Bulletins and News Discussion from October 14th to October 20th, 2024 - Paper Tigers
Bulletins and News Discussion from October 14th to October 20th, 2024 - Paper Tigers
Image is a frame taken from this video of Iranian missiles raining down on Israel without interception due to a weak and depleted air defense system after a year of war and genocide.
Mao, 1956:
Now U.S. imperialism is quite powerful, but in reality it isn't. It is very weak politically because it is divorced from the masses of the people and is disliked by everybody and by the American people too. In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain. I believe the United States is nothing but a paper tiger.
When we say U.S. imperialism is a paper tiger, we are speaking in terms of strategy. Regarding it as a whole, we must despise it. But regarding each part, we must take it seriously. It has claws and fangs. We have to destroy it piecemeal. For instance, if it has ten fangs, knock off one the first time, and there will be nine left, knock off another, and there will be eight left. When all the fangs are gone, it will still have claws. If we deal with it step by step and in earnest, we will certainly succeed in the end.
Strategically, we must utterly despise U.S. imperialism. Tactically, we must take it seriously. In struggling against it, we must take each battle, each encounter, seriously. At present, the United States is powerful, but when looked at in a broader perspective, as a whole and from a long-term viewpoint, it has no popular support, its policies are disliked by the people, because it oppresses and exploits them. For this reason, the tiger is doomed. Therefore, it is nothing to be afraid of and can be despised. But today the United States still has strength, turning out more than 100 million tons of steel a year and hitting out everywhere. That is why we must continue to wage struggles against it, fight it with all our might and wrest one position after another from it. And that takes time.
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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.
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Israeli article says that the IDF is facing severe manpower shortages due to poor morale. Interesting notes:
Of a platoon of 30 soldiers called for their 11th deployment in Gaza, only 6 showed up.
Hamas repeatedly sets traps in building that have already been cleared, and soldiers feel their task is impossible/pointless. The seemingly endless conflict is the primary reason for the loss of morale.
Many platoons are lacking in manpower due either to physical or mental injury
Problems were occuring before the incursion into Lebanon, reportedly for months now. IDF goon quote: "I don't know with what army they think will enter Lebanon, because there is no army. I'm not going back to the battalion." Another says "We’re sitting ducks in a shooting range. We don’t understand what we’re doing here...The hostages aren’t coming back, and it just feels never-ending—soldiers are getting injured and dying along the way. It all seems pointless."
Israeli government is not prosecuting people that refuse to show up. Internally, the IDF shames/humiliates deserters but ultimately lets them go.
At least some soldiers are being fined for lost/damaged equipment.
There are a lot more quotes from soldiers in the article. Assuming the article isn't totally fabricated or something, the IDF is facing a Vietnam-esque situation, except that all their soldiers are close to home and can just leave. An invasion of Lebanon seems extremely unlikely at this point - other than Israel randomly lashing out with air strikes, the status quo probably isn't going anywhere.
Hamas repeatedly sets traps in building that have already been cleared, and soldiers feel their task is impossible/pointless.
lmao get Looney Tuned bozos
You have to imagine at least some of these people feel terrible guilt for what they're being asked to do, right?
Sure, but its also possible that the guilt any Israeli feels doesn't have a clear... explanation? cause?... that can be rationally understood. It's going to take time to process the internalized racism and bigotry and figure out which side you'll come out on: "It is good to be a racist bigot (or I'm not a racist bigot at all) and it was the government's fault for pursuing a regional war improperly" or "Oh, fucking shit, we were the bad guys the whole time and I'll need to rethink everything I've ever been taught or thought about the country that I grew up in."
Oh, fucking shit, we were the bad guys the whole time and I'll need to rethink everything I've ever been taught or thought about the country that I grew up in."
This is a thing that absolutely happens to US imperialist soldiers - I know one who became such a dedicated anti-imperialistand communist while in the military that he was court martialed and dishonorably discharged. And plenty of folks (by no means a majority though) eventually come to develop a decent understanding of imperialism and their role in it. Does that just not happen in Israel?
They'll probably feel terrible anger at being "stabbed in the back" by what they perceive as poor civilian leadership.
Of a platoon of 30 soldiers called for their 11th deployment in Gaza, only 6 showed up.
Holy shit are they deploying once a month? Two weeks on two weeks off?
I would think "deployment", in this context, would be referring to the current conflict but I could be wrong.
I know some of these are for a work week and you're home by the weekend
Somehow that's worse
"How was your day at the baby killing factory, honey?"
sets traps in building that have already been cleared
Shit's not a video game, once you leave a building or area it stops being cleared/secured.
We’re sitting ducks in a shooting range.
Palestinians:
