Trump's victory, and the further mass oppression of minorities, is closer than ever before. May god have mercy on our souls.
previous preamble
The totalitarian capitalist dystopia which was created by the United States in the aftermath of the Korean War has increasingly experienced problems as the multipolar world is being gradually birthed.
Due to the widespread exploitation of the population, long work weeks, and high housing prices, the population growth of South Korea has plummeted, with the lowest fertility rate on the planet, and the highest suicide rate in the OECD. While a capitalist "success story" before the 2008 recession in terms of profit accumulation for the richest at the expense of most others, conditions have grown more dire in the Long Depression since the crash. GDP growth per year has averaged out at 2-3%. For more concrete figures, labour productivity has stagnated, particularly in the service sector. The rate of profit hit a peak when the dictatorship ended in the late 1980s, but has since massively tumbled. These dynamics are not unique to South Korea; they are happening throughout the West.
While South Korea is stagnating, perhaps even falling, its northern neighbour is rising. With Russia already persona non grata to much of the developed world and yet still maintaining fairly good economic growth and continuously albeit gradually moving towards victory in Ukraine, Putin sees no reason to be intimidated by the West's shunning of the DPRK, and Russia is establishing ties as well as military and economic deals. This seems to portend an end to the post-Soviet period of forced isolation due to UN actions forbidding the people of the DPRK to leave the country (which many westerners believe is a policy originating from the Korean leadership due to their propagandized education).
Many in the West are still, regrettably, unable to properly analyze the geopolitical situation of Korea due to their government programming, leading to bizarre takes about imminent collapse, or desperation on the part of Russia or the DPRK, unable to recognize that the DPRK has a powerful military sector all its own, and decades of autarky has created a durable society where limited resources must be used efficiently and effectively. The position of the Korean Peninsula seems likely to be a critical part of the US-China conflict, whether this is an outright war or instead a series of proxy wars. Indeed, Korea's position may soon become very important in global trade routes if the US tries to cut off the Strait of Malacca to Chinese-bound cargo ships, with vital resources like oil and food potentially transported both over land and via the Arctic Route over Russia and through the DPRK to China. Russia's leadership clearly sees the importance of Korea in the future, hence their actions now; and, of course, South Korea siding with Ukraine has also forced Putin's hand to oppose them more openly.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The "Country" of the Week is South Korea! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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.
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.
Okay what the fuck, I disappear for a few days after my son's birth and I miss the assassination attempt on Big Don T. What a world, this is why one should never log off. What a moment for the dumbass undecided voter who votes on pure unfiltered vibes, one guy can barely talk while the other guy gets shot and then raises his fist in victory. Say what you want about Donny, but there hasn't been such a good showman politician in a long time. His brain scattering on the floor would've been funnier and more iconic, but this is better for the accelerationists here, a more unhinged Trump on a revenge tour might just send America deeper into the spiral. Trump dying would mean that the old party heads nominate some robot loser who wins and actually stabilises the deep brainworms.
What a moment for the dumbass undecided voter who votes on pure unfiltered vibes, one guy can barely talk while the other guy gets shot and then raises his fist in victory. Say what you want about Donny, but there hasn't been such a good showman politician in a long time.
I've seen the footage of the attempt and it's very obvious that he knew exactly what he was doing. He gets stopped mid-sentence by the bullet and the Secret Service comes barreling up the steps to cover him with their bodies from potential further attacks, and as he's being moved down the steps in a clump, he purposefully stops them and raises his fist before moving on.
I think that's the best political acumen I have ever seen a major US politician demonstrate. Period. In a single hand motion, it shifts the entire event from one of panic and despair, to one of brave resistance against the "communist Brandonist totalitarian woke regime" or whatever. I don't think any other US politician would have the wherewithal in the immediate aftermath of almost being killed to do that, they'd just GTFO. Trump has contentbrain and it worked very well for him here.
You and the wife get to the cluster feedings phase? Hearing from my friend and the family's journey into parenthood have taught me that being a parent for the first few months is a really arduous period
Not yet, the lil boy is just a week old and it's a bit too early I think. He hasn't been a difficult kid so far, he's sleeping a lot and the only minor problem is that he's slower than normal during breastfeeding, but that's apparently normal with kids that are born a few weeks premature. I have just been a spectator so far, my wife, her mom and my mom have been completely dominating the show and taking care of everything. Arab family structure rules when it comes to stuff like that, it feels nice to have like 20 people to count on in these hard early months
Wow only a week old, and counting! It's always a nice feeling having close and extended family in your life to share the joys and burdens of childhood with. I hope you're taking some time to practice honing your dad jokes and pun skills now that you're Mr. Abu LargePenis
I'm already pulling an incredible Arab dad routine, I'm playing Quran in the car, started wearing my glasses instead of lenses, and my friends have all switched to calling me Abu Hassan instead of my name.
The next ranking will be so powerful, I'm writing down all these events in my notes app for the next ranking. I'll publish it if I find 30 mins of peace next week