Bulletins and News Discussion from November 20th to November 26th, 2023 - Let Sleeping Dogs Milei - COTW: Argentina
Bulletins and News Discussion from November 20th to November 26th, 2023 - Let Sleeping Dogs Milei - COTW: Argentina
Image: the last sight of many a commie.
Please pronounce his name wrong to make the title pun work better.
Anyway - Javier Milei, a caricature of a libertarian invented deep in the Hexbear Bit Factory, has won the Argentinian general election; and with a 12 point lead over Massa, it wasn't even particularly close. There are several analogies for this situation - Trump beating Hillary, Bolsonaro winning in 2018, or the alternate universe where Le Pen beat Macron. Massa is not a great guy. The last couple years have been difficult for Argentina, facing massive inflation and the same general economic downturns that are happening everywhere.
Milei is an... interesting person. To name just a couple things going on in his deeply bizarre life, he has a very special relationship with his sister, and an even more special relationship with his mastiff, Conan. When Conan died in 2017, he was so utterly distraught that he had him cloned into four new dogs, named Murray, Milton, Robert, and Lucas, for his economist idols. And he uses mediums to speak to his dead dog. This is probably the closest we're ever going to get to having a dog be president of a country.
Milei wants to essentially collapse the economy even harder. Playing off the general public sentiment of "dollar = good, peso = bad", he has vowed to make the national currency of Argentina the US dollar, thus eagerly giving a massive amount of control over the Argentinian economy directly to America. He wants to take a chainsaw to the status quo, cut off trade with communist countries like China, and demolish the Central Bank. Will Argentinian capitalists and the Senate let him do this? Probably not. What happens with their membership in BRICS+? Who knows. Where does Peronism go from here? Who can say.
But he still won, and will now be president. I suppose that every dog has its day.
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 Argentina! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail 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.
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That's not the takeaway we took from the article at all.
Reactionary can be relative and it's pretty well discussed that the Lesbian and Gay movements took reactionary positions against the Trans movement early on. Especially illustrated in all the fights the Gay Liberation Front and Leslie Feinberg have had to take against single issue Gay/Lesbian and Queer organizations.
The middle class assimilationist strata of LGBTQ+ community is what's responsible for LGBTQ+ struggle being ripped away from Black Liberation and Anti-Imperialism, and that can't happen unless people overall in that strata have shown a tendency to gravitate toward integration with existing structures of oppression. That doesn't mean the people reading those facts are automatically included in that.
It's like saying white people don't have a gravitational pull towards supporting white supremacy - the material incentives and relations are right there and it shouldn't be controversial to point that out or criticize it. That's also why there shouldn't be a reason for someone to take that discussion so personally or as an individual. One can just recognize that they don't have a stake in that and reject it, someone doesn't have to identify with the strata being criticized or feel the tendencies of others have a bearing on their own.
You take a step back and read that criticism from a macro perspective.
Yeah I see people with my own identity being shitty and racist towards people, I don't feel like I'm caught as collateral damage when people make those critiques, I'm pretty secure in not being one of them or at least take the steps that I can to be a good ally. I don't have to agonize about it because it's basically not not about me.
Same reason why some white allies that I know don't flinch when they see articles like that, they don't identify with the people being criticized at all and see it as an observable macro reactionary tendency that doesn't inherently or necessarily have any bearing on their own character.
The middle class assimilationist strata of LGBTQ+ community is what's responsible for LGBTQ+ struggle being ripped away from Black Liberation and Anti-Imperialism, and that can't happen unless people overall in that strata have shown a tendency to gravitate toward integration with existing structures of oppression. That doesn't mean the people reading those facts are automatically included in that.
Yeah, none of that is controversial. The way racial politics and culture works in the United States and elsewhere, it's not a shocker that a white person who is gay happens to accept all the axioms of hierarchy embedded into their culture. That person doesn't need to take a conscious political stance on racial or gender issues either. They can just be themselves, limiting the struggle for liberation to themselves. I've met gay men with issues to work with, who do not wish to be seen as effeminate in any way shape or form. You can imagine what their opinions on trans issues are.
I do take exception to the idea of dissociation however. I don't think it's an argument that is good in itself. It's cool to say that your takeaway from the article isn't that it essentialized gay men as inherently reactionary. I'm willing to take you at your word, just as I'm willing to consider the opposite case. And given that you've taken the effort to write out an interesting post, I'm sure you can see how counterproductive it would be if you had simply accused me of being Reddit and stupid, or how bad it would have been if, instead of engaging with the issues at hand in the LGBTQ+ community you had instead simply talked about punching up and how class war is collective punishment.
I do take exception to the idea of dissociation however. I don't think it's an argument that is good in itself. It's cool to say that your takeaway from the article isn't that it essentialized gay men as inherently reactionary. I'm willing to take you at your word, just as I'm willing to consider the opposite case. And given that you've taken the effort to write out an interesting post, I'm sure you can see how counterproductive it would be if you had simply accused me of being Reddit and stupid, or how bad it would have been if, instead of engaging with the issues at hand in the LGBTQ+ community you had instead simply talked about punching up and how class war is collective punishment.
"i'm glad you were one of the articulate ones and policed your tone appropriately for my approval. I'm willing to accept your view as equally valid as the stupidpol reactionary view."
Yeah, none of that is controversial. The way racial politics and culture works in the United States and elsewhere, it's not a shocker that a white person who is gay happens to accept all the axioms of hierarchy embedded into their culture. That person doesn't need to take a conscious political stance on racial or gender issues either. They can just be themselves, limiting the struggle for liberation to themselves.
What is reactionary about this? Every single one of your posts has been an excuse to call me stupid, a reactionary, and to ignore everything I write. You are, in essence, completely at uninterested in the welfare of both this community and the LGBTQ+ community. You're not our ally, and the only thing you care about is name calling online.
let me clarify terms for you since it seems like your are not following.
The "stupidpol reactionary view" I am describing is the one you expressed earlier, specifically that identity essentialism is always incorrect, and in fact 'reactionary'. This is why, to them, whites can be victims of racism and cis people are equally as oppressed and vulnerable as trans people. Because they live in a idealist world without context, that doesn't account for historical injustice or imbalances.
You are saying that grazing7264 presented an argument in a way that was more acceptable and palatable to you, that they stayed polite while doing so and didn't call you names like redditor or stupid. They made such a good argument that you are so magnanimously willing to consider their argument as equally valid as the stupidpol view of identity essentialism always being incorrect.
I love having to be lectured by your pedants and go through this tedious thing every single time, I'm glad there's people like grazing still patient enough to hold your hand through it so it doesn't prickle your sensibilities. Even then, you still aren't convinced though and chose to a fence-sitting position without having even read the article
You are saying that grazing7264 presented an argument
And that's that. We had a conversation. You are not interested in that.
I wrote quite directly that the gay male community has a problem with liberals who are content with the state of affairs, and who will limit liberation to themselves by at best inaction and at worst taking reactionary stances. I recognized that the nature of racial politics being what it is, those same gay liberals will tend to be white. You called my views reactionary.
Of course you ignored everything I wrote. Because that's the sort of poster you are. Again, you are not interested in liberation or the welfare of this community or of that LGBTQ+ community. You're not our ally. You're only interested in namecalling online.
you never read the article and feel entitled to post this much and stir this much shit without even knowing the context. that's how full of shit you are. you admit as much, you talk about the article as if it's a mythical and hypothetical beast that can't be sussed out without deep expert analysis. Go read it and stop posting.
By all means, continue to lecture me about how Reddit, stupid, and reactionary I am. I'll just repeat myself until you stop ignoring what I'm actually writing.
I wrote quite directly that the gay male community has a problem with liberals who are content with the state of affairs, and who will limit liberation to themselves by at best inaction and at worst taking reactionary stances. I recognized that the nature of racial politics being what it is, those same gay liberals will tend to be white. You called my views reactionary.
Of course you ignored everything I wrote. Because that's the sort of poster you are.
you talk about the article as if it's a mythical
I talked about an article that had been removed at the time and claimed that you made the worst possible arguments in its defence. Your reaction was to call me stupid and reactionary. That's because, again, you're not interested in liberation or the welfare of this community or of that LGBTQ+ community. You're not our ally. You're only interested in namecalling online.
https://hexbear.net/post/1167005
Article is re-instated. Go read the article. Stop typing your white redditor words at me and go read the article. I'm not going to respond to anything you say until you read the article first. I am ignoring your words and will continue to ignore your words until you do the reading. No investigation, no right to speak.
edit: read the article
white redditor words
Yeah, none of that is controversial. The way racial politics and culture works in the United States and elsewhere, it's not a shocker that a white person who is gay happens to accept all the axioms of hierarchy embedded into their culture. That person doesn't need to take a conscious political stance on racial or gender issues either. They can just be themselves, limiting the struggle for liberation to themselves.
Oh, these words aren't just reactionary. They are a white redditor's as well.
I've read the article. My argument stands, your words remain the worst possible way to defend it's reinstation. It's not a surprise that you've chosen to continue on this path because, again, you're not interested in liberation or the welfare of this community or of that of the LGBTQ+ community. You're not our ally. You're only interested in namecalling online.
You're just a wrecker, aren't you?