Thread image created by yours truly, depicting Iran and Pakistan very impolitely not asking whether America, on the other side of the planet, is okay with them transporting gas around.
The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline has long been obstructed by American involvement in the region. Iran completed its section of the pipeline quite quickly, but Pakistan has been unable to finish its construction for a decade due to the fear of falling afoul of American sanctions on Iran. The United States has repeatedly tried to pressure Pakistan to give up the project and obtain gas from other countries instead. Recent articles on the state of the pipeline are contradictory, with some stating that Iran or Pakistan have given up on the pipeline while American sanctions persist. Pakistani officials reject this framing, saying that they are still working with Iran to try and get the project completed somehow. Nonetheless, Iran is becoming increasingly frustrated and is threatening a legal battle and a demand for reparations.
Meanwhile, back in Niger, the $13 billion under-construction pipeline connecting Nigeria and other West African countries to Spain and Italy will likely face delays due to the sanctions applied by the West and ECOWAS on Niger. Those following the European gas fiasco will be aware that while Spain and Italy have been impacted by the energy crisis, they have been very busy making deals with African countries to replace their Russian gas, and thus stand a better chance than Germany of making it through the crisis with their industries somewhat intact. The coup has thrown a wrench into their plans, though they can still obtain some gas from northern African countries.
And, last but not least, America tried for years to stop the construction of the Nord Stream pipelines between Germany and Russia, which culminated in them deciding to blow them up late last year.
All in all - the United States really does not like it when countries build up energy infrastructure and gain some independence from them.
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 is here in the comments.
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.
Update for August 14th
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Global
Michael Roberts gives us a State of the Global Economy, with particular focus on the US (inflation) and China (deflation).
Rice prices hit 15 year high due to export restrictions and bad weatherAM
South Africa Supports Iran’s Entry Into BRICSTS
Some leaders of developed countries not on the invitation list for the 3rd Belt and Road ForumGT
Very funny. Basically, European leaders said that they aren’t going, and then China said that they haven’t been invited anyway. Real “guy who didn’t get invited to the college party and is saying that they wouldn’t go anyway but really he’s deeply insecure about it” hours. N-no, I’m not speaking from experience.
Europe
Lower energy prices and China’s sluggish economy boost EU tradeEuractiv
Decoupling from China by importing goods from countries that have imported goods from China. The brain geniuses in Brussels have blown me away again.
Food prices up 13% in France year-on-year.AM
Michael Roberts covers the British economy and its various agonies. British retailer Wilko has declared bankruptcy and fallen into administration, affecting 12,000 employees.AM But fear not: 0.2% growth! EN
Insolvencies on the rise in Germany amid economic downturnEuractiv Germany has committed 57 billion euros to green infrastructure for 2024.DW Unions in Germany warn that the government must hike pay and improve working conditions to recruit new workers in the face of retirements.DW
Polish government plans referendum on rejecting 'thousands of illegal immigrants’EN
The IMF has expressed concern about measures imposed by the US and EU on Kosovo, put in place as Kosovo had not undertaken the required actions to ease tensions.BNE
Western Asia
Armenia requests emergency meeting at UNSC over Nagorno-KarabakhCGTN
Iran and the US have reached a deal in which America will unfreeze $6 billion of oil revenue held in South Korea in exchange for five American spies held in Iran.AM Nearly all of Iran’s drug supply from domestic sourcesBNE Iran kickstarts construction of major uranium mine for nuclear energy programAM
The UN has removed the oil from the decaying Yemen tanker and so the immediate threat is gone, but the tanker itself still needs to be moved and scrapped.AM
The US is working on a deal with Saudi Arabia which would agree to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for the US’s help in developing a nuclear program, with pressures being applied to try and get Saudi Arabia to limit ties with China and keep the petrodollar in place. On the other hand China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner and the two countries generally have strong ties and they want into BRICS.GPE On the other other hand, Saudi Arabia still wants into Western fighter jet programmes and generally wants their weaponryMEE. On the other other other hand, Saudi Arabia and Russia are still in cahoots in OPEC+ fighting the oil price cap and US using the strategic petroleum reserve, and its consequences. On the other other other other hand, I don’t think MBS is actually THAT principled and could be swayed by a heartfelt promise by the US. So I don’t really know what’s gonna happen.
Former Israeli general compares treatment of Palestinians to ‘Nazi Germany’ and 'apartheid’MEE
Central Asia
Russia has launched a rocket to the moon carrying the first domestically made probe in modern Russian history, the Luna-25.BNE Russian oil exports have remained at 7.3 million barrels/day but have reached their highest revenues since November 2022.AM
Motherfucking markets, how do they work?
Lukashenko has stressed the importance of good relations with neighbouring EU countries, emphasizing technology.AM
This is a fascinating thing to say when you previously said that Poland and others were planning on invading you and you put nukes in your country for precisely this purpose.
Central Asia: Low water levels on Irtysh River create quandary for KazakhstanEN
Signs of Chinese business life return to Afghanistan 2 years after the Taliban’s takeoverSCMP
The threat of US sanctions on Pakistan might have killed off the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project for good, with Iran having completed it portion but Pakistan unable to do so without pissing off America. The myth of consensual development projects - isn’t there somebody you forgot to ask?AM
Eastern Asia and Oceania
An article on the present and future of digital trade and localisation between China and ASEANBilaterals Wang Yi’s been to MalaysiaCGTN and Singapore and made friends.CGTN
China found a CIA spy and got 'em.AM China’s building a new ultra-high voltage transmission line from Xinjiang to Chongqing, as well as a pumped storage plant,CGTN and one in Qinghai.SCMP Chinese scientists have announced a breakthrough in laser weapon technology with a new cooling system which is apparently already being used in weapons development.SCMP One of China’s largest property developers is facing losses of $7.6 billion in Q1 and Q2 2023, showing that China is a mere 3 days from collapse.MP China’s esports industry is coming into conflict with Chinese anti-gaming addiction youth laws.ANN Global Times hits back at Biden’s comments that the Chinese economy is a ticking time bomb.GT Honestly, when has Biden saying a derogatory thing about a country or its leadership ever actually been connected with reality? I would have thought after the “ruble to rubble” thing, his handlers might start jingling the car keys in his face when he starts talking about China or Russia.
Residents near one of India’s largest uranium mines suspect contamination affecting their fields and healthMongabay Conflict inside the Indian government over Manipur continues.ANN
The U.S. is Popular in Southeast Asia, But Chinese Influence Isn’t Going Away: StudyCGS
New coalition in Thailand excludes general election winnerWSWS
Bourgeoisie infighting, basically? Or is China whispering into some ears? This and Myanmar is something I’d love to do a megathread about but I just don’t know fucking shit and I don’t trust that 1-2 hours of research would be enough to get even a good gist.
Africa
Putin has announced his intention to sign free trade agreements with Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt.Bilaterals Russia will deliver 25,000 to 50,000 tons of grain to Africa for free in the near future.AM
China ‘winning lion’s share’ of construction projects in Africa, study findsSCMP
The study found that Chinese infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa totalled US$155 billion over the past two years, and that such investments had given Beijing leverage over African governments. By contrast, total US foreign direct investment in Africa came to US$44.8 billion in 2021.
Delegates from the 25 coffee-producing African countries are meeting in Uganda to influence the African Union to make coffee a priority crop to pull millions out of poverty.PD
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Blinken has voiced support for ECOWAS’s efforts against Niger, though says that military force should only be used as a last resort.AN Nigerians don’t seem terribly enthusiastic about war with Niger based on this small sample.AN France fully supports the decision by ECOWAS to deploy a standby military force on the borders of Niger.Euractiv Niger has thanked Guinea for their support.AN The construction of the $800 million Kandadji hydroelectric dam, which would have boosted electricity generation in Niger by 50%, has been halted by their Chinese contractor as the funds have been frozen by sanctions.
The Sahel Tug-of-War: U.S. And Russia Face Off For Influence In NigerNC
RADIO FREE EUROPE ALERT! RADIO FREE EUROPE ALERT! Nonetheless, as Yves says, seeing what the propagandists are saying can be revealing about what the empire itself might be thinking.
Kenya’s government has launched talks with the opposition following violent protests over the cost of living and electoral reforms.AN Kenyan lion populations are dwindling, with a 90% decrease over the last century.AN
Zambia’s plan to dig its way out of debt with a copper revivalFT
It’s never good when Bezo and Gates are involved in things like this.
North America
A Google subcontrator fired two thirds of its employees for trying to unionize.PW
A US workers’ union has begun to fight back on a plan by TSMC to bring 800 foreign workers to work on their Phoenix plant.SCMP
Grindr issues mandatory return to office policy 2 weeks after union driveRNN
The FBI has investigated which dastardly Americans were using illegal Israeli software and found that the FBI was using it.AW
Deaths of despair and suicides in the US at historic levels, with 49,000 suicide deaths in 2022 and over 500,000 since 2011.WSWS
Why is Canada giving two automakers $30 billion dollars in subsidies for EV battery production?WSWS
To make cars, presumably.
Latin America
An Iranian fuel company is helping Venezuela by selling it a home-made catalyst for the fuel production process.AM
Indigenous groups say that Lasso is responsible for the spiral of violence in Ecuador, of whom the latest victim is Villavicencio.TS State of emergency declared in Ecuador after killing of presidential candidateWSWS
They speculate that Lasso might have a hand in the killings, or at a minimum is benefiting from it, to boost his chances of winning or to overturn the results if he loses.
Paraguay is in a bit of trouble as they have a strong connection to Taiwan but the bourgeoisie want economic ties with China now.SCMP
Venezuela Expels Over 8,400 Illegal Miners From the AmazonTS
The War Against The West
Zelensky has fired all heads of military enlistment in Ukraine due to corruption.AM
Germany has sent Ukraine two more Patriots for Kinzhals to destroy.AM They’re also looking at sending Taurus missiles now according to some rumors. Usually I wouldn’t report rumors like that but every single time the German government has said that they aren’t going to send a weapons system to Ukraine, it ends up in Ukraine like six weeks later, so I assume this will be no exception.DW
EU delivers Ukraine 224,000 shells under ammo planEuractiv
Over 6 months? That’s less than 1500 per day.
Ukraine Starts Mandatory Evacuation From Kupyansk CityTS
The Polish President Said Kiev Isn’t Doing The West Any Favors & Its Counteroffensive FailedNC
I hate it when two such lovely countries fight like this.
Egypt has given the US the middle finger when asked to supply weapons to Ukraine.MEE
An absolute broadside of articles from Responsible Statecraft lately:
A security pact with Saudi Arabia would be a disaster for US interestsRS
How US media builds public support for confrontation with ChinaRS
UAE-Iran islands dispute complicates regional diplomacy (But Abu Dhabi’ss claims to Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa in the Strait of Hormuz aren’t likely to lead to direct confrontation.)RS
The myth of a strong postwar UkraineRS
No matter how the war ends, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has created the very outcome he most wanted to prevent: a thriving anti-Russian, pro-Western democracy, armed to the teeth with American weaponry, destined at a minimum to become a de facto ally of Washington, if not an official member of the NATO alliance.
Or so it is thought in Washington and other Western capitals. But, with the sole exception of Ukraine’s deepening and quite understandable revulsion toward Russia, it is much closer to wishful thinking than to reality.
They had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
Retrospectives, Analysis, History, Theory, and Technology
WeWork’s Stock Imploded to 13 Cents Yesterday; Its Cult-Master, Adam Neumann, Cashed Out Years Ago and Is a BillionaireWSoP
Honey, wake up, read up on your BidenomicsPW theory! PW
Eritrea celebrates freedomMR
Dipshittery and Cope
FDA Tries to Pretend It Didn’t Oppose Ivermectin Use for CovidNC
Oh god, they’ve turned into horse paste people. Okay, actually engaging with the material here - until there’s actual good RCT studies about ivermectin being good at treating coronavirus, I will not be smearing it up my ass. Actually, even if there are, I won’t be taking it, because there’s a bunch of other things I could be doing to not catch it in the first place.
LGBTQIA+
The World Bank has cut off new funding to Uganda due to their new draconian anti-LGBTQIA+ laws.Advocate
Ethiopia’s LGBTQIA+ community has blamed much of the verbal and physical harrassment they get on TikTok, which has posts calling for violence against them.AN
Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland have asked the state’s largest school system to block a requirement for their students to learn about LGBTQIA+ people.Advocate
An Idaho anti-trans bathroom law has been blocked by a temporary injunction by a judge.Advocate
Malaysia has banned the possession of pride-themed Swatch watches.Advocate
Climate and the Environment
Amazon nations decry EU deforestation rules in thinly-veiled joint condemnationCCN
US takes $1.2 billion gamble on carbon-sucking vacuums, DW or, Energy Dept. Announces $1.2 Billion to Advance Controversial Climate TechnologyDeSmog
“If we continue this pace of exponential growth every year, I think a billion tons a year is definitely, definitely achievable.”
A solid 3% of current yearly emissions by some unspecified date! Holy moly!
Researchers who have analyzed the technical requirements of direct energy capture, such as energy load, warn that it is little more than a boondoggle. A 2020 analysis published in Nature Communications found that “the energy and materials requirements for [DAC] are unrealistic even when the most promising technologies are employed.”
In a 2019 study that examined the impacts of direct air capture, Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, found that it would increase CO2 emissions, air pollution, fossil mining and fossil infrastructure, largely because of the enormous amount of energy required to extract, compress, and separate the CO2.
The absolute most you could say about it is that’s pointless but it could lead to new and better technologies. More realistically, it’s the fossil fuel industry squirting out squid ink.
I Love My Trans Comrades!
But Iran’s access to the funds will be regulated by Doha, during which it can only use the cash to buy humanitarian products such as medicine and food, NYT claimed.
what a bullshit fuckin deal. it’s Iran’s money!
Americans on disability who are lucky enough to be eligible to save some money (meaning they were unlucky enough to become disabled before age 26) are only able to spend that money on “qualified disability expenses” like rent and food.
Biden’s New Ban on China Aimed in Wrong Direction, Expert Says
“One must wonder what the end game here looks like and what might be the underlying strategy that informs such actions,” he said, adding that the Biden administration has revealed “a penchant for speaking out of both sides of its mouth.”
It sent senior level officials such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry to Beijing “seemingly to mend fences and build positive momentum in bilateral relationship, and then in the very same breadth it adopts further restrictions and prohibitions that send an entirely different message,” Simon said.
“How can we expect China’s cooperation on key global issues when we continue to send such mixed signals? Our actions will likely have only very minimal impact at best. The political message to China, however, will be loud and clear: you remain a threat and our actions reflect that thinking,” he added.
“One must wonder what the end game here looks like and what might be the underlying strategy that informs such actions,”
The ‘disinformation’ craze is ruining what’s left of journalism
On the disinformation craze, with journalists acting like the concept was invented deep in a Soviet/Russian lab somewhere to destabilise Western countries - but WE MUST RESIST!
It’s frankly incredible how quickly it all ramped up. This image, showing the number of mentions of “disinformation” in New York Times articles, for example:
The western media increasingly has nothing constructive to say about anything. We must kill, we must oppose, we must clamp down, we must sanction. When China and Russia and others are saying the opposite, it’s obvious that all they can do is scream “Disinformation! Propaganda!” as they put their hands over their ears.
Part of the popularity of disinformation journalism for journalists themselves, newsrooms as a whole and media organizations, comes as a result of material need. As outlined at the beginning of this piece, most news outlets rely to some extent on financial aid from the government for existence in a variety of forms, including tax credits and being designated as “qualified Canadian journalism organizations.” Simultaneously, the government has expressed an interest in supporting journalism that supposedly fights disinformation, and has dedicated an incredible sum of money to journalism in general, amounting to more than $700 million since 2018 for a variety of publications. As such, there’s a vested interest in tailoring journalism to meet what the government is looking for, particularly if jobs, newsrooms and entire companies depend upon it.
Looking beyond the business case, disinformation journalism is attractive to journalists partly because it offers a sense of purpose. Legacy media no longer has a near-exclusive hold on readers, and it’s easier than ever to find a variety of news sources with varying perspectives and approaches. Instead of seeing this as a net positive, disinformation reporting allows journalists to point to it as a problem and hold themselves up as a solution. Their job is no longer to write about what’s going on, but to filter out what they deem to be illegitimate for readers. This has the function of reinforcing the role of legacy media, finding a purpose in the industry (the only “legitimate” source of information you can trust happens to be the sorts of places they work at) and trying to repair relations with readers.
The approach, however, has been a failure. As mentioned at the beginning of this piece, journalism in Canada has been hitting new lows in recent years with regard to its financial state. Things are also looking bad in terms of its perception among Canadians. A 2022 report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that trust in Canadian media from readers had dropped to its lowest point since 2016 (around when the disinformation craze started). At the time, about 55 per cent of respondents said they “trust most news, most of the time.” In 2022, just 42 per cent of respondents said the same.
All the libs would be calling My Lai “Dezinformatsiya from Winnie the Pooh” if it happened today.
This is pretty good but leaves me asking how did they miss the obvious connection with the online ad model/social media as dictated by Google? I feel that talking about media disinformation and not at least mentioning this side will paint an incomplete picture here. TL;DR commentary on some history of Google search and journalism below.
So why focus on ads? Because if you go back and look at the rise of google’s adsense, the main point was to create fake pages with either misleading or straight up false information to deceive readers and lead them towards either another bigger website or to sell some shitty product, you know the year is 2006 and your grandpa is about to spend $499 on some fake shit from one of those silly obviously fake pages.
So then they talk about journalism and what actualy happened? Journalism became an extremely online thing, as mentioned old TV news losing ratings(though obviously still influential) they have to resort to what? Exactly the google/internet ad revenue model aka if you don’t get “engagement”(the history of Google algo ranking itself is fascinating) you wont earn as much from ads. I don’t blame them either since if you go back and look the top earning websites were making absurd amounts just from sitting at the top of google search. The money was there and the party was only starting.
Then 15 years passed and journalism is now also extremely connected to the ad model and social media to the point half of it is just “rage bait” or click bait. Google was a major if not the major force behind the transition to websites relying on social media too. So you have fucking NYT on twitter saying nonsense but doesn’t matter if it gets 100k-500k views that are redirected to the article page and some loser sees an ad or buys their sub.
But the takeaway is the media and internet tech giants will never admit this was a demon they created. The biggest misinformation source? Literaly google. Now go do something about Google search now. Too late.
Misinformation you say? As far as I can see from a functional point of view your shitty NYT article, your fake amazon review, your fake niche website about fishing boats or something are all doing the same thing: Trying to get your attention and direct you to either watch/click an ad or buy something. To tackle this you can’t be a liberal and say oh its just the news sources, its a problem with the entire Google based internet. IMO there is no solution other than to tear it all down, in principle online advertising shouldn’t exist to begin with.
Look at China though, people already said this before but the firewall is extremely important to simply achieve one thing: not allow Chinese internet to become the same Google adsense fueled collection of mostly useless websites. Of course they certainly have their own problems over there, but at least in principle they are in control and in principle the CPC can change things if necessary. The same isn’t true over here.
great post, comrade.
it feels to me like it’s just another example of how the profit motive cannot do anything but make profits, after decades – centuries, even – of liberals worshipping it.
if your industries follow the profit motive, then they will not create new industries inside your own country, they will go abroad, to your ultimate detriment.
if your military companies follow the profit motive, then they will not create good, functional weapons as part of an effective doctrine, they will make pieces of shit designed to be bought for exorbitant amounts of money and then destroyed in war zones.
if your media companies follow the profit motive, they will not create better quality news and analysis, they will descend into clickbait hell where engagement, good or bad, is the only worthwhile metric
Welcome to Leftistan dear Liberals
