Image is from @Parsani@hexbear.net, who got it from @RNAi@hexbear.net, who got it from Discord.
Thread update: Prigozhin's fucking dead.
The BRICS summit will begin on Tuesday and end on Thursday, with various world leaders, politicians, and representatives meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
America's anxiety about the summit has been obvious. They have been complicating the event by pushing for the arrest warrant for Putin to be upheld if he steps foot in the country. While this is a remarkably dangerous and unhinged thing to do - even by America's standards - to the leader of a nuclear superpower who could end the world within an hour, it does betray their desperation. Unfortunately, for those of us who wanted to see Putin surrounded by an army of security guards fending off people holding handcuffs, he has sent his Foreign Minister, Lavrov, in his place. Additionally, America has likely been spreading rumors about the lack of interest in gaining new members in the organization.
With apparently 20 countries formally seeking membership and another 20 informally doing so, the bloc has been elevated, whether they like it or not, to the position of the international vanguard of the non-western world. It is extremely important to say that this is not the same as it becoming an anti-American bloc, and many of them (including original members Brazil and India) wish to keep a friendly relationship with the United States. Nonetheless, with the United States' policy of "if you are not with us, you are against us," and as the US seeks to weaken China, in coming years many of them might find themselves under hostile pressure.
BRICS has to try and solve many problems if they are going to chip away at America's stranglehold of the world economy. These problems - like mitigating the dollar's status as a global reserve currency, and America's dominant role in the world economy - are extremely complicated, and will takes years, even decades, to be overcome. Therefore, one should temper their expectations and excitement for this summit. It took tens of millions of deaths in cataclysmic wars, and then several more decades, for America to reach its current position. I see no reason to believe why its downfall will be any less bloody and elongated.
To end on a less depressing note, I've been searching for appropriate anagrams given the list of countries that seek to join BRICS. Obviously not all of them will make it in, but even so. The best I've come up with is HIBISCUS EMANCIPATES BBBBKKRVV.
(also, "bulletins and news discussion" can be rearranged to "libidinous newsstands uncles".)
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
This week's first update is here in the comments.
This week's second update is here in the comments.
Links and Stuff
The bulletins site is down.
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can.
Resources For Understanding The War
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.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
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
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.
Last week's discussion post.
- Show
coming through for me one last time
edit: Rogov has confirmed it which is enough for me to switch the megathread title
Brazil's Supreme Court rules that homophobia is now punishable by prison.
Hate speech is punishable by prison terms of 2 to 5 years in Brazil.
Show
Another lula w
Sorry guys, it’s my first day working the S-300. Please forgive me 🙏🏻🙏🏻
lemmitors are just mass downvoting negative articles about Ukraine in their news comms, even if it comes from mainstream sources like Wapo or ft. Someone in the comments just has to accuse the OP of being a tankie or having a pro-Russian agenda and then engagement with the post just craters so it doesn't show up in feeds anymore.
I would like to nominate this as the post image https://hexbear.net/post/412042
Show
Just told my 10yo daughter about #Prigozhin. She had tears in her eyes. And then she did the Wakanda pose and said "#Wagkanda forever" -- which is the sort of pop culture cross-over that I can celebrate.
Russian opinions on various leaders of Russia/USSR throughout history:
Show
Interesting notes for people that can't read Cyrillic:
Peter the Great is clear number 1, Catherine the Great is 2nd.
Stalin comes in at 3rd place, with 65% having a positive view and only 20% having a negative view
Brezhnev is in 4th place, and Lenin is sadly in 6th place :(
Dead last is Yeltsin of course, and 2nd last is Gorbachev of course, with nearly 2/3 of the population openly hating them, once again confirming how much of a tragedy the dissolution of the USSR was
"According to Zelenskyy, it is difficult to criticize the Ukrainian counter offensive when the country's forces do not have the appropriate weapons."
I see you are criticizing the drastically low output of my steel mill, yet your criticism is unfounded as we do not have any furnaces.
He just died? Wow. I didn’t know that. You are telling me now for the first time. He led an amazing life. What else can you say. Whether you agreed or not, He was an amazing man who led an amazing life. I am actually sad to hear that. I am sad to hear that.TrueAnon 10 rules for doing a coup:
Never go to a second location
Always get the interior ministry post
Never get in a helicopter/private plane
If someone with a gun enters your car, they’re gonna kill you
If someone tells your they’re not going to kill you, they’re calming you down to kill you later
Never give up your nukes
Never release opposition political prisoners
Never let the opposition delay elections
If someone starts to get into German runes drop them
Due to complications of capitlaism I am losing a child. I get this is an emotion people in the global south have had to get accustomed to. Just god damn though. How do we all just keep going?
Man, i can't believe Prigozhin fell for the oldest trick in the book.
Even I know if you've pissed off a guy who has the power to kill you in broad daylight, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ENTER A FLYING OR FLOATING VEHICLE.
Brace has once again been proven right.
apology for poor english
when were you when prigo dies?
i was sat at home eating borscht when pjotr ring
‘prigo is kill’
‘no’
