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.
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The Economist: Expensive Energy Might Have Killed More Europeans Than COVID-19 Last Winter
Their number is 68,000 people, due to increased energy costs since interruption of energy trade with Russia and sanctions and also colder temperatures. 68k of pretty much people who couldn't afford new energy prices, that is, poor people. Now I remember debating with friends some time ago about the war, and how badly is it going for Russia because one of their T-90M tanks was captured intact by the Ukrainian Army or their abandoned equipment was being towed by tractors, like in the meme! Sure, Russia is indeed paying a big cost in this war, not only in manpower but also economically. But so is Europe, and while a country like Germany pays nothing but crazy volunteers in terms of manpower, they'll have to pay the social, political and economical costs of the war. In their case, energy costs will increase wich puts a burden in average germans, at the same time, the Bundeswehr is seeing a rearmament process, and who's going to pay for the new contracts, the bourgeoisie?
They're in a big gamble right now, and the future is uncertain. Europe is not in a comfortable position, climate change is increasing in severity (several parts of Europe saw a pretty scary heat wave, like Spain), the war in Ukraine has no end in sight, ties with Russia are completely severed, Nordstream was blown up and nobody knows who did it (we do, but we don't tell), the world is shaping up to be at least a bipolar one, and has Europe noticed they have a leash that leads to the United States? Problems like people dying because they can't afford new energy costs are social problems, they lead to protests, and you don't want people out in the streets smashing shit up because they can't tolerate their situation no more.. Social tension is indeed bad.
How will US-EU relations evolve over time? That I don't know, but I'm sure part of the EU (and the British) leadership are considering their status right now as a mere US vassal.
I am kind of puzzled why the industrial bourgeoisie of Germany seemingly didn't cause a fuss when the Americans came and ate their lunch. I imagine they hold significant power internally in Germany and consequently you would imagine the German state would be less enthusiastic about the whole war thing. Yet they continue to follow orders from Washington.
At some point something has got to give. Germany and France is not going to accept being America's bitch forever. Maybe at some point in the future Europe will seek independence and detente with Russia and China? Atlanticist brainworms are plentiful in the European elite however so it will take a long time to get there but in the end blind loyalty to America is a dead end for Europe.
Part of me wonders if this is all part of a plan to crush organized labor in Europe.
As a European I have certainly noticed how my local regime has used the war and everything that follows to ramp up "crisis consciousness", i.e. getting people scared so they will accept it when you cut back on education, increase work hours and inflate the military budget.
I think the European industrialists were being sold a lie, and bought into their own chauvinist/fascist propaganda.
You’re European Union, the third largest economic body in the world, and you are teaming up with the United States, the largest economy in the world, to crush Russia, an economy smaller than Italy (which is also one of the more impoverished EU member state). It should have been a simple job, like flicking a light switch and boom, Russia is now blown back to the 1990s poverty era. In fact, this was what a lot of the mainstream media predicted.
You also have respected capitalists like George Soros saying in May 2022 that Russia could not afford to stop their natural gas production or their wells will freeze, so we just have to wait until the Russians come begging us to buy their gas again.
So it is not surprising at all that the European industrialists thought it would be a temporary setback and will eventually be rewarded with the opportunity to loot Russian resources and its market.
Think about the many american military bases in germany. Its the Japan of Europe.
I am kind of puzzled why the industrial bourgeoisie of Germany seemingly didn't cause a fuss when the Americans came and ate their lunch. I imagine they hold significant power internally in Germany and consequently you would imagine the German state would be less enthusiastic about the whole war thing. Yet they continue to follow orders from Washington.
If I had to guess it might be a sense of powerlessness. They obviously didn't want to suffer the consequences of the war, but with the US dead set on it, France less harshly impacted, and Poland/the Baltics frothing at the mouth, etc. they didn't feel they really had enough sway to make a difference and decided it was safest to fall into line and just hope things went for the best rather than angering their allies and probably weakening their general diplomatic position within Europe.