Image is of Trump’s initial set of reciprocal tariffs. Source is CNN and Reuters.
It’s difficult to keep up with the news around the tariffs; they get instated, then dropped, then reinstated… for example, on Friday, Trump said that certain electronics like smartphones would be exempt, causing markets to rally a great deal, but now the Commerce Secretary has said that they might not be exempt? The state of play right now, if you haven’t been keeping up this week, is that the US recently announced a 90-day global pause on implementing the tariffs he had planned (that is, 25% on certain Canadian and Mexican goods, and at least 10% on every other nation) but nonetheless increased tariffs on China to 145%.
Meanwhile, China has been - quite remarkably - standing their ground, increasing tariffs on the US to 125%, and putting restrictions on rare earths. Xi Jinping has been in Vietnam and has made statements against a tariff war there, saying that it would have no winners. Meanwhile, a Chinese spokesperson has essentially said that China can endure the tariff war due to the increasing demand from its domestic market in combination with its growing economic ties with other countries.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Edit: it’s back https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/funding-for-the-critical-cve-security-detection-system-renewed-just-hours-before-deadline
US pulled funding for the CVE programIt gave cybersecurity folks across the globe common language and identifiers for problems that needed fixing; it’s gonna be a shit show for a little while until the EU steps in and takes that mantle.
I don’t have a good emoji for setting soft power on fire at the expense of a functioning internet.
‘Won’t stay silent’, China responds to White House’s 245% retaliatory tariffs
China responds: ‘We don’t want conflict, but won’t stay silent’
Reacting to the tariff hike, China’s foreign ministry reiterated that it seeks no confrontation but will not remain silent in the face of US pressure. “If the US truly wants to resolve issues through dialogue, it must stop exerting maximum pressure,” a spokesperson stated, adding that the ball was now in Washington’s court.
Spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang condemned the US for what he called its “wanton” use of force, warning that such tactics won’t restore American greatness.
US VP Vance asserts in a tweet that illegal aliens comprise at least 6% of the US populationmore than 20 million people
the entire population of El Salvador + the entire population of Honduras + the entire population of Panama
that's two entire Swedens
I can sum the populations of twenty two European countries without hitting that number
the 64th largest country in the world is actually just illegally living in the United States
illegal immigrants are actually the fourth largest US state, surpassing New York
that's NYC + LA + Chi-town + fuck Houston + hooked on Phoenix + Philly, (city limits only), all illegal
that's about spot on for the entire population of the New York City Metropolitan Area
That the administration wishes to deport
Jerome Powell gave a press conference today where he all but used the S-word (stagflation) to describe the Fed’s current economy outlook post-Liberation Day. Should history repeat itself, that would mean Neo-Reagan is probably 6-8 years away.
not sure if posted but CW:SA Israeli Minister Orit Strook’s daughter accuses parents of sexually assaulting her as a child https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6S5e3-KB4
Existing liberal lines on the PRC are shattering, and those antagonistic towards the PRC are increasingly being opposed. The time is good to be correcting misconceptions about the PRC and explaining the benefits of siding with it over the US.
I may have to hand it to the accelerationists, Trump may go down in history as one of the accidentally best presidents in USian history.
The Chinese Century is well upon us, as we already knew, but increasingly liberals are accepting this. The Paper Tiger is dissolving.
Wall Street Journal did an investigation into Elon Musk paying women to have his children. It speculates that Elon has many more children than the 14 which are publicly known
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elon-musk-children-mothers-ashley-st-clair-grimes-dc7ba05c
They made the money go bad again
Growth Of Ukraine’s Azov Units Follow Path Of The Waffen-SS | Moon of Alabama
(no brainworms detected)
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson regarding the ongoing talks with the US:
This has been making the rounds on Lib Reddit. They’re all thinking he’s going to get murdered lmao. El Salvador isn’t Israel. Bukele knows he won’t get away with something like that and the shitstorm that would affect the entire region if he were to do it. What’s more likely is that they’ll deny him access with some bullshit excuse.
UK Supreme Court has ruled that the concept of sex is strictly binary, and based on sex at birth.
Trans women are now excluded from women’s spaces and services, even if they have a gender recognition certificate. Discrimination is now codified.
Nadine Heredia was first lady between 2011 and 2016 and was considered very influential in the government of Ollanta Humala.
Article
The Brazilian government has granted political asylum to a former first lady of Peru recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for money laundering. Nadine Heredia was convicted on Tuesday along with her husband of laundering campaign contributions, including those from the infamous Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht. Peru will allow Heredia and her youngest son to leave, following a formal request from Brazil, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Peru’s government previously acknowledged that Heredia had entered the Brazilian embassy seeking asylum. Heredia’s husband, former President Ollanta Humala, was arrested Tuesday following the sentencing. But Heredia did not physically attend the hearing and instead went to the Brazilian embassy seeking protection. Peru is famous for jailing more former presidents than virtually any other nation in the world, and legal problems often involve their partners as well.
Heredia was first lady between 2011 and 2016 and was considered very influential in Humala’s government, which ruled on a leftist platform akin to the leftist governments in place in Brazil at the time.
It makes sense, Humala’s government and his family were always close with Lula and the Workers’ Party.
It’s funny how Dollar appreciated like crazy before Trump got elected in part due to anticipation of his policies pumping up US markets.
Now, his policies turned out to be much sillier than expected, the dollar is depreciating.
For third world countries, the fall in oil prices and the depreciating Dollar will make some of the pain from tariffs and global economic slowdown a bit better.
China should really accept local currencies of third world countries upto a certain limit, only for trade transactions. I think the “selfish” aspect of trade remains, with China preferring local currency arrangements with countries it has a trade deficit with.
Peru’s former first lady, Nadine Alarcón, has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Lima and is seeking asylum in Brazil after being sentenced to 15 years in prison for money laundering. Nadine claims political persecution in her request for asylum in Brazil. Both countries are signatories to the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, which grants diplomatic protection to politically persecuted people in Latin America. The Brazilian and the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are in talks about the situation.
The Brazilian goverment confirmed that Nadine is at the Brazilian embassy in Lima, but has not yet confirmed that the request has been accepted by the Brazilian government. Former Peruvian president Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, were sentenced to 15 years in prison for money laundering. They received US$ 3 million from Odebrecht and US$ 600,000 from the Chávez government, used in campaigns. Justice points to false contracts and fictitious donations. The conviction is based on evidence such as Nadine’s diaries with notes of transfers, forensic reports, and testimony from 112 donors and Odebrecht executives, who confirmed the payments. Nadine’s brother was convicted and their party fined.
Humala was taken to Barbadillo prison, where other former Peruvian presidents are held. Nadine has requested diplomatic asylum in Brazil. The case is yet another chapter in the car wash scandal, which has affected almost all former Peruvian leaders since 2001.
- Telegram
