Bulletins and News Discussion from December 2nd to December 8th, 2024 - May A Hundred Hazel Flowers Bloom - COTW: Russia
Image is of one of the six salvos of the Oreshnik missile striking Ukraine.
The Oreshnik is an intermediate-range ballistic missile that appears to split into six groups of six submunitions as it strikes its target, giving it the appearance of a hazel flower. It can travel at ten times the speed of sound, and cannot be intercepted by any known Western air defense system, and thus Russia can strike and conventionally destroy any target anywhere in Europe within 20 minutes. Two weeks ago, Russia used the Oreshnik to strike the Yuzhmash factory in Ukraine, particularly its underground facilities, in which ballistic missiles are produced.
Despite the destruction caused by the missile, and its demonstration of Russian missile supremacy over the imperial core, various warmongering Western countries have advocated for further reprisals against Russia, with Ukraine authorized by the US to continue strikes. Additionally, the recent upsurge of the fighting in Syria is no doubt connected to trying to stretch Russia thin, as well as attempting to isolate Hezbollah and Palestine from Iran; how successful this will have ended up being will depend on the outcome of the Russia and Syrian counteroffensive. Looking at recent military history, it will take many months for the Russians and Syrians to retake a city that was lost in about 48 hours.
Even in the worst case scenario for Hezbollah, it's notable that Ansarallah has had major success despite being physically cut off from the rest of the Resistance and under a blockade, and it has defeated the US Navy in its attempts to open up the strait. Israel has confirmed now that their army cannot even make significant territorial gains versus a post-Nasrallah, post-pager terrorist attack Hezbollah holding back its missile strike capabilities. In 2006, it also could not defeat a much less well-armed Hezbollah and was forced to retreat from Lebanon.
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.
Just want to point out that whoever the person is that killed the healthcare CEOscum absolutely knew what they were doing. Today is the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center, so there's a fuck ton of tourists out. They knew that the best way to get around the city is on bike, which they used to flee the scene right into Central Park. You can get there way faster on bike than anything else. And they knew that in Central Park, specifically in the forested area of the Ramble, there are few cameras and many places to hide where they could change clothes and then blend back in with the massive crowds hitting the city today. Also apparently used a suppressed pistol, and knew exactly which door the CEO would be coming out of/when to be there. Impressive. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that this assassin gets away with this. Trump assassins take notes.
Like 90% of US citizens are happy that that health insurance CEO died, but apparently the US can't have free healthcare because "they like their insurance"
Hey all, long time lurker, first time commenter. I used to spam up my geopolitics addiction-brained "effort posts" back on r/genzedong but finally decided to leave R*ddit after seeing how large parts of the site turned on LGBT as a scapegoat after the US election.
Just wanted to post some thoughts on the Syrian tragedy. It’s personal to me in that back when I was a little snot shitlib teenager, I used to volunteer for Amnesty International to fundraise and spread awareness for the “heroic Syrian rebels” fighting for democracy against the “Assad regime” (aka extort white-guilt tithes from schoolmate parents and propagandize for the US State Department). Of course, then Al-Qaeda/ISIS came along with more rebrands than Blackwater, United Fruit and the "formerly known as Twitter" company combined and showed everyone who cared to pay attention whom exactly the “Syrian opposition” really were. Ever since becoming a leftist and a Marxist-Leninist, I’ve tried to keep up with this conflict as best I can and so since I’ve been lurking for a while now and saw some people lost on the complexities of this 13 year long humanitarian catastrophe, so I'll try to fill in some information about the conflict insofar as I understand it. My sources are primarily A.B. Abrams' two books “World War in Syria” and “Atrocity Propaganda Fabrication and its Consequences” (Both on Z-Library and Libgen, both fantastic works that I highly recommend, we seem to be getting an outpouring of actually anti-imperialist published books nowadays when we used to have to scroll through random-ass substacks and twitter threads just to get any information)
Part 1: Target Syria: Origins of the Syrian Civil War
As can be expected, nothing about the “Arab Spring” which led to the outbreak of the conflict in March 2011 was organic. Being notorious self-plagiarists, this was the same playbook the West always uses: taking advantage of strained socio-economic material conditions within a designated adversary's society and funneling that discontent into the direction of regime change.
The origins of Western motives for Syrian regime change:
Anti-Imperialist Geopolitics: For such a “small” country, Syria has been the bastion of West Asian anti-imperialism during the Cold War. Since the dissolution of the United Arab Republic after Nasser’s successor Sadat swung Egypt’s foreign policy away from the Soviet Union and towards the comprador role it diligently upholds today under Sisi, Syria "quickly emerged as the primary opponent of the imposition of Western hegemony in the Middle East.” After the collapse of the USSR, Syria began its alignment with the Axis of Resistance (Iran, Hezbollah) and with the DPRK for its Hwasung missiles to counter Israel. Later, this alignment expanded to Russia and China, hosting Russia’s sole Mediterranean naval base and signing onto China’s BRI.
Syrian Secularism as Islamist target: The naked alignment of Al-Qaeda and ISIS with the US in Syria at the present moment, closely examined, is actually a long continuation of Western ties with the Islamist groups in the 20th century Cold War that "received considerable support from NATO member states, enabling them to more effectively target a number of Soviet-aligned and neutral governments.” In 1979, the Muslim Brotherhood targetted Syria with a Islamist uprising that occupied the city of Hama, killing over 1000 Syrian personnel before the restoration of the city. This is the origin of the West’s Islamist underlings’ particular hatred for the Damascus government and the lightbulb moment for the West in how they could be used against Syria. Following 1979, "Israeli and Western experts would notably highlight the presence of radical Islamist elements as an asset to undermine Damascus which “would not be difficult to operate again” and offered “increased U.S. opportunities for destabilization activities if this form of pressure proves necessary.””
Pipeline Diplomacy: Its closer relationship with Iran in the post-USSR period led to Assad deciding to reject a Qatari oil pipeline project to Europe in 2009 that would have led from Qatar’s North Field through Saudi Arabia-Jordan-Syria-Turkey in favor of a Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline that would ship out via the Mediterranean through the Syrian port and oil refinery of Baniyas in Tartous Governorate without the need for Turkey. Tellingly, the major regional sponsors of Syria’s regime change in the 2010s became precisely those same countries in the Qatari project that Assad sunk. As America's imminent Healthcare Wormbrained Genius RFK Jr. once wrote for Politico:
Secret cables and reports by the U.S., Saudi and Israeli intelligence agencies indicate that the moment Assad rejected the Qatari pipeline, military and intelligence planners quickly arrived at the consensus that fomenting a Sunni uprising in Syria to overthrow the uncooperative Bashar Assad was a feasible path to achieving the shared objective of completing the Qatar/Turkey gas link […] the CIA began funding opposition groups in Syria. It is important to note that this was well before the Arab Spring-engendered uprising against Assad
Syrian sovereignty: Ultimately, Syria’s stance as a sovereign West Asian country unbeholden to the West just like Hussein's Iraq and Gaddafi's Libya was the primary Western rationale. Once again, it goes to show that Western hegemonic chauvinism is the root of it all. I’ll just let Abrams conclude this section:
While there were multiple converging casus belli which led the Syrian state to be targeted for destabilisation and eventual overthrow by the Western Bloc and its partners, one common factor underlying every rationale for targeting Syria was the country’s position as an independent state under a single ruling party which was outside the Western sphere of influence. All states of this nature, from the Soviet Union and Ba’athist Iraq to Cuba, Afghanistan (pre-1992) and North Korea among many others, have been targeted for various economic, military and information warfare efforts. The final goal of these efforts has been to bring about their downfall, placing Western soldiers permanently on their soil and placing their territories and populations firmly within the Western sphere of influence. All reasons for targeting Syria are in some way consequences of this one single fact.
I have to admit the sentiment regarding the dead CEO was way more extreme than I expected, and I don't mean that in a bad. Just a little of the standard liberal scolding, but largely unanimous that he had it coming. Hope that pressure point keeps getting pushed on.
It's pretty wild that Reddit is universally celebrating this guy's death. Like yeah no shit but just a couple years ago you would get banned for saying whatever bit the dirt that month deserved it. Dare I say it, shit is accelerating.
For everyone that is confused why me and other Syrians might be happy about this:
A stagnant, oppressive and expired regime has finally been kicked out after strangling us since 1971. Yeah yeah the geopolitical implication and all that, but we're human in the end and there's an emotional weight in seeing the omniscient Baath regime with all the fucking Hafez and Bashar statues and pictures get stomped on and thrown in the trash. Let us have this at least, these fuckers have killed or tortured a young man from every single Syrian family.
The CEO killing is being called a targeted killing, but the MSM taking the opportunity to scaremonger and make this about the safety of the general public. There's probably more people walking the streets that have been fucked over by healthcare corporations. Pretty sure they aren't going to be the targets of a hit or premeditated murder.
The words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were discovered by detectives on the shell casings found at the scene where Brian Thompson, the CEO of major insurance group UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down, police sources told ABC News late Wednesday evening.
Zelensky says that the country's army does not have the strength to recover Crimea and that he will have to make “diplomatic efforts”. This is his first statement indicating that he would cede territory to Russia.
Absolutely pissing myself laughing. This propaganda telegram I follow which I've long believed has some feds in it has a moderator who has been telling people he's Swiss for years now. Constantly posts racist, hateful and homophobic shit in a bid to get me to quit the group because they don't like my presence there constantly undercutting stuff.
Anyway dude posted a voice message to the chat (quite common on telegram) without thinking about it and the dude has a yank accent so now I call him the fed.
This isn't news per se but as it's one of the fashy places I get shit from it's tangentially related
They intend to cross the Golan Heights (which currently exists as a buffer zone) because they say they need a buffer zone. It's an excuse to take Syrian land.
Greater Israel is their goal. Has always been their goal. They will never stop.
China's BYD to produce its EVs in Brazil. “This will be the largest and most advanced electric vehicle production plant outside of China”. 300,000 vehicles are expected to be produced per year by the end of 2026, primarily to supply the Brazilian and South American markets.
I expected a lot more blood to be spilled and I am glad that it wasn't. The political alignments are concerning, of course, but Syrians deserve peace and stability.
It looks like Assad had no real ability to keep the government together this time. Not that I supported the rebels, but I'm glad that the whole country wasn't set on fire just for him to lose anyway.
In the long run I hope that we see a new pan-Arab socialist movement form, and I hope that it will be Marxist this time.
A little report from Aleppo, I called my aunt yesterday. She stayed in Aleppo, more specifically Hayy Salah Al Deen in the western parts of Aleppo. Life is pretty normal according to her, the Jihadists are actually behaving well in their interactions with civilians. Shops are open, but there's some confusion about currency and prices, because fighters from Idlib mainly carry Turkish Liras instead of Syrian Liras, so all the prices are unstable and people are confused about what to do with their money. They distributed free bread yesterday, which was neatly organised. Electricity has somehow gotten better.
And just like that, the Baath government in Syria is no more. I'm very emotional right now, many mixed feelings, one part of me is very happy and relieved, another part knows that some American and Israeli ghouls are sharing my happiness, which makes me question that happiness. There's much to dissect in the events of these last 10 days, we'll do that slowly and carefully over the next weeks. But wow, I can't believe that this even happened. 14 years, what was even the point of all this pain and destruction? Congrats to Jolani, he has cemented his place in the history books as the conqueror of Syria, he did what Alloush, Baghdadi and countless others couldn't do. Assad goes into the trashcan of history, another failson goes.
It's mindblowing how many libs are Wuhan-pilled after the show trial The Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
They believe everything if it says CHINA BAD, even if western scientists themselves don't believe the lab leak theory.
If you point this out, you are a Chinese bot, case closed.
Hezbollah: Following the repeated violations initiated by the Israeli of the cessation of hostilities agreement announced to come into effect at dawn on Wednesday, November 27, 2024, which take various forms including firing on civilians and airstrikes in various parts of Lebanon, which led to the deaths of citizens and the injury of others, in addition to the continued violation of Lebanese airspace by hostile Israeli aircraft reaching the capital Beirut, and since the reviews of the relevant authorities to stop these violations did not succeed, the Islamic Resistance carried out an initial warning defensive response this evening, Monday, targeting the Ruwaysat al-Alam site belonging to the Israeli army in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kafr Shuba
Christ, what a miserable state of affairs. Assad has always been a piece of shit, but I cannnot imagine how awful things are going to get once again in Syria without his regime at least nominally committed to multiethnic harmony. And the Axis of Resistance? What a joke tbh, I'm almost glad Nasrallah isn't here to see this. Iran is just watching all its pieces wiped from the board, for what? Some vague hope that Trump of all people is going to dial back sanctions? Disgusting. I hope I'm wrong, but grim days seem to be ahead.
Romania has annuled the results of the first round of their elections. Citing Russian interference.
In reality they didn't like the result so they're fighting it. Bourgeoise democracies are only allowed democracy if it's the outcome the bourgeoisie want.
Fucking tired of hearing about the fucking hostages. In particular these past few days with the video of the hostage being released by Hamas. Guy is a fucking IDF soldier, he willingly signed up for this shit for the glory of being a colonizer. And now they're banging on about another soldier who actually got what he deserved on Oct. 7th, but everyone thought was being held hostage.
I hate how the media treats these genocidal freaks with more humanity than the all of the innocent Palestinians that are being systemically exterminated by Israel.
Honestly, between the video and the getaway, the UHC exec murder looks like a professional hit. Like they must have denied some Delta Force guy's kid coverage or some shit.
Also i lost the link but apparently an official account of the DDP of taiwan congratulated the ROK president for the coup and said taiwan should do the same, they deleted after it failed
I don’t have strong feelings on Assad (because no investigation, no right to speak), but I fear the coming years are going to be horrific for the Syrian people. Complete instability, fighting among factions, etc… it’s the people of Syria who will suffer most. I don’t think you’re going to see things stabilize there for quite some time.
I do wonder, though, if this instability means Hezbollah will continue to be able to resupply from Iran.
I don't feel anything about the collapse of the SAA in Hama and possibly further. It's a rotting government, even a particularly vulnerable minority like the Ismaili Shias in Salamiyah are seeing the writing on the wall and handed over their town to HTS today. People in the left anti-imperialist camp are missing too much context in their steadfast defence of Assad and the government. Yeah most minorities would rather live under Assad, that's obvious, but it's frankly a horrible government and most people are just indifferent at this point. I expected horrors to be committed when HTS took Aleppo, but they are behaving better than the SAA and NDF thugs so far honestly. It's very hard to be motivated to fight for the rotting Baath government, what does a vision of the future even look like at this point? Back to 2010, where you get arrested if you get caught praying when you have lunch break? It's psychologically over for the Baath government, their last 15 years have ranged from mediocre to disastrous in people's minds, and the natural reaction is that people either openly welcome HTS or become indifferent towards HTS.
Imagine if this was a sign that American anarchists are growing teeth again. There was once a time in the early 1900’s when calling someone an Anarchist in the US was the equivalent of calling someone a Tankie today.
It would be nice to see a mass purge of NATO-leftist pansies and get some real muscle back into the movement.
I'm starting to believe that there is a god out there, but that god is an evil god. That god is a god that not only allowed white supremacy, genocide, and colonialism to reign victorious for centuries, they actively supported them and blessed the perpetrators. They are the same god that decided the Al-Aqsa flood would not dislodge Israel after a year, but Israel-friendly terrorists take over an entire country in less than two weeks. A god that deserves to be overthrown, and their followers punished for their transgressions and crimes against humanity.
A report from Amnesty International alleges that Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip constitutes the crime of genocide under international law, the first such determination by a major human rights organisation in the 14-month-old conflict.
The 32-page report examining events in Gaza between October 2023 to July 2024, published on Thursday, found that Israel had “brazenly, continuously and with total impunity … unleashed hell” on the strip’s 2.3 million population, noting that the “atrocity crimes” against Israelis by Hamas on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war, “do not justify genocide”.
Israel has “committed prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction” with the “specific intent to destroy Palestinians” in the territory, the report said.
It marks the first time Amnesty has alleged the crime of genocide during an ongoing conflict, and builds on a March report by the UN special rapporteur for Palestine that concluded “there are reasonable grounds to believe” Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call: this is genocide and it must stop now,” Agnès Callamard, the group’s secretary general, said in a news conference on Wednesday.
Amnesty cited the deliberate obstruction of aid and power supplies together with “massive damage, destruction and displacement”, leading to the collapse of water, sanitation, food and healthcare systems, in what it called a “pattern of conduct” within the context of the occupation and blockade of Gaza.
“We did not necessarily start out thinking we would come to this conclusion. We knew there was a risk of genocide, as the international court of justice said,” Budour Hassan, Amnesty’s Israel and occupied Palestinian territories researcher, told the Guardian. “When you join the dots together, the totality of the evidence, it is not just violations of international law. This is something deeper.”
The main allegations in the report are:
The unprecedented scale and magnitude of the military offensive, which has caused death and destruction at a speed and level unmatched in any other 21st-century conflict;
Intent to destroy, after considering and discounting arguments such as Israeli recklessness and callous disregard for civilian life in the pursuit of Hamas;
Killing and causing serious bodily or mental harm in repeated direct attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, or deliberately indiscriminate attacks; and
Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, such as destroying medical infrastructure, the obstruction of aid, and repeated use of arbitrary and sweeping “evacuation orders” for 90% of the population to unsuitable areas.
As an occupying power, Israel is legally obliged to provide for the needs of the occupied population, Kristine Beckerle, an adviser to Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa team, said on Wednesday. She described Israel’s May offensive on Rafah, until then the last place of relative safety in the strip, as a major turning point when it came to establishing intent.
“[Israel] had made Rafah the main aid point, and it knew civilians would go there. The ICJ ordered them to stop and they went ahead anyway,” she said. “Rafah was key.”
At least 47 people including four children were killed in air strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, according to health officials in the territory, including at least 21 who were sheltering in tent camp housing displaced people near the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it had targeted Hamas militants.
Amnesty has called on the UN to enforce a ceasefire, impose targeted sanctions on Israeli and top Hamas officials, and for western governments such as the US, the UK and Germany to stop providing security assistance and selling arms to Israel.
The rights group has also urged the international criminal court, which last month issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant, to add genocide to the list of war crimes it is investigating.
Finally, it called for the unconditional release of civilian hostages and for “Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups responsible for the crimes committed on 7 October to be held to account”.
The report, You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, is likely to be met with outrage in Israel and generate accusations of antisemitism. Several legal experts and genocide studies scholars contend that the 7 October attack was also genocidal.
The Holocaust led to the creation of the Jewish state and the Geneva conventions, which codified and outlawed genocide as a punishable crime. Both initiatives were the international community’s “never again” response to the horrors inflicted on European Jews by the Nazis in world war two.
In its conclusion, the report says that Amnesty “recognises that there is resistance and hesitancy among many in finding genocidal intent when it comes to Israel’s conduct in Gaza”, which has “impeded justice and accountability”.
“Amnesty International concedes that identifying genocide in armed conflict is complex and challenging, because of the multiple objectives that may exist simultaneously. Nonetheless, it is critical to recognise genocide, and to insist that war can never excuse it,” it states.
Amnesty said the report was based on fieldwork, interviews with 212 people, including victims, witnesses and healthcare workers in Gaza, analysis of extensive visual and digital evidence, and more than 100 statements from Israeli government and military actors it said amounted to “dehumanising discourse”. It also used video and photo evidence of soldiers committing or celebrating war crimes.
Israel’s acts in Gaza were examined “in their totality, taking into account their recurrence and simultaneous occurrence, and both their immediate impact and their cumulative and mutually reinforcing consequences”, it said. Findings were shared “extensively” on multiple occasions with Israeli authorities, the group added, but were not met with responses.
Thursday’s publication builds on the London-based rights group’s previous bold positions on Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. In 2022, Amnesty joined Human Rights Watch and the respected Israeli NGO B’Tselem in issuing a major report accusing Israel of apartheid, as part of a growing movement to redefine the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a struggle for equal rights rather than a territorial dispute. Israeli politicians called for the report to be withdrawn, alleging antisemitism.
This coverage is so funny because you can tell they're trying not to frame things like this but all this does is humanize him and make him seem normal.
I’m thinking ahead to a scenario where this guy is actually caught. I’m sure his trial will be pretty public and whatnot. Do you all think there will be rallies across the US in support of him? I sure as hell hope, that could be a really interesting organizing and agitating opportunity
Just got home from work and man what a thread to get back to. Like many of you, I am not Syrian nor do I have any ties there but man, what a ride it has been since this mess kicked off.
I mean it's always been critical support for Assad but still. I feel like it's clear that we're witnessing another Iraq or Libya. I'm afraid for what comes next now. It's a really tough time wrapping up this year, but hopefully the imperial core will face something soon. Or at least Ukraine getting KO'd at last. I don't know. Something...
Lastly, sure am gonna miss the Who must go memes, those were a favorite of mine. But in all seriousness, wishing nothing but the best to the Syrian people. Feels like dark times are ahead. :(
A reliable Syrian source informed RIA Novosti that militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, are preparing to use toxic substances in Syria's Idlib and Aleppo provinces.
An informed source revealed that militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have transferred several cylinders containing toxic gases from a stronghold of the Turkistan Islamic Party near Jisr al-Shughur to southern Idlib and other areas in western Aleppo.
So Assad's enemies were the ones attempting to use chemical weaponry? Color me surprised.
Looks like our favorite assassin of the moment might not have used a traceable Citibike after all. Per the NYTimes:
The police are now investigating whether the gunman escaped on an unmarked e-bike, rather than a Citi Bike as they first said, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
The picture they released of him on the bike initially raised my doubts, since the wheels on that bike looked a bit too thin to be the ebikes that Citibike uses, but I just waved that away as the image quality is super shitty. Regardless this just adds more hope to the idea he'll get away without issue.
Trump won U.S. elections in large part due to high cost of living
Modi lost his Parliamentary majority despite electoral fuckery due to high cost of living and mass unemployment
Hasina Government in Bangladesh got overthrown in large part due to high cost of living and mass unemployment.
And now, Syria, though of course in this case external interference was much more overt.
I think neoliberalism is not working. Nothing is going to change for any of these countries because within the neoliberal framework, there is no answer. The replacements will be just as bad if not worse.
"Quite telling that at no point whatsoever the U.S. embassy in Seoul condemned or even criticized Yoon's coup attempt. During the coup they wrote they were "closely tracking" the situation and when it failed they praised Yoon's announcement to end martial law as "a crucial step". That's it.
In fact I checked around and I couldn't find a single example of a Western liberal democracy that condemned Yoon's move.
The "shared values" they keep saying they "support" apparently don't extend to condemning self-coups when attempted by friends...
If you wonder why people have become super cynical, look no further..."
This goofy ROK nonsense is a just a big psyop to distract us from Syria, the current focus of Yankee imperialism, how's the Lion doing?
Well it seems like the SAA has managed to reorganize and prevent further advances into Hama City, but HTS are staging for an assault from the northern suburbs and publicly warning residents of such. HTS still capturing villages in Salamiyah District east of Hama but SAA still holding on to the main road just about 9km south from the new frontline. Seems like a sensible place to make a stand if the SAA has finally gotten its shit together after the shock has worn off. Also, all those rumors about coups were misinformation of course.
Aleppo is a total defeat, SDF accepted an offer from HTS to withdraw from the city, new civil administration being established already. I shutter thinking of the scores of captured equipment surely now in the hands of the bandits, and likely years of counterinsurgency that it will take to uproot them from the area.
NATO and the Zionist entity are conducting bombardments, hitting "iran-backed" government militias in Deir Ez-Zor (yet again) and assassinating Hezbollah's liaison with the SAA in Damascus today. Likely to try to distrupt arms deliveries. Turkey, a thousand curses upon them, is bombing SDF targets with air and artillery and sending their puppet army the SNA to attack the SDF in the north, probably aiming for Manbij.
The Great Satan went to the UN to say they are "happy with the treatment of people in Aleppo" by HTS, which is labeled by the Great Satan as a designated terrorist organization and AQ affiliate, so you know their hands are all over this offensive. Russian aviation must have also been effective the past few days since the Great Satan brought some White Helmet guy to whine about barrel bombs and destruction of hospitals. Old shit and a complete farce considering what has been sanctioned by them in in Gaza. Russia accuses US and allies, including Ukraine specifically, of arming HTS fighters.
Finally, another huge wave of internally displaced people in the wake of this offensive. The barbarism continues.
X X HTS attack was a 4D chess move by the watermelon seller, Russia, and the Axis of Resistance.
Turkey arms the terrorists to attack Syria. The SAA fall back to make it look like HTS are a serious threat. This lets Iraq, Russia, Iran, maybe Yemen, all send troops to Syria without the west being too annoyed. The coalition quickly and effectively extinguish HTS with the two faced Erdoğan giving intel through back channels. Israel keeps violating the cease fire with Lebanon for the weeks that this operation takes. When HTS falls there is a large coalition of Russian and axis of resistance in northern Syria who move into southern Lebanon to enforce the ceasefire, and then into northern occupied Palestine to push the IDF back inside the UN recognized 1967 borders of isisrael. They break the siege on Gaza and once again Russians release prisoners from concentration camps and end a genocide by force.
Israeli tanks have officially crossed the border of the demilitarised zone between the occupied Syrian Golan and Quneitra. Fuck Israel for not even letting people have one hour of fucking calm and good mood.
Every 480p security cam frame of an alienated worker murdering a CEO instead of a classroom of children or a walmart/nightclub of minorities a painting
Dear God I am so tired of being surrounded by zionist jews that use antisemetism or other facets of their identities such as being poc or lgbt to just be islamophobic or pro-genocide. Do they not realize even public perception of the people in the west has become more pro-palestine than pro-israel, small as it may be? When this all boils over do they not understand just how much ammo they're giving to antisemites and neonazis? By pretending there's no genocide, twisting facts and straight up lying do they think just whining is gonna convince people of the inevitable? I wish my biggest fucking issue in life was being upset that my tl was filled with "obvious antisemites" aka people talking about the gaza genocide. I'm just so fucking over it they're everywhere, may God help the non-zionist jews who have to deal with these people and what the fall-out of this genocide will bring. I'm so fucking tired of anti-arab rethoric and the clear apathy towards arab lives, not even children are spared from their evil. And ofc Palestine is not enough, they had to get their hands in Lebanon and Syria but somehow "Israel" is the victims. Cause apparently colonization and genocide it's ok if they do it. Rant over, I just ran into some victim playing zionists who are otherwise "progressive" and lost it. I'm so done, it sometimes feel like running into one of these people makes me forget that most of the world (not politicians, but people-wise, especially non-westerns) arent zionists or pro-Israel and it ruins my day, I gotta remind myself.
And here we go with blaming the resistance for the bombing days after Israel already broke the ceasefire, as predicted by many in the News Megathread. The immortal science takes another easy point
it's notable that Ansarallah has had major success despite being physically cut off from the rest of the Resistance and under a blockade, and it has defeated the US Navy in its attempts to open up the strait
For evening the odds on the cheap, there's no stock like drone stock.
I hope Yoon just pretends this never happened and continues being president. Then next month he attempts another coup, it would be the funniest outcome lol
The President of Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, terminated the functions of the Prime Minister and members of the government on December 6, 2024, according to a presidential decree read on the 8 p.m. news on public television (RTB).
Anyone know more info? I'm not even sure if this is real yet tbh.
Israel is currently invading Syria, Bibi said the 1974 agreement is over and now they can invade Syria freely. Doubt these terrorist can organize any strong resistance to stop Israel, the Syrian Interim Government will probably only last a couple of months.
South Korean Parliament voted 190-0 to block the President's martial law declaration. South Korean National Assembly Speaker asks police to leave parliament.
South Korean parliament speaker Woo Won-shik says President Yoon's martial law is now null and void. - Yonhap. Speaker Woo: "All soldiers who entered the National Assembly building have left". Lee Jae-myung: "Martial law lifted... Will protect the lives and safety of the people
Law enforcement actively leaving South Korean National Assembly building - CNN
The Yonhap News Agency is reporting that members of the national assembly have been banned from entering the building, with the South Korean military having reportedly announced the suspension of all parliamentary activity. We have not yet independently verified this information. The parliament speaker is traveling to parliament and plans to convene a session, according to local broadcaster YTN TV.
-The US, south Korea’s most powerful ally, has not yet commented on the martial law declaration. About 28,500 American troops are stationed in south Korea to guard against north Korea, led by Kim Jong Un.
Here is a statement from martial law commander Park An-su.
He said:
All political activities are banned in South Korea following the imposition of martial law on Tuesday and all media will be subject to government monitoring.
All political activities, including those of the national assembly, local councils, political parties, and political associations, as well as assemblies and demonstrations, are strictly prohibited.
All media and publications shall be subject to the control of the martial law command.
With martial law imposed, all military units in the south, which remains technically at war with the nuclear-armed north, have been ordered to strengthen their emergency alert and readiness postures, Yonhap news agency reported. Under south Korean law, lawmakers cannot be arrested by the martial law command and the government has to lift martial law if the majority of the national assembly demands it in a vote. The leader of the prime minister’s own conservative party, Han Dong-hoon, has vowed to stop the imposition of the law “with the people” and Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition Democratic party, which has a majority in parliament, has also expressed opposition to it.
A taxi driver in Seoul who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal said: “They’re using exactly the same methods they used in the Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan eras … Whenever their regime is in crisis, they use war-mongering and martial law to cover it up.”
Park and Chun were military dictators in South Korea between 1961 and 1988. “I never imagined this would happen again,” the taxi driver said.
-South Korean markets started reacting to the news. The won tumbled to the lowest level against the dollar in two years: 1,443 won per dollar.
-The Chinese Embassy in Korea told Chinese citizens in the country to remain calm and pay attention to political changes. It asked them to “strengthen safety awareness, reduce unnecessary outings, express political opinions with caution and abide by the official decrees issued by Korea.”
-Live video broadcast by state news media shows soldiers pushing against citizens who are trying to enter the National Assembly building.
So what's up? "Israel" signs a ceasefire agreement and immediately breaks it by continuing the bombing campaign against Lebanon? Fuck this piece of shit nation
Death to "israel", the absolute worst spawn of capitalism and colonialism. Death to every zionist that exists.
“We are not going to fall for a provocation of which country is better,” she said, adding that her country was increasingly being used as a political foil.
“Mexico should not be used as part of [Canadian] electoral campaigns,” she said.
Sheinbaum then dug deeper, adding that Canada “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has”, pointing out her country has civilizations dating back thousands of years.
A backpack resembling the one worn by the suspect has been recovered near a playground in Central Park, according to media reports. MSNBC said on Saturday that police examining the bag and its contents found a jacket and Monopoly money, but no firearm.
How is the US media portraying this whole situation in Syria? I was checking some local media, they are generally pro-US liberals, but the local media is saying that these rebels are Islamic extremists and terrorists, that at least Assad, even though he is a dictator, promotes a secular state and maintains stability in the region.
My prophecy maxed evangelical father has reminded me that Damascus falling/getting completely roasted (some of these folks think nuked) is a big end-times thing. So now I guess something new for him to vibrate over
bro survived 2 assassinations, ran for 40 minutes and jumped a 2 meter wall in negative 3 degree weather livestreaming the entire time at like 2 am to defeat an incel coup attempt
the only logical conclusion is that we are npcs living in lee jae myungs isekai fantasy
Its interesting observing Libs outside of the news mega bubble here. Someone unironically thought will be able to trade Kursk for all of the annexed territories including Crimea as part of ending the conflict.
One day you're a young, happy, innocent and talented entrepeneur CEO of a massive healthcare company and the next a dude kills you with a silenced pistol (that is probably homemade)
Such is life, man. Don't you hate it when this happens?
South Korea's Martial law comes after wrangling over budget bill
Yoon has been a lame duck president since the latest general election when the opposition won a landslide.
He was not able to pass the laws he wanted, instead, he was reduced to vetoing desperately any bills that the opposition had been passing.
Yoon is also mired in several scandals, mainly one around his wife, who is accused of corruption. She is also accused of influence peddling. The opposition has been trying to launch a special investigation against her.
This week, the opposition slashed budgets that the government and ruling party had put forward - and the budget bill cannot be vetoed.
In the same week, the opposition is moving to impeach cabinet members, mainly the head of the government audit agency, for failing to investigate the first lady.
Yoon has gone for the nuclear option - he claims it is to restore order when "anti-state" forces he says are trying to paralyse the country.
Police have been deployed at the entrance to the National Assembly Building in Seoul, following South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol having declared Martial Law
Under Martial Law, South Korean President Yoon has outlawed any form of Political Activity, including Protests, Demonstrations, or Rallies; while all Media Outlets across South Korea have been placed under Governmental Control.
US backed Military coup or Yoon Suk is attempting a self-coup by himself?
Martial law can be lifted by a majority vote in parliament. But am hearing the police is barricading the entrance to the building with buses.
All this doomerism is just silly. Telegram posts made by HTS (who were trained in ukraine) and western media outlets are not to be trusted. Would you trust the BBC and Ukrop telegram posts about the war in ukraine? Why would you trust them on what is happening in Syria?
This is not Risk or a paradox map painting game. Holding territory at all costs is stupid tactics. We have seen this exact sort of media operation in ukraine. HTS were trained by the same people that taught Ukraine to do deep arrow offensives that cost huge amounts taking territory they cant hold in the long run. Every town HTS take is just thinning out their forces more. They don't have the logistical base to hold on. If the west cant supply ukraine they cant supply HTS. HTS don't have the local support to stay. They don' have the recruitment pool to make up for losses when the attrition starts setting in. SAA have a good reason not to try fighting inside the towns. That is where civilians are. That is where guerillas want to fight, where they have the advantage.
This conflict is days old and HTS has 0 industrial capacity. They are fighting with borrowed weapons and loaned dollars. Maybe they will take some more territory but they will only get weaker over time.
Fuck. I hope all comrades with family or friends in Syria have their loved ones stay safe. I was about to post another Syria essay but seeing this sudden outcome where the Syrian people that lived formerly under the Damascus government will now have to contend with a new regime that at "best" will likely resemble something like the 2021 Taliban and at worst will return to their 2015 ISIS roots leaves me numb. I'll just leave this quote from the Abrams book as a prediction from 2021 that now seems chillingly prescient and also something I hope will, by any means possible, not come to pass:
A subjugated and jihadist dominated Syria, much like Afghanistan which had seen its government toppled twenty years earlier using many of the same methods, would serve as an effective hub for jihadist operations abroad – whether into Iraq to keep check on Iranian influence, into southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, or against Iran itself. Projection of jihadist power further afield, including against western China, Russia and Central Asian states, was also a significant possibility, should terror groups such as IS and Al Qaeda be able to operate freely from Syrian territory. It was estimated that 9,000 fighters from Russia and Central Asia alone had joined jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, while an estimated 5000 from China’s Uighur Turkic minority had also joined the frontlines in Syria alone. The potential value of turning Syria into a wellpositioned hub of operations against others which resisted Western hegemonic ambitions, much as Afghanistan had been, provided a fifth major incentive for the Western Bloc to undertake operations against the Syrian government.
The pigs are of course actually doing their job when a CEO gets got. They appear to be getting closer to identifying the hero who deposed Brian Thompson. More evidence points to this being interpersonal conflict or a vigilante, but unfortunately that's because of "mistakes" which are making him more traceable.
Edit: They've got photos of him without a Mask, AND HE'S HANDSOME.
Edit 2: Alleged photos - might just be the pigs clutching at straws here
I've stayed at the same Hostel he was at lmao. It's a good one if you're in NYC
Okay, I've made a shitty map of the current situation at around 23:00 Syrian time on the 6th of December. This is based on Telegram news mostly and probably very inaccurate in the south, but the situation is very fluid there. Arrows represent current movements and upcoming movements.
We're in the end stage officially. Homs has fallen, which means that government territories are de facto split between the Alawite coast and Damascus. Nearly all suburbs of Damascus including Daraya and Douma have also fallen, so it's probably a battle for the city starting tomorrow. South Rebels have reached Damascus first, but they're not trained and just doing this for fun and friendship, the core HTS grouping are still in the process of combing Homs and they probably need another day to reach Damascus.
A new rumor has the internet worried that the Disney Channel is ending in the United States. The internet is in a tizzy because of a rumor that the Disney Channel is shutting down in the United States. However, at the time of writing this article, Disney has not made any announcements about shutting down the Disney Channels stateside.
That being said, Disney has already shut down channels in several countries. There is even a timetable showing which channels were shut down and when. So far, they have been shut down in Australia, Southeast Asia, Italy, the UK, South Korea, and more. Disney Xd has been shut down in even more countries as Disney tries to push viewers to Disney+. In France, Disney Xd has already been shut down, and Disney Jr. and the Disney Channel will terminate on January 1, 2025. In Spain, Disney Channel will cease operations on January 7, 2025.
They are going to close down all their channels outside the US to push for Disney+ garbage.
The Progressive Party in South Korea is the only based party there with actual seats?
The Progressive Party (Korean: 진보당), formerly known as the Minjung Party (Korean: 민중당, lit. 'People's Party') until June 2020, is a left-wing, progressive and nationalist political party in South Korea.
Although the party has never officially claimed to be socialist or anti-capitalist, it is classified by some media outlets as being "far-left" (Korean: 극좌; Hanja: 極左) or "radical left" in the context of South Korean politics. The Progressive Party maintains "progressivism" as its official ideology rather than "socialism".
They oppose all forms of sanctions against North Korea. The party's politicians say only the complete lifting of sanctions on North Korea brings peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The Progressive Party is known as an anti-American party, but they had stated they do not oppose everything related to the US and argue that what they call "반미" means "against American imperialism".
On 13 October 2017, when the founding ceremony of the Jinbo Party was held, several left-wing American political figures such as Ramsey Clark and Noam Chomsky expressed their sympathy for the cause, especially with respect to attitudes regarding Korean reunification, and policy towards North Korea. This party also contacted certain American politicians such as Jesse Jackson and Bernie Sanders in 2018 to draw support for the declaration of the end of the Korean War.
Major politicians of the Progressive Party support a volunteer military system. The party also supports women's rights, LGBT rights, youth politics and labor-oriented politics. The party actively supports the feminist movement in South Korea. Kim Jae-yeon said the reason for running for the 2022 Korean presidential election was "to become a feminist president".
The Progressive Party is a Korean nationalist party, but it shows support for multiculturalism and immigration, aiming for "resistance nationalism'" instead of "right-wing nationalism". In addition, the Progressive Party opposes neoliberalism, believing it promotes discrimination against immigrants
The most important reason for the PP's classification as far-left in South Korean politics is anti-Americanism. The PP believes that South Korea's socioeconomic contradictions are primarily due to the United States, rather than China or Japan, and hence supports the anti-American struggle. This is a significant departure from usual liberals such as DPK and JP, who are hostile to China/Japan but somewhat favourable to the United States to offset their China/Japan hegemony. The PP, in particular, advocates dissolving the alliance between the United States and South Korea.
A truly seismic change in the Middle East appears to be happening very fast. At its heart is a devil’s bargain – Turkey and the Gulf States accept the annihilation of the Palestinian nation and creation of a Greater Israel, in return for the annihilation of the Shia minorities of Syria and Lebanon and the imposition of Salafism across the Eastern Arab world.
What this all potentially amounts to is the end of pluralism in the Levant and its replacement by supremacism. An ethno-supremacist Greater Israel and a religio-supremacist Salafist Greater Syria.
Reminder that this is what Korea looked like before China's intervention. It's not too late if Iran is already preparing to go in balls-to-the-wall, but I have a feeling they aren't.
The words carved into the casings answer something I was wondering, which is "why didn't this apprent professional just stroll up behind the ghoul, put one in the back of his head and keep walking?" Apparently, the answer is that the plan called for three shots.
Listening to the latest Death Is Just Around The Corner really depressed me
Gonna try to donate what I can towards Palestinian aid and I feel obligated to keep up with the atrocities perpetrated by the Zionist entity but I feel like it's self harm and I'm hurting myself more than being as informed as I am is helping anything and idk what to do about that
Any advice from other "watches the world burn and can't look away" heads would be appreciated
Yemen's Ansarullah have announced that, in cooperation with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, they attacked a 'vital target' in the south of Israel using drones.
Hebrew media reports that a group of Israeli soldiers accidentally entered a minefield on the Lebanon border, leading to an explosion that injured eight of them in 'Ras al-Naqoura.'
Wtf?
Israel carried out several airstrikes against buildings in Damascus, including the passport & migration office
One ruling party lawmaker entered and voted, and the opposition peers cheered him.
Kim Sang-wook, a ruling party lawmaker who voted, says he didn’t support the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol, chilling a crowd that had applauded him until a moment ago. Yet he says Yoon doesn’t deserve to be president, as he tearfully recalled armed forces descending down on the parliament, live footage shows.
[He] adds that his party should pivot and support impeachment against Yoon in the next bid unless the president takes an action that would reassure the public by then. The reason he took part in the vote even though he opposed the impeachment is that it was part of his mandate as a legislator, he said.
lmao
South Korea’s acting defense minister has summoned a meeting of top military commanders, News1 reports. It didn’t give details.
The military meeting is to remind commanders that they should stay ready at all times to protect the people against security risks, Nocut News reports, citing the defense ministry. It appears to be a move by the military to salvage its standing and reputation after being involved in the martial-law debacle.
Free Syria? More like Syria being freely annexed by "Israel"...
They didn't wait even for one second, it's almost as if they had it all figured out beforehand. That's the way they operate, the most disgusting country in the world..
Excellent analysis by a Syrian living in Germany with sources in Syria, he also shares frustration with the Pezeshkian government and its naivety, along with the Arabic world. This is from shortly before the fall of Aleppo but is still all applicable, and he stated it was a strong possibility. Hezbollah agreed to the ceasefire due to existential issues, it knows another round of fighting is upcoming soon and need to take a breather to regroup. They are fixing issues with their internal security, communications, leadership and securing their position in Lebanon. They are in a dangerous and precarious position. They are not abandoning Palestine, they have depleted their resources and capabilities to dangerous levels and are unwilling to completely commit organizational suicide. They are competent fighters but cannot afford the escalation to wholesale slaughter of civilians by the tens of thousands that Israelis were willing to do, they must rethink their strategy and secure their alliances.
Like with any collapse, i imagine a critical mass of people decided a corrupt, disintegrating status quo just wasn’t worth trying to save anymore, even despite the alternative. Doesn’t necessarily mean Syria will be a new Afghanistan. Although Afghanistan is an interesting example, because the Taliban did not arise out of the Mujahideen, rather they swept into power once the Mujahideen disintegrated into infighting and warlordism. Probably one of the reasons for this disintegration was that the foreign powers supporting the anti-Soviet fighters ceased to give any fucks about Afghanistan once the Soviets were kicked out. But I dont know enough about Syria to guess what its future will look like, or if theyll be any appetite for continued fighting.
Remember that one episode of Drake and Josh where Josh played a criminal in a reenactment in a show based on America's Most Wanted, and then everyone thought he was the criminal and tried to citizens' arrest him? If that guy with the nice chin isn't actually the guy who killed the CEO, I'm imagining his life is like that right now, except everyone loves him.
Tsunami warning for the United States West Coast, in the last half hour:
Also, a tsunami warning has been issued for coastal areas in California and Oregon, including San Francisco. The warning will remain in effect from Davenport, California, to Douglas/Lane Line Oregon, until further notice, the National Tsunami Warning Center said.
In communist Korea, the Supreme Leader can enact martial law whenever they want. The only ways to end martial law are by Supreme Leader’s decree or by a National Assembly vote, but under martial law the National Assembly is prohibited from convening.
Alright I said I would do a shortish thing about the upcoming german elections so here goes:
There's been 3 4 (one new one came in just as I started writing this) polls during the last few days so I'll just go by their numbers:
Party
Forsa
GMS
INSA
Yougov
Union (Christian Conservatives)
32%
34%
31.5%
30%
AfD (Nazis)
18%
17%
18.5%
19%
SPD (Center Right Soc Dems)
16%
15%
16%
18%
Greens (Center Right Greens)
12%
13%
13%
13%
BSW (PatSocs)
4%
6%
6%
7%
FDP (Neolib)
3%
4%
4.5%
4%
Die Linke (Soc Dems)
4%
3%
3.5%
3%
Randoms
11%
6%
5.5%
6%
Alright we got numbers now how do they look....
In Germany you got a electoral threshold of 5% meaning if you get below 5% you can't get into parliament, this means that it's not unlikely that there would only be 4 parties represented in parliament after this election with around 20% of the votes being effectively thrown out. Voter participation is around 75% (Last election 76.4% but a few years before that 70.8%). So Parliament represents 60% of all Germans. Now with all of that out of the way we can talk about movements and malaise.
Shouldn't be too hard to tell but SPD during the period where they were able to govern collapsed, this is a trend that is probably just going to continue but it is remarkable just how shitty this iteration of Center Right Soc Dems is because polling at 16-18% is a historic low, my guess is just glancing at past elections that they'll not recover from this and become a 15% political party in the near future because of how colossal the shift to the right under Scholz was. Now to Union, they have recovered from the terrible result last time and are now sitting roughly where they've been the last few election cycles.
AfD looks to almost double their voter percentage from last time, they had their start in 2013 because of the syrian civil war as a 'anti-Merkel' party but they've gone away from that to try and be more chummy with the Union to get into power but kept all the other right wing outright nazi shit. I cannot state that enough they keep doing Nazi dog whistles and it's pretty fucking obvious that they are cryptonazis.
Greens they are down a bit but have been able to grow from their usual 6-7% they used to be at probably because they have a ton of atlantacists and pro-US people in their party I mean Baerbock is literally a former member of the german marshall fund think tank that's funded by the US. So Greens? Funded and supported by the US pass it on.
BSW, Sahra Wagenknecht used to be in Die Linke has made her own party that is the most likely to actually make it into the Bundestag of the small ones. Was able to grab votes by being anti war in ukraine. US scepticism and some literal Pat Soc stuff, media has been talking about her being funded by Putin and her being a Putin shill, unlikely that she'll be able to do anything if her party makes it into parliament.
FDP are more than likely out. It was unlikely that they would've made it but a few days ago an internal memo was leaked that detailed their plans to blow up the coalition and the most opportune time to do it. Worst of all? It had the Title 'D-Day Ablaufszenarien und Maßnahmen' which everyone rightly mocked. They've been getting dragged by civility people for being backstabbers, my guess is they'll not be a factor for a few cycles then go back to their 10% they can reliably grab with their deep pockets.
Die Linke, it's fucking dead it's not coming back it's over.
Most of the movements done so onto the malaise:
'Which party is best suited to deal with the problems of Germany?'
So 3 years ago 45% would've said no party we are now at 55% which has improved a bit compared to the 60% at the start of the year because for some reason thing Union is going to fix it oh well. This number will grow because well things are going to get a lot more shitty.
Because the two big topics for germans are the russian-ukranian war and the economy. Which is why you have Scholz doing photo-ops in ukraine and Merz (Union) saying stuff like 'We are finally going to be strong again and spend money on our military'. For the normal german person how do they see the economy? Well 16% think the economy is going to get better, a number that has gone steadily down, while 60% of germans think it's going to get worse, a number that keeps going up, and 22% think that the situation is shitty but it won't change.
So why malaise? Well this is just going to be my prediction but we will see a repeat of the GroKo (Greater Coalition/Union-SPD) we saw under Merkel, but this time under Merz a incredibly and openly corrupt politician so get ready for this one, Union is going to be able to do whatever because of the looming threat of AfD so SPD 'has to' chose the lesser evil. The coalition will push a huge amount of austerity onto the people during a recession which as we all know from every other country this has been done to, is really good.
The Saudis are probably feeling real stupid about letting Syria back into the Arab League in 2023. MBS should have just held out a little longer and Syria would have indeed collapsed.
Insert here that meme with the two guys digging for diamonds.
Satellite imagery has been made public showing that the Russian Air Force and Navy are evacuating their military bases in Syria, in Tartus and Latakia . It's completely over, we're in full Afghanistan territory now.
Wonder who or what is lucky enough to get lifted out on the Antonov AN-124 (the biggest plane in the second image).
They could also be reinforcing the airbase, but I find such a scenario highly unlikely.
I truly believe we could be witnessing the first genuine disintegration of a nation-state in the 21st century, I'm talking something we haven't seen since the Partition of Polish–Lithuania or the various African states during the 1880s, Yugoslavia and the Soviet collapse probably come closest to what's happening from our lived experience, except worse on a per capita basis
It's no different then if ISIS gained full control of Syria in 2015-2016, the inertia and assumptions of the global "anti-terror" machine built up over the last quarter-century guarantees there will be no normalization, no lifting of sanctions, no Taliban style grudging acceptance from the global community
Too many states all over the world bought into the US led war on Terror and al-Qaeda was the face of the enemy for too long and too profoundly for there to be anything other than near universal rejection to an HTS ruled Syria
This is a neocons wet dream, an oil rich advertisement for intervention and annexation by Turkey, the US and Israel
The coming "betrayal" and "scapegoatfication" by NATO will most likely drive the salafists militants into a psychotic religious mania, most likely directed at Iraq as they escape whatever aerial campaigns and Israeli incursions the US has planned
The entire Syrian goverment just collapsed. Wtf was that? Did Assad forces just all agree to surrender to these people without a fight? Did Assad stop paying these people? Is that why he did nothing during the Israeli-Hezbollah war? Did he seriously thought the Iranians and Russians would fight for him? Was General Soleimani the only person who truly cared about the Axis of Resistance?
Canada is banning a bunch of firearms, and they're shipping them to Ukraine.
Defence Minister Bill Blair said some of the guns the government plans to collect will be sent to Ukraine as part of Canada's ongoing donations of military aid to that country.
"The Department of National Defence will begin working with the Canadian companies that have weapons that Ukraine needs … in order to get these weapons out of Canada and into the hands of the Ukrainians," he said.
A few months ago I thought it was surprising how stable Syria is considering the shitty economic situation. Things turn around fast :|
Similar case with Bangladesh as well, when this year started, I thought how solid Bangladesh appeared.
What's next? Egypt? They've an extremely repressive 'dictator', who unlike Syria and to lesser extent Bangladesh is backed by the west. But their economy is not doing so great and the Government hasn't provided any solutions.
On the other hand, we don’t really know if this was actually a politically motivated hit. I think it could just as easily be a rival healthcare company or some other shady business dealings that led to a hitman hired to take him out. I’m not sure which I think is more likely tbh
If get one cent every time some randos talk about an east asia country and i hear “neo Confucianism” mentioned (and the definition has nothing to do with Confucianism)
South Korea's main labour union has called a general strike until the President resigns - AFP
Yoon's senior aides offer to resign en masse over martial law declaration - Yonhap
South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment bill may be voted on December 6th or 7th. South Korean protesters are currently marching towards the Presidential Palace - Yonhap
unless I'm missing something there were three casings and three live rounds recovered. so either the police are only telling us some of the words, words were repeated, or some of them had no words.
I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of the United States.
Let me first thank Special Envoy Pedersen and Mr. Salah for your briefings. I wish to especially thank Mr. Salah, for his and the White Helmets’ efforts to bring to the attention of the world, the repeated use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against its own people. It is essential that you are here today.
At the same time, the recent rebel offensive – which the United States had nothing to do with – is led by a group, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, otherwise known as HTS, that is a U.S. and UN designated terrorist organization. We obviously have concerns about this group.
We will continue to fully defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military positions, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never again resurge in Syria.
SAA retreating from the entire south and the desert. It's officially joever. They'll do a last stand in Damascus, then flee to the coast and make their little Alawite Abkhazia.
You know who is probably hating this? In Hillary's mind, this should be happening at the end of her second term. Toppling Assad would be the culmination of her admin and her time as Secretary. But Joe is asleep at the wheel at Trump will probably take credit.
I have no love for Assad, but recognized his role in fighting Israel. It really sucks seeing that Israel is increasingly likely to pull this off alongside everything else they have done.
I don't want to say this will be the end to the resistance. It will move to a new stage.
The Syrian government has reportedly rejected an Iranian offer to send two brigades of regular troops into Syria, out of fear that it would 'tarnish Assad's domestic support' and that it would 'provoke Israel to enter Syria'. Iranian personnel inside Syria, claims that Russia has assessed the situation, and it believes that an HTS takeover would not necessarily endanger their interests in Syria because they perceive HTS as 'anti-American'. Apparently, Iran has also assessed the situation, but came to the opposite conclusion, which has led to a rift between the two countries on the matter of Syria.
He also says Bashar al-Assad is much more receptive to Russian influence than Iranian influence, and that the Russians are currently involved in intense negotiations with him, while Iran is encouraging him to stand and fight, even offering to send forces. The analyst also claims that Iran is slightly annoyed with Syria, because Assad allegedly refused to open up the Golan front against Israel, and I quote: 'Assad has been less and less willing to spend money or attention on the Axis of Resistance, he became less cooperative, prioritizing Syria's own interests first, being enticed by economic proposals from the UAE and other Gulf States.'
The Syrian Arab Army says citizens of Homs and Homs countryside will witness 'large convoys of friendly units and equipment in the coming hours and days', and tells people not to take photographs or videos of the columns, in order to not put the lives of the soldiers at risk
Do you think Biden's regime administration is pushing, without even thinking, for more arms for Ukraine, war in Syria, pardon for Hunter, coup in South Korea, etc... Because the Democrats really believe that Donald “Orangeman” Trump is actually friends with Vladimir Putin, Kim and Xi, and that he will simply hand over the entire US to them and destroy NATO? So now they're pulling this shit in an attempt to force Trump to continue Biden's foreign policy or at least sabotage any attempt by Trump to make a deal?
Amid the ROK and Syria news, I haven’t seen much about Georgia. Seems like an attempt at Euromaidan 2.0 but does anyone have a clearer picture of the protests?
Occupied Korean legislators voting to dissolve martial law is a pure "What are we? A bunch of North Koreans?!" moment if I ever witnessed one. And I don't doubt we'll get "Haha 2 dystopias one peninsula" comments from chauvinist scum.
DPRK was ultimately correct in severing unification ties with the South. Had they not done so they'd likely would not have pushed on Russian-Korean ties and would be strung along another set of useless agreements which would have left them more vulnerable to attack which seems to be pretty much guaranteed now. DPRK won't fall for another nuclear arms agreement trickery a second time.
It seems like martial law into civil war is the only path that Occupied Korea sees as to maintain its existence. The contradictions of capitalism can only be suppressed by a total armed conflict.
Kim Jong Un is so fucking locked in holy shit. . Kimjongunism is peak.
How does the collapse of Syria impact Lebanon? Presumably Iran has their hands tied now, but Russia can play a larger role in Latakia and open a new avenue that way?
Surprised the Kurds haven’t taken this opportunity to strike at HTS while they’re in chaos and institute a proper US puppet.
Washington’s Kurdish-dominated “SDF” puppets attempted attacking seven northern Deir ez-Zor province settlements. The US imperialists tried aiding the “SDF” with artillery fire from their illegal occupation base near the Conoco oil field. The Syrian army and local militias repelled the attacks:
https://thecradle.co/articles/syrian-army-repels-attack-by-us-proxy-militias-in-deir-ezzor
Syrian forces eliminated another 200 Western-backed terrorists and shot down over 20 drones:
https://tass.com/world/1881521
“After the Muslim Brotherhood succeeded in coming to power in Syria, we reiterate our message to them:
Gaza is still being violated, and today you have a historic opportunity to fulfill your jihadi duty, as does Turkey. We pledge that we in Yemen, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon will stand by your side and overlook all our differences with you, just as we previously did with Hamas.”
— Mohammad Al-Bukhaiti,
member of the Ansarallah Politburo,
Governor of Dhamar
The last few weeks sure feel like decades. South Korean martial law, ceasefire with Hezbollah (for now), retreat of SAA, massive defeat for the democrats... big things are happening. Nobody can say that nothing ever happens anymore. Things are now happening
As more African nations sail away from French neocolonialism and chart new, sovereign routes, Nigeria is bucking the trend - choosing to anchor itself ever more closely to Paris. The latest example: joint navy drills in and off Lagos.
Druze militants in Suwayda have taken the whole region, no sign of the SAA there too. Rural areas in Quneitra and Daraa under previous reconciliation agreements have also fallen. Areas in Rif Dimashq including Qalamoun have also fallen. SAA have also handed over the entire desert to the SDF and vanished. It's just funny at this point, hoping a for quick bloodfree entry of HTS into Damascus at this point, there's no point in delaying the inevitable. I called my cousin who lives on a farm in Rif Dimashq and he was just laughing, people aren't even worried anymore.
Maduro stays winning? Opposition is weak and in exile, the military is purged, social media is under control, oil industry is doing ok, Colombia, Mexio and Brazil basically de facto recognized Maduro's victory, probably going to join BRICS+ next year.
Opposition keeps hyping that 15 of January 2025, there will be the second coming of Juan Guaido 2 and he will 100% become Venezuela's next president.
❗️US President-elect Donald Trump posted on his Truthsocial account:
"Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad. Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years. This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them. There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid. In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!"
The Iranians are now pushing for the issue of preserving the Seyyidat Zeynab quarter for themselves. Iranian diplomatic missions have already taken the majority of their workers either to Iraq or to the so-called Alavistan (Syria and Tartus).
Russia maintains a presence in Latakia and Tartus, and their transformation into separate state entities with a Shiite population is likely. Russia remains the guarantor of peace in these territories and takes direct control. Iraqi and IRGC forces left Al-Bukamal and withdrew from Deir ez-Zor province. The government of Bashar al-Assad will fall within 72 hours at the most.
From Telegram, we will see if Assad goverment will survive or fall soon
Seems like Israel is bombing all of Syria's Military Bases + Damascus. I guess they don't want the terrorists to use the Syrian Airforce equipament to defend Syria?
Fuck it, self crit time. Haven’t been this off base since 2/22. I stand by my stance that we need better info discipline in times in chaos, but I was obviously incorrect and had been shitty about it over the last week. Anyways for anyone celebrating this, this is who they’re fans of
TikTok is even worse, fuck you mean free Syria with a Palestinian flag in bio (I know what they mean, im aware of Hamas supporting the rebels, I’m expressing myself)
'Starting tonight, the main battle front will move to Syria. We will start fighting on the Syrian front and will not allow anyone to reach our borders' – IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi
Since Israel couldn't defeat Iran, Yemen, Hezbollah or Palestine, now they want a "quick and easy" victory in Syria to boost their garbage morale. And probably so the IDF doesn't coup Bibi and replace him with a general.
Rebel Southern Operations Room: 'We do not have the capacity to withstand Israeli advances. This matter does not have our priority currently. We need to work on solidifying a united Syria, free of Assad'
ASSAD IS ALREADY GONE!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!
This is the Resistance's Korea moment (and even more important than Korea), but Iran is just sitting back and chilling. True Promise 3 is still nowhere to be seen.
Apparently, the agreement with the “SDF” also helps relocate Syrian troops to defend Palmyra (in eastern Syria):
https://tass.com/world/1883689
The Syrian military and Russian Aerospace Forces continue striking the terrorists in Hama and Homs provinces (note, I’ve read elsewhere that allied forces eliminated another 300 Western-backed terrorists and 35 armored vehicles (including seven tanks) over the past 24 hours):
https://tass.com/world/1883269
An Iraqi spokesman stated that Iraq does not seek military intervention in Syria. However, he warned that the division of Syria is a red line for Iraq (at this point, we should not fully rule out the possibility of Iraq and Iran sending regular troops (not just volunteer units), if it becomes absolutely necessary):
https://ina.iq/eng/36861-al-awadi-iraq-does-not-seek-military-intervention-in-syria.html
Interesting article claiming that this Canadian officer totally wasn't owned by a Russian FAB-1500 in Sumy. Instead it goes on to say he actually died of "medical complications" while stationed in Casteau, Belgium. It strangely doesn't specify what those complication were. Not sure what happened one way or the other, but I do suspect that a patient catching a glide bomb would in fact present with some complications.
What's up with Talal Nasser of Hamas? This interview aired on Dec 2nd (yesterday). In it, he says they support the Syrian revolutionaries (HTS and other factions) against Assad. He says they gave Hamas $20million. He says that they are not led by the americans or israel but are instead a true revolution of the people.
With a Hamas official taking this position I'm now confused as shit.
I've seen some silver lining takes, one that a weak Assad barely holding things together was more in the interests of the west than what just happened, and another that Israel's invasion past the Golan heights will over-extend them even more. IDK what to think of that, but could it be possible?
Damn, shame cdu polls so well (fucking boomers) and left so shittily, they can’t crash into french situation. Year of no governments would be exactly what europe needs
Today’s Syria news – government forces continue pushing back Washington’s al-Queda proxies.
Syrian forces liberated more settlements in northern Hama province from al-Queda occupation (Karnaz, Tal Meleh, Jalma, Jubbayn, Hayalin, and Sheikh Hadid):
https://tass.com/world/1880987
Washington’s al-Queda proxies roaming the streets of Aleppo have started looting and kidnapping the city’s civilian population:
https://tass.com/world/1880809
South Korea opposition formally present President Yoon impeachment bill to parliament - Live TV
South Korean defense minister offers resignation over martial law controversy. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun apologized on Wednesday for causing public concern following President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to impose martial law, offering his resignation.
The decision came after Yoon declared emergency martial law in an unexpected late-night statement but subsequently lifted it hours later as the opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to reject it, News.Az reports, citing Yonhap. "I have offered my will to resign to the president, taking responsibility for all the turmoil caused by the emergency martial law," Kim said in a statement sent to reporters.
Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have also decided to terminate their security agreements with France. On Thursday, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye declared that France must close its military bases, as their presence is incompatible with Senegal’s sovereignty.
“Senegal is an independent and sovereign country. Sovereignty is not compatible with the presence of military bases in the country,” he stated, clarifying that Senegal does not seek a rupture with France but rather a redefinition of their relationship based on a “renewed partnership.”
His remarks, however, confirm the decline of France’s influence in its former African colonies. Previously, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger also decided to terminate their security agreements with France. Faye noted that Senegal maintains relations with Russia, Türkiye, China, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, none of which have military bases in Senegal.
The text reads, “’France enslaved, colonised and stayed. If the roles were reversed, it would be very difficult to imagine another army having a military base in France,’ President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said of the French military presence in Senegal.” “The presence or absence of military forces should not equate to a rupture… It is necessary that there be no military bases from any country in Senegal. A renewed partnership can only be established on truth and the fullness of truth,” affirmed Faye.
Also on Thursday, Chad’s Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah announced his government’s decision to end its security and defense cooperation with Paris. “France is an essential partner, but now it must also recognize that Chad has grown and matured. Chad is a sovereign state and deeply protective of its sovereignty,” he said.
“After 66 years since the proclamation of the Republic, it is time for Chad to assert its full sovereignty and redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities,” he added.
Government of Chad assured Paris that its decision does not call into question the historical relations and bonds of friendship between the two nations. Following the withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Chad was the last country with a French military presence in the Sahel.
Chad announced on Thursday its determination to break the security and defence cooperation agreements with France, which will lose its last military presence in the Sahel region.
«The government of the Republic of Chad informs national and international opinion of its decision to terminate the agreement on cooperation in defense matters signed with the French Republic», said the African country’s chancellor Abderaman Koulamallah in a statement.
In another paragraph of the text, the Government of Chad assured Paris that its decision does not call into question the historical relations and bonds of friendship between the two nations.
He also stressed that he would continue to maintain «constructive relations» with France in other areas of common interest and that they remain open to «a constructive dialogue to explore new forms of partnership».
Following the withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Chad was the last country with a French military presence in the Sahel, where Paris loses its traditional influence inherited from colonial times.
The announcement of the African country comes just hours after the visit of the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot. «France is a key partner but it must also consider that Chad has grown, matured and is a sovereign state and very jealous of its sovereignty», said Koulamallah after a meeting between Barrot and President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno.
France still has several bases in the African countries of Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon and Djibouti. However, the Senegalese president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, said on Thursday that France should close its bases in that West African country under the argument of sovereignty.
Yoon impeachment vote happening 3am EST. Us West Coasters will break the news after midnight. Opposition party holds 192 seats so they need 8 defections to pass it. Yoon’s party denounces the attempted coup but rejects calls for impeachment lmao “he was just joking guys”
Bold prediction I'll probably be wrong on: The CEO killer will get off on a hung jury, in one of the most reported on cases of jury nullification ever. This is going to cause a huge legislative and judicial shitstorm, which will eventually result in sweeping changes to the legal system to prevent jury nullification.
Syrian and Russian Aerospace Forces’ strikes eliminated another 300 Western-backed terrorists in Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama provinces:
https://tass.com/world/1882921
Given the situation seems dire it seems credible. This seems like it's too late though, unless the US would start using their assets in the region to help.
❗️Statement issued by the General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces:
"Our people have been facing for several days, and especially since this morning, a systematic media and terrorist war aimed at destabilizing the security of the homeland and citizens and spreading chaos and panic in a way that serves the enemy's agenda.
Media platforms affiliated with terrorists have not stopped publishing misleading videos and false news about the events taking place across Syria's geography.
Our valiant army continues to carry out its qualitative operations against terrorist gatherings at high rates in the directions of the Hama and Homs countrysides and the northern Daraa countryside, inflicting hundreds of deaths and injuries on the terrorists, dozens of vehicles and vehicles, and many headquarters, warehouses, weapons and ammunition."
In addition to the NDB, Preksin mentioned the existence of the Contingent Currency Reserve Fund, designed to stabilize the exchange rate between the currencies of BRICS countries. These achievements reflect the bloc’s commitment to economic and financial cooperation despite external pressures.
On November 30, the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, issued a strong warning to the member countries of the BRICS economic bloc, threatening to impose 100% tariffs on their products if they do not abandon their plans to develop an alternative currency to the US dollar. This statement has generated significant rejection and rapid responses from the nations that make up this group.
The spokesman for the Chinese People’s Republic Chancellery, Lin Jian, was one of the first to react, stating that his country will continue strengthening cooperation within the BRICS group, regardless of Trump’s threats. Jian stressed that China is willing to work with its partners to deepen business cooperation and contribute to the sustainable growth of the global economy.
From Russia, government spokesman Dmitri Peskov also expressed his disagreement with Trump’s statements. At a press conference, Peskov emphasized that the threats occur in a context where the dollar is losing its attractiveness as a reserve currency. He stated that this phenomenon is part of an “erosion process” that is gaining momentum on the international stage.
In light of these tensions, Oleg Preksin, vice-president of the Council of the Financial and Banking Union of Russia, highlighted recent achievements of the BRICS bloc, such as the creation of the New Development Bank (NDB). This bank was established with an initial capital of $100 billion and currently has a total loan portfolio of about $30 billion.
In addition to the NDB, Preksin mentioned the existence of the Contingent Currency Reserve Fund, designed to stabilize the exchange rate between the currencies of BRICS countries. These achievements reflect the bloc’s commitment to economic and financial cooperation despite external pressures.
The leaders of the BRICS countries have reiterated their intention to move forward with their economic and financial plans, including developing an alternative currency to the dollar. The decision to continue these projects is driven by a search for greater economic autonomy and reduced dependence on the US financial system.
Trump’s threats have served as a catalyst for the BRICS countries to strengthen their unity and resolve to advance their economic initiatives. The joint response from these countries underscores their commitment to a multipolar economic order and their readiness to face external pressures in an increasingly interconnected world.
For the first time, Iranian drones have taken off from the Islamic Republic, and are in the skies of Homs.
From Telegram, it can be fake
Syrian Ministry of Defense: 'There is no truth to the news circulated by some media outlets and pages affiliated with terrorist organizations about any withdrawal of any units of our armed forces present in the vicinity of the city of Homs and its countryside. They are fully prepared and ready to carry out their duty to confront any terrorist assault.'
Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, after consultations in Baghdad:'Whoever denies the obvious Zionist role in the terrorist advances in Syria, is either blind or dishonest. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported Syria and will continue to do so with all its weight and with everything Syria needs and demands. The security of our neighbours is the security of ourselves; terrorists must be fought and annihilated in their infancy, before they spread into the entire region.'
'Iran has not and will not abandon its allies in times of difficulties, just like we expect our friends and allies to stick by us.' 'Iran has witnessed first hand how its own allies left it and betrayed it, one by one, during the Iraqi imposed war against us in the 1980's. We refuse to do this to others. Once a friend, a friend till the end.'
Javar Larijani, top advisor to the Supreme Leader, Imam Khamenei: 'Resistance forces have entered the field, and are organized. The Syrian Arab Army can clearly no longer defend Syria, this matter should have been in our hands from the beginning.'
Does anyone know how useful forensics would even be in this sort of scenario? I don't know much about the subject, but I feel like if your hand is brushing against a table or something that's gonna be heavily diluted by all the other people that are also touching everything given it's a public space with a bunch of foot traffic?
i am so tired honestly. my entire family are sending me t*ktoks about political fash man in romania and voooting and shit. my brain has become fully liquid at this point
every critique against georgescu is "soros backed" and "the mafia is trying to get him out" and that dogshit news channel "realitatea plus" "demasked the usr party's mafia". help
Her win cements her governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party’s 34-year hold on power since independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 – a contested outcome.
Opposition parties have rejected the results after the election was marred by technical problems, including shortages of ballot papers and other issues, causing election officials to extend voting until Saturday. Long queues meant that some voters gave up on the first day of voting after waiting for up to 12 hours.
The opposition parties say the extension was illegal and have pledged to challenge the results in court.
The candidate for the main opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), Panduleni Itula, trailed Nandi-Ndaitwah with 25.5 percent of the vote, according to the commission.
“The rule of law has been grossly violated and we cannot call these elections by any means or measure as free, fair and legitimate,” Itula said on Saturday.
While in power for decades, SWAPO has disenchanted young voters due to high youth unemployment rates and enduring inequalities.
IPC is neoliberal, look at their manifesto, this was mentioned before anything related to welfare where they posture as socdem.
In addition to reducing the number of Ministries we will merge or close some of the thirty 30, parasitic organisations living off Government funds.
One of the most well-connected spaceflight journalists, Eric Berger, has bumped his earlier 50/50 coinflip prediction of the possible cancellation of SLS up to 75% likely. This is certainly due to Trump nominating Jared Isaacman to be his NASA Administrator. Isaacman is the rich guy who's flown twice on SpaceX's Crew Dragon on privately-contracted flights, not through the NASA astronaut corps. He was also the guy who did that suit-test spacewalk a few months ago on one of those private flights. Isaacman won't have the authority to cancel SLS on his own but it's definitely a capital-M Message to the US senate to fall in line. It's probably the most of moments, because fuck SLS.
There have been 14 Administrators and only 3 have ever flown to space. Richard Truly, Charles Bolden, and the current one Bill Nelson. Bolden was Obama's pick. He has expertise and flight experience, but his whole management style at NASA was "don't rock the boat even when the boat needs to be rocked". Nelson deserves an asterisk on his "spaceflight" record, he only did it once on the Space Shuttle, and it was basically a political publicity stunt as he did no actual work on the flight. In NASA's astronaut corps Nelson's nickname is "Ballast". Nelson has been merciless in helping Biden and the US senate cut NASA's science program budgets.
Isaacman is a very interesting pick. I was expecting someone much worse, like some flat-earther or a climate change denier or just some idiot Trump ally looking for a cushy job to coast in. Isaacman is none of those things. He's someone with a very high level of technical knowledge and personal spaceflight experience doing actual work in space (the aforementioned suit tests, which are neither safe nor easy). He's popular in NASA's Science Directorate because for years he's been penning letters to US politicians to increase funding for existing and planned science missions. One of the most notable was his letter directly to Biden to try to reverse cuts to the Chandra space telescope program. Chandra is a very special kind of orbiting telescope. It sees in X-rays which our atmosphere blocks. There's not many orbiting X-ray telescopes, and Chandra is one of the best of them. Chandra is vital for observing very high-energy events and objects. It's still fully functional and likely will be for another 10 years. The budget cuts were just plain bureaucratic cruelty.
For those unfamiliar with SLS, it's the US senate's ongoing project to keep sending billions in cash to the former Space Shuttle contractors. It's a dreadful rube-goldberg of a rocket with Boeing as the prime contractor. It's made from leftover Space Shuttle components and tooling, like the RS-25 main engines, the solid rocket boosters (the kind that killed the Challenger crew), the big orange hydrogen/oxygen propellant tank, etc. SLS is the 2nd attempt at this sort of rehash program. The earlier cancelled Ares rocket series was the first attempt. SLS has an expected per-launch cost of about $4 billion (on top of the $20 billion and counting development costs), with a construction rate of about one every 18 months. And it has less payload capacity than the original Saturn V. You can easily play spot-the-similiarities between the three launch systems. The US senate micromanages NASA's budget. "Space is expensive" because the US defence contractors paying US senators' bribes want it to be expensive.
The Lebanon ceasefire is such a cruel joke. Israel keeps violating it and when the ceasefire inevitably collapses because Israel keeps killing people we all know Hezbollah will be blamed.
Washington, DC – The Pentagon has confirmed that the United States carried out a strike against military assets in eastern Syria after a rocket attack near one of its bases.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that the US military struck weapons systems — including rocket launchers and a tank — that “presented a clear and imminent threat” to its forces in the area.
The US strike comes as violence escalates across the war-torn country. Over the last week, armed opposition groups carried out a blistering offensive in northwest Syria against the government forces led by President Bashar al-Assad, ushering in a new stage of the country’s long-running civil war.
The offensive has raised questions about how the US might respond and whether it could become entangled in the conflict, given its significant military presence in Syria.
Ryder said on Tuesday that the attack was in response to a rocket launch that fell “in the vicinity” of Military Support Site (MSS) Euphrates, a US base in eastern Syria.
He added that it is not clear who was operating the weapons, but Iran-backed groups and Syrian government forces are known to be in the area.
The Pentagon spokesperson stressed that the action is “not linked to any broader activities in northwest Syria by other groups”.
But on Tuesday, Damascus accused the US of providing air support for the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which pushed to advance against government-controlled villages east of the Euphrates River, near the city of Deir ez-Zor.
The SDF has received US support for years under the stated aim of fighting ISIL (ISIS).
Syrian state-run Alikhbaria TV reported on Tuesday that clashes were taking place between SDF and government forces near the village of Tabiyet Jazira “with the intervention of US occupation jets that are targeting the frontlines in the area”.
The SDF had claimed earlier in the day that it took control of seven villages east of the Euphrates due to the “serious threat related to the imminent movement of large ISIS terrorist cells”.
“The deployment of our forces to these villages is in response to the urgent pleas and appeals of the local populace, following the increasing potential risks that ISIS will exploit the events in the west of the country,” the SDF’s Deir ez-Zor Military Council said in a statement.
But the Syrian government said the villages remain under its control.
Farther west, government troops have been battling rebels trying to advance towards the central city of Hama as the front lines of the war, which had gone mostly dormant over the past four years, see major shifts.
Rebel groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which had been confined to the northwestern Idlib province, launched their offensive last week, taking control of Aleppo and heading south towards Hama.
The country had experienced relative calm since 2020 with the government, rebel groups and SDF largely remaining within their unofficial territories.
But the opposition appears to have struck at an opportune moment when President al-Assad’s main military backers — Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — are focusing on their own conflicts elsewhere.
The US, which calls Assad a “brutal dictator”, has denied any involvement in the rebels’ offensive, highlighting that Washington considers HTS to be a “terrorist” group.
HTS is a reiteration of al-Nusra Front, which operated as al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria early in the war.
According to the Pentagon, Washington has 900 troops in Syria and a deep alliance with the SDF, one of the major parties to the conflict.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon’s Ryder declined to answer questions about the SDF’s operations in the Deir ez-Zor area.
“Our focus has been on working with the SDF as it relates to countering ISIS, and that continues to be our focus,” he said.
Buzzkill: "World's Best Honey" Award Cancelled Over Fakes
This year’s World Beekeeping Awards in Copenhagen will not crown a "best honey" due to fears of widespread honey adulteration, which has made it nearly impossible to guarantee the authenticity of competing entries.
According to an EU study, 46% of honey imported to the bloc could be fake, often bulked up with cheap sugar syrups. A spokesperson from Denmark's Beekeeper's Association has stated that the fakes have become so good that it is impossible to taste the difference. While Western actors are quick to blame China and other non-EU scapegoats, they remain quiet about the role of Western importers and the potential for fraud closer to home.
The sticky situation is hardly new, back in 1269 the legal code for the city of Ribe ordered that merchants who were caught selling counterfeit honey should be decapitated and their fake goods ceremonially burned. Today medieval gore has been swapped for bureaucracy, in an attempt to cut down fraud though greater transparency the EU's new “breakfast directive” requires honey labels to clearly indicate their origin and importers of non-EU honey to be registered.
Assad is being overthrown rn. I guess it's over for Syria. Now we will see if Yemen can resist being the next target of the US, but I suppose they are in a better position than Assad's goverment was.
Burkina Faso: Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel OUÉDRAOGO appointed Prime Minister
Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel OUÉDRAOGO was appointed Prime Minister this Saturday, December 7, 2024, according to a presidential decree read on the 8 p.m. news on public television (RTB).
The journalist, presenter and former head of RTB, was Minister of State, Minister of Communication, Culture, Arts and Tourism, spokesperson under the Kyelem government dissolved yesterday, December 6, 2024.
'Generals of the SAA ordered their units to withdraw from Homs without the approval of Assad, after contacting Gulf states and Western mediators' – Damascus-based media outlet 'Sawt al-Aasimah'. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sent a private message to the Islamic Republic of Iran this week, promising to protect Shiite religious sites and religious minorities, icluding Shiites and Christians, within Syria' – New York Times
Russian aviation begins bombing SAA / Iranian weapons storage & production facilities across Syria, to prevent material falling into the hands of HTS.
So like, what are they planning to do? Hts is opposed to iran and hezbollah, but like how they will feed giant cities? Will they try to take the oil from kurds? Will they be chill with israel? Will they be chill with erdie? Will they become sad like taliban in offices?
'We are following the dramatic events in Syria with extreme concern. As a result of negotiations between Bashar al-Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully
Russia did not participate in these negotiations. At the same time, we appeal to all parties involved with a strong call to renounce the use of violence and resolve all governance issues by political means.
In this regard, the Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition. We call for respect for the opinions of all ethno-confessional forces of Syrian society, and support efforts to establish an inclusive political process based on the unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
We expect that these approaches will be taken into account by the UN and all interested players, including in the context of the implementation of the initiative of the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Syria, Georg Pedersen, to urgently organize inter-Syrian inclusive negotiations in Geneva.
At the same time, all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the safety of our citizens in Syria. Russian military bases in Syria are on high alert. There is currently no serious threat to their security.'
Can anyone confirm this? I saw footage of what seemed like riots around the Russian Controlled-Syrian land. Also I saw some people talking about reestablishing a Alawite State, and some group called Alawite Muslim Defence League, no idea what was that about.
I feel like contributing to this megathread by updating you all on frankly inconsequential and stupid internal German politics, and it makes me feel dirty. But here it goes anyway.
The FDP (liberal party) blew up the socdem-green-liberal coalition (Ampel, meaning traffic-light) and the media got hold of their internal powerpoints of how they planned this for months and referred to it as "d-day" and the final stage as an "open field battle" and now they're outraged because of civility and bad faith or something.
So this might backfire on the FDP which I hope it does, but also none of this makes a lick of difference since all involved are neoliberal freaks and genocidal maniacs. It's just lib infighting.
Yoon’s cabinet approves decision to lift martial law
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s cabinet has voted to lift martial law, shortly after he announced his intention to withdraw the measure.
Yoon had previously said he intended to lift the measure after the National Assembly voted to block it, but needed to wait until enough members of the cabinet were able to vote.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) today said it does not support martial law, after its caucus’ social media post last night comparing the situation in Taiwan’s legislature to South Korea stirred controversy.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late last night announced martial law, but rescinded the order after the National Assembly voted unanimously to reject his declaration.
After the order was made, the DPP caucus posted on Threads saying that the party supported Yoon’s fight against the North Korean threat.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu, left, speaks at a news conference in Taipei today.
"The South Korean parliament has been manipulated by North Korean forces," said the post by "lydppcaucus," an account run by the party's caucus.
"South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol announced emergency martial law nationwide to protect the free constitutional system," the post said. "Have no doubt, we who are Team Taiwan are every second and every minute opposing global dark and evil forces encroaching on [Taiwan].”
The post also suggested that opposition parties had repeatedly obstructed national security proposals, "unconstitutionally expanded" their powers and cut the defense budget, among other claims.
This post was deleted after 20 minutes, after which the DPP said in another post that it was an attempt to “share international information.”
He talks about information coming to light that militant cells had apparently been infiltrating Aleppo for months in preparation for this attack, which explains why it took the Syrian government by surprise.
The Cradle: How Lebanon's resistance defied Israeli dominance, again
spoiler
In his book How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict, Ivan Arreguín-Toft presents a compelling perspective on how conflicts unfold when there is a significant power imbalance. Toft argues that in asymmetric warfare, the more powerful side often ends up being defeated, not because they are outright beaten, but because they fail to achieve a decisive victory. Conversely, weaker parties win by enduring, persevering, refusing defeat, and maintaining sustained resistance. This explains how resistance movements interpret their confrontations with powerful adversaries – as seen in the Israeli war on Lebanon, where the outcome of a ceasefire, without realizing the stated objectives, left many in Israel disillusioned despite military superiority.
The Lebanese front: A force that transformed the conflict
Militarily, Hezbollah's involvement forced Israel to split its focus between Gaza and the northern border of occupied Palestine. This divide stretched Israeli forces thin, hindering their progress and complicating their strategy. Hezbollah's actions indicated that, for over a year, Israel faced a two-front battle – diverting troops and resources from Gaza to secure its northern regions. As acknowledged by The Times of Israel in August, Israel's shortage of manpower was evident, “The IDF is suffering manpower shortages caused by the hostilities on the northern border and the ongoing war in Gaza.”
This two-front struggle also stalled several planned Israeli ground operations in Gaza. The heightened tension on the northern border gave Palestinian resistance movements the time they needed to regroup and disrupt Israel's military timetable. An example of this was Israel's delay of a major ground offensive in Gaza until the US reinforced their air defenses in the area – a move attributed to fears of escalation from Lebanon.
Economic and psychological impact on Israel
The war on the Lebanese front led to severe economic losses for Israel. Israeli newspaper Walla reported in August that Hezbollah's attacks set off fires that destroyed approximately 180 dunams (around 44.5 acres) of land, including 7,500 dunams (around 1,853 acres) in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights and 4,600 dunams (around 1,137 acres) in the Upper Galilee. Extensive devastation was seen in agricultural fields and forests, contributing to environmental and economic losses. Agriculture, a key sector in Israel's economy, was heavily affected; over 1,000 dunams (around 247 acres) of cultivated land were damaged, including avocado, pear, apple, olive, and grape plantations. The departure of Thai and Palestinian workers due to the lack of safety and security in the area further exacerbated irrigation and pest control issues, as well as overall agricultural productivity.
Israel suffered from another huge blow – mass emigration – that came as a result of the Lebanese resistance's attacks on the north. Around 62,480 settlers in Israel's north fled or were evacuated – with many choosing not to return, citing safety concerns. Moreover, as of August 2024, 4,378 claims for property damage had been filed in the north, and losses in tourism reached NIS 1.15 billion (around $320,998,164) in direct revenues, with indirect losses at over NIS 2.64 billion (around $736,900,135). Agricultural and poultry production, which represents 70 percent of Israel's chicken supply, was significantly jeopardized, raising concerns over local food security.
The resistance heavily engaged in psychological warfare against the occupation state, planting an undeniable sense of insecurity and fear among the settlers and disrupting daily life across the north. Psychological warfare waged by Hezbollah also sought to influence the awareness of Israeli leaders and civilians about the risks of confronting the Axis of Resistance forces beyond Palestine.
Hezbollah employed hybrid warfare, integrating military and non-military strategies, including cognitive warfare, to shape Israeli perceptions. This approach involves introducing and promoting narratives about the Israeli occupation that align with the resistance movement's objectives while strengthening its social media presence to amplify these views. Hezbollah also highlighted internal issues within Israel through multilingual broadcasts, videos, and media campaigns that underscore Israel's vulnerabilities. Additionally, it periodically showcases its military advancements and directly addresses the Israeli public to foster uncertainty about their security and the country's future. These diverse tactics aim to influence the morale and perceptions of the Israeli population.
From resistance to repelling aggression
Despite these notable achievements, the war between Israel and Lebanon did not lead to the end of the war on Gaza. However, the occupation army was made to pay a hefty price, strategically undermining its broader objectives. As John Mearsheimer argues in The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, objectives in warfare are dynamic, often shifting when external pressures collide with internal challenges. Israel’s campaign, which began offensively, became increasingly defensive as the focus diverted from achieving outright victory to ensuring survival.
The Lebanese front’s objective developed, too – from supporting Gaza to directly countering Israeli aggression against Lebanon. Israel initially sought to eliminate Hezbollah and establish a buffer zone along the Lebanese border, aiming to reassure northern settlers of their safety. However, these goals remained out of reach; rather than demonstrating overwhelming dominance, Israel found itself embroiled in a familiar quagmire.
Hezbollah performed an average of 23 military operations per day on Israel since the start of the war, targeting military outposts, barracks, and bases – even reaching deep into occupied Palestinian territories. This displays the resistance movement's enhanced capabilities. Moreover, Israel's ground invasion of south Lebanon, which was launched in early October, caused a lot of setbacks for the occupation forces: over 130 Israeli soldiers were killed, and 59 Merkava tanks, alongside various other military equipment, were destroyed. Despite multiple aggressive attempts to enter, Israeli forces failed to occupy any key towns in south Lebanon or to create a secure buffer zone. Hezbollah’s resilience turned what Israel had hoped would be a swift campaign into a costly ordeal, mirroring Israel’s defeat in the 2006 war.
The cost of war and the measure of victory
Modern warfare shows us that victory is not solely about inflicting the greatest losses or causing the most destruction; it is about achieving strategic goals. In conflicts like the Vietnam War or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the weaker side's ability to endure ultimately led to victory despite overwhelming casualties and devastation. The Lebanese resistance movement demonstrated the same resilience during the July 2006 war and again now – managing to withstand Israeli attacks and preventing the occupation from meeting its strategic goals.
Wars of national liberation always come at a high cost, especially for civilians. However, this is often a prerequisite for success against a militarily superior adversary. Hezbollah’s ability to withstand Israeli pressure and sustain its operations solidified its position as a formidable opponent – proving once again that true victory lies in thwarting the enemy's stated objectives, and not in mere survival.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of South Korea's opposition party denounces newly-imposed martial law as 'illegal.' He declared Yoon Suk-yeol "no longer the president" of South Korea. Lee called on the public to gather at the National Assembly.
South Korean special forces are storming the National Parliament building after the president declared an emergency martial law. The Biden Administration says it’s in touch with South Korea and is “monitoring the situation closely” after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration.
I saw some right-wing South Koreans saying Lee blocking Yoon in congress was a coup and Yoon is totally a pro-democracy guy. Things do not look good in South Korea, we will see how long this will last, but it seems like Yoon is pushing South Korea into a civil-war.
Iran is apparently requesting opposition groups for safe passage out of Syria. If Iran is giving up on their land bridge to Hezbollah it's JOEVER. Homs has fallen, Heseke and Qamishlo were handed to SDF, and Damascus is basically hours or days from fighting for the presidential palace
The Romanian Supreme Court (CCR) has officially annulled the first round of elections
Official communique
This will surely not make things worse and embolden the already ascendant conspiracy nuts,nazis, people disaffected with the system into voting for the next kook,or god forbid commit actual violence
Edit: It's so bad,two days before the second round and ballots were beginning to be cast overseas
What a disaster, incredibly damaging decision,both Lasconi and Georgescu are railing against it,the tv is pushing the narrative that this was necessary because of RuZZian interference hard,only making things worse
If Assad falls the Turks are gonna sic this massive mercenary army against the Kurds, or at least Turkey is gonna try, because I don't think Erdoğan that filthy watermelon seller realizes the monster he's creating and how deep the Qatari money flows into HTS
The jihadists 100% want to replay the 2014 ISIS blitzkrieg back into Iraq, they have an ideological obsession with conquering Iraq for the dumbest theological reasons known to man
The US and Israel may pressure or bribe them to attack Lebanon again, but they're still traumatized by the beating Hezbollah gave them on the slopes of eastern Lebanon, many of their fighters used to bring it up in interviews, about how they dreaded facing Hezbollah, which makes the Iraq ploy even more likely since the ISIS seizure of Mosul plays such a romantic role in their imaginations
The new transitional Syrian government to broadcast a statement on all radio and TV channels imminently, announcing the end of Assad's rule. The shrine of Sayyeda Zainab is being besieged by rebels from three sides.
Several uprisings have broken out simultaneously in Daraa province in southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Local radicals, inspired by the victories of militants in Hama and Homs , captured several villages, took weapons and equipment from local soldiers and police, including armored vehicles and even tanks, and took them prisoner.
This region has always been problematic and was considered the "cradle of the revolution", which was brought back under control only after heavy fighting and a series of successive processes of application with the removal of the most inveterate radicals. But it is obvious that in Daraa there were still many opponents of Assad, who have now raised their heads.
I will bet this one thing, Yoon Suk-Yeol, or at least his western media syncophants, will spin this whole coup failure as some sort of attempt to garner the vigilance of citizens to protect it from 'authoritarian control like that of North Korea'
See how he's saying "but I was only gonna make le martial law temporary".... that's what he's leading to
Nazi Germany Amnesty International says:
"Treblinka,Sobibor? Never heard of"
Amnesty International’s Israel branch has distanced itself from the rights group’s allegation that Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza, but said “serious crimes” were potentially taking place that needed investigation.
The local branch, which operates as a separate charity from the international organisation, said in a statement: “While the Israeli section of Amnesty International does not accept the accusation that Israel is committing genocide, based on the information available to us, we are concerned that serious crimes are being committed in Gaza, that must be investigated.”
Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip
Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide, Amnesty International report finds
Read more
The 296-page report, examining events in Gaza between October 2023 to July 2024, found that Israel had “brazenly, continuously and with total impunity … unleashed hell” on the strip’s 2.3 million population, noting that the “atrocity crimes” against Israelis by Hamas on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war, “do not justify genocide”.
While its publication was largely welcomed by Palestinians and humanitarian groups, it was met with fury in Israel. “The deplorable and fanatical organisation Amnesty International has produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The United States said it disagreed with the conclusions of the report. “We have said previously and continue to find that the allegations of genocide are unfounded,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
Multiple attempts to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the war in Gaza, now raging for 14 months, have failed, although mediator Qatar said on Thursday it would resume its role, raising tentative hopes that progress could be made in fresh negotiations.
Egypt, another major mediator, has put forward a proposal involving a temporary ceasefire lasting 45-60 days, with a staged hostage release and prisoner swap. A Hamas delegation met with Egyptian negotiators in Cairo earlier this week, and Israel is considering sending its own delegation in the next few days – the most movement on talks since the last round collapsed in August.
The Egyptian proposal also suggests that the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority take control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel seized in May, and a substantial increase in the supply of aid. An average of 50 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel in November, UN data shows. Aid agencies say at least 500 are needed to meet the population’s needs amid a dire humanitarian crisis and the approach of winter.
In Gaza, at least 39 people were killed by Israeli fire in the preceding 24 hours, according to medics, including at least 20 who died when an overnight airstrike set alight cooking gas canisters and tents tents housing displaced families in what Israel has dubbed a “humanitarian zone”. Israel said the strike targeted senior Hamas operatives, whom it did not identify.
Other Israeli strikes reported on Thursday hit Gaza City, where medics said an airstrike destroyed a house where an extended family had taken shelter and damaged two nearby homes, killing at least three people.
Residents searched for loved ones and belongings among the charred wreckage in Mawasi, a coastal area in the south of the strip, where hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to seek shelter.
At a funeral for those killed in Mawasi in nearby Khan Younis, Abu Anas Mustafa told Reuters that the Amnesty report was “a victory for Palestinian diplomacy”, although he said it “came late”.
“It is the 430th day of the war today, and Israel has been carrying out massacres and a genocide from the first 10 days of the war,” he said.
The posters outside looked from week to decade, and from decade to week, and from week to decade again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Increased military preparedness in the Golan Heights area: Following the fall of the Assad regime - the IDF and the Northern Command launched an attack in the buffer zone in the Quneitra area, in order to strengthen the defense of the border.
In accordance with the assessment of the situation by the Northern Command and the Home Front Command, it was decided that in the four Druze communities in the Golan Heights there will be no school classes today. Learning will be allowed in kindergartens.
In the rest of the Golan Heights, classes are taking place as usual.
The IDF is deploying checkpoints along the Golan Heights. Movement in the area will be restricted as necessary. All agricultural areas adjacent to the Syrian border have been declared a closed military area, and farmers' entry there will be restricted.
I am completely unsurprised by the SK news. The government is little more than three chaebol held together by a cult. Any other cultural elements that could have united the populace have been systematically eliminated.
The intense misogyny and other prevalent right-wing traits are imo largely a result of an oppressive authority that has been in crisis for many decades now. Without the fear of NK to hold things together, they probably would have fallen apart years ago. (I don't consider this NK's responsibility and therefore I also don't consider it their fault.)
I don't think any of that is too controversial... but I will withhold my more inflammatory opinions on k-pop so as not to instigate a struggle session.
GDP: Brazil grows as much as China in the 3rd quarter and is only behind Indonesia and Mexico in the G20. Brazil's economy grew by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter of 2024, compared to the 2nd quarter. The sectors that contributed most to this growth in Brazil between July, August and September were services (up 0.9%) and industry (up 0.6%). The agricultural sector fell by 0.9%.
Argentina's GDP to fall by 2.8%, says Caputo. The Argentine economy shrank by 0.3% in September, compared to the previous month. The result came as a negative surprise to analysts, who had projected growth of 0.9%. In the annual comparison, economic activity fell by 3.3%, according to data released by the government last Friday, the 22nd. This is the fourth consecutive month of falling economic activity in the country.
Democratic Party chairman Lee Jae-myung: "We are not leaving the Assembly Hall until the president declares the end of the martial law. Seoul: The WaPo Tokyo bureau chief says ROK military leadership is stating that martial law will remain in effect until lifted by the President. Lee Jae-myung: "Following President Yoon's orders is illegal... Military and police must return quickly"
Currently in Doha, Qatar, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, and Iran are discussing the situation in Syria. Syrian rebels are launching offensives in cities across the country in an effort to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The loss of Syria creates a countdown for Hezbollah's collapse, probably a year or two, maybe even three, logistics is the god of war and cut off from Iranian supplies while simultaneously fighting off HTS/Israeli attacks and the political maneuvering of the French elites in Beirut is not something any org no matter how internally cohesive can sustain forever, and the new reality in Syria is definitely the beginning of a decades long process, which is too long for a Leningrad style siege
Good discussion by Justin Podur and Amaresh Mishra on the Syrian situation. Apparently Hama is still contested. Supposedly SAA "collapse" was caused in part by spoofed orders over the radio.
The children remain in extremely critical condition at a local hospital. On Wednesday, two kindergarten students were seriously wounded and the suspected gunman is dead after shooting at a school in Northern California.
The shooting took place around 1 p.m. local time at Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo, said the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, adding multiple agencies had immediately responded to the incident.
An officer from California Highway Patrol was first on the scene and located the shooter, a man who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a news conference Wednesday evening, adding that a handgun was found next to the suspect.
Police officers found kindergarten students wounded at the scene and they were transported to a local hospital. Two boys ages 5 and 6 were in extremely critical condition at a local hospital and “the injuries are very, very serious,” Honea commented.
Students were being taken to a nearby church after the shooting and parents were asked to respond to the church to be reunified with their children. The suspect was at the school to meet with the principal before the shooting to inquire about enrolling a family member.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Sacramento Field Office said that it “stands with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office and Feather River Adventist School families and employees and are providing support to aid our partners and the community during this challenging time.”
The K-8 school, operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has a total of 35 students. Palermo, home to over 5,000 residents, is about 104 km north of Sacramento, the capital of the U.S. state of California.
All of this gnostic talk kind of proves the pitfalls of supporting any religion based resistance movement. It's not very deep, people are just losing faith. (Ironically alawites are influenced by gnosticism too which is probably partly why they are in such danger right now, remember what happened to the melek taus worshippers)
Now is the time for honesty. The honest issue here is that the axis of resistance requires a strong Iran and a strong Russia. This is probably why Israel let October 7th happen, it was the worst possible timing for an intifada. At the end of the day, Hamas is a Muslim brotherhood offshoot that supported Syrian rebels, the fact that hezbollah even helped them at all was an act of mercy that explains the initial hesitation.
As for the future of Syria, the knives are already coming out. The new Bin Laden is talking about legal principles for the protection of minorities, but I am pretty sure he just means jizzya taxes and other tolerances of people of the book that is already found in sharia. (Not sure if that applies to alawites since sunnis view them as super heretics) He also talked about communal confederalism (Occalan's comunalism winning in Syria was not on my bingo card) which is probably why I am hearing rumors that Erdogan is about to sanction him. (Will confirm later)
As this goes on greater Israel expands past the Golan heights. The question here is how they deal with a Druze breakaway state and if they think attacking Latakia is worth missing off Russia and clearing the board for Erdogan, the true winner of the Biden administration. (He helped orchestrate the defeat of both Armenia and Syria, neo ottomanism is going to replace axis of resistance talk for the next two decades.
A United States Navy P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft is currently observing the Russia airbase in Latakia, as Russian transport aircraft continue to leave.
Iranian jets, both from Mahan Air and the IRGC, continue to also make evacuation flights. C5SKY, the private jet that was suspected to be used by the Syrian government for evacuation flights to the UAE over the past few days, was also spotted, and followed by US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft, again.
So is there going to be some sort of accountability from the users and mods here who spent this whole week calling everyone who was saying this situation was bad a "doomer" and accusing people, including people from the region, of spreading CIA/terrorist misinfo and deleting posts, or are you all going to pretend you didn't do that?
This mega didn't learn its lesson from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
HTS have a Pantsir AA system by the way, on top of other modern IGLA variants abandoned by the SAA. Just seen a video of them downing a Damascus govt helo.
They'll probably get some T-72s and T-90s in the coming days because the SAA rolled them up To Hama and then tried to do a blitzkrieg without any fucking fuel and left most of their tanks in pristine condition on the side of the highway.
Inb4 Turkey deploys a captured Oreshnik MRBM against Kobanê by January
EDIT: Emergency talks in Baghdad tomorrow morning to discuss a potential joint military intervention between Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
S and C hate D and M, so it's up to F to choose what happens. The party leaders of S C and F have already started informal talks and political flirting in the media.
People are also talking about the three left wing parties, Socialists, Pirates, Left greens, that did not cross the 5% threshold to access the voting district equalization system, there have been talks of uniting the parties and/or lowering the threshold.
Nonce Ex-Minister Joins Board Of Ukrainian Energy Firm
Former Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod will join Ukraine’s state energy firm, NPC Ukrenergo, as a board member. The company is tasked with maintaining Ukraine's electricity infrastructure and faces challenges due to what Kofod calls "Putin's terror bombings".
CW: CSA
Kofod is best known for having sex with a 15 year old girl in 2008 during a seminar in the Social Democrat youth organisation. He was 34 at the time. The 9th-grader had previously completed a one week internship at Kofod's office in parliament. The girl and her parents were both party members and the party was successful in putting a lid on the case and sparing Kofod from consequences. Although some rumours suggest less than full consent, the relationship was technically legal and no charges were brought.
Kofod failed to gain a seat in parliament in the 2022 general election. He has since been cashing in on his time as foreign minister by running a shady consultancy firm.
Kofod replaces another Dane who resigned in protest over the sacking of the company's CEO.
The 2020's have had some goofy fuckin half baked coup attempts. Just off the top of my head I can think of:
Prigozhin heading toward Moscow and then being like "jk ", the one in Bolivia where Arce stood there in front of the general telling him no like a misbehaving child, Bolsonaro's attempt, Jan 6 (I guess?), and now this one in South Korea.
Dominic Waghorn noted from preliminary observations that the military seemed ill-prepared to enforce martial law and surmised that Yoon acted unilaterally.
Unlikely, it was reported he held a meeting with close allies before the coup attempt.
The Economist described the situation as a constitutional crisis as it is unclear whether the Assembly has the power to hold votes under the provisions of martial law, thus making the vote to annul the martial law illegitimate.
Weak democracy, the country is clearly just an US puppet, much like South Vietnam. Even with all the money and aid the US gives them, they are still unstable, probably because most Koreans really just want peace and for the US and Japanese to leave them alone.
Martial law to be lifted in South Korea, President Yoon declares. South Korean troops will withdraw and stand down. It's not over yet, we now have the fallout - the impeachment.
Iranian Foreign Minister: A political dialogue must take place between the Syrian government and the 'legitimate opposition groups' (implying not HTS) Ali Larijani, former Parliament Speaker and current special representative of Supreme Leader Khamenei, is currently in Damascus meeting personally with Assad
Syrian Armed Forces have ordered the total evacuation of the SAA General Staff Headquarters and Air Force Command Center in the Capital of Damascus, as Rebel Forces enter the City from the South! Mass panic on the streets of Damascus. People are bulk buying. Most shops have closed. Clashes between the southern Free Syrian Army and IDF troops reported in the Golan.
A Syrian government plane took off from Damascus and is about to land in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates
It's hard to not look at this and compare it to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Enemy nation of the US run by geriatric leader won't do what the moment actually calls for because he's more worried about dying in his sleep, so he lets all his allies get rolled up one by one.
chat, let's hear some guesses on how The Adjuster disposed of the murder weapon in a way that made it very unlikely to be recovered. what would you do with it, if you had time to plan ahead for its disposal?
In Uruguay, President Lula decorated former president Pepe Mujica with Brazil's highest honor, the National Order of the Southern Cross, for his tireless fight for the betterment of Latin America and the world.
Lula visits Mujica: 'The most extraordinary person I've ever met' Brazilian president traveled to Uruguay, where he will take part in the Mercosur summit this Friday. Before the event, he visited former Uruguayan president and friend José 'Pepe' Mujica.
“The most extraordinary person I've ever met,” said Lula. On that occasion, he decorated Mujica with an honor from the Brazilian government: the National Order of the Southern Cross, the highest decoration offered by Brazil to foreigners. “We don't choose brothers. We don't even choose a mother. But we choose a comrade,” added Lula.
Terrorists have broken through to Homs and are 6 km from the city center, military sources report :"The Assad regime is dead. We will establish a government based on the People's Council, which will be institutional and not based on one ruler making arbitrary decisions," said HTS militant leader Abu Muhammad al-Julani.