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Bulletins and News Discussion from May 5th to May 11th, 2025 - Fuck Fascists Friday

Image is the famous photograph Raising a Flag Over the Reichstag, taken during the Battle of Berlin.

On Friday is May 9th, which is the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, which Russia, among other places, celebrates as the day when the Soviets defeated the Nazis. Naturally, one of the current hotspots of fascism in the world today, Ukraine, is essentially threatening that they might strike Russia or even Moscow itself during that timeframe. Any such strike would almost certainly be symbolic and not aimed at anything too important, as I doubt even Zelensky and his American handlers would actually want to kill a world leader, not least somebody like Xi Jinping. But I would not be surprised if they tried something nonetheless, if only to disrupt the event in some way and not actually kill anybody.

And, as we're on this topic, @EllenKelly@hexbear.net has reminded me that Tuesday is the anniversary of the Nazis burning the Institut für Sexualwissenschaf in 1933, an early institute advocating for the rights of LGBT people, and which also provided early forms of gender-affirming surgeries, as well as hormone therapies. We are currently seeing a crackdown on LGBT rights throughout swathes of the imperial core (as well as countries in the periphery, to the extent that those rights existed there already), and this Nazi-inspired movement will be similarly defeated in the future.

Last week's thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

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1.2K comments

  • Yemen - U.S. Concedes Maritime Defeat | Moon of Alabama

    highlight:

    The U.S. Navy has spent over a billion dollar on ammunition on Yemen. It lost more than half a billion in flying equipment and managed to achieve nil.

    Others will take note of that record.

    this post has been checked for brainworms ✅

    • I wouldn't say nothing was accomplished, that conclusion can only be reached in isolation. The Israeli bombings of Yemen that took place over the past two days would not have been possible without the US carrying out their 50 day bombing campaign, with capabilities only the US has, in B-2 stealth bombers and EA-18G Growler Electronic Warfare aircraft. Yes, even for a force with rudimentary air defences such as Ansarallah/the Houthis, those assets/capabilities are now needed to suppress their air defence network to a sufficient level. Yemen has a lot of systems, many Iranian in design or origin, even if locally manufactured. Israel doesn't have the capabilities despite their large F-35 fleet (no EA-18Gs or B-2s in Israeli service), in reality the only country other than the US even close is China, and surprisingly I'd also put Australia third with their sizeable EA-18G fleet.

      The Israeli bombing campaign did billions of dollars in damages to Yemeni civil society, their airport and airliners were completely destroyed, along with cement factories and their sea ports in Ras Isa (that was a US operation) and Hodeidah. Yes, none of this is explicitly military targets, but as the author points out, there are none left that haven't been hit multiple times by over a decade of bombings. And blowing up tunnel networks in a country as vast as Yemen, which requires unique "bunker buster" stand in bombs which have to be dropped directly over the target, and where the location and purpose of such structures isn't as well known as say Iran, becomes a very expensive game of whack a mole that produces minimal results beyond leaving a big hole in the ground. That's why Israel bombed the cement factories, to try halt the repair and construction of these tunnel networks.

      Much like the Gaza ceasefire previously, I wonder how this will hold up long term. Are Israel going to continue bombing Yemen as Yemen continues lobbing ballistic missiles in their direction? Will the UK start more bombings on Yemen with their aircraft carrier arriving in the Red Sea soon (unlikely, but if pressured enough, they might not have a choice). Will the US restart bombings on Yemen?

1229 comments