Image is of a Colombian campaign rally in support of Iván Cepeda of the left-wing Historic Pact.
As always, my weekly preamble is in spoiler tags below.
preamble
The unstable stare-down in the Middle East continues. Yet again, there’s been little region-level change, but there have been some big escalations. Namely, the entity has decided to go further into Lebanon, with all the casualties and destruction that will bring them, while simultaneously abandoning bases elsewhere in the theater due to constant pressure by Hezbollah. Seeking to pressure Hezbollah away from their successful strategy of attrition on IOF forces that attempt to advance only to receive rapid onset symptoms of FPVdroneitis, they have also decided to resume airstrikes on Beirut, which is an obvious violation of the region-wide ceasefire that Iran may or may not militarily respond to, but they do seem very diplomatically displeased as of me writing this sentence. Meanwhile, Iran has responded to US drone incursions with strikes on Kuwait military bases. Trump has escalated his demands lately, so a return to war seems more likely than ever.
In Bolivia, Paz appears to be escalating in response to undiminished general strikes, with Congress allowing him to declare states of emergency at will, and therefore get the military more easily involved. In Colombia’s runoff elections, far-right candidate Espriella won the first round of the runoff election with 43.7% of the vote ahead of left-winger Cepeda’s 40.9%. Every poll had Cepeda beating Espriella by varying margins, so this appears to be a fairly standard case of the US putting their thumb on the scale; as the saying goes, they do not trust the population of Colombia to do democracy correctly and they couldn’t risk them accidentally electing the wrong person.
Over in Sudan, the conflict appears like it is moving in a pro-SAF direction, with some significant military gains against the UAE-backed RSF, although the military situation is still fairly complicated. A potentially notable news item that I missed a couple weeks ago is that the US seems to have ended their strategic ambiguity over who they consider the true government in Sudan, as they now firmly recognize the SAF over the RSF. Why exactly this has occurred is a little beyond me. Could be because they see how the winds are blowing militarily; could be because they want to fuck over the UAE for some perceived slight (to be America’s ally is fatal etc etc). The humanitarian situation appears no better though, with millions of people remaining in incredible hardship and near-starvation, and RSF-backed genocidal atrocities of the kind that Zionists would nod approvingly at.
Thankfully, China is looking at all these manifold crises and has dramatically escalated the speed at which they are writing strongly worded letters and are calling for a revitalized UN.
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 the Zionists’ 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.
AJ
If any ‘resistance axis’ member attacked expect a response: Iran official
Iran’s attack on Israel in defence of Lebanon isn’t merely a military response but an “official declaration of a strategic doctrine”, says the head of Iran’s expediency discernment council.
Amoli Larijani said the strikes are a “clear message” that should any part of the “axis of resistance” – which includes Hezbollah – be attacked it will be met with a “response transcending geographical borders” and “alter the regional equations”.
“At the same time, Iran made it evident that any escalation of the conflict or assault on the country’s critical infrastructure would face a comprehensive and deterrent response – one whose scope could encompass all actors supporting this confrontation,” said Larijani.
“Thus, Tehran has ushered in a new chapter in its defence policy – a chapter in which safeguarding regional power is pursued not in anticipation of threats, but through proactive initiative and offensive strength.”
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Peruvian Elections Update Reloaded:
93.00 % of the Vote Counted
- KEIKO FUJIMORI (FAR-RIGHT): 50.08 % (- 0.02%) - 8.752.752 votes
- ROBERTO SANCHEZ (LEFTIST): 49.92% (+ 0.02%) - 8.724.815 votes
Sanchez needs 27.937 votes + one vote to pass Keiko.
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Peruvian Elections Update Reloaded:
92.92 % of the Vote Counted
- KEIKO FUJIMORI (FAR-RIGHT): 50.10 % (- 0.08%) - 8.745.833 votes
- ROBERTO SANCHEZ (LEFTIST): 49.90% (+ 0.09%) - 8.709.615 votes
Sanchez needs 36.218 votes + one vote to pass Keiko.
Peruvian Elections Update Reloaded:
92 % of the Vote Counted
- KEIKO FUJIMORI (FAR-RIGHT): 50.20 % (- 0.12%)
- ROBERTO SANCHEZ (LEFTIST): 49.80% (+ 0.43%)
Sánchez narrows the gap with Fujimori in the presidential election vote count in Peru.
With 91.711% of the ballots counted, Roberto Helbert Sánchez Palomino is closing in on Keiko Fujimori.
Keiko Fujimori, of Fuerza Popular, has 50.311% of the votes, totaling 8,699,624.
Roberto Helbert Sánchez Palomino, of Juntos por el Perú, has 49.689% with 8,591,937 votes.
The difference between the two candidates is 107,687 votes.
6.669% of the ballots remain to be processed, and 1.620% are pending submission to the Special Electoral Tribunal (JEE).
AJ - Large blast heard in Tehran as strikes continue
The sound of explosions is being heard in Tehran, the Tasnim news agency reports.
“It seems that some of the sounds were caused by the activation of air defences in Tehran,” the agency said.
The Guardian - Yemen announced that it had joined the war for the first time since the 8 April ceasefire. The Houthi leadership fired missiles towards Jaffa Israel and said Israeli linked commercial shipping would be blocked entering the Red Sea, a decision that will unnerve other shipping. Iranian officials had earlier suggested the revival of the blockade of Bab al-Mandab strait for Israeli linked shipping was being considered by the Houthi leadership.
In a statement Yemen’s Houthi leadership also known as Ansar Allah Yemen said
“We declare a complete and absolute ban on maritime navigation for the Israeli enemy in the Red Sea and believe that any enemy movement from the moment this statement is announced will be a military target for our armed forces."
“We will respond to escalation with escalation, and our military operations will be increasingly coordinated with events, battles, and participation in the axis of jihad and resistance”.
The Houthis for internal reasons has been reluctant to join the US-Iran conflict preferring to hold talks with Saudi Arabia about reuniting Yemen. Aliakbar Velayati adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei had earlier warned “today’s security of the Ban al-Mandan strait should not cause the enemy to make a miscalculation; the resistance rings have the power to close both waterways
“The choice is yours; stop the folly or enter into a regulated balance of the two straits”.
The joint closure of the strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab has the capacity to sabotage the flow of East West flow of commercial naval traffic. Iranian officials admitted Israeli strikes hit the Karun Petrochemical Company in the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone. Iran said the attacks did not result in any casualties, but “the extent of damage and possible injuries is under investigation.”
Abbas Araghchi the foreign minister through the night was in contact with fellow diplomats to explain Iran’s decision to restart its assault on Israel. He spoke with the Uk foreign minister Yvette Cooper and the Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan as well as the Saudi foreign minister
Peruvian Elections Update Reloaded:
90 % of the Vote Counted
- KEIKO FUJIMORI (FAR-RIGHT): 50.32 % (- 2.37%)
- ROBERTO SANCHEZ (LEFTIST): 49.37% (+ 2.37%)
CNN - All flights at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport have been cancelled, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency on Monday. The airport is a major transport hub in Iran and operates both domestic and international routes. Israel and Iran are trading strikes in the worst escalation since the April truce. Explosions have been reported in several Iranian cities, including Tehran.
Donald Trump humiliating himself by insisting he’s in charge while Israel openly defies him is pretty funny.
It’s all just theatre, but I hope it isn’t.
Peruvian Elections Update Reloaded:
82 % of the Vote Counted
- KEIKO FUJIMORI (FAR-RIGHT): 51.52% (-1.18%)
- ROBERTO SANCHEZ (LEFTIST): 48.48% (+1.18%)
when one poster falls, another picks up the Peruvian election vote count
Al Jazeera - Sirens blare across central Israel. The Channel 12 broadcaster is reporting sirens across central Israel, including Gush Dan and Jerusalem. It said Israeli airspace has been closed temporarily
