A reminder that as the US continues to threaten countries around the world, fedposting is to be very much avoided (even with qualifiers like “in Minecraft”) and comments containing it will be removed.

Image is of a Colombian campaign rally in support of Iván Cepeda of the left-wing Historic Pact.

As always, my weekly preamble is in spoiler tags below.

preamble

The unstable stare-down in the Middle East continues. Yet again, there’s been little region-level change, but there have been some big escalations. Namely, the entity has decided to go further into Lebanon, with all the casualties and destruction that will bring them, while simultaneously abandoning bases elsewhere in the theater due to constant pressure by Hezbollah. Seeking to pressure Hezbollah away from their successful strategy of attrition on IOF forces that attempt to advance only to receive rapid onset symptoms of FPVdroneitis, they have also decided to resume airstrikes on Beirut, which is an obvious violation of the region-wide ceasefire that Iran may or may not militarily respond to, but they do seem very diplomatically displeased as of me writing this sentence. Meanwhile, Iran has responded to US drone incursions with strikes on Kuwait military bases. Trump has escalated his demands lately, so a return to war seems more likely than ever.

In Bolivia, Paz appears to be escalating in response to undiminished general strikes, with Congress allowing him to declare states of emergency at will, and therefore get the military more easily involved. In Colombia’s runoff elections, far-right candidate Espriella won the first round of the runoff election with 43.7% of the vote ahead of left-winger Cepeda’s 40.9%. Every poll had Cepeda beating Espriella by varying margins, so this appears to be a fairly standard case of the US putting their thumb on the scale; as the saying goes, they do not trust the population of Colombia to do democracy correctly and they couldn’t risk them accidentally electing the wrong person.

Over in Sudan, the conflict appears like it is moving in a pro-SAF direction, with some significant military gains against the UAE-backed RSF, although the military situation is still fairly complicated. A potentially notable news item that I missed a couple weeks ago is that the US seems to have ended their strategic ambiguity over who they consider the true government in Sudan, as they now firmly recognize the SAF over the RSF. Why exactly this has occurred is a little beyond me. Could be because they see how the winds are blowing militarily; could be because they want to fuck over the UAE for some perceived slight (to be America’s ally is fatal etc etc). The humanitarian situation appears no better though, with millions of people remaining in incredible hardship and near-starvation, and RSF-backed genocidal atrocities of the kind that Zionists would nod approvingly at.

Thankfully, China is looking at all these manifold crises and has dramatically escalated the speed at which they are writing strongly worded letters and are calling for a revitalized UN.

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

Please check out the RedAtlas!

The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.

The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine

If you have evidence of Zionist 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 the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA reports on the Zionists’ 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.

Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.

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.

  • Redcuban1959 [any]@hexbear.netMEnglish
    2·
    7 days ago

    Eduardo Bolsonaro suggests replacing Brazilian Digital Pay Pix with the American Zelle system and becomes the target of criticism on social media: ‘Vassalage’ - Globo

    The congressman’s name was among the most talked-about topics on X this Thursday

    Article

    A statement by Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) went viral on the social media platform X and propelled the lawmaker’s name to the top of the trending topics on Thursday morning. In the video, the former president’s third son suggests U.S. financial mechanisms “similar to Pix” that could be used to “go to the negotiating table with strong arguments” against the Americans. The statement has been shared on other profiles and has drawn criticism.

    The United States, where the congressman currently resides, has proposed a new 25% tariff on Brazilian products exported to the U.S. In the document from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Pix is listed among the main issues raised. The text states that the Central Bank favors the payment system by acting simultaneously as both regulator and owner of the platform, mandating its use, and limiting fees charged by American competitors.

    In the video, Eduardo proposes a negotiation with the U.S. government:

    "The United States has mechanisms very similar to Pix, such as Zelle, which is the U.S. version of Pix; here, it’s Zelle. So you can go to the negotiating table with the Americans,” said Eduardo.

    On social media, users have been using the clip to criticize the congressman: “Paying homage by swapping Pix for Zelle? lol,” posted the user Allan dos Panos. The term “homage” is also trending this morning.

    Since the U.S. government’s decision, the reaction from the ruling coalition and President Lula himself has been to defend Pix—which is widely cited in the document—and to link the taxation to President Donald Trump’s meeting with Flávio and Eduardo Bolsonaro last week. Also on Tuesday, lawmakers began posting terms like “Tariflávio” and “Pix is ours,” along with the phrase “Bolsonaros, enemies of Brazil.” Meanwhile, at an event in Goiás, Lula called Flávio an “imbecile.”

    “He went begging for mercy. ‘Trump, give Lula a beating, tax Lula, because Lula is going to win the election—don’t let him, hurt Lula.’ Imbecile. He doesn’t know that he won’t hurt Lula; what he’ll hurt is the Brazilian people, Brazilian businesspeople, agribusiness,” he stated, adding: “These sons of Bolsonaro manage to be worse than he is. They are traitors to the homeland. They went to ask a foreign country to meddle in Brazilian decisions. They are traitors,” he said.

    A former minister under Lula, Congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann used the statement to criticize the Bolsonaro clan.

    On Tuesday, shortly after the first reports of the tariff hike emerged, Flávio stated that he had directly asked Trump not to impose tariffs on Brazilian companies. He also sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him not to adopt the measures and went on to argue that a potential administration led by him in 2027 would be in a position to negotiate “on equal terms” with the United States.

    The system mentioned by Eduardo in the video is operated by a network of U.S. banks, unlike Pix, which is administered by the Central Bank. Unlike the Brazilian system, transfers are not 100% free.

    Febraban, which represents the largest national banks, came to Pix’s defense in response to the USTR, noting that the system is not a commercial product but a payment method that promotes competition and allows financial institutions to participate.

    “Pix is a payment infrastructure, not a commercial product, that promotes competition and the smooth functioning of the payment system and, consequently, economic activity. It is an open and non-discriminatory model, involving banks, fintechs, and domestic and foreign financial institutions,” says a statement released by the entity.

    • aanes_appreciator [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      Literally a 70% of all transactions in Brazil go through Pix, and it started in 2020. There’s only like half a dozen countries that have indigenous payent systems. How the fuck does he expect this to look anything less than weak baby shit

      • Redcuban1959 [any]@hexbear.netMEnglish
        2·
        7 days ago

        How the fuck does he expect this to look anything less than weak baby shit

        Same guy that said this btw:

        “Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) in an interview with CNN said: ‘If it comes down to a scorched-earth scenario against Brazil, at least I will have had my revenge on these dictators in robes (a reference to justices of the Federal Supreme Court) and on the people who accept dictators.’”

        “When asked whether this stance of calling for “economic sanctions” against his own country would ultimately harm Brazilians and his own father, who had been facing a mounting number of investigations and legal proceedings, Eduardo stated: ‘I regret that the entire Brazilian people may end up paying the price, but the nation must understand that the privileges of a free society are not granted to dictatorships. And I’m sorry that my father is in prison, but that’s the way it is; there’s nothing I can do for him.’”

        He hates Brazil, Latin America, and his own family.