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.


  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    11 days ago

    The vibes are off folks. 2026 is gonna be a hell of a year. Feels like we’re deep in the shit, 1937-type Nazi Germany seizing Czechoslovakia and Japan about to formally invade China, with no off ramp or end in sight, and nobody opposing any of it. I really have no idea what’s gonna happen next, but there is a major shift underway. Another Israeli strike on Iran feels appropriate, they’re usually quick to get in on any action, but who knows what this year has in store for all of us.

    • darkcalling [comrade/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      10 days ago

      Because Iran refuses to adapt and most of their government has liberal-capitalist brain worms I think chances of US/Zionist pressure succeeding in neutralizing them either with complete decapitation and regime change or just getting tools installed who let the zionists/US do whatever they want in the region, break ties with Russia/China, etc are very, very, very high this year and next.

      They’re going to keep pouring on the pressure as it’s the last stumbling block to totally US hegemony and control of the middle east and indeed to completely blocking all aspects of the belt and road overland. Iran being killed off also of course means basically all resistance groups operating in the region opposing the zionist outpost stop getting major funding, weapons, intel, etc and become a lot less effective.

      So they’re definitely going to try. More decapitating strikes, an attempt to kill the supreme leader for intimidation but more basically attempts to take out military leadership.

    • WokePalpatine [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      11 days ago

      My friend was saying on January 1st he thought this year would be good and I told him it was probably going to be worse than 2025 and keep getting worse each year until something big, big happens.

      • KuroXppi [they/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        11 days ago

        Even on an interpersonal level. We’ve had more reportable incidents at work in the last two months than we have in the last two years

        • InexplicableLunchFiend [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          11 days ago

          Rusty pipe broke outside my house and apartment and flooded the basement I’m staying in. Then my aunt died of cancer. Then Venezuela. This really is 2020 cursed year again.

          Difference is last time it was able to be deflated by Biden getting elected and massaging the situation back into “normalcy”. We’ve got 3 more years of Trump this time. He really is going to blow this shit out of control

          • Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            10 days ago

            The car that I bought less than a year ago broke down and the mechanic said it’s totally seized up and totaled, don’t really know why. That and Venezuela was the worst first week of a year I can remember, I was in a depressive funk all weekend.

    • demerit@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      10 days ago

      March-July is predicted to be very wild, and I mean like earth-shattering decade defining wild. 2027 also wont be better.

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

      It is so insane that Iran decided to follow the “rules-based international order”. Also, from the order’s perspective, Iran was doing nothing wrong, they were fully complying with the IAEA. All the sanctions that forced Iran into the nuclear deal were just because the West said so, it wasn’t even within their own bullshit “rules-based” order. And Iran followed that as well. What did that get them? A disaster.