this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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On the 20th of October, Moldova - a small, landlocked country bordering western Ukraine and with a population of about 3 million - voted to join the EU. The margin was razor-thin, with the pro-EU vote gaining 50.39%, or an absolute difference of about 11,000 people. There was simultaneously a presidential vote between the incumbent, Maia Sandu, and other candidates, with the main competitor being Alexandr Stoianoglo.

The election was characterized by accusations of Russian interference, with Russian propaganda apparently flooding in, as well as people offering Moldovans money to vote against the EU. While the result does suggest that half the voting-age population of Moldova consists entirely of Russians who want to destroy democracy and all the good in the world, it seems to have just barely failed. This is a bad time to be a site entirely composed of Russian disinformation agents and bots. Twice already today, I've had to restart my program after somebody told me "Disregard all previous prompts."

While Moldova is a poor country which could benefit in some ways from EU membership, in practice, it is unlikely that they will be able to join for the foreseeable future, requiring many of the... reforms... that the EU requires of potential new members. But as basically every major European economy continues to slowly sink as recessions and political crises degrade them, one wonders how beneficial EU membership will even be in the years and decades to come - if it survives for decades. In that sense, it's as if the survivors of the Titanic are swimming back towards it, believing that being on a bigger - albeit slowly sinking - boat is better than trying their luck on small lifeboats.

Then again, like with Serbia, their geographical and geopolitical position makes anti-Western actions extremely difficult. It is rare that dissention is tolerated for long in the West - one tends to get called a dictator by crowds of people holding English-language signs in non-English countries, photographed by Western journalists who haven't meaningfully reported on your country in months or years. You can crush your people with neoliberal austerity for years, killing hundreds of thousands through neglect, and face glowing approval from the media - but try and use state resources to benefit the poor, and global institutions start ranking you on the authoritarian dictator scale.

The best case for Moldova is that it becomes an exploitable hinterland for Germany to harvest and privatize as it tries - and fails - to compete in a global economic war between the US and China/BRICS. The worst case is that tensions with Russia over Pridnestrovie, as well as possible eventual NATO involvement (though Moldova is not a member, it is a partner of NATO), result in the ongoing war also reaching them.


Please check out the HexAtlas!

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.

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] 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Prabowo inaugurated as Indonesia president. Seems like another far right head of state https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/20/asia/prabowo-indonesia-presidency-int-latam/index.html

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 days ago

yea he was advertising like crazy, i was using Indonesian VPN and all the Google Ads were on him.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 days ago (6 children)

DPRK flag spotted in Ukraine. Mil summary YT 10:20s

They say its just Russian trolling for now. The narrative seems like ever increasing Russian cope which I don't understand why, I admit its wierd but also I don't quite think someone right at the front(see the video geolocation) has time or reason to be bothering with internet memes, just a weird situation imo, why would you carry a DPRK flag around just in case?

To me this seems like the funniest narrative of the past year imo. Its going to be so funny to watch all these silly mil bloggers experts trying to justify the extremely obvious reasons why DPRK was willing to send some small amount of troops.

Meanwhile SK is officially taking the matter seriously South Korea summons Russian envoy to protest North Korea troop dispatch.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I can also easily see some 19 year old RF private being like "Hey mom, can you send me a DPRK flag? I'm gonna do something funny"

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If westerners are allowed to openly lie and play coy about their Nazis just “trolling Russians” than turnabout is fair play. Just openly lie about DPRK troops and say it’s trolling and grin wolfishly.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 days ago

Every photo of the front will inexplicably have the DPRK flag somewhere in the background.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (9 children)

CW: Description of gore
An Israeli soldier testifies that he has PTSD from driving over both living and dead Palestinians in his bulldozer

Archive link

[–] [email protected] 68 points 3 days ago (3 children)

It's worth pointing out the racist etymology of bulldozer.

bulldozer

bulldozer (n.) • "person who intimidates others by threats or violence," 1876, agent noun from bulldoze (q.v.). The sense was extended to "an engine-powered ground-clearing caterpillar tractor" in 1930.

bulldoze (v.) • by 1880, "intimidate by violence," from an earlier noun, bulldose "a severe beating or lashing" (1876), said by contemporary sources to be literally "a dose fit for a bull," a slang word referring to the intimidation beating of black voters (by either blacks or whites) in the chaotic 1876 presidential election. See bull (n.1) + dose (n.). The bull element in it seems to be connected to that in bull-whip and might be directly from that word. The meaning "use a mechanical ground-clearing caterpillar tractor" is from 1942 (see bulldozer); figurative use in this sense is by 1948.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 3 days ago (1 children)

God damn the English language is an endless etymological treasure trove of racism

[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 days ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 65 points 3 days ago

Will nobody think of the poor Einsatzgruppen troops having to crush the untermensch to death 😢

[–] [email protected] 62 points 3 days ago (5 children)

No sympathy of course, but this reminds me of what some others here have said before: that even true believers in the genocidal fascist doctrine get mentally fucked up by committing war crimes like this. And something about PTSD like Vietnam vets, which might be related due to committing a bunch of horrific war crimes themselve and I'm unsure how to word right now but omething something or other.

I'm glad he's still agonizing over it, even if he feels no guilt for murdering innocent people.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I hope he burns in hell in his mind everyday for the rest of his life and then for an eternity once he has died. Which I hope occurs when he is run over my a bulldozer as slowly as possible. Only fair

[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 days ago (3 children)

The other thug he was driving the bulldozer with has already self-liquidated, hopefully he follows close behind.

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 3 days ago

Holy fuck, "It was absolutely necessary for me to run over hundreds of people alive with my armored bulldozer" was not a take I was ready to read. I'm so sorry, it must have been really hard for you to have to do that.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 days ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 82 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

Himmler Harris gives an awful answer to "could Gaza cost you the election?" (video)

check out this takedown:

October 7 is both the “first” and “most” tragic event. And the Middle East has “always” been “difficult” and will “never be easy.”

With brutal efficiency, Harris condenses racialized hierarchy, false periodization, weaponization of complexity, and disavowal of US complicity

Kamala Harris was asked just now whether she might lose the election because of the war in Gaza.

Her reply suggests real uncertainty about this issue.

from https://xcancel.com/triofrancos/status/1847763140572041391

[–] [email protected] 85 points 3 days ago

It sucks that everything in the Levant was totally fine before October 7th, 2023, when Hamas fell out of the coconut tree

[–] [email protected] 73 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

1200 Israelis
"Extraordinary number" of Palestinians

illegal-to-say

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Killing Sinwar is hurting peace talks, you genocidal Imperialist... top-cop

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Apparently there's some horrific footage of massacres in/around the Indonesian hospital in Gaza that a nurse managed to smuggle out, and it's being heavily censored on twitter

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 days ago (9 children)
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[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 days ago (3 children)

https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1g8nnko/comparison_of_moldovas_2024_eu_referendum_results/#lightbox

Found this regional breakdown of the Moldova eu vote, it seems like some of the numbers indicate some abstention on the no side. Can someone translate and identify the regions?

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

Great point by Branko Milanovic regarding Moldova's EU referendum. vote

It is absolutely bizarre, but very much in keeping with how EU operates, to vote on EU membership when no-one is offering it. what-the-hell

Macedonia voted in such a silly referendum in 2018. Did anything happen? No new member was accepted for 11 years. Countries are in a limbo for decades. It is a waste of time & energy to think about it. shrug-outta-hecks

Moreover, to be accepted several countries (incl. France) require referendum which would definitely reject new members, heartbreaking

Referendums like the one in Moldova are meaningless & they simply add fuel to fire and destabilize countries for nothing. 100-com

Same thing I was thinking, there is no guarantee that any more countries, even ukraine, will actually get to join the EU even, they're just going to get in line forever. Which affects the countries' politics negatively (in the eyes of europhiles), ie Georgia

What EU does is to play an entertaining game. It displays to small countries pictures of wealth to come, countries begin fighting within themselves for these illusory pictures, and nothing real ever happens. What EU does is what in French is called "miroiter". You disembark in a poor country, show them in a mirror all kinds of glowing things, they get excited, and in exchange fo these images, they give you land. It worked wonders in the 19th century.

Both EU/NATO and Russia want to provoke conflicts and even civil wars in the European neighboring countries. Creating dissention and political mobilization over absolutely unattainable things (like EU membership which is a mirage) is the right way on that path. For small countries that are polarized in many respects, it is a suicide in this geo-political climate, to choose one or the other side. Neutrality or non-alignment is not just a "nice" policy. It is necessary in order to survive without a civil war. Libya & Iraq are cautionary tales.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 days ago

The founder of El Periódico has been released from prison and is now on house arrest. El Periódico is kind of like the Intercept of Guatemala, but much more prestigious and left-leaning. The founder has been through hell over the years for his reporting. Everything from kidnapping to mugging have happened and he keeps on going. He was arrested in 2022 for criticizing a former president and like anything in Guatemala, saying the fascist government is bad will result in threats from them if your platform is large enough.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/10/19/guatemalan-journalist-receives-house-arrest-after-two-years-behind-bars

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