Image is of a large protest in the Ivory Coast, sourced from this article in People’s Dispatch.
This week’s megathread is based largely on a detailed article from People’s Dispatch, featuring statements and analysis from Achy Ekessi, the General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Ivory Coast (PCRCI), brought to my attention by @jack@hexbear.net’s comment in the last megathread.
The president of Ivory Coast, the 83 year old Alassane Ouattara, is aiming for a fourth term in power while barring out much of the opposition. I can’t really do the all the history of how the situation wound up this way justice in a preamble as it’s fairly complicated (read the article if you are interested), but to summarize, Ouattara is currently the only coherent candidate for the French to support. Back in 2011, the French helped Ouattara overthrow the previous (pan-Africanist) president, Laurent Gbagbo, and then arrested him and sent him to the ICC, and he was then acquitted and released in 2021.
Gbagbo is now running against Ouattara, but his base, the working class, has large swathes that are not present on the voting rolls and so it would be unlikely for him to win. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Tidjane Thiam, a former CEO of the Swiss Bank Credit Suisse, whose base is in the richer strata of the Ivory Coast, which overlaps with Ouattara’s base. He would be more likely to win, but would certainly maintain many Western imperialist relationships. Ouattara, however, has simplified the electoral situation by simply barring both of them from running in the election at all.
Ouattara has, on paper, delivered some amount of economic development to the Ivory Coast. But as expected, most of it is funnelled to the bourgeois, as well as to foreign corporations and governments, while the working class are swallowed by the cost of living crisis. There has been significant infrastructure projects, but these have not only generated massive debt, they also have only really addressed the damage caused by the 2011 civil war and intervention by the French.
The rest of Western Africa has either entirely exited the orbit of France (Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso), are wavering/unstable (Senegal, Benin, Guinea), are beginning to show doubts (Nigeria, Ghana), or are economically weak enough to not be a major blow for the French to lose (Togo, Guinea-Bissau). The loss of the Ivory Coast would be a major setback for French neocolonialism, and be a potent example to nearby countries.
Last week’s thread is here.
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Israel's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. 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.
is now going to use AI to predict future crimes.🟢 Martyr Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades: — We targeted a gathering of enemy soldiers and vehicles on the Salah al-Din axis, south of the Swedish Village, west of Rafah city, with 114mm short-range “Rajoom” rockets.
From Russian telegram:
It is still too early to guess what the future of Ukraine and our entire region will be, because there are no fixed agreements on peace yet. But we can already guess its contours. Those that were marked on the map in Trump’s office.
The territories that are under the de facto control of Russia will remain there. Kiev and the Europeans will resist the exchange of territories in every possible way in order to prevent the loss of the remaining part of the Donetsk region. Perhaps they will bargain for it for themselves at the expense of preventing the introduction of troops from European countries. There will be tough bargaining for this issue.
But in general, the border configuration is clear. Kharkov, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, Odessa will remain part of Ukraine. At this stage, Russia has no opportunity to fight for these cities, for which this would most likely mean turning into ruins.
Thus, Ukrainian statehood in the form it has become in recent years - with a strong nationalist, pro-Western and anti-Russian core will remain. Let’s add to this the manifold increase in revanchism, reinforced by territorial and human losses.
Western security guarantees will certainly include strengthening the Ukrainian army, pumping it with weapons. That is, in fact, denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine will not happen. It is unlikely that even after the presidential elections in Ukraine, political influence will be gained by forces that are at least neutral towards Russia and Belarus. The EU, Britain, and the USA will continue to keep the Ukrainian political and information space under complete control.
Ukraine will turn into a springboard for an acute geopolitical and ideological struggle with Russia and its allies for many years. The tools of our influence on Ukraine are unlikely to be subject to serious revision and change, which means that it will be extremely limited. The incorporation of new territories into Russia, their restoration, will certainly have a positive strategic and economic effect, which, however, will be limited by the ongoing confrontation.
We will be dealing with a delayed conflict, for which Ukraine and Europe will prepare with the utmost seriousness. Its start will most likely be timed to coincide with the transition of power in Russia and Belarus in 10-15 years. By that time, Europe’s military industry will have gained the momentum necessary for a new phase of the conflict. And in the US, other politicians may come to power.
Beyond what’s written above, also a reminder that the EU just signed a deal with Trump to purchase $750 billion worth of energy products and another $600 billion investment in the US until 2028. There is no way the EU can pay for all these promises, and that can only mean one thing: the subjugation of Russia into a colony from which they can extract the wealth from.
This reminds me of the post-WWI geopolitical configuration where the US was demanding the European states to pay back their debt, for which they simply did not have the economic capacity to repay. And thus, they squeezed the defeated Germany even harder, and directly led to the rise of Hitler and Nazism.
The war propaganda is already in place to paint Russia as an existential threat to the European nations. Militarization is occurring at increasingly rapid pace. The rise of fascism is now inevitable in Europe.
Looooooooopp
95% of Companies See ‘Zero Return’ on $30 Billion Generative AI Spend, MIT Report Finds
$30 billion spent proving water is wet, cool
🟡🟢 Hezbollah MP Dr. Ibrahim Al-Moussawi issues a strong condemnation of the Lebanese authorities’ unilateral handover of an “israeli” to 'israel." This action, which saw no Lebanese prisoners released in return, is described as “condemned, reprehensible, and shocking” to the people.
Al-Moussawi highlights deep questions regarding the authorities’ negligence and failure to secure an exchange, calling for immediate accountability and a comprehensive investigation into the matter. The move has caused severe disappointment among the families of Lebanese prisoners in zionist jails. Attached is a photo of Lebanese prisoners in zionist jails.
Been seeing a lot of tiktok videos about how China made pregnancy robots that can support a developing baby from conception until full-term and lots of fearmongering about it??? Anybody got any idea what’s up with that?
The Palestinian Authority is an enemy.
Fadi Daraghmeh is a Palestinian prisoner who was imprisoned by the zionist entity in May 2022. In this candid interview, he recounts his experience with the traitorous Palestinian Authority and zionist forces, how they operate a revolving door, exchanging information under the watchful eye of the US and Britain. He discusses his friend, the martyr Abdullah Al-Hosary, in and out of PA prisoners like Fadi was, before he was martyred.
“One does not know who the real enemy is!”
From Sa’adat to Basil to Khader Adnan, Mohammed Al-Banna, Ahmad Fashafsha, Nizar Banat, Wadie Al-Houh, Abdulmajid Hassan, Bahaa Balout, Musab Shtayyeh, Mohammed Al-Junaidi, Murad Malaysha and others, the PA has betrayed our people, turning the knife in their backs in their liberation struggle. Fadi’s story is one of many that unveils the intricate system of oppression with the PA acting as a contractor for the zionist enemy. His testimony underscores the urgent need for unity and resistance against both oppressive forces. Click on the attached links to learn more about these PA betrayals of our martyrs and leaders.
(cw: zionist atrocities)
What is the cut off? The cut off wasn’t when footages circulated of IDF soldiers r*ping a Palestinian. The cut off wasn’t a voice message from a young girl begging medics to come help her and then when she got shot at 355 times. The cut off wasn’t when IDF soldiers shot medics and then bulldozed their bodies. The cut off wasn’t the footage of beheaded [Palestinian] babies. The cut off wasn’t when footage showed Palestinians holding white flags and being blown up or going to get aid and being shot at. The cut off wasn’t when people saw the occupation do the exact same thing in the West Bank or settlers invading Al Aqsa mosque and beating people. The cut off wasn’t when IDF soldiers attacked a young man with Down syndrome and forced his family to leave him to die. The cut off wasn’t when babies were left to die in incubators or as israel [sic] now stops baby formula. The cut off wasn’t when israel [sic] bombed Mosques and Churches or schools and hospitals. The cut off wasn’t when IDF killed over 200 journalists. The cut off wasn’t when medics were kidnapped and others were killed. The cut off wasn’t when footage circulated of a mother digging up her child from under the rubble. The cut off wasn’t when Palestinians were shown displaced in tents. The cut off wasn’t when footages emerged of Palestinians being burnt alive. The cut off wasn’t when a child watched her mother burn. The cut off wasn’t when a child sat staring at a wall not blinking and shaking in shock and horror. The cut off wasn’t a Nakba in 48. The cut off wasn’t Sherine Abu Aklah who was shot doing her job and exposing what’s happening. The cut off wasn’t a young boy explaining how he watched his sister fall through the floor and die. The cut off wasn’t doctors explaining that wounds are now infected with maggots. The cut off wasn’t a mother having to choose which child lives and dies because of the lack of medical equipment. These are all incidents burnt in my brain from memory and so when I hear someone say ‘death to the IDF’ my heart burns because the alternative is a silent world. A world that is depraved and distracted. A world where speaking up against this much evil and decay will land you in jail, fired from a job, discredited or ignored. I expect this level of depravity from israel [sic] I did not expect this level of complicity from the world.
https://xcancel.com/Rahmazeinegypt/status/1943252913750524229#m
🚨 The prisoners held in Palestinian Authority prisons — and simultaneously wanted by the occupation forces — Ahmad Yassin Shabrawi, Tariq al-Younis, and Musab Shtayyeh, have all declared a hunger strike in protest of their continued detention and the recent raid in which PA forces assaulted prisoners inside the Preventive Security prison in Beitunia, confiscated their belongings, subjected them to near-strip searches, and transferred them to overcrowded cells that ignore their fragile health conditions.
In a statement, the family of Tariq al-Younis compared the recent PA raid and assault to the brutality of Ben Gvir’s forces, who enforce the zionist policy of slow executions inside the prisons. Just a few days ago, Ben Gvir himself raided the cell of Marwan Barghouti and threatened his life. It is no surprise that the treacherous Palestinian Authority is using the same horrific tactics on Palestinian prisoners in PA prisons. These brutal methods of torture and abuse is the “sacred coordination” practiced by the Palestinian Authority.
In a statement, the family of the prisoner Musab Shtayyeh said that he suffers from chronic health issues, making his situation especially dangerous. His family appeals for urgent international intervention and holds the Preventive Security leadership fully responsible for his life and safety.
#FreeThemAll
🇾🇪 Ansarallah Commander Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr El-Din Al-Houthi in his speech today, August 21st, 2025: — A quarter of a million Palestinian children are threatened with slow death due to malnutrition in Gaza.
The criminals Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are among the biggest zionist criminals, boasting of comprehensive crime in Gaza as part of the genocide.
The targeting of the child, Amna Al-Mufti, reflects a limitless zionist criminality and thirst for blood.
The zionist enemy does not even allow for a fictitious state in Palestine.
Ben-Gvir’s entry into the prison to threaten the prominent Palestinian prisoner and leader, Marwan Barghouthi, is an act that expresses malice, baseness, and hatred.
One of the most important pillars of the zionist plan is the endeavor to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque, build the alleged Temple, and Judaize the city of Al-Quds.
The zionist Jewish infiltration of the West makes them link their future of world domination to the goal of establishing a “Greater israel.”
The zionist plan includes the Nile River, the Egyptian sea front on the Red Sea, and perhaps large parts of the Arabian Peninsula, including Medina and Mecca.
The Saudi ship exposed in an Italian port carrying weapons for the “israeli” enemy—is it merely transporting weapons for the Israeli enemy?
What the Saudi regime is doing is supporting the “israeli” enemy.
The Egyptian deal that the Egyptian regime concluded with the zionists for thirty-five billion is a disaster and active support for the Israeli enemy under the pretext of obtaining gas.
The adoption of disarming Hamas is a Saudi position, a position of Arab regimes, and even a position of the Palestinian Authority.
The “israeli” enemy is facing a real problem with manpower, to the point of considering bringing in fighters from Jewish communities and mercenaries from other countries.
We convey to our entire Islamic nation a message from a Palestinian fighter during the clash in the Khan Younis operation, in which he said: We say to the entire nation, we are a proof against you, you have no excuse. May God not forgive those who failed us, and may God not forgive those who left Gaza alone.
The human conscience in the world is gradually awakening to move with the Palestinian people, but at the level of some Arab countries, it is dying and dying more, and this is unfortunate.
The outcome of Yemeni support operations during the month of Safar so far has been 42 operations, including hypersonic and other missiles, and drones.
Anyone who submits to the “israeli” enemy, who accepts zionist enslavement, has no faith, no wisdom, no honor, no humanity, and no dignity.
India, Russia set $100bn trade target despite US pushback
The Indian external affairs minister is in Moscow for three days of talks focusing on economic cooperation
❗️UK finalizing multibillion-dollar deal with Elbit Systems
The UK is reportedly preparing to finalize a £2bn ($2.69bn) deal with Israel’s biggest weapons producer, under which it would train 60,000 British troops annually.
Elbit Systems, which supplies about 85 percent of Israel’s drones and ground-based military hardware and has been a key supplier of arms used in the Gaza genocide, is at the center of the deal.
According to Private Eye, Elbit Systems UK is on the verge of securing a major agreement that would designate it as a “strategic partner” of Britain’s Ministry of Defense.
Russian hackers claim to have broken into ukraine’s general staff computer system and revealed ukraine to have lost (mia, kia) 1.7 million soldiers. dont know how true this is, only seen the indian economic times reporting on it. we’ll see in the coming days.
Young people who used the phrase “from the river to the sea” were acquitted in Estonia
