On the 20th of October, Moldova - a small, landlocked country bordering western Ukraine and with a population of about 3 million - voted to join the EU. The margin was razor-thin, with the pro-EU vote gaining 50.39%, or an absolute difference of about 11,000 people. There was simultaneously a presidential vote between the incumbent, Maia Sandu, and other candidates, with the main competitor being Alexandr Stoianoglo.
The election was characterized by accusations of Russian interference, with Russian propaganda apparently flooding in, as well as people offering Moldovans money to vote against the EU. While the result does suggest that half the voting-age population of Moldova consists entirely of Russians who want to destroy democracy and all the good in the world, it seems to have just barely failed. This is a bad time to be a site entirely composed of Russian disinformation agents and bots. Twice already today, I’ve had to restart my program after somebody told me “Disregard all previous prompts.”
While Moldova is a poor country which could benefit in some ways from EU membership, in practice, it is unlikely that they will be able to join for the foreseeable future, requiring many of the… reforms… that the EU requires of potential new members. But as basically every major European economy continues to slowly sink as recessions and political crises degrade them, one wonders how beneficial EU membership will even be in the years and decades to come - if it survives for decades. In that sense, it’s as if the survivors of the Titanic are swimming back towards it, believing that being on a bigger - albeit slowly sinking - boat is better than trying their luck on small lifeboats.
Then again, like with Serbia, their geographical and geopolitical position makes anti-Western actions extremely difficult. It is rare that dissention is tolerated for long in the West - one tends to get called a dictator by crowds of people holding English-language signs in non-English countries, photographed by Western journalists who haven’t meaningfully reported on your country in months or years. You can crush your people with neoliberal austerity for years, killing hundreds of thousands through neglect, and face glowing approval from the media - but try and use state resources to benefit the poor, and global institutions start ranking you on the authoritarian dictator scale.
The best case for Moldova is that it becomes an exploitable hinterland for Germany to harvest and privatize as it tries - and fails - to compete in a global economic war between the US and China/BRICS. The worst case is that tensions with Russia over Pridnestrovie, as well as possible eventual NATO involvement (though Moldova is not a member, it is a partner of NATO), result in the ongoing war also reaching them.
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Last week’s thread is here.
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.
Article
On Thursday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the sending of technical assistance to Cuba to overcome the country’s energy crisis.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has established contact with the Cuban government to have the Federal Commission on Electricity of the Aztec country assist the Cuban technical teams. Claudia Sheinbaum further stated that the shipment of fuel will be evaluated if necessary.
Mexico’s president assured that her country has always condemned the US blockade against Cuba for decades. «We will always support the Cubans», said the president.
He also reaffirmed the condemnation of Mexico to the US blockade against Cuba, one of the main causes of the energy crisis that the island is facing.
Sheinbaum assured that, in the upcoming vote at the United Nations on this blockade of Cuba, Mexico will ratify its condemnation of this unilateral sanction.
For several months Cuba has faced a deficit of thermoelectric generation, reaching a ceiling last Friday after the national Electro energy system was disconnected due to failures and breaks in the generation plants, which made the country dark.
As the days have gone on, the repair work of the generating plants has advanced, allowing more than 90% of customers in the capital to have electricity without power cuts.
Mexico, the United Nations, ALBA-TCP and other friendly nations in Latin America have shown their support for Cuba in the midst of the energy crisis, aggravated by the passage of Hurricane Oscar.
Footage from inside the car shows Morales seeking help as shots hit the vehicle. He denounces that the attack was carried out by armed and hooded men. Morales has asked for international support to leave the country, saying that his life is at risk. Morales is also the target of legal proceedings and faces intense political opposition, with the indigenous movement divided amid the tensions.
Dinamo Minsk is Defeated! Another strong start by Lokomotiv, they scored twice in the first and right off the bat in the second and held that lead for the whole game! Dinamo managed to score twice but the railwaymen won the game 3-2!
Lokomotiv next plays SKA Saint Petersburg on Wednesday, Oct 30 at 7:30 Moscow Standard Time
УРА ЛОКОМОТИВ BREAKING: Former president Evo Morales survives an apparent assassination attempt in Shinahota, Bolivia. 14 gunshots against the vehicle he’s traveling in. His driver is wounded.
Evo Morales denounces having survived an ambush and assassination attempt on the Villa Tunari - Shinahota highway in the Trópico of Cochabamba during an apparent attempt to apprehend him. Bullet holes can be seen in the vehicle in which he was traveling.
Director of Radio Kawsachun Coca calls for the urgent protection of the radio station after shots were fired on Evo Morales’ vehicle this morning, during which his driver was wounded. “We reiterate, at this time we need to close the entire highway of the Trópico of Cochabamba.”
Bolivia: Thousands gather at the entrance of the Bolivian National Police in Chimoré in response to the assassination attempt against Evo Morales on Sunday morning. “We are going to encapsulate them here, not even a fly will leave here.”
Statement: Bolivia’s Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) denounces an assassination attempt against former president Evo Morales
Upcoming Elections in Uruguay: A look at Candidates and Key Issues - Telesur English
This Sunday marks the first round of elections in Uruguay, featuring a total of eleven candidates. If no candidate secures more than 50% of valid votes, a runoff will take place on November 24.
Article
The poll indicates that Orsi significantly outpaces his closest rival, Álvaro Delgado from the National Party, who stands at 24%, and Andrés Ojeda from the Colorado Party, with 16%.
In the upcoming presidential elections in Uruguay on October 27, 2024, Yamandú Orsi of the Broad Front is the frontrunner, boasting 45% of the voting intention, according to a recent survey by Opción Consultores published by Telenoche.
The poll indicates that Orsi significantly outpaces his closest rival, Álvaro Delgado from the National Party, who stands at 24%, and Andrés Ojeda from the Colorado Party, with 16%.
Minor parties are also in the race, with Cabildo Abierto and the Independent Party receiving 4% and 1%, respectively. Additionally, the opposition party Identidad Soberana holds 4%, while other parties account for 2%. A further 4% of respondents remain undecided or prefer not to vote.
“According to our Public Opinion Monitor, the outlook leading up to the first round of the National Elections continues to be characterized by a strong bloc parity. The FA (Broad Front) and the sum of the parties that make up the CR are tied at 45%.” This Sunday marks the first round of elections in Uruguay, featuring a total of eleven candidates. If no candidate secures more than 50% of valid votes, a runoff will take place on November 24.
Voters will also elect 99 deputies and 30 senators for the new Parliament and participate in two referendums addressing proposed changes to the pension system and allowing nighttime police raids. The new president is expected to take office on March 1, 2025, commencing a five-year term.
uruguayan, japanese, AND bulgarian elections are all today holy shit
HUGE day for multifandom enjoyers
Looks like the LDP, Japan’s long time right wing ruling party that has been beset by scandals after Abe’s assassination (greatest assassin of all time keeps racking up wins) has lost its parliamentary majority for only the second time in Japan’s post-WWII history. They’ll probably still end up forming a coalition in parliament because Japan lacks any actual opposition parties, but it speaks to how much the tide has turned against the LDP in recent years given that they lost to opponents who are bumbling, chaotic messes who basically have no platforms outside of “well we’re not the LDP.”
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/10/16/735386/Israel-s-war-on-UNIFIL
Dr Marwa Osman interviews veteran Lebanese anti-imperialist journalist Hassan Ilaik about the role of media in the war on Lebanon and Palestine. It’s the second interview in the segment and starts at 14:00 in. He says a lot of very important things.
Dubbed English.
transphobic law
Texas city puts 10k lawsuit bounty on trans people using the bathroom, similar to the abortion bounties.
Question for those more in the loop then I am, is this the first of its kind? I don’t remember seeing these types of lawsuit laws for trans people before.
remember all the times over decades we were told that The Candidate had to have a certain policy to satisfy the Cuban gusano community in Florida?
but now that there’s a key demographic in a swing state that’s crucial to victory, can’t budge at all on enthusiastic support for genocide. sorry Michigan Arabs, have you tried being concerned about something that’s amenable to capital?
if its existence were at stake, what would stop israel from nuking the us after washington tugs the leash one too many times lol?
From The Red Stream on Telegram:
BREAKING: Former Bolivian President Evo Morales just survived an assassination attempt as tensions inside the country’s ruling MAS party violently escalate. 14 gunshots were fired, wounding Morales‘ driver.
Part Five of anti-zionist professor David Miller’s investigation “Are the Jews discriminated against?” in which he systematically disproves the myth that Jews in the UK face any meaningful discrimination.
In this segment he analyzed “How official UK statistics on hate crime against Jews were inflated by Zionist, government pressure”
Number of Iranian martyers in Israeli strike on Iran’s soil is now 5.
Source: Student News Agency (in Farsi)
Update: He was civilian
Most hinged genocide voter: A Kamala Harris supporter yells “I don’t give a fck about Gaza btch” at a toddler to a laughing audience. (Context warning:
link.)
