Shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia:

The Soledar Salt Mines (also called Artyomsol Salt Mines after the State Enterprise Association Artyomsol that operates the mines) are located in the city/suburb of Soledar in the Bakhmut municipality in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The scale of the mines is vast. The mines have 125 miles of tunnel, are at a depth of 288m, and many of the chambers are 30 meters in height, The largest resembles a hangar of about 100 meters long and 40 meters width and 40 m height, and has accommodated soccer matches and the inflation of a hot air balloon.

On the 5th of January, 2023, the Wagner Group and Russian Armed Forces took parts of Soledar's east, forcing the Armed Forces of Ukraine to step back and take up defenses further west and in the central parts of Soledar. The salt mine has since become a critical point for Ukrainian defense of Soledar and Bakhmut, utilizing the deep tunnels of the salt mine to maintain a defensive line in Soledar, as well as to keep stockpiles of supplies and launch attacks on Russian positions from their rear.

Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Here is the archive of important pieces of analysis from throughout the war that we've collected.

January 9th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

January 10th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

January 11th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

January 13th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

January 14th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

https://twitter.com/nycDSA/status/1610743979410133005

So the title from NPR (National Propagandada Radio) article misleadingly states

China has stopped publishing daily COVID data amid reports of a huge spike in cases

Despite the text stating, in fact, that China hasn't stopped publishing COVID data. Rather a different agency would be reporting the data.

China's National Health Commission said in a statement that it would no longer publish the data daily beginning Sunday and that "from now on, the Chinese CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) will release relevant COVID information for reference and research."

One can read data in the Chinese CDC page with COVID infection statistics here. It looks like data reported from from the National Health Commission Page.

I fucking hate the West

the new teaser for blowback season 6 seems promising

Latest updates on the Special Xmas Operation, raging inland from the Blue States ordered by Soviet Communist Brandon.

• The new defense lines of the southwestern salient at New Mexico has been hardened after Blue forces gave up Colorado, surrounded as it was on 3 sides.

• In the northwest, Blue offensives are making incremental progress into Idaho and some parts of Montana. The fighting is bitter now due to the cold.

• The massive strongholds and disadvantageous terrain around the Rustbass, of course comprising Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, continue to hamper Blue attempts to make progress, but the Reds are for some reason refusing to evacuate from Pittsburgh, which is the lynchpin of defensive lines in this area. Columbus and Cincinnati would be immediately threatened by the breakdown of Red defensive lines here.

• The attempt early on in the war to take Florida and seize the key location of Mar A Lago has been long debated, such as on the purpose of the assault, and its efficacy. When Brandon said he was withdrawing forces from there as a good will gesture for negotiations, we were and remain perplexed, but the distance of the supply lines leading there must have been simply too long to be maintained.

• Much speculation remains of whether Canada will eventually join in the combat to threaten the northern positions of the Reds, such as in the Dakotas.

• On a personal note, I'm getting pretty tired of all this talk of the Ghost of Orlando and the calls of Slava Christmasi. And it's pretty fucking obvious which side is shelling the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant.

December 19th’s update is here on the site and here in the comments.

December 20th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

December 21st's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

December 23rd's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

Supreme Dictator Brandon is sending me to the snowball-pocked frontlines of the Special Xmas Operation on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day where I will be assuming my role of shooting down fireworks and making snowmen to distract enemy fire. Luckily I will only be spending two days there because I'm an entitled millennial and nobody wants to work anymore, and I will be back at home with my avocado toast on Monday.

Dec. 13 (UPI) -- India's Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accused China of initiating a conflict on the disputed border between the two countries in the Himalayan Mountain region.

Singh told Indian officials that Chinese People's Liberation Army troops of crossed the "Line of Actual Control," the de facto border between China and India in the region on Friday, in the most serious run-in since 2020.

"The Chinese attempt was contested by our troops in a firm and resolute manner," Singh told Indian officials. "The ensuing face-off led to a physical scuffle in which the Indian army bravely prevented the PLA from transgressing into our territory and compelled them to return to their posts."

Singh said 20 Indian soldiers were injured in the exchange but no deaths were reported.

...

:joker-amerikkklap: :freedom-and-democracy:

December 5th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

December 6th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

December 7th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

December 9th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

December 10th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.

::: spoiler Links and Stuff

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Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists

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. I recommend their map more than the channel at this point, as an increasing subscriber count has greatly diminished their quality.

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. Beware of chuddery.

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 fairly brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. The Duran, of which he co-hosts, is where the chuddery really begins to spill out.

On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.

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 ~ Gleb Bazov, banned from Twitter, referenced pretty heavily in what remains of pro-Russian Twitter.

https://t.me/asbmil ~ Now rebranded as Battlefield Insights, they do infrequent posts on the conflict.

https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.

https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.

https://t.me/riafan_everywhere ~ Think it's a government news org or Federal News Agency? Russian language.

https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ Front news coverage. Russian langauge.

https://t.me/rybar ~ One of the really big pro-Russian (except when they're being pessismistic, which is often) telegram channels focussing on the war. Russian language.

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

Any Western media outlet that is even vaguely liberal (and quite a few conservative ones too).

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.

This week, 230 under-fives were hospitalised, compared to just 12 at the same time last year.

The NHS is writing to over 800,000 parents to encourage them to take their children to get the vaccine at a GP practice ahead of Christmas. Children under five are given a nasal spray, unless it is not medically appropriate.

Uptake in children aged two to three is behind last year's figures, with just under 35% of children having received their flu jab so far, down 9% on last year.

Seems like everything is going great in the western world with all the viruses right now. :yea:

But yeah, I'm sure it's just immunity debt causing this. :so-true:

So much about “holodomor no food”, huh?

Chapo reading series material. I saw this woman calling people "orcs" on twitter a few months ago and now I find this lol

CW on some of the war photos in the article

Some excerpts:

As late as 2021, Sarah worked as a campaign consultant with the Clark County, Nevada GOP. She had a talent for the job, as 2 out of her 3 candidates won. She marketed herself as a “unicorn,” to enhance her mystique, and therefore her prestige.

Sarah was seen as a unicorn because she is trans. For several years, she played up her status as a trans Republican to further her career, and the Nevada GOP was eager to use her as a token to give them the appearance of egalitarianism even as they enacted monstrous anti-trans laws which have led to death and suffering for people like Sarah.

Sarah hit the ground running in Ukraine. Almost immediately after arriving, she was given press credentials and wormed her way into the Kharkov branch of the infamous neo-Nazi Azov battalion. Specifically, she appears to be embedded with Kraken, a division of Azov formed in the spring of 2021. By April, she was already privy to Kraken operations the day they happened, such as when she broke the arrest of Chilean MRA Gonzalo Lira.

While she was the first journalist on the story, she was quietly beaten to the punch by one of her comrades, the infamous neo-Nazi mercenary, police chief and Azov special forces commander Sergey “Botsman” Korotikh. Never a man to miss out on the spotlight, Botsman couldn’t help himself and spilled the beans on Twitter before Sarah could.

In Ukraine, Sarah has finally found the fame and fortune she was so desperately seeking before. She has once again found a niche as a “unicorn” working to launder the reputation of her Nazi friends. This time, however, she has help.

Sarah has caught the eye of mainstream outlets, such as the long-running and influential Canadian LGBTQ magazine Xtra, which published this profile of Sarah on July 27th. While it appears to be the sort of puff piece she is used to, a closer examination shows this article to be particularly insidious.

The author, right-wing journalist Adam Zivo, is an employee of the NATO Association of Canada. He serves as a propagandist for NATO, working to pinkwash the reputation of an alliance that has a long and continuing history of funding the murderous fascists who have stood against the advancement of LGBTQ rights.

For her part, Sarah, who still markets herself as a “progressive” has let the mask drop entirely. In the fertile ground of post-Maidan Ukraine, she has expanded her horizons, doing interviews with all sorts of fascists, including one where she feted a Rhodesian mercenary and defended apartheid on Twitter. The outrage from this interview was such that it became one of the few Sarah ever deleted.

apparently she is being invited to speak to congress

Source.

I wonder what Macron is doing in Africa?

The Franc Zone, a Tool of French Neocolonialism in Africa

Oh.

The group is accused by the Italian authorities of stockpiling weapons and planning to conduct terror attacks against civilian and police targets in the country.

:amerikkka-clap: :mission-accomplished-1::mission-accomplished-2:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday it supports proposed federal legislation to safeguard same-sex marriages. It's the church's latest show of support in the lead-up to an expected congressional vote Wednesday.

The 17-million member, Utah-based faith said in a statement that church doctrine would continue to consider same-sex relationships against God's commandments, yet would support rights for same-sex couples as long as they didn't infringe upon religious groups' right to believe as they choose.

“We believe this approach is the way forward. As we work together to preserve the principles and practices of religious freedom together with the rights of LGBTQ individuals much can be accomplished to heal relationships and foster greater understanding,” an unnamed spokesperson for the church said.

Support for the Respect for Marriage Act under consideration in Congress is the church's latest step to stake out a more welcoming stance toward the LGBTQ community while holding firm to its belief that same-sex relationships are sinful.

Patrick Mason, a professor of religious studies at Utah State University, said the church's position was both a departure from and continuation of its past stances — respecting laws yet working to safeguard religious liberty and ensuring they won't be forced to perform same-sex marriages or grant them official church sanction.

“This is part of the church’s overall theology essentially sustaining the law of the land, recognizing that what they dictate and enforce for their members in terms of their behavior is different than what it means to be part of a pluralistic society,” he said.

The faith opposes same-sex marriage and sexual intimacy, but it has taken a more welcoming stance to LGBTQ people in recent years. In 2016, it declared that same-sex attraction is not a sin, while maintaining that acting on it was.

https://archive.ph/cutnz

07 NOVEMBER 2022, 09:11

Lukashenko: October Revolution ideas remain viable alternative to colonial policy of capitalism

MINSK, 7 November (BelTA) – Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko extended October Revolution greetings to Belarusians, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian president.

“This event marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the Belarusian people who got a chance to create a national state on their native land, to become a full-fledged subject of international relations,” the message of greetings reads. “October 1917 fulfilled the aspirations of millions of working people in the world for a just society based on the principles of people's power, mutual social responsibility and humanism. These ideas still remain a viable alternative to the colonial policy of capitalism in its modern form. The Soviet project of the Union of Socialist Republics, based on the equality of nations and respect for their cultures and traditions, remains a beacon for countries seeking to live in peace and to work for the common good.”

The head of state stressed that Belarus has preserved the achievements of the Soviet era, multiplying them with the accomplishments of the sovereign period. “We remember the tragic events of the past, perpetuate the victories and the names of the heroes of the thousand-year history of the Belarusian people, whose examples of courage and wisdom help us overcome challenges and build a reliable foundation for the future,” the president said.

On this festive day Aleksandr Lukashenko wished Belarusians good health, happiness and new achievements for the benefit of the Fatherland.

Photograph from 2020

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, center, gives a speech during a military parade that marked the 75th anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany, in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, May 9, 2020. (Sergei Gapon/Pool Photo via AP)

https://apnews.com/article/europe-latin-america-middle-east-business-cuba-bf38ea2b62324cbd9ed3ce10905883d8

October 31st's update is here! TLDR? Here's the summary.

November 1st's update is here! TLDR? Here's the summary.

November 2nd's update is here! TLDR? Here's the summary.

November 4th's update is here! TLDR? Here's the summary.

Today's the day I put the extra furniture I need for this place together, so that'll be a bunch of fun. Though I can post some links here and there in the rest breaks.

https://english.nv.ua/nation/russia-removes-holodomor-memorial-in-mariupol-ukraine-news-50277917.html

lol, lmao

5 prime ministers in 6 years

Tweet

Who could have seen this coming? Not my funny CIA dog bots

Ctrl + F "Kamil" to skip the Srevchenko bit, even if I found it interesting

Apparently curtis has a new film out.

Anyone seen it? Have a link? What did you think?