Image of destruction in Mandalay, Myanmar, from Al Jazeera.
As if the ongoing civil war wasn’t enough, Myanmar has now been struck by a very powerful earthquake, resulting in 2000 deaths and thousands more injured as of the time of writing. Estimates are that the death toll could reach 10,000. Infrastructure like roads and bridges are damaged, and the hospitals are overwhelmed. The earthquake struck during Eid prayers, resulting in even higher casualties as several mosques collapsed. 20 million people already required humanitarian assistance in Myanmar, and now the situation there will be even worse. International rescue teams have rushed into the country, and aid is being raised, though with USAID experiencing the… changes that it is, the United States will be of even more limited help than usual. So far, China has sent $14 million, while USAID has supplied $2 million. In Thailand, the death toll seems considerably lower, though there has still been significant damage; a skyscraper under construction collapsed in Bangkok.
Myanmar is located very close to the boundary between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. In particular, the country is divided in two by the north-south oriented Sagaing fault. This fault is typically strike-slip; that is, each side of the fault moves horizontally past each other. The earthquake’s depth was 10 kilometers, which is pretty shallow, and its proximity to the surface amplified the felt force of the earthquake. Additionally, the soft soil in this region tends to further amplify seismic waves through a process called liquefaction. Combine all this with the lackluster building codes due to many years of impoverishment and civil wars, and this explains why the death toll, and the expense to the country in general to repair damage, will probably be extremely high.
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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.
China strikes back with rare earth curbs, new tariffs
Full text
By Cheng Yu and Ma Si | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2025-04-04 18:10
China launched a series of rapid and strong countermeasures on Friday, including export controls on rare earth elements and new tariffs, firing back at the latest round of bullying tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
In a joint statement, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs announced immediate export restrictions on seven key medium-to-heavy rare earth elements — namely samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.
These elements are crucial for manufacturing high-performance magnets used in defense, aerospace, and green energy technologies. Citing their dual-use nature in military and civilian industries, Chinese authorities said the move aligns with global norms and is necessary to protect national security.
In a parallel move, Beijing imposed an additional 34 percent tariff on all US-origin imports from April 10, as approved by the State Council, China’s Cabinet.
China has also added 16 entities from the US, including High Point Aerotechnologies and Universal Logistics Holdings Inc, to its export control list.
Under the new rule, Chinese companies are prohibited from exporting dual-use items to these 16 US entities. Any ongoing related export activities should be immediately halted, said the Ministry of Commerce.
This one is funny:
Citing their dual-use nature in military and civilian industries, Chinese authorities said the move aligns with global norms and is necessary to protect national security.
China is doing rules-based international order on Burgerland.
it won’t stop going down huh
Vietnam seeks 3-month delay on tariffs for negotiations
spoiler
Vietnam’s trade ministry has asked the Trump administration to put on hold its planned 46% tariff on imported Vietnamese products and engage in further negotiations. The trade ministry made the request in a diplomatic note soon after President Donald Trump announced a minimum 10% import duty on all exporters to the US and additional duties on about 60 nations. Vietnam was hit with one of the largest “reciprocal” tariffs.
The ministry seeks a phone call between Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer “as soon as possible,” according to a statement on the government’s website.
There is still “room for discussion and negotiation,” according to the statement, which cited Ta Hoang Linh, head of the ministry’s foreign market development department. Vietnamese goods exported to the US mainly compete with those from other countries, not American products, Linh said.
Vietnam planned to dispatch another delegation to the US this weekend led by Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc. “Vietnam regrets the United States’ decision to impose reciprocal duties on Vietnamese exports to the US,” foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement responding to Bloomberg’s questions.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who on Thursday said the tariff is “not in line with the good relationship between the two countries,” ordered a task force be set up to provide a quick response. The new tax from the US, Vietnam’s largest export market, could significantly dent the nation’s ambitious goal of boosting growth to at least 8% this year. Chinh said the growth target remains unchanged for now.
According to the most recent report of the US Trade Representative Office, the average import tax rate of Vietnam’s tariffs is 9.4%, major US products exported to Vietnam are subject to import tax rates of 15% or lower, so in fact, Vietnam’s taxable products are much lower than the calculated 90% or 46%, Vietnam’s finance ministry said on its website.
“We know that there will be continued dialog and negotiation,” Adam Sitkoff, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, said at an event on Thursday. If countries can “find a way to make a deal with President Trump, then I think that you’ll see changes,” he added.
Who was the nominee that was unanimously voted in after Booker’s speech? I can find references to dems voting unanimously for a trump nominee, but can’t find who and the 3 recent ones seem to have been voted in along party lines https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/one_item_and_teasers/nom_confc.htm
BREAKING: Canadian PM Carney:
“If America doesn’t want to lead anymore, Canada will take that role.”
My look of visible disgust while I’m on stage at the Oscars after I open the envelope and thoroughly disagree with the jury’s decision.
China announces retaliatory tariffs on US goods - 34%
China will impose an additional 34% tariffs on all US goods starting on 10 April. JDPONDon ending US hegemony in real time, 川建国万岁！
EU are threatening X/Twitter with a billion euro fine
Conveniently occuring immediately after the tariffs come out suggests to me they’re willing to negotiate the fine away if the tariffs do.
Flight attendants on how deportees were treated on deportation flights
https://xcancel.com/propublica/status/1907599803531546650THREAD: Last year, ProPublica started receiving tips from an unusual kind of source: flight attendants.
They said they’d worked on deportation flights for ICE, and they could tell us what it was really like on board.
Most of the flight attendants hadn’t knowingly signed up to help deport people. When they took their jobs, they’d expected to fly VIPs to glamorous locales.
Then the airline started working for ICE, and many or most of their passengers were detainees, people in chains.
We spoke with 7 current and former Global Crossing Airlines crew members. Their accounts were consistent with one another and aligned with what’s in legal filings and other records about ICE Air—important because neither GlobalX nor ICE answered any of ProPublica’s questions.
The flight attendants’ training classes hadn’t prepared them for this, they told us.
One flight attendant said: “They never taught us anything regarding the immigration flights… They didn’t tell us these people were going to be shackled, wrists to fucking ankles.”
The flight attendants said there were new rules to follow, though:
•Don’t talk to the detainees.
•Don’t feed them.
•Don’t make eye contact.
•Don’t walk down the aisles without a guard escorting you.
•Don’t sit in aisle seats, where detainees could get close to you.One flight attendant described needing to give emergency oxygen to a little girl traveling with her parents on a deportation flight. The girl had collapsed with low oxygen saturation and a high fever, and the flight was diverted back to the US. But when paramedics rushed on only the mom was allowed to join the little girl as they took her to the hospital, the flight attendant said.
The flight attendant said the dad had to stay, and that he was going to be deported without the rest of his family, without knowing if his daughter would live.
Three flight attendants said they did get some rare guidance on how to run evacuations on deportation flights from ICE Air pilots.
“Just get up and leave” after you open the exit door, one recalls a pilot telling him. “That’s it… Save your life first."
“It was as if the detainees’ lives were worthless,” another said.
The flight attendants who spoke with ProPublica believed those lives were not worthless. That, many of them said, is why they no longer fly for ICE Air—and why they shared their stories.
Though we didn’t hear from GlobalX, then-CEO Ed Wegel did address deportation flights in 2023.
“In the time that we’ve been flying, we’ve not seen any inhumane treatment,” he said. "There have been threats made to our crew members…But we haven’t seen any mistreatment at all.”
NSA Director has been booted, think we can all take the day off?
The four ameriKKKan soldiers that were reported missing in Lithuania over a week ago have officially been confirmed dead, L rest in piss.
Death to ameriKKKa
According to Middle East Observer, Macron and President of Lebanon Joseph Aoun made a joint statement yesterday that Hezbollah were not responsible for the rockets fired from Lebanon and that Israel is breaching the ceasefire. I can’t find any English sources, I’m assuming it’s only in French right now (if true).
https://x.com/ME_Observer_/status/1907795746402746400
https://xcancel.com/ME_Observer_/status/1907795746402746400
The US deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived in Beirut today to basically tell Aoun to forcibly disarm Hezbollah or else. Lebanon was promised GCC money by the US in return for electing Aoun president and that money has failed to materialize entirely (shocker). Now they are saying Lebanon will only get the money if they “get tougher” on Hezbollah, and the UAE is specifically saying it won’t give Lebanon money without normalization with Israe. Basically the US, Israel, and the Zionst Cooperation Council are trying to restart the Lebanese Civil War.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-warn-lebanon-tougher-hezbollah-unlock-gulf-cash-sources-say
South Korea’s President Yoon ousted as court upholds impeachment after martial law
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/4/south-koreas-constitutional-court-removes-president-yoon-from-office yoon is gone in SK. pretty darkly funny that the biden white house defended this guy
A little news from the Sahel for today.
Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop stated that, “For us, Ukraine is a terrorist state,” due to the Kiev regime’s funding and arming of terrorists in the Sahel: https://tass.com/world/1938401
Russia became the first country to recognize the Alliance of Sahel States: https://tass.com/world/1938437
