Image is of a crowd protesting in Athens.
Last week, on Friday, hundreds of thousands of Greeks poured into the streets to strike and protest on the second anniversary of the deadliest train crash in Greek history, in which 57 people died when a passenger train collided with a freight train. On this February 28th, public transportation was virtually halted, with train drivers, air traffic controllers, and seafarers taking part in a 24 hour strike - alongside other professions like lawyers, teachers, and doctors.
The train crash is emblematic of the decay of state institutions brought about from austerity being forced on Greece in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession, in which the IMF and the EU (particularly Germany) plundered the country and forced privatization. While Greece has somewhat recovered from the dire straits it was in during the early 2010s, the consequences of neoliberalism are very clearly ongoing. Mitsotakis’ right-wing government has still not even successfully implemented the necessary safety procedures two years on, and so far, nobody has been convicted nor punished for their role in the accident. The austerity measures were deeply unpopular inside Greece and yet the government did not respond to, or ignored, democratic outcry.
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.
Trump electronically repo’d HIMARS
It’s wild watching polls turn against Ukraine exactly as we all knew was going to happen from the start. Just have make sure a bunch of people die first before we can start talking peace.
libs on resetera dot com, the world’s most lib website, are now regularly saying things like, “China is the more reasonable global power”, “at least China reigns in its oligarchs”, “China is going to push BRICS to dedollarize and the rest of the world will move on when the US collapses”
material reality is simply too powerful, folks
(then they go on to say “Russia has spent decades destroying america from within” so who knows)
A US Flagged Oil Tanker , Loaded with Jet Fuel collided with a Portugese Ship in the North Sea & Currently both ships are Burning
oh and Twitter is down ?
EDIT: and Tesla Stock is down …(some 10 % - 8 % )
Elon Musk calls Poland’s foreign minister a “little man” and tells him to be quiet after Radoslaw Skorski claims that the Polish government pays for the use of Starlink in Ukraine and that it may be necessary to look for another alternative.
Elon Musk says it “makes no sense” for the United States to be part of NATO to “pay for Europe’s security”. The Wall Street Journal says that many European leaders regret making their security dependent on the US.
- Telegram
Hilarious beyond belief, the new prime minister of Canada saying they “must protect our way of life, and our country” against the threat of American trade war and the threat of invasion
The Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum is a forum founded by Ukrainian restaurant business owner Oleg Magaletsky, exiled Russian separatists, as well as foreign sympathizers, which advocates for the disintegration of Russia. It was registered in Poland. On 17 March 2023, the forum was designated an “undesirable organization” in Russia.
The forum participants set as their goal the separation of the Russian Federation into independent constituent states. At the second forum, the topics for discussion included the deimperialization, decolonization, de-Putinization, denazification, demilitarization, and denuclearization of Russia. The forum participants also appealed to the national and regional elites of United Nations member countries, urging them to begin creating national provisional governments-in-exile.
According to French historian and sociologist Marlene Laruelle, the calls of the forum participants for the “liberation of enslaved peoples” refer to the slogan “prison of peoples” from the times of the Russian Empire and to the CIA-sponsored Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations during the Cold War. On 25 July 2022, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, ridiculed the Free Nations of Russia Forum held in Prague. He thanked the “pseudo-liberals” for confirming the words of the Russian leadership about attempts to disintegrate the country.
WTF is this? Micronations LARPing but with CIA backing?
I’ll repost this when the new thread drops, but the Syrian terror regime has started a cleanup operation in advance of any international visitors, specifically the UN delegation. From planting weapons and stripping bodies to put on military gear to straight-up dumping bodies in the ocean, maximum effort is being put in to obscure what really has occurred. They haven’t stopped the killing (despite the announcement of the “military operation’s” end), they’re simply trying to minimize what has already happened.
You can tell Jolani was trained by the west by the public face. Interim government, respecting communities, independent investigation
Also I was right, gag order is back after the initial wave of evidence. There appear to have been more concerted efforts to get rid of bodies/obscure the number of dead, as well as the use of artillery instead of small arms to kill and intimidate coastal residents into flight
A number of schools in Hunan, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces in China have recently started implementing a new policy of 2-day off week for high schoolers, and have sparked quite a debate among parents and netizens in China.
- High schoolers in Grade 10 and 11 will now get 2 days off per week, and Grade 12 students get to have 1 day off every week.
- Currently, there is no weekend for many high schoolers in China (the “higher ranking” a school, the tougher the routine), you get half a day off per week (~2 days off per month).
- A typical high school day looks like this: wakes up at 6am, arrives at class room at 7am, starts morning self-study routine, sits through the classes, stays for the evening self-study session, gets home at around 10pm, and if you’re lucky, gets to bed at around 12am. Rinse and repeat every day.
- As anticipated, many parents are not happy with the new policy: the gaokao (national unified exam) is so competitive that even a 1-point difference in scoring can make or break your chances of getting into university. Some parents in Hangzhou are worried that their kids might be disadvantaged if kids from the other cities don’t have as many days off.
- This has led to an explosive demand for private tuition on the weekends as parents send their kids to tuition classes instead. Previously, tuition was part of the school program and parents pay ~1000 yuan per semester. Now they have to pay an additional 1000-2000 yuan per month.
- Some private tuition companies have seen the business opportunity and have begun advertising “weekend packages” for parents, with such slogans as “you can go to work with a peace of mind. we will take over the duty of the school to take care of your kids instead.”
- One such “weekend package” as reported by the news which includes tuition for 6 subjects + physical education costs 3680 yuan per month, which is 47% of the monthly income for an average household.
- Some parents are now petitioning for the schools to keep their libraries open on the weekend and crowdfunding to pay for the teachers’ “weekend overtime fee”.
- Even more absurdity ensued, as some schools received “letters to volunteer to return to school on the weekends” by “very concerned” students.
China can be a magical place sometimes. The level of extreme competition has intensified in recent years to such an extent that it is taking a toll on everyone’s daily lives, and I don’t blame the people who want to emigrate to Western countries at all. I know many Chinese immigrants overseas who don’t want to put their kids through this.
A society doing this to their children is profoundly sick. (As are western societies, to be clear).
This is sadly common in East Asian culture.
South Korea is just as tough if not even worse. The CSAT started in 2006, and while gaokao exams took place over 2-3 days, for CSAT, students have to finish the exams for all 6 subjects in just over 8 hours.
There was a South Korean documentary made in 2016 (공부의배신 Betrayal of Study) that examined the lives of high school students. One girl slept only 4 hours every night, took 5-6 doses of coffee to stay awake, spent more than 10 hours practicing writing on exam papers that her fingers formed blisters and started to bleed. She ended up tying the pen to her finger with a knot and kept going.
I watched the documentary with Chinese subtitle but unfortunately couldn’t find any source with English subtitle, otherwise I’d link it because it’s quite revealing.
Parents spend tons of money to get their kids to private tuition classes. According to a survey, there are now 3 times more private tuition centers in South Korea than there are convenience stores.
For the students, this is their one shot to get a white collar job after graduation.
This was actually one of the themes explored in the film Parasite and there are layers that can be easily missed by the audience if you’re not familiar with the societal competitive pressure exerted upon the students.
For the students, this is their one shot to get a white collar job after graduation.
I think this is the key problem underlying all of this. Asian parents and students are not irrational, they are reacting rationally to a brutal system. You can not blame them for doing what it takes to achieve what is considered a good and materially safe life.
A society in which you only get one shot at “the good life” is inevitably going to promote this sort of behaviours.
A less severe variant of the same mechanisms can be seen in the west where increased social stratification has made the educational system more competitive and led to alarming levels of anxiety and other mental health issues among young people.
You can treat symptoms to some extent by banning private tuition or by making ad campaigns telling young people how awesome it is to get a trade job instead of pursuing academic training but it is always going to be a bandaid.
The radical response, the one that goes to the root of the problem, is to construct the economy in such a way that social recognition and material comfort is not a privilege for the meritorious few but a fact of life for the masses. An advanced economy needs engineers, doctors and accountants but it also needs carpenters, binmen and truck drivers. The idea of your kids growing up to have an average position in society should be comforting, not terrifying.
That is so depressing to read, everything about it is sad.
How are these “weekend packages” skirting the ban on private tutoring that’s been in place since 2021? I assume it’s not that hard given the parents will do anything to get them and they’re not online so you can structure it as a club or something, but curious what the reaction of regulatory officials has been.
Short answer is the parents simply don’t care.
This is nothing new. South Korea has tried banning private tuition years ago. In fact, the South Korean government went so far as to canceling middle school and high school admission tests, and introduced a system that randomly allocates students to high schools to eliminate “elite schools” and to prevent parents from gaming the system.
This merely drove the parents to send their kids to private tuition, which the South Korean government also tried banning. None of this is going to work. In a system where securing a white collar job at Samsung is literally going to change your life, parents will do everything - no matter how illegal it is - to make sure their kids have a shot at this.
All the punitive tax through law enforcement on private tuition is only going to drive up the costs of education, with parents willing to dish out more and more of their monthly income to ensure that their kids can gain even a slight advantage over their peers. It also drives up administrative cost because good luck taking down all the illegal tuition centers (and many businesses have dozens of inventive ways to skirt the rules like turning them into “training courses for parents that happen to involve students”).
In a society where education is given the utmost priority, the end result is that your average household is going to spend even less on other stuff, and drags down the economy as a whole.
Without a true reform on the education system and the economic structure at large, you’re merely treating the symptoms.
theyre not, the police get kickbacks and look the other way so long as people upstairs arent pressured to ‘do something’
there are routine inspections but heads up will be given so people can clear out ahead of time
as demographics shift, the problem of education (elite overproduction) will fix itself to some degree (50% hs admittance cutoff already relaxing, blue collar work is more and more well compensated as labor pool shrinks), but it wont go away without massive reforms, which will likely not happen as there are too many people who benefit from the way it is currently set up, same as hukou
this case of education and its motivating factors is a great example of superstructure shaping base, how pecuniary emulation remains a relevant, perhaps even marxist, concept even today, and is a primary driver of why the asian diaspora, particularly in america, is so dependent on white supremacy for its continued existence
What does pecuniary emulation mean?
A different term for “social climber” basically. People putting themselves into situations where they devote their labor to climbing the ladder and emulating the lifestyles of those above them thereby reinforcing the current state of things.
The most extreme version of it would probably be the Wealth Gospel trend in America, where the actions of millions of proletarians are shifted into a form of emulation of the wealthy thereby algning their interests with the wealthy in practice. They will work against their own interests for the possibility of becoming their oppressor.
It seems this plan doesn’t address the root of the problem, so I can see how parents might get upset. It sounds like there needs to be some fundamental restructuring of the university system or something like that.
A typical high school day looks like this: wakes up at 6am, arrives at class room at 7am, starts morning self-study routine, sits through the classes, stays for the evening self-study session, gets home at around 10pm, and if you’re lucky, gets to bed at around 12am. Rinse and repeat every day.
this is child abuse. rare china L
How much is the university entrance stuff “real” vs cultural high demand on kids/students? Like can people generally get into a college and get a good education but it just isn’t the super “prestigious” schools?
I’ve seen the study hours for the gaokao. It gets very, very intense.
This reminds me of your post comparing the work conditions of car factories, with workers organizing to demand more hours from their bosses.
It seems like changing the gaokao and university entrance process is the only way to alleviate the concerns of giving kids more time off, which should be encouraged. I had heard school was competitive, but high schoolers at school for over 100 hours a week really puts it into perspective. How long is a school day before high school?
I went to elementary school in China for two years, in grade 2 + 3 (age 6-8). I arrived at school at 7:45am for pre-class prep, and left at 5:30 usually. I think classes were until 4:30 or 5. This was back in the mid 90s and I’m fairly sure it got worse after I left
Thanks for sharing your experience. Was there a lot of play and art and such things that could be considered fun by kids or did it already start feeling like preparing for academia at that age?
There was no play other than at break times, it was a full schedule of classes. In the summer we got an extra hour for lunch though so we could have a nap. It was funny because you had to have a nap in that time - at home room after lunch everyone who didn’t have a nap had to admit to it and explain why they didn’t 🤭
We had art classes - it was mostly learning to draw as I recall. The school didn’t have a lot of money for stuff like art supplies back then. The classes I remember were: Chinese (learning characters, making words, reading texts, memorising poems, writing short essays); maths (we had to memorise the times table up to 9 and each recite it individually for the headmaster who graded us on it - most terrifying moment of my life at the time! Also I remember doing basic algebra); civics (actually my favourite, it was mostly about learning to contribute to society and not being selfish); art; and PE. I’m sure there must have been science, history, and geography but I can’t remember them at all.
We had little red neck scarves made of silk which were a sign of your pride in the country / communism. I remember being so chuffed the day I got mine as I’d heard a rumour that you wouldn’t get one if you weren’t a good student and I didn’t know if I’d make the grade since I had moved home from abroad and was behind in everything. We also learned how to use an abacus to do arithmetic and calligraphy. We had flag raising every week and outdoor stretches every morning. There were ~50 kids in my class I think!
Our teacher was strict but super caring and kind. I remember every time when we got homework back from the teacher, she would ask everyone who got 100% to stand up and everyone else would admire them. One time in Chinese class she did that and I was the only one who stood up! Proudest moment ever. She then remarked to the rest of the class “this kid only started learning to write this year, y’all have no excuse” lolll suckers
Middle school (Grades 7-9) isn’t as intense, but in Grade 9 most students will take the admission tests for ordinary high schools (普高).
Only half of the middle schoolers will succeed in entering an ordinary high school, which will then set them off the path towards taking the gaokao, while the rest who failed will go to vocational or technical schools.
The pressure is still there, and some say it’s even harder than gaokao to get into a good ordinary high school (schools with resources that give greater likelihood for their students to succeed).
Thanks for this insight.
One more question I have, if you don’t mind humoring me: if parents in China didn’t care about pushing their kid to be successful via these metrics, can a child go through this education system without having to be put through such intense pressures? Does the school itself enforce as much as the parents are, or is it more an issue of parental pressure than baked into the education track ?
Damn that’s sad. Definitely the Government should clamp down on cultural bads.
To what extent is this caused by lack of access to higher education? Or, rather, would this problem be alleviated by more openings or are things so competitive that nobody cares to be the 2nd best student in the 2nd best med school in the country?
deleted by creator
The interesting part about the Imperial Exam in ancient China is that it was literally created for the Emperors to reassert their control over the feudal aristocrat classes.
China is a large country and throughout the dynasties and even periods within a dynasty, aristocratic factions (usually formed based on geographical boundaries) vie for control over the country and the entrenched class holds a lot of sway over the imperial policies, with the most prominent one being the Guanlong group that has massively entrenched over the late Northern/Southern Dynasty and the ensuing Sui and Tang dynasties.
Often times, when a new Emperor ascends to the throne, those with ambitions would want to establish their own power base, and the imperial examination was one such mechanism to recruit talents from the lower classes (寒门) to fill the ranks. Note that these officials who are born in the lower class are still treated as a different class in the Imperial Court even though they work directly for the Emperor. Such is the social structure of feudal societies.
I’m not too familiar with European history, but I would guess that the European nation states were too small to allow for such fierce internal division of aristocratic factions. The Emperor of China ruled over a huge territory and when one dynasty overthrows the other, the new government cannot simply replace the local provincial courts with its own people as that would quickly lead to rebellions. So substantive change has to take place slowly and insidiously, while at the same time, such arrangement naturally opened up the spaces for influential vested interests to form over time.
In European history, aristocratic factions also very much existed based on regional power - eg anyone with the surname Dudley or Warwick had immense sway over who was on the throne of England for several hundred years, because they held military power in the form of private armies (retainers) and could choose whether to back up the king with that power or not.
I’m not too familiar with European history, but I would guess that the European nation states were too small to allow for such fierce internal division of aristocratic factions.
They were tiny by comparison. The Kingdom of France was considered big by (Western) European standards and it was smaller than Nanzhao. The small size of European polities also meant they didn’t need a giant feudal bureaucracy.
Around the year 2000, many Chinese universities began to massively expand their enrollment number. So, the competition occurred because there is now a chance for everyone to get into university. For the students, this is their one shot to get a white collar job after graduation.
As you know, education is very important in East Asian society, and being able to get a white collar job not only means higher pay but also reflects a certain status. This is exacerbated by the fact that many Chinese parents only have one child, so they’d do anything to make sure that their kids can have a shot to enter universities.
You can even see this kind of mentality persisted in Asian parents who have immigrated to Western countries which has become the Asian parent stereotype.
My impression is that competition for its own sake has become culturally endemic in the region and I was hoping to challenge that notion. Maybe, I reasoned, there are enough openings in East Asian universities to give everyone a chance, but crucially not enough to make that chance a reasonable one. Therefore if enrollment numbers increased even further, you’d still have competition for the top university spots but the competition wouldn’t be so fierce.
However, I suppose it doesn’t matter if everyone who wants to become engineers and doctors actually can when the competition is downstream from those guaranteed high status, high paying jobs.
In my experience it’s not about raw numbers or an endemic culture of competition so much as generational trauma and perfectionism. China is still only 2 generations out from the Cultural Revolution. My parents were in the first wave to go to university after it ended and for them, a difference of .5 marks meant falling 50 places in the rankings and losing their only shot. Even though I grew up in the west, that anxiety passed down in the way they raised me.
The other thing about Chinese culture is that we are obsessed with optimising. Everything should be done in the most efficient way possible. And so for a lot of kids the pressure isn’t so much about competition but about achieving an ideal of perfection. It’s taken years of work to unlearn that for me.
What is Known About U.S.-Ukraine Minerals Deal So Far? - Telesur English
Article
According to President Trump, Ukraine must be guaranteed ‘the right to continue fighting’ in exchange for its minerals. On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are scheduled to sign a deal in the White House that will grant Washington access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits.
After revisions and trade of barbs between the two sides, Zelensky appears more open to the current version of a framework agreement on the joint development of Ukraine’s natural resources, despite his previous stance that he “will not sign what ten generations of Ukrainians will have to repay.”
So, how did the deal come together? What does it entail, and what do they each stand to gain? Here is what is known so far.
WHAT DOES THE AGREEMENT ENTAIL?
The deal would establish a fund jointly owned by Ukraine and the United States, to which Ukraine needs to contribute 50 percent of its future revenues from the monetization of natural resources, including minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas, and other extractable materials and other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets. The United States would own the maximum financial interest in the fund as allowed by American law.
Just a week ago, Trump called Zelensky a “dictator” and accused him of starting the conflict with Russia. Now, with potential access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, Trump said he believes that Ukraine should be guaranteed “the right to fight on.”
Earlier, Washington had demanded US$500 billion of resources for the aid it has provided and 100 percent financial interest of a joint fund, terms that the Telegraph newspaper called “economic colonization.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had slammed Trump’s proposal, which tied future military support to access to Ukrainian mineral resources, calling it “very egotistic, very self-centered.”
Before the final draft came off, Washington had been imposing pressures on Ukraine. A U.S. envoy threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to the Starlink satellite Internet system, which provides crucial Internet connectivity to the country and its military, unless a deal on critical minerals is struck.
WHAT DO THE TWO SIDES WANT?
Analysts say that both the United States and Ukraine have their own strategic calculations regarding the minerals deal.
For Washington, accessing Ukraine’s minerals comes at little cost and helps further the “America First” agenda. The United States wants to get some substantial “payback” from previous support to Ukraine, claiming that “the United States has put up far more aid for Ukraine than any other nation.”
Additionally, with the United States heavily reliant on imports for key minerals, Ukraine represents a vast untapped source. Washington is eager to exploit Ukraine’s valuable reserves.
Ukraine, for its part, holds an estimated 5 percent of the world’s “critical raw materials” and deposits of 20 out of the 50 minerals classified as critical for the United States’ economic development and defense, according to the Ukrainian government.
A variety of these key minerals used in the production of batteries, weapons, planes and so on can be found abundant in Ukraine. In exchange, Kiev wants future support and concrete security guarantees from the United States, a key demand that Ukraine is fully committed to securing.
WILL IT GET THROUGH?
Experts have noted that Kiev is now on track to trade its resources for continued U.S. military support and possible mediation to end the ongoing conflict. However, no specific or explicit security guarantees have been made in the deal.
On Thursday, Trump said that a minerals deal with Ukraine is the security guarantee Kiev needs, brushing aside a plea from visiting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for a commitment of U.S. military support.
For Washington, the resources of Ukraine may be hard to extract. In the conflict-torn Ukraine with outdated infrastructure, extracting minerals can mean expensive investments.
The deal also complicates the situation on the European continent. During a visit to Kiev, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy Stephane Sejourne offered a rival proposal on critical minerals to Ukrainian officials. He noted, “the added value Europe offers is that we will never demand a deal that’s not mutually beneficial.”
Boy Boy just came out with a video where they interviewed an Australian who was tortured repeatedly removed, waterboarded, electric shocked to face and genitals, etc) for six months by the CIA at various US black sites all over the world including Guantanamo Bay. He said the Australian Ambassador to Pakistan was even present at one of the times he was tortured! https://youtu.be/xEqrm9OIqro
what the fuck. He said he saw other captives completely lose their minds and weren’t able to recall their own names. They accused him of training the 9/11 hijackers with kungfu which he was a practitioner of.
Damn. Amazed he’s in a coherent state.
Death to America
Damn. They certainly do have a gift for sensitive humor centered around the darkest shit in human existence.
One creepy place my mind goes is…I mean, obviously this is a form of terrorism…but people just disappearing off the street is one thing, and knowing about the horrors you, too, could experience if you disappear off the street one day is another one entirely. Did the CIA actually let the leaks happen so that people could be made aware of just what U.S. “hospitality” is like? Like, you realize our outrage is part of the plan, right? type stuff. Fuckin’ bleak.
For the same reason, I can’t really figure out why the imprisonment and torture was indefinite. Seems like it would achieve its goals more effectively if people were released after a few years of hell-on-earth. Fascists psyching them selves out of being even more fascist in their petty racism and hate (“Can’t let these TERRORISTS go!”?)?
The biggest problem I have with this quote is that Satan is America. It’s a global empire, focused on control and evil. America learned everything from the devil.
Me and Satan rn
Two Alawite families that my mom knows from her university days have been killed in Baniyas. She’s in a facebook group with her old classmates and it’s just full of obituaries of old people that have been mercilessly slaughtered by the terrorists. I don’t know what to say, death just surrounds my people from all angles.
I’m sorry for your losses and the atrocities occurring. This is unacceptable and our western media will continue to prop up the idea of HTS as protectors of democracy
Linking to locked thread as a new thread is
excellence.also kallas saying openly “how can we defeat china” is some next level of diplomacy, too bad everybody has humiliation fetish
kallas
I hate the Demiurge
WTF is that??? Is this real?
Yes, this is the person from Estonia who openly says that Russia should be balkanised as her policy. It’s completely on brand for her and Estonian politicians.
I immediately made this after KKKajakas posted her avatar:
I also made sure that the r/eesti moderators had to see this too on multiple occasions
good lord
I really want to know how a mid sized city plans to Balkanize a nation of 140 million people.
Istfg I want to visit the Baltics for a year just to see what the normal people there are like because there’s no way there entire population is as unhinged as their politicians.
Not openly but literally everything in Tallinn has been plastered in uKKKraine flags, including the Steinbeck House (Parliament) without interruption for the past 3 years, all politicians wear uKKKraine flags and reservists often are seen with uKKKraine flag patches. Even what little of the left-wing exists here are still on the “big bad p00tin is doing a genocide against wholesome chungus uKKKraine and saying anything to the contrary is Kremlin propaganda” bandwagon. This still from a local Palestinian group and the supposed “Left” party.
If you are cursed with ending up in the Baltics, Estonia is the least hitlerian of the three (which isn’t really saying much).
yes she was doing a video promo for the NAFO convention some years ago. the convention featured one of the NAFO guy who posted online that he masturbated in a Death camp
Kaja Kallas is an Estonian politician and diplomat. She was the first female prime minister of Estonia, a role she held from 2021 until 2024.
Awards and prizes: Honorary NAFO “Fella”
This is literally her Wikipedia page, holy fucking shit, wtf is wrong with Estonia, reddit brain country.
Mickey mouse ass Nazi country
The Estonian military has a grand total of 6000 troops, zero tanks and zero fighter aircraft. The Estonian Air Force reportedly has 1500 airmen, but a grand total of two transport planes, two trainers, and no fighters! What do these 1500 people do all day? Play Ace Combat and Battlefield?
Chihuahua ass country.
heeeey those trainers can be armed with up to TWO short range air to air missiles each! that’s FOUR kills per pilot with a thousand ground crew to rearm them and get back in the fight!!
look, I’m fucking stupid okay
lmao
fastest sticky in the west tho
