It's a little known fact that Santa's sleigh was actually decommissioned during the Cold War for causing all kinds of chaos with radar systems for being a hypersonic object (in order to get the presents around the world in time). Lots of nuclear near-misses around Christmas time every year for this reason. Nowadays, Santa uses a bespoke tunnel network that spans the globe which connects to every chimney from underneath. The true evil of Hamas is that they want to repurpose this tunnel network to kill innocent people around the world, which is why they must be stopped
(I fucked up the link, should work now)
might be the wrong mega?
One of those movie moments where you're drifting in and out of consciousness after a mortal injury and one person is doing CPR on you while another person crying and shouting "Don't close your eyes! Stay with me! Please, just hold on a little longer!"
except instead of CPR, they're using a fleshlight on you
Update from Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas:
Al-Qassam Brigades are engaged in fierce, intense, and unprecedented battles against the IOF forces, causing significant losses in both their lives & equipment for the occupying army.
Al-Qassam targeted at least 5,000 soldiers/officers during the ground battles, resulting in 1/3 killed, 1/3 seriously injured, and the remaining 1/3 with permanent disabilities. Regarding military vehicles, 750 of them were destroyed, either completely or partially.
Al-Qassam have shattered the Israeli army, continuing on the path of breaking it, and they will not submit to the conditions of the occupation.
The weekly update is here on the website.
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The Country of the Week is Finland!
As mentioned in the preamble, feel free to post or recommend any material related to Finland, whether from a thousand years ago or yesterday. You can post it anywhere in the thread, but you can also reply to this comment if you wish.
If you're feeling particularly ambitious and want homework, you could take on any or all of these questions (no reward, but I'll be very proud of you):
- Who are the main political actors? Are they compradors, nationalists, international socialists, something else?
- What are the most salient domestic political issues; those issues that repeatedly shape elections over the last 10, 20 years. Every country has its quirks that complicate analysis - for example, Brexit in the UK.
- What is the country's history? You don't have to go back a thousand years if that's not relevant, and I'm counting "history" as basically anything that has happened over a year ago.
- What factions exist, historically and currently? If there is an electoral system, what are the major parties and their demographic bases? Are there any minor parties with large amounts of influence? Independence movements? Religious groups?
- How socially progressive or conservative are they? Is there equality for different ethnic groups, or are some persecuted? Do they have LGBTQIA+ rights? Have they improved over time, or gotten worse?
- What role do foreign powers play in the countryโs politics and economy? Is there a particular country nearby or far away that is nearly inseparable from them, for good or bad reasons? Is their trade dominated by exports/imports to one place? Are they exploited, exploiters, or something in between?
- If applicable, what is the influence of former colonial relationships on the modern economy and politics?
- Is the country generally stable? Do you think there will be a coup at some point in the future, and if so, what faction might replace them?
The previous country was *Yemen.
This is our Geopolitics Reading List so far! Please chime in with suggestions!
General Theory:
- Super Imperialism, by Michael Hudson.
- Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalismโs Final Crisis, by John Smith.
- Superexploitation and the Imperialist Drive of Capitalism: How Marini's 'Dialectics of Dependency' Goes beyond Marx's 'Capital', by Andy Higginbottom.
- Capital Volume 3 Lecture Series, 32 videos, 10-15 minutes each, by Andy Higginbottom.
- World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction, by Immanuel Wallerstein.
- Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire, by Radhika Desai.
- Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy, by Radhika Desai.
Canada:
- Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination, by Tyler Shipley.
Chile:
- 1000 Days of Revolution: Chilean Communists on the Lessons of Popular Unity (I cannot personally find an online version).
- Santiago Boys Podcast, analyzing Allende's government and Cybersyn.
Lebanon:
- A History of Modern Lebanon, by Fawwaz Traboulsi.
United States:
- Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture, by Oswaldo Zavala.
Venezuela:
- Objective Conditions in Venezuela: Maduroโs Defensive Strategy and Contradictions Among the People, a longform article by Steve Ellner.
Sending doomers to re-education camps where you have to say "communism will win" every hour or your food ration is cut
If they decide to try and send ships to Israel, the cool zone approaches
If not, a quintessential Western propaganda victory. Achieves nothing materially whatsoever but makes the West feel a little less owned for a few days
On the 12th day of Christmas, the Resistance gave to me:
Twelve dying Zionists
Eleven Kornets firing
Ten tanks exploding
Nine ships delaying
Eight burning barracks
Seven Yassins blasting
Six diapered settlers
Five frightened kings! ๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ฆ๐ช ๐ง๐ญ ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ธ๐ฆ
Four Shahed drones
Three front lines
Two helis downed
And an empire brought to its knees