Image is of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Ansarallah.
The death of Zionism has just massively accelerated.
previous preamble
BRICS has expanded to include Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Argentina is currently experiencing technical difficulties due to the election of the ancap clown Milei - once he's out of office, maybe they can try again.
I don't really have much to say about this one way or another. BRICS has, so far, made only nervous and small steps towards challenging US hegemony. This isn't really that unexpected, as only China and Russia are the real "true believers" in ending US hegemony (and even then, China's government either believes, or is pretending to believe, that reconciliation is still possible). Brazil, India, and South Africa are less enthralled by the concept of dethroning the US, most especially India, who had to make a firm decision in 2023 whether they were going to be on the side of America, or on the side of the Global South, and chose the former, strengthening their military relationship. They're still best of friends with Russia, but they are very obviously the sussy imposter of the BRICS group.
The prospects of BRICS are only really loosely correlated with the prospects of multipolarism, though. It's not a process that hinges on BRICS's successes or failures. It is coming because the contender states (in Desai's terminology) are irreversibly rising, and the US is irreversibly falling. If it will not be BRICS that leads, it will be a different organization. A better world is not only possible, but inevitable - unfortunately for the US.
I'm taking a week off the updates because I've been swamped lately, and also feel the need to reconfigure (and find new) sources. Needless to say that I've grown tired of Financial Times headlines, even if they do represent the actual views of the bourgeoisie.
The Country of the Week is Ethiopia! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish 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 (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
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.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
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.
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.
Today's quiz: Zionist or Nazi? Who Said This?
https://forms.gle/7B5EPsVTrfK8yCri6
For those who don't want to go to a google docs form, here are the statements:
(CW for extremely disturbing and genocidal statements)
This isn't one of those "gotcha! It's all Zionists/Nazis!" things. There are actually statements from both in there. I got 13/20.
1
"We declare openly that the [group] have no right to live on even one centimeter of [country]."This was said by...
spoiler answer The former Israeli Army Chief Of Staff, Rafael Eitan. :::
2
"All the [group] will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle."
This was said by...
spoiler answer The former Israeli Army Chief Of Staff, Rafael Eitan. :::
3
"The [group] have no right to claim equality with us. If they wish to speak on the streets, in lines outside shops or in public transportation, they should be ignored, not only because their are simply wrong, but because they are [group] who have no right to a voice in the community."This was said by...
spoiler answer Joseph Goebbels. :::
4
"The [group] aren’t educated towards peace, nor do they want it... To me, they are like animals, they aren’t human."This was said by...
spoiler answer Eli Ben-Dahan, the former Israeli Deputy Defense Minister. :::
5
A group of children in a school bus were found singing this poem:"All the world hates the [group],
And the main thing is to kill them one by one!
With these feet I stepped on my enemy,
With these teeth I bit his skin,
With these lips I sucked his blood.
And I still haven’t had enough revenge."
Which political ideology did the school bus belonged to?
This was said by...
spoiler answer Zionist schoolchildren in an illegal West Bank settlement. :::
6
"They will get no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed. We are fighting against human animals and will act accordingly."This was said by...
spoiler answer Yoav Gallant, the current Israeli Minister of Defense. :::
7
"What’s so horrifying about understanding that the [entire group] is the enemy?"This was said by...
spoiler answer Ayelet Shaked, the former Israeli Minister of Justice. :::
8
"The [group] always lives from the blood of other peoples, he needs such murders. The victory will be only entirely and finally achieved when the whole world is free of [group]."This was said by...
spoiler answer Julius Streicher, senior Nazi Party member. :::
9
"This is a war between two people. Who is the enemy? The [group] people."This was said by...
spoiler answer Ayelet Shaked, the former Israeli Minister of Justice. :::
10
"Even 1 million [members of group] are not worth a fingernail of [speaker's group]."This was said by...
spoiler answer Rabi Yaacov Perrin, defending Zionist terrorist Baruch Goldstein who murdered 50 Arabs in a massacre. :::
11
"Finish them off and don’t leave anyone behind. Erase the memory of them. Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live. If you have [group] neighbor, don’t wait, go to his home and shoot him."This was said by...
spoiler answer Ezra Yachin, giving a speech to soldiers entering Gaza in the aftermath of October 7th. :::
12
“There is only one solution which is to destroy [group] completely."spoiler answer Moshe Feiglin, a member of the Likud Party. :::
13
"With compulsory transfer [of group] we (would) have a vast area… I support compulsory transfer. I don’t see anything immoral in it."This was said by...
spoiler answer Zionist David Ben-Gurion, in 1938. :::
14
"The [group] are responsible for the war. The treatment they receive from us is hardly unjust. They have deserved it all."This was said by...
spoiler answer Joseph Goebbels. :::
15
"Bring down buildings!! Bomb without distinction!! Stop with this impotence. You have ability. There is worldwide legitimacy! Flatten [a place where group lives]. Without mercy!"This was said by...
spoiler answer Revital Gottlieb, a Likud MK. :::
16
"[country] is ours. We will protect [country]…against you animals, against you traitors, against you barbarians, you’ll never live again"This was said by...
spoiler answer An American Zionist protest leader. :::
17
"I will return to [city] when the last [group member] is terminated, I don't care if they are children, elderly, people on crutches."This was said by...
spoiler answer A resident of Kibutz Beeri. :::
18
"Who are the ‘poor’ women of [group]? They are all the mothers, sisters or wives of terrorists."
This was said by...
spoiler answer Israeli President Isaac Herzog. :::
19
"We shall try to spirit the [group] across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country… expropriation and the removal of the [group] must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly."This was said by...
spoiler answer Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism, in 1895. :::
20
"The [group] is a devil in human form. He should be exterminated root and branch."This was said by...
spoiler answer Joseph Goebbels. :::
Got 16/20, mainly through trying to pick up on German being translated to English, and guessing everything else as Zionist.
It's pretty much impossible to tell apart otherwise.
Some of them I just remember them saying (like Gallant's statement for instance). I also find that Zionist statements can sometimes be a little more... defensive, than Nazi statements. Like, the Nazis were very proud to be killing Jewish people en masse, whereas Zionists sort of go like "No, you're being unreasonable, it's actually fine and good that we're murdering Palestinians. Actually, you're the evil and despicable one for not cheering on every bombing in Gaza." Like quote 7 for instance. Also tends to be a little more... grotesquely performative, versus the very cold Nazi ideology of "Yep, let's just wipe out all these people and get on with the rest of our day." Like, for the Zionists, being satanically genocidal also makes them more theatrical; "Bring down buildings! Bomb without distinction! ...Without mercy!"
The Zionists sound more unhinged honestly. I think part of it is because they're trying to sound Biblical. So they will say shit like "may the cursed Arab and his progeny shrivel like grapes laid out in the sun."
15, played myself by thinking "well that's so unhinged it has to be the author making a point that it's nazis".
Got about halfway through and thought to myself "wouldn't it be grand if these were all quotes from South Africa's ICJ case against isn'treal?"
Ended up with 15/20 (75%)
LOL. I thought i'd pick the ones using rather antiquated language/concepts as being the Nazis, and it actually didn't work (10/20). I think I underestimated the biblical cultism or something.
Anyway, good show. I knew 2-3 of them just from being familiar with the actual quotes from articles and the ICJ case and shit. So I actually scored less than half, defeating myself with my genius strategy. They really are indistinguishable.
15/20 with only two being incorrectly attributed to Nazis.
17/20. I kind of want to post a cool sunglasses emoji for doing well but like... no, this is foul and needs to be taken with sincerity and seriousness