Mere hours before Trump's 8pm Tuesday deadline yesterday, Pakistan's government contacted Iran with a US-written proposal for a two-week ceasefire, explicitly stated to also include Lebanon, during which they would negotiate a permanent end to the war on the basis of Iran's 10 Points. Among other things, these points include 1) maintaining strict control (joint with Oman) over Hormuz, complete with a toll; 2) the end of sanctions on Iran; 3) keeping their enriched uranium; 4) a withdrawal of US forces from the Middle East [stated by the Supreme Leadership Council but not in the 10 Points, so who knows], and 5) some plausible guarantee that Iran would never be attacked again. I've heard rumors that China may have prodded Iran to accept these terms.
In theory, these are relatively confident and maximalist demands. In practice, Iran has already achieved military and economic control over Hormuz and the withdrawal of many US troops and bases from the region, so at least a few of Iran's demands are, to a greater or lesser extent, already achieved, and with little hope for an increasingly exhausted US to undo these achievements short of nukes.
A couple hours after the ceasefire, the Zionist entity began a wave of airstrikes in Lebanon, killing hundreds of civilians, as well as flying drones into Iranian airspace. This was a strange move to make even if you assume - very sensibly - that the US is completely agreement non-capable: why not agree to the ceasefire and simply pretend to negotiate for two weeks while regrouping/repairing what assets you can and then start hitting Iran again?
One theory is that the Zionists are testing to what degree Iran is actually willing to have solidarity with Lebanon and Hezbollah. While the Resistance has been relatively united since October 7th, the formation of separate peaces instead of negotiating terms as a united front has been a major exploitable weakness. Alternatively, it's been proposed that the US didn't even consider using the ceasefire to regroup and deceive Iran, and that Trump merely wanted a way to chicken out of his threat on Iran's electrical grid - the fact that US officials have since stated that Iran's 10 Points were not the same ones they agreed to is a point supporting this, I suppose. If the conflict resumes and Trump does not deliver another 48 hour deadline (and/or makes it something silly like a month from now) then this could be the explanation.
From Iran, I am getting the sense that a lot is happening behind the scenes. Statements from top officials like Araghchi have stated quite plainly that there will be no ceasefire and no negotiations unless the Zionists stop attacking Lebanon, but as of ~24 hours after the ceasefire began, there has been no significant military response from Iran yet. There have apparently been phone calls between Araghchi and numerous regional officials, but it is unknown to what end. All the while, the global economic situation continues to deteriorate. Over the next week or two, the last tankers that left Hormuz before it closed will arrive at their destinations. If the missile exchanges begin once more, then the West, much like most of the rest of the world, will be experiencing all sorts of fuel, energy, food, and product shortages while trying to justify why they broke the ceasefire to kill more Lebanese civilians.
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 the Zionists' 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.
Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.
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.
Xi the Goat, new speech compilation article dropping soon
https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202604/15/content_WS69df47b2c6d00ca5f9a0a6cb.html
booktok in shambles
Are they against communist literature?
It was mostly in jest. Booktok is a really large categorization for what’s actually made up of disparates communities. For example, schizophrenicreads’ account is mostly nonfiction anti-capitalist, though not always expressly communist; and he also recommends really great fiction.
Then there’s two larger elements of booktok the spicy side (which I don’t mind, although I’ve been meaning to read Foucault about it) and the fantasy/science fiction tok that is mostly white authors, branden sanderson, and pierce brown fans; sure, their books are fine. But that’s all they talk about. Booktok also tends to be either painfully white or fetishistily POC. Also because booktok is American, it has struggled with understanding boycotting authors for their views on Israel, if at all. It has also become a back channel through which book publishers engage in advertisement for new books and authors; sometimes without their explicit acknowledgement from the influencer.
And last but not least, by having all these sub-genres and aesthetics that they use to communicate what a book is: spicy, dark academia, etc; without the booktokker actually explaining themes, motifs, similar authors, philosophical ideas. It has allowed big box bookstores to just chop up sections and aisle offerings into the equivalent of hashtags. I once saw Frankenstein on a table labeled “Dark Academia” at a Barnes and Nobles.
They are against reading 'good books'. When your primary rating for a book is based on 'spice levels' (how explicit the smut is), I would hesitate to say that you are reading for 'wisdom and nourishment' and more reading for 'enrichment'.
It's the same way someone who watches alot of porn is neither an expert in sex or cinematography.
I’m pro-smut. I’ve read a couple of spicy books recommended from booktok, and they are decent reads, and I would ascribe deeper themes, but that’s because I’m a Saga, Brian K Vaughn and Fiona Staples’ graphic novel, fan.
Read Saga
Honestly, most old sci-fi, even the really good stuff has at least two smut scenes to keep readers interested lol. I will check it out.
My point is that maybe the rating system shouldn't only be based in the spice levels.
Does Xi have a recommended reading list for "marxist classics"?
Yes it's the widely used and mandatory in graduate cariculum (and also maybe in party training programs) (as far as I know) 马克思主义经典著作选读
Part I: Marxist Philosophy
Marx: Theses on Feuerbach
Marx and Engels: The German Ideology (Excerpts)
Marx: Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Engels: Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (Excerpts)
Mao Zedong: On Practice
Mao Zedong: On Contradiction (Excerpts)
Part II: Marxist Political Economy
Marx: Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (Excerpts)
Marx: Capital, Vol. I (Excerpts)
Mao Zedong: On the Ten Major Relationships (Excerpts)
Part III: Marxist Scientific Socialism
Marx and Engels: Manifesto of the Communist Party (Excerpts)
Engels: Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Excerpts)
Mao Zedong: Methods of Work of Party Committees
Mao Zedong: On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (Excerpts)
Part IV: Theory of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
Deng Xiaoping: Emancipate the Mind, Seek Truth from Facts, and Unite as One to Look Forward (Excerpt)
Deng Xiaoping: Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
Deng Xiaoping: Main Points of Talks in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai, and Other Places (Excerpt)
Jiang Zemin: Speech at the Conference Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China (Excerpt)
Hu Jintao: Speech at the Conference Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China (Excerpt)
Xi Jinping: Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (Excerpt)
Xi Jinping: Explanations on the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms (Excerpt)
Xi Jinping: Explanations on the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law (Excerpt)
Xi Jinping: Speech at the Conference Celebrating the 95th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China (Excerpt)
deleted by creator
Hopefully in the final article release tomorrow.
how can i get the RSS for when the article comes out.