Bulletins and News Discussion from August 7th to August 13th, 2023 - White Blows From A Black Hand
Bulletins and News Discussion from August 7th to August 13th, 2023 - White Blows From A Black Hand
Image is of the American military during their occupation of Haiti at the beginning of the 20th century, taken from this NYT article from 2022: Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged. The U.S. Obliged.
In the aftermath of the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and his replacement by Western comprador Ariel Henry, the situation in Haiti is the most dire it has been in decades - by some metrics, even worse than the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake (CW: rape, violence including against children). Millions do not have enough food. Outbreaks of disease are rampant. The government - such that it still exists, which is becoming increasingly debatable - has only a minority control over the capital city, with some estimates putting the influence of armed groups at 80%.
America's search for somebody, anybody, to intervene in Haiti has ended, with Kenya answering the call. President Ruto has announced that he will send 1000 police officers to Haiti. Kenya's Foreign Minister has tried to sell this intervention as pan-Africanism. Other Caribbean states, like the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, have offered to send police officers too.
I can't really say it any better than the Black Alliance for Peace's own statement:
Kenya has offered to deploy a contingent of 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police, ostensibly to “restore order” in the Caribbean republic. Yet, their proposal is nothing more than military occupation by another name; an occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face. By agreeing to send troops into Haiti, the Kenyan government is assisting in undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of Haitian people, while serving the neocolonial interests of the United States, the Core Group, and the United Nations.
There is an urgent need for clarity on the issue of occupation in Haiti. As described in a recent statement on Haiti and Colonialism, Haiti is under ongoing occupation. No call for foreign intervention into Haiti from the administration of appointed Prime Minister Ariel Henry can be considered legitimate, because the Henry administration itself is illegitimate. BAP has repeatedly pointed out that Haiti’s crisis is a crisis of imperialism. Haiti’s current unpopular and unelected government is propped up only by Haiti’s de facto imperial rulers: the unseemly confederacy of the Core Group countries and organizations, as well as BINUH (the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti), and a loose alliance of foreign corporations and local elites.
Henry and the UN have made a mockery of sovereignty by mouthing the slogan “Haitian solutions to Haitian problems,” yet finding the only solution in violence through foreign military intervention. After repeated failed attempts to organize an occupying force to protect their interests and impose their will on the Haitian people (including appeals to the multinational organization, the Caribbean Community [CARICOM] for troops), they have now found a willing accomplice in Kenya, an east African country with its own set of internal problems.
Indeed, what’s in it for Kenya? An opportunity to both train and enhance the salaries of local police forces and garner a patina of prestige, or at least bootlicking approval, from the West. And for Haiti? White blows from a Black hand and a further erosion of their sovereignty.
And, by the way, here's the Black Alliance for Peace's statement calling for no intervention by ECOWAS in Niger, calling the organization a Western comprador organization similar to CARICOM's role in Haiti.
Welcome to our friends throughout the Lemmyverse!
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
This week's first update is here in the comments.
This week's second update is here in the comments.
This week's third update might not happen because I'm busy dunking.
Links and Stuff
The bulletins site is down.
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can.
Resources For Understanding The War
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.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
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
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.
Last week's discussion post.
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2352611/world
N. Korea’s Kim dismisses military chief, calls for war preparations
I'm usually one to dismiss these DPRK articles but the fact that Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il is being replaced by Ri Yong Gil after only 7 months seems notable and worth paying at least some attention to. That shit doesn't happen without some sort of reason.
Also this chuddy twitter claims that state media "has stated that offensive battle plans and major military actions against South Korea were discussed at the enlarged Central Military Commission."
Anyone know what media that might be referring to to check source?North Korea has been on just two days away from nuking the west for 20 years now
Doesn't sound like the west with this though. Sounds more like moving to a "it's time to liberate the south" preparations.
Given what we're seeing with everything elsewhere they may be calculating that so much is happening that it's almost time.
The west considers SK part of itself, I’ll betcha 100 bucks this is equally false as every other piece of “NK news”
I found what it is referencing.
Since this is blocked in Europe I'll post the whole thing and bold the relevant part about preparing for offensive actions. Watch this space, the way I read this is that they are making themselves ready for a pre-emptive offensive operation.
7th Enlarged Meeting of 8th Central Military Commission of WPK Held
Pyongyang, August 10 (KCNA) -- The Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) convened an enlarged meeting to discuss an important issue of making the army more thoroughly gird for a war given the grave political and military situation prevailing in the Korean peninsula.
The 7th Enlarged Meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the WPK took place at the office building of the Central Committee of the WPK on August 9.
Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the WPK, chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), guided the enlarged meeting.
Attending it were members of the Central Military Commission of the WPK. And present there as observers were commanders of the Korean People's Army (KPA) services, commanding officers of the frontline corps and units in charge of important duties, and cadres of the relevant departments of the WPK Central Committee.
The enlarged meeting analyzed the military moves of the chief culprits of deteriorated situation that disturb peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and its vicinity, and decided on the plans for offensive military countermeasures to thoroughly deter them. It also discussed as its major agenda item the issues of making full war preparations to neutralize at a blow the enemy attack with overwhelming strategic deterrence and launch simultaneous offensive military actions in contingency.
The present situation, in which the hostile forces are getting ever more undisguised in their reckless military confrontation with the DPRK, requires the latter's army to have more positive, proactive and overwhelming will and thoroughgoing and perfect military readiness for a war.
The meeting examined a plan of forming frontline operation groups reinforced to overwhelmingly contain and destroy the enemy with absolutely superior military strategy, tactics and muscle in contingency, and the operational tasks to be fulfilled in carrying it out. It also deeply studied and discussed the military measures for diversifying the operational executive capabilities of frontline units and mapping out more detailed operational plans.
On the basis of the results of the discussion, the Central Military Commission of the WPK issued important military action guidelines applicable to the enlarged and changed operational sphere and plans of the frontline units of the KPA. It also unanimously decided on the military and practical issues arising in proactively conducting actual war drills for fulfilling the new strategic mission and making full preparations for carrying out the operation plans any time.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un signed the written order on the important military measures discussed and decided by the Central Military Commission of the WPK.
He deeply summarized and analyzed the present situation of the Korean peninsula and its vicinity and made an important conclusion on further stepping up the war preparations of the KPA in an offensive way.
Saying that to prepare a strong army is the key to implementing the military strategic plan of the Party Central Committee for containing the enemy's use of military muscle in advance and neutralize all forms of its attack at once in case of the outbreak of a war, he called for securing more powerful strike means for carrying out the mission of war deterrence and continuously intensifying the work for deploying them in the units for action in a mobile way.
He also called for actively conducting actual war drills to efficiently operate newly deployed latest weapons and equipment to ensure that they would display the maximum effect in combat, and radically increasing the KPA's capabilities for fighting a war by making it keep its mobilized posture for combat all the time.
Saying that the munitions factories have a very important duty to strengthen the KPA in terms of military technology, he underlined the need for all the munitions industrial establishments to push ahead with the mass-production of various weapons and equipment in real earnest to satisfy the operational demand of the KPA undergoing modernization, and set forth the goal for the expansion of the weaponry production capacity and the weaponry production plan.
The enlarged meeting dealt with the organizational matter of dismissing General Pak Su Il from the post of the chief of the General Staff and appointing Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil as new chief of the General Staff, and of dismissing, transferring to other posts or newly appointing some leading commanding officers.
It also discussed a series of important tasks facing the armed forces of the DPRK, including the issue of making preparations for the successful militia parade marking the 75th founding anniversary of the DPRK.
The 7th Enlarged Meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the WPK serves as a significant occasion in providing a firm military guarantee for victory in war by setting forth the substantive programs for the KPA to overpower the enemy by taking firm strategic and tactical initiative in modern warfare. -0-
"Major military actions against RoK" is claiming a lot for what appear to be defensive preparations for war.