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submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Image is of the damage caused by an Iranian Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile in Israel, causing dozens of injuries.


Now in our second week of the conflict, we have seen continuing damage to both Israel and Iran, as well as direct US intervention which nonetheless seems to have caused limited damage to Fordow and little damage to Iran's nuclear program. Regime change seems more elusive than ever, as even Iranians previously critical of the government now rally around it as they are attacked by two rabid imperialists at once. And Iran's government is tentatively considering a withdrawal, or at minimum a reconsideration, of their membership to the IAEA and the NPT. And, of course, the Strait of Hormuz is still a tool in their arsenal.

A day or so on from the strike on Fordow, we have so far seen basically no change in strategy from the Iranian military as they continue to strike Israel with small barrages of missiles. Military analysts argue furiously - is this a deliberate strategy of steady attrition on Israel, or indicative of immense material constraints on Iran? Are the hits by Israel on real targets, or are they decoys? Does Iran wish to develop a nuke, or are they still hesitating? Will Iran and Yemen strike at US warships and bases in response to the attack, or will they merely continue striking only Israel?

And perhaps most importantly - will this conflict end diplomatically due to a lack of appetite for an extended war (to wit: not a peace but a 20 year armistice) or with Israel forced into major concessions including an end to their genocide? Or even with a total military/societal collapse of either side?


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.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli 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 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.


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[-] [email protected] 39 points 3 days ago

Obama 2.0 dropped

629 days of livestreamed extermination and this is who I am supposed to be celebrating?

US cultural hegemony and liberal zionism are scourges.

[-] [email protected] 66 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

“Obama 2.0” this must be a joke?

The video you shared is a short form answer for an extremely liberal audience to win an election. He already has clarified his public stance on Israel as having the right to exist only as a state with equal rights for all. To any leftist hearing that, you should immediately know he is saying Israel as we know it CANNOT exist. He is very obviously not a Zionist if you look at all at his history of organizing.

Touting the endorsement of an extremely popular politician in your home city to win an election is not the dig you think it is. Why on earth would he denounce her endorsement if he’s actually interested in winning?

Increasing funding for hate crime prevention does NOT just include for antisemitism. Also we should want increased funding for prevention of antisemitism and all hate crimes. Am I missing something here?

You’re pointing out a singular deleted tweet of his, being highlighted by a right wing grifter Twitter account, when he still has things like this up on his Twitter.

And what is he supposed to do? Endorse vandalism?

Please be serious. This is an embarrassingly poorly read post. I swear to god some people ostensibly on the left think it’s more important to do nothing wrong than it is to actually do something right and make some progress.

[-] [email protected] 57 points 3 days ago

Have you considered the material reality that seeing a leftist on a late-night show scream, "Death to Amerikkka! Unlimited First World Genocide," Would be really funny?

[-] [email protected] 44 points 3 days ago

Ok but if his mayoral campaign tanks he should just say it

[-] [email protected] 36 points 3 days ago

Maybe he's waiting until he's mayor before he starts posting slammer memes qin-shi-huangdi-fireball

[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

"Increased funding for hate crime prevention" means increased policing, because currently in the US the only "prevention" for hate crime is policing. Any increase to policing, and any moves to put the "safety" of marginalized people into the hands of the police, is violence.

Edit: I recommend Dean Spade's Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, & The Limits of the Law for a really good analysis of the way that "hate crime" laws and hate crime policing are dangerous ways to deflect from real justice, and also serve to increase the amount of violence that marginalized people face.

[-] [email protected] 26 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

He wants to hire social workers and expand the social safety net, not increase police funding. Please at least attempt to familiarize yourself with the material you are discussing before making sweeping statements about it

[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

What a goon, social workers are cops too, but sure quote Mao when someone disagrees with you because disagreement can only arise if someone doesn't investigate. Obviously you're the only person who knows anything and you're always right, so until we reach your conclusions we must just not have studied hard enough

[-] [email protected] 44 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Call me crazy, but funding hate crime prevention and expanding the social safety net is good, actually. To call social workers cops as if they are truly one and the same is so fucking disingenuous it’s almost unbelievable. Yeah, sending in the guy with a degree in deescalation to settle a dispute is exactly the same as sending in an armed thug with a gun and anger issues.

Please say you are not serious.

[-] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I think every victim of the still on-going scoop of Indigenous children in North America would definitely agree that social workers are cops (not to mention the way they work with and alongside cops to intervene in people's lives in a way that disproportionately impacts disabled, queer, and racialized people and often imposes rules on them that are not required by the normative population with the fatal threat of withdrawing what little supports that exist).

I would actually say "hate crime prevention" is not a good thing, because I don't agree with the framing of hate as something to be intervened in through the racist, violent, oppressive criminal justice system of America which inflicts the very things it is being purported to prevent. When you use a framework of "hate crime" you are relegating safety and justice to the halls of the administrative, judicial, and policing systems of a fascist settler-colony. Don't be ridiculous.

Now if you wanted to learn more about why I said these things, I actually mentioned a book with a great analysis of this, but of course you won't read it before ridiculing me because you don't need to investigate anything before speaking, right? Shill for your politician all you like, but no one is obligated to agree with you, nor is someone who disagrees with you deserving of ridicule "comrade"

[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago

Don’t get it wrong, I totally understand the punitive justice system is not how you deal with hate crime, but dispute mediation is actually a serious tangible improvement over the current solutions we currently have in hand like sending an armed cop. I don’t think the solution is the carceral system, but I think that it’s a hell of a lot easier to fundamentally change how the carceral system functions and what it’s goals are when the people we actually task at restorative justice projects aren’t literal cops and are trained in how to do restorative justice. I also think that a mayor who is at least a democratic socialist will be far more amicable to working to dismantle the worst parts of the carceral system than, I don’t know, literally any of the other options we have on the table. We do actually get to vote, whether or not the candidate is perfect, and there will be a mayor, whether or not they are perfect. I at least want a mayor that understand materialism and can normalize the idea of socialism while doing what is possible short of an actual proletarian revolution to take the boot off of the neck of the working class.

There are conditions I’d rather organize in, and it isn’t under literal mayor cop Eric Adams. To call what I’m doing “shilling” is funny because I’d rather “shill” to get a democratic socialist elected and give my community a nucleus to organize around than “shill” for ideological purity when there will be a mayor regardless. It might as well be a better mayor if it’s possible. I’d rather not sit tethered to a lead and not test the limits of how far I can push improving conditions short of the actual revolution.

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[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yea i don't think Obamna would've ever said Israel should be a secular state, always a Jewish state.

Edit: I think it's best to wait (assuming he wins general) before casting judgement.

[-] [email protected] 45 points 3 days ago

Obama 2.0 dropped

Let's see what he materially does when he's in office. Too early to tell.

629 days of livestreamed extermination and this is who I am supposed to be celebrating?

If you are US American or Canadian: yes. If you aren't either of those: let it rip.

Past revolutionaries did much dirtier things to gain and retain power than Zohran refusing to tank his campaign by quieting his tone in order to win an election and actually have the power to positively effect his community. His approach to the genocide has impressed me more than the PRC's has, as one example (given the respective context of each entity).

US cultural hegemony and liberal zionism are scourges.

Agree, it sucks that he has to walk back the public presentation of some of his principles in order to win. That's politics, it's fucking dirty even when you're the "good guy". It is even true of non-electoral politics to some extent. You do what you need to do to gain power, and once you can wield it effectively with the support of those you represent, you have more freedom to actually be a leader.

Nothing wrong with being outraged about the ongoing genocide, ofc. Zohran is hopefully the first of many, and he has proven that support for Palestine (which he does, even if his public presentation of that has been modified for purposes of winning a campaign) does not permanently tank you forever in your political career. This is good, Zionism in the U.S. still holds strong, but is quickly eroding. At this point, the more they ask him about it, the faster it erodes; we have the upper hand and that should be celebrated.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Crazy to call Zohran a Zionist when he so obviously isn’t. Aside from his history of pro-Palestinian organizing, he has proudly and openly said he’d arrest Netanyahu if he came to NYC. Where else are we hearing anti-Israel rhetoric anywhere in the U.S. that approaches that from somebody who holds a level of power similar to mayor of NYC?

As we all know, Obama would totally have arrested Netanyahu

[-] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

I mean what's also important is that regardless of how some people pick apart his representation online, he's still perceived by the public as an anti-zionist radical which is the actually important part because he is winning! That's a huge W for anti-zionism, even IF he had to make some compromises along the way. It paves the way for Zohran 2 to be even more outspoken a few years from now

[-] [email protected] 36 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The dialectical relationship between your post and the post immediately before it by a few minutes is really giving peak hexbear

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

I’m surprised we’re doing this dance again, I thought we were free after Bernie and AOC show their true colors

[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago

The Third-Worldists feeling justified as we Amerikkkans once again argue over electoralism.

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[-] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

I'm blanket pinging everyone in this subthread to note this post. go as deep-nesting as you want in this subthread (as long as people are respecting the sidebar code of conduct) but please don't make a pattern of doing zohran electoralism struggle sessions in the newsmega.

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago

If I never have to see him again it would be a blessing.

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[-] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Would love an explanation as to why you believe he should say he won't fight antisemtism.

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[-] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago

Leaving a comment here. I want to come back to this post in a few months-years.

Comrades, we are materialistic. There is more chances that this guy bends the knee to the hegemonic power than really pushing socialist laws (more close to the SPD than Bolchevisk use of the capitalist state power).

We also know how the USA operates when we talk of progressive politicians (not even socialist ones).

I wish him and his supporter the best. But, comrades, be materialistic, don't be idealistic.

[-] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago

It was a materialistic campaign. The entire focus was on improving the material conditions of New Yorkers. It won’t be a red terror, it’ll be an improvement of material conditions to allow the working class to better organize. Free childcare is really one of the major cornerstones here

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[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago

Of course, we have infinite reasons to be pessimistic, but isn't there a point where the skepticism - even if we think it is based on material or intellectual analysis - becomes its own stumbling block?

But, comrades, be materialistic, don't be idealistic.

Like Gramsci said, our intellect drives us towards pessimism, but our will makes us optimists. What is the point of doing anything if we let all the reasons to be pessimistic rule our life? Left movements require the will to be optimistic, to not erase the parts of us that are idealist, because without those we would be crushed by the weight of what we fight against.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

Think about the world where Gramsci wrote that.

Be optimistic, sure. But don't be idealistic, is not the same.

It would be cool if he's the real deal, a first step for something bigger.

But he's also in the belly of the beast. Same for the CPUSA and the SPA in the 30', in a world where the URSS was still an horizon for the proletariats of the world. Now, putting all your eggs in the basket of electoralism drove to the winning of Roosevelt and the subsequent repression of the leftist parties and the workers movement. Not the ally a lot of them thought.

AOC and Berni are closer examples, they were also idealized in the ol' CTH subreddit (not by everyone, of course). And, even when you cited the time where Parenti warned us about Bernie, a lot of people jumped the defend an obvious imperialist.

Just don't idealize democrat figures as saviours (just don't idealize in general). Have optimism, of course. But also comprehend that it doesn't mean you should "jump on the granade" for them, don't follow them blindy.

He's no Lenin in 1905, the proletariat is no the same as 1905 (or 1917). But we both know where bourgeoisie electoralism can drive us to. And we need to be prepared for that, no surprises.

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[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

(Video is AOC struggling to condemn the child-killing zionist cancer)

More Zionist American socialist politicians of colour 👏👏

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

"I believe absolutely in Israels right to exist"

I've heard enough

[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

Its not hard to say death to israel. Even a child can say it.

I wish people understood more what liberal zionism is and the danger it poses.

The recent conversion of many Western politicians and media commentators from open supporters of the Gaza genocide to weak critics (tough words, no action) of the Netanyahu regime is no accident.

Of course, these weasels are concerned to restore their plummeting credibility in face of the worldwide rejection of Zionist atrocities, but they also have their way paved by Liberal Zionists who want to redirect the moral force of Palestinian solidarity into a historical compromise which preserves many aspects of Jewish colonial privilege.

Liberal Zionists, including most North American Jews, have long hated Netanyahu and other openly fascist Zionists for destroying their dream of a nicer, kinder colonial regime. Most still speak of a ‘two-state solution’.

Almost anything might seem like a haven after two years of the genocidal slaughter in Gaza and the open Israeli commitment to systematic child killing and a ‘final solution’ for Gaza.

But important compromises appear immediately when there is any move towards recognition of a Palestinian state. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese warned in 2022 that “Dismantling the Israeli apartheid… will not automatically address the question of Israeli domination over the Palestinians, restore permanent sovereignty over the lands Israel occupies … nor … fulfill Palestinian political aspirations”.

...

Even if Netanyahu were overthrown tomorrow and apartheid in historic Palestine were dismantled, key challenges would remain over what to do about historic land theft, the right to return for millions of refugees, and questions of justice over the multiple mass murders. And in that scenario, the voice of Liberal Zionism, in support of Jewish colonial privilege and backed by its Anglo-American sponsors, would become very important.

As I argued in my 2023 book West Asia After Washington, a collapse in the current Israeli regime would likely lead to a second stage of struggle over those compromises, and not a clean break into a free and democratic Palestine. We have seen the results of these bad compromises in the dismantling of other racist states - Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa - where massive land and economic inequality problems remain.

The problem with Liberal Zionism lies in its main aim: to rescue the Israeli dream by distancing itself from and denouncing the genocidal Netanyahu version. That rescue could involve anything from two states to a single democratic state where apartheid is dismantled but special Jewish privilege is maintained in parts of the post-1967 occupied territories.

It is clear that openly fascist forces dominate the Netanyahu-led Israeli colony today, but not Zionism worldwide. Liberal Zionists remain very influential in the USA, despite the recent setbacks for their natural home in the US Democrat Party.

...

Liberal Jews, who see themselves are tolerant and anti-racist, are repulsed by the apartheid brand. Two former Israeli Prime Ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, both from the Israeli Labor Party, have argued that if the two state project disappears, there will be no alternative to the South African road and dismantling apartheid.

The Israeli Labor Party was the traditional base for liberal Zionism within the colony, even though many of its leaders had participated in the worst of Zionist terrorism. Yigal Allon, for example, a former Haganah terrorist in the 1930s and army commander during the Nakba massacres, became Israeli Prime Minister briefly in 1969. His ‘Allon Plan’ argued for divide and rule in the region but also for returning some of the occupied territories (after the 1967 war) to Arab control.

By contrast, the ‘Yinon Plan’ of 1982, argued by Likud adviser Oded Yinon, was a more comprehensive strategy for occupying and dominating the entire region.

The late Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Labor Prime Minister who signed the Oslo peace accords with the PLO, spoke of a freeze of ‘settlements’ in the West Bank but invested billions in infrastructure for those same settlements, leading to their expansion.

In other words, both factions presided over expanded colonisation, but the Liberals at times, could contemplate a weak, marginalised Palestinian state in exchange for greater recognition of the Israeli regime under a ‘two state solution’, legitimising all the land theft since the 1960s.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago

Sorry, you could never be elected in the Nazi state being honest like that

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

Electoralism wont liberate Palestine and its disturbing to me that it is being marketed as such.

Rehabilitate Democrats.

Rehabilitate America.

Rehabilitate Israel.

Good luck to the people in New York City i just wish it wasnt also blasting to the rest of like it means anything.

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this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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