passenger train collided with a freight train. On this February 28th, public transportation was virtually halted, with train drivers, air traffic controllers, and seafarers taking part in a 24 hour strike - alongside other professions like lawyers, teachers, and doctors.

The train crash is emblematic of the decay of state institutions brought about from austerity being forced on Greece in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession, in which the IMF and the EU (particularly Germany) plundered the country and forced privatization. While Greece has somewhat recovered from the dire straits it was in during the early 2010s, the consequences of neoliberalism are very clearly ongoing. Mitsotakis' right-wing government has still not even successfully implemented the necessary safety procedures two years on, and so far, nobody has been convicted nor punished for their role in the accident. The austerity measures were deeply unpopular inside Greece and yet the government did not respond to, or ignored, democratic outcry.

Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

Please check out the HexAtlas!

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.

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[-] iByteABit@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Thank you for featuring Greece, this is the biggest strike or protest we've had at least since the fall of the junta, about 1.5 million of people took to the streets, many of them striking for the first time ever

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[-] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

A story in three parts: the pause of all US military aid to Ukraine, including that currently in transit: yes that's right, the lastest reporting from Bloomberg states that all US military aid to Ukraine will be paused, until Ukraine's leadership "demonstrates a good faith commitment to peace", according to the reporting. In other words, US military aid is paused until Ukraine signs the natural resource extraction deal with the United States. So not a permanent termination, but a pressure tactic. I've been sitting on this post for a few hours now, just waiting for the official confirmation.

Part one: The New York Times reports of a meeting of senior Trump administration officials, taking place today (3 March 2025), to discuss the matter of aid to Ukraine, including the option of pausing it all.

Europe Races to Repair a Split Between the U.S. and Ukraine - New York Times - 2 March 2025

In Washington, a Trump administration official said Mr. Trump would meet on Monday [3 March 2025] with his top national security aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to consider, and possibly take action on, a range of policy options for Ukraine.

These include suspending or canceling American military aid to Ukraine, including the final shipments of ammunition and equipment authorized and paid for during the Biden administration, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Part two: The final straw. Zelensky makes a statement saying that the end of the war in Ukraine is "very, very far away". Trump does not take this well, posting about on Truth Social and sending a thinly veiled threat towards Zelensky during a press conference indirectly addressing Zelensky's comments, reminiscent of Henry Kissinger threatening to coup Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, South Vietnam's president back in 1972.

Trump: "A deal can be made very fast... If someone doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long"

Part three: Bloomberg News breaks the story. All current and future military aid to Ukraine had been suspended as of 45 minutes ago.

Trump Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine After Clash With Zelenskiy - Bloomberg News, 3 March 2025, 23:48 UTC

President Donald Trump ordered a pause to all military aid to Ukraine, turning up the heat on Volodymyr Zelenskiy just days after an Oval Office blowup with the Ukrainian president left the support of his country’s most important ally in doubt.

The US is pausing all current military aid to Ukraine until Trump determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, according to a senior Defense Department official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

The official said all US military equipment not currently in Ukraine would be paused, including weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland.

The last military aid flight to Ukraine landed in Poland at 15:19 UTC, about 9½ hours ago.

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[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Middle East: Israel agreed to extend the ceasefire during Ramadan. The Resistance Movement urged the United Nations to act against Israeli violations in the West Bank.

Telesur English

[-] Boise_Idaho@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Are the Assadists in the room with you right now?
https://xcancel.com/eu_eeas/status/1898487797348225207

The European Union strongly condemns the recent attacks, reportedly by pro-Assad elements, on interim government forces in the coastal areas of Syria and all violence against civilians.

[-] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The EU is truly one of the most pathetic vile institutions to ever exist. And to think that the EU gets constantly defended by bureaucratic social democrats as some sort of ideal to strive for... Stalin was really right about these people.

[-] Lemister@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

People who thought social fascism was a "tankie hyperbolic" outburst and that communists just needed to do everything that sucdems wanted really got hit hard in the face by reality.

[-] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, I thought Stalin was being hyperbolic at first, but the last few weeks with European leaders going full mask off have proven him right, yet again.

There's also something to be said, in continuation here, about how radical/egalitarian liberalism (radlib) as an ideology is kind of a mix of Fukuyama end of history thought and Trotskyist permanent revolution thesis. Some radlibs are even incorporating some third worldist ideas into this concoction. But that's another whole can of worms.

[-] Lemister@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Given that radlibs exist to dismantle communist movements, its no wonder that Trotskyism & "Maoism" which were allowed to exist in the west during the cold war and largely restricted to harmless academia influences radlib thought - especially with the arrival of post-modernist deconstructionist ideology into that hotchpot of neutered while also militant rhetoric.

[-] plinky@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Truly land of bleach demons sadness-abysmal

[-] Z_Poster365@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Zionazi scum

[-] vegeta1@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

After that shitshow how many pro assadists are there really?

[-] bbnh69420@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Doesn’t matter, it’s an easy label to apply to anyone you’ve gunned down in the street

[-] Socialism_Is_The_Alternative@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

That's another good reason for the "EU" to cease to exist... let's be sure to remember this the next time these "EU" liberals try claiming to be "progressive" -- in reality, they happily lie in bed together with al-Queda in Syria and Nazis in the Ukraine.

[-] Awoo@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

The violence against civilians is HTS though. This is super misleading.

[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Assad will never be homeless, he lives forever for free in the minds of many Westerners

[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

North Korean media have published photographs of the country's first nuclear-powered submarine, armed with "guided missile nuclear weapons," under construction. Thus, the DPRK is preparing to enter yet another elite club of powers.

[-] thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

good for them

[-] hello_hello@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

cmnd-marcos-pog lets fucking goooooo.

[-] KuroXppi@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Kim Jong Un-derwater Squad

[-] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Don't know if this really makes sense for North Korea, geo-strategically it's probably the worst country in the world to host an ocean going long range submarine force, surrounded by adversaries on all sides with advanced anti submarine weapons. I guess it makes sense to guarantee second strike capabilities against South Korea, lurking in the oceans with it's nuclear power allowing it to remain underwater for long periods of time.

[-] Kieselguhr@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Richard D. Wolff & Michael Hudson on The EU Has LOST its Mind

transcript from Wolff:

Understand this—let me come at it from a slightly different angle. I think that the leaders of France, Germany, and England are in very, very deep difficulty at home as political leaders. All of them—the newly elected Merz in Germany, but also Macron, who was elected long ago by a fluke, and Starmer, who got in due to the wholesale withdrawal of British voters from the Conservative Party—are in deep trouble.

According to public polling, Merz is taking over a government that is basically a continuation of the Scholz government, with Scholz's party as his partner, just as Merz was Scholz's partner before. This is the same old, same old. These are politicians whose entire political careers have been as junior partners—I'm being polite here; a synonym would be "lackey"—of the United States.

Now, they have discovered that the United States, their backer, their liaison, their supporter, is abandoning them. As a result, they are headed for political collapse. They have no support anymore—their own people don’t want them, and the United States is less and less interested.

Take the absurd visits of Macron and Starmer to Washington last week. They were spoken to as if they were visiting cousins who couldn’t be rescheduled for a later time. Everything they had hoped for was denied, culminating in the Zelensky theater at the end of the week. These were demonstrations of absurdity.

What we’re witnessing here is the behavior of desperate politicians—snatching those 300 billion from the Russians when every major financial advisor has told them the obvious: they will pay a long-term price. No shaky government in the world will ever leave its money in Europe again after seeing what the Europeans are prepared to do with it. This is a bigger blow to Europe's importance than anything related to Ukraine.

Why would you keep fighting a losing war? You have to be desperate to do that.

[-] Kieselguhr@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

spoiler

Here's the single largest problem of Europe—just so people get it. Europe is a disunified place. It's got lots and lots of countries, big and small. Every one of them worries about the loyalty of the others. When Mr. Trump comes and offers good deals to one of them and then another, do you really think he won’t get any of them? Don’t be silly—of course he will.

The suspicion in Paris about what the Germans might be negotiating, and in both of those places what the British might be doing, and the Italians—oh my God—that's what makes Europe weak as a player. And the last thing blows my mind. "We are unified." Yeah, but the Russia you're thinking of opposing is now part of BRICS and has China as an ally. Are you kidding?

You really want to develop your military with the Americans hostile toward you on one side and the Russia-China BRICS on the other? You're crazy. This is the behavior and mentality of people who are desperate. And if they take their steps—which I think they will—because it will certainly please the people they've always pleased, the industrialists, the financiers, the people who run Europe, they are going to pay a price.

They cut the welfare that has been the uniform gift to the European masses for the last 75 years. You start really taking that away—I don’t mean nibbling, they've been nibbling—but I mean really taking it away, and you're going to see a swing to the far right and the far left that makes what you've already seen look like nothing in comparison.

Only desperate politicians, especially in the history of Europe, would do this. They really are seeing it, and you can see it—look in the eyes of von der Leyen or any of the others. You look closely, and you see desperation and anxiety. These are people heaving Hail Mary passes down the field.

[-] Kieselguhr@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

spoiler

I think that the French, the Germans, and the British are lining up behind a war scare. The articles in the Financial Times—the very titles—Warfare Instead of Welfare—that’s it. That’s the only card they have to play.

The support of the welfare state? They don’t do it. They never have done it. It wouldn’t look genuine if they tried it now. So they’re going to go down that road.

And let me tell you why, in one last way of doing this, why this is crazy. They are going to be lined up against two major alternative powers—the United States on one hand and China-Russia combined on the other. Those two parts of the world are already many years ahead of Europe in the level of military technology, in the level of military production they can undertake, and they are working night and day in their struggle with each other to get even further ahead.

You know who’s far behind? The Europeans. And they’re not going to catch up. They don’t have the money for it. They don’t have the political support for it. This is a desperate way for a few leaders with a short future to try to hold on for as long as they can. That’s it.

That’s why I call it a Hail Mary pass. This is not thought through. This is desperate.

They came back—Starmer and Macron came back—and told the Germans that they got absolutely nothing in their visit to Mr. Trump. And Mr. Zelensky? Even less. In the days since the Zelensky visit, the United States has announced a reduction in the intelligence that they provide to Ukrainians. They’re leaving.

And if you think the Russians were able to win as much as they have when they were facing the combined U.S. and Europe, then what do you think is going to happen when it’s Europe all by itself? This is a joke. This is a desperate effort.

That’s why they have to resuscitate the danger that Russia will come. And they have to give it a five-year timeline—"It’s going to happen in five years." Normal human beings are able to understand that absolutely nobody knows what’s going to happen in five years. And never did.

Nobody understood where we would be now six months ago. So this notion—"we have to take away welfare from you in order to build up a military in a world where our two potential adversaries are light years ahead of us"—remember, Europe has not developed its own military for 50 years.

It is a trivial military. It’s got to start.

This is a joke.

[-] Kieselguhr@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

spoiler

Well, the government's the enemy, and social democracy is the enemy because it's not Russia as such. But the neocons and neoliberals need a convenient enemy around which to mount the libertarian takeover. You always need an enemy to do what you're trying to do.

The libertarian billionaires want to do to Europe and the United States just what the neoliberals did to Russia in the 1990s. They want to turn over all of the mass of government property—national parks, government real estate, government agencies—all of these, they want to turn over to the financial managers to turn into monopolies that can be financialized and create wealth in the form of stock market gains and bond market gains. That’s what the game is.

It’s not so much geopolitical antagonism towards Russia—that’s just the superficial wrapping. It’s about a political, anti-government, fascist ideology. That’s what I think we’re dealing with.

No, I see them going on together, using each other, shifting back and forth—whichever flies, whichever gets you the best polling results. Do you demonize Russia? Do you demonize your own government? Mix them up, add them together, link them.

But again, I say it for Europe: the strategy of Europe catching up with either the United States or Russia-China is not going to solve your problem. It’s just not. It’s going to cost you—the very turmoil, as Michael began today’s conversation—the very turmoil of the next three, four, or five years. As you move your resources away from everything you’ve been doing to building a defense establishment, it’s going to create all kinds of difficulties. They have to take those resources away from all of the things they need to be doing to try to catch up with the rest of the world.

The decline of Europe is a hundred years old. I don’t see this doing anything other than accelerating it even further.

Then we’re in full agreement. The Eurozone is a dead zone.

And let’s be clear—it is shooting itself in the foot. It is very busy shooting itself. Its notion—maybe this is a good way to end—you know, for 500 years, Europe could claim to be, and it did make the claim, that it was the center of the world. It was the Roman Empire, then the great medieval era, then the great colonial takeover of the whole rest of the world, organized in, by, and for Europe.

What we are watching is a late stage in the dismantling of the role in the world that Europe played. It is now less and less and less. And the lead is taken by England, which in a way is correct, because they took the lead the other way. They brought Europe forward—it went from a cold, wet offshore island of Europe to the Great British Empire. And now it’s on its way back to what it was, and the rest of Europe with it.

And all of these are ideologically mistaken notions of how in the world you’re going to cope with that decline, let alone reestablish a place. And maybe that’s the way empires always go. They rise, they are spectacular, they rule, and oh boy, do they look bad as they turn into the ruins that all of them before also ended up as.

Why not Europe too?

But we’re watching it.

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[-] ClathrateG@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kgndd62zlo man holding Palestinian flag climbs Big Ben tower

[-] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

God damn look at this:

"The Economist’s country of the year for 2024"

spoiler

Each December The Economist picks a country of the year. The winner is not the richest, happiest or most virtuous place, but the one that has improved the most in the previous 12 months. The debate among our correspondents is vigorous. Previous winners include Colombia (for ending a civil war), Ukraine (for resisting an unprovoked invasion) and Malawi (for democratising). In 2023 we gave the prize to Greece for dragging itself out of a long financial crisis and re-electing a sensible centrist government. Our shortlist this year had five names on it. Two took a stand against bad government. In Poland the new administration of Donald Tusk, formed after parliamentary elections in 2023, spent the year trying to fix the damage done by its predecessor. The Law and Justice party, which had ruled for eight years, eroded liberal democratic norms by capturing control of the courts, media and business, following the model of Viktor Orban in Hungary. Mr Tusk has begun the long slog of repairing institutions. He has also made Poland an even stronger pillar of European security, with its large army and rising defence spending. However, he has cut some constitutional corners, and Poland’s relations with Germany are poor.

Some 10,000km away, South Africans also demanded better. In elections in May the African National Congress (ANC) lost its parliamentary majority for the first time, having ruled since the end of apartheid in 1994. Voters were fed up with economic failure, aggravated by ruling-party bigwigs gutting and looting organs of the state. The ANC must now govern through a coalition, and its more reasonable leaders have chosen to do so with the Democratic Alliance, a liberal party with a record of running towns and cities well. The new coalition will struggle to solve gaping problems such as unemployment and crime, but it offers a chance of better rule.

A country can win our prize for economic reform. Argentina’s policies have long been dire, with profligate spending, high inflation, multiple exchange rates and serial defaults. In 2024 Javier Milei, its “anarcho-capitalist” president, unleashed the world’s most radical free-market experiment, slashing public spending and deregulating. This paid off: inflation and borrowing costs fell and the economy started to grow again in the third quarter. But Argentina still has an overvalued currency, and public support for shock therapy may not last.

Our runner-up is a late entrant: Syria. The ousting of Bashar al-Assad on December 8th ended half a century of depraved dynastic dictatorship. In just the past 13 years civil war and state violence have killed perhaps 600,000 people. Mr Assad’s regime used chemical weapons and mass torture against perceived opponents, and resorted to industrial-scale drug-dealing to raise cash. His fall brought joy to Syrians and humiliation to his autocratic backers—Russia, which lent him air power to drop barrel bombs, and Iran, which counted Syria (with Hamas and Hizbullah) as part of its “axis of resistance”.

Mr Assad was easily the worst tyrant deposed in 2024. But the quality of what replaces him matters, too. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the most powerful rebel group, which now controls Damascus and chunks of the rest of Syria, has been pragmatic so far. But until 2016 it was affiliated with al-Qaeda, and for some years it governed Idlib province competently, but repressively. If HTS gains too much power, it may impose an Islamist autocracy. If it has too little, Syria may fall apart.

Delta force

Our winner is Bangladesh, which also overthrew an autocrat. In August student-led street protests forced out Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled the country of 175m for 15 years. A daughter of an independence hero, she once presided over swift economic growth. But she became repressive, rigging elections, jailing opponents and ordering the security forces to shoot protesters. Huge sums of money were stolen on her watch.

Bangladesh has a history of vengeful violence when power changes hands. The main opposition party, the BNP, is venal. Islamic extremism is a threat. Yet the transition has so far been encouraging. A temporary technocratic government, led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel peace prizewinner, is backed by students, the army, business and civil society. It has restored order and stabilised the economy. In 2025 it will need to repair ties with India and decide when to hold elections—first ensuring that the courts are neutral and the opposition has time to organise. None of this will be easy. But for toppling a despot and taking strides towards a more liberal government, Bangladesh is our country of the year. ■

The Economist,[1] a journal that speaks for the British millionaires, is pursuing a very instructive line in relation to the war. Representatives of advanced capital in the oldest and richest capitalist country, are shedding tears over the war and incessantly voicing a wish for peace. Those Social-Democrats who, together with the opportunists and Kautsky, think that a socialist programme consists in the propaganda of peace, will find proof of their error if they read The Economist. Their programme is not socialist, but bourgeois-pacifist. Dreams of peace, without propaganda of revolutionary action, express only a horror of war, but have nothing in common with socialism.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/may/01c.htm

[-] LargePenis@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Well it seems that the Russian gas tunnel operation in Kursk has worked, they're now geolocated on the edges of Sudzha in the old McDonald's area lmao.

Here's how the Kursk bulge looked around 36 hours ago:

Here's how it looks now:

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[-] ClathrateG@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

It's Trudeaover https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/canada-new-leader-dealing-trump-trade-war-119566966

[-] Cimbazarov@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Trump 'strongly considering' large-scale sanctions and tariffs on Russia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36wkpy3497o.amp

What's going on with the Don? Did macron convince him that Putin is evil actually and can't be reasoned with?

[-] companero@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Pipe/tunnel guys, we are so back.

Photo is supposedly of a Russian soldier infiltrating Sudzha (Kursk region) through a gas pipeline.

It sounds like the operation might have been a failure, but we'll have to wait for more info. I would not be surprised, because it's likely Ukraine expected this and planned for it due to previous events.

[-] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Hey so something interesting (or perhaps a nothingburger) is happening WRT Puerto Rico. According to the Daily Mail (archived link) some lobbyists are pushing for Trump to sign an executive order to give Puerto Rico independence. Those born in the island after 2026 would cease to have US citizenship, and all federal funding would be cut. I'm unsure about how they would deal with all the federal property in the island, or the military bases.

The lobbyists' argument is that the island is costing the federal government $657B so it would be better to just let it go. Now, this is obviously pretty concerning because Trump is a neoliberal who easily could fall for that argument, and obviously they are very racist against Puerto Ricans so they are not concerned at all about the damage this would cause to the island. Now, keep in mind that while there is support for independence within PR, most who are pro-independence want to first create a self-sufficient economy in the island, which is far from the present situation. Apparently one of the lobbyists behind this draft executive order is a bourgeois Puerto Rican living in the US; presumably this is someone who would benefit from Puerto Rico becoming a neoliberal "sovereign" client state, as opposed to a colony.

My personal take is that I still doubt anything will come of this. Resident commissioner (non-voting congressman elected by PR) Pablo José Hernández spent yesterday putting out fires claiming that no one in congress actually supports this draft. Whether or not that's true, it definitely seems that no one wants to be up-front about supporting this. Trump himself hasn't said anything about Puerto Rican independence at any point, he has only ever stated his opposition to statehood for the island. I think Rubio certainly doesn't want to let this go through, since the US bases and military equipment in Puerto Rico are a relatively important part of power projection against Cuba and Venezuela. Also, the dumbest possible reason, Puerto Rican independence is mostly something supported by liberals and leftists in the island, so it'd be kind of a culture war L for Trump to be the one to grant it.

Also, in theory Trump doesn't have the power to make the decision to drop a US territory like that, it'd have to go through Congress, but obviously that's not stopping him.

[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

92 of the International Republican Institute's destabilization programs in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have been CANCELED following cuts to State Dept. and USAID grants. 175 of the Institute’s programs worldwide are now in limbo because they directly depend on NED funding.

Yet another open admission that the opposition activists, “political prisoners”, and US-bankrolled “religious groups” in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela exist only because of DEEP, LUCRATIVE and sometimes long-standing CONTRACTS.

Washington's political and media mercenaries (see: “democracy activists”) have been making bank 🤑💰💳 in recent decades in Latin America. SecRubio's friends in Latin America are desperately calling him to try to get their payments resumed. He probably had to change his number.

Camila Kawsachun News

Another L for Narco "Nazi' Rubio

[-] vegeta1@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Nationalists celebrating Roman Shukhevich. I mean this with all sincerity Ukraine needs better heroes to look up to

[-] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Pretty sure there's a statue of him in Canada put up by Ukrainians that immigrated after WW2 (just don't ask why they left Ukraine or what they were doing during the war)

[-] bbnh69420@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

There are ukranian heroes! They choose not to celebrate the Red Army for a reason

[-] Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

They could've celebrated Semyon Hitler, a Jewish anti Nazi partisan

[-] Hohsia@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Apparently lots of pigs out protecting Tesla dealerships today in Chicago and New York do-not-do-this

[-] bbnh69420@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You can tell Jolani was trained by the west by the public face. Interim government, respecting communities, independent investigation

Also I was right, gag order is back after the initial wave of evidence. There appear to have been more concerted efforts to get rid of bodies/obscure the number of dead, as well as the use of artillery instead of small arms to kill and intimidate coastal residents into flight

[-] carpoftruth@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

This was a good one on nakedcapitalism, a survey on the continuity of American empire under different aesthetics. I thought the section on how both "woke" and "antiwoke" aesthetics have been used as bludgeons against left economic policy was well put.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/03/the-empire-rebrands-foreign-policy-under-trump-2-0.html

[-] Lemister@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Did people genuinely thought that post that cia-PR video “woke” wasn’t another arm of us imperalism?

[-] jack@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Miners in Georgia rally against corporate exploitation

News comm link

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this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2025

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