Bulletins and News Discussion from April 1st to April 7th, 2024 - The Heydey of Juche - COTW: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Bulletins and News Discussion from April 1st to April 7th, 2024 - The Heydey of Juche - COTW: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Image is from this CNN article.
The DPRK's history has been a rollercoaster, with admirable highs and heartbreaking lows, most notably the Korean War and the fall of the USSR. Its steadfast commitment to Juche, a variant of Marxism-Leninism that focuses on self-sufficiency, has both made the DPRK a target for imperialist genocidal powers, and allowed them to survive these attacks.
Lately, we seem to be seeing a transition from surviving to thriving. China and the DPRK have always had a much more complicated history than Western education and media allows its population to know, with periods of quite strong disagreement - it's not the case that China is somehow the DPRK's master. Russia is the DPRK's other neighour that isn't US-occupied, and while they obviously differ substantially in ideology since the USSR fell, the tsunami of sanctions on Russia has changed things. The stick has been removed from the equation, with Russia facing no possible punishment from the West because they were unable to enact sanctions effectively and used all their ammunition in the first few barrages rather than turning the screws over time (I don't care if we're on the 14th sanctions package, it's all been meaningless for Russia since the end of 2022).
The carrot is also more visible, with an alliance making a lot of sense for both. Once again, Western education and media would have you believe a Parenti-esque reality in which Korea is a massive and unpredictable danger to the world, but is simultaneously so poor and destitute that their artillery pieces are made of wood and their missiles out of paper-mache. The truth is that Korea has innovated greatly in missile technology, with some of their weapons matching or even exceeding those of the Russians, hence the Russians' use of them in Ukraine. Russia also finds it advantageous to invest in Korea to strengthen the anti-hegemonic alliance's presence in the Pacific, countering the US-occupied lower half of the peninsula who has naturally sided with Ukraine. Additionally, Russia is investing deeply in the Arctic sea route. This will open up as climate change continues; is naturally quite defensible for Russia so long as Korea is there to provide further defense at its eastern edge; and is both a faster and safer route for Russia to access China - especially in a world where straits can be blockaded by even impoverished yet determined countries like Yemen. The situation in the Red Sea benefits Russia and China now, but in the coming years, the US may apply the same lesson for their own benefit elsewhere.
It is perhaps this new sense of self-confidence that has let Korea give up on reunification with its lower half via peaceful measures. A new Korean War would be devastating for both sides even if it remained non-nuclear, but with a rising DPRK and with the South falling yet further into hypercapitalist exploitation and misery, and a US that remains non-committal to its "allies" when times get difficult (as in Ukraine and Europe), a reality where Korea may finally hold the upper hand and have the ability to liberate its south may be approaching in the years and decades to come.
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 *the DPRK! 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.
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Elon Musk causes a diplomatic problem in Brazil. X (Twitter) may be banned in Brazil.
After threats from Elon Musk, Brazil's supreme court judge Alexandre Moraes orders an investigation into the billionaire's conduct and orders Twitter not to disobey court orders
'Social networks are not lawless land! Social networks are no man's land,' the judge wrote in capital letters in his decision.
After successive attacks from the businessman, Moraes' decision came out in the middle of the night on Sunday. According to the judge, Musk committed the irregular practices of using social networks to spread disinformation and destabilize institutions of the democratic rule of law:
"In the present hypothesis, therefore, the use of illegal mechanisms by 'X' is characterized; as well as the presence of strong indications of intent by the CEO of the social network 'X', Elon Musk, in the criminal instrumentalization previously pointed out and investigated in several inquiries," wrote Moraes.
After threats from billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social network X (formerly Twitter), Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) ordered that the businessman's conduct be investigated in a new inquiry. He also included Musk among those investigated in the existing inquiry into digital militias.
Moraes also ordered the X network not to disobey any orders from the Brazilian courts. He also imposed a fine of R$100,000 for each profile he reactivates irregularly.
Moraes said he saw signs of obstruction of justice and incitement to crime in Musk's behavior in recent days. On Saturday (6), Musk attacked Moraes' decisions in the investigations led by the minister. The businessman also threatened to reactivate the profiles of X users blocked by the courts.
Moraes is the rapporteur of investigations such as:
- Digital militias: which investigates actions orchestrated on networks to spread false information and hate speech, with the aim of undermining institutions and democracy.
- The January 8 case: which investigates the attempted coup in Brazil by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
In the course of these investigations, over the last few years, Moraes ordered the social networks to block the accounts of some of those being investigated. According to the minister, they were using the platforms to commit the irregular practices under investigation.
Musk decided to confront the minister. On Saturday, he published the following provocation above a post by Moraes on X: "Why are you demanding so much censorship in Brazil?".
Then, still on Saturday, Musk threatened that the platform would reactivate the blocked accounts, in contempt of court, even if, according to Musk, this would cost the company closure in Brazil and damage profits.
This Sunday, the billionaire posted a picture of Moraes and said that he is the "Darth Vader" of Brazil, in reference to the villain from the Star Wars film franchise.
After successive attacks from the businessman, Moraes' decision came out in the middle of the night on Sunday. According to the minister, Musk committed the irregular practices of using social networks to spread disinformation and destabilize institutions of the democratic rule of law.
He also said that platforms must follow the Constitution, under penalty of being held accountable for their actions. For Moraes, X and Musk affront Brazil's sovereignty.
"The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian justice, the incitement to crime, the public threat of disobedience to court orders and the future lack of cooperation from the platform are facts that disrespect Brazil's sovereignty and reinforce the connection of the malicious criminal instrumentalization of the activities of the former Twitter, now X," said the minister.
Musk's statements sparked backlash among politicians and authorities. The Minister of the Attorney General's Office (AGU), Jorge Messias, said that Brazil needs to approve regulation of social networks to prevent "billionaires living abroad" from attacking the democratic rule of law.
"It is urgent to regulate social networks. We can't live in a society where billionaires living abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law by breaking court orders and threatening our authorities. Social peace is non-negotiable," Messias wrote.
João Brant, Secretary for Digital Policies at the President's Secretariat for Communication, also defended the regulation of networks. He also said that Musk, in writing his attacks on Moraes, despises Brazilian justice.
"Elon Musk's attitude shows his contempt for Brazilian justice. He responds politically to the buzz of the last few days by rehashing old decisions and takes the opportunity to make agitation and extreme right-wing propaganda. Of course, there may be different opinions about the decisions of the Supreme Court and the TSE, but that's not what this is about. Musk decided to defend coup plotters and escalate the issue for political (possibly also commercial) reasons," said Brant.
The president of the Federal Court of Auditors, Bruno Dantas, said that "freedom of expression is a fundamental right that has never, anywhere in the world, meant licentiousness to break the law or attack a country's institutions".
Minister Paulo Pimenta, from the Presidency's Social Communication Secretariat, commented on Moraes' decision. He said that Musk would not intimidate Brazil.
"We will not be intimidated. Our country is sovereign and no one is going to impose their authoritarian will and enforce the logic that money makes their 'business model' above the Federal Constitution," he wrote.
Through cooperation between the Brazilian Federal Police and the FBI, US authorities can serve search and seizure warrants at the homes of the investigated Elon Musk, owner of Twitter.
The order could be issued at any time by Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court.
"We will not be intimidated. Our country is sovereign and no one is going to impose their authoritarian will and enforce the logic that money makes their 'business model' above the Federal Constitution," he wrote.
This does show the need for countries to claw back sovereignty in digital spaces.
being a petulant child that brings back people posting child porn for "free speech" might actually make the internet toxic enough that it starts getting regulated. There's also the chance that the internet starts getting more fragmented if this process really gets going.This Sunday, the billionaire posted a picture of Moraes and said that he is the "Darth Vader" of Brazil, in reference to the villain from the Star Wars film franchise.
Also, he wants to be cool so bad, but by God is he a loser.
This does show the need for countries to claw back sovereignty in digital spaces.
Yes, the US, under Obama and Trump, funded neoliberal and far-right religious think tanks in Brazil, boosting them using Facebook/Meta. After the Democrats lost the White House, the Republicans basically stopped funding moderate neoliberals and started funding openly fascist groups and people like Bolsonaro. But even with all that, Bolsonaro lost the 2022 elections because he killed 700,000 people and Lula da Silva is extremely popular, even with all the propaganda against Lula.
Because of this, Lula and the Supreme Court have been trying to regulate the Brazilian Internet more and more. I believe that Brazil has its own system for reporting criminal activity on the Internet, called SaferNet. Google, Meta, X and all the social media have been lobbying against these laws and regulations, loobying and meeting openly with neo-Nazis to discuss it. They call it censorship or whatever.
might actually make the internet toxic enough that it starts getting regulated.
Ironically, he wants to "defend"
his chud friendsfree speech so much that he is actually pushing the internet to get more regulated.Also, he wants to be cool so bad, but by God is he a loser.
He seems like an attention seeker. When he was just some random rich liberal, he would scream anything to make the libs happy, like how he was totally a "socialist" and ebic gamer things. Now he is doing the same virtue signaling shit, but with chuds.