The imperial core is continuing the process of self-cannibalization as the interimperial wars between Europe and the US over resource and territorial control continue. Greenland, populated with less than a hundred thousand heavily exploited people, is the newest territory to fall under Trump’s gaze. The main draw is the mineral resources present there, of which it boasts nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum, and much more than remains unexplored under the ice. But the ice is melting, and profit must be made. There is an additional element of wanting Arctic territory to counter Chinese and especially Russian interests and aims; Russia is increasingly eyeing the northern Arctic route as an alternative to more vulnerable routes through the Suez Canal or around Africa, and is investing heavily in icebreakers for that purpose.
However, even if Europe possessed the desire to resist American annexations - and they absolutely do not, at the end of the day - they do not even have the ability. Denmark may, to a lesser or greater extent, make angry sounds and talk about national honour or some such, but their military would be trampled underfoot by even the New York Police Department, let alone a concerted military effort by the US. If Trump wants Greenland, he will have it. This will naturally increase the grumbling in Europe about reconsidering the Transatlantic alliance, and that grumbling may, in the medium-term future, as the American Empire continues its decline, lead to meaningful results. But in the short term, Europe shall have to bear whatever Trump throws at them, for they obviously cannot now ally with Russia, who was the natural counterweight to American interests for decades before 2022.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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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.
mBridge, a Bank of International Settlements Project Hyped by BRICS Fans as a Way to Evade Sanctions, Shut Down by Naked Capitalism
A case study in how much the world has changed, and how promoting narratives (boy do I hate that word) trumps getting things right is mBrigde, a BIS project that just got canned.
A bit of a “told you so” tone from Yves Smith but an excellent dissection on the practical challenges faced by BRICS (if they truly want to challenge US dominance) and how overenthusiastic multipolar fans hyped up projects without understanding the fundamentals of the issue at hand.
Importantly, we have Michael Hudson in the comment section saying this:
Yves highlights the big problem with well-wishers hoping that BRICS can create a better financial and economic system than the West has.
The idea is that financial independence requires one’s own “money.” But money itself is a legal creation that requires agreement by the governments issuing it as to (1) what countries — and who in them — gets the money that is being created, and (2) what will the money be created for.
This requires political unification and that a collective BRICS government is far from being created in the foreseeable future.
What CAN be created is a settlement system for intergovernmental debts among countries running surpluses and deficits. Keynes described such a system in his proposals for a banker back in 1944. If creditor countries did not pursue policies that enabled debtor countries to pay — by accepting their exports, for instance — then when the balances reached some critical mass, the creditor claims and debtor liabilities would be wiped off the books, because creditors had not taken responsibility for enabling debtors to pay. Such debts were bad loans, Keynes argued.
The US opposed this, wanting Hard Money, because the US had 75% of the world’s gold (and increased its share to 80% by 1950).
And today’s US would not take responsibility for loans to countries that can’t afford to pay their dollar debts without stifling their economic growth by accepting IMF austerity plans.
None of this kind of reform requires a common currency. The problem is the IMBALANCES among countries. That is the key.
As Hudson pointed out, the main problem has always been how are you going to sort out balance of payments issue. Keynes had the right idea with bancor, but with China running $1 trillion trade surplus these days, there is virtually zero incentive for China to get onboard with such a trade arrangement because bancor will only heavily punish the two countries (US and China) for running their huge trade deficits (huge import) and surpluses (huge export) - the two countries that have benefited tremendously from the status quo at the expense of the rest of the world.
This again goes back to why I always said that China’s only way out is to transition into a domestic consumption economy and give up their export industries, because the very act of transitioning itself has a very nice built-in incentive for China to embrace the bancor-like mechanism that will return the world to a more balanced trade, and also contains the antidote against dollar hegemony at the same time. That means industrial capacities more equally distributed across the world, as well as simultaneously blunting the force of US monetary imperialism.
i think larger countries should be more willing to let imbalances roll over or be wiped off especially with smaller or less developed economies. China should give large loans in Yuan to other countries at near zero interest rates but paid back in local currency.
there are countries which run current deficits and ‘pay for it’ with a capital surplus. India is the largest example within BRICS (though I think it’s the similar case with most BRICS members), where they get foreign currencies through western investments which they can then use to run current deficits against China and Gulf countries.
The idea is that financial independence requires one’s own “money.” But money itself is a legal creation that requires agreement by the governments issuing it as to (1) what countries — and who in them — gets the money that is being created, and (2) what will the money be created for.
This requires political unification and that a collective BRICS government is far from being created in the foreseeable future.
This lesson should’ve already been learnt with the EU and the Euro, creating a currency before creating a politically unified entity (usually a state) is putting the cart before the horse, as Samir Amin liked to say. You can’t create a currency before first creating a state, or maybe some non state entity with similar unification. However the structure of such an entity yet to be conceived or practically executed, was already tried with the EU and ended up where we are today. Until someone works out how to create a non state entity with similar political cohesiveness to a state, having a currency without a country is just not feasible for most. The EU makes it “work” with regards to the Euro, with a a lot of nuances and compromises that most nations would not accept, because the alternative of a “European State” is considered an even more unpalatable prospect to many European leaders and citizens.
It’s interesting Temu isn’t being targeted, since it’s well known that it tracks every little thing you do on your phone as soon as you download the app.
Bolsonaro says: “If I remain ineligible, I no longer believe in democracy”.
Former president Jair Bolsonaro insisted on Friday that he would be the candidate of the right in the 2026 election. The former chief executive also said that he will no longer believe in democracy if he remains ineligible by decision of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
“What would democracy be? Respecting due process, the Constitution, the laws. Why make me ineligible? Two eight-year sentences (…) If I remain ineligible, I no longer believe in democracy. Democracy is over,” Bolsonaro said in an interview.
Why? WHY? Bolsonaro literally tried to kill people and created documents detailing how he would kill them. His own vice-president had an entire plan to send him into exile in the US, literally nobody likes Bolsonaro.
Indicted by the Federal Police (PF) in November for the crimes of attempted coup d’état, attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law and criminal organization, the former president could be ineligible until 2061 if he is prosecuted and sentenced with the maximum penalty, in 2025, for the alleged crimes. Bolsonaro would be 106 years old when he could stand for political office again.
lol
man whose entire political career is about bringing back the dictatorship claims democracy bad
For me the main benefit of this “cultural exchange” isn’t Americans learning that China isn’t 1984
The benefit is Chinese citizens learning there is no greener grass on the other side, there’s no western salvation, no capitalist led utopia across the pacific.
Honestly, the fact so many Chinese citizens didn’t believe a basic fact like American ambulance fees, reveals a serious failure of the Communist Party to inform its populace about basic realities of the world, that goes beyond a simple propaganda failure and right into dangerous 1980s Soviet-style delusions about the western world, which is fertile soil for counter-revoulationary forces
Netanyahu says a ceasefire in Gaza has been delayed until Hamas releases a list of hostages
[Trump’s ]https://x.com/NeatAlfonzo/status/1880710589695262861)‘ALL HELL TO PAY’ threat was also directed at Israel, not just Hamas — WSJ
JDPON DON lets gooo!!
The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) as part of it’s carrier strike group, is the closest it’s been to Yemen since the 21st of December. Highly likely we’ll see an attack on Ansar Allah (known as the Houthis in mainstream western media) in Yemen before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas goes into effect.
Update: The Carrier Strike Group has already come under attack within the last hour, according to the latest statement by the Yemeni Armed Forces, likely in self defence to try deter an upcoming attack.
Final update: latest reports from Yemeni sources (Al Masirah TV) of US strikes targeting the Al-Azraqeen area, north of the Yemeni capital Sana’a, as well as aggression targeting Sana’a itself.
After all the death and suffering…the entity still exists. What was gained?
Lmao.
Little solace in I told ya so but I found it.
Trump to unblock TikTok on inauguration day. “On Monday, I will issue an executive order extending the period before the law’s restrictions go into effect so we can make a deal to protect our national security,” he wrote on social media.
Trump added that the US should have a 50 percent stake in TikTok. “My initial idea is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners, in which the United States would have a 50% ownership interest in the joint venture,” the president wrote.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/milei-budget-cuts-nets-argentina-194926602.html
Milei’s Budget Cuts Nets Argentina First Surplus in Over a Decade
it’ll move back into deficit as tax revenue falls unless there are further spending cuts as the economy shrinks. how much can you cut while keeping your head?
The point is to sell everything off. IMF privatization etc.
For anyone who doesn’t know MMT basics: government surplus literally means that it’s collecting more taxes than it is spending in services for people, so it’s actively removing money from the economy, thus making people poorer
0.3% after accounting for interest payments in 2024
Amazing surplus there
TikTok is now unavailable in the United States
The Taiwanese political poll just got their yearly update:
https://esc.nccu.edu.tw/PageDoc/Detail?fid=7801&id=6963
Taiwanese separatism peaked in 2020 because the Hong Kong protests were still on people’s minds, and it’s being downhill ever since. Nobody is buying what the DPP is trying to peddle. Damn, it turns out sending one of your political opponents to jail on corruption charges for transparent political reasons would put a damper on your party ideology. The status quo reigns supreme. Eat shit, boba libs.
Dumb question, ‘unification’ means joining the PRC? In my understanding, the KMT started from an irredentist position, like the legacy official stance of the ROC but now it’s mostly business interests that want to do business with china, is that accurate?
Yes. Reunification means reunification under the PRC. Reunification under the ROC was the official political line of the KMT up til Chiang Ching-kuo, but no one seriously believed that.
But that’s not what the DPP was campaigning for last election.
The DPP had a very clear position in the last election: “Open up to the world first, then to China.”
The KMT, on the other hand, did not present a coherent position during their campaign and people just took that to mean “open up to China first, then to the world.” They lost, because people didn’t really know what the campaign was about.
I don’t think independence was ever going to be a serious consideration except for a minority.
