folks, many people are saying that the news mega is the best mega, yuge amounts of effort every single day.
The fact that Hamas has a podcast now is so fucking funny to me. Now all they need is a Twitch channel and a lemmy instance
I do genuinely believe that the West envisaged that Russia would collapse within a few months, as it dovetails nicely with the following points:
- Leftover anti-Russian propaganda from the Cold War, particularly with how the USSR collapsed due to internal crises; I would say it's mostly guaranteed that Western intellectuals took all the wrong lessons and interpretations from how and why the collapse occurred.
- A general belief in their own superiority (the garden vs the jungle), looking at examples of how sanctions in the past have affected and weakened other nations, thus believing that Russia would similarly collapse because, again, they took the wrong lesson from previous sanctions on weaker countries. The emphasis on how many sanctions there were, and their projected impact on the Russian economy (which failed to materialize) feels in retrospect feels like the geopolitical version of trying to create reality by pure insistence that reality is the way that you are describing it, and we see Israel doing the same in Palestine today by insisting that Hamas is on the verge of defeat, or has been defeated, when in reality the vast majority of Hamas' resources and fighters and tunnels are still intact.
- Additionally, a general belief in the superiority of their propaganda mechanisms and narratives that they could funnel into the Russian population, and indeed, propaganda is just about the only sphere remaining where the West has unquestioned superiority - though propaganda can only go so far to actually affect the world, so long as the general population is kept relatively happy (as the Russian population was and is, especially compared to Europe).
- The military preparation of Ukraine for 8 years to resist Russia. It's hard to say precisely what the people in charge of that program intended - was Ukraine supposed to be able to take on Russia's military alone (due to a critical misjudgement that Russia's military was weak), was Ukraine supposed to just hold out for a little while and wait for Russia to collapse, or was Ukraine not really ready yet but events had forced the US to goad Russia? - but you don't pour weapons and training into a country for years on end in the way that they did for Ukraine for no reason at all. Profit is a secondary benefit for the American Empire, there's always a guiding principle of weakening enemies first and foremost.
- Starting the war at the end of winter so that gas supplies potentially being shut off would not have too great an impact, because by the winter of 2022, Russia would surely have been internally overthrown by West-friendly liberals and the gas could be restarted; this reason might have been given to the Europeans by the Americans to assuage them, as obviously America not only doesn't care about Europe's supply of gas, it indeed actively benefits from it being shut off.
- The narrative that "Russia expected Ukraine to fall in a few weeks and now Putin is really pissed that it didn't, what a mad and incompetent dictator!" always felt a little... strange, and bitter, at least to me. It feels like a projection of the West's expectations onto Russia - they, in fact, are very angry that Russia didn't fall in a few weeks and are just expressing that anger by assigning the reverse to Putin instead.
Russia failed to collapse but Ukraine also didn't collapse. So it feels like we've been in the Plan B of both sides since the summer of 2022. Russia hoped that they wouldn't have to go this far and that Ukraine would surrender to their (pretty reasonable) terms, and was met with a West that was proudly saying "Haha! Putin and his top experts thought we WOULDN'T slam our hands on this boiling-hot stovetop, and keep them there, writhing in agony! Those utter fools, completely incapable of analysis!" So then Russia had to mobilize forces, and so did the West, and 2023 happened and now 2024 is too.
We really need a comment/post summarizing the difference between things like:
- a cruise missile
- a ballistic missile
- a "supersonic missile"
- a "hypersonic missile"
and their various properties, because sometimes the media will just use the term "hypersonic missile" which could mean something very different to how we use it; e.g. a hypersonic cruise missile is different to a missile that at some point in its trajectory becomes hypersonic. Befuddles me sometimes and I've been paying attention to this stuff for a couple years now
all the "The Houthis are about to see why us Americans don't have universal healthcare!" jokes are only getting funnier by the day, honestly
Report claims Yemen’s Houthis have a hypersonic missile, possibly raising stakes in Red Sea crisis
The Houthis’ main benefactor, Iran, claims to have a hypersonic missile and has widely armed the rebels with the missiles they now use. Adding a hypersonic missile to their arsenal could pose a more-formidable challenge to the air defense systems employed by America and its allies, including Israel.
“The group’s missile forces have successfully tested a missile that is capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 8 and runs on solid fuel,” a military official close to the Houthis said, according to the RIA report. The Houthis “intend to begin manufacturing it for use during attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel.”
it's ziover
They're used to be an occupying army without the experience of actually beating a near-peer adversary.
That expert Israeli training shining through. Remember when Israel boasted that they had like the second or third best military on the planet?
Conversely, when Ukrainians say that they have (or perhaps had) the best military in Europe, I don't think they were wrong. The problem for NATO is that, well, Ukraine had the best military in Europe, and it is being destroyed by Russia. Why NATO thinks it would have a better time than Ukraine is beyond me, especially considering that Ukraine is such a massive country that trying to use the West's aviation advantage seems more difficult as (as Tervell expands on) you have to fly across the whole goddamn country to reach Russian forces in the East, not get shot down by Russian anti-air defenses, and then fly back (presumably with refueling). Sounds like a total pain in the ass. Otherwise, we've seen how NATO's wunderwaffe equipment is really nothing special, especially now that Russia has been given ample time to figure out how to counter HIMARS and Storm Shadow and Western tanks and artillery and all those other things.
From my uneducated military position, it seems like NATO would have a few months of activity (an even more incompetent version of Shock and Awe) that might even qualify as "success", and then the same attrition that is bringing down Ukraine and Israel will knock on NATO's door, the logistics chains will steadily break down, industrial production would be insufficient, bodies will be coming home in coffins, and the fascist populists will be agitating against the very unpopular war and winning elections.
Version 1.1:
I'll be doing these updates intermittently (every couple weeks, every month, etc) rather than editing fluidly as I get more books.
Added dozens more recommended books, spread out across the list, notably including more books for Japan.
Added an Indigenous Theory section and reorganized some books into it. Added a Science section and added some books to it. Expanded "Philosophy" into "Philosophy and Theology" and added some books to the Theology section. Added a Multi-Region section in the Regional Histories section, due to some odd books that cover multiple continents. Apparently I forgot Finland existed, so that now has a section, and a book.
I have been recommended a few reading lists, some of which will take me a long while to get through. Nonetheless, if you have more books to add, then continue to recommend them!
It's imminent in the same way that the Ukraine counteroffensive was imminent for a few months; they're definitely gonna do it, but I imagine there's a general sense of dread about it in the Israeli elite and the crumbling economy and military situation is making it harder to achieve
They definitely seem to be uniquely fanatical and racist at the very least. I feel fairly confident saying that Zionists are the most deranged, bloodthirsty and hysterical people currently alive on the planet, which is an impressive milestone with the Nazis in Eastern Europe and particularly Ukraine still tragically alive.
Perhaps only those in imperial Japan could exceed them - though, now that I think of it, I'm unsure how deeply the kamikaze attitude truly penetrated general Japanese society at that time versus those in the military.
Chasing 'tactical' wins, Israel now faces 'strategic' defeat
"In a fight like this, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you make them fall into the hands of the enemy, you turn tactical victory into strategic defeat." US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued this warning to Israel back in December during his address at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California. Drawing on hard-earned lessons from US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Austin stressed that winning battles on the ground does not guarantee a strategic victory and may even lead to a strategic defeat – if Israel refuses to look at the bigger picture. This is one of the main sources of Washington's pressure on Tel Aviv, especially in light of the allies' differing political visions for Gaza in the post-war period and the man-made humanitarian crisis Israel has imposed on the Strip. It's a philosophy rooted in foresight, echoing Robert Greene's wisdom from his 33 War Strategies: "Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet has outlined two primary objectives for the Gaza war: dismantling Hamas' military infrastructure and securing the release of prisoners detained since 7 October. Netanyahu later expanded on these objectives, adding a crucial third goal: ensuring Gaza's inability to threaten the occupation state's security in the future. Consequently, the success of Israel's brutal military assault on Gaza hinges on achieving these pivotal objectives. Despite their shared goals, disparities have emerged between the American and Israeli approaches. While both advocate for neutralizing Hamas, the Biden administration advocates for a more politically driven strategy, while Netanyahu seeks an almost entirely military-centric approach.
Hamas, on the other hand, announced three main objectives of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood immediately following the events of 7 October. First, success in conducting a prisoner exchange with the enemy entity. Second, retaliation against Israeli aggression in the occupied West Bank and safeguarding Al-Aqsa Mosque from settler extremists. Third, placing the Palestinian issue back on the global stage.
Chinese General Sun Tzu's timeless wisdom in his Art of War distinguishes between tactical maneuvers and strategic foresight: "Everyone can see the tactics that are used to defeat the enemy in war, but what no one can see is the strategy from which great victory arises." In warfare, tactical objectives focus on short-term gains – specific engagements or territorial advances. In contrast, strategic goals require long-term vision, aligning military actions with political priorities. In essence, tactics look to answer the "how," while strategy answers the "why" in military engagement, ultimately with a political endgame. Any state or party to a conflict can achieve tactical objectives by excelling in battlefield maneuvers, using superior technology, or having better trained and equipped forces. But winning battles – that is, achieving tactical goals – does not necessarily mean winning the war. This discrepancy occurs because the cumulative effect of tactical victories may not align with or contribute adequately to broader strategic objectives. While tactics are essential to winning battles, they must be used as part of a strategy aimed at achieving the ultimate goals of war.
History offers several sobering reminders of the perils of prioritizing tactics over strategy. For example, in the Vietnam War, the US achieved numerous tactical victories yet failed strategically. Despite inflicting heavy losses, the broader goal of fostering a non-communist South Vietnam remained elusive. The US's longest war, in Afghanistan against the Taliban, ended in another humiliating withdrawal, only for the Taliban to return to unprecedented political power across the country.
Esteemed Israeli historian and critic of Zionism, Ilan Pappe, believes that the failures of the genocidal war on Gaza will ultimately lead to the downfall of the Zionist entity, with the war being the most perilous chapter in the "history of a project fighting for its existence."
Today, after a record five months of Israeli military operations in Gaza, killing well over 30,000 civilians, injuring many times that, and demolishing most of Gaza's critical infrastructure, it becomes evident that Netanyahu's focus on tactical wins has led to a disconnect with the broader strategic goals of the war. The 'progress' made within the Gaza Strip, while significant on a tactical level, has not effectively advanced the strategic aim of eliminating Hamas, Tel Aviv's number one stated war objective. On the contrary, US reports claim that 80 percent of the Palestinian resistance's key military infrastructure remains intact. This has left Netanyahu facing a critical dilemma: the pursuit of tactical gains has come at a steep cost, jeopardizing the achievement of his strategic objectives. His Gaza assault has resulted in the wholesale massacre of Palestinian civilians – predominantly women and children – widespread global censure, and thousands of dead and injured Israeli soldiers and officers.
This tragic toll has permanently tarnished Israel's international image, undermining its fairytale narratives of 'democracy' and 'victimhood' and casting Tel Aviv instead as a leading perpetrator of state-sponsored terrorism in the world. Moreover, Israel's actions have led to accusations of genocide and human rights violations on the international stage, most notably the recent high-profile case at the International Court of Justice. Netanyahu and his war cabinet have fallen into a classic trap: allowing pyrrhic wins to distract them from an overarching victory.
goddamn. hopefully most of those 550 were police, troops, and/or fascist government officials as it claims, and hopefully the double-tap rumors aren't true