Bulletins and News Discussion from September 23rd to September 29th, 2024 - The War In The North
Image is of a Hezbollah missile attack on a military camp west of Jenin.
The situation between Hezbollah and Israel is rapidly escalating, with massive bombing campaigns on southern Lebanon by Israel predominantly on civilians (as the tunnels in South Lebanon are mostly unreachable to the Zionists, just like in Gaza), while Hezbollah and its allies respond with missile attacks predominantly on Israeli military facilities. Israel is spreading an evacuation order to the residents of southern Lebanese villages while also bombing their routes of escape and civilian infrastructure, similar to a terror tactic used widely in Gaza.
Northern Israel is currently under military censorship to hide their losses, so we get very little information other than what the Resistance provides and what videos and images get through the censors.
I don't know if Israel will dare a ground incursion soon, but it seems fairly likely in the coming days or weeks.
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.
FFS the futurama suicide pods are literally real now
Several arrested after woman dies in 'suicide pod'
spoiler
Police in Switzerland made multiple arrests after a woman reportedly ended her life using a so-called suicide pod, in apparently the first case of its kind.
Police in the Schaffhausen region said they arrested "several persons" on suspicion of inciting, and aiding and abetting suicide after she died reportedly by using a pod made by the company Sarco on Monday.
While assisted dying is legally protected in some circumstances in Switzerland, it is strictly regulated and the Sarco pod has encountered opposition.
Officers recovered the device and body at the scene.
Warning: Contains distressing content
The company behind the controversial pod says it can be solely operated by the person seeking to end their own life, without medical supervision.
Police said it was used on Monday at a forest hut in the Merishausen area, a sparsely populated part of Switzerland on the German border.
Police said they were tipped off by a law firm about a suicide involving the device. The number of people arrested and their identities were not disclosed. The deceased also was not named.
In July, a pro-assisted dying group, which promotes the Sarco device, said it anticipated that it would be used for the first time this year.
Advocates say it provides an option not reliant on drugs or doctors, and that it expands access to euthanasia as the portable device can be 3D-printed and assembled at home.
However, there also has been opposition in Switzerland, despite the country having some of the world's most protective laws surrounding assisted dying.
Critics fear the device's modern design glamorises suicide and the fact that it can be operated without medical oversight is concerning.
Assisted dying is illegal in the UK and in most other European countries, but thousands have travelled to Switzerland over the years to end their own lives.
Starmer/Streeting keep banging on about changing assisted dying laws in the UK which makes me uneasy
It's one of those things that makes sense for people with terminal illness/cognitive decline who agree to it on their own terms but under Capitalism is clearly gonna be some eugenics shit for the disabled/homeless.
In Canada, there’s been a huge push for MAID to be expanded for people with only mental illnesses, and there are real life horror stories of people getting recommended MAID for things like treatment-resistant depression or addiction
My late grandfather opted for MAID, but he was basically the person the program should be for. In his 90s, a widower, still mentally sharp, but in a whole lot of untreatable physical pain. He'd had it arranged for a long time, and after a bad fall that left him permanently bedridden, he decided it was time. I think the program should still exist but be strictly limited to people like him.
I’m sure they have to sign some waivers and things, which their signatures could be verified. Then again, this could be forced under duress or under altered state of mind
I'm just waiting for some one-word Muskrat-backed Silicon Valley startup called "Dye" or whatever the fuck to pop up trying to sell suicide pods here where you have to sign over your life savings to use it. It's not legal right now but I'm sure once Melon Husk calls Presinald Trunt a very handsome man on ecks he'll sign an executive order legalizing it.
Unsurprising, the average Swiss person is an extremely self-centered ghoul, and damn near the only value they see in people is their productivity. Even the concept of friendships is completely alien to them, so of course there would be suicide pods.
Nitrogen gas asphyxiation. IIRC the reason you feel pain when you suffocate is because of high CO2 levels. So with nitrogen, you'll stop getting enough oxygen to function and pass out without realizing it, then die in your sleep relatively painlessly.
The only times this doesn't work is if the person resists breathing it in so their blood-CO2 levels build up until they're in agony and either eventually gives in, or passes out and starts involuntarily breathing.
Hence why that execution a while ago which was supposed to go well ended so badly - the person was sentenced to death, obviously did not want to die, and so resisted it. So, it's a pretty good method of self-euthanasia because you (presumably) want to die and so will breathe it in with no struggle. A pretty bad method of executing people (from a pain standpoint), unless you wait until they're asleep I suppose.