Image is from @[email protected], who got it from @[email protected], who got it from Discord.
Thread update: Prigozhin’s fucking dead.
The BRICS summit will begin on Tuesday and end on Thursday, with various world leaders, politicians, and representatives meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
America’s anxiety about the summit has been obvious. They have been complicating the event by pushing for the arrest warrant for Putin to be upheld if he steps foot in the country. While this is a remarkably dangerous and unhinged thing to do - even by America’s standards - to the leader of a nuclear superpower who could end the world within an hour, it does betray their desperation. Unfortunately, for those of us who wanted to see Putin surrounded by an army of security guards fending off people holding handcuffs, he has sent his Foreign Minister, Lavrov, in his place. Additionally, America has likely been spreading rumors about the lack of interest in gaining new members in the organization.
With apparently 20 countries formally seeking membership and another 20 informally doing so, the bloc has been elevated, whether they like it or not, to the position of the international vanguard of the non-western world. It is extremely important to say that this is not the same as it becoming an anti-American bloc, and many of them (including original members Brazil and India) wish to keep a friendly relationship with the United States. Nonetheless, with the United States’ policy of “if you are not with us, you are against us,” and as the US seeks to weaken China, in coming years many of them might find themselves under hostile pressure.
BRICS has to try and solve many problems if they are going to chip away at America’s stranglehold of the world economy. These problems - like mitigating the dollar’s status as a global reserve currency, and America’s dominant role in the world economy - are extremely complicated, and will takes years, even decades, to be overcome. Therefore, one should temper their expectations and excitement for this summit. It took tens of millions of deaths in cataclysmic wars, and then several more decades, for America to reach its current position. I see no reason to believe why its downfall will be any less bloody and elongated.
To end on a less depressing note, I’ve been searching for appropriate anagrams given the list of countries that seek to join BRICS. Obviously not all of them will make it in, but even so. The best I’ve come up with is HIBISCUS EMANCIPATES BBBBKKRVV.
(also, “bulletins and news discussion” can be rearranged to “libidinous newsstands uncles”.)
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.
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.
Listen Jake when I trip over myself and splatter all over a hard surface it’s not because I dropped a banana peel in front of me except it’s a hot dog that’s malarkey
I’m late to the party. Is he actually dead or is he in the desert? Who has confirmed what?
Other passengers? Named? Families interviewed yet? Do the other people actually exist?
I don’t think you should believe he’s dead without being shown a body lmao
It all returns to nothing
It all comes tumbling down tumbling down tumbling down
Idk if this will be appealed but seems surprisingly not awful on its face https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-generated-art-cant-by-copyrighted-federal-judge-rules-2023-8
I feel like it’s too soon for
We needed:
AND THEN we get
Hot take, France blew up Prigozhin because of Wagner in the Sahel.
SHOIGU!!! GERASIMOV!!! WHERE’S THE FUCKING AIRSTRIP?!
He’s up there, right now, executing deserters from God’s army with a sledgehammer. I am holding back tears as I eat a hotdog in his memory.
Why would you not just enjoy your exile/retirement in Belarus? It’s actually a gorgeous country with lots of nature and wildlife.
cw suicide
what a shame, two surface to air missiles to the back of the head is such a tragic way to commit suicide
so is he dead or not? I’m seeing conflicting reports and I don’t know which has the most up to date info.
I really thought Trump was gonna hold one of those mugshot signs in his photo. Like in the movies. Very disappointed.
It’s no wonder why the right wing in America despise this guy. He’s a true leader. He speaks for the people, not to them. He speaks from his heart. He is trying to build up his country with cooperation and commitment to and from his country, not trying to break it down and break away. He seeks to unify, not divide. He’s cleaning up corruption, not fostering it. He has true command presence, no need to take it and pretend to be a tough guy. He shows up on the front line for his troops, he doesn’t disparage them. He’s been a joy to watch and grow into a truly historical figure.
E: thank you for the Gold
Real comment on Zelenskyy seen on
. He did visit the front once and took photos with the troops as well, unfortunately one of the soldiers was wearing a black sun patch sooo…Also I don’t know what kind of “historical figure” Zelenskyy is going to be, I know they’re trying to take this uncharismatic guy and turn him into a colossal figure that stood alone for Europe against the Putinist Hordes (real nazi moment), but he just doesn’t make it. Churchill was a despicable imperialist pig, but at least he had some charisma, an extensive political life and memorable speeches/quotes. This guy? Not even there, and I used the Churchill example because libs love to compare the two. I know they’re trying to Great Man Theory this guy and it’ll be an amazing failure. Outside of the International Community ™, Zelenskyy is known as the guy that appears everywhere, says some hollow shit and is the President of Ukraine… and that’s it. Putin, on the other hand, is well known and even liked in the Global South, if anything, it’ll be Putin who’ll grow into an historical figure lmao.
“I did everything right, and they exploded me!”
