Image (of a Jamaat e-Islami campaign rally) and much of the information below is sourced from here and here.
In 2024, the government of Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League, was overthrown in a student-led protest movement which was boosted by US interests. In the interim, Nobel laureate and dyed-in-the-wool neoliberal Muhammad Yunus was made president, and introduced a series of economic and political reforms (e.g. IMF packages and banking sector restructuring) which have sidelined the working class and aligned the country with US financial interests. Regardless of anybody’s personal feelings towards Hasina (who did indeed make many mistakes and caused many deaths), it is now very clear that the reason why Hasina was overthrown was not due to a humanitarian, anti-authoritarian impulse, but because Bangladesh had at least some measure of sovereignty while she was in power, as she accepted Chinese infrastructure investments. Certainly, the US is perfectly comfortable with genocidal dictators if they are allied with US interests.
Last week, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won over two thirds of parliamentary seats - the Awami League was banned from participating at all, and worker-aligned parties were either disallowed or decided to withdraw from participating due to repression. I haven’t personally been able to nail down what exact economic/foreign policies they want to introduce, but because of what Yunus has set up in the interim, it might not matter that much - the economic stage has been set such that no matter what party took power, they would have to accept a fait accompli. As Vijay Prashad put it, the competition between the parties is reduced to “which faction will administer austerity”?
One of the many upsetting aspects of this election was that the student movement that helped overthrown Hasina have been forced into irrelevance, despite their legitimate grievances. The “Gen Z” protestors, displeased by the prospect of being ruled by the BNP about as much as the Awami League, found themselves with odd bedfellows, and allied with the now-opposition party (the hardline Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami). They are now in a tough bind, lacking much of the necessary left-wing organization to assert a genuine political project.
This is an instructive moment for many people who are desperate for better conditions in countries that are economically struggling, including Iran with its recent protests. If your country has sovereignty from the US, you walk a very dangerous tightrope - how do you organize for better conditions in such a way that it cannot be co-opted by the US to overthrow your government and put something even more terrible in its wake? Shortly after a jubilant revolutionary moment, you are left without influence, power, or even media representation, and now yet further under the repression of Western imperialism. This is one of the many problems that the population of the non-NATO world will need to find ways to overcome.
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
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.
Canadians and others in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, have been ordered to shelter in place amid street violence spurred by a military operation that killed a cartel leader.
In the popular Mexican travel destination, as well as other cities in the country’s southwest, criminal groups have set up roadblocks with burning vehicles, says a travel advisory from the Canadian government.
"There have been shootouts with security forces and explosions,” according to the advisory, which urges Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel to multiple regions in Mexico.
- The state appears to be holding firm despite the internal strains and external threats. The rebellion has been crushed–most casualties were in the northwestern and the southern border provinces. There is no defection at the top levels. There is no Delcy. The chain of command remains intact. Three figures have emerged as the main power centres–Larijani, Shamkhani and Ghalibaf–while Pezeshkian has been effectively sidelined. “He is the right man in the right place but at the wrong time,” one of them told me.
- Pezehskian, Araghchi and the reform bloc pushes for a compromise deal to avert war and secure some sanctions relief. “The leader doesn’t prefer this,” the diplomat said. Still, they want to exhaust diplomatic options so the state can close ranks across factions of the elite if war breaks out. But both reformists and conservatives have drawn a firm line on the missile programme. Reformists argue concessions can be made on enrichment (including shipping out 60% enriched uranium) if the US is prepared to lift at least some sanctions. But even they are unwilling to negotiate over the missile programme.
- Iran knows the scope for a compromise is very thin. “Even if we make a deal on the nuclear programme, Israel would still call us a threat. If we abandon the missiles to avoid U.S. strikes today, Israel will attack us anyway, maybe in a few months. So why should we surrender our missiles,” said the think tanker. Trump has boxed himself in. He probably thought that Iran would capitulate under pressure. But what he is asking for is Iran’s disarmament. Having built up a significant military presence in the region, he can’t easily step back without extracting major concessions. “But we can’t give him what he asks for,” said the analyst. This means the possibility for a conflict is very high.
- What will Iran do if it were struck? This time, Iran sees any attack as existential. It has to either resist the US-Israel combine with full force or go down. If they accept a limited strike, there would be another attack a few months down the line. “It’s a different kind of mowing the lawn strategy.” If the state survives the initial blow, which they believe is likely, Iran would strike Israel and US bases in the region, one of them said. Within Iran, hardliners still argue that accepting Trump’s ceasefire in June was a mistake. They think they were becoming more effective in striking Israel with fewer missiles when the war progressed. And this time, they are ready to fight a long war. “The leader has given clear instructions that the survival of the republic is paramount.”
Brought this at the end-of-life of this thread, maybe I’ll update and repost it next week.
New US trans rights risk map from Erin Reed, various clinics denying minors care due to the HHS threatening them with kicking them out of Medicare entirely, Kansas moving into “Do Not Travel” category due to bathroom bills: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/anti-trans-national-legal-risk-assessment-a5d
The anti-trans legislation I previously reported never made it to the Turkish Parliament due to giant protests over it. Now AKP is reportedly planning to add it to the next judicial package or propose it as a seperate law: https://kaosgl1.org/en/single-news/anti-lgbti-bill-back-on-the-agenda-34-don-t-even-think-about-bringing-back-the-anti-lgbti-law-removed-from-the-judicial-package-34
Despite not passing a law though the government has been increasing pressure on LGBT activists and celebrities with vague charges. Activist Defne Güzel is being sued for “actions contrary to public morality” over a book about intersex people: https://kaosgl1.org/en/single-news/lawsuit-filed-seeking-prison-sentence-for-17-may-association-chair-defne-guzel
Recently a purge has been going on, mainly against parts of the bourgeoisie not in good terms with Erdoğan. The official line is drug use and trafficking. For example, the most public one has been against the current president of Fenerbahçe(source in Turkish): https://www.dw.com/tr/uyuşturucu-testi-pozitif-çıkan-sadettin-sarandan-açıklama/a-75292354 . At least 3 LGBT celebrities have been arrested as part of it(source in Turkish): https://kaosgl1.org/haber/universite-topluluklarindan-fenomenlere-yonelik-operasyonlara-tepki-34-her-lubunyaya-gozdagi-verilmesi-amaclaniyor-34
On 18th of January the government’s official streaming platform Tabii has released an anti-LGBT documentary titled “Rainbow Fascism”(source in Turkish): https://bianet.org/haber/tabiiden-ayrimci-belgesel-gokkusagi-fasizmi-315607
The trailer for the “documentary”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMDOPPboT9M&t=12
Ship Believed To Be Carrying Russian Fuel Reportedly On Its Way To Cuba, Challenging U.S. Blockade
http://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/2/21/absurd-and-provocative-huckabee-faces-firestorm-for-israel-border-stance Huckabee says it would be fine if Israel took all of the middle east
the absolute state of these clownsIs this good?
well, it certainly bodes well for Boeing if the next tanker aircraft ends up being Brazilian… https://archive.ph/uCyt0
Northrop, Brazil’s Embraer partner on KC-390 to pitch US, others
Under a memorandum of understanding, Northrop will explore options to develop an autonomous boom refueling system for Embraer’s KC-390, hoping to attract US and international customers.
more
Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer and American defense giant Northrop Grumman are partnering to pitch Embraer’s KC-390 Millennium to the US Air Force and other foreign militaries, the two companies announced today. Under the new partnership, formalized by a memorandum of understanding, Northrop is studying ways to incorporate an autonomous boom refueling system into the KC-390, along with other mission equipment. The team up could help strengthen Embraer’s bid to break the Millennium into the lucrative US market as the Pentagon weighs future mobility options. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “has been talking a lot about getting capability to the warfighter as fast as possible,” Tom Jones, the head of Northrop Grumman’s aeronautics division, said today during a briefing with reporters here from a hanger, looking out at a KC-390 on the tarmac. “And I think one of the great ways to do that is to take partnerships between companies that have complementary capabilities.” Bosco da Costa Jr., the president of Embraer’s defense division, added that the partnership affords the opportunity to “leverage this platform [the KC-390] to another level. “We do believe this platform will bring a winning value proposition to our customers around the globe, not only here in the US, but internationally,” da Costa said during the briefing. (Like other media, Breaking Defense accepted travel accommodations from the two companies for the visit, which included a flight in the KC-390.)
The new partnership comes after a similar agreement between Embraer and US defense contractor L3Harris fell apart in 2024. It would also represent a new foray by Northrop into the world of air refueling after the company won the original US Air Force KC-X contract in partnership with Airbus, only to be stymied by a protest from Boeing. Boeing went on to secure the eventual contract. Northrop and Embraer have a long road ahead, with significant development work needed to incorporate a boom that executives are aiming to be optional for buyers and retrofittable on existing aircraft while retaining multi-mission capability like moving cargo. A new boom would enable the Millennium to refuel a wider range of aircraft — including, crucially, those flown by the US Air Force — beyond those it can already gas up with a hose and drogue. According to Jones, the team would like to demonstrate a boom refueling capability in “low, single-digit years.” Developing a boom would also likely require considerable internal investment, meaning that an order from a big customer like the US Air Force would help sew up the business case. Asked if Northrop’s commitment to the partnership and boom development hinges on whether the US Air Force buys the aircraft for a next-gen tanker program known as NGAS, Jones mostly demurred. “Obviously, having the US Air Force invest in this capability, I think would be great. I believe there’s going to be a lot of international demand for this,” he said. “We’re starting the investment. We’re working the strategy of exactly how we come to market, how much internal investment, how much manufacturing investments. Those are all developments that are going to be [part of] the next stages we flesh out as we start operating under this MOU,” he added.
Embraer manufactures the KC-390 in Brazil, but has emphasized it’s ready to deepen its investment in the US by opening a dedicated Millennium facility. On Northrop’s side, Jones said the company would have to sort out where to perform its manufacturing tasks among its various sites. Executives additionally emphasized other opportunities for the partnership beyond the United States. Da Costa, for example, said the Netherlands and Czechia — two of several international customers to sign on to the Millennium in recent years — are interested in using the Millennium to refuel forthcoming fleets of the F-35, which require boom-based refueling. “I think if we only focus on the domestic market, we’re missing a much bigger picture of all the opportunity that’s really out there,” Jones said. “There’s a pretty large installed base of fighter aircraft around the world with all of our allies that we have that need fixed boom refueling capabilities, and right now they don’t have an option, like the option that we’re going to create together that’s behind us here right now,” he added, gesturing to a Millennium parked behind him.
Telegraph - Here’s how the monarchy survives the fallout from Andrew
Me ranting and summarizing the article, not the article text which says nothing anyway
An extremely long article that basically says nothing but it does reveal the crisis management strategy:
Prince Andrew is individually responsible for this. He was basically an errant playboy who went too far.
It was not his role in the apparatus of power to be Britain’s envoy in the global power network. No, he was off-script here. He wasn’t an agent of British power here, he was abusing trust.
Queen Elizabeth was a loving mother. She wasn’t fully aware of her son being a nonce. Even though, as stated in the exact same article, the entire palace household knew he was a bully and a scumbag. But I guess the queen didn’t know. Or maybe she thought it was normal? I dunno.
Prince William is notoriously intolerant of rudeness to his staff. Kensington Palace has sought a “CEO”, remodelling slightly to resemble something closer to a company.
Ah but don’t worry because the monarchy is going to be remodeled as a corporation.
And the problem to be solved here is rudeness.
Don’t fear… future nonces will be polite to their staff.
And the article repeatedly refers to the royal family as a “firm” which requires modernized operations.
The future of the British monarchy is a slim, efficient, polite, firm that will run Britain efficiently.
I see the future and it isn’t liberal democracy. The USA will head towards technofeudalism but the UK, typically, moves always towards a fusion of tradition and modernity.
E.P.A. Weakens Limits on Mercury From Coal Plants
The move appeared to undermine the goals of the Make America Healthy Again movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary. As the head of the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, Mr. Kennedy campaigned against mercury pollution for years, citing his own diagnosis of mercury poisoning caused by a diet high in tuna.
They’re gonna make the fish gay
Besides mercury, the change would relax limits on other heavy metals released by burning coal, including cadmium, chromium, lead and nickel. These other pollutants are linked to a range of health risks, including cancer, infertility and neurological damage.
Lyon, France. A person died in the margin of a Rima hassan rally for Unbowed France. All the billionaire-owned and even public medias are charging “far left violence”, made a dithyrambic portrait of the victim, presenting him as a sort of chivalrous militant for catholicism, who were spending his week-end helping widows and street orphans, as his body was still warm.
Turns out, he was part of “nationalist revolutionary” groups, came there with his neonazi mate with sticks to kick people’s ass, and the incident was more akin to hooliganism than political violence. Now the neonazis student groups are on national TV whining about how they’re the victims.
Very interesting article on Iranian air defences with satellite imagery.
It looks like Iran is trying to pair the missiles /launchers of Russian/Soviet origin air defence systems which had their radars destroyed by previous Israeli and US airstrikes, with Iranian air defence systems and radars.
S-300PMU-2/SA-20 Transporter Erector Launchers (TELs) paired with an Iranian Bavar-373 system, but no 30N6 series Tombstone/Flap Lid fire control radar from the SA-20 visible (destruction of at least one such radar has been confirmed by previous satellite imagery, included in the article):
S-200V/SA-5B surface to air missile and launcher paired with an Iranian Khordad 15 system, no Square Pair fire control radar or Tail King search radar visible from the S-200 (Israel destroyed a bunch of these last year in June when targeting S-200 sites):
Looking at this, I have doubts that Iran is getting advanced air defence systems or radars from Russia and China, given the lengths Iran is going to try revive these systems which had their radars destroyed. Could China nor Russia seriously not spare a half century old Square Pair or Tail King radar from old stock or even a museum? Can China not spare 4x 30N6 radars for the Iranian SA-20s, China have over 100 between Russian purchased systems and domestic copies. Or maybe they supplied them a ton of advanced stuff and this act of trying to get these systems working with Iranian radars is all a ruse. But it doesn’t look good.
A photographer managed to snap some very detailed pictures of the specialised F-16CJ suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) aircraft from the South Carolina Air National Guard at Lajes a few days ago, before heading to the Middle East. These have been outfitted with some quite specialised equipment not seen before on combat deployed F-16CJs. These aren’t your ordinary F-16s, or even your ordinary F-16CJs. Very specialised equipment is being deployed. If you don’t want to read further that’s all you need to know, very specialised equipment being moved to the Middle East.
First thing that’s visually apparent is the dark grey colour and canopy tint. This is from the Have Glass V/Upgraded Have Glass radar signature reduction treatment applied to some F-16s. This consists of a radar absorbent material (RAM) coating applied to the aircraft, similar to the F-35, which is why it’s the same colour as an F-35. There is also a canopy film and coating of the radome and edge treatment to reduce radar return, which is why the canopy has that tint, and the radome and leading edges of the intake, wings and vertical stabiliser are a lighter colour. While it’s not “stealth”, all this helps reduce the radar cross section (RCS) substantially, especially from a head on angle.
Another unique piece of equipment is the Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) pod on the centerline of the aircraft. Gone is the usual AN/ALQ-184 pod. It’s been replaced with what’s known as the “Angry Kitten” ECM pod. This is the first time I’ve seen these on US F-16CJs on a forward/combat deployment. Angry Kitten was an ECM pod for aggressor squadrons (the planes and pilots that pretend to be the enemy in training), designed to incorporate all the features of the AN/ALQ-167 pod and AN/ULQ-21 countermeasures set in a more modular package to quickly simulate ECM and electronic counter countermeasures (ECCM) capabilities of US adversaries. It appears to have been so good at that, now the US wants to use it in combat, for the first time. Angry Kitten has the same external appearance as the AN/ALQ-167, and while the AN/ALQ-167 has been used in combat before, it had many different variants with different features. Angry Kitten incorporates all of that in one solution, no need for dozens of variants of the AN/ALQ-167 incorporating different combinations of modules of the AN/ULQ-21. Now it’s just one pod that can incorporate and switch out all the different modules in the field. And if you look at all the different features the AN/ULQ-21 has on offer, it allows for a wide variety of options for one pod. Frequency range from 0.4-18GHz, with some functionality at 36GHz, false target generation, repeater jamming, noise jamming, and dozens of ECM/ECCM modes and exponential combinations of those modes.
The combination of the RCS reduction of Have Glass V, and the features of the Angry Kitten ECM pod make for a potent and capable SEAD platform that should not be underestimated, even if it’s not a 5th generation stealth aircraft. Iran has a high quantity older air defence systems (HAWK/SA-2/Kub) that would be very deadly otherwise. Just one example is false target generation. Generate a false target with a much bigger radar return than the Have Glass treated F-16CJ, this baits out an air defence system to fire at it, it’s location is then known by every aircraft in the vicinity and it can be spot jammed or fired upon. This is a very simplistic and most likely incorrect hypothetical. But it just shows how complex the modern battlefield is, and how control of the electromagnetic spectrum is critical.
More anti-fake-news than news, I guess. But I ran into some video by an ostensible anti-zionist going on and on about how “the new Islamic NATO spells the end of Greater Israel”, and thus learned that people somehow actually believe this is a thing.
Is this like hopium meant to help
it into existence, or what? 
Sergei Glazyev dropped a few truth bombs today:
“The Western economic system is losing its effectiveness and its leadership. The center of the global economy has shifted east. Today, China and India account for the majority of global economic growth. Other countries in South and East Asia are joining them. There is no longer any doubt that a historic global transition has occurred. The ‘pax Americana’ has collapsed before our very eyes.”
“They still consider themselves the center of the universe and are trying to maintain their hegemony in a situation where, in terms of economic efficiency and development management, they have already failed. They have already lost the economic competition with China, but they cannot admit it.”
https://www.politnavigator.net/pax-americana-uzhe-razvalilsya-no-eshhe-ne-znaet-ob-ehtom.html
