Image is allegedly of the note Trump wrote while editing a speech while on the way back from the G20 summit.
The top Russian-Chinese agent, Donald Trump, has decided that the pace of dedollarization and the decline of American financial hegemony is going too slowly. He has therefore decided to put tariffs on everybody; from America’s largest trading partners to uninhabited islands. In the process, he is trying to create an autarkic America. Jokes aside, interpretation and analysis of this has ranged across a wide spectrum. I think we can broadly agree that the most idiotic are the “true believers”; those that actually believe Trump’s every word, and that this will somehow bring back American manufacturing and whatever other inane promises he has made.
However, there is a much more interesting debate. The first camp are those who believe Trump is acting as an inadvertent accelerationist due to his lack of understanding about how the world economy and dollar hegemony functions (and that this will subsequently ensure that countries flock to China instead). The second camp are those who believe that Trump does know what he’s doing, at least to a certain extent, and that the effective result of this period of madness will be countries kowtowing to the United States; renegotiating trade deals to be even more in favor of the US in order to get tariffs reduced. There’s even a yet more cynical camp who believes that in fact, this entire trade war is just theater for further national wealth redistributions from poor to rich; that all these monumental international trade wars are more of a sideshow. To quote the linked article: “[…] out of the mountain of tariffs that threaten to turn into a global trade war will emerge the mouse of further tax cuts.”
I’m not embarrassed to admit that I have absolutely no idea which one of these is the closest model to reality. We’re in new economic and political ground, and even if the tariffs are quickly renegotiated and/or dropped, the impacts will continue to reverberate around the world for years. I’m sure we’ll debate this for months to come here, though!
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
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.
There Will Be No Return to the 1991 Borders: Russian FM Lavrov - Telesur English
Article
Russia calls on the international community to accept ‘the reality on the ground’ in Ukraine. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that “under no circumstances” will Russia return to the 1991 borders, when Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union.
“Never and under no circumstances. And the Trump administration understands that as well — it has stated more than once that Zelensky will have to accept the territorial issue,” he said.
Lavrov, whose country expanded its territory through the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and four other regions, emphasized that “a return to the 1991 borders, as Zelensky continues to demand, is impossible.”
“If only because people live in those territories whom Zelensky considers to be ‘creatures’. He said it more than once before the start of the special military operation,” Lavrov remarked, while attending a meeting of foreign ministers from the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
In this regard, he noted that while the United States wants to address the root causes of the current conflict in Ukraine, Europe refuses to do so. Russia is calling on the international community to accept the “reality on the ground” in Ukraine, which implies Russian control over nearly 20% of the neighboring country’s territory. Currently, the Russian army is launching a new offensive in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions to create a security zone along the border.
Trump needs to be more efficient at corruption. Instead of funneling money to the MiC via gov contracts and all the various forms of corruption he can just invite all the CEOs into a signal group and pump and dump the equity markets together using options. You can literally “make” hundreds of millions to billions of dollars overnight.
Removed by mod
it’s a thing but why not just stop the shenanigans with the other types of corruption? it’s destroying the earth. he needs to green corruption.
Google has blurred the Starykostyantyniv Air Base in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine. This airfield was attacked by Kalibr cruise missiles in the recent missile attack and has been a prime target for other missile attacks and drones. It is also believed to house F-16s.
“Blurred” makes it sound somewhat innocent, but if you look at it on Google Maps, it’s clearly a thorough censorship job with deliberately chosen areas to “blur” (probably cut out, replaced with old imagery, and blurred).
I wonder if Google hires someone specifically to do that or if they just give an employee at the US State Department access to do it
honest answer? they probably built a self-service portal for the TLAs to submit coordinates for areas to censor
EDIT: according to https://transparencyreport.google.com/government-removals/overview they claim to require the government to submit a written request (easy enough to have a government-side application spit out an email template anyway I suppose)
Google uses maxar as an image provider, they blur their publicly accessible imagery to prevent it being used for BDA (Bomb or Battle Damage Assessment). They did the same thing after Israel’s attack on Iran and after the Russian Oreshnik strike on Ukraine. If you want to use maxar for BDA and general close to live imagery, you have to request access and pay up, and there are limits to what you can release publicly. Also, there are maxar services that source data from the US Department of Defence, so if you want to use those maxar services, you need US approval. Ukraine got temporarily kicked out of this during the “aid freeze” by the USA.
deleted by creator
Sorry I forgot to include that. Bomb/Battle Damage Assessment.
Butt, Derrière, Ass (it’s a law firm)
still on Bing, though im not sure how updated it is
Putin and his entourage travelled to St Petersburg last night, in preparation for talks with Trump’s chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, over the Russia - Ukraine war today.
Witkoff is actually not that bad on this particular issue, US media was calling Witkoff a Russian agent for stating the basic facts of the situation (lots of people in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine want to join Russia) during an interview with Tucker Carlson (yeah…)
He didn’t seem so bad on Gaza either, but two months later . . .
working in an American administration really has a way of corrupting people and turning them into imperialist borgs
They don’t do so as much as they are the Borgs; they just also have cut their losses at times
A bit of pragmaticism does wonders in preserving the empire
ohh for sure, this is directed at the US in general
Dollar Emerges as Latest Victim of This Week’s Markets Mayhem
I wouldn’t call it a victim especially since its self-inflicted.
I hate the passive representation here. As if it’s all driven by some ineffable force of nature that no one can predict or control
A Bloomberg gauge of the greenback tumbled to a six-month low Friday as part of a broader exodus from US assets after trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies continued to intensify. Havens such as the yen, Swiss franc and gold benefited from the outflows.
“Unless you think some resolution is imminent, then the market is likely stay on the current path of least resistance — a dollar exit,” said Rodrigo Catril, strategist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Sydney. “The narrative of exiting US assets and selling the dollar is likely to persist as long as trade tensions remain elevated.”
The dollar’s drop drove the euro to $1.1383, the highest since February 2022.
Nicaragua has withdrawn its support for South Africa’s case against the Apartheid entity at the ICJ, confirmed on 3 April - ICJ official post
No immediate reason was given, but it is suspected that Trump had painted a target on Nicaragua’s back and may have threatened to retaliate against the 450,000 Nicaraguans living in the US, in addition to Nicaragua’s cordial relations with South Africa (who is now also being accused of complicity in 7 October, as an escalation of atrocity propaganda by the Orange Führer’s friends).
Death to ameriKKKa
Thinking back to a phone call he held with Erdogan after Ahmad Al-Shaara-led jihadists took over Damascus in December, Trump said: “[…] I believe that it was Turkey [that brought down the Syrian regime]. And, I said that to him [Erdogan]. I said it. I said ‘Congratulations, you’ve done what nobody’s been able to do in 2,000 years. You’ve taken over Syria’.”
“With different names, but same thing. I said ‘You’ve taken it over’. He’s taken it over through surrogates,” the POTUS added.
“He goes ‘No, no, noo. No, no, noo. It was not meee’,” Trump mimicked Erdogan’s reply on the phone.
“I said ‘It was youu. But, that’s okay. You don’t have to say,” Trump recapped.
“‘Weeell, a sort of, maybe it was me, okay’”.
nobody’s been able to do in 2,000 years. You’ve taken over Syria
Hulagu Khan absolutely in pieces rn
There is probably a more recent and more relevant example that could be given considering the circumstances than distant Mongol conquerors.
Hulagu was just the oldest (but under 2000 years) failed conqueror of Syria I could remember in the moment, nothing I say on this site holds up under scrutiny
It’s okay your desire to mention Mongols is very understandable and not at all unusual.
Hulagu is a really fun name to say
Indirect US-Iran negotiations have started in Oman. President Trump is willing to make concessions in order to reach a deal with Iran, per U.S. Officials
Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, will ONLY discuss the issue of nuclear proliferation – not the ballistic missile program or Iran’s support for regional groups. These two additional demands are a no-go for Iran, and the Supreme Leader has not authorized the Foreign Ministry to even discuss them. If the Americans push on either of these two topics, the negotiations are over.
Iranian media report that the first signs of the negotiations in Oman are ‘positive’
The indirect talks between Iran and the United States in Oman will ‘conclude today’ and not extend into tomorrow, and there is currently no truth to a direct meeting between Witkoff and Araqchi
Immediately following the first round of negotiations in Oman, the Iranian Rial rose sharply against the US Dollar, going from 97,000 USD per Toman to 92,900 USD per Toman
'The indirect talks in Oman were constructive and held in a generally positive atmosphere, and they lasted approximately 2.5 hours. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi talked briefly face-to-face in the presence of the Omani Foreign Minister after the end of the first round of negotiations. The talks will continue, and the exact timing and date will be announced in the near future.
We will not allow any country, including the United States, to go too far and impose unrealistic demands upon us. The Qajar and Pahlavi eras are over, and this is the era of the great Islamic Iran, which holds its head high.’
Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi: ‘While leaving the negotiations room, we encountered the U.S. Envoy, Steve Witkoff, and exchanged greetings out of courtesy, as is customary in diplomacy. Nothing content-related was said.’
‘Today we have come close to a ‘basis’ on which negotiations can be held – Saturday we will continue, and start the negotiation process, including the timetable’
‘The discussions took place in a calm and polite atmosphere, and the American side did not issue any threats’
'Both sides want a deal in the short-term, and not fruitless negotiations that drag on for months or years, but this won’t be easy
- Telegram
The US Supreme Court upheld (without dissent) (most of) the lower court’s order that government has to try to get the “accidentally” imprisoned Maryland guy released from the Salvadoran prison.
No real hope that this will have any material affect for the dude,
but I think this is the first supreme court appeal from this administration that hasn’t immediately succeeded.(I was wrong, they overturned the foreign aid freeze in March)Teen kills parents in attempt to gain funds to assassinate Trump. The teen was linked to the Order of Nine Angels, a neo-nazi/pedophile group originating in the UK. (Huge CW for looking up this group or any related groups for violence, pedophilia, animal cruelty, suicide)
Anyone have any thoughts on ONA or related groups like 764 and terrorgram? They feel very parapolitical to me in a strategy of tension kind of way. They’ve been linked to multiple terror attacks across Europe and the Americas, oftentimes carried out by people as young as 14. Right wing accelerationism seems to be on an upswing since COVID.
Balkanize already.German reaction to Israel killing 15 red cross workers. “Footage brings up questions” Rotten country.
The libs in Pikachu or superhero costumes at that event you go to might be cops.
Idk what to think but there are some utterly apocalyptic ideas floating from and around the administration and the surrounding hack economist and advisor sphere and they even get credible coverage and op-eds in mainstream financial publications and media in the last weeks. Especialy if things detariorate debt parameter wise , there is a Fed-administration crisis and/or the less insane Miran/Bessent plans A/B dont work or even have time to work. Stuff like the administration trying to unilateraly turn all US government bonds into 100 year bonds or taxing capital flows/capital controls. Can they be that suicidal towards the dollar hegemony?
Stuff like the administration trying to unilateraly turn all US government bonds into 100 year bonds
How will that control the yields? Take control of fed or “make them” buy up the treasuries, then you can control the yields. If they want unorthodox ideas, how about doing the trillion dollar coin thing, see if fed accepts it, then use the credit to buy back all the treasuries.
Also, this is a partial debt default btw, you are saying you’ll pay back debt in a fixed period and changing that period. For no reason whatsoever.
Its like if the Government said you’ll have to deposit all your bank notes at the bank before the end of the month after that it’ll be worth zero. That’s a default too, bank notes are perpetual liablities until used for payments to Government.
We thought Milei was the student but he was the master all along
The South started the Civil War to protect slavery when slavery was stronger than ever. We see the same mindset playing out again.
Big brain move: notice the market get too volatile and insecure, so you keep changing the economic outlook every 12 hours so that the big players don’t know wtf is happening and decide to just hold out for a while and not sell anything.
//
On another note, it’s hard to appreciate the timescale of the American empire while you’re living through it. I just noticed that the possibly strongest empire in human history started to crumble after what, 70-80 years? I usually think of empires lasting for centuries, with generations and generations of a golden age.
