Image is sourced from this Economist article.
Most of the information in this preamble is from the Cradle; notably here, here, here, and here.
The features of an effective American war (proxy or otherwise) is that it is a) against opponents with much less military power than you; b) with very low American losses; c) with victories you can visibly show off from time to time to justify involvement, and d) with a profit margin beyond merely giving money to military corporations. The war against Yemen was none of those; airplanes tumbled off aircraft carriers, and the navy complained of the hardest fighting conditions in decades. Conquering Yemen for its resources was inconceivable given the terrain, lack of good intelligence, and the strength of Ansarallah, and all that seemed to be visibly harmed were empty patches of desert and civilians.
Apparently, the ceasefire last month merely stipulated that they stop attacking merchant vessels in the Red Sea; it said nothing about attacking Israel. Therefore, Yemen is absolutely free to create a new blockade of Israel by just striking their airports and seaports, and all Israel can seem to do is try and bomb them in retaliation, a futile strategy which has failed to produce a military or political change in Yemen for the last decade when many other countries have tried it. And if America directly attacks them in response to attacks on Israel, the ceasefire is off, and expensive equipment will continue to be lost.
Across the strait from Yemen is an interesting array of countries. Egypt's position in this war is well-known, and Somalia is under a kind of US occupation under the guise of fighting terrorism (Trump withdrew most troops, but they were then sent back under Biden). The other three are Sudan, Djibouti, and Eritrea. All three are increasingly being drawn into the anti-imperialist camp, as they cooperate with Iran, Russia, and/or China. Sudan is undergoing a civil war, but the rebels fighting the government are famously backed by the UAE. Djibouti has refused to allow themselves to be a launchpad for US strikes on Yemen.
Eritrea has a fascinating history of flip-flopping between West and East over the past few decades, but has, since 2020, sided with the East. It was one of the five countries to oppose the 2022 UN resolution condemning Russia's war with Ukraine. Eritrea sends two thirds of its exports to China, and Iran has reportedly supplied them with military equipment. If a stronger link could be reforged, then Iran would have significantly less trouble sending military technology to Ansarallah, and to other friendly groups throughout the region.
Naturally, the lidless eye of the imperial core is shifting its gaze onto Eritrea. Meanwhile, Ethiopia - a country that has experienced frequent conflict with Eritrea - is part of BRICS+ and their economy is increasingly reliant on China (as is most countries' economies nowadays). If a permanent resolution between the two could be created, it would be a victory for themselves and the Resistance, and a defeat for America, which thrives on conflict and destabilization.
Last week's thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
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 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.
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.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
I've decided to check in with the libs and endured half an hour of a shitlib news podcast on Ukraine (2x speed though)
The expert (basically just a journalist) said:
The war is a stalemate, since the Russians said they'd win in a couple of weeks, so they are quite humiliated, especially because of the recent attacks
Despite the stalemate the Russians are unwilling to compromise on their demands
One of their demands is the lifting of sanctions, which signals that the sanctions do hurt the Russians
Yeah it turns out the Russian economy did not collapse in a few months after the first round of sanctions, but who knows what will happen, they are very strained
It might be true that there's some fatigue in the Ukrainian populace, but the drone strike boosts morale
In Ukraine, human resources (mobilization) are the main challenge, especially in the absence of spectacular successes (like in the autumn of 2022)
Trump courts Putin and criticizes Ukraine, which reinforces the "proxy war" narrative for Russia and makes them less willing to compromise
Ukraine was very smart to do Operation Spiderweb completely independently, it shows that they are capable
This allowed Ukraine to signal its capability to carry out independent operations for which Russia may not have a ready countermeasure. This implies they are not in such a dire position that they are forced to accept all Russian conditions and, in essence, surrender
And so on and so forth, it truly feels like a parallel universe, but some facts start to seep in, but very very slowly (he mentioned that 6 million Ukrainians fled the country in the first year of the war)
Even hexbear beloved breadtube icon hassan still thinks ukrainians can win and how they "owned" evil putler by bombing those rockets or whatever and putting israel & russia on the same level lol. Their minds will shatter once ukraine basically loses a third of its country. Mayhaps they will give it the finland treatment though.
Hasan did not say that at all. He said that Ukraine had the right to carry out the drone attack which, no shit, it did. He didn't frame it as a morally cool super awesome putler p0wned thing, and he cursed NATO in the same phrase.
Correct. It's bizarre reading so much out right bullshit in the news mega.
Incorrect lmao
It comes off extremely pathetic and lonely looking to suck up to parasocial streamers this much. Hasan regularly creates "Putin 0wned" content and regularly praises Ukraine and calls Russia fascist and imperialist, and he supports Ukraine winning the war and has said as much multiple times. He's a social chauvinist, and if you can't see it you are too
Wtf are you arguing against. My point was that Hasan has consistently and clearly voiced that what is happening in Israel is NOT a war and very different from what is happening in the Ukraine. You quoted Hasan talking about being forced to come to the table. This isn't him screaming, Russia owned. Your youtube thumbnail is evidence of nothing since it's not even clipped by him. If you listen to his content, it's nothing like the clickbait thumbnail. You clearly support Russia's pointless territorial grab in the Ukraine. Whatever. I don't think I've really decided on where Ifall on taking territory from the Ukraine to prevent Nato expansion. I do think the war is pretty sensiless and again, if you listen to Hasan, he says the same. You making a straw man argument and then accusing me of being parasocial to attempt to shut down any discussion make you look like an ass. Fuck right out of hear. People like you cause the left to fracture because of sectarianism. You cherry picked some irrelevant clips because you have an irrational hatred for a random leftist on the internet. Maybe selfcritique.
The fact you think this war is about a "territorial grab" in Ukraine just proves that you don't get it. This is an anti-imperialist struggle to destroy and disarm a Nazi NATO proxy, of course I support it. Z. Hasan wants to "get Russia to the table" humbled, to put Ukraine in a position of strength. This is the exact same position as Lindsay Graham, and functionally it means supporting Ukraine militarily, economically and diplomatically to drag the war on. All the Neocons know that Ukraine lost already, it's only radlibs like Hasan that hold out in delusion and get excited by Zelensky's sacrificial PR moves. The neocons just want Ukraine to destroy itself against Russia to incur maximum damage on the Russian state, which seems to be the same thing Hasan wants apparently.
You are arguing in bad faith. Disengage.
Nah, this is a 100% pure shitlib take: