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.
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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.
Ukraine’s PATRIOT air defence system upgrades: what do they mean?
Today it was announced that Ukraine was receiving upgrades to it’s PATRIOT air defence systems, worth over 100 million USD.
So why now and what are the upgrades?
To answer the second part of the question first, there’s a key hint: the upgrade of the launchers from M901 to M903 configuration. This is important, as the M901 only allows for the loading of PAC-2 variant missiles/interceptors. The M903 launcher allows for the loading of the latest PAC-3 MSE and regular PAC-3 CRI hit to kill/kinetic anti ballistic missile interceptors. Because of the altitude control system (consisting of 180 lateral thrusters in the nose of the interceptor), PAC-3 interceptors can engage ballistic targets at significantly higher altitudes than PAC-2 interceptors, as they can still maneuver with a high amount of authority in the upper atmosphere, where the air is thinner and aerodynamic control surfaces have less authority. This will significantly increase the maximum range of the upgraded PATRIOT batteries against ballistic missiles, as to engage a ballistic target at greater range, you have to engage it at greater altitude due to the nature of a ballistic trajectory. Public numbers for maximum range against ballistic targets: PAC-2: 15km, PAC-3 CRI: 45km, PAC 3 MSE: 60km. So this upgrade will effectively triple or quadruple the range of the upgraded PATRIOT batteries against ballistic missiles, significantly increasing their defended area. Magazine capacity is also tripled or quadrupled vs PAC-2. An M901 launcher can carry 4x PAC-2, an M903 can load 16x PAC-3 CRI or 12x PAC-3 MSE, or a combined loadout. Classified upgrades are likely to do with the radar and command systems to support the new interceptors.
PATRIOT PAC-3 flight test. Note the lateral thrusters
In case anyone is wondering, the Russian S-400 works in a similar way. You need the new launchers, called 51P6A, to launch the 9M96 family of anti ballistic interceptors, which also feature an altitude control system of many lateral thrusters, and are miniaturised to increase magazine capacity. The new launcher is also needed to launch the longest range missile, the 40N6, similar to the USA’s SM-6. This is why initially the S-400 was called the S-300PMU-3, as the first units were delivered without the new launchers, and the new launchers are required to launch the new missiles. Almost all photos you’ll see online of the S-400 are of the old launchers. So I’ll post some of the few with the new launchers below:
S-400 in Turkish service. Older 5P85SM2-01 launcher on the left, newer 51P6A launcher on the right. Note the quad packed 9M96 missiles:
51P6A in Russian service, quad packed 9M96 missiles and possibly a single 40N6:
9M96 missile launch video, note the lateral thrusters re-orientating the missile
So why now, don’t Ukraine’s PATRIOT batteries already have this capability? Yes, those delivered earlier. We have seen PAC-3 debris in Ukraine and videos of hit to kill intercepts and attempts. So Ukraine has already got this capability for some of it’s PATRIOT batteries. This is not a new weapon being delivered. However, Ukraine recently received new PATRIOT batteries. Some from Israel and 2 from Germany. The Israeli batteries were not capable of loading PAC-3 interceptors, they were PAC-2 only. I’m unsure about Germany’s contribution, but it’s possible that they only sent over older batteries with M901 launchers as well. So these batteries are likely being upgraded to use the PAC-3 interceptors, as it’s the cheapest way to increase Ukraine’s capacity to defend against ballistic missiles given the systems they have currently. This is relevant because Russia is firing a lot of ballistic missiles at Ukraine in recent air raids, lots of Iskander-Ms and Kinzhals. And PATRIOT is the only system Ukraine really has to defend against ballistic missiles, outside of a very small number of S-300V batteries still operational with very limited ammunition from Soviet era stockpiles. Purchasing a brand new PAC-3 MSE capable PATRIOT battery would be significantly more expensive than upgrading existing batteries/fire units Ukraine got from Israel or possibly Germany to PAC-3 MSE specification.