116
Bulletins and International News Discussion from January 19th to January 25th, 2026 - Squaring the Arctic Circle (hexbear.net)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by to c/news@hexbear.net
1005 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A reminder that as the US continues to threaten countries around the world, fedposting is to be very much avoided (even with qualifiers like "in Minecraft") and comments containing it will be removed.

Image is of a harbor in Tasiilak, Greenland.

NATO infighting? You love to see it, folks.

The latest incident of America's satrapies becoming increasingly unhappy about their mandated kowtowing involves, of all places, Greenland. As I'm sure most people here are aware, Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark with a degree of geopolitical and economic importance - the former due to its proximity to Russia, and the latter due to the proven and potential reserves of minerals that could be mined there. It's also been an odd fascination of Trump during his reign, now culminating in outright demands.

Trump has called for negotiations with Denmark to purchase Greenland, justifying this by stating that it would be safer from Russia and China under America's protection. Apparently, Norway's decision to not give him the Nobel Peace Prize further inflamed him (not that the Norweigan government decides who receives the prizes). He has also said that countries that do not allow him to make the decision - which not only includes Denmark, but also other European countries - will suffer increased tariffs by June, and that he has not ruled out a military solution.

This threat has led to much internal bickering inside the West, with European leaders stating they will not give in to Trump's demands, and even sending small numbers of troops to Greenland. The most bizarre part of this whole affair is that the US already basically has total military access and control over Greenland anyway, and has since the 1950s, when they signed an agreement with Denmark. There are already several US military facilities on Greenland, and B-52 bombers have famously flown in the vicinity of the island (and crashed into it with nuclear bombs in tow, in fact). Therefore, this whole event - in line with his all-performance, little-results presidency so far - seems to be largely about the theatrics of forcing the Europeans to continue to submit to his whims. I would not be surprised if they ultimately do sign a very imbalanced deal, though - the current European leadership is bound too tightly to the US to put up even half-hearted resistance.

This is all simultaneously occurring alongside the Canadian Prime Minister's visit to China in which longstanding sore spots in their bilateral relationship are being addressed, with China reducing tariffs on Canadian canola oilseeds, and Canada reducing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, as well as currency swaps between their central banks, among many other things. It seems no accident that Canada's reconsideration of their relationship with China is occurring as Trump has made remarks about turning Canada into the next US state, as well as the demand for the renegotiation of the USMCA.

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

If you have evidence of Zionist crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

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.

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 35 points 7 months ago (1 child)

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/190120267

Alyusuf also asserted that the majority of armed groups attacking the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Rojava are Islamic State (ISIS) militants.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 32 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

    I don't think this makes sense at this point. You had tribal rebellions across almost the entirety of the SDF territory. Those rebellions were what spearheaded the STG's advances almost everywhere east of the Euphrates, in part because the STG enjoyed a bit of plausible deniability when it was locals fording the river and seizing towns and villages.

    To say that the majority of the armed groups attacking the SDF are ISIS is to claim that almost everyone in their own territory was an armed ISIS militant. This only corroborates the syrian arab grievances that led to the SDF's rout outside of Qaimishili and Kobane. Ie, that almost everyone under SDF control was suspected ISIS until proven differently. I'm even inclined to believe the pro SDF people online who claim the idea of democratic federalism failed not because it was 'commie utopian bullshit', but because the syrian arabs were under defacto minority rule in many places.

    Meanwhile we have reports that once the Al-Shaddadi curfew was imposed those sympathetic of ISIS began urging people on telegram not to post anything online, calling the STG secular dogs. Even pro SDF posters/sources that I know of believe that Jolani couldn't give less of a shit about the ISIS prisoners himself. If anything, they are a complicating factor to his own power base.

    That said, the SDF has lost some ground south of Kobane and all around Hasakah over night. The mood in Hasakah is confident but in Kobane the vibes are, understandably, apocalyptic. The STG announced a 4 day ceasefire starting in 20 minutes for consultations among the SDF leadership on a new agreement which, if the STG is to be believed, would involve self government in Kobane and no entry of the Syrian Army into the centers of Hasakah and Qamishili (but that the STG forces would remain in the outskirts). Good reminder that the last agreement broke down because Damascus demanded Hasakah be handed over to the Ministry of the Interior.

    Meanwhile Tom Barrack went on to make the following statement:

    New statement from US Syria envoy Tom Barrack: "The original purpose of the SDF as the primary anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities, including control of ISIS detention facilities and camps." " The US has no interest in long-term military presence; it prioritizes defeating ISIS remnants, supporting reconciliation, and advancing national unity without endorsing separatism or federalism."

    Every day that passes the US gives the kurds another reason to hate them.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    The SDF relied heavily on arab militias to maintain its monopoly on violence over regions outside of "Rojava", insofar that many of the deals with tribes that inhabited the settlements along the Euphrates would make deals to have the YPG hand over military control to their village militias.

    In the end I think these militias have been only effective at keeping arab communities from defecting, namely as they else face the military might of CJFTOR (which previously AGGRESSIVELY defended land east of the Euphrates). But in exporting democratic confederalism? Fuck all.

    These communities were considered ""SDC"" but not "DAANES", and ensured that the political project remained almost exclusively Kurdish. The fighting was only "resolved" because neither side believed it could best the other. Well, now we've seen what happens when compliance is considered support.

    The revolutionary moment died long before this collapse (though not just because it accepted American support) but I personally hoped it wouldn't have collapsed to this sort of disastrous effect. I hoped it could've dissolved peacefully, since its military position has been untenable for a while, and enabled the councils and co-ops to form the basis of a new pan-Syrian class struggle. Instead, the nuclei of this next revolution are being vaporized beneath fascist jackboots with an axe to grind.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent