Bulletins and News Discussion from November 13th to November 19th, 2023 - Much To My Chagrindavik - COTW: Iceland
Bulletins and News Discussion from November 13th to November 19th, 2023 - Much To My Chagrindavik - COTW: Iceland
Image is of the Herðubreið tuya in northeast Iceland, formed when ice sheets covered Iceland thousands of years ago. It's not really relevant to the Grindavik situation but I think they look neat. The title also doesn't make much sense but I saw the pun and took it.
Off in Iceland, different kinds of tunnels are causing problems. Underneath the town of Grindavik in southwestern Iceland, not far from the capital of Reykjavik, tens of thousands of earthquakes are portending the movement of magma in tunnels underneath the peninsula, which could breach the surface and cause an eruption. The 4000 residents of the town have been evacuated as the magma has risen to less than a kilometer below the surface.TRG
Icelandic volcanism is pretty fascinating, with the country sitting on the mid-Atlantic ridge, the birthing line of new oceanic crustal rock running right down the Atlantic ocean for many thousands of kilometers, as well as a hotspot, an upwelling of mantle material of debated origin which also feeds otherwise-inexplicable volcanism in the middle of tectonic plates, like Yellowstone and Hawaii.
An additional factor here is the presence of glaciers. When a volcano erupts underneath a glacier, the melting water cools the lava rapidly, causing features usually seen in volcanoes that erupt under the sea like pillow basalts, but also unique features like tuyas, which are steep-sided but flat-topped volcanoes. The rapid melting of water can also cause glacial floods called jökulhlaups.
Icelandic volcanoes have had significant regional and even global impacts in the past. In 2010, the volcano Eyjafjallajökull, which was a volcano covered by an ice cap, erupted and the ash cloud spread across Europe, causing airline disruption for about a month which caused nearly $2 billion in total losses for airline companies - though this seems pretty quaint compared to the pandemic's impact on airlines in retrospect. Back in the 1780s, the Laki volcano killed a quarter of the Icelandic population due to sulphur dioxide causing massive crop failure and cattle death. This eruption's impacts spread to Europe and beyond, causing notable worldwide temperature drops and thus crop failures and may well have been a contributing factor to the outbreak of the French Revolution, which obviously heralded the death of the feudal order and the eventual primacy of capitalism in its place. That being said, any eruption at Grindavik is very probably not going to have any significant worldwide impacts - there are over a hundred volcanoes already in Iceland, and regular climate change is doing a great job at causing mayhem right now anyway. It's also still possible that there won't be an eruption at all, at least not in the short to medium term.
Friendly reminder: when commenting about a news event, especially something that just happened, please provide a source of some kind. While ideally this would be on nitter or archived, any source is preferable to none at all given.
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.
The Country of the Week is Iceland! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
This week's update is here!
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Links and Stuff
The bulletins site is down.
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can.
Resources For Understanding The War
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.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
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
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.
Last week's discussion post.
This painting but it's a Palestinian fighter walking into the giant ornate room where they store all the IDF cum
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holy shit, norman finkelstein is going hard on twitter
https://nitter.net/normfinkelstein/status/1725145872407703716
Julius Streicher was the editor of Der Sturmer newspaper. He was hung at Nuremberg for abetting Nazi crimes. Shouldn't the Times editors and Mr Kingsley be held accountable for the dead babies in al-Shifa's incubators?
Norm doesn't miss
"If I re-enroll in college as a freshman, will Ben Shapiro then agree to debate me?" https://nitter.cz/normfinkelstein/status/1724084243955916928
The original emblem of Likud showing Jordan as part of Israel has been revived.
This is finance minister Smotrich in a recent speech in Paris where he claimed that there is no such thing as the Palestinian people. The map is invoking the expansionist concept of Greater Israel, which is just Lebensraum but for Israel.
He is now calling for the "voluntary migration" (ethnic cleansing) of the civilian population of Gaza
The WSJ published his call to help do the ethnic cleansing.
Fascist country.
Xi Jinping: "After having traveled to the US, my suspicions are now confirmed - the vibes are definitely off"
Sometimes I forget how good Africans are at deflecting Western edgelords. Saw one where the Westerner went with the usual, "Don't use any of the technology you have right now if you hate the West so much." The African responded saying, "Don't use your laptop, smartphone, car, or any other commodity you enjoy that uses minerals and other resources from Africa."
Another Westerner made jokes about the African Slave Trade. The African responded with, "It must feel terrible for your racist self knowing that you'll die an old man with at least one or more of your offspring or grandchildren having children with a black man. Your women can't resist us and the increasing number of mixed children prove it while your own population declines"
Second one went into iffy territory but I've learned that you can't worry about that when they're joking about the rape and murder of your people. Feeding into their bizarre fertility obsession always gets them worked up.
i like how the HAMAS HEADQUARTERS is less fortified than the average brazilian favela narcotics hq and less armed than the average american household
Germany doing clean wermacht, and saying hamas is worse than them, because they don't feel regret. What do they even study in history, i'll never know.
Just bad vibes from hitler corrupted pure german souls, and now they did a growth that killing jews is bad. Nothing else happened in ww2, all lessons learned.
So italy got meloni, japan never repented and germany now approaching same levels of discoourse, the gang is ready.
Xi, just enters his 3rd 5 year term (starting 2013) in a government that allows over a billion people to vote (at the least) for their local representative of 5,000 or less constituents. !!!!DICTATOR!!!!
Bibi, who has been leader of Israel since 2009, in a nation that makes sure nearly 50% of the 15 million people within its borders are not allowed to vote. A great democracy and friend to America.
I got it Joe
I have bad news for people still paying attention to the Ukraine War. Unfortunately, it appears that the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive never actually happened. Yes, I know, this was shocking to me too, but:
A few days ago, the Kiev TV channel 1 + 1 reported that the Ukrainian army did not conduct a counteroffensive in the summer of 2023, and all the information about it was merely a brilliant psychological operation targeted against the enemy. The story made use of popular stereotypes to show Ukrainians in the most favorable light – as skillful and smart people, capable of finding an original solution to a difficult task.
The video was accompanied by memes popular in the late 2000s, which millennials would easily relate to.
The story was accompanied by the following comments: “The war is being waged not only on the ground and in the air, but also in the minds [of people]. In the future, Ukrainian psyops will be analyzed in textbooks. One of the most successful such operations is the ‘counteroffensive’. For several months, we deceived the enemy, claiming that we were conducting a large-scale offensive operation. Our cyber troops spread this information on the enemy’s social networks and [implanted it] in their minds. For several months, Russians have been subjected to a powerful psychological attack while our troops are getting stronger [and preparing] for a real counteroffensive.”
After Bin Laden was killed, a teacher told us they buried his remains at sea and another kid just nodded and said "Like Megatron"
In what experts can only describe as a "massive display of BDE", Jeremy Corbyn refuses to call Hamas 'terrorists' after Piers Moron asks him to 15 times.
WTF Putin pivoting to be pro-LGBT????
The Russian dictator also spoke out in support of representatives of the LGBT community.
Putin began by saying that in order to win cultural competitions in the West, he imagines it is necessary to "talk about, write or show something from the lives of sexual minorities, transgenders [sic] and other transformers".
Quote: "I’m going to say something unexpected: they too – these topics and these people – have the right to win [competitions], to show and to tell [their stories]. Because this is part of society too, it’s how some people live. It's bad if they are the only ones to win all these competitions – we don’t want that. But this desire for equality... this equality should be everywhere, in everything – especially cultural competitions."
Guardian taking down the Bin Laden letter seems like just such obvious propagandist incompetence that Im wondering like who the fuck they have working there making these decisions.
Like on just the fundamental level, if the issue is individual tiktokers with a large reach creating a narrative around Bin Laden that is overly clean due to only focusing on the rational justifications for attacking America, removing the letter will not stop that. You've only made it so random people can't read the parts where he says that Jews control western economy because of usury, or how its wrong that America makes its own laws instead of following the law of god, which to an average person would be discrediting the other arguments by association.
And the thing is that almost every argument he makes such as the 1.5 million Iraqi children dead from sanctions, already has a readymade western "debunking" or dismissal, they could have fact checked Bin Laden, make his reasoning bunk by saying that he is lying about all the atrocities so therefore there is nothing for American voters to be held accountable for. Except now you've made the narrative that you are threatened by what the letter says, and if you fact check it now its like, ok you're still scared and trying to suppress it.
Like this just seems like it wouldnt be that advanced to consider and think about? Its just very basic stuff that Im saying IMO.
I haven't seen it posted here: Israelis completely demolished Palestinian parliament a couple of days ago.
It's clear that their goal is to destroy Palestinian statehood once and for all. One more example of how two-state solution is completely dead
https://fortune.com/2023/11/11/china-xi-jinping-invites-everyday-people-from-iowa-to-dinner/
Why a group of ‘everyday people’ in Iowa have been invited to dinner by Chinese president Xi Jinping: ‘We’re eager to meet with him’
Xi’s warm feelings toward the Midwesterners contrasts with the recent acrimony between the two largest economies.
BY JENNIFER JACOBS AND BLOOMBERG
Lmao
A group of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “old friends” from Iowa have been invited to a dinner he will attend in California next week — 38 years after they welcomed the then-unknown party official for a hog roast, farm tours and a Mississippi River boat ride as they showed him how capitalists do agriculture.
Only politician to actually like Iowa
“This has been a heck of a journey — we can’t figure it out. We don’t even know why he likes us!” said Sarah Lande, an 85-year-old Muscatine resident who has maintained connections with Xi since he made his first visit to the US as the leader of a food processing delegation from China’s Hebei Province in 1985.
“But we’re eager to meet with him, too. We’re regular, everyday people,” Lande added. Xi’s warm and enduring bond with the Midwesterners he first encountered nearly four decades ago stands in contrast with the suspicions and acrimony that have characterized relations between the two largest economies over the last few years. Both Xi and President Joe Biden, who plan to meet Wednesday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, have taken recent diplomatic steps to ease the strains.
The Iowans’ invitations for the reception and dinner, on the sidelines of APEC, came through the the National Committee on US-China Relations and the US-China Business Council, in coordination with China’s embassy, Lande said.
The Iowans haven’t been told if they’ll get a private audience with Xi, who was 31 when they met him.
Terry Branstad, a former Iowa governor and US ambassador to China, has also been invited, according to an aide.
In 1985, Gary Dvorchak’s parents gave Xi his bedroom, decorated with Star Trek items, in their Muscatine home. Dvorchak and his sister Paula, who talked to the future Chinese leader about American movies, are on next week’s guest list.
So is Luca Berrone, then an Iowa economic development official, who drove Xi around to company sites including Monsanto Co., Cargill Inc. and Quaker Oats, grain and livestock farms, the Amana Colonies — a religious community known for its farming heritage and communal living — and Iowa State University in Ames.
“He wanted to learn how to feed his people,” Lande said in a telephone interview. Xi had read Mark Twain “and he really wanted to see the Mississippi,” she said. She hosted him for a potluck at her home overlooking the river. Berrone’s stops with the four-member delegation and their interpreter included a farm in Coggon, a spot where Twain had hidden manuscripts in a wall. Berrone arranged hotels as well as home stays where none were available.
“We had a really good time in two weeks,” he said. “We were like the road movie — five or six guys on a road trip.”
Hell yeah, dudes rock
‘You Are America’
The Iowans made an impression on Xi, said Ken Quinn, the former president of the World Food Prize Foundation, who is planning to attend the Bay Area dinner.
“He was not anyone special and the friendship they showed him touched him personally,” said Quinn, who met Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, an architect of China’s economic opening, when he himself traveled to Iowa in 1980.
When Xi Jinping returned to the United States in 2012, as vice president and about to ascend to the presidency, he gathered with the “old friends” in Lande’s Muscatine home again. “He said, ‘You were the first people I met in America, and to me, you are America,’” she said.
That year, Xi invited more than a dozen of the Iowans to China, and “they had the whole thing set up in two months,” Lande said. “He was the top-down boss and he made it happen.” Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan — a famous Chinese folk singer in her own right — threw a banquet for them. “She said, ‘Well, I just had to meet the people from Iowa,’” Lande recalled. “By the way, she is a lovely, beautiful lady. Her last remark was, ‘If we ever retire, I’m going to gather my daughter and we’re coming to Muscatine.’”
China’s embassy in Washington and the dinner’s organizers didn’t respond to requests for comment on Friday night.
The reunion aside, Iowa, a major soybeans and corn producer, has an interest in better relations between Washington and Beijing.
This week, China, a top soybean importer, bought more than 3 million metric tons of the commodity from the US, a volume that surprised the market. China had been buying cheaper Brazilian supplies and the move is a goodwill gesture ahead of the Biden-Xi talks, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing governmental decisions.
That's right, Xi Jinping, the man who is concidered to be the second coming of Stalin, says mee-maw and pawp-pawp of the cornfields are America to him.
Nelson Mandela visiting Gaza in 1999
Video evidence for the quote: "Choose peace rather than confrontation. Except in cases where we cannot get, where we cannot proceed, or we cannot move forward. Then if the only alternative is violence, we will use violence." This was along with a call for Israel to withdraw from all occupied territories.
This is a great video to show liberals. Use the whitewashing of leaders like Mandela against them.
Hamas is currently having a guy roasting the IDF video, I'll translate the video later if it gets released independently without translation
Two detained in Saudi Arabia for publicly praying for Gaza
A sheikh of Algerian origin was detained by police in Madinah, Saudi Arabia for reportedly praying for Palestine and its people.
The sheikh states that he did not make the call and prayer on video but only shared with people that he had prayed for Palestinians in the land of the two holy mosques for Muslims.
"I consider it an honour that I was detained in the city of the messenger of Allah. Is it a crime to pray for the weak, and the oppressed, as hospitals and mosques are destroyed? Little children were killed and slaughtered. Doesn’t this require us to pray? We pray in the most honourable places. Is it dangerous?" asks the sheikh as he cautions people to keep their prayers between themselves and their God.
It's apparently not the only instance of this, either.
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Sanders calls for a ceasefire!
spoiler
Larry Sanders, Bernie’s brother. Still nothing from Bernie. There’s no way his brother hasn’t plead with him to support it.
CNN has also confirmed the IDF rearranged the guns for the Al-Shifa hospital visits https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-18-23/h_1d70c190adde686e6a2b59e963499e82
I'm used to Israeli lies, since I've followed this conflict for years, but is it just me or are the claims worse this time around?
Norman Finkelstein on Twitter
I was supposed to debate a person named "Destiny" this evening at 6:00 pm. He agreed that Briahna Joy Gray would moderate the debate. Ms. Gray accepted. I provided Mr. "Destiny" with references so as to help him along in the debate. He called my scholarship "atrocious" so I anxiously awaited this challenge. But then Mr "Destiny" disappeared. I guess this debate wasn't our -- you guessed it -- destiny.
The poetry editor of The New York Times Magazine has resigned due to the Israeli state's US-backed war against the people of Gaza.
my resignation - by Anne Boyer - M I R A B I L A R Y
Anne Boyer
Nov 16, 2023
I have resigned as poetry editor of The New York Times Magazine.
The Israeli state's U.S-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone. There is no safety in it or from it, not for Israel, not for the United States or Europe, and especially not for the many Jewish people slandered by those who claim falsely to fight in their names. Its only profit is the deadly profit of oil interests and weapon manufacturers.
The world, the future, our hearts—everything grows smaller and harder from from this war. It is not only a war of missiles and land invasions. It is an ongoing war against the people of Palestine, people who have resisted through decades of occupation, forced dislocation, deprivation, surveillance, siege, imprisonment, and torture.
Because our status quo is self-expression, sometimes the most effective mode of protest for artists is to refuse.
I can’t write about poetry amidst the "reasonable" tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering. No more ghoulish euphemisms. No more verbally sanitized hellscapes. No more warmongering lies.
If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present. — Anne Boyer
Presidential debate night yesterday in Argentina, and Milei got demolished by Massa. Lots of things, Milei looked like absolute shit, he tried to present himself as the dominant one very early in the debate but he couldn't even scratch Massa's rock solid face. Lots of discussion revolving around the economy, and I think my favorite moments were when Massa exposed Milei on foreign policy. First, Massa acknowledges the "multipolar world", which is a big plus to me because it means he's aware that the world is changing, while Milei stays in a static "US-ISRAEL THE FREE WORLD" position (Yes, he said "Israel" is the free world).
Then came Massa's attack on Milei regarding his plan to cut relations with Brasil and China because they're communists. He got absolutely demolished here: He forced Milei to walk back on his sayings, to provide "context" while cornered and to fail spectacularly while doing so. He says that "the state shouldn't interfere" in the economy, yet he planned to cut relations with them (clear state interference). Then he claimed that it is the "private sector" who should decide to trade, or not, with them, and if the relations are cut, "privates will find a way to continue trading, either by triangulating or by finding alternatives on their own". Well look at fucking that lmfao, turns out the "economy understander" doesn't understand international commerce and relations. Cutting relations with either of these countries sends the argentinian economy into absolute chaos, Brasil is our largest trading partner and China is not far behind, what the fuck is he even thinking lmfao.
Later on the topic of Malvinas was brought upon the debate, and while both candidates "agrees" that Argentina should reclaim the islands, Massa attacked him because back in the day Milei said he admires none other than Margaret fucking Thatcher. Of all people, that fucking witch. She is THE enemy of modern Argentina, like everyone here (and in many other places, as well) fucking hates her. But he doesn't, he likes her. So he had to provide a reason as of why he likes Thatcher, he said that he "understands the war, but there's people who have done great things" (Thatcher? lmao), he mentioned he admires Reagan, Thatcher and Churchill. Just look at how the list gets progressively more and more ghoulish lol. Then for some reason he attacked Massa saying that "he must have felt very bad during 1989 when the wall was brought down", huh? His mind is stuck in the Cold War and in the "End of History" of the 90s.
Finally, Massa delivered a massive hit to Milei, he touched something that Milei holds very dearly and almost made him cry. Turns out that back when Milei was almost graduated from whatever university he was on, he worked temporarily in the Central Bank as part of his final studies. He HATES the Central Bank though, his campaign continuously talks about "demolishing" it. So, apparently, he was kicked out of his post in the Central Bank because he showed psychological issues. After Massa delivered this blow, Milei just couldn't gather enough strenght to counterattack, he could barely talk, his voice was very low and shaky. It was beautiful. He also accussed Massa of "trying to steal the election", Trump-esque move. How splendid.
This debate should be the final nail in the coffin, his performance was dreadful and, I hope, it finally convinces the undecided to either not vote for Milei or vote for Massa, which sucks but at least he doesn't have dementia. Elections are next sunday, if we can bury this motherfucker we can talk about trying to rebuild, step by step, in a new world.
Edit: I made so many grammar mistakes. Damn, I'm really struggling these days.
Israeli security cabinet member and agriculture minister Avi Dichter says the quiet part out loud, as he has openly admitted that "We're Rolling Out Nakba 2023."
'We're Rolling Out Nakba 2023,' Israeli Minister Says on Northern Gaza Strip Evacuation
France issues arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Mr Al-Assad, your under arrest, please go to the nearest French police station. Based on a quick look at a map, it's probably in Menton or Nice.
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Hexbear Travel Group presents the first Russian Ukraine group trip! Embark on a captivating 10-day journey through the heart of Russian Ukraine! Explore the charming cities of Donetsk, Avdiivka, Mariupol, Soledar, Bakhmut, Robotyne, Kherson and Tokmak, each offering a unique blend of history, culture, and natural beauty. From picturesque landscapes to rich traditions, this trip promises an unforgettable experience. Book now for an immersive adventure and discover the hidden gems of Russian Ukraine!
Day 1: Donetsk
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Landing at the historic Donetsk International Airport
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Experience the captivating life of a Donetsk civilian by dodging shells in central Donetsk
Day 2: Avdiivka
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Guided tour of the famous Avdiivka Coke Plant
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Visit to the Promka industrial zone
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For a small fee, write a personalised message and lob your very own shell towards central Donetsk
Day 3: Bakhmut (Prigozhingrad)
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Walking tour of beautiful downtown Bakhmut
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Buy a bouquet and lay it on the feet of the Yevgeny Prigozhin memorial statue
Day 4: Soledar
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VIP all inclusive experience in the Soledar Salt Tunnels
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Free shopping day
Day 5: Kherson
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Explore the natural beauty of the Russian countryside in a 9 hour train journey to Kherson
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Pilot an FPV drone over the Dnieper at night and capture some unforgettable photos
Day 6: Kherson - Nova Kakhovka
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Experience life like a solider in the newly-opened Kherson Surovikin Park
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Pilot a small raft across the Dnieper and avoid the falling grenades from the sky
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Fun and wet treasure hunt in the former site of the Nova Kakhovka dam reservoir
Day 7: Robotyne
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Visit to the unique Leopard Graveyard Park
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Capture amazing photos on top of the countless Bradleys, Leopards and Strykers
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Landmine fun in the forest belts north of Robotyne
Day 8: Tokmak
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Visit to the Tokmak Trench Center
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Learn how to build a trench from world renowned Russian trench instructors
Day 9: Mariupol
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Beach adventures on the Azov Sea
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Immersive guided tour of Azovstal, including the VIP POW experience in the tunnels of Azovstal
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Chechen-themed farewell dinner in Akhmat's Tunnel Bakery
Day 10: Mariupol
- Early departure from Mariupol International Airport
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According to a friend in Berlin, lots of subreddits are getting geoblocked in Germany for apparently supporting Palestine. I had a quick look it seems to be the case, including publicfreakout, therewasanattempt, and Britain as some of thr bigger ones. Naturally, the scum over at r/Europe are celebrating and suggesting other subs to rat out to the German authorities.
I've been listening to the second season of Blowback about Cuba and it's really cooking my noodle how similar the old propaganda about Cuba is to the new propaganda about Hamas. Apparently some Yanks accused Cuba of having secret caves full of nuclear missiles - compare that to today's hysteria about secret tunnel headquarters under hospitals and schools in Palestine. Same shit as al Qaeda's supposed mountain fortresses during the war in Afghanistan too. It's unreal how the media and politicians can trot out the same lies over and over to fabricate excuses to attack their enemies
A man follows Israeli occupation forces instructions and leaves his home holding a white flag.
His son comes with him and is shot in the head by fascist Israeli soldiers.
What the actual fuck?
CW: literal war crimes
https://twitter.com/Lowkey0nline/status/1725509200913014838?t=GFBzfCidhLWWLxQqglbWhg&s=19
In the past three years alone, life as a young transgender person in the U.S. has changed dramatically. Before 2021, gender-affirming medical care was legal in all 50 states. None had even tried to ban it. Today, 22 states have passed restrictions on that care—and while several have been blocked in court or have yet to take effect, most are active law. (Article)
I wonder who was President when all that went down.
Israel propaganda is drinking from the same well of cringe as the Ukraine propaganda blitz back in 2022. The difference is that Zelensky is a good actor and can actually pull off the "cute victim" role and his side characters like Reznikov also pulled it off well, while the Israelis just can't not be genocidal and insanely evil in every single statement. From a Western lib perspective, cute short camo-wearing actor-president Zelensky was perfect to sell the Ukraine war, but Netanyahu is just so clearly evil and can't even be repackaged into a good propaganda tool. Same goes for evil Peter Griffin twin Ben Gvir, or zombie looking Gantz, or the countless weirdo ultra-zionist losers crying on TV. Really hard to sell people on the crying propaganda when you're the ones committing the clear genocide.
Some people are outraged that a German politician called the Hamas hostages with German citizenship "not pure Germans" instead of the more acceptable term "not real Germans" (9th paragraph here). The real news to me here is that the latter term is apparently commonly used and accepted. Please stop doing impolite fascism, stick to the official polite version, thank you.
Comrade @InevitableSwing@hexbear.net posted this at the tail end of the last news mega:
I wanted to share it here because when I saw that, I really made me think about that quote from Disco Elysium (which was taken from a Russian poem, I believe):
In dark times, should the stars also go out?
I feel like I can discern what the Israeli strategy is going to be here - storm Al-Shifa, dress the basement+tunnels up to look like what they think a command bunker looks like, film it, declare victory - but beyond the propaganda for foreign audiences, I'm really sure what that... does? Like, in the actual world? They might even try and do the classic "make a symbolic victory, leave Gaza without actually having defeated their enemy at all" move, but that can't really work. Not even in a "well erm acktually there are still Hamas fighters existing in the tunnels" way, but because the tunnels are still pretty much mostly unstormed and uncleared, Hamas still has the ability to take your tanks out, and most importantly from a propaganda point of view, still has the ability to launch missiles into Israel. Westerners are willing to believe a lot, and I mean a LOT of bullshit, but giving a victory speech in Tel Aviv while the sirens are blaring from missile strikes incoming would probably raise some eyebrows.
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If you believed in the whole "racial purity is strength, our superior Zionist stock must survive" then why are you taking semen from the dead soldiers that have been blown the fuck out? They're surely the weakest ones. Completely counter to Darwin. Maybe if you let the Zionist ubermenschen program develop for another thousand years with the good soldiers then Israelis will evolve bioluminsence so that they can see in the tunnels.
The story was reported by NY Post (reactionary) so I won't directly link, but there was a walkout by bus drivers in Northern Va, refusing to transport demonstrators to the Ethnic Cleansing rally. 300 people left on the tarmac is kind of a drop in the bucket, but it's nice to know that those drivers stuck to their principles
Israel is hard at work turning a hospital into a horrorshow.
Israeli forces arrest two engineers at al-Shifa Hospital: Health ministry
The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli soldiers arrested two in-house engineers at al-Shifa Hospital.
The ministry said those detained are al-Shifa’s sole electric generator mechanic, and the only technician for oxygen stations who is present at the hospital.
- Al Jazeera
China is on track to blow right past their Paris Agreement targets. Peak oil, peak coal and peak carbon are all coming way ahead of schedule and China's contracting construction industry is a huge boon to GHGe targets.
Some aggregated analysis on the current status of China's energy transition. Recall what China's updated Paris Agreement commitments are
Analysts today are expecting China to hit peak carbon by 2024, 6 years ahead of schedule. This is primarily driven by hitting peak gasoline in 2023 driven by plug-in EVs and hybrids making 38% of new car sales and growing fast, as well as peak coal in 2024 driven by massive adoption of renewable energy. New solar deployments in China in 2023 are expected to reach >150GW and wind projects are progressing at a similar rate. In fact, clean energy deployments are expected to exceed demand growth in 2023. By every metric, China is on track to blow this commitment out of the water.
Note that some research was already indicating that China could hit peak carbon around this time:
We develop an ensemble time-series model with machine learning approaches as the projection benchmark, and show that China’s carbon peak will be achieved by 2021–2026 with > 80% probability. Jiandong Chen, Chong Xu, Ming Gao & Ding Li. Carbon peak and its mitigation implications for China in the post-pandemic era. Scientific Reports 12, 3473 (2022).
The optimized results show that China's energy-related carbon dioxide emissions could peak between 2022 and 2025, most likely in 2023, with CO2 emissions of 11.21–11.56 Gt. Shiwei Yu, Shuhong Zheng, Xia Li, Longxi Li. China can peak its energy-related carbon emissions before 2025: Evidence from industry restructuring. Energy Economics 73, 91-107 (2018).
Joint research by NRDC and Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP) finds that China’s top coal-consuming sectors—power, steel, cement, and coal-chemicals—can collectively peak both coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in 2025. Jake Schmidt et al. China’s Top Industries Can Peak Collective Emissions in 2025. National Resources Defense Council (2022).
We can also choose to break this down by industry. Today, China's emissions are dominated by electricity (42%), steelmaking and cement (15%+12%), and transportation (11%). Let's consider each industry.
In the electricity sector, we have already discussed the rapid deployment of renewables and the possibility of peak coal by 2024. Looking at things more closely, we see how this does not contradict with China's construction of more coal power plants with 392GW of coal power plant capacity in the pipeline. First, note that China has decreased coal power plant utilization from 70% to 53%. This means that each power plant is on for only 53% of the time. Moreover, recall that the past few years have seen rolling blackouts across the country due to droughts and insufficient peak electricity capacity. It's difficult to argue that addressing rolling blackouts shouldn't be a pressing issue, and it's one that renewables are currently unsuited to address due to variability in production. It's expected that China will use coal power plants for peaking demand and rely on renewable deployments increasingly for typical load. This is supported by recent national policy that pays for unused capacity for fossil fuel producers: the goal is to idle plants until they are needed to address peak demand.
With regards to steel and cement, we have to look at China's construction industry which is the largest consumer of these products. Recall that in 2020, China took the decision to tighten financing rules for developers to curb reckless borrowing. This has driven a significant contraction in the construction industry and has led to stagnating demand for steel and cement. This is not a coincidence. Meanwhile, China has been increasing EAF deployment (which uses scrap instead of iron ore to produce crude steel) to further decarbonize the steel industry. The cement industry is further along and China's mass adoption of modern cementmaking techniques have significantly reduced the carbon footprint of cement. In general, the real estate industry is a microcosm of Chinese economic policy: China drives massive investment into an industry using economic stimulus, cuts stimulus and pushes towards privatization with large government contracts, pushes the industry to overcapacity to leverage economies of scale (exploiting market processes to drive down costs), then ratchets down demand to replenishment levels. What this means is that costs get driven down extremely fast and efficiencies are extracted at scale, but long-term market stability is iffy. For example, we can compare costs between China and the US in construction (Tier 1 cities in China average 1000USD/sqm, US (apartments) average 4300USD/sqm), or in high-speed rail (21 million USD/km of HSR in China, compared to 126 million USD/km in the US). The same story is true in the solar, wind, and battery industry. China sacrificed short-term GDP growth from real estate in exchange for reducing emissions from a contracting construction sector... and it's worked.
With regards to transportation, we can point to the rise of HSR (supplanting air travel), the rise of electric vehicles (supplanting ICE vehicles), the rise of subways (supplanting cars), and the rise of micromobility vehicles (also supplanting cars). Passenger volume on HSR replaces air travel demand, 38% of new cars are EVs, buses and taxis are increasingly electrified, massive expansion into urban rail transit, and the largest micromobility sector in the world. This increased electricity demand was expected to drive an increase in coal demand, but as we saw coal demand is expected to plateau as early as next year anyway.
China is also leading in reforestation, which acts as a huge carbon sink that is often misreported in official numbers. Frankly, more data is needed to understand the true impacts of reforestation in terms of carbon sequestration. I believe that reforestation efforts provide the key to carbon capture and storage mechanisms in the near future.
University of Helsinki students occupied a building in support of Palestine. The university denied the request to use the space for the protest (unlike other protests this year) and so they called the cops. Pig walks in to a crowd of booing like
amid chants of "University, you can't hide, you're supporting genocide!"
The CEOs aren't doing ok. During a 'fireside chat' with students for recruitment, CEO has a very normal reaction to a student in the audience standing up and saying her name, before asking her a question about their investment in fossil fuels and arms companies supporting Israel.
Redditors are some of the most gullible people on the planet
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Xi's visit to California must be condemned, as it legitimizes the terrorist state of Amerikkka
Absolutely insane respect for the medical workers operating in the middle of a warzone with barely any supplies and the constant threat of being targeted by an IDF airstrike.
Police in Germany have conducted raids at 54 sites across the country as part of an investigation into an Islamic centre for alleged links to Iran and the Tehran-backed group Hezbollah. The Ministry of the Interior said Thursday’s operation primarily targeted the Islamic Centre of Hamburg (IZH) as well as five affiliate groups as hundreds of police conducted raids in seven German states.
And
Saudi detaining Hajj worshippers for supporting Palestine (sorry for instaspy link)
☠️🙈 move along nothing to see 🙈
Now hamas hq is in south gaza, the half-assery of israel ethnic cleansing ass-covering is only met by the quarter-assery of "free world" "journalists"
The Canadian government has arrested Tarek Loubani, a doctor who was previously arrested by Egypt in 2013 for attempting to enter Gaza to provide aid, and in 2018 was shot in both legs by the IOF. He was arrested for...spraying ketchup on the wall outside of a Pro-Israel MPs office. What a joke of a country
BREAKING: congratulations to @yugopnik@hexbear.net for quitting his day job to focus on his own projects including The Deprogram. way to reclaim your surplus value
Just yesterday, John Kirby said the US had its own intel indicating the hostages were in the basement and that is was the Hamas HQ. Multiple Israeli politicians and US-funded IOF spokespeople have said they were in the basement and that is was Hamas HQ. In the new Sy Hersh article, his sources told him that the hostages were in the basement and that it was Hamas HQ.
So rest assured, it ain't going well for the IOF.
FLASHBACK: Back when Chávez called George W. Bush a coward, an alcoholic, genocidal and a donkey
Bring him back
The funny thing about the video is that the uploader pretended to show Chávez negatively, because he "uses anti imperialist rhetoric to dominate his people", but failed utterly because it shows Chávez being a giga CHADvez.
Palestine protests have completely shut down the westbound Bay Bridge in SF
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/apec-san-francisco-closures-traffic-protests-18494935.php
https://nitter.net/DrewTumaABC7/status/1725183314225721728
https://twitter.com/DrewTumaABC7/status/1725183314225721728This movie is dedicated to the brave veterans of the IDF Sperm Retrieval Unit
The Democratic party sicked the pigs on peaceful protesters, many of them Jewish, for demanding a ceasefire outside the DNC. Nitter link
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https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1724976837086904382?t=woUMYWdYz6oBLb_kbd_klg&s=19
Today, I'm announcing that the U.S. and PRC are resuming military-to-military communications.
Clear and open communication between our defense establishments is vital to avoid miscalculation by either side and prevent conflict.
The world expects this of responsible countries.
The US, intentionally provoking China and stepping over their clearly delineated red line by sending Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan: why is the CPC so irresponsible?
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Complete disconnect about the actual Israeli hostages in Gaza. “Solidarity” rally in DC had booing van Jones “stop bombing” comment. Meanwhile huge demonstration of actual Hostage families in J’lem Al-Quds, booing Likud’s refusal to do any negotiations.
Bernie is now getting lapped by a Jewish representative from his own state.
Representative Becca Balint, D-Vt, on Thursday called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas — a change in her position that comes more than a month after the conflict erupted.
A different tweet said that "She is the first Jewish member of Congress to call for a ceasefire."
---
Edit
Bernie is such a coward that his last Gaza-related tweets are from 11 days ago - on the 5th.
So Norman Finkelstein went on fucking Candace Owens' "show", of all things. Aside from asking a couple inane "questions" that the Fink easily batted aside and used to just talk for extended periods, and making a couple ridiculous claims about herself and her audience like calling them "open-minded" or whatever shit, she mostly just let him talk (though he's also a pretty difficult guy to interrupt LOL).
All that's to say, even fashy girl with her "I like to give 'both sides' a chance" has Destiny beat at this point, both in his lame-ass "preparation" and apparently his genius strategy of just not showing up. 😂
Ansarallah fighter: "We don't give a fucking shit to them, they don't even scare us. We are coming from Yemen Sana'a to Falastin insha'allah and they cannot stop us."
Best 45 second video.
Broke: Judaism is Zionism.
Woke: Zen Buddhism is Zionism.
https://nitter.cz/MiddleEastEye/status/1724874296407826557
“Be cool, without compassion or mercy.”
An Israeli Zen master and meditation teacher, Nissim Amon, gives mental and practical tips to Israeli soldiers who he refers to as “princes and princesses” in an instructional video guide to becoming a “super fighter”
Vane Jones: "Let's take a stand against muslim"....while a crowd of genocidal bigots are shouting "No Ceasefire!" lmao
What a perfect encapsulation of modern liberalism
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Thread of pro-Palestinian activism in Taiwan: https://nitter.cz/aurorachaang/status/1725245240989077807
Funny part of the thread:
and then the mandarin speaking pro-palestine community seemed dominated by taiwanese people who lean pro-china and pro-unification - analogous to western tankies.
Tankies right yet again.
the mainstream taiwanese human rights ngo circle, which is traditionally progressive and pro-independence (what i consider 臺派), and has working relationships with politicians such as freddy lim, fan yun, and hung sun-han etc. has not been as active on this issue on an organisational level, especially as compared to how they rallied for ukraine.
I think it very strange how a separatist movement that has roots in Japanese fascist collaboration would be sympathetic towards other fascists. And it's also extraordinarily cringe for them to use 臺 when 台 is fine. 台 is simplified, but it's simplified that everyone in Taiwan uses. 臺 is only used on government documents or to prove a point about how "I'm not Chinese, I'm Taiwanese." Seriously, if you search for 臺灣 on Youtube, you just get a bunch of videos about Taiwan with 台灣 lol (Simplified is 台湾)
this means that almost all of the political and educational events on palestine have been organised by groups which are outside of this mainstream ngo bubble - namely, explicitly leftist/socialist groups. of these groups, new bloom is an outlier in that it is historically and vocally pro-independence (i’m part of new bloom, i won't deny that there's going to be bias here), where the others either focus predominantly on labour issues without having a china stance, or have developed a pro-china, pro-unification slant. at the very least, they include high profile individuals who have a history of being pro-unification.
NGOs just doing what their Western masters tell them to do and whining about getting out-organized by the evil campists.
Sacha Baron Cohen and other Zionist celebrities are big mad about TikTok and confronted the executives about it. TikTok ending up like Reddit would probably radicalize even more zoomers and Biden's re-election numbers are also going down the shitter if they ban it over Israel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/technology/tiktok-jewish-open-letter-antisemitism.html
Israeli popular sentiment — even amongst former liberals — is moving toward a Greater Nakba. Gaza is under Nakba pressures. So is the West Bank, as settler violence against Palestinians surges. Even a ‘liberal’ such as former opposition leader Lapid now agrees that ‘settlers’ in the occupied West Bank are not ‘settlers’ at all, since the land is but the ‘Biblical land of Israel’.
Nakba ‘ambitions’ are widening to South Lebanon (up to the Litani River) too. The radical members of Netanyahu’s government say Israelis will never return to the kibbutz adjacent to Lebanon, without Hezbollah’s removal from the border area.
So, the call is heard for "Israel" to ‘take’ Lebanon up to the Litani (a key water source) — and ‘serendipitously’ the Israeli air force has begun operating up to 40 kms inside Lebanon. Cabinet members now openly speak of the IOF needing to turn its attention to Hezbollah once Hamas has been ‘obliterated’.
...
Plainly, the White House is struggling to avoid the slide towards full regional war, as both the Lebanese front and the Iraqi front heats up: On Sunday, Iraqi movements again fired missiles at the American base in Shaddadi."Israel" is sensing the present crisis to be both an existential risk, but an ‘opportunity’ too – an opportunity to establish "Israel" across ‘its Biblical lands’ over the long term. There is no mistaking it -- this is the direction of travel of Israeli popular sentiment, from both Left and Right wings, to bloody eschatology.
from https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/opinion/-israel-s---nakba-doctrine
quoted by MoA when b missed badly in a post framing the conflict as a war of a religion so I won't link it
good news. the UN security council has finally agreed on a resolution that makes no demands. israel calls it equivalent to 17 9/11s.
More proof that the laptop is an IDF one. They forgot that Gaza has different plugs than Israel.
I wonder if there was a point where someone in an intelligence agency in the UK or the US (I'd bet the former personally) started panicking in front of their monitoring screens when they saw that Bin Laden letter going viral and started to rush for a phone, or if it all happened organically as self-censorship and people from the guardian noticed their stats going insane on that single article and checked the referrer.
Ultimately I think it was the latter, because it seems to be going even more viral (like front page news) since the removal. They should've let it die down.
Isn't accusing the Israeli state of letting this happen a form of anti-semitism?
The governor of New York is increasing surveillance efforts in response to the increasing support of Palestinians on social media. Their definitions of what they count as hate speech include saying Israel is an apartheid state and holding them to standards that "aren't expected of other democratic nations."
Americans will support this and then talk about how oppressive Cuba is.
What do you call it when a foreigner thinks that they know more about your own country than you? I'm arguing with someone like this right now. They seem to be a leftist from Scandinavia, but they think that Chris Hani was more popular than Nelson Mandela (even though their own sources say otherwise), deny the existence of Mandela's South African Communist Party membership (something the party itself has confirmed), act as if Ronnie Kasrils and Thabo Mbeki are still members of the ANC, and argue that Mbeki was an efficient technocrat and not a neoliberal austerity driven fool. They've posted a bunch of news articles from foreign websites that they didn't even read! Honestly infuriating. I probably agree with this person on most things, but they've invented some fictional reality about South Africa that is only possible if you've never lived here. Not even in matters of opinion, just denying facts that don't agree with their view of history.
IDF claims to have found an AK-47 behind an MRI scanner
I don't know about you, but anywhere remotely in the vicinity of an MRI scanner is the absolute last place I would put a gun. Those things can rip earrings off your head.
Did some searching and found an instance of a cop who didn't take an MRI seriously:
https://www.ajronline.org/doi/full/10.2214/ajr.178.5.1781092
Once the officer was inside the MR suite, the gun was pulled from his hand as he attempted to place the gun on top of a cabinet 3 ft (0.9 m) away from the magnet bore. The gun was immediately pulled into the bore, where it struck the left side and spontaneously discharged a round into the wall of the room at the rear of the magnet. Fortunately, no one was injured. Although the gun struck the magnet bore, only minimal cosmetic damage occurred to the magnet itself. The MR unit had full functional capability immediately after the gun discharged. The weapon's thumb safety was reportedly engaged when the gun discharged.
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Xi Jinping and Biden will meet at the Filoli residence, where the filming of the series "Dynasty", the comedy film "George of the Jungle", the thriller "The Game" by David Fincher, the comedy drama "Heaven Can Wait" by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry took place
The main house of the residence has 56 rooms, and the area of the estate is about 5 thousand square meters, including a Georgian mansion and an English Renaissance garden.
Filoli was built between 1915 and 1917 for William Bowers Bourne II, owner of one of California's richest gold mines and president of the Spring Valley Water Company, which supplied water to San Francisco, and his wife Agnes Moody Bourne.
The estate's name is an acronym formed by combining the first two letters of the keywords of William Bourne's creed: "Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.”
In 1975, the estate was donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation with an endowment that helps defray annual operating expenses. The estate operates as the Filoli Center, a private non-profit organization with its own Board of Governors, staff and volunteers.
Observers note that it is a quiet, secluded estate where Biden and Xi can hold conversations in a relaxed atmosphere different from the APEC summit.
It is interesting that the Filoli estate was essentially built with money from the largest gold mine in California - the Empire mine, where hundreds and thousands of Chinese, taken as guest workers or simply fleeing the country before, worked and died for pennies for the good of America.
The collapse of the Qing Empire - it is because of the gold mines of San Francisco that in Chinese it is called Jiu Jinshan 旧金山 - Old Gold Mountains.
Biden’s China experts did not disappoint—the hint to Xi Jinping was not at all subtle.
So far, Israeli forces have killed 11,180 Gazans, including 4,609 children and 3,100 women.
On Monday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva accused the Israeli government of killing innocent civilians "without any criteria" in the Gaza Strip.
While Lula condemned the actions that Hamas took against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, he emphasized that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response has been "just as serious" given that the Israeli bombings have left over 11,100 Palestinians killed so far.
"I had never heard of news about children as preferential victims of a war. They throw bombs where there are children and where there are hospitals with the pretext that a terrorist is there," Lula said as Israel is militarily surrounding one of the main medical centers in Gaza.
In the fifth week of Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Palestinian health authorities updated the death toll to 11,180 people, including 4,609 children and 3,100 women.
Previously, UN agencies reported that 1.5 million Gazans have been forced to abandon their homes since October 7, when the Israeli forces began their offensive against the Palestinians.
On Sunday, 32 Brazilians and their families were able to leave Gaza on a military plane heading to Cairo. This happened after weeks of negotiations with Egypt and Israel, Lula confirmed, adding that the evacuation was achieved with "a lot of sacrifice."
The Brazilian president will receive his compatriots on Monday night in Brazilia, where the evacuees will receive psychological and medical support.
Lula promised to repatriate all those Brazilians who wish to voluntarily leave Israel and Palestine. Since Oct. 7, his administration has achieved the repatriation of 1,477 people.
The director of the WHO
Today @WHO led a very high risk @UN assessment mission to Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza. The team saw a hospital no longer able to function: no water, no food, no electricity, no fuel, medical supplies depleted. Given this deplorable situation and the condition of many patients, including babies, health workers requested support to evacuate patients who cannot receive lifesaving care there anymore.
We are working with partners to develop an urgent evacuation plan and ask for full facilitation of this plan. We continue to call for protection of health and of civilians. The current situation is unbearable and unjustifiable.
Ceasefire. NOW.
I had so much free time from being sick with Covid that I got constant reports for harassment and bullying from Vaushites on Reddit. Never posted so much before in my life.
US emissions are significantly underreported due to the rapid expansion of natural gas. Accounting for this leakage (fugitive emissions) could mean that US emissions are actually increasing YoY.
A study into American emissions from the natural gas industry. US natural gas consumption is rising at a terrifying rate to offset coal, but the environmental benefits of natural gas over coal are less tangible. Methane gas (CH4) is incredibly easy to leak and incredibly hard to deal with. In terms of CO2e, it is about 85x as potent over a 20-year period and 30x as potent over a 100-year period. Combustion of natural gas itself is estimated to release half the GHG of coal. So, what does that mean? Over a 20-year period, a leakage rate of 1.2% would put natural gas at GHG parity to coal. Over a 100-year period, that leakage rate goes up to about 3.3%. This is challenging because methane leaks everywhere: at extraction, during transportation, during processing, and at home... there is estimated to be a methane leak every 2 kilometers of pipeline.
So, how much methane leaks? The real answer is that we simply don't know. Previous EPA estimates vary widely, but it's widely accepted that we are undercounting it. Today, the EPA estimates leakage makes up 1.4% of total natural gas production. Researchers at Stanford estimate it to be about 9% over the Permian Basin. Researchers from Duke estimate that aggregate methane emissions from natural gas are 70% higher than EPA estimates. NOAA puts estimates of methane leakage over cities to be more than twice the EPA estimates. The Environmental Defense Fund estimates US methane leakage to be around 2.3%. The Atmospheric Fund estimates Canadian methane leakage to be around 2.7%. In fact, even the Congressional Research Service acknowledges that "the life-cycle GHG emissions of both existing and advanced natural-gas-fired technology may be comparable to coal-fired technology in the short term and could remain within range of coal-fired technology for several decades after emissions."
These numbers are terrifying. Over a 20-year period, we are absolutely fucked. Even using EPA numbers, the additional natural gas we burn today will have a greater impact on our climate in 2045 than if we had burned coal. So, let's take a look at
Figure 1: US energy production numbers
Total fossil fuel consumption is increasing. Coal is being replaced with natural gas, but total fossil fuel consumption is by no means contracting. Let's compare that with what the EPA reports for
Figure 2: US GHG emissions by sector
The EPA claims most GHG emissions reductions to be due to the electric power industry, which is reliant on switching from coal to natural gas. This is the key claim that the US uses to justify their aggregate GHGe reduction... but over what time frame? Over twenty years, we're at parity with coal even under the most optimistic estimates. Over a hundred years, we're at parity with coal under the leakage rate reported by most academic studies. Where is this GHGe reduction coming from and what time frame is it over? ****
I dream of a future where the opinions of "Westerners," Americans, Europeans (and Gusanos of course) etc. are given no weight and are treated on the same level as that of a 5-year old. actually, a 5-year old's opinion should hold more weight. I dream of a future where everyone can only treat a Westerner's opinion with pity and contempt.
Palestine Action fucking up shit in Edinburgh and Southampton:
the blinken from the us/china meeting in anchorage a year or two ago and today's blinken are like completely different people
probably because hexbear self selects for hilarious blinken pics but for some reason he's always somewhere in the vicinity of biden with an expression like he just tanked an entire city of mind flayers on his face lmfao
SA disaster relief group Gift of the Givers says its regional head in Gaza, Ahmed Abbasi, has been killed as Israel continues its bombing of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an attack by Hamas on October 7.
Abbasi died at the hands of Israeli forces in Gaza while returning from morning prayer on Thursday with his brother, who was also killed, the organisation said.
Honestly has me feeling a bit sick, gift of the givers is one of the best charities out there, they help anyone no matter what.
Up the escalation ladder we continue to climb:
Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for more than 11 attacks on IOF positions along the border using both missiles & suicide drones.
This is by far the heaviest or at least the busiest attack since the beginning of the war.
lmao look at the way that Biden fucking staggers over to Xi HEY MAN I’VE SEEN YOU ON TV MAN NICE TO SEE YOU HERE
Now that you all are coming around to recognizing Ansarallah it's time to learn about their land reform policies and agrarian revolution.
Yemen under the Ansarallah is a country where the power and wealth of landowners are actively diminished in an almost Marxist-adjacent fashion. In May of 2022, the third phase of the agricultural revolution was initiated by the Higher Agricultural Committee, which resulted in the expropriation of farmland across the entire country. In Yemen’s western Tihama region, 104 thousand hectares of land was expropriated for farming. And while this is just one example of Ansarallah’s economic plan, the same story is unfolding in regions such as Dhamar, Saadah, and elsewhere.
The agrarian revolution has also led to a revival of Yemen’s 600-year-old coffee culture. “The Coffee Revolution” is an initiative directly linked to the wider agrarian renaissance that aims to boost coffee cultivation through proper education of farmers and general oversight of farms and markets. A stimulant such as Qat, native to Yemen for decades, is slowly being phased out and replaced with coffee crops. An announcement was made back in February of 2022 by the Governor of Saadah Muhammad Jaber Awad and Shura Council member Abdullah Al-Qasimi, that all qat trees are to be replaced with coffee and almonds, a project that is still actively ongoing today.
On Qat specifically, Zaid Ali Basha within his research argues that the stimulant grew across Yemen’s population much in favor of Saleh’s kleptocratic dictatorship and what he calls “qatlords”, the landlords reaping profits from Qat cultivation. Qat usage and misusage were not mitigated because they created a “politically disengaged citizenry” that had surrendered to the state. An opioid for the masses if there ever was one. So long as the people were “happy” due to an active and daily consumption of a psychoactive stimulant, the state was able to repress, oppress and exploit the people for decades to little opposition.
The dire conditions that have been imposed upon Yemen have forced the Yemeni people to rely solely and squarely on national and local produce instead of an economy over-reliant on foreign imports that have proven unsustainable and have become weaponized by the enemies of the country: “woe to a nation that eats what it does not plant, and wears what it does not weave” is a common Arabic saying that beautifully ties together what Ansarallah’s economic plan is all about.
What Ansarallah has managed to establish while facing war, starvation, and a crippling blockade, is a system that could best be described as akin to Yugoslavian worker self-management but without the overtly socialist aesthetic and tone. In fact, this system was what Ibrahim Al-Hamdi was trying to establish with his five-year plan but never realized before his death in 1977. The state in Sana’a does not control farmland, nor does it dictate the output of agrarian produce. Farmland and output are controlled by the cooperatives, which are wholly owned and administered by Yemen’s peasantry.
EZLN unveils its new structure in communiqué
After announcing the disappearance of the Good Government Councils (JBG) and the Zapatista Rebel Autonomous Municipalities (MAREZ), this Sunday, November 12, the EZLN announced the structural reorganization of the Zapatista Autonomy.
Woman’s giraffe poop collection seized at airport, ruining her art project
The woman said she collected the giraffe excrement in Kenya and was going to make a necklace out of it once she was back at her Iowa home, according to officials. She had made poop necklaces before, using moose droppings, she told officials.
“There is a real danger with bringing fecal matter into the U.S.,” said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, CBP director of field operations in the Chicago Field Office
The box and the poop within were seized and destroyed, officials said.
IOF be like 🗓️
Just in case anyone was under the impression that Suella Braverman was fired by Rishi Sunak because of her diabolical stance against immigrant boats and homeless people, it's actually because she criticized the police. No, this is not a bit. The Special Bodies of Armed Men must not be criticized, lest the whole system of capital collapses.
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Apparently 7 students got arrested at that school who banned the Students for Justice in Palestine https://archive.is/nKIle fuckers are hardcore
"I saw police choking out the students, like hands on the front of their necks choking them. I saw police with their knees in the backs of kids. It was really very horrific," Brandeis student Farah Mahmoud said. "The rest of the police that weren't actually involved in the arresting were going around trying to disperse the group and they had their batons out and they were kind of just pushing people back to get them away, taking people's signs. It was honestly very violent from the police whereas the students were very, very peaceful the whole time."
Brandeis says the students were chanting speech the university deems as hateful such as, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
"between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty"
Do YOU condemn Likud?
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/original-party-platform-of-the-likud-party
Israel is so bad at propoganda. They just found some crackhead and paid him to point at random things in some basement. Who's convinced by this?
https://twitter.com/Aldanmarki/status/1724905401425285458
📅
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Statement from the Yemeni Armed Forces
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
In light of the religious, national, and ethical responsibilities and considering the heinous Israeli-American aggression against the Gaza Strip, characterized by daily massacres and genocidal acts, and in response to the demands of the Yemeni people and the aspirations of free nations to aid our oppressed brethren in Gaza.
The Yemeni Armed Forces declare their intention to target all types of ships as follows:
- Ships carrying the flag of the Zionist entity.
- Ships operated by Israeli companies.
- Ships owned by Israeli companies.
The Yemeni Armed Forces also call upon all countries of the world to:
A. Withdraw their citizens working within the crews of these ships. B. Avoid shipping goods aboard these ships or engaging in transactions with them. C. Notify your vessels to stay away from these ships.
And Allah is witness to what we say.
Sanaa, 6 Jumada al-Awwal 1445 H November 19, 2023 CE
Issued by the Yemeni Armed Forces
Arguing with libs on lemmy.world hurts my brain. There's just no introspection past the State Department party line.
YOU! Yes, YOU!
YOU are the most important anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist and anti-capitalist around. Wanna know why? Because you stood firm with these ideals even as "history ended" in the 90s. You stood with them as leftism was regarded "a dead theory" in the 2000s, even when the forces of neoliberalism marched triumphant pretty much unopposed around the world, when all seemed to be over. But YOU still believe in the cause, you didn't abandon the poor, the exploited and the victims of genocide even as the entire "world" was coming down to get you. You didn't flinch for a second, deep down you believe in the victory of the downtrodden. This is very noble.
This is my salute to you. Thanks for keeping the idea of building a better world without exploitation alive. Remember this quote: While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas. You kept that idea going in it's darkest period, you made it proud!
Behold! the dumbest IOF propaganda video: https://streamable.com/f6an2n
I will not translate what the sign says until some of you at least try to guess what it says, I want to see if a non Arabic speaker will actually get tricked by this.
We all know "Israel" loves to flex on their armed forces employing women as soldiers. But so far all the videos I've seen from the IOF in Gaza have shown a grand total of zero women fighting among their ranks. Like legit question here, are they soldiers or just second-line personnel like medics, nurses... comms or something like that?
Ansarallah has announced it will begin striking "israeli" warships 🔻🚀🚀
An APEC "CEO Summit" volunteer punched a woman in the face for shouting "People over profit!" SF Chronicle:
The spasm of aggression from both sides encapsulated the tense, angry mood across the city . . .
Later:
Within the APEC CEO Summit at Moscone West, there was a box full of discarded water bottles next to the lobby’s security checkpoint. The reason wasn’t because of liquids inside. It was because metal water bottles could potentially be used as weapons.
The implication, it seemed, was that even conference attendees in suits were potential safety threats.
My dude, people in suits have committed more violence than anyone else in human history.
The IDF has turned Al-Shifa hospital itself into a horrible version of the Gaza strip.
The hospital resembles a large prison holding over 7,000 displaced people, medical staff, patients and wounded all while it is facing a severe shortage of essentials, the director said.
The entire update...
The director of Al-Shifa Hospital on Thursday described a grim picture of the unfolding humanitarian crisis within the medical complex in the Gaza Strip.
In a phone interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic, Mohammad Abu Salmiya spoke of desperate conditions affecting over 650 wounded people, 36 premature babies, 45 kidney patients and 5,000 displaced people.
Abu Salmiya said some there were starving children.
“The children are starving – and here I mean the displaced children because they need milk and there is no water to make milk for them,” Abu Salmiya said.
He reported the death of a kidney patient, with four others on the brink of death due to critical conditions and the absence of dialysis for days.
Abu Salmiya accused the Israeli military of besieging the hospital, sabotaging sections and spending the last 48 hours freely roaming the premises.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had begun “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital.”
Expressing frustration, Abu Salmiya held the world and the Israeli occupation responsible for the dire circumstances, urging immediate intervention.
The hospital resembles a large prison holding over 7,000 displaced people, medical staff, patients and wounded all while it is facing a severe shortage of essentials, the director said. The Israeli military assault has led to a complete breakdown of life-saving services, leaving the hospital incapable of providing for its inhabitants, he added.
Guatemala: Today the Public Prosecutor’s office conducted raids and arrests of Semilla (centre-left) members. They have also announced they will submit charges against Semilla’s president-elect Bernardo Arévalo and his VP-elect Karin Herrera, and several congressmen.
just guatemala getting coup again for electing a socdem president
if Arevalo doesnt do a great purge went he gets to power, he will share the same fate of his father
(Wes Streeting wants NHS 'wide open' to private sector)[https://www.thenational.scot/news/23932636.wes-streeting-wants-nhs-wide-open-private-sector/]
Edit: comrades, I managed to tired post this and fuck up the link, 43 upbears and not one comment on my posting without due care and attention. Not a lib in sight, it’s beautiful. This is why communism will win
SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL: BIDEN TOLD XI CHINA NEEDED TO TAKE MORE STEPS ON METHANE SPECIFICALLY
Please see my analysis on US methane emissions from natural gas...
Tiktok has a distinct advantage over twitter for leftist agitation and it's that as long as what you're making is interesting you can say as many words as you want.
This makes it a space where education is possible at a similar level to reddit because there's just significantly more possibility to dump words on people.
Also the comments sections are garbage and 99% of people don't give a shit about them which is even better because they can't really undermine anything you post.
https://twitter.com/ya1hor/status/1725556429115756567
https://nitter.net/ya1hor/status/1725556429115756567Just to be clear on IMT’s position regarding Palestine:
Do trots count under the sectarianism rule?
It strikes me that the term "useful idiots" doesn't refer to people who fall for and repeat propaganda, but just actually refers to the "masses". The western use of this term is in fact identifying people participating in the propaganda game vs people to be manipulated by the propaganda game and is rather revealing of how liberals view the masses with contempt as "useful idiots". It is rather similar to the far right's use of the term NPC, but behind one degree of abstraction since they will pretend they only mean it when talking about people who fall for or repeat enemy propaganda, but they actually mean it for those people at all times in reality.
Occasionally you'll catch them forgetting the "useful" part at the beginning, like here: https://hexbear.net/post/1098497?scrollToComments=false
idk if this got posted already but LMAO at blinkens face when biden called Xi a dictator again
This is just like if Mexico crossed the Rio Grande and murdered your family. You'd want to curb stomp the Mexicans too right? No I'm not horny to kill Mexiacns why do you ask?
alt
Image about an orca attack on a Polish sailing yacht.
An orca, wearing a Chinese emperor ceremonial headdress much like JDPON icon Qin Shi Huangdi, is jumping out of the water in an attack on a sailing yacht with sails the colors of Poland’s flag. The Orca has a big light bulb sticking out of her mouth. The Star and Crescent is also prominently featured in the picture, as well as Haida orca iconography.
In the background, Mao Z looks on with approval.
The text reads in black and white orca colors: UNLIMITED GENOCIDE ON THE FIRST WORLD” and “Orca JDPON”.
Put me in charge of the U.S. I'll show Amerikkkans what real oppression looks like.
so because Sunak's Rwanda plan was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court, he has said he is going to change the laws to make it lawful
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-67418363
in glommunlist chienwnanan,,,,,,
I'll never fedpost at this site but due to Israeli's war I certainly want to on a daily basis. Sometimes multiple times in a single day. Today for example.
The Guardian
Describing the overcrowded environment and lack of medical suppiles at al-Awda hospital, Adnan Radi, the northern Gaza hospital’s head of obstetrics and gynecology, told the humanitarian organization ActionAid:
In the last [few] days, we have become the only hospital in the entire Gaza Strip and the north who receive obstetrics, cesarean sections and gynecology services. Because all hospitals in Gaza and the north, after the siege, lost any services for women and obstetrics.
Two days ago, we performed 16 caesarean sections under exceptional circumstances. There were cases of very severe bleeding and placental abruption as a result of difficulty in access, strikes etc … We did not have blood-transfusion services…
There are premature babies born at 30 or 31 weeks and we do not have anything to deal with [their cases]. There are no artificial respirators, there are none at all. We look at a child after birth, [their] weight is 1,200g, 1,300g, 1,400g or one and a half kilograms. We do not have anything to deal with them. We look at babies losing their life because we have nothing.
In addition, there are women who suffer from postpartum bleeding and bleeding after operations and there are no blood transfusions at all. Two days ago, had a placental abruption case, and it was opened two or three times. We were trying to find two units of blood to compensate for what was lost. With difficulty, her life was saved.
never wanted to see 2 demons fight more, this is better than the Crowder schism, inject this shit directly into my veins
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1724914588146155542
https://nitter.net/benshapiro/status/1724914588146155542Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit.
(Candace's response) You have been acting unprofessional and emotionally unhinged for weeks now. And we have all had to sit back and allow it and have all tried to exercise exceeding understanding for your raw emotion.
But you cross a certain line when you come for scripture and read yourself into it.
I will not tolerate it.
Superior American engineering hits in the same postal code to maximize civilian casualties
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Ah, here they go.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/ucsf-transplant-organs-delayed-bay-bridge-18496699.php
Traffic and protests surrounding the APEC conference in San Francisco delayed the transport of organs into and out of the city, making transplants riskier for patients awaiting critical procedures.
One involved a courier coming from the East Bay who was stuck on the Bay Bridge for hours trying to pick up an organ at UCSF. They had to reroute across the Golden Gate Bridge instead, increasing the travel time from about 30 minutes to four hours.
Another organ was stuck on the Bay Bridge trying to get to UCSF, Roll said. A third organ was delayed trying to leave UCSF to reach its destination hospital.
Shoulda taken BART, dude.
It's strange, I don't remember any articles like this after any other traffic jam.
Moon of Alabama : Not Getting It
Short and simple. This is the whole piece.
Scoop: Austin warned Gallant about Israeli military actions in Lebanon- Axios, Nov 12 2023
Biden administration officials are satisfied that Hezbollah's leader Hasan Nasrallah's speeches over the last week didn't include a call for further escalation and saw that as a sign that their messages were being heard, one source said.
Nasrallah's Second Speech On Gaza - Moon of Alabama, Nov 11 2023
"What happens on the battlefield is more important than my speech."
Kenya has declared a special day of holiday specifically for the population to plant trees, providing 150 millions seedlings for it. I doubt a majority will actually plant trees, especially in the cities, but I found that rather neat.
Britain's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful, according to the Supreme Court: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-67418363
"Nooo, you can't say America deserved 9/11, 3000 innocent people died. You're a traitor and a terrorist"
rockets ate shit
video and hearing the resistance fighters yell "Allahu Akbar" is starting to make me feel things, man. But since I'm a white non-muslim I feel like it'd be cringe for me to say it. Disingenuous, in a way?
has been proven to be?
