https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39x0133e2wo folded like a wet crisp
this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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Bulletins and News Discussion from May 12th to May 18th, 2025 - Nuclear War Averted (Hopefully)!
(hexbear.net)
Image is from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' recent article on Kashmir.
It looks like the spat between India and Pakistan could be dying down, due to a new ceasefire. As of the time of me writing this paragraph, it seems both sides want to maintain it (despite some reports of violations here and there).
Both sides have declared victory, which is completely expected given their mutual political parties and nationalist histories. It's a little harder to say which side has actually won, as both sides seem to have managed to shoot down aircraft and hit military bases. India has, in my opinion, had the more embarrassing moments, but international conflicts aren't cringe compilations. I feel no good-will towards Pakistan's comprador government, but it is at least nice to see Modi knocked down a few pegs. Regardless of the final technical victor, it's obvious that - if the ceasefire is maintained - who won are the hundreds of millions of people who won't have to live in fear of dying in nuclear hellfire.
This conflict is a good example of what multipolarity will truly entail. Countries that have been previously limited in their nationalist ambitions by American pressure will now take opportunities to revolt, sometimes against America itself, and sometimes against other countries in their regional neighbourhood. It's also why, as communists, our goals do not stop at multipolarity; it is merely the establishing act of a new era of agitation against peripheral and semi-peripheral capitalist countries that are forming powerful national bourgeoisie classes as the international American capitalists are forced away.
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.
Leader of portuguese far-right party, Andre Ventura, gets epicly owned.....by a glass of water. It was on camera and it's kinda funny, he felt bad during a speech after drinking water for some reason and buckled over like a bitch so the whole entourage came in to protect him from...something
Comparisions to bolsonaro came instantly but I'm sad to report that he's probably fine.
Who needs left adventurism when you have glasses of water performing A. Venturism
Hungary is doing its own version of Foreign Agents Registration Act similar to Georgia (and the US)
Hungary's Fidesz government has proposed a law targeting organizations deemed threats to national sovereignty, primarily those receiving foreign funding and critical of the government. These groups could face financial restrictions, mandatory asset declarations, and increased scrutiny. The government argues this protects Hungary from foreign interference, while critics fear it will stifle dissent and civil society.
The law empowers the Sovereignty Protection Office to blacklist organizations, triggering penalties like loss of tax donation eligibility and stricter oversight of foreign funding. A broad definition of "threats to sovereignty" raises concerns about targeting groups advocating for human rights or environmental protection. Banks will monitor listed organizations' accounts, and the tax authority can suspend funds or demand their return. Critics compare the law to similar measures in Russia, fearing it will restrict freedom of expression and association. The law underscores tensions between national sovereignty and democratic liberties.
This is the front page of the largest liberal news site:
"Good morning, Russia"
I wonder how many of the liberal news sites got money from the West, and this new law obviously puts them in a very difficult position...
a popular tiktok nerd thats posts about news made a video really positive of Ibrahim Traoré
more people are having a positive view of traore
Video isn’t available
This video isn’t available in your country or region
What keeps y'all going wrt Palestine? Cause honestly I'm starting to take the black pill. My head can't really wrap around why this is being let happen like that.
Especially disappointed at China and Vietnam that enable the genocide while having power to do more.
Like are we really just gonna let them all die huh?
Rip USSR 
Vietnam is smaller so I can give them a pass, but China is clearly capable of destroying the Israeli economy.
Don't get me wrong, there's plenty that unrelentingly bleak but personally:
- Palestinians are still fighting and continuing the struggle.
- Good old fashioned solidarity from organising and protest
- Seeing even the small wins from providing support and effort like messages from people who managed to leave, get medical care, or purchase small solar panels etc (admittedly this is getting harder and less frequent)
- Seeing the tides turn in attitude to the conflict here in the UK and elsewhere...
- Even just in terms of ordinary, not overly political people I meet in the street/at the football/in the pub etc there's been a noticable move into the majority of people I talk to not only not buying Israel's bullshit, but also actual loathing for Israel and its obnoxious supporters in the media.
- Over the last week the vast majority of the newspapers here in the UK have suddenly noticed that Israel is full of shit and are now trying to put some distance between themselves and Israel, taking a more critical tack, and actually talking about Israel's plans with regard to concepts like ethnic cleansing. Don't get me wrong, it's entirely serve-serving and I absolutely do not have to give it to them after they cheerled a genocide for almost two years. But whether it's the talk of America backing off from the same level of Israel support, the fact that the British government actively broke even it's own pathetic arms license removal and is currently in court over breaking arms embargos, or just that they were happy to support the ruse of the 'war' but now Israel is moving into the 'final solution' stage they've got cold feet - the fact is there is less support for Israel here than any time over the last few years.
- That even though governments like here in the UK and Germany haven't relented on their support of Israel and their crackdown on its enemies and critics, continuing to do so is creating more and more unrest and unpopularity. There's absolutely a lot of controdictions heightening. Here in the UK too, more insidious details are getting leaked to the public too like the fact that our government and judiciary has been collaborating and communicating details of cases with Israel, perverting the course of justice and opening them up to counter-suits, mistrials etc whilst also undermining the government's law and order narrative regarding crushing political dissent.
- Israel's increasingly expansionist military moves in the region remind me of Aparthied South Africa's desperate attempt to defeat opposition from within by trying to disrupt, overthrow, and control its neighbours. A strategy that only has any hope of working so long as they have the unlimited backing of the US and other highly militarised states. Admittedly, Israel seems to be doing better at it than Aparthied South Africa did, but that kind of regional dependency for domestic stability is always going to be fragile at best and gets harder the more of a pariah state they become. On that point, here's a leaflet about opposing Aparthied South Africa's desperate expansionist wars from the time
What keeps y'all going wrt Palestine?
At this point, both Shit/Pissreal 
and the Burger Reich 
are exhibiting every single symptom that I know of of a dying empire grasping at straws. My hope is that Israel's settler colonial project unravels and possibly descends into civil war, with a Western bloc increasingly unable or unwilling to prop it up.
Ultimately and most importantly, though, if the Palestinians haven't given up yet then I sure as hell am not going to give up on them. Keep showing up to your weekly demos as best you can & donate where you can.
If I must die, you must live to tell my story to sell my things to buy a piece of cloth and some strings...
Nothing other than the small bits of evidence popping up every now and then showing that the Israelis are at least not literally immortal.
Otherwise I kind of just want to never wake up.
Also I just can't understand why Israel is so fucking important to damn near every country on Earth that they're looking past an actual fucking genocide going on. Why does everyone seem to love Israel so fucking much? Fucking shithole world and a shithole planet. Game was rigged from the start.
Just watched The Settlers documentary and hearing those ppl's ideology peppered with biblical prophecy was disturbing. A truly disgusting movement that needs to be stopped.
Spite, mainly. And agreed, it's been annoying at times to see some people here make excuses for China, in particular, with regards to trading with Israel.
https://xcancel.com/kyleichan/status/1922323213440233817
China had the most positive public attitude towards AI out of 23 countries while the US was second to last in a 2024 survey by @Ipsos.
And this was before DeepSeek R1.
Q: “Products & services using AI make me excited. How much do you agree/disagree?”
A bit of a tangent, but the funniest part to me is that nobody (important) in China gave a shit about DeepSeek until prestigious universities in the West like MIT talked about how much of an innovation it was.
Only then did the government realized “oh wow we have something good in our hands (approved by prestigious Western academics!)” and began to roll out this whole initiative about economic transformation with AI.
If the West hadn’t freaked out about DeepSeek, the paper would probably have passed unnoticed amidst hundreds of AI papers published every month, and the government most likely wouldn’t have given a damn thought about it.
This is a serious problem with the Chinese leadership and the elite class, to be honest. A lot of emphasis is being placed on whether Westerners approve of us or not.
And honestly this is nothing new. The same happened with the EV industry too. BYD began its EV production back in 2008 (same year as Tesla), and there had been some initiatives by the government to promote EV as early as 2009 with tax credits. But for the most part, nobody gave much of a damn about BYD or EVs as a whole.
Do you know why the Chinese government suddenly turned its attention to EV and decided to place a big bet on it?
It wasn’t BYD, it wasn’t any Chinese company. It was Elon Musk lol!
To understand this part, we need to go slightly back in time. By the early 2010s, a lot of internet companies in China had accumulated vast amount of capital, and they were looking for new avenues to invest in as their new business ventures. These are your typical techbro companies where their CEOs and employees alike worship Elon Musk.
Tesla delivered the first batch of Model S to Shanghai, China in 2014, to the first dozen of their owners - most of them CEOs from tech companies like Sina, Xiaomi etc. It was also Elon Musk’s first visit to China and was given enthusiastic reception as he passed over the keys to the new owners.
The Chinese leaders were so enamored with Elon Musk that it was in 2014, the EV industry was set to become a national project. They really believed that Elon Musk is some kind of a visionary genius that just showed them a vision of the future lol.
It is not at all controversial to say (I actually read this on Chinese internet) that “Elon Musk is the grandfather of Chinese EV industry.” You can even make the argument that Elon Musk arguably was one of the most important persons who defined the next national priority of the Chinese economy in the 2010s.
Immediately afterwards, at least 300 EV companies were registered in 2014-2015. A lot of them wouldn’t survive the take off, but the traction never stopped and by 2018, at least 500 EV companies existed in China! (Today, less than 50 survived, and it is estimated that the price war would cull off the rest of them to the last 5 or so).
Tesla became the only automobile company in China that is fully autonomous and did not have to partner up with a local company. It is no secret that the Shanghai Municipal government has a lot of affection for Elon Musk that they gave Tesla all kinds of benefits and tax exemptions.
In 2019, the Tesla Shanghai megafactory opened, boasting a “same year construction, same year production” achievement. This acted as a catalyst for the entire Chinese EV industry and it was then, starting in 2020, that the Chinese EV industry really took off, and would surpass Tesla itself in just a few years.
I guess the point I wanted to make is that these leaders really need to stop looking up to Westerners for their approval.
A bit of a tangent, but the funniest part to me is that nobody (important) in China gave a shit about DeepSeek until prestigious universities in the West like MIT talked about how much of an innovation it was.
Maybe because the release of their Deepseek's actual "Groundbreaking" new model that stirred up a storm in the west and the stormed stirred up in the west, the "deepseek" moment lets say, all happened within what 1-2 weeks at most? How quickly would you possibly expect the CPC, which isnt known for rushing onto news and trends and outward narrative changes fast, to start adopting and promoting Deepseek. Its pretty crazy to go on one of your rants when the simple and obvious answer is that we cant possibly know how and how quickly China and the CPC would have reacted to Deepseek without the west losing their shit first simply because the West lost their shit almost immediately on arival. And its not indicative of anything that China and Chinese officials, seeing their western counterparts and the relevant big players and media in that field along with relevant market indicators, being extremely shook and vocal about Deepseek within days sped up the "looking into it" thing from higher ups.
Also you actualy believe the chinese wouldnt have caught up and recognize they have produced domesticaly an industry leading product and made a huge leap in a high tech sector that they actualy have had specific focus on? That it would have gone unnoticed or ignored for months without the west freaking out about it? Come on now
崇洋媚外 runs deep in the Shanghai neoliberal clique (I hope I'm using that chengyu correctly)
it's because they've seen new technologies sometimes get applied to help people instead of an unbroken litany of enhanced profit extraction
while the US was second to last in a 2024 survey
: "healthcare pls"
: Haven't you realize how humanity will be revolutionized you stinking luddite poors? Give it billions of more dollars.
: we will use this technology to advance to communism, if it doesn't work, well, we have 100 other things we're doing.
I have finally decoded their plan. They will make each election more insufferably cringe than the last, until lefists all just keel over out of incredulity and embarrassment.
Unfortunately, it might just work. Fiendish.
Sure why not. Run Kamala and Beto and all the other losers from the previous elections too while you’re at it. Nothing new under the sun
Here's how Bernie can still win!
Man the 24/7 365 day per year campaign mode of The Burger Reich is utterly exhausting
The reason Obama won was because he talks good. And the reason Biden won was because he was friends with Obama. So we just need a candidate who either talks as well as or is friends with Obama...
Rahm Emanuel
please delete this before any DNC people see it
on the other hand, hearing Donald Trump attack Rahm's grandfather for being in Irgun and a legitimate wanted terorrist would be extremely funny. I'm sure the republicans could make up some attack ads about jewish supremacist groups in 1947 being secretly communist or whatever, and just really lean into the whole judeo-bolshevism that Elon has been trying to get (re)started.
When he loses the libs are gonna say it was because he was gay and what they really need next time is a straight white male
Tbh by 2028 we'll have regressed so far that Gavin Newsom is probably gonna call him the f-slur in primary debates
Join us
I have ... HIGH HOPES ... for his candidacy!
still pleasantly surprised I haven't heard the song
munna muh MUH NUH NUH munna muh nuh
Retvrn of the porky watch:
please be saudis 
(because i dunno what else happened since start of may to drop them, aside from oil prices)
*also little black pilled article https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/13/brics-nations-and-israel-hype-hope-and-helplessness/ , mainly concerned with south africa, but touches on everybody in brics re: isntreal
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/South-Africa-v-Israel.pdf
If anyone wants to be reminded of the case against Israel in the ICJ.
I suspect that Netanyahu is prolonging the war to occupy all of Gaza to facilitate the cover up of the corpses and maimed bodies. The bulldozers also crush bone and decayed flesh into sludge; the bodies are erased - they are unidentifiable and near unquantifiable - not unlike cremation.
I think Trump's Freudian slip of the numbers left in Gaza was likely close to the truth; as he said in his plans to relocate 1.5m people. That the truth is there are 1.5m people left in Gaza.
I think the ICJ/ICC are waiting for the war to end, but more than likely the individuals in charge of these institutions are being blackmailed, bribed, and threatened by the US, Israel, and other Western accomplices.
Pictures of urban destruction like we see in Gaza never communicates the overpowering stench of rotting corpses. There are thousands of people who were buried under rubble that haven't been included in any official death toll
Likely less than 1.5 million tbh.
🇺🇸🇸🇦🇸🇾 Trump says US to lift Syria sanctions, secures $600 billion Saudi deal
Speaking in Riyadh, Trump said he was acting on a request to scrap the sanctions by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“Oh what I do for the crown prince,” Trump said, drawing laughs from the audience. He said the sanctions had served an important function but that it was now time for the country to move forward.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said on X that the planned move marked a “new start” in Syria’s path to reconstruction.
Bafoonishly corrupt, but ultimately good for the people of Syria to lift the sanctions. Now this will be used to make the current regime in Syria look better than it should. In the future, be ready with this event in mind when people say Jolani was a saint.
For some reason I watched the whole address. It was so bizarre. He just stood on stage while they played that "proud to be an American" song in full, but the camera angle showed the comically large Saudi flag behind him. Then he talked for a long time just fawning over MBS, and the camera kept cutting to a very awkward MBS smiling and a deeply uncomfortable Musk behind him.
Tangential to the article, but I just wanted to share.
Edit: I forgot he also went on an anti-neocon rant which really caught me off guard.
FORMER URUGUAYAN PRESIDENT PEPE MUJICA PASSES AWAY
José “Pepe” Mujica, former president of Uruguay and one of the greatest icons of the Latin American left, died on Tuesday (13) at the age of 89. Battling oesophageal cancer and an autoimmune disease, he was under palliative care and decided to stop treatment in January.
Mujica was a guerrilla fighter, imprisoned for almost 15 years during the dictatorship, seven of them in solitary confinement. After re-democratization, he governed Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, always faithful to a simple style. He donated 90% of his salary, lived on a farm and drove an 82 VW Beetle. Under his leadership, Uruguay advanced progressive policies such as the legalization of abortion and the decriminalization of marijuana. "You need to give meaning to life. Fight for happiness, not just wealth."
- Telegram
I hate the way Mujica is glazed in the west. He's portrayed as this "poor president" for living a simple life and rejecting most of his salary and benefits, and what they glaze of him isn't his revolutionary activity but the fact that he was in jail. Spanish newspapers like El País have his death on the cover page, when they're everything he fought against during his youth (was his presidency really that progressive economically? I know about the civil rights but it wasn't really anticapitalist was it?).
Meanwhile, contemporary revolutionaries and anti-imperialists like Ibrahim Traoré are ignored or vilified in western media. The only article I could find about Traoré is from 2024, essentially saying "this junta dictator is likely gonna pass some really bad anti-LGBTQ policy" because of a law proposal that he later rejected. Disgusting shit.
Edit: this is related to socialism being associated to a poverty cult. Anti-consumerism is morally correct mostly because of material necessity, distribution of scarce goods, and ecology. But fuck me if I'm not gonna be happier having a washing machine and access to electricity than breaking my back washing my clothes by hand! Rejecting mindless capitalist consumerism is good, valuing politicians based on their materialist behaviours instead of their actual policy is stupid.
It was a long time coming, but it is still very sad.
Hasta la victoria, Pepe. Buen viaje.
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