It's the second biggest one ever for you dirty, dirty content hogs.
Links and Stuff
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can, thank you.
Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map, who is an independent youtuber with a mostly neutral viewpoint.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)
Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict and, unlike most western analysts, has some degree of understanding on how war works. He is a reactionary, however.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Yesterday's discussion post.
To free Cuba, global solidarity is more important than U.S. policy WaPo
What are we freeing Cuba from? The US's tyranny?
:fidel-wut:
After a Cuba policy review, President Biden has announced the easing of some sanctions that his predecessor, Donald Trump, imposed to punish the communist nation’s government for its human rights violations and support of a similar dictatorship in Venezuela. Mr. Trump’s actions had partially reversed a broader engagement initiated in the waning days of the Obama administration. Mr. Biden is now nudging policy back toward the Obama approach — very modestly. A $1,000-per-quarter cap on remittances to Cubans from family in the United States will end; nonfamily remittances will also be modified to allow payments to independent small businesses. Direct flights, by both charters and scheduled airlines, will be expanded and group educational travel reinstated. The U.S. Embassy will resume issuing family reunification immigrant visa applications, to clear a backlog of 22,000 applications. This might help channel Cuban migration through legal processes rather than the risky illegal path thousands are taking across the southern border.
The plan met with criticism from supporters of tough sanctions who — understandably — question the wisdom of enabling more cash to flow to Cuba, given that much of it will be siphoned off by the regime. Nor did Mr. Biden’s small-bore changes entirely please those who still believe greater engagement is the key to changing Cuba. It might help if all sides in this repetitive debate would acknowledge that U.S. policy does not have decisive influence on Cuba. The essential problem is the repressive conduct of the Havana regime, and its root cause is that regime’s unbending will to power.
Certainly that uncompromising attitude was on display on July 11, 2021, when President Miguel Díaz-Canel suppressed a spontaneous wave of street protests with overwhelming force. Hundreds were arrested.
Wasn't that the one followed up with protests with tens of thousands of people giving their support to the Cuban government?
Estimates vary as to how many political prisoners have been put in Cuban prisons over the past 10 months, but Cubalex, a Miami-based nongovernmental organization, puts the count at more than 700. Like his close ally and patron, President Vladimir Putin of Russia — whose Ukraine invasion Cuba has not condemned but officially attributed to NATO’s alleged provocations — Mr. Diaz-Canel believes that popular protests result from U.S. meddling and must be crushed.
Based and true.
This is what Cuban communists have always believed, in times of rapprochement with Washington or in times of tension. On the day before the Biden policy changes were announced, the rubber-stamp Cuban national assembly adopted a “modernized” penal code. Among other repressive new features it threatens three years in prison for “insulting” high government officials.
Based.
It targets independent journalists, who often receive support from abroad, by prescribing 10 years in prison for those who accept foreign funding “with the purpose of engaging in activities against the State or its constitutional order.”
Holy shit, based.
Mr. Biden’s policy tweak might help Cubans who have access to foreign remittances withstand the harsh economic privation on the island, which is laudable as far as it goes. Meanwhile, the most important thing those outside the island can do for its people is to maintain unwavering, vocal solidarity with them — and moral clarity about the true source of their poverty and oppression.
Fear not, WaPo, I do maintain solidarity with the Cuban people, and maintain clarity on the true source of their poverty and oppression - the US sanctions that have forced them into this position and yet never broken their resolve.
:fidel-salute-big: :fidel-salute: :fidel-balling: :fidel-cool: :fidel-peace:
Certainly that uncompromising attitude was on display on July 11, 2021, when President Miguel Díaz-Canel suppressed a spontaneous wave of street protests with overwhelming force. Hundreds were arrested.
This is rich coming from the US where the regime brutally suppressed a spontaneous wave of street protests against racist violence committed by the security forces with overwhelming force.
And unlike in Cuba where the protest was really just a few astroturfed douchebags trying to do a colour revolution for a few days, the BLM uprising was really spontaneous.
Hundreds were arrested.
I just want to remind everyone that in 2020 "Regime security forces" in Minneapolis arrested over 600 people at one protest, including disabled people and children. All in one night. For... standing in a road.
Also - Fuck the libs who lead those people in to kettle with no plan or purpose accept to get everyone arrested.
I think it's pretty clear that the stories of the Cuban government being extremely brutal and repressive and generally authoritarian are mostly propaganda. However, I think it's kind of a shit thing to call the things that propaganda says about it "based". The state punishing people—whether in fact or in fiction—really shouldn't be applauded.
Yes, you're probably correct and I should be slightly more critical in my support of Cuba - my reasoning was that I assume that most of the people they are punishing are likely to be serious reactionaries or western plants or something similar to that that would need to be dealt with one way or another in order to prevent the state from weakening and thus the US being able to take advantage of it. Like, if China somehow managed to get a hold of the people at Radio Free Asia and put them in jail for 10 years, then the US would absolutely be like "These poor journalists were speaking truth against a repressive regime! China is an Orwellian state!" while I myself would be celebrating that those losers got what's coming for them.
But yeah, it's likely genuinely innocent or mostly innocent people get caught in the crossfire and that does genuinely suck.
Pretty impressive to see how quickly the Donbass front is now progressing after the Popasna battle. I really hope that Zelensky allows his troops to just withdraw from Severodonetsk and Lysychansk instead of allowing 15k troops to be slaughtered needlessly in the inevitable siege soon. I guess that the next target after the LPR completes liberating their entire oblast will be a major DPR operation towards Kramatorsk
There's not a lot of roads left coming out of Severodonetsk. Just eyeballing DPA's map, I can only see one way that doesn't involve going through dirt roads or farmland, which is to go through Siversk and then take the road going southwest. Every other route takes them too close to Russian territory and they'd get bombarded. Of course, they might get bombarded by aircraft anyway.
Basically, if they wanna get out, this week is the week to do it.
also: apparently Russia has just captured Vidrodzhennya, just north of Svitlodars'k, and some surrounding villages. If true, while it is a fairly insignificant settlement, the Ukrainian strongpoints and trenches there have clearly been overrun, or the Ukrainians have retreated. A little further north than that, Russia is 2 km away from Soledar and has control of the road there, which connects to Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. If Soledar is captured and they continue forward to Bakhmut, an entire comprehensive system of tens of Ukrainian entrenchments would then be encircled on three fronts, including behind them, which is not generally what you want to happen. Bakhmut and Soledar are also important places in terms of supply lines.
If those entrenchments collapse, then there's honestly not a ton left for Ukraine in the region. The only big trench system left would be the one near Donetsk city, and there are battles at either ends of its extreme points (i.e. Adviika and Velyka Novosilka) that could fall, or at least be encircled, by DPR forces within the next week or so. After those strongpoints fall...
In all, I would say the above events would take about a month to execute, though it could be half that if Ukrainian positions are sufficiently battered or allowed to retreat, or double that if the Peepee Poopoo weaponry by the West actually makes a difference.
I've seen nothing yet on the proposed attack on Kherson by Ukraine. Not saying it won't happen, but just that if they're gonna do it, it can't be planned for fucking mid-to-late June or it might be too late.
They are withdrawing troops in the Poposna region. The threat of encirclement is almost as potent as a real encirclement. I’m going to expect attempts to withdraw most forces soon because the region doesn’t seem stable enough for now. Maybe the LPR forces could try swinging south to push forces away from Donetsk
They are withdrawing troops in the Poposna region. The threat of encirclement is almost as potent as a real encirclement.
c a u l d r o n t i m e
Some positive news: Starbucks Workers Are Winning 90 Percent of Their Union Elections, by Jacobin
Starbucks workers are unionizing at a breakneck pace. We ran the numbers and found that more than 2,000 Starbucks workers are now unionized — and that number will likely triple in the coming months.
Also: Workers Have Won the First Union at a Major US Video Game Company, also by Jacobin
Workers at World of Warcraft–maker Activision Blizzard have voted to unionize. Fourteen-hour workdays and alleged rampant sexual harassment were among the issues that prompted them to organize the first recognized labor union at a publicly traded video game producer.
The Pentagon had their Ukraine flags upside down, lmao.
MoA also refers to our boy Defence Politics Aaaaasia. Not much else there that I haven't already put in the updates, except:
Veteran US statesman Henry Kissinger has urged the West to stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, warning that it would have disastrous consequences for the long term stability of Europe.
The former US secretary of state and architect of the Cold War rapprochement between the US and China told a gathering in Davos that it would be fatal for the West to get swept up in the mood of the moment and forget the proper place of Russia in the European balance of power.
Dr Kissinger said the war must not be allowed to drag on for much longer, and came close to calling on the West to bully Ukraine into accepting negotiations on terms that fall very far short of its current war aims.
He told the World Economic Forum that Russia had been an essential part of Europe for 400 years and had been the guarantor of the European balance of power structure at critical times. European leaders should not lose sight of the longer term relationship, and nor should they risk pushing Russia into a permanent alliance with China.
Probably one of the most literal :heartbreaking:s I've ever seen. Apart from that last part, though - that ship has sailed.
Henry Kissinger has been alive for ten times longer than the average person has been. He's well aware that empires rise and fall long-term.
Henricus Kissinger Crassus, born in 450 BC, saw the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and has been changing names ever since, as he hid his phylactery containing his soul in a secret pyramid chamber built in Old Kingdom Egypt. He still has hundreds of years to live before his body finally fails him.
He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.
(Apologies to @judgeholden )
He still has hundreds of years to live before his body finally fails him.
And just wait until he consumes the blood of enough infants for his next extension! Good thing it's not quite time yet....
Kissinger is a monster but he's from a generation of ghouls that didn't get high on their own supply so he's a rational monster.
We need a real debate about the Ukraine war WaPo
I was fully expecting this to be something like "You think Putin is a bad man? I think Putin is a VERY bad man. We need to make sure people know how bad Putin is, because there's a ton of people out there (read: people bullying me on Twitter) saying that Russia is good." But it's actually the best WaPo article that has come out of that accursed, rotten place in a while.
It’s time to challenge the orthodox view on the war in Ukraine.
As Russia’s illegal and brutal assault enters its fourth month, the impact on Europe, the Global South and the world is already profound. We are witnessing the emergence of a new political/military world order. Climate action is being sidelined as reliance on fossil fuels increases; food scarcity and other resource demands are pushing prices upward and causing widespread global hunger; and the worldwide refugee crisis — with more international refugees and internally displaced people than at any time since the end of World War II — poses a massive challenge.
Furthermore, the more protracted the war in Ukraine, the greater the risk of a nuclear accident or incident. And with the Biden administration’s strategy to “weaken” Russia with the scale of weapons shipments, including anti-ship missiles, and revelations of U.S. intelligence assistance to Ukraine, it is clear that the United States and NATO are in a proxy war with Russia.
Shouldn’t the ramifications, perils and multifaceted costs of this proxy war be a central topic of media coverage — as well as informed analysis, discussion and debate? Yet what we have in the media and political establishment is, for the most part, a one-sided, even nonexistent, public discussion and debate. It’s as if we live with what journalist Matt Taibbi has dubbed an “intellectual no-fly zone.”
Those who have departed from the orthodox line on Ukraine are regularly excluded from or marginalized — certainly rarely seen — on big corporate media. The result is that alternative and countervailing views and voices seem nonexistent. Wouldn’t it be healthy to have more diversity of views, history and context rather than “confirmation bias”?
Those who speak of history and offer context about the West’s precipitating role in the Ukraine tragedy are not excusing Russia’s criminal attack. It is a measure of such thinking, and the rhetorical or intellectual no-fly zone, that prominent figures such as Noam Chomsky, University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and former U.S. ambassador Chas Freeman, among others, have been demonized or slurred for raising cogent arguments and providing much-needed context and history to explain the background of this war.
Is it not worth asking whether sending ever-more weapons to the Ukrainians is the wisest course? Is it too much to ask for more questioning and discussion about how best to diminish the danger of nuclear conflict? Why are nonconformists smeared for noting, even bolstered with reputable facts and history, the role of nationalist, far-right and, yes, neo-Nazi forces in Ukraine? Fascist or neo-Nazi revivalism is a toxic factor in many countries today, from European nations to the United States. Why is Ukraine’s history too often ignored, even denied?
Meanwhile, as a former Marine Corps general noted, “War is a racket.” U.S. weapons conglomerates are lining up to feed at the trough. Before the war ends, many Ukrainians and Russians will die while Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman make fortunes. At the same time, network and cable news is replete with pundits and “experts” — or more accurately, military officials turned consultants — whose current jobs and clients are not disclosed to viewers.
What is barely reflected on our TVs or Internet screens, or in Congress, are alternate views — voices of restraint, who disagree with the tendency to see compromise in negotiations as appeasement, who seek persistent and tough diplomacy to attain an effective cease-fire and a negotiated resolution, one designed to ensure that Ukraine emerges as a sovereign, independent, reconstructed and prosperous country.
“Tell me how this ends,” Gen. David Petraeus asked Post writer Rick Atkinson a few months into the nearly decade-long Iraq War. Bringing this current war to an end will demand new thinking and challenges to the orthodoxies of this time. As the venerable American journalist Walter Lippmann once observed, “When all think alike, no one thinks very much.”
accusations of being a putler puppet in 3,2,1
yeah it's surprising they allowed that to be posted, good to have 'trusted media' items to share, hopefully this gets around before it's scrubbed
:agony-turbo:
sort of like all the brave journalists who questioned the Iraq war in 2010
Given who owns Wapo I'd assume this is Bezo and company floating the possibility of dissent in preparation for leaning on politicians to turn it down a notch. Bezos at least relies on Americans having enough money to buy his cheap shit, and people effectively have no money to even afford necessities, let alone anything else.
accusations of being a putler puppet in 3,2,1
TBH I'd be okay with that. Discredit the fucking Washington Post all you want, libs. The affect on the opinion piece writer wouldn't be great, but the damage to the shitpaper itself and its editorial board and people's inclination to trust it? :chefs-kiss:
Is the western bourgeoisie starting to grow tired of the shortages on energy, raw materials and money the west has imposed on itself because of this war?
Not everyone is in the MIC. Industrial capital is being fucked over by sanctions, financial capital is losing credibility because of confiscations of Russian assets, the huge Russian market is closed to western capital.
Lots of people in powerful positions have an objective material interest in getting their governments to climb down from the tree and seek detente.
It's an opinion piece, of course, but still a miracle it got past the editorial board. Maybe the war fervor is starting to weaken just enough for some hairline cracks around the edges.
Western nations and politicians are eating so much shit.
WE MUST EMBARGO FASCIST RUSSIA, THIS IS THE ONLY PRINCIPLED STAND!!!!
well if nobody else is doing it perhaps we were a bit too hasty
:homer-bye:
My phones auto recommended news stories today?
"Opinion: Ukraine needs weapons, not lectures"
:agony-consuming: yeah, let's stop all this talk and give Ukraine weapons already!!!
Maybe try getting a smart phone? Yours sounds like a fucking idiot.
I'm looking forward to my potato planting next season. For now all I have growing are garlic and broccoli.
I agree (and I like'em a lot, likely too much), they are OK as long as you know how to control their glycemic index/load and phytates.
UK backs Lithuania’s plan to lift Russian blockade of Ukraine grain Guardian
Landsbergis proposed that a naval escort operation – not run by Nato – could protect the grain ships as they headed through the Black Sea and past Russian warships. He suggested that, apart from Britain, countries that were affected by the potential loss of grain such as Egypt could provide the necessary protection.
They're going to try and drag non-nato countries into the war as proxy-interventionists?
If nato can't intervene due to nuclear war possibilities then intervention via a non-nuclear nato supported proxy makes logical sense. They will need a reason to get involved though, such as a ship being attacked.
I think this is definitely THE most insane plan I've read since the beginning of this war.
Churchill himself would be in awe by the sheer idiocy. "Oh yeah boy, I couldn't have though that up better myself! Let's do it, I give you threed cruiser fleets to execute, Admiral!"
Average Liberal brain would interpret it as a genius tactical move that will save Ukraine.
Wait what non nato country has a navy that will be able to escort ships in the Black Sea? The Dardanelles are closed to warships lmfao
Egypt's navy is actually quite capable of doing this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Egyptian_Navy
This is probably mostly because of the Suez Canal.
The reality however is that it will drag Egypt into the war when something happens to their ships and this is what nato would want to happen.
You can’t go from the Suez to the Black Sea without passing through the Dardanelles, which are closed to warships
Oh I see what you're saying, well I guess they would be expecting Turkey to uhh... Let them through? For reasons Completely ignoring the fact that this issue was already raised earlier in the war and no excuses were found.
Turkey letting them through would mean a violation of their own treaties and would mean they essentially couldn’t exercise control over one of the most strategic waterways in the world. It also means the Russian Mediterranean fleet would just try to force the Bosporus or something in response
I guess they'd be counting on Russia's unwillingness to do that because Turkey is a member of nato?
It doesn't make much sense.
Every motherfucking time I stg
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/24/thousands-of-detained-uyghurs-pictured-in-leaked-xinjiang-police-files
The data trove – referred to as the Xinjiang police files and published by a consortium of media including the BBC – dates back to 2018 and was passed on by hackers to Dr Adrian Zenz
In a separate academic paper published on Tuesday, Zenz wrote that the newly leaked files explained how political paranoia that promoted exaggerated threat perceptions had led to the pre-emptive internment of large numbers of ordinary citizens. He was targeted by Chinese sanctions last year.
Really churning it out now to overshadow whatever comes of the UN visit
Pretty funny that the narrative has shifted away from "Russia is gonna lose and we should keep funding Ukraine to speed this along" to "Russia is gonna lose and we need to make sure Putin doesn't feel threatened by this loss and nuke the world" while Russia continues to advance and take territory from badly beaten Ukrainian forces and is actively annexing Ukrainian territory into Russia.
Not sure if it's a way to shift a narrative to make it seem like these territorial acquisitions are actually The Plan to Not Piss Off Putin, or as a way to be like "Russia is losing, AND" to make the point of contention with the mainstream narrative NOT whether Russia is winning or losing (they OBVIOUSLY are), but instead the established arena of allowed thought (the Overton Window, I guess) is now what we should do with this losing Russia. Or, maybe both?
I don't see how you can do whatever financial magic of conjuring trillions of dollars out of nothing to solve supply-side issues.
Yes all economic metrics are terrible. We are seeing hyperinflation, stagnation, contracting GDP, collapsing securities markets and global movement away from USD. But don’t worry. It’s going to be good and fine, we have momentum
capitalist economists literally have no idea what they're talking about. it's like asking someone who makes car advertisements about the aerodynamics of a car.
Its not going to happen.
If it happens then it wont be that bad. <---
It is bad but we will recover soon.
It is taking longer to recover but when it does it will be even stronger than before.
OK we didn't recover because the government is interfering with the free market and this is why we need more reforms, America lost competitiveness, this is how we recover.
Lotta libs believe that the economy works mostly on willpower of the central administrators. So one of the most important parts of the job as Federal Reserve Bank President is to minimize the amount of panic in the market, even if that includes blatant lying.
I would call the volcel police, but you know what? ACAB. Just don't drool all over my section.
ACAB
What about the cops who assisted the Venezuelan socialist fishermen in capturing American mercenaries? Hoisted by your own petard
You say ACAB and yet you are one
...curious :thinking-about-it:
Maybe, but the situation was far different. China wasn't as important and powerful as it is today, the multipolar world hedging wouldn't be very realistic then. Russia also did not posses some of the key weapons that give them the edge right now mainly the Kinzhal entered service in 2017.
The Russian economy was also far more vulnerable to sanctions. They're taking a massive hit to their GDP right now, but eight years ago the sanctions probably would have succeeded in causing hyperinflation and collapsing their banking system.
I get why you say that, but the key weapons stuff also applies to the Ukrainian Military, which was substantially weaker in 2014-2015. It had a lack of drones and missiles, alongside rather tepid western support. The Russians would have also had access to a more experienced cadre of officers from the Donbass, many of which were killed in the 8 year period between the conflicts flaring up. Although tbh my friend would have been on the frontlines and would have died if the war escalated in 2014 so maybe it’s good it didn’t happen like that.
while we are doing hypothetical, someone should have [] the US before they [], so and so years ago
