Bulletins and News Discussion from August 19th to August 25th, 2024 - Our Mountains, Our Treasures - Child of the Week: Hassan LargePenis
Image is a snapshot taken from the recent Hezbollah video "Our Mountains, Our Treasures", showcasing their extensive underground fortifications, supply lines, and weaponry.
iran can't keep doing this to me, they've gotta respond soon, right? I'm gonna run out of analysis about countries soon, oh god
The COTW (Child of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific child every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied children. If you've wanted to talk about the child 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 child.
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.
Right until 2021 Bangladesh was considered a success story of export-led growth within a neoliberal setting. Around 80 per cent of its exports consisted of garments, and the growth in its garment exports was so rapid that it was even suggested that within a very short time Bangladesh would be meeting as much as 10 per cent of the world’s garment demand. Bretton Woods institutions were applauding Bangladesh for having lifted “millions out of poverty”; and even as late as April 2, 2024, a World Bank report was forecasting that the GDP growth of Bangladesh in the fiscal year 2024-25 would be 5.6 per cent, which by any criterion is a respectable figure.
The deterioration in Bangladesh’s economic fortune occurred when garment exports were hit by the pandemic; this was supposed to be temporary (whence the World Bank’s optimistic forecast for 2024-25), but has turned out to be more enduring, which is hardly surprising given the persistent stagnation in the world economy. At the same time the remittances by overseas Bangladeshis, another major source of foreign exchange for that country, also took a hit, undoubtedly for the same reason. And since Bangladesh relies on imported fuel, including for generating electricity, the rise in imported fuel prices after the start of the Russo-Ukraine war, has contributed to a serious foreign exchange shortage, given rise to prolonged power cuts, and also caused a rise in the price of power that has had a cost-push effect on the economy as a whole.
...
If the slowing down of the growth of exports and remittances, along with its multiplier effects, is responsible for the growing unemployment that currently afflicts Bangladesh, the cost-push effect of the rise in the world price of oil and the depreciation of the exchange rate, is responsible for the acceleration in inflation it is simultaneously facing. A rise in the minimum wage, as a means of compensating workers in the face of inflation, is also out of the question within the neoliberal setting, for that would make holding on to its existing export markets even more difficult. And if such a rise in minimum wage is accompanied by a further exchange rate depreciation in order to prevent this rise from adversely affecting exports, then that would only further compound the problem, by further raising imported prices of fuel and causing a further across-the-board inflationary push.
Some would say that Bangladesh’s problem lay in its putting all its eggs in one basket, in the fact that it relied almost exclusively on garment exports alone, instead of having a diversified set of exports; others would suggest that Bangladesh should have used its success in garment exports to diversify its economy by developing a whole range of industries that cater to the home market. These criticisms however miss the point: in a neoliberal economy the State lacks the capacity to intervene; it cannot promote domestic industrialisation without some degree of protection of the home market, but any such protection is frowned upon by international capital whose support is required for making exports a success. Likewise, which particular exports would succeed in the international market is a matter decided upon by international capital and not the state of the country. Blaming the State therefore for the pitfalls of export-led growth under neoliberalism is entirely unwarranted.
Good practical lesson (if the exploitation of a country can be called a "lesson") in how the logic of neoliberalism leads to bad consequences, regardless of the intentions of those in charge. The choice isn't to try and be a good/bad leader that is nonetheless doing neoliberalism, as there's only one outcome regardless; the choice is whether you have the bravery and institutional/military support to defy neoliberalism and attract the wrath of imperialist countries, and hope you can withstand it.
I'm surprised it doesn't mention that the country is literally going underwater with climate change.
Bangladesh has already been hit with significant effects from sea level rise and intensified storms for years now, and it is projected to continue to be one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change this century.
(The country experienced another significant flood just this week.)