Image is of thousands of Cubans gathering in 2026 to honor José Martí.
After the Soviet Union fell, in the 1990s, Cuba entered a period (known as the Special Period) of extreme economic pressure, losing almost all of its international trade and fuel imports. Caloric intake almost halved, and electricity was mostly unavailable for much of the day. In response, Cuba undertook Option Zero, in which the country prioritized distributing resources to the most vulnerable, and rationed what little was available as fairly as possible. During this time, the threat of total collapse led to experiments and innovations, and, paradoxically to those on the outside, Cuba’s population came together under pressure, rather than shattering. The collective understanding that their suffering resulted from abroad rather than from internal inefficiencies and corruption meant that Cuba’s government, and thus their sovereignty, survived.
As the American Empire contracts in the wake of multipolarity and can now no longer tolerate sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere, we are seeing a return to the time of the Special Period, with the illegal blockade being dramatically worsened - among other measures, the US is preventing all fuel from entering the island, a strategy made more viable with Venezuela’s fuel exports now restricted. Imperialist supporters are predicting an imminent collapse, after which American mining corporations would descend on Cuba’s massive nickel and cobalt reserves.
While it’s absolutely possible that this time Cuba’s government could collapse, it’s important to note four things: 1) as noted, Cuba has been in a situation like this before and survived; 2) the geopolitical situation is quite different to how it was in the 1990s, with China and other powers increasing in power and influence compared to the USSR’s incompetent final leaders leaving the lane wide open to American exploitation; 3) there has been a concerted effort to transition to renewable energy sources recently, with solar panels being imported from China and making up an increasing amount of the energy supply; and 4) Cuba’s government is taking this threat very seriously, and beginning rationing efforts immediately.
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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.
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.
Venezuela Ships First Crude Cargo to Israel as Oil Exports Reopen After Maduro’s Ouster - Bloomberg
I am seeing some Venezuelan sources say this is fake news.
Keep considering this as psyop shit until new notice
Does anyone have a source for this claim that is not a US imperialist propaganda organ, like Bloomberg?
Here is a key quote from that piece:
Hahaha! So this is all according to yet another totally “anonymous source”… And the “source” can not even acknowledge who they work for (most likely, the US White House).
By the way, the piratical US imperialists just illegally seized another Venezuelan oil tanker in the Indian Ocean yesterday (presumably while trying to deliver oil to India). If Washington really “owns” Venezuela as the White House claims, then why would they need to do that?
I am interested to see what will happen to the Communes. Under Maduro the Communards grew in power significantly and were even appointed a ministerial position. Maduro was pushing for the inclusion of the communes in the constitution. If they are not dismantled by the new governments or faded into irrelevancy by a lack of economic pressure from the US I could see the communes as a way to keep the socialist project growing until a time when the US is much weaker.
they should intentionally go through bab al mandab and get kidnapped by yemen on purpose
Holy shit was it just a plot to maintain the Zionist entity’s supply?
Mostly it was a plot to divert Venezuela’s oil away from Cuba and to India, to pull India away from Russia. Complete and total imperialist victory here, Venezuela going out with a whimper and betraying Cuba (many Cubans died for Maduro and this is their repayment) and India being pulled out of the BRICS orbit.
I hate to say it but Trump’s imperialist policy of bullying his way and using perfidy is working extremely well. Nobody is calling the bluff, everyone is folding.
The only people calling the bluff are China, but they’re only calling the bluff in relation to China unfortunately (as is expected).
Let that be a lesson to future revolutions, never let your economy hinge on one export industry!
There is an argument to be made that this war was lost almost 20 years ago when Venezuela failed to diversify its economy before the oil crash, or that it was at least a major lynchpin.
Can we end the cope about Venezuela’s revolution continuing? It’s over unless the people rise up and overthrow these compradors
Either they sell their oil according to US conditions or they don’t sell it at all. If Maduro was still in power he would be facing the same exact problem.
So it’s purely a coincidence that Venezuela was defying the US under Maduro and then once he’s gone they immediately capitulate?
Better that Venezuela sell it to nobody then sell it to Israel and India tbh. The oil would be better in the ground than being used to further imperialism. Selling oil is not an inherent good (in fact, it’s an inherent bad as it destroys the planet). We only tolerated it as the proceeds were going to better the people’s conditions. Now that that’s no longer the case, it should stay in the ground.
Maduro was offering this exact concession to the US in exchange for ending the sanctions.
Then the “revolution” was even more kayfabe and farcical
lmk how your revolution goes so I can throw stones from the sidelines without knowing very much about it, too
Well now I’m not gonna do it!
If a nation capitulates to imperialists, gives imperialists control over all their natural resources and then resumes trade with the fascists how exactly is that a “revolution”? It’s not, no more than Rojava was a revolution. You can’t be an imperialist proxy and lapdog and be a revolution.
Please do some research on Venezuela before making your ultra-style declarations like they’re fact. The revolution in Venezuela put power back into indigenous people’s hands and improved their quality of life significantly. It’s not perfect but it’s a damn sight more than anybody in the West has ever done.
Is it purely a coincidence that Maduro was kidnapped right when Venezuela had run out of oil storage space?
As I said, if their “revolution” can only continue by giving their sovereign wealth to a US controlled fund and selling their resources to Israel then it’s dead. They are functionally identical to an American imperialist proxy or resource colony now.
People say lots of things about ‘AES’ but part of ‘actually running’ a country is that you have to, you know, look out for your people. The truth is that Latin American countries are weak. The US doesn’t want to nor does it need to engage in military occupation to break us. Venezuela has been under hybrid warfare for 20 years. It doesn’t share a border with China, Russia or anyone in a position to aid it. And at the end of the day nobody becomes Yemen or Palestine out of choice and you’d be kidding yourself if you think any revolutionary project would choose that position.
Both Venezuela and Cuba had been angling for a China style deal since Obama 1. Those initiatives didn’t work and now, after decades of hybrid warfare, Venezuela became a tributary. They fought the hybrid war and they lost it. Maduro’s kidnapping was just the final bang. They ran a revolutionary country for 20 years and did everything they could. Calling that farcical is just romanticism.
Reading this did not help my depressive mood surrounding our (Latin America) current situation but it’s a necessary read for anyone thinking every country in the global south will immediately become 60’s Vietnam, Palestine, or Yemen overnight. It was a long and grueling process to reach those stages.
Nobody wants to sacrifice their lives unless they feel there is no other choice.
It was farcical by the end to pretend it wasn’t over when it was over. I agree the revolution was genuine originally and Venezuela lost to decades of hybrid warfare. But a loss is a loss. Why cant people here accept that fact? Because they are coping. Just like they were with Hezbollah and Syria.
That’s an interesting pivot from you, because half of this thread is you saying that Venezuela should fight a war it can’t. There’s no jungle warfare. There’s no sanctions. There’s no navy or airforce. There’s no economic pressure or sanctions or leverage. The US isn’t occupying Venezuela, the country was strangled to death. And dead it is. But even so, you required it to fight. And do what, exactly? Conjure food and medication from the ether?
You should go to Venezeula and start an insurgency. Show them how it’s done.
Real smart comment. You should move to North Korea if you love communism so much! You should move to Palestine if you love Hamas so much! Why don’t you go and fight against Israel?!
It’s easy to be a revolutionary in paradise isn’t it?
You really don’t like it when people point out that obvious and observe the failure of a revolution do you? The number one source of delusion in these threads is perpetual cope and inability to see losses as losses adequately. The point of this thread is analysis. You saying “why dont you go fight in the revolution?!?” is not analysis is brain dead cope
You don’t like it when Venezuela doesn’t fight to the last Venezuelan for your ego, do you?
Fight at all would be nice, but at the end of the day i’m not in control of Venezuela. I’m calling balls and strikes, and Venezuela just struck out and lost the game without even taking a swing. Decades of work and sacrifice by millions of Venezuelans thrown out the window for nothing. Absolute betrayal of the revolution and the people.
Since you decided to edit your last comment:
The number one source of delusion in this community is people like you, who are so out of touch with the realities on the ground yet so sure of your correctness, and have been granted the self-assuredness of your white savior complex to dictate to the Global South when and where they should lay their lives down for your ego.
https://hexbear.net/comment/6877486
I’d point you to the same comment that @dylan_g@hexbear.net already made to you about the absurdity of flattening Korea or Vietnam and comparing to Venezuela, but you didn’t read it the last time, don’t think you would read it this time, either.