Macron has recently called a snap parliamentary election in the aftermath of the far-right getting a large proportion of the votes in the EU elections. Why exactly he called an election at a point of profound weakness is a little beyond me. Explanations that I’ve seen range from “He thinks the element of surprise will benefit his party and not others,” to “WW3 is about to start and he doesn’t want to be leader for it,” (which, like, isn’t true - Macron is the President of France, not Prime Minister, he won’t be unseated by this election and he has said he will not stand down regardless of result), to “He doesn’t want to swim in the shit-filled Seine.”
While we still have a couple weeks to go, the polling I’ve seen generally puts the far-right in first place with the left-wing coalition slightly behind, with Macron’s party all the way back in third place. Anybody who knows anything about French politics knows that while France does actually have something of a left opposition in aggregate (in contrast to the two wings of the Capitalist Party in the UK and the US, for example), French left coalitions are profoundly unstable and this one will inevitably split - perhaps even before the voting begins - meaning they aren’t nearly as useful as they otherwise could be.
Living in a France governed by far right parties would be awful, but maybe they might at least be against the carnage in Ukraine, and sue for peace with Russia? Well, possibly not, if the example of Meloni in Italy is anything to go by. It seems that the differences between the “centrist” parties and the fascist ones truly are not that great, beholden to the exact same set of capitalists regardless of which party wins, and will likely bend the knee to NATO, though they may grumble a lot. Would a left coalition be better on Russia/NATO? They have already helpfully told us that they won’t (only opposing sending French troops to Ukraine but otherwise being full steam ahead), and additionally are genocidal Zionists. Western leftists have long been hampered by a dramatically faulty misunderstanding of how geopolitics works, with many seemingly believing “imperialism is when countries interact with other countries” and “democracy is when you can vote between two parties even if widely popular policies aren’t at all represented by either of them, and if those popular policies are enacted but it’s by a one-party state then that’s authoritarian evil” and other such strange ideas, making them terminally useless on foreign issues and pretty unremarkable on domestic issues too. France is no exception.
And just to top it all off, this is coming in a period of further imperial decline for the tattered remains of the French empire, with West Africa rebelling and Kanaky (New Caledonia) deeply unhappy with recent French decisions.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you’ve wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don’t worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is France! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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Last week’s thread is here.
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 daily-ish 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 (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
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.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
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.
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.
Scenes from attempts to operate hospitals in northern Gaza after they were burned by the Nazi Zionist occupation, Al-Shifa Hospital and the Patient’s Friends Clinic.
spoiler
Putin visit to the DPRK, perspective from Russian communist:
Politician, historian, ex-State Duma deputy Daria Mitina, speaking specifically for BRIEF about the prospects for cooperation between Russia and the DPRK:
We must not forget that Kim Jong-un was the only leader who, firstly, openly supported the Special Military Operation, saying that the Russians and Koreans are in the same trench. Even our closest allies, such as Belarus and Iran, are formally neutral in this regard. The DPRK does not maintain neutrality, but quite supports us. Despite the fact that it is doing this purely in advance, because Russia has not actually remembered the DPRK for 25 years.
In general, the strategic partnership agreement that Putin signed is, after all, a military-political alliance of two nuclear powers. And the most important thing is that this agreement can be very long-term, because, apparently, the world situation will not change for a very long time. The main thing is that our goals and our principles, which now situationally find themselves quite on the same wavelength as the Korean ones, do not once again turn into a subject for bargaining, as they turned into the 90s.
Our cooperation now is very limited, sectoral, and this is completely wrong, taking into account the fact that we have a common border with this country. We have virtually zero trade turnover, although there is huge potential for both exports and imports from North Korea, which has a completely diversified, diversified economy.
We still don’t have direct flights. If you want to fly from Moscow to Pyongyang, then you must fly through either Vladivostok or Beijing. There must be direct air service, there must be sea air service. We have a common sea border.
Energy is a very painful problem for the DPRK. Unfortunately, due to sanctions and a very cruel blockade, the DPRK is in a very cruel energy saving mode. And here we can greatly help with the construction and modernization of new thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants. I know that such negotiations have been and are ongoing with Rosatom, which means that there may well be mutually beneficial cooperation. In exchange, for example, the DPRK may allow us to develop uranium deposits.
Military cooperation. Here, most likely, there will be a powerful defense order that will be placed by Russia. For 152mm shells, the most popular type of shell in the current theater of operations in Ukraine. Shells for multiple launch rocket systems. In terms of MLRS shells, the DPRK is generally the world leader.
Labor resources, because everyone knows the extremely disciplined, hardworking and non-drinking Korean workers at Russian, Far Eastern and Siberian construction sites. They can work on construction in any region of Russia: we have a huge need for such workers - in new territories, for example.
In some completely shameful way, we joined the anti-Korean sanctions, from which we now cannot get out. The problem is that these sanctions are not inter-country, but sanctions of the UN Security Council. Here Russia supported them and now formally cannot leave them. That is, in order to get out of the sanctions regime, we need to re-initiate consideration of the issue at the UN Security Council, and only if the UN Security Council votes to lift them will our karma be cleared. But in this case, we understand due to political arrangements that this is impossible.
Why did Russia join this? That is a huge mystery. I suspect that Chinese considerations were not at the top of the list of priorities for Russia in this case. Nevertheless, what is done is done. Now we need only state that we can not only circumvent these sanctions, but directly violate them. If we cannot change the situation de jure, then we can ignore these sanctions de facto, which, in fact, we have been doing for a long time.
After nearly 9 months away, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower will return to Norfolk | June 22, 2024 at 3:18 p.m.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. officials ordered the Norfolk-based USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the aircraft carrier leading America’s response to the Houthi attacks, to return home after a twice-extended tour that’s lasted nearly nine months.
The U.S. Naval Institute’s news service reported, citing an anonymous official, that the Eisenhower would be returning to Norfolk after combat the Navy says is its most intense since World War II.
Two U.S. officials, later speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movements, confirmed the Eisenhower had been ordered home and already had reached the Mediterranean Sea. It wasn’t immediately clear when the ship would return.
The report said an aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific would be taking the Eisenhower’s place.
The closest American aircraft carrier known to be operating in Asia is the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Roosevelt anchored Saturday in Busan, South Korea, amid Seoul’s ongoing tensions with North Korea.
[continues, unconvincingly denies the Ansarallah attacks did any damage]
US offers assurances to Israel this week in the event of full-blown war with Hezbollah
Senior US officials reassured a delegation of top Israeli officials visiting Washington this week that if a full-out war were to break out on Israel’s northern border between Israel and Hezbollah, the Biden administration is fully prepared to back its ally, according to a senior administration official.
US officials made clear this week that the Biden administration would offer Israel the security assistance it needs, the senior administration official said, though the US would not deploy American troops to the ground in such a scenario.
Looks like I’m going to be pulling another multi day crisis posting session soon when this Lebanon offensive happens.
SEA Headlines
Morning Star - China blames Philippines for clash of two vessels in the South China Sea
Bernama - PM ANWAR HAS EXPRESSED MALAYSIA’S WISH TO JOIN BRICS TO THE PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL
This was inevitable I think.
Reuters - Vietnam to host Putin in nod to old ties, risking ire of West
CNA - Thailand to be first Southeast Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage
VNA - Vietnam, China bolster stable, sustainable ties
Bernama - CHINA-MALAYSIA TIES AKIN TO ‘CONTINUOUS RAILWAY TRACK WITH PROMISING FUTURE’ - LI QIANG
The Star - Oil spill incident: Singapore expands cleanup effort to more areas, including eastern end of island
China Daily - ASEAN SG speaks of future relations with China
Fortune - Indonesia’s $5 billion deal with Tesla is only part of its all-in strategy on nickel mining
First!
Vive la Commune!
Shut up I know it’s from the wrong period
When I lived in Paris my dad came to visit and made me take him to Père-Lachaise to see the site of the commune and teach me about it.
Wow my dad is kinda based now that I think about it
Yeah you dad sounds pretty cool
http://www.chinaview.cn/20240624/57611246ec584b3fb747e943f8c0b433/c.html
Iran’s parliament calls on gov’t to blacklist Canada’s army
TEHRAN, June 23 (Xinhua) – The Iranian parliament on Sunday put forward a motion requiring the country’s administration to designate the Canadian army a “terrorist” entity, the official news agency IRNA reported.
This is in retaliation to Canada designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity.
lol
Russian Ministry of Defence regarding today’s massacre in Crimea by Ukraine with cluster munitions:
“The US is responsible for this massacre, and they will get an answer. All flight missions for American ATACMS missiles are programmed by American specialists based on their own US satellite intelligence data.”
“Therefore, the responsibility for the deliberate missile strike against the civilian population of Sevastopol lies primarily with Washington, which supplied this weapon to Ukraine, as well as with the Kiev regime, from whose territory this strike was launched. Such actions will not go unanswered.”
It seems that some Russian newspapers are saying that the attack was carried out by US drones from Bulgarian NATO bases, but I haven’t been able to find any reliable confirmation of this.
Did they put a baby in a jar? did that happen fr?
do you think nacron is being controlled by his teacher/mommy like ratatouille
Everyone is controlled by their partner to some extent. Sad but true.
Most people didn’t meet their partners as a predator when they were a child though.
Wow I actually forget she was his teacher when he was 15. Everything before 2020 has been knocked out of my brain.
Edit: 'they met when he was 15 and she was his married, private school teacher - with a daughter of the same age, in the same class." aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Macron is just the first gamer president
Macron is controlled by Bernard Arnault
oh also kpo didn’t get a seat
a shame, would be fun to have not completely revisionist socdems in eu parliament
Holy shit Hitler youth is back in Germany
This is Germany: #HitlerYouth Reloaded
Last Saturday, the neo-Nazis #JungenNationalisten held a #Solstice celebration in a small Village in Northern Saxony. Even small children were allowed to march along with torches, an #NS rune was set on fire.
https://nitter.poast.org/recherchenorth/status/1804009303482695897#m
today is the national day of Iceland, it is celebrated on the birthday of the most prominent leader of the nationalist independence movement, Jón Sigurðsson, who married his niece, as was the style of the time. He may also have died from syphilis.
Jón showed little interest in politics prior to his bout with syphilis.
Many such cases.
It’s true, folks. A lot of people are saying it.
Putin’s visit to North Korea deepens concerns about growing military cooperation between the two states - The Washington Post
The trip is scheduled for July 18-19, and this will be the first visit in 24 years. The publication writes that the Russian Federation is interested in a large supply of artillery shells and missiles in the DPRK, which will be compatible with Soviet and Russian weapons systems.
The article also suggests that the question of the labor force that Pyongyang will be able to provide will be raised. It is noted that in return Moscow can offer technological assistance to the DPRK, in particular, to accelerate the build-up of nuclear weapons production capacity.