Welcome to c/news! Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember... we're all comrades here.
Rules:
-- PLEASE KEEP POST TITLES INFORMATIVE --
-- Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed. --
-- All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. --
-- If you are citing a twitter post as news please include not just the twitter.com in your links but also nitter.net (or another Nitter instance). There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/libredirect/ or archive them as you would any other reactionary source using e.g. https://archive.today . Twitter screenshots still need to be sourced or they will be removed --
-- Mass tagging comm moderators across multiple posts like a broken markov chain bot will result in a comm ban--
-- Repeated consecutive posting of reactionary sources, fake news, misleading / outdated news, false alarms over ghoul deaths, and/or shitposts will result in a comm ban.--
-- Neglecting to use content warnings or NSFW when dealing with disturbing content will be removed until in compliance. Users who are consecutively reported due to failing to use content warnings or NSFW tags when commenting on or posting disturbing content will result in the user being banned. --
-- Using April 1st as an excuse to post fake headlines, like the resurrection of Kissinger while he is still fortunately dead, will result in the poster being thrown in the gamer gulag and be sentenced to play and beat trashy mobile games like 'Raid: Shadow Legends' in order to be rehabilitated back into general society. --
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.
Please check out the HexAtlas!
The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
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.
Ilan Pappé's book Ten Myths about Israel is really good
Out of curiosity, does anyone have a similar write up about the events/propaganda since Oct 7?
Things like
and so on, but, you know, detailed with sources
I have a few things bookmarked, but I haven't seen anything that collects propaganda bullshit like this in one place
Deluge by Jamie Stern-Weiner is good but not quite as mythbusty, also this https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-israel-killed-hundreds-its-own-people-7-october/49216
From the FT
Israel launched a dozen attacks on UN troops in Lebanon, says leaked report
Israel’s military forcibly entered a clearly marked UN base and is suspected of using the incendiary chemical white phosphorus close enough to injure 15 peacekeepers, according to a confidential report outlining a dozen recent incidents in which the IDF attacked international troops in Lebanon.
Unifil has called these incidents a “flagrant violation of international law”.
When western troops are attacked it's flagrant violation of international law, when civilians are murdered by the hundreds of thousands is just sparkling self defense.
The attacks have drawn international condemnation. But Israel has stood firm. On Sunday, Unifil said an IDF bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin.
UN will send more sternly worded letters!
Oil starts spiking (on its own whatever, 3% is not that big) and butcher tony is in pisrael 
Apartheid Anthony is just probably signing off on the Israeli attack plans against Iran. Things could escalate very quickly from that point onwards. The leaked US spy documents on Israel's attack plans are worrying.
bad time to be Saudi oil infrastructure
Israel apparently have gotten a minimum of 56 Air Launched Ballistic Missiles (ALBMs) out of storage and ready for deployment, likely more. There are signs that this could be a large scale attack, three aerial refueling planes and one AWACS plane have also engaged in practice exercises. So yes, there is potential for things to start blowing up very quickly.
I am genuinely fascinated by what exactly Iran will do in response to this, because they clearly went into this situation knowing that they'd face heavy reprisals and yet that hasn't seemed to dissuade them. They seem pretty confident by directly attacking Israel, whereas Israel's responses are usually more covert or via proxies ("oh yeah, that terrorist attack DEFINITELY wasn't linked to us, no sirree").
I wonder, for example, if the monarchies currently begging Iran to not hit them and telling Israel that they can't use their airspaces will actually change Iran's strategy, or if they'll just blow everything up anyway.
If you directly attack a nuclear-armed state backed by another, more powerful state with even more nukes when you yourself do not have nukes, then you've clearly got some reason to believe you can win or you'd just keep maintaining semi-plausible deniability by arming your regional allies and attacking Israel that way. Sure, states can and have made counterproductive decisions based on bad intel but Iran knows perfectly well that Israel could drop nukes on the 20 most populated cities in its territory within an hour or so and yet does not seem to be dissuaded.
whereas Israel's responses are usually more covert or via proxies ("oh yeah, that terrorist attack DEFINITELY wasn't linked to us, no sirree").
The Israeli response to Iran's April attack broke from that pattern and was done to send a message in my opinion. Everyone focused on the quadcopter drone being shot down, but Israel managed to take out the radar component of an S300PMU2 with an ALBM likely fitted with an anti radiation seeker, and likely fired some long range ALBMs with inert warheads, the booster stages of which landed in Iraq. With Israel preparing over 50 of those weapons, who knows what happens next.
I think Iran is betting on their own version of non nuclear Mutually Assured Destruction with their missile capabilities, to try dissuade Israel from launching too large of an attack or attacking Iran's critical facilities. An Iranian missile attack similar to that which impacted Nevatim, aimed at a soft target like electrical, oil or water/sanitisation infrastructure, would be devastating.
yo dawg I herd you like concentration camps so we put a concentration camp in your concentration camp so you can atrocity while you atrocity
"Israel" sets in motion plan for Gaza concentration camps run by CIA-trained mercenaries: Report | The Cradle
They are calling the concentration camp a "humanitarian bubble". I can't...I just can't...
another newly invented euphemism from the west to add to the pile, they sure do love inventing new words for old concepts to disguise what they are doing.
lethal aid. humanitarian pause. enhanced interrogation. extraordinary rendition.
can't wait for all the new future bullshit phrases and terms. when some government spokesperson uses one of these, the entire western media picks it up and adopts it and runs with it. That's all the evidence one needs they are stenographers, not journalists, who merely shit out what is fed to them. Contorting and torturing their language to defend the government instead of reacting like any normal person would and asking "what the fuck are you talking about? Did you mean Concentration Camp/Torture/Kidnapping to Black Sites/Weapon shipments"?
People told me its an complicated conflict lasting millennia and that one should avoid asking Palestinians because they are „biased“
Unlike the objective fact-based journalism you find in IOF press releases.
The Israeli nazi regime continues its crimes against humanity
#Israeli strike brings down an 11 story building in seconds. People’s homes and lives evaporated. #Beirut #Lebanon
https://nitter.poast.org/mahamyahya/status/1848704982410723411
One of those bunker busters. The weird thing is who was filming? How did they know it was coming?
Today, Kazan has unprecedented security measures. Mobile Internet is limited. Two blocks from the city hall (a large palace where the BRICS summit and the meeting of heads of state are taking place) there is no Internet at all. On the approaches to the center of Kazan there are heavy trucks ready to block the streets. Police at every intersection. And the capital's police in cars of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of Moscow. On some streets there is a person in uniform every hundred meters. It was surprising that a huge temporary tent with a large corridor leading to the main entrance to the building was erected near the city hall. The limousine drives into the tent, from there the passengers leave along the corridor to the grand staircase. That is, the security guards did it in such a way as to exclude as much as possible the open sky for the high-ranking guests. At the same time, the city, with the exception of a closed square and some central streets, is still free for walking. But the center of Kazan is empty. They say that all the universities and schools have been sent on vacation. By the way, kicksharing and carsharing are disabled.
joe biden
Observers warn of eroding civil liberties in a country where democratic institutions are increasingly under pressure and nationalism is weaponized to stifle dissent.
A new bill, scheduled for its first reading in Denmark's rubber-stamp parliament today, aims to prohibit the flying of any flag other than Danish, Nordic, German, Greenlandic, or Faroese in the country’s flagpoles—unless special permission is granted. The law comes amid ongoing efforts by the Danish regime to bolster nationalist sentiment and can be seen as instrumental in ongoing regime efforts to criminalise the pro-Palestinian anti-Genocide movement
Read more...
The flag controversy first erupted in 2018, when Danish citizen Martin Hedegård raised the American flag in his garden in Nørre Bjert, near Kolding, during a family reunion. Hedegård’s actions drew swift backlash from local authorities, invoking an archaic 1915 regulation that forbids the display of foreign flags. He was reported to the police, sparking a legal battle that would eventually reach Denmark's Supreme Court.
Despite Hedegård’s acquittal in the Supreme Court, the regime has pushed forward with efforts to reinstate the ban by supporting a bill spearheaded by far-right extremist Søren Espersen, who is closely aligned with the ultra-nationalist "Denmark Democrates" party. Espersen, known for his chauvinist views and close ties to Zionism, was the original proposer of the flag ban.
Espersen, who will be present at the first reading of the bill, dismissed warings that his bill is a violation of human rights.
“We have to trust the government’s lawyers, and I can’t imagine our government proposing a law that isn’t legally sound,” Espersen said, defending the regime's decision to push ahead with the controversial proposal.
Espersen also rejected accusations that the bill is a purely nationalist gesture.
“There are plenty of symbols that actually mean something, and the Dannebrog [Danish flag] is one of them,” he said. “I’m happy that we’re now having the first reading of the bill. I don’t think there will be many opponents. It’s a statement of what Denmark means to all of us. We have a flag that everyone loves.”
Denmarks Social Democratic-led right-wing regime supports for the bill. So does the far-right "Denmark Democrats", "Danish People's Party" and Conservative parties, thereby making the parliamentary process a mere formality.
Peter Hummelgaard, head of Denmark’s Social Democratic-controlled Ministry of Justice, has offered full-throated support for the proposed law, underscoring the regime’s commitment to promoting nationalist ideals. In a statement Hummelgaard framed the bill as necessary for preserving national identity.
“The Dannebrog is the most important national symbol we have in Denmark. A symbol that unites Danes as a people. The government believes that the Dannebrog should enjoy a very special status in Denmark,” Hummelgaard said. “I also believe that this special status should mean that there should once again be regulations on flagging, so that it isn’t allowed to freely fly other nations' flags. It has been this way for more than 100 years, and it should be this way again.”
Wanna know the funniest part about this whole shit? Originally Denmark had a law that prohibited any other flag other than the Danish flag being flown. This was then challenged in court by a couple of Yanks, who wanted to fly the american flag (which got them harassed by the pigs IIRC) and the ban was eventually thrown out by the Supreme Court, because the actual law turned out to be from pre-constitutional times and the law had some issues, which caused the supreme court to yoink it.
Lol, this coming from the country that literally created a breed of pig with the colors of its flag to protest occupation is really funny.
German? 
I guess due to the german minority of northern schleswig
There's lots of German tourists and campsites and tourist attractions likes to put up a row of flags of the countries must of their customers are from.
And Espersen is a nazi. The only thing that surprises me about his proposal is that the yank and zionist flags are not on the okay list.
The original law was thrown out because of the yanks, so I imagine that Espersen is annoyed that the yankees had to go and challenge yee-olde-ban, since it then began allowing brown people to fly the flags of their home countries, which is what actually ticks our reactionaries off.
what is the news mega position on the Schleswig-Holstein Question?
I support a two-state solution
they have a recognized german minority that lives in the border area