Image is sourced from this People’s Dispatch article, depicting communists attending the 2023 funeral of Communist Party President Guillermo Teillier, who was tortured for years under Pinochet’s regime and helped rebuild the Communist Party while under a fascist dictatorship.
We had the Six Day War in 1967, we had the Nineteen Day War (Yom Kippur) in 1973, and now we’ve had the Twelve Day War. I wonder how many more very short wars will plague the region until Palestine is freed?
However, moving on from Western Asia from a little while, we have some interesting news from Chile - the former labor minister and communist, Jeannette Jara, has won the primary election for the left-wing bloc in a landslide (~60% of the vote), as the current President, Gabriel Boric, is term-limited. Her achievements include a minimum wage increase and a reduction of the work week to 40 hours.
In November, Jara will face down the contenders from other parties, including José Antonio Kast, who is analogous to Brazil’s Bolsonaro. Unfortunately, Jara is now the lead figure of a party that has been taking quite a few Ls under Boric’s leadership. Ostensibly a Democratic Socialist, he ruled as - you guessed it - a neoliberal, bending the knee to the US and EU. He not only failed to overthrow the Pinochet-era constitution, he actually allowed the right-wing to turn the proposed new constitution into something worse, and had to settle for campaigning against the new one and keeping the old one. And he had very little solidarity with other left-leaning leaders on the continent, like Maduro, Lula, Petro, or Castillo.
With this in mind, I cannot help but look at Argentina’s very recent history and feel a little dread - but if anybody can save Chile at this point, it can only be a communist.
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.
Live Updates: Sean Combs Acquitted of Sex Trafficking but Found Guilty on Lesser Charges. The music mogul celebrated after being found not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. He was convicted of transporting people for prostitution and could be released on bond.
Zionazi news outlet reveals:
After intercepting Iranian drones headed to the occupied territories, the child-killing IOF air force pilots had leftover munitions so they dropped them on Gaza “saving a great deal of resources” according to the article.
China demands the U.S. lift blockade against Cuba - Prensa Latina
Article
Beijing, Jul 2 (Prensa Latina) China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, today urged the United States to lift sanctions against Cuba and remove the Caribbean country from the list of ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’.
At a press conference, Mao rejected the memorandum to toughen U.S. policy towards Cuba, was signed last Monday by President Donald Trump.
For more than 60 years, the United States has imposed a brutal blockade and illegal sanctions on Cuba, seriously violating the island’s right to livelihood and development, transgressing the basic norms governing international relations and causing profound damage to the Cuban people, the spokeswoman recalled.
China firmly supports Cuba on the path of development that suits its national conditions and opposes Washington’s unilateral sanctions under the pretext of so-called freedom and democracy, she added.
The spokeswoman stressed that lifting sanctions against Cuba and removing it from the list of ‘state sponsors of terrorism’ is also a shared call of the international community.
BRASILWIRE: 10 years ago this month we published this critique of the Economist’s appalling coverage of Brazil. Through coup support, slavery apologism, and the lauding of neofascist Jair Bolsonaro’s “good ideas”, it got even worse. A classic example of how bad the Economist is on Brazil: after its neoliberal cokehead clown candidate lost the 2014 election, it lamented “but what it money could vote instead of people”
Here’s the Economist stepping in to emphasize how its beloved invisible hand job of the market frowns on leaders in the Global South whenever they attempt to raise taxes on hedge funds and billionaires.
Billionaire-funded CATO Institute is very upset that the Brazilian government expects foreign tech companies to obey their laws while making billions of dollars a year operating in Brazil. But most of their worries can be easily resolved.
Problem: Platforms must, “discover items not against their policies but against the laws of Brazil. Moderators and AI enforcement tools will be expected to be experts in Brazilian law […]that simply isn’t realistic…” Solution: Hire lawyers. Avg salary in Brazil: US$1000/month
For a fresh take on Brazil’s landmark court ruling that is not hopelessly mired in ideological dogma created by American billionaires, read my explanatory piece on Brazil’s New Internet Civil Framework. There are no new laws, just more corporate liability
Bolivian President rejects Trump’s memorandum against Cuba - Prensa Latina
Article
La Paz, Jul 2 (Prensa Latina) Bolivians support today the rejection expressed by President Luis Arce to a memorandum of the chief executive of the United States, Donald Trump, aimed at strengthening the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.
“We join the request of the majority of the countries of the world, expressed on repeated occasions in the United Nations General Assembly and which the United States does not consider, which demand the immediate and unconditional lifting of the blockade (…)”, Arce wrote on social networks.
Referring to the memorandum, the South American head of state criticizes that it represents a new act of aggression against the Cuban people and government in what constitutes an explicit disregard for the principles of self-determination of peoples and non-interference.
The President adds that this document “(…) reinforces the violation of the human rights of a population that has resisted for more than six decades a criminal and obsolete economic, financial and commercial blockade by Yankee imperialism”.
“(…) All our solidarity with brother president @DiazCanelB and the brave people of Cuba,” concluded the Bolivian dignitary in his X account.
Referring to the issue in the newspaper El Mamoré, journalist Marco Santivañez, warns that Trump’s new reprisals, including banning his fellow citizens from traveling to Cuba, constitute not only an inhumane act, but deeply cynical because it deepens the blockade.
“It is a policy of strangulation, of systematic asphyxiation, typical of the most rancid fascism (…)”, expresses the director of that press outlet.
He adds that Cuba is not alone because it does not kneel and resists.
He points out that this “criminal encirclement” will last for a long time.
Referring to the issue in the newspaper El Mamoré, journalist Marco Santivañez warns that Trump’s new reprisals, which include the prohibition of his fellow citizens from traveling to Cuba, constitute not only an inhumane act, but also a deeply cynical one because it deepens the blockade.
“It is a policy of strangulation, of systematic asphyxiation, typical of the most rancid fascism (…)”, expresses the director of that press outlet.
He adds that Cuba is not alone because it does not kneel and resists.
He points out that this “criminal encirclement” has lasted for 60 years and includes years of deprivations, isolation attempts, dirty campaigns, blockades to medicines, technology and trade.
However, he maintains, Cuba is still there. Not as a nation that has been bent, but as a beacon of dignity for Latin America and the world.
Santiváñez points out that Trump’s new tightening of the blockade is nothing more than the deepening of an economic war declared against a sovereign country.
“(…) And what is Cuba’s crime? What crime justifies these measures? Is it being in solidarity? Is it having doctors in the most forgotten corners of the world? Is it not surrendering?” he asks.
He warns that the people do not forget that in the hardest hours, when the great centers of power hide vaccines, medicines, Cuban doctors arrive with their white coats to offer the only thing they have: life.
“Cuba does not give what it has to spare, it gives what it has. Cuba shares without calculation, without usury, without demands. And that profoundly human, profoundly revolutionary generosity is what the empire will never be able to understand,” the letter concludes.
Cristina Fernandez asks court for authorization to receive Lula - Prensa Latina
Article
Buenos Aires, Jul 1 (Prensa Latina) The former president of Argentina Cristina Fernandez requested today through her lawyer to the court that tried her authorization to receive the president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, at her house where she is being held in house arrest.
Lula will arrive in Buenos Aires on Wednesday night and is expected to return to his country on Thursday afternoon to attend the Mercosur Summit where he will receive the pro tempore presidency of the bloc from Argentina, which concludes its annual rotating mandate.
Since she was sentenced to house arrest and politically disqualified, the Brazilian president expressed his desire to be able to share with her, to give her his support.
The lawyer Carlos Alberto Beraldi filed a request before the Federal Oral Court N°2 so that Lula can visit her in her apartment in San José 1111, where she is serving a six-year sentence for the Causa Vialidad.
Judges Jorge Gorini, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Andrés Basso, the ones in charge of passing the sentence, will have to determine if they will allow the president to enter his home during his visit to Argentina for the Mercosur summit.
In granting the benefit of house arrest, the magistrates set a series of conditions such as the presentation of a list of people who will be able to access his apartment without judicial authorization. The list includes his children and his family group in general, police custody, accountants, doctors and lawyers.
Any other name not included in this list must require prior admission by the court.
In view of these conditions, Fernández’s defense filed a challenge before the Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber to revoke the limitation of visits -and their corresponding authorizations- and the provision ordering the use of an electronic anklet.
A hearing is scheduled for July 7 to analyze the appeal of prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola, who opposed the benefit of house arrest for the former president, and demand that she serve the six years behind bars.
Lula to announce second date of Brazil’s Independence Day - Prensa Latina
Article
Brasilia, Jul 2 (Prensa Latina) President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will announce today a decree making July 2 official as the second commemoration of Brazilian Independence, celebrated in the state of Bahia (northeast), highlighting its historical and popular character.
For the fourth consecutive year, Lula will travel to Salvador, Bahia’s capital, to participate in the celebrations for the date commemorating the final expulsion of the Portuguese troops in 1823, which will now be officially recognized as the second date of Independence.
The decree, which will be signed and formally announced during the popular celebration, will consolidate this day in the national calendar as an official commemoration, although without the character of a national holiday.
The proposal had been considered by Lula in 2023, when he expressed his desire to transform July 2 into a date of historical relevance.
At that time, the president pointed out that the true independence was sealed with the victory of the Bahian people and not with the symbolic and so-called Grito do Ipiranga (Cry of Ipiranga) of Pedro I in 1822.
“There is an independence that was the emperor’s cry, which we don’t even know if he really gave it. But the real independence of Brazil was the result of the expulsion of the last Portuguese, on July 2 in Salvador. There was a struggle there and there were heroic women,” Lula declared last year.
The history celebrated on each date in Bahia dates back to a 17-month war that began in 1822, when the local population demanded a definitive break with the Portuguese crown, which still maintained troops in several regions of the country.
The process culminated on July 2, 1823, when the Lusitanians withdrew definitively from Brazilian territory after intense battles, many of them fought by local militias and women fighters, such as Maria Quitéria and Joana Angélica, considered emblematic figures of the emancipation process.
Although independence was proclaimed in September 1822, the Portuguese resistance in Bahia prolonged the conflict. For this reason, many historians consider July 2 as the true closing of the cycle of national independence.
The decree to be announced by Lula gives a new symbolic and political status to the Bahian episode, integrating it into the national narrative on the country’s autonomy.
With this initiative, the government seeks to recognize Bahia’s protagonism and decentralize the official narrative of history, traditionally focused on the southeast. It also strengthens the president’s link with the northeast region, a key bastion of his electoral base.
The first official date of Brazil’s Independence is commemorated every September 7, in allusion to the Ipiranga Cry, pronounced in 1822 by the then Prince Regent Dom Pedro, on the banks of the Ipiranga River in Sao Paulo, with the phrase “Independence or death”.
Apparently the entrances to Fordow have been re-opened.
https://xcancel.com/squatsons/status/1940095247863758882#m
I’m not sure the picture shows that. Also it seems that at least they are plugging the holes but not opening the tunnels. Still, this could be similar to what happened at Isfahan, where they plugged the holes then reopened.
https://xcancel.com/C__Herridge/status/1940204000923525383#m
On the other hand, Iran is now saying that Fordow was seriously damaged. The hypothesis is that it’s a way to maintain obscurity about the true status of the nuclear program.
https://xcancel.com/AryJeay/status/1940337194528321806#m
This could be added to the fact that Iran is going through with not letting the IAEA in.
Iran harshly criticizes Ukraine for supporting US and Israeli attacks The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian representative in Tehran and harshly criticized him for Kiev’s support for the US and Israeli aggressive actions against Iran, ISNA reports. Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it was convinced that the attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities by Washington and Tel Aviv were a clear signal to Tehran that it must stop its policy.
- Telegram
Been touching grass so unsure if this has been posted. No more weapons to Ukraine.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zspTn9Vnq9g Idk why hes shocked that Americans in general are so callous and inhumane when it comes to war. the brainwashing and propaganda has been effective
Removed by mod
Vietnam as BRICS partner strengthens Southeast Asian, Global South voices
some paragraphs removed for brevity
Vietnam recently joined the BRICS as the group’s 10th partner country. Among member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Indonesia holds full membership in BRICS, while Malaysia and Thailand are official partner countries.
This evolving trend underscores a gradual but notable shift among key Southeast Asian economies toward deeper engagement with alternative global governance platforms beyond the traditional Western-dominated order.
Vietnam’s acceptance into BRICS as a partner country marks a significant development, which increases the likelihood of other ASEAN nations seeking BRICS membership and closer ties with the group.
ASEAN member states’ growing interest in joining BRICS stems, in part, from geopolitical positioning. As ASEAN countries increasingly navigate a complex geopolitical landscape, seeking to balance relationships with major powers, BRICS offers an alternative platform for cooperation outside traditional Western-dominated structures.
Another reason is the economic benefits the membership offers. It provides access to new markets, investment opportunities and technological advancements, which is particularly attractive for developing ASEAN economies.
However, one of the main factors that may hinder the inclusion of other ASEAN countries in BRICS is the “US factor”. Some ASEAN countries maintain strong ties with the United States and may hesitate to deepen relations with BRICS to avoid a potential US backlash.
While BRICS offers an alternative to Western-dominated global financial and governance structures, the calculus for some ASEAN countries is not merely economic, but deeply strategic. These countries often walk a tightrope between maximizing economic opportunities and preserving their established security and diplomatic alignments.
In such contexts, the political-diplomatic cost of aligning more closely with BRICS can be high, especially when BRICS is increasingly perceived as a counterweight to Western hegemony and a challenger to the US-led global order. This is especially true for a country like the Philippines, whose foreign policy now under the present government very much lean toward the US.
Moreover, Vietnam’s inclusion in BRICS as a partner country is highly significant in the evolving architecture of Global South cooperation. Vietnam’s presence expands BRICS’ geographic and developmental diversity.
It represents a mid-sized, rapidly developing Southeast Asian economy that has successfully balanced socialist governance with market reforms. Its inclusion will, to some extent, elevate ASEAN’s visibility within BRICS, signaling a shift toward more inclusive multipolar leadership in the Global South.
Its BRICS partnership enhances connectivity among the Belt and Road Initiative, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and potentially BRICS+financial cooperation, primarily through infrastructure finance via the New Development Bank, and cross-border settlement initiatives that reduce reliance on the US dollar.
Likewise, Vietnam’s inclusion in BRICS symbolizes post-colonial economic autonomy. Vietnam’s history of anti-colonial struggle and post-war development success resonates strongly with other Global South nations.
It stands as a symbol of resilience, economic self-determination, and the possibility of development without strict Western alignment or International Monetary Fund-style conditionalities. This enhances the normative narrative of BRICS as a platform for alternative development models beyond neoliberal prescriptions.
Additionally, Vietnam’s inclusion reflects Hanoi’s balanced, nonaligned foreign policy that bridges ties with both East and West, aligning ASEAN’s outlook with BRICS-led Global South initiatives rooted in sovereignty and development-driven multilateralism.
Vietnam’s BRICS partner status is more than symbolic — it is a strategic elevation of a Southeast Asian voice in reshaping global economic governance. It reinforces South-South cooperation and development, multipolarity, and a more equitable world order. It is also a subtle but strong message to the West: The Global South is organizing itself on its own terms.
The “Israel”-Singapore connection
I would have written a much longer post, but I was brought to attention by this nifty post (archived link) by the “Israeli” trade mission to Singapore which sums it all up quite well:
Singapore has a remarkable story to tell, and paradoxically this south east Asian city-state has quite a lot in common with [the Zionist Entity], a small nation with a history of struggle and resilience. The two small nations have populations comprised of immigrants [the Zionists admitted it themselves which is somewhat hilarious] with different cultures and customs, surrounded by large countries with their own political and ethnic tensions. Both of these small nations have managed against all odds to turn themselves in a single generation from poor, underdeveloped markets to global economic powerhouses with advanced infrastructures, skilled and highly educated workforces and ambitious entrepreneurs. Singapore has grown to become a global financial hub and an Economic giant in a single generation.
The thing to realize is, what the anglophone Chinese bourgeoisie in Singapore hate more than sinophone Chinese people, are the Muslims, but especially Malay-Muslims, who rejected their liberal secular capitalism. Their nation-building myths are quite similar, which justifies Singapore’s hefty military budget - larger than every other Southeast Asian country, both in per capita and absolute terms.
A true liberation of the peoples of Southeast Asia necessitates the fall of the financial capitalists, chiefly represented by the largest banks in Southeast Asia, all based in Singapore. That’s why a lot of hysteria historically propagated here are based on “Indonesian” and “Malaysian” terrorists and supporters who’d like to see the downfall of “Singapore”. Nowadays, the rhetoric is a bit more muted, but echoes of this Islamophobia show-up from time to time.
Christmas Eve, 1965, is the unofficial date of the start of the ‘love story’ between Israel and Singapore, an affair that was kept a deep, dark secret. The international press, like the Israeli media, tried to bring the tale to light. Occasionally, scraps of information leaked out; some were published, some were denied, many were disregarded. The fear that the ties would be terminated if they became public knowledge had its effect. Israel imposed a total blackout on the story and the secret was preserved.
But ultimately the mysterious history between Israel and Singapore came to light. In his book, “From Third World to First: The Singapore Story 1965-2000,” published in 2000, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father and its first prime minister, disclosed the secret that had been kept for almost 40 years: It was the Israel Defense Forces that established the Singaporean army. Lee wrote, “To disguise their presence, we called them `Mexicans.’ They looked swarthy enough.”
To link it to a current news article: S’pore increased its security posture amid rising tensions from Iran-Israel conflict: Shanmugam
People in this region, other regions, or extremist organisations might want to make a point against Israeli, American or other Western assets, he said, adding that there could be attacks from the far right on Muslim assets…
If Singapore is ever attacked, it will make international headlines, he said. There is a possibility of attacks on both sides, he said, either by the far right attacking Muslims, or representatives of Muslim countries including Iran, and attacks on Western assets – American, European or Israeli.
“So we have increased our security posture, working off different scenarios, but you know, you can never be absolutely sure,” he added.
This quick ejaculation of “terrorism” when it comes to West Asian or Islamic related foreign policy remains a defining motto of the Singaporean government’s continual targeting of (Malay-)Muslim people, in a “we care about terrorism, but especially from the muslims” sense and also that of it would be “bad for business” since it would harm the hard-fought “social harmony”.
“This episode is also a reminder to all Singaporeans that we do have our national interests at stake … We must reject terrorism in all its forms. No excuses, no ifs, no buts, no short-term political advantage. Reject terrorism. If attacked, all of us here must give the government of the day the ability to exercise the right of self-defence,” said Dr Balakrishnan, supporting the motion.
“But even when it does so, we will expect the government of the day to uphold international law. And as Singaporeans, we will continue to extend humanitarian assistance and protection to all civilians. We should support the peaceful resolution of disputes. And we must nurture and protect our own precious cohesion and harmony.”
The misused word “harmony” crops up again. Wonder if they’ll stop using this tired phrase. Clearly the harmony didn’t apply to those that didn’t fit into their vision of Western Modernity.
And a quick note about the current Foreign Minister:
I would say it is expected, and it is, but still embarrassing.
