A reminder that as the US continues to threaten countries around the world, fedposting is to be very much avoided (even with qualifiers like “in Minecraft”) and comments containing it will be removed.

Image is of military and civilian sites across Caracas which were bombed by the United States as of last weekend.


As everybody has already known for a couple days, the US has abducted Maduro and his wife in a massive operation (of which the exact details are not currently known, but involved hundreds of aircraft and at least some bombing of military and civilian targets), and has threatened Venezuela and the socialist party with further abductions and widespread murder if they do not hand over control of the country directly to the United States. In a statement that really says it all, Trump said that Machado is not being considered for the colonial viceroy position due to her sheer unpopularity. Various parties and countries around the world - and inside the US - have expressed their disapproval, which, as we all know, will not shift US foreign policy a single iota.

A few months ago, when the pressure campaign on Venezuela began, I speculated that Maduro was going to be killed or captured eventually. Flagrantly illegal and violent American military campaigns in Latin America are not new. The US has been invading land, looting banks, assassinating democratically elected leaders, and otherwise overthrowing countries in the region for their own economic benefit for the better part of two centuries, under both Democratic and Republican parties. Unfortunately, we all know that Russia and China are unlikely to do anything meaningful to contest the US in their attempt to more violently assert hegemony in Latin America. I doubt very much that the China of today will come out to bat for Venezuela and start meaningfully pressuring the US economically. For better and worse, we are far from the days of the USSR.

However, Latin America has, historically, met the US in its radicalism, committed to wars of anti-colonial nationalism, and carried out successful revolutions against the dictators placed in control from the US. As history continues ever onwards and conditions develop, I can only assume that we shall once again enter that radicalizing cycle. In that vein, the big question on my mind, and everybody else’s, is: what comes next? Does the Venezuelan socialist party have the social and military cohesion to wage a years-long guerilla war against occupying troops? Can they quickly transition from a conventional to guerilla force as their military facilities are bombed, or will it take several years? Can they prevent the theft of their oil resources and make the attempt at foreign occupation more costly in both the manpower and economic costs than what that war will generate? Can Venezuela manufacture weapons for this guerilla war in a state of blockade? Will this military campaign begin immediately upon soldiers landing, or will it take a period of relatively unopposed occupation of months or even years? Will Cuba, Colombia, and even Mexico be in the same situation by the end of the year, with abducted leaders?

Yemen is the very recent proof that seemingly weak countries can force the American military to retreat in defeat. Can Venezuela follow? We shall see what Maduro has done to prepare the country for this war very soon. The only certain thing is that the murderous violence propagated by a trembling and dying empire shall be defeated eventually, whether it takes months, years, or decades, and the end result will be a socialist victory.


Last week’s thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

Please check out the RedAtlas!

The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.

The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine

If you have evidence of Zionist crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA 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.
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.

Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.

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.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
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.


  • dead [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    12 days ago

    I just watched the video of today’s press conference for the China Ministry of Foreign affairs. The transcription isn’t posted yet but I will try to summarize. The last MFA press conference was on December 31.

    I counted 24 questions asked at the press conference, 17 of the questions were related to Venezuela or Maduro. This is an unusual number of questions, usually there is only like 7 questions asked.

    There was a question about Saudia Arabia conflicting with Yemen; a question about Thailand conficting with Cambodia; Trump’s threats against Greenland are against international law; China is meeting with the leaders of South Korea and North Korea did some ballistic missile tests; Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and DPP is disgraceful for threatening to use military action to resist reunification; Protests in Iran are an internal affair and should not have foreign interference; US should stop fearmongering about China for its own selfish gains.

    The spokesperson answers most of the questions about Venezuela and Maduro in the same way. Sometimes the spokespersons repeats themself and sometimes they say it has already been answered.

    Spokesperson says that China is deeply shocked by the US action in Venezuela and that it violates international law, that the US should release Maduro, and then follow international law.

    Spokesperson says that the UN security council will convene an emergency meeting on US airstrikes against Venezuela. Spokesperson says China is ready to work with the international community to form a defense of the UN charter to maintain international fairness and justice.

    The last question is about whether Trump will still visit China in April and the spokesperson says no answer.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEwTGPX6_4k

    The transcript will appear on the page below in like 3-4 hours from now, labeled as January 5.

    https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/xw/fyrbt/

    • dead [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      12 days ago

      another summary now posted by telesur

      🗣️Statements by Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of #China🇨🇳 (1/2):

      🔴China respects the sovereignty and independence of #Venezuela🇻🇪 and trusts that the Venezuelan government will manage its internal affairs appropriately, in accordance with its Constitution and laws.

      🔴Cooperation between China and Venezuela is a partnership between sovereign nations, protected by international law and the laws of both countries.

      🔴Regardless of changes in Venezuela’s political situation, China’s commitment to deepening practical cooperation in all areas remains unchanged, and China’s legitimate interests and legal rights in Venezuela are guaranteed.

      https://xcancel.com/teleSURtv/status/2008116038735384978#m

      🗣️Statements by Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of #China🇨🇳 (2/2):

      🔴China has expressed its position on the abduction of Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife by the United States.

      🔴China expresses its deep concern over the actions of the United States in forcibly abducting President Maduro and his wife and taking them out of the country.

      🔴These actions by the United States clearly violate international law and the basic norms of international relations, and contravene the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.

      🔴China urges the United States to guarantee the personal safety of President Maduro and his wife, to release them immediately, to cease its destabilizing actions against the Venezuelan government, and to resolve outstanding issues through legal and diplomatic negotiations.

      https://xcancel.com/teleSURtv/status/2008116518396026927#m


      https://www.telesurtv.net/china-exige-eeuu-liberacion-nicolas-maduro/