Bulletins and News Discussion from July 29th to August 4th, 2024 - Haters Stay Mad(uro) - COTW: Venezuela
Bulletins and News Discussion from July 29th to August 4th, 2024 - Haters Stay Mad(uro) - COTW: Venezuela
Image is of a colectivo: an armed group, usually operating in impoverished areas, which act to support and defend the socialist government of Venezuela. They are often derided as vigilante terrorist groups which prop up the government, because cops are only bad when they are socialist and not murdering minorities, I suppose.
Maduro's party, the PSUV, has won the election after a staggering amount of propaganda by the opposition, who said their polls suggested they were going to win and that Maduro's loss was inevitable. The reaction across Latin America is what one would expect. Left-leaning leaders are generally respecting the results and congratulating Maduro, while those on the right and/or are US puppets (such as in semirecently-couped Peru) are calling for recounts, or even that the election was illegitimate. The US itself is also unhappy about the results. We shall soon see if their unhappiness boils over into yet another coup attempt.
Personally, I think they should have ran Guaido again.
Thank you to @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net for the election coverage here, and everything else they do in the news megathread.
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 Venezuela! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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Last week's thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
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Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, was declared the winner of the country’s tumultuous presidential election early Monday, despite enormous momentum from an opposition movement that had been convinced this was the year it would oust Mr. Maduro’s socialist-inspired party.
The NYT's opening paragraph from its Venezeula article. A thing of beauty. The blue meth of pure ideology.
During the 25 years Mr. Maduro’s party has been in power, it has presided over an economic contraction unlike any seen outside war
The election was being watched closely in Washington, which has spent years trying push Mr. Maduro from office, levying brutal sanctions in 2019 that have strangled the country’s already crippled economy.
For a time it did. But in recent years, the socialist model has given way to brutal capitalism, economists say, with a small state-connected minority controlling much of the nation’s wealth.
Mr. Chávez swept to power in 1999 following a democratic election, vowing to remake a system led by a corrupt elite. Today, his movement runs a state widely viewed as corrupt, and his party’s leaders are the elite — and Ms. Machado and Mr. González had promised to oust them.
Are they trying to appeal to Trotskyists here?
“What is the problem? I am also a Trotskyist!” - Hugo Chavez
I've been a Trotskyist, too, but even at my Trottiest I wouldn't have bought what the Times is selling here. Okay, so they're state capitalists / a d*generated workers' state, but the opposition wants to privatize the state-owned oil company. I'll stick with the state capitalists, thanks.
you don't know how dumb trots can get, the ones i've seen have generally support the death of the USSR and would support the collapse of venezuela
For a time it did. But in recent years, the socialist model has given way to brutal capitalism, economists say
What economists? Cite your sources! I want names of who these economists are!
More passive voice and uncited sources:
Today, his movement runs a state widely viewed as corrupt,
there were reports of voter intimidation and other irregularities
Even before the announcement, there was concern
In a scuffle, one woman was punched.
a woman was hit by a bullet
and a bonus paragraph that will be fun to compare with coverage of the protests at the DNC (emphasis mine):
At another polling place in Cumaná, about 50 armed police officers and national guardsmen had formed a long line outside by midmorning, wearing helmets and bullet-resistant vests, clearly projecting the state’s strength to anyone considering voting against those in power.
50 armed police officers and national guardsmen had formed a long line outside by midmorning, wearing helmets and bullet-resistant vests, clearly projecting the state’s strength to anyone considering voting against those in power.
Wow that sure sounds concerning, did they look over the shoulder of the people voting, or perhaps were they there to prevent chaos from breaking out at the voting stations?
An article from the near future fell out of my time machine:
US America’s authoritarian leader, Donald Trump/Kamala Harris, was declared the winner of the country’s tumultuous presidential election early Monday, despite enormous momentum from an opposition movement that had been convinced this was the year it would oust Ms. Harris'/ Mr. Trump’s fascist-inspired party.
Maybe ex-Trot neocons on the NYT staff had some input?
it has presided over an economic contraction unlike any seen outside war
Wait. Have liberals switched over from their traditional "war expands/is good for the economy" line? LOL.