Image is a map of the Western Sahara, sourced from this article in the Middle East Eye. Much of the information in the preamble also came from there, as well as this article.
November 6th marked the 50th anniversary of Morocco, under King Hassan II, beginning the invasion and occupation of much of the territory of the Western Sahara. Today, approximately 80% of the territory of the Western Sahara is controlled by Morocco, with the Polisario Front - the government of the Sahrawis - controlling the rest, hugging the border of Mauritania. Between them lies one of the longest walls and one of the largest minefields on the planet, of which construction began in the 1980s.
The legitimacy of Morocco’s control over the Western Sahara is one of those long-lasting diplomatic issues which ultimately doesn’t seem to matter very much in terms of on-the-ground realities, and reveals the eternal uselessness of the United Nations especially in regard to actually helping oppressed people. Up until about 2020, the US and certain other Western countries did not formally recognize Morocco as having sovereignty over the whole territory, but in terms of providing genuine opposition to Morocco, it seems that Algeria is the major player in the region. While American, European, and Moroccan corporations exploit the fisheries and phosphate minerals of the region, protected by their minefields (and claims of merely advancing the cause of renewable energy development, AKA greenwashing), Algeria provides what aid they can to support the displaced Sahrawi people, many of whom have been forced to live in refugee camps.
On October 31st, the US put forward a resolution in the UN Security Council which was adopted (Russia and China abstained) and provided major support to Morocco, urging the Polisario Front to adopt the 2007 “autonomy plan”, which would, despite its name, be synonymous with an end to their independence movement. Such a plan was met with much jubilation in Morocco, with King Mohammed VI remarking "From now on, there will be a before and an after October 31, 2025.” Such a date was also the catalyst for the PF intensifying their guerilla struggle against Morocco, as legal avenues for autonomy and basic human rights are running out as the imperialists grow more desperate.
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.
The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. 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.
Increasing sophistication of Ukrainian missile attacks with Ukrainian made stand off weapons:
An hour or two ago, Ukraine launched a ballistic missile attack on Voronezh, Russia. Video of the attack shows the aftermath of the interception or interception attempt of 5 ballistic projectiles in the lower atmosphere.
Video
Russian sources report that these missiles were not US made ATACMS, but rather Ukrainian made Grom/Hirm-2 ballistic missiles:
Fighter-bomber telegram
Update: Ukrainian sources are saying that it was an ATACMS ballistic missile attack, and successful. ATACMS are US made ballistic missiles. A significant escalation if so.
Facebook link to official Ukrainian military page
Specifications for the Hirm-2 are unknown in terms of range. Current range estimates are based on limits set by the INF treaty (500km) ot MTCR (300km). Like almost all ballistic missiles, it probably travels at hypersonic speeds at some point in flight, usually at burnout or the start of entering the thicker air of the atmosphere. It is said to employ a 1000lb class warhead. It’s unknown if it can conduct terminal maneuvers, photographs of mock-ups show a unibody missile with a similar construction to Iskander or an Oka missile with solid control surfaces instead of lattice fins. Given that the Ukrainians are saying this was ATACMS now, I guess Hirm-2 is not an actual capability and only exists as mock-ups and test articles.
This attack appears to have been unsuccessful, the vast majority of ballistic missiles intercepted. If a valuable target was hit, it could still be successful despite interception. However, Ukraine did launch a significantly more successful attack using Long Neptune subsonic cruise missiles and one way attack drones a few days ago. This attack involved severely damaging an S-400 battery/battalion, taking out multiple launchers, and likely the search and fire control radar, along with damaging port facilities at Novorossiysk.
This was a sophisticated attack that involved directly targeting air defence systems to enable cruise missile attacks on other targets immediately afterwards, namely port facilities. A first for Ukraine. Usually when Ukraine targets Russian air defence systems, it’s part of a seperate operation aimed specifically at those air defence systems, in Crimea via the use of human in the loop guided one way attack drones piloted by specialised units. A combined operation to enable attacks on other targets is a first. Neptune cruise missiles continue to be the most significant Ukrainian made long range threat/strike capability against Russia, as they have been since the start of the war.
You’re saying this attack is an escalation? If so, would you expect a significant retaliation from Russia or business as usual? The front seems to be going very favorably for Russia in recent weeks.
Last time ATACMS strikes were allowed by the US, Russia responded by launching an Oreshnik missile. A symbolic target was chosen, but the threat was that Russia could hit US military bases in Europe with a weapon that could not be intercepted. The ATACMS strikes fizzled out shortly after.
Is Russia going to follow through on that threat now? Almost certainly not. But a response of some kind is likely if it is proven that ATACMS was really used.
Ukraine could be lying about using ATACMS to provoke Russia, or Russia could be lying about them using domestic weapons to avoid escalation.
It’s also interesting because if this was an ATACMS shot, it was at the maximum end of it’s publicly stated range of 300km. Kharkiv to Voronezh is 295km. It’s also quite possible that ATACMS has a range greater than 300km, and the publicly available information is an understatement. Such is quite common with US weapons, the specs on Wikipedia or wherever are usually understated in this regard.
Some other pictures of the interceptions resemble S-300V engagement footage, but that’s just a guess, could be wrong.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
If it’s ATACMS, it will be the first ATACMS attack under the Trump administration.