Image is of the American military during their occupation of Haiti at the beginning of the 20th century, taken from this NYT article from 2022: Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged. The U.S. Obliged.
In the aftermath of the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and his replacement by Western comprador Ariel Henry, the situation in Haiti is the most dire it has been in decades - by some metrics, even worse than the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake (CW: rape, violence including against children). Millions do not have enough food. Outbreaks of disease are rampant. The government - such that it still exists, which is becoming increasingly debatable - has only a minority control over the capital city, with some estimates putting the influence of armed groups at 80%.
America’s search for somebody, anybody, to intervene in Haiti has ended, with Kenya answering the call. President Ruto has announced that he will send 1000 police officers to Haiti. Kenya’s Foreign Minister has tried to sell this intervention as pan-Africanism. Other Caribbean states, like the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, have offered to send police officers too.
I can’t really say it any better than the Black Alliance for Peace’s own statement:
Kenya has offered to deploy a contingent of 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police, ostensibly to “restore order” in the Caribbean republic. Yet, their proposal is nothing more than military occupation by another name; an occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face. By agreeing to send troops into Haiti, the Kenyan government is assisting in undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of Haitian people, while serving the neocolonial interests of the United States, the Core Group, and the United Nations.
There is an urgent need for clarity on the issue of occupation in Haiti. As described in a recent statement on Haiti and Colonialism, Haiti is under ongoing occupation. No call for foreign intervention into Haiti from the administration of appointed Prime Minister Ariel Henry can be considered legitimate, because the Henry administration itself is illegitimate. BAP has repeatedly pointed out that Haiti’s crisis is a crisis of imperialism. Haiti’s current unpopular and unelected government is propped up only by Haiti’s de facto imperial rulers: the unseemly confederacy of the Core Group countries and organizations, as well as BINUH (the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti), and a loose alliance of foreign corporations and local elites.
Henry and the UN have made a mockery of sovereignty by mouthing the slogan “Haitian solutions to Haitian problems,” yet finding the only solution in violence through foreign military intervention. After repeated failed attempts to organize an occupying force to protect their interests and impose their will on the Haitian people (including appeals to the multinational organization, the Caribbean Community [CARICOM] for troops), they have now found a willing accomplice in Kenya, an east African country with its own set of internal problems.
Indeed, what’s in it for Kenya? An opportunity to both train and enhance the salaries of local police forces and garner a patina of prestige, or at least bootlicking approval, from the West. And for Haiti? White blows from a Black hand and a further erosion of their sovereignty.
And, by the way, here’s the Black Alliance for Peace’s statement calling for no intervention by ECOWAS in Niger, calling the organization a Western comprador organization similar to CARICOM’s role in Haiti.
Welcome to our friends throughout the Lemmyverse!
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
This week’s first update is here in the comments.
This week’s second update is here in the comments.
This week’s third update might not happen because I’m busy dunking.
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.
I’d like to thank federation for reminding me that liberalism is a festering husk kept afloat solely by the collection of literal compound interest on 500 years of genocidal plunder.
The liberal mind is where critical thinking skills go to lay down and die. Lemmy and the anglosphere writ large is a space of pure mental atrophy where you can see reflected the decline of the Western bloc in real time. No one left to fill critical roles, every administrative organ just exposed to open air, infected and dying.
Colonisers were never supposed to believe the words they were saying.
Really seems that way. A lot of the people who think they are “left” are just the losers in the capitalist system who would like the capitalist system to reward them for being white and living in the imperial core.
That’s seriously what it boils down to??
I forgot what it was like to interact with that flavor of NPC.
Really seems that way. A lot of the people who think they are “left” are just the losers in the capitalist system who would like the capitalist system to reward them for being white and living in the imperial core.
The consequences of
Those that remember at one point back on
people would unironically believe he was “hiding his power level”(e.g random tankie reddit discourse lol lmao even).
it’s really driven home to me how many of their worldviews aren’t actually connected to the world around them. it’s the political equivalent of saying “assume a spherical unicorn” and then just not going to check whether there are any spherical unicorn, or even unicorns at all.
it’s one thing for us to say “oh yeah, liberals are bound by idealistic notions and theories whereas communists tend to be more interested in materialistic ones” but actually seeing a dude, idk, say that the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of people in capitalist developing countries due to recessions are actually because their governments haven’t been pro-capitalist enough and those people need to go negotiate their labor for money is like… what do you even say to that? how do you become this person in the first place? I can only assume that they’re like 14 years old? every time I think homo economicus might be on the way out, another person who believes we are all cyborgs comes along
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Extremely sad that I was able to find actual conscription/draft defenders in the year 2023. Liberals on the lemmyverse have gotten really scratched lately.
Imagine defending military conscription for the Ukraine war. Seriously. Absolute ghoul behaviour.
Hey add another dipshit Ukrainian government to the list, its like they can’t help themselves openly saying just how much they want to do some cleansing holy shit.
“A Russian passport is as dangerous as a rocket.” Fucking saying that unironically
“We understand that obtaining a passport in itself is not a crime. But Russia is doing everything to go further for a passport. Steps that can then be qualified as signs of collaborationist activity. Now Russia, in September, plans to hold elections. That is why they are so hastily passportizing our people,” the official added.
When you deem anyone regardless of ethnic or cultural background trying to obtain a passport a “collaborator”.
Go fucking die you dipshit libs that openly support this openly fash shit.
My favorite genre of post is the one that comes up every 2 hours about how we’re being too mean to the libs
Reminds me of the old sub where we had to “accommodate YangGang”. They called us authoritarian tankies then and every time we’ve tried “outreach” (peak taking online stuff too seriously). The only way to keep the liberals is to cater to their views, like lemmy.ml did. Before you know it they’ll bring along their lib friends and by month’s end they’ll be running the whole show. This has happened every time a leftist group has let liberals run unchecked.
Liberals must be confronted at each and every turn unless the decision has been made to sacrifice any semblance of an ideological stance in the name of being a big tent party that preaches the holy virtue of voting blue no matter who.
But surely this time will be different!
In my protracted war with Forbes, yet again I stumble on shit that makes me mald. When the Russians use anything older than today it’s a sign they’re running out of everything and are about to regress to the Neolithic age but when the Ukrainians use something that was FUCKING INVENTED IN NINETEEN FIFTY-FUCKING-SEVEN THEY’RE SEEN AS CUNNING SCRAPPY UNDERDOGS THAT ARE BUT ONE SWIFT KICK TO THE FRONT DOOR AWAY FROM COLLAPSING THE WHOLE ROTTEN RUSSIAN EDIFICE
Previous mald sessions from forbes
https://hexbear.net/comment/3664822
Current mald session
When a Russian or Ukrainian brigade is on the defensive, even temporarily, it will dig in. Literally. “The work of trenching machines and bulldozers will be supplemented with old-fashioned shovels to provide protection for men and equipment,” Lester Grau and Charles Bartles explained in their definitive The Russian Way of War.
THATS THE BASICS OF FUCKING MODERN WARFARE YOU FUCKING WAR COLLEGE CLOWNS! ARTILLERY WILL SHARE ITS LOVE WITH ANYONE NOT HIDING FROM IT!
Putin had plans to continue holding his territory in Ukraine but then he saw a post by @[email protected] calling him Putler and Russia “Rhuzzia” and he was like “I have no choice but to abandon communism now”.
Business Insider yet again actually doing the bare minimum of actual journalism and reports the truth on the fact NATO war doctrine - thats designed to fight and lose against sandal-wearing goat herders armed with AKs - is a fucking L for fighting a conventional war against a peer opposition force.
Ukrainian troops left ‘underprepared’ by NATO training as instructors don’t understand the type of warfare or the enemy, report says
Construction of vital power dam in Niger halted due to sanctions
The construction of the $800M Kandadji hydroelectric project in Niger has been halted by the Chinese contractor Gezhouba Group which claims that most of its funds have been frozen due to the current sanctions after the coup. In a letter dated 7th August, the group said it would halt operations and lay off its workforce. They added that they will re-deploy workers again if finances are secured.
The dam, upon completion, is expected to boost the country’s grid by 50%. Niger’s population has experienced a vast lack of electricity with only 4.3 million people having access to energy as 90% of its population uses wood as a source of energy.
The dam was also expected to help control the Niger River which will make downstream irrigation possible during the prolonged dry seasons.
The West will stop African countries’ development by any means necessary
A spectre is haunting Lemmy — the spectre of the 1000 comment Hexbear news thread
Going to share a set of memes I saw on a Russian meme site which you might enjoy. Rough translations since I’m not at all fluent.
Somewhere in a parallel universe...
Macron announced a special military operation in Niger
Revolt of the Algerians and counteroffensive of Niger
To the French war ship: IDI NAHUI!! (FUCK OFF!!) [reference to black sea event with a Ukrainian boat to a Russian war ship]
NO to Macron’s war
Western brands: We leave from France
McDonald’s rebrands as “Baguette and dot” - this is a reference to renamed McDonald’s in Russia, which is now called “vkusno i tochka”, lit. “tasty and dot” or “tasty, period.”
I’m at my parents’ and the TV is playing a copaganda show about game wardens helping hunt down illegal immigrants at the Mexican border
They name dropped MS-13
Americans think they aren’t propagandized lmao
Germany is debating whether to ban the far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the party surges to 21 per cent in the polls, amid warnings from intelligence officials that its members are becoming increasingly extreme
In a rare move, the respected Der Spiegel news magazine weighed into the debate with a leader titled: “Ban the enemies of the constitution!” It warned that “the AfD has become more and more radicalised. It’s time to defend democracy with better weapons”.
The co-leader of Olaf Scholz’s ruling Social Democrats also said a ban should be considered if the AfD is categorised as a group of “proven Right-wing extremists” by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
They are only doing this because the US is afraid Germany will elect a government that is against NATO and Ukraine. Tbh, I hope the AfD gets banned, screw them, even if the reason for it is cringe. And I wonder if this will have an impact on other countries.
Germany considers ban on far-right AfD as party surges to 21% in national polls: Telegraph
Put your bets nerds, will
do the based or cringe optionArmenia has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council due to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blockade of the Lachin corridor, the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday.
This is my sleeper pick for “obscure conflict that sets off WW3”.
Well, there’s also the Transnistria Conflict.
My concern with another, more serious N-K war is that so many different players are on one side or the other. Israel is a huge backer of Azerbaijan, and Iran views the Armenian corridor as very important because it’s their only land bridge with Russia. Pakistan has started getting closer to the Azeris, and as a result, India is starting to cozy up with Armenia. Then there is Turkey and the question of how involved they would get, and if it would trigger any NATO clauses. And of course there is Russia and CSTO, and the question of how they would respond.
The what in the what with the what?
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If the Armenian’s weren’t so horny for genocide I’d support them, but they’re no better than the Azeri’s. Why should I be upset at the Armenian’s being slowly choked out of Nagorno-Karabakh after they forcefully ejected the Azeri’s only a couple of decades ago??
Edit: Like no, really, why should I weep for the coercive removal of a bunch of genocidal people who destroyed the homes of others to force them to leave within my own lifetime?
I thought NK was majority Armenian since at least a hundred years?
That said, it’s only a difference in volume and not in nature.
Does anyone have any insights into the material nature of the conflict?
It’s the same old story everywhere for the past 200 years. A multi-cultural state of some kind sees collapse or invasion, and a region that was previously characterized by a complex multi-ethnic, multi-religious interdependence scrambles to see where the borders are gonna end up. Once those are already set up, even hypothetically, the situation then devolves into pogroms and massacres.
Azeris and Armenians lived and worked in the whole region. Areas where Azeris or Armenians were in the majority weren’t necessarily contiguous. In theory, after the end of the Soviet Union, the two republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan would end up having enclaves within each other - Artsakh and Nakchivan. Only Armenia was much stronger and wealthier than Azerbaijan due to remittances from the Armenian diaspora. After years of pogroms and massacres on both sides, war broke out between the two governments and armenian victory lead to ethnic cleansing in all the districts they seized. Ie, the ones surrounding Artsakh. Oil money and successful political lobbying on the part of Azerbaijan saw the situation invert, the surrounding districts were liberated, and now the armenian enclave is under a blockade.
So why doesn’t Azerbaijan just accept the new status quo? There’s an internal and an external political component. Modern Azerbaijan was shaped by the trauma of losing the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the ethnic cleansings thereafter. With descendants of refugees at home, rallying against the Armenians is just good political instinct. As such, the Azeris won’t be concilliatory towards the defacto government of Artsakh and will seek to subsume it into the Azeri state if possible. It’s not just about preventing future war, there’s too much bad blood and too much to profit politically by waging the conflict further. The revanchist component is undeniable. Furthermore, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have rather capable international lobbies with influence in both NATO and the Kremlin. So it’s not like anybody but regional powers is gonna go out on a limb for either side.
Speaking of which, there’s a wider geopolitical struggle in the region between Turkiye and Iran. The Turks and the Azeris wish to connect the Azeri Nakhchivan enclave to Azerbaijan via rail in the Lanchin Corridor. If they achieve it, then the turkic world would achieve economic corridors that straddle across Eurasia. This is a more pressing matter than ever before since rail links crossing Russia into the EU are disrupted by the Ukraine War and future relations in Europe are uncertain. Meanwhile, while Iran is predicated in a multi-ethnic identity, they are wary of anything that strengthens Azerbaijan and it’s links to the turkic world. In theory the azeris of Iran and the azeris of Azerbaijan are actually quite different from one another, but no state is in the business of trust, goodwill and hoping for the best when it comes to territorial claims. Iran, too, has it’s own hopes for competing rail and maritime links between east and west. Those plans require Azerbaijan’s cooperation, and ideally the Azeris would be compliant junior partner in the caspian rather than victorious at war while bypassing Iran altogether.
This is a very good write up. Israel is an additional actor that should be discussed. 40% of Israel crude petroleum, which it refines in Israel, comes from Azerbaijan. As a resut, the Azeris military is a big customer of the Israel defense industry. A larger conflict that draws in Iran would also likely draw in Israel, which in turn, relaunch both the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and possibly ignite a Third Intifada.
And to top it off, Pakistan has been getting friendly with the Azeris, and Indian has started sending Armenia weapons as a result. This is one of those conflicts that reminds me of WW1 in some ways, where I am sitting around waiting for some backwater politician to get assassinated and it leads to a domino-like triggering of bilateral defense treaties.
Genocide is bad.
And this dispute is about far more than NK, Aliyev wants far more of Armenia itself.
Why stop at the aftermath of the first N-K war? Why not address the “Azerification” of N-K in the run up to the war, and the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in N-K that they did at the beginning of the first war with the help of Gorbachev and the Soviets during Operation Ring? Do you think those things are related to the aftermath of the first N-K war?
West is paranoid about BRICS Summit
I’ll probably re-post this in the new thread when it goes up on Monday, but worthy of discussion.
Basically, there have been rumors floating around that India is unhappy with the proposed expansion of BRICS and that Modi might not go to the summit in person. The South African foreign minister is in contact with India’s and neither of them know what these rumors are talking about, and think that people (the West) are spreading rumors to try and spoil the summit. That, and articles in Bloomberg and others that focus on India and China having interests that are too dissimilar for co-operation. While the animosity between the two countries shouldn’t be understated - Modi very obviously has a different vision of the future to Xi - it also shouldn’t be overstated (there are areas, like BRICS expansion, where their interests can converge, and Russia is a good man in the middle for them).
In short: America is afraid.
