Image is from this article, of a Chilean copper quarry.
Title is a reference to Trump’s social media post about copper, which was, as usual, mostly deranged.
Trying to follow Trump’s administration is pretty difficult, but as of right now, he is threatening 30% tariffs on Mexico and the EU starting on August 1st, as well as new tariff announcements on a bunch of other countries (including, bizarrely, a 50% tariff on Brazil), and also apparently a 50% tariff on copper, which the US imports half its supply of and is, of course, a very important metal in many applications.
I’m not sure what the plan is to bring back domestic copper production beyond hoping that it just sorta works out, but prominent copper producers, such as Chile and Canada, seem both concerned and confused. Reuters had a line that made me chuckle:
Boric said he was awaiting official communication from the U.S. government, including whether the tariffs would include copper cathodes, and questioned “whether this will actually be implemented or not.”
Big mood, Boric.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
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.
Much like in The Spectator yesterday there was also a piece attacking Zelensky in the FT 2 days ago
Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused of authoritarian slide after anti-corruption raids
Check this out
“Taking advantage of the war, Zelenskyy is making his first, yet confident, steps towards corrupt authoritarianism,” wrote the editorial board of Ukrainian Truth, Ukraine’s most-read online news outlet.
“A crackdown on the country’s most famous anti-corruption crusader can’t be happening without at least the silent approval from President Zelenskyy, if not active permission,” the English-language Kyiv Independent said.
The president’s top political rivals followed suit. Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko warned that “under the guise of war, the authorities persecute those deemed inconvenient: political opponents, local governments, experts, journalists and activists”.
To my knowledge this didn’t start recently but it’s nice that the Ukraine overton window moved to where I can send libs shit like this about Z-man
Lula just said that if he’s still healthy by then he’ll campaign for re-election in 2026 to stop that “band of crazies”. He’ll be 80 yo next by thenWhat do we think? Mistake? Should be propping up a successor like with Dilma?
That was my first thought but when you think about how close the 2022 election was, which pitted Lula, unarguably the left’s strongest candidate, against Bolsonaro, arguably a weak candidate for the right, I’m sure there are more palatable bolsonaristas the right could run with, it could really be that the PT won’t be able to win without Lula.
From portuguese language twitter sometimes I see news about crazy brazillian right wingers that are apparently popular, but not so much about center-left or left-wing figures that could take Lula’s place, I only hear about Guilherme Boulos but he’s much to the left of Lula (from what I understand) so he likely wouldn’t be the PT’s candidate
Does this mean things are going well? Bolsonaro’s other son — this one a sitting senator, not the congressman conspiring against his country in the US — suggested Trump back off the 50% threat and instead target individual Brazilians for sanction. He has since deleted the tweet
The US leader Donald Trump has ordered the cancellation of the visas of Alexandre de Moraes (the Supreme Court Justice Bolsonaro attempted to kill), his family members and his “allies on the court”. It is not yet known whether by “allies” he means other Justices. Trump, through its Secretary of State Marco Rubio, states that “his administration will hold foreign nationals responsible for censoring protected expression in the United States accountable.”
Rubio: “@POTUS made clear that his administration will hold accountable foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States. Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores to target Americans. I have therefore ordered visa revocations for Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members effective immediately.”
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Telegram
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The Spectator: Ukrainians have lost faith in Zelensky
Check out this CRAZY bit
Ukraine’s social media is filled with daily videos of men being bundled into vans by recruitment officers. In the first six months of this year, Ukraine’s Prosecutor’s Office reported that it had opened 107,672 new criminal cases for desertion. Since 2022 some 230,804 such criminal cases have been instigated, suggesting that more soldiers have deserted the Ukrainian army than there are fighting men in today’s British, French and German armies combined
How long can this go on?
Trump’s announcement to send Patriots to Ukraine seems to cause confusion:
Trump’s mysterious arms “deal” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, in German)
When Trump finally announced that Patriot systems were already on their way to Ukraine, this was immediately denied. According to German government circles: “Nothing is in the bag yet.”
But it is still completely unclear when and from whom Ukraine can receive additional Patriot batteries, unless the USA itself is prepared to hand over its own systems.
It’s not even clear how useful these Patriots are. They’re not cost effective when shooting down Geran drones, and they can’t reliably shoot down Russia’s most advanced missiles. I guess they can shoot down something in between, but surely that’s not going to make a difference.
Russian forces liberated another ten settlements this week (seven in the Donetsk People’s Republic, two in Zaporozhye oblast, and one in Kharkov oblast): https://sputnikglobe.com/20250718/russias-weekly-military-gains-precision-strikes-and-ten-liberated-settlements-1122455709.html
Some combat footage of one of these settlements (Voskresenka, in the DPR) being liberated: https://s5.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/voskresenka.mp4?_=4
Apparently Hersh thinks Zelensky is cooked.
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-end-for-zelensky Is anyone still subscribed and can get the full article?
Felix Baumgartner has died
The only thing that I can say is Hillary 2028!
China-Serbia Peace Guardian 2025 Joint Training to be held this month
BEIJING, June 14 – Army special operations troops of China and Serbia will carry out Peace Guardian 2025 joint training in North China’s Hebei Province in the second half of July, said Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, at a press briefing on Monday.
“This will be the first joint training between Chinese and Serbian militaries. It will help strengthen combat capabilities of participating troops and deepen cooperation between the two militaries,” he stated.
yemeni missile launched and reportedly intercepted
ansarallah and resistance operations in palestine feel like the only thing keeping me afloat rn
House overwhelmingly rejects Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s amendment to cut funds to Israel 422-6.
The six: Al Green (TX) Green (GA) Lee (PA) Massie (KY) Omar (MN) Tlaib (MI)
