Image is from Wikipedia’s article on the war..
I’ve wanted to cover Myanmar for a while now but haven’t had the needed knowledge to write much more than “This situation really sucks.” After doing a little reading on the situation, I feel even more confused. A decent analogy is the Syrian Civil War, at least while Assad was in power (though it’s still pretty true today) - many different opposition groups, some co-operating with the United States, others not. The main government supported partially by an anti-American superpower, but who could live with that government collapsing if there are deals to be made with the group coming into power. A conflict kept going and exploited at least partially by the United States and other imperial core powers, though with plenty of genuine domestic animosity and desires for political independence.
Recently, the Myanmar government - the mainstream media uses “junta”, which is probably accurate despite the connotations - has promised elections at the end of 2025. This doesn’t seem likely to happen, and even if it did, how this would work in a country as war-torn as Myanmar is unclear. The government is losing territory and soldiers at a quick pace; they now hold only 21% of the country, though that 21% does at least comprise many of the cities. It’s difficult to get a handle on the number of people affected because civil wars and insurgencies have been ongoing in some shape or form for decades, but we’re talking at least millions displaced and thousands of civilians killed.
Here’s a comment by @TheGenderWitch@hexbear.net from fairly recently that covers the situation in Myanmar:
comment
The military government of Myanmar is losing to the Rebel Groups, and badly. https://www.voanews.com/a/myanmar-s-rebels-closing-in-around-junta-into-fifth-year-of-civil-war-/7958145.html
somethings really afoot though, news about myanmar from western outlets and channels have suddenly all remembered myanmar exists and written quite a lot about them in the last few days. Its suspicious, it could be capitalists trying to signal their want for US involvement in the civil war. It could also be a targeted propaganda campaign already pre planned in order to make sure people are clued into the conflict.
I think this seems to be another Assad situation. The Military government is pretty unpopular domestically and is losing quite a bit of ground. I would be surprised if they lasted to 2027. Supplied by both Russia and China, theyve been able to keep some flow of weapons, but are suffering a lot from manpower issues. Conscription has been enacted, but conscripts are a poor replacement for trained soldiers. According to reports, they only hold about 21% of the land and are losing lots of territory. They also have extended their emergency rule for another 6 months, throwing doubt on the ability to follow through with their 2025 election. They’ve lost large amounts of territory, thousands of soldiers, and 2 regional commands. They’re not dead yet though, as they have some ability to retake some territory and win some battles, but again 21%. Rebels currently are making steady progress towards the second largest city in the country.
while I don’t like the rebels, they are western aligned, they have popular support and are allied to many of Myanmar’s ethnic minority defence groups. Im wondering who really has the power in this situation though, since many of the gains seem to be made by the Ethnic armies, not the NUG. This revolutionary energy could be fueled to establish a socialist federation, but won’t, and the popular revolutionary energy is fueled toward the NUG. It’ll probably be another pro-west bourgeoisie democracy. It will probably then turn against the ethnic rebels and we’ll end up basically where myanmar was pre coup. Probably will have a strong military influence on politics as well, since the rebel forces seem to be made up of officers and very little political groups. By then, people will be extremely tired of war and more likely to accept any conflict resolution than another civil war. In the midst of “It Happened” stands a stronger, unmovable “nothing ever happens”. Would be neat if the Communist Party of Burma could somehow come out on top, but they have only around 1000 soldiers and don’t control a large amount of territory.
China’s interests in the region are still secure, but siding with the Junta is a bad idea, one I understand though. China doesn’t want a western aligned power to take over a china aligned state, and is trying to make sure their economic investments in the area are protected and their mineral income is continued. They have deep ties with many Ethnic Minority states, especially on their border, and the NUG forces, mostly again to protect infrastructure investments and keep the minerals flowing. They might flip back to the NUG as the Junta starts collapsing over the next year or so, especially since the new US administration seems to be really cutting back on foreign aid. The General in charge of the rebel government forces complained quite a bit about how much aid ukraine got and how much he wanted that aid. He was basically begging for anti aircraft systems “like in ukraine” lol. China could definitely swoop in and back the rebels, which while hurting their reputation, is probably the best move long term. China’s only interest is to keep Myanmar from being pro-west, keep control of Myanmar’s mineral flow, and protect other investments in the area.
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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.
After years of cracking down on “barbaric growth of capital" in the private sector, China is wooing entrepreneurs again. Is it too little too late? Former SCMP editor-in-chief Wang Xiangwei weighs in.
HONG KONG: At the start of 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping convened senior officials in Beijing for a workshop to discuss and prepare for “black swan” and “grey rhino” events amid a slowing economy and rising international uncertainties.
This meeting followed then US President Donald Trump’s initiation of a trade war against China in July 2018, which sent bilateral ties into a downward spiral.
Mr Xi urged officials to remain vigilant and address “major risks” across various fields, including politics, ideology, economy, society, technology and the external environment.
A black swan refers to an unpredictable market event with extreme financial consequences, while a grey rhino is a highly probable and impactful threat that is often ignored.
Since then, China’s leadership has taken decisive steps to tackle perceived grey rhinos, such as ballooning local government debts, struggling city and community banks, and the “irrational and barbaric growth of capital” in the private sector, particularly targeting big tech firms like Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post.
However, Beijing’s harsh campaign against the private sector has inadvertently unleashed another grey rhino: A lack of confidence among private entrepreneurs.
STIFLING INNOVATION
This lack of confidence, known in China as “lying flat” or "tang ping”, initially caught on among the country’s overworked youth who sought to do the minimum and take a break from relentless work.
During the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, this malaise spread nationwide, affecting not only bureaucrats but also entrepreneurs.
It was also partially fed by fear that success in private business could come with political risks: In 2020, Beijing abruptly halted the US$34 billion IPO of fintech giant Ant Group, controlled by Jack Ma, after he reportedly criticised regulators for stifling innovation.
What ensued was a multi-year crackdown on the so-called “excesses” and “barbaric growth of capital” in the private sector, which has since driven entrepreneurs’ confidence to historic lows.
Mr Ma largely disappeared from the public eye following those events, reinforcing concerns that China’s business climate had become too unpredictable.
Within this context, Mr Xi’s high-profile meeting with selected private entrepreneurs, including Mr Ma, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Feb 17 is significant - his first such meeting in nearly seven years.
ARE XI’S ASSURANCES ENOUGH?
According to Xinhua, Mr Xi reportedly told entrepreneurs, also including Mr Ma, Ren Zhengfei of Huawei and Wang Chuanfu of BYD, that it was "prime time for private enterprises and entrepreneurs to give full play to their capabilities”.
He assured them that the current difficulties and challenges facing the private sector could be overcome and called for renewed confidence in the future.
Mr Xi also vowed to create equal treatment for the private sector and pledged to ensure access to bank loans while addressing widespread illicit law enforcement and administrative actions, including arbitrary fees, fines, inspections and asset seizures.
Mr Xi’s remarks represent the strongest signal of support for private enterprises at a time when China’s economy is in a deflationary cycle, weighed down by falling property prices and low consumer confidence. Meanwhile, Mr Trump in his second term has threatened additional tariffs on Chinese products, and China’s exports, one of its traditional growth engines, remain bleak.
Beijing recently announced an economic growth target of “around 5 per cent” for this year, but revitalising the private sector is crucial to achieving this goal, especially since the private sector contributes about 60 per cent to China’s gross domestic product and over 80 per cent of employment.
Will Mr Xi’s words be enough? After all, China had already been unwinding its crackdown on the private sector starting in 2023, with officials increasing pro-business rhetoric and referring to private entrepreneurs as "one of us”.
Yet in many cash-strapped localities, illicit actions against the private sector, including arbitrary fees, fines, and asset seizures, have continued unabated.
Mr Xi’s remarks are expected to curb these illicit actions, but whether they will spark optimism among private businessmen remains to be seen.
the rest of the article
A REAL TURNING POINT?
Sensing scepticism, official media has ramped up efforts to reassure the private sector.
Notably, the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper of record, recently published a long article titled I Have Always Supported Private Enterprises, highlighting Mr Xi’s support for the private sector and countering scepticism that he favours the state sector.
China’s latest efforts to reassure the private sector are a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to restore confidence. The global success of DeepSeek’s AI language model and the popular animated film Ne Zha 2, both funded and developed by private entrepreneurs, offers significant insights.
More than anything, the rise of DeepSeek demonstrates that the private sector has elevated itself to drive China’s innovation and cutting-edge technologies, moving beyond its traditional role of job creation and playing second fiddle to the state sector.
The fact that the Hangzhou-based company was under the official radar until its sudden rise to fame suggests that if the government allows the private sector to operate without political, ideological and regulatory straitjackets, it can produce global winners.
This is likely the best way to restore confidence and tame the charging grey rhino.
For those paying attention to the “two sessions” in China, it shouldn’t surprise you that private capital has indeed made a come back with Jack Ma’s reappearance a few weeks earlier.
I am increasingly losing faith in Xi’s ability to curb private capital. Since Li Qiang (Shanghai lib) became the Premier in early 2023, from abandoning Zero Covid policy to opening up China’s capital markets, all indications are pointing to what I have suspecting all these while, that the liberals have indeed succeeded in their coup and have been having the upper hand since 2023.
Good. Fuck im
People already clowning on his corpse lmao
what a piece of shit
Yeah the fact that there are just random people who would do that in the street says a lot about this piece of shit.
Yemen has BANNED the import of BURGERS. We salute the People of Yemen and Ansar Allah in their brave campaign against treatlerism.
🍔
Unlimited Genocide on international burgerism
even imagining a burger can lead to ruin, many such cases
import substitution time
This is a human rights violation and I support US efforts to airdrop happy meals into the afflicted territories
This seems to be more of a ban on imported pastries and bread than anything else for self sufficiency.
*comprador treatlerism, specifically.
An anti-american fever sweeps Canada over trumps threats, meanwhile to the south…
Tens of thousands of Mexicans rally with president to celebrate US decision to delay tariffs
how tf has Canada took more heat than Mexico this go around? I think Sheinbaum is the trump whisperer. I think she knows the “trump just agrees with whoever he talked with last” meme and is actually exploiting it (along with constantly massaging his ego in negotiations, I’m sure)
In Trump’s statement announcing the delay, he didn’t point to any specific further concessions from Sheinbaum on either fentanyl or trade, even though there are some policy shifts he might reasonably have hoped to achieve, as we noted on Monday,” he wrote. “Sheinbaum’s midday post also did not point to any specific policy commitments beyond general continued cooperation on migration, fentanyl, and guns.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference Thursday that, in her call with Trump, she cited a graph from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showing a drop in fentanyl seizures, which she said Trump hadn’t previously seen. "In February alone, the reduction in fentanyl seizures on the United States side of the border with Mexico was reduced by 41.5%. He didn’t know about this graph until I sent it to him, she said.
“she had the best graph folks, you should have seen this brilliant graph. Much better than Justin’s, much better than Biden.”how tf has Canada took more heat than Mexico this go around?
Because México is actually deploying their national guard along the border, who are arresting cartel leaders, while the USA runs reconnaissance flights along the México border (even more aircraft have just headed to the USA from Italy for that). Even if these national guard operations are just for the press and PR and aren’t actually doing much to the cartels, this pleases a personality like Trump. He can talk on Fox News about how “México is deploying their army against the cartel, very good”. When you combine it with data about fentanyl getting into the the USA being lower and border crossings being down (even if it’s misleading or cherry picked), that really makes Trump happy. So yes you’re right, for now at least Sheinbaum has figured out how to deal with Trump and appease him.
Sheinbaum keeps winning
Trump rejects tariff exemptions for Australia
Lol, lmao, get fucked albo.
Hoping this just pushes the government closer to China. That’d be pretty cool.
Hoping this just pushes the government closer to China. That’d be pretty cool.
Extremely unlikely given this is the same Labor government that signed a $300B Nuclear Submarine deal with the US a couple of years ago to justify the constant fearmongering against China.
They also lost their minds when a couple of Chinese naval ships did a Freedom of Navigation route through the Tasman Sea last month, acting like China was about to invade us for doing something Australia has been doing to them in the South China Sea for decades.
Also doesn’t help that the LNP/ Coalition opposition keeps accusing Labor of being unpatriotic for not working with Trump more closely for an exemption deal (i.e. offer more economic tributes than we already do to the Great Khan), which always results in Labor moving more right in foreign policy.
I don’t see Australia switching colors any time soon but this action from the US will push Australia away to at least some extent, and over the longer term the tariffs will drive Australia to greater economic dependence on China and the force of economic relations drive history as surely as the laws of thermodynamics.
While I agree that the tariffs will hurt Australia’s relationship with the US, it will take much, much more than that before Australia ever treats China as a friendly trading partner that it doesn’t constantly antagonize.
Political will is one thing (which is a massive feat itself considering US military officials are literally operating inside our deep state), but on the subject of economics, while China is already Australia’s largest trading partner, the US remains our largest foreign investor and US companies represent the largest foreign capital holders in the country.
It also doesn’t help that most (White) Australians still see themselves as an Anglo Christian nation that has never viewed a non-white western country as an equal, much the same way Europe or North America views the rest of the world.
Let me have a little bit of copium
:krudd-shining:
Duterte got arrested I believe. ICC warrant for arrest for human rights abuses on his war on drugs that left thousands dead
This is bad. I am not going to venerate Duterte like a liberal does with any world leader but it’s telling that Duterte out of many, many leaders out in this forsaken Earth they chose him, when he had the most China-friendly (ie. Independent) foreign and internal policies unlike the US sycophant running the Philippines now.
I wonder if there is any connection to the fact that his daughter, and until five weeks ago Vice President, was impeached on February 5. Maybe the Marcos administration is just ripping the whole bandaid.
Oh now we’re enforcing warrants
“Pro Palestine” hacker group dark storm is taking credit for taking down Twitter multiple times today. Cool if true but it made me do work today.
https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1899157996036673857
Edit: added quotes to pro Palestine since I don’t know the nature of the group or their motives beyond taking down Twitter. It’s weird to target Twitter itself and not thousands of other things too.
So, from what I understand about Myanmar/Burma, the two main factions are the Junta/Tatmadaw and the National Unity Government/People’s Defense Force. Besides them, there are some ethnic armies that are supported by the US and China. And it seems that both the US and China have also tried a peace deal between the Junta and the NUG, but it doesn’t seem to have worked. The junta doesn’t want the military and its friends to lose their privileges and doesn’t seem to have any real ideology beyond the fact that they want to rule Myanmar.
Somewhere in the mix with this is also that Myanmar is once again the #1 opium producing country, a trend that started during the war/right after the US pulled out of Afghanistan.
Also apparently a big human trafficking location where people are being forced to work in scam factories
idk, maybe things have changed but the “some ethnic armies” seem much more developed and militarily powerful. With coalitions like the Three Brotherhood Alliance playing a decisive role in the tide turning against the military government. Some of these national liberation armies have been i. armed struggle for self determination for decades, with only a brief respite in fighting during Myanmars brief period of liberal democracy, while NUG is a coalition that was sort of hastily put together with the liberals who fled and went into hiding after the coup in 2021.
I think what has been missing from some of the analysis I have read is just how we are supposed to understand the class-politics of the conflict and relationship to imperialism in the conflict. I disagree that the conflict is entirely a US proxy war, although the US has played an important and malign role. The military government was looking at political defeat in 2021, in part because they had nearly identical politics with the NLD but no mass base or celebrity leader. I think the military government saw the rising conflict with China and the US and felt that seizing power would avoid the same level of isolation and sanction that they had had before liberalizing. They believed they could get away with it, because both China and the US would want to continue a positive relationship with whoever was left in power (for different reasons)— But this has led to a strange position for China, who seems to only want a stable neighbor without conflict on their border. As the military government falters, China is less likely to put all of its eggs in one basket. On top of that the military government has also done things to upset China (one of Myanmar’s generals was implicated in a fraudulent call-center ring across the border in Yunnan). So even though I am sympathetic to the argument that the US is flooding the region with arms to destabilize China’s neighbor, I am not certain that China is committed to upholding the current government. They just want to conflict to resolve (but preferably with a government that isn’t hostile)… I am not sure that there hasn’t been historic support for the national liberation factions from China in the last, particularly in the 60s and 70s… If relations are relatively good between China and the major nations in Myanmar, given their outsized influence in fighting the government I could see China coming out of the conflict without a major loss if either side wins. The loss already occurred for them when the coup happened (and Myanmar was embroiled with armed struggle)
Got some clarity on the Canada tariffs;
stock market open: tariffs on
stock market closed: tariffs off
this is good for the stock market
Oh nice so it’s an inverter.
If the Trump admin keeps up like this soon we’ll be able to get some sick sounds if we put this through a motor
Maybe he’s trying to make a pair of glasses
Toad worshiper Don
Large scale Ukrainian UAV attack currently taking place on Moscow ahead of Ukrainian talks with the United States in Saudi Arabia tomorrow.
Videos and photos of the attacks
The Ukrainian drone attack is said to have killed one person and injured three, with seven apartments being damaged and a house burning down as a result of the attack. Domodedovo railway station was also damaged during the attack.
I’ve mentioned it a few times before, but it’s insane how the West just memory-holed Ukraine summarily executing one of its own negotiators early in the war (and insane that they did it). That’s should have been (and should still be) a huge deal, but nah. Ukraine even buried him with honors, admitting he wasn’t some Russian spy, but after that it’s like it never happened.
In the liberal mind there are no good or bad actions, only good or bad people. Ukraine is the epic ubermensch god-state so everything they do is automatically justified.
I find it strange how the Western media keeps blaming Assad for whatever is happening in Syria, I imagine them seeing Bashar Al Assad, just like Gman from Half-Life, who goes around Syria generating neo-baathist rebels just to mess with the pro-Western government. Dude is probably sleeping in Moscow watching football matches all day and sending music to his wife.
It’s because they didn’t get to kill him.
They wanted a Gaddafi
tbh he does look like the Gman
: “Rise and Shine, Mr. Putin, Rise and Shine. Not that I wish to imply you have been sleeping on the job. No one is more deserving of a rest. And all the effort in the world would have gone to waste until…well, let’s just say your hour has come again. The Russian man in the wrong Syria can make all the difference in the world. So, wake up, Mr. Putin. Wake up and smell the ashes.”Heh, I thought Putin would be his employer, not his employee,
After all, GMAN, despite employing Freeman, has his own employers.
LMAO the motherfuckers folded again
Edit: further context
25 percent is still pretty significant I see this as an attempt to temper the markets(which will probably work) the markets thrive on reading headlines and investors engage in magical thinking all the time it’s always dumb money until material reality kicks in.
At this point we should probably just wait for the supply chains to catch up and for this to actually impact Americans(which is definitely going to happen) for the markets to catch up.
it’s ‘Doug Fold’ now
Knew he was going to fold as soon as he gave that big televised speech saying “it’s done, it’s gone”. If it was really done and gone, he wouldn’t need to make such a theatrical performance out of it.
What’s the point of folding to Trump on these demands? He just suspends the tariffs and does it again the next month. They might as well admit they aren’t sovereign and become the 51st state if they are just going to endlessly fold to all demands in perpetuity
The Empire has lots of 51st states, it turns out.
With regards to the cease fire proposal agreed on between Ukraine and the US, it’s hilarious but also indicative of western arrogance on the world stage to think the west has anything to dictate in peace negotiations. A 30 day cease fire, all the while EU lackeys are banging the war drums and screaming they want to give ukrainians more wunderwaffe… i mean, how did they think russia would react?
The sooner these morons realise that its a war, and russia is winning it, the better. They need to get over themselfs ffs
A 30 day cease fire, all the while EU lackeys are banging the war drums and screaming they want to give ukrainians more wunderwaffe…
“If Putler rejects this honest proposal, it just goes to show how the Russians don’t want peace!”
Russia should stop referring to it as a peace deal and call it what it is, surrender. No need to sugar coat it any longer, if Ukraine wants to stop losing territory they must surrender and abide by terms dictated by the victor.
Especially when Europe explictly and admittedly used the Minsk agreements just to bide time in order to increase Ukraine’s military build up. I’m pretty sure Putin remembers that fellas.
deleted by creator
Putin remembers it even if the western liberals that actually did it don’t remember it.
I think Ukraine is gonna lose the war
