Image is of Colombian President Gustavo Petro giving a speech at the UN in 2022.
Trump has arrived in office with the force of an avalanche; ending slowing a genocide on the one hand, while simultaneously promising a total nightmare for minorities and the poor throughout and outside the United States on the other hand. [edited for clarity; I do not actually think Trump has ended the Palestinian genocide obviously, I was making a joke - but the ceasefire is a genuine improvement in conditions for millions of people right now who are on the edge of death, so it cannot be dismissed]
It’s still far too early to truly compare and contrast his imperial strategy with Biden’s, but initial signs show that there does appear to be somewhat of a reorientation. Biden was famous for being two-faced; ostensibly offering aid and stability, while also blowing up your pipeline to ensure you did not actually have an alternative to his idea. Trump, meanwhile, seems only really capable of aggression, threatening several “allied” nations with what may as well be sanctions because of the economic harm they’d do. I suspect we’ll be debating for a long time how much of this can be attributed to the specific characteristics of Trump, or whether he merely embodies the zeitgeist of imperial decline - a wounded empire lashing out with extreme violence to try and convince everybody, including themselves, that they can still be the world imperialist hegemon.
I’ll admit it: I did not believe that Trump would actually try and go ahead with putting tariffs on basically anybody who annoys him. And while the threat could still be empty in regards to countries like China and Canada, Colombia is the first indication of the potential of his strategy. Despite some fiery words from President Petro, after Trump’s administration revealed the punishment if Colombia did not agree, it appears that Colombia will in fact be accepting deported migrants after all. It’s funny how that works.
Last week’s thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the HexAtlas!
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.
I had no idea that American brainworms ran so deep. Yesterday I was buying some edibles, was chatting with the sales clerk, and he was talking about how he grew up in the US and that he and his family were just planning to wait out the next four years. I didn’t really feel like starting an argument so I just smiled and nodded then found my conversational opportunity to leave. The whole time I was thinking “Dude, you have various queer pride and pro-Palestine emblems visible on your person while you’re working in a Canadian weed store, and even you think that your homeland’s socioeconomic system is worth saving and the Democrats are worth voting for?” It was absolutely surreal.
I’m laughing my ass off at all the libs saying the USAID getting defunded is part of Putin’s master plan, like he’s Palpatine or something. But in all serious, WTF is going on?
Is this some kind of failson vs failson internal civil war where the libertarian failsons (Musk) genuinely believe that USAID and the NED are helping colored people and that’s why they need to be defunded? Versus the Kagan neocon failsons who know that the NED/USAID are designed to destabilize America’s enemies.
I’m starting to think that Chris Hedges was right when he said that America will last for 15 years at most back in 2018.
https://www.alternet.org/amp/trump-california-water-2671047745 Trump dumps billions of gallons of water farmers were counting on for summer
Jon Stewart saying AI breakthrough in china is because of lack of labour laws and human rights. Funny TV men as political pundits in America I guess
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/02/trump-revokes-protections-venezuelans?ICID=ref_fark Trump revokes deportation protections for 300,000 Venezuelans in US
US market futures down by like ~1.2%, Bitcoin down by ~5%. It looks like everyone still thinks that the tariffs are very temporary or will be removed before they have any real impact (2-3 days) on the supply chain. Impossible to say. Stocks and crypto has been very disconnected from reality (hello, $TSLA), wouldn’t be surprised if it all just completely decouples and the stock market starts trading purely on vibes.
[edit] Looks like -2% down for the overall market and ~10% down for bitcoin. Nothing huge so far.
The worst guy you know, Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, made a good point:
"Most governments don’t want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up.
While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements.
At best, maybe 10% of the money reaches real projects that help people in need (there are such cases), but the rest is used to fuel dissent, finance protests, and undermine administrations that refuse to align with the globalist agenda.
Cutting this so-called aid isn’t just beneficial for the United States; it’s also a big win for the rest of the world."
He posted this along with that meme of that guy standing up.
I guess USAID was backing anti-bukele guys in El Salvador or something, I imagine he could’ve gotten rid of that by sucking up to trump but maybe he’s just happy to be rid of that all together.
Now that I think about it I guess the cuban government has less annoyances to deal with since a lot of USAID money must’ve gone into astroturfing shit on the island
Is this good?
Edit: musk is doing am hostile takeover of the US government lol
Elon Musk was at USAID this weekend trying to access a SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility], State Department source tells me
https://nitter.poast.org/kenklippenstein/status/1886105958872482267#m
We finally found out what Trump’s demand is in exchange for removing tariffs on Canada. The demand is… Annexation LMAO.
We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason. We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!
Donald Trump Truth Social Post 08:26 AM EST 02/02/25
Are we cooked CanalBros?
Sheinbaum orders tariffs against the USA in response to Trump; “categorically” rejects criminal alliances
Sheinbaum ordered the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, to implement tariff and non-tariff measures for defenders of Mexican interests, after the United States imposed widespread tariffs on Mexican products.
The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said this Wednesday that she does not believe that this week US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on the country and its neighbor Canada will come true.
President Claudia Sheinbaum ordered Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to implement tariff and non-tariff measures to defend Mexico’s interests, after the United States imposed widespread tariffs on Mexican products.
The president also “categorically rejected the White House’s slander against the Government of Mexico of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any interventionist intention in our territory,” responding to Washington’s statement that Mexican drug trafficking organizations have a “intolerable alliance” with the Government of Mexico.
