August 29th’s update is here! TLDR? Here’s the summary.
August 30th’s update is here! TLDR? Here’s the summary.
August 31st’s update is here! TLDR? Here’s the summary.
No updates on Thursdays.
Alright, I guess it’s fucking “SeventyTwoTrillion gets sick all the time” season. It isn’t coronavirus again (would be super unlucky if it was, lmao) but I am getting headaches and other symptoms which are not optimal conditions for collecting articles and doing media analysis (AKA shouting at journalists).
Might be a 3-update week, we’ll see if I feel any more functional tomorrow. Apologies for people who like the updates. I’ll either be back tomorrow or on Monday.
No updates on Sundays. Updates will resume tomorrow, provided that the CIA doesn’t point their illness gun at me again.
Links and Stuff
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can, thank you.
Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map, who is an independent youtuber with a mostly neutral viewpoint.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)
Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict and, unlike most western analysts, has some degree of understanding on how war works. He is a reactionary, however.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ Gleb Bazov, banned from Twitter, referenced pretty heavily in what remains of pro-Russian Twitter.
https://t.me/asbmil ~ ASB Military News, banned from Twitter.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday Patrick Lancaster - crowd-funded U.S journalist, mostly pro-Russian, works on the ground near warzones to report news and talk to locals.
https://t.me/riafan_everywhere ~ Think it’s a government news org or Federal News Agency? Russian language.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ Front news coverage. Russian langauge.
https://t.me/rybar ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine
With the entire western media sphere being overwhelming pro-Ukraine already, you shouldn’t really need more, but:
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.
Last week’s discussion post.
Football crazy
Chocolate Mad
'Ave a Power Ball
And institute communism with the lads
- Russia’s economy hasn’t cratered since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine — even though Wall Street thought it was inevitable. Here’s what to know. Business Insider
Let’s all have a group cheer for us all having the correct prediction of what would happen. To the immortal science of Marxism!
It’s not easy to get a prediction dead wrong — especially on a matter of global importance — but in this case, a whole handful of banks called it wrong on the trajectory for Russia’s economy.
Wall Street giants had predicted Russia’s economy to resemble a trainwreck in the aftermath of Western sanctions.
That isn’t quite what happened. In fact, some data actually point to strength emerging from Moscow’s economy.
Top investment banks rushed to predict Russia’s economic downfall when Vladimir Putin first ordered the invasion of Ukraine six months ago, but analysts have since had to walk back some of their forecasts.
The current data coming out of Moscow “does not point to an abrupt plunge in activity,” JPMorgan strategists wrote in note.
The firm changed its tune recently after it had forecast in March that Russia’s GDP would drop 35% in the second quarter:
“The GDP profile, therefore, looks increasingly likely to be consistent with a drawn-out, but not very sharp recession.”
Soaring crude exports and high prices have been a boon for the Russian economy, and the IMF said the Kremlin’s program to keep unemployment low has been effective so far.
Moscow’s ability to pivot toward Asian customers for exports has also helped insulate it from Western sanctions that were expected to crush the economy.
Goldman Sachs had said five months earlier that Russia would struggle to find new trading partners amid war — but China and India, among others, have emerged as big buyers of Russian energy commodities.
India alone has seen a 900% increase in those supplies since February.
All the while, the EU still hauls in 2.8 million barrels a day despite its own sanctions on Moscow, Bloomberg data shows.
And factory and services data, too, show the Russian economy is chugging along at a steady clip.
Strategists at Goldman previously highlighted that Russia’s composite Purchasing Managers Index suggested steep economic declines loomed.
Immediately after the invasion, that figure slid from 50.8 in February to 37.7 in March.
But later, the same data returned to growth territory.
The most recent number came in at 52.2 — one more signal of a strong economy that stands in stark contrast to Wall Street’s expectations.
Wall Street forgot that the West =/= the world, and Russia can get along better without the West than the inverse.
Curious to see where this goes in fall/winter, given the predictions for energy costs in the UK to skyrocket. What will the propaganda look like when the sanctions bite back?
India has not only increased Russian oil imports by over 900%, Russia and India now deal exclusively in Ruble and Rupees so big daddy no longer has any control over any of this money. There are Similar cases all around the world. The usd has lost the trust it built up over decades and hopefully more and more countries will decouple from the dollar.
So, everyone in the Global South is supposed to boycott evil Russia, huh?
i agree with the soviet factor but i think the big question here is also: WHY WOULD WE? like back in the day when the us want the world to support their stuff they would at least offer something, want brazil to get in that ww2 shit you guys gave us a metalworking plant, even in the 9/11 situation you guys gave people stuff and some people still said no and when it was that recent the situation looked way more reasonable to help the us than whatever the fuck the plan is with russia
Whenever I hear someone parrot the ridiculous right wing talking point about “illegals crossing the border” here’s what I’ve been doing.
I say, why do people choose to immigrate without “following the rules”? I’m not talking about the “they want a better life.” Why is it really?
Why did your ancestors immigrate to the US? Was it religious persecution, was it the fallout from the conquests of Napoleon, the Irish Potato Famine, WWI, WWII? What makes people flee from everything and everyone they’ve ever known?
Now I’d like you to apply that to this situation. What are the WWI- scale catastrophes currently going on in Latin America and why isn’t the media talking about that? That’s really what you should be concerned about.
It’s been 20 years since the US last supported a coup d’etat in Latin America.
That’s crazy Mr. State Department, tell me, who is the current leader of Venezuela?
:guaido-despair: or :maduro-coffee: ?
The US heavily supported:hide-and-seek:
And didn’t Obama support a coup in some middle American country? Honduras?
Yeah Honduras in 2009, but it doesn’t count because Obama was publicly calling it illegal while covertly supporting the coup orchestrators.
:obama-socialism:
Congress probably gonna take the Covid and monkeypox off and left only the Ukraine part.
Apparently Russia has pushed back Ukraine’s counteroffensive and destroyed Ukraines pontoon bridges across the Ingulets, cutting off the only retreat route for the entire counter-offensive force. Actually so deeply sad that so many people are getting sent into the meat grinder because Boris Johnson told Zelensky he’s not allowed to surrender
