this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
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Image is of the Freedom Band performing at the end of the Second National Congress of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, sourced from this article. The same article contains most of the information used in the preamble below.
A little over a week ago, the Socialist Movement of Ghana concluded its second National Delegates Congress in Aburi, gathering 300 delegates from across the country. There, they deepened their commitment to the working class of Ghana and committed to intensifying political education and organization at the grassroots. The SMG itself decided to not electorally contest the 2024 elections in Ghana, but still presented a manifesto, and nonetheless managed to get two SMG members parliamentary seats in the National Democratic Congress.
Anyway, back to the National Delegates Congress: the delegates agreed that the Western imperialist system is now under a profound crisis, in which the likely future is a heightening of brutality, chaos, and resource plundering - a future which must be resisted and organized against.
To summarize their various statements and condemnations:
- Inside Ghana: a commitment to women's rights, youth empowerment, and environmental protection.
- A condemnation of the resource plundering of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by imperialist powers.
- A salute to the people of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, in their campaign against outside imperial control in the Sahel.
- A condemnation of Morocco's illegal occupation of the Western Sahara, and a call for the UN to identify the independence of the Sahwari people.
- A strong condemnation of Israel's genocidal atrocities and massive terrorist operations against nearby countries, and support for Palestinian independence.
- Support for the people of Haiti against outside imperial domination.
- A call for the end of the blockade on Cuba and their removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
- Solidarity with Maduro and the people of Venezuela against the United States.
- A rejection of all imperialist aggression and sanctions against Iran.
- A condemnation of NATO's decades-long military expansion eastwards towards Russia, especially as it has now resulted in massive devastation and risks a third world war.
- And finally, a commitment to Pan Africanism and international solidarity with all oppressed peoples around the world.
A platform I think we all can agree to!
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.
The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. 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.
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US economy may be weaker than reported (unsurprisingly)
Average growth for the first half of the year is 1.6 percent despite the 3.8 percent revision in the second quarter, at the very least according to this one Dean Baker
spoiler
The Economy Grew at a 1.6 Percent Rate in the First Half Dean BakerSome folks have gotten a bit carried away with the revisions that put the second quarter growth rate at 3.8 percent. That does look impressive in isolation, but it is important to remember the economy shrank at a 0.6 percent rate in the first quarter.
That puts the average at 1.6 percent for the first half of the year. That’s not terrible but it is hardly cause for celebration. Remember, the economy grew 2.4 percent last year and the vast majority of forecasters expected growth at this rate to continue.
And we really do need to look at the two quarters together. Just as unusual factors were responsible for the fall in GDP we saw in the first quarter, they are also responsible for the strong growth reported for the second quarter.
To take the most notable example, the lower trade deficit added 4.83 percentage points (PP) to growth in the second quarter. A pre-tariff surge in the trade deficit subtracted 4.63 PP from growth in the first quarter. Only a devoted Trumper would focus on the second quarter number without mentioning the first quarter jump in the trade deficit.
Moving beyond the irregular numbers, we get that non-residential fixed investment added 0.98 PP to growth in the second quarter after adding 1.24 PP in the first quarter. The first quarter growth was partly due to pre-tariff stockpiling but the second quarter growth on top of this indicates we are looking at something sort of real. This is the AI boom. If that turns into a bust, we will see this growth quickly reversed.
Consumption accounts for the bulk of GDP and here the story is pretty blah. The second quarter’s growth rate was a healthy 2.5 percent, accounting for 1.68 PP of the quarter’s growth. But this followed a growth rate of just 0.6 percent in the first quarter, leaving an average of rate of 1.6 percent for the first half. That’s not horrible, but certainly not great.
We also have seen evidence that the growth in consumption has been concentrated among higher income people who are spending their stock gains. That is consistent with my simple measure of looking at real spending at fast food restaurants. I consider this useful since it’s unlikely that rich people increase their consumption of fast food because their stock portfolio is worth more.
And spending on fast food has to rank as largely a discretionary purchase. It is one thing that is relatively easy to cut back on if a family has to tighten its belts. Real spending at fast food restaurants was just 0.3 percent higher in the second quarter than the average for 2024. That doesn’t look like most people are feeling good about the economy.
Tomorrow, we will get new data on consumption for August, along with revisions for prior months’ data. Maybe that will show a different story, but for now, it looks like we have a weak economy that is being sustained by the AI boom. That boom could go on for a while and keep the economy moving forward, but it may not.