Image is a map of the Western Sahara, sourced from this article in the Middle East Eye. Much of the information in the preamble also came from there, as well as this article.
November 6th marked the 50th anniversary of Morocco, under King Hassan II, beginning the invasion and occupation of much of the territory of the Western Sahara. Today, approximately 80% of the territory of the Western Sahara is controlled by Morocco, with the Polisario Front - the government of the Sahrawis - controlling the rest, hugging the border of Mauritania. Between them lies one of the longest walls and one of the largest minefields on the planet, of which construction began in the 1980s.
The legitimacy of Morocco’s control over the Western Sahara is one of those long-lasting diplomatic issues which ultimately doesn’t seem to matter very much in terms of on-the-ground realities, and reveals the eternal uselessness of the United Nations especially in regard to actually helping oppressed people. Up until about 2020, the US and certain other Western countries did not formally recognize Morocco as having sovereignty over the whole territory, but in terms of providing genuine opposition to Morocco, it seems that Algeria is the major player in the region. While American, European, and Moroccan corporations exploit the fisheries and phosphate minerals of the region, protected by their minefields (and claims of merely advancing the cause of renewable energy development, AKA greenwashing), Algeria provides what aid they can to support the displaced Sahrawi people, many of whom have been forced to live in refugee camps.
On October 31st, the US put forward a resolution in the UN Security Council which was adopted (Russia and China abstained) and provided major support to Morocco, urging the Polisario Front to adopt the 2007 “autonomy plan”, which would, despite its name, be synonymous with an end to their independence movement. Such a plan was met with much jubilation in Morocco, with King Mohammed VI remarking "From now on, there will be a before and an after October 31, 2025.” Such a date was also the catalyst for the PF intensifying their guerilla struggle against Morocco, as legal avenues for autonomy and basic human rights are running out as the imperialists grow more desperate.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
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.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
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.
All Posters are Beautiful, but not all posts are effort posts. DM me to feature effort posts in the newsmega/newscomm here (including your own posts)
@jack@hexbear.net on Venezuelan communes as actually existing socialism and a book by Chris Gilbert
Subthread on Chinese tourism in Japan between @Leegh@hexbear.net, @xiaohongshu@hexbear.net and several others.
All Commenters Are Beautiful
Are comments abundantly bountiful?
The official Ukrainian death toll stands at 46,000.
Edit: fixed link.
Vibe report: after being bombarded with anti-Japan content on my social media feed for an entire week, there has been a significant drop over the past 48 hours. This morning, I saw only one item while browsing my feed. I think we’re in the de-escalation phase.
Like the Pelosi incident, it’s not worth starting a war over such spats. The militarization on both sides, I believe, will continue, simply because of the economic downturn forcing investment into the defense industry, but I don’t think a hot war is around the corner (famous last words here lol).
Another viewpoint is that the propaganda wing is almost always more nationalistic in character than the lib leadership, and orders from the top can take a few days to trickle down.
“China funded Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka” is a talking point I keep seeing more of. Is there any truth to it?
my cartoon for today about the recent news about chinese ships by reuters and a bit of Japan prime minister bullshit
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-CHINA/TAIWAN-INVASION/zjpqdekmlvx/
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spat-taiwan-threatening-china-japan-ties-127583493
Philippines jails former mayor - who officials say faked her nationality to get the job – for human trafficking https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/20/asia/philippines-alice-guo-jailed-scams-intl-hnk
https://xcancel.com/naftalibennett/status/1992332782220304488
Naftali Bennett is not happy with Netanyahu posting that Jacobin article.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio apparently spoke with U.S. Senator for South Dakota Mike Rounds, and confirms (if you believe him) what most have suspected, that the “Ukraine - Russia peace plan”, was a leak from Russian sources to the media.
Rubio did make a phone call to us this afternoon. I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives. It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan. It is a proposal that was received. And as an intermediary, we have made arrangements to share it. And we did not release it. It was leaked. It was not released by our members or our representatives… This is an opportunity to receive it and that it has been utilized and delivered to the Ukrainians, and that they will have an opportunity to respond. And in doing so, you now have one side being presented and the opportunity for the other side to respond.
“The leaked 28-point plan, which, according to Rubio, is not of the administration’s position–it is essentially the wish list of the Russians.”
"This was a proposal which was received by someone who has identified and they believed to be representing Russia in this proposal. It was given to Steve Witkoff.
With regard to the discussion that there would be threats of items taken… information being withheld and so forth-Rubio did say that he was not aware of any of that.
Looks like Rubio is putting his foot down, distancing himself and the United States from the “peace plan”. Witkoff again, looks like a complete idiot. Also saying, importantly, that Rubio is unaware of any threat by the US to stop intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
As a reminder:
Update: As expected with stuff like this, the denial and walk back from Rubio himself, who publicly states that the plan was authored by the USA.
The peace proposal was authored by the U.S.
It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations
It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.
The US won’t attack Venezuela until the Ukraine war has been effectively wound down, because the MIC can’t sustain Ukraine plus another war along the lines of what the US intends to do in Venezeula. Hence the push to make Ukraine take a deal.
Thoughts?
Trump on Bolsonaro’s arrest:
I don’t know anything about that. That happened?
Too bad.
f Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf, Normandy, France
Direct action collectives Soulevements de la terre (earth uprising), Confederation paysane (peasant confederation), Cancer Colere (cancer anger) organized a blockade against a pesticide plant that have been accused of rejecting massive amounts of PFAS (forever chemicals) into the Seine river.
500 people took the plant and started looking for forbidden substances that they shamelessly export to places like Brazil. The plant and its owner BASF lost a day of production. Two fellows have been arrested, but released. Afterward, a public lecture was organized where intoxicated farmers explained the diseases they got from the pollution.
“Our anger will not subside without profound change. We invite farmers and residents to converge on other pesticide production sites and to challenge the institutions complicit in this destructive and deadly model. It is together that we can build a vibrant agriculture free from chemical poisons.”
https://www.infolibertaire.net/lusine-a-pesticides-basf-mise-a-larret-une-journee-par-500-personnes/
Bolsonaro admits that he tried to break his electronic ankle bracelet in an emotional outburst. According to allies, the former president has been taking medication and suffering from anxiety. Bolsonaro used a soldering iron to damage his electronic ankle bracelet in the early hours of Saturday (21), just days after Trump eased tariffs against Brazil. It is believed that Bolsonaro felt abandoned by Trump and tried to flee. He reportedly admitted to investigators that he tried to damage the electronic device. Bolsonaro will appear in court on Sunday (23). He will spend the night in custody in a room at the Federal Police Headquarters in Brasília.
Bolsonaro justifies himself by saying that he was curious to know how an electronic ankle bracelet worked inside, and insists that it is not illegal. The federal police believe that he tried to break the electronic ankle bracelet box to leave it at home while he fled disguised in a crowd (his son allegedly organized a supposed protest in front of Bolsonaro’s house today). His destination would be either the American embassy or the Hungarian embassy.
The initial information received by the government was that “the monitored individual [Bolsonaro] had knocked the device [ankle bracelet] on the stairs.” However, this version was not confirmed by analysis of the equipment. "The equipment showed clear and significant signs of damage. There were burn marks around its entire circumference, at the point where the case fits/closes,“ the document states.
The ankle bracelet alarm went off at 12:07 a.m. Bolsonaro’s defense is expected to claim that the former president attempted to break the electronic ankle bracelet during an emotional outburst. Allies admit that the former president tried to violate the ankle bracelet, but want to assert that the action is related to sleep deprivation or the interference of medications. An ally claims that the former president believed there was listening equipment in the device. The goal is to dissociate the fact ,which must be proven by the Federal Police’s forensic experts, from an escape attempt.
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