news

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/19/741202/Hardline-minister-and-his-party-quit-Netanyahu-coalition-over-ceasefire-agreement

Israeli minister Ben-Gvir quits Netanyahu’s coalition over Gaza ceasefire

Israeli minister along with his entire party have resigned from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition over the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and his “Jewish-power” party announced on Sunday that they are leaving the coalition “in light of the approval of the reckless agreement with the Hamas.”

The party called the ceasefire agreement a “capitulation to Hamas” and the renunciation of the Israeli regime’s so-called achievements since the start of the war.

Although Jewish power said it will not try to bring down Netanyahu’s cabinet, the departure of its ministers, especially Ben-Gvir, makes Netanyahu’s coalition >significantly weaker.

The party said it would be willing to return to Netanyahu’s coalition should the war eventually resume.

In a video posted to X, Ben-Gvir admitted that he and Bezalel Smotrich, another Israeli minister, used their political influence in order to prevent a ceasefire >agreement from moving forward.

“If this irresponsible agreement is approved and implemented, the Jewish power party will not be part of the government and will leave it,” he said.

Ben-Gvir also said humanitarian aid and fuel, electricity, and water must be “completely stopped” from entering the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

Ben-Gvir has been convicted of incitement to racism, destroying property, possessing a “terror” organization’s propaganda material, and supporting a terrorist >organization – the Israeli group Kahane Chai, which he joined when he was 16.

Israel was forced to accept a ceasefire deal with Hamas on Wednesday. The agreement has been set to take effect on Sunday 06:30 GMT.

Israel launched its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led resistance groups carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in >retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Since October, the occupying regime has killed at least 46,788 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured nearly 110,450 others, in Gaza.

What a bunch of crybabies.

There's gonna be a lot of CEOs and other really awful people all in one place on monday... Just making an observation

phase 1 of the ceasefire is only a 12 period/day with no ground/aerial operations

FEATURING!

The News Megathread Imperialism Reading Group: Week 1 - January 13th to January 19th, 2025

IF YOU WANT TO BE HUGE THEORY NERD THAT DUNKS ON HOGS WITH YOUR BEAUTIFUL COMMUNIST PROBAGANDA DRENCHED BRAINS WITH THE EASE AND FEAST UPON THE CORPSES OF YOUR ENEMIES WITH THE ELEGANCE OF A BEAUTIFUL PURPLE EMPEROR BUTTERFLY NOW'S YOU CHANCE TO GET THE NOGGIN MARINATION GOING!

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO 72T'S POST WHERE IT SAYS

Welcome to the first week of the Imperialism Reading Group!

This will be a weekly thread in which we read through books on and related to imperialism and geopolitics. How many chapters or pages we will cover per week will vary based on the density and difficulty of the book, but I'm generally aiming at 30 to 40 pages per week, which should take you about an hour or two.

The first book we will be covering is the foundation, the one and only, Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. We will read two chapters per week starting from this week, meaning that we will finish reading in mid-to-late February. Unless a better suggestion is made, we will then cover Michael Hudson's Super Imperialism, and continue with various books from there.

Every week, I will write a summary of the chapter(s) read, for those who have already read the book and don't wish to reread, can't follow along for various reasons, or for those joining later who want to dive right in to the next book without needing to pick this one up too.

This week, we will be reading Chapter 1: Concentration of Production and Monopolies, and Chapter 2: Banks and their New Role.

Please comment or message me directly if you wish to be pinged for this group. (Meaning you poke 72T not me. don't make me play telephone!)

https://hexbear.net/post/4272887

Jon Elmer on the latest radio war nerd discussing specifics of the Palestinian resistance within gaza. A lot of topics covered won't be new to the newsmega but Elmer brings a deep understanding of tactics and history all the same.

https://pca.st/episode/e2c19d95-8831-47eb-9805-3919e609d54b

Trump wants to keep creating redundant bureaucracies. What is CBP for? Who does he think pays the import tariffs, it's not China. China gets fiat money, U.S. gets real goods.

Today’s news from occupied Palestine and Syria.

Social media users react to ceasefire with mix of relief, joy: https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/15/740983/Gaza-won-Netizens-react-Hamas-Israel-ceasefire-genocide

The fascist and genocidal Tel Aviv massacred another 62 Palestinian civilians today, as the ceasefire negotiations continued: https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/15/740980/Israel-Kills-62-Palestinians-despite-ceasefire-deal

Zionist aircraft have now intentionally attacked the “HTS” in Syria for the first time, killing two members in Quneitra province. I wonder how these new rulers in Damascus will respond to this blatant aggression. One frustrating aspect of the previous Syrian government is that they did not shoot back after these kinds of thuggish Zionist attacks: https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/15/740976/Syria-Israel-HTS-airstrike-Quneitra-Assad

While this comment is a bit out there, I beg everyone to hear me out: the strongest sign I've seen that the potential ceasefire in Gaza is expected to go ahead and last for the next few months, has to do with the activities of Ansar Allah (known as the Houthis in mainstream western media) and their latest operations, with regards to the types of missiles that they are using in their attacks. Now again I know that might sound mad, but I'll explain my thoughts below.

Qatar PM announces ceasefire to begin 19 Jan, specific time to still be negotiated.

— ❗️🇮🇱/🇵🇸/🇶🇦/🇪🇬 BREAKING: The Prime Minister of Qatar officially announces a hostage deal and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip!

The initial ceasefire is temporary (1st phase of 43 days) and will transition into a permanent ceasefire when all the requirements are met.

The ceasefire will begin on Sunday.

The war in Gaza is over.

@Middle_East_Spectator

Glory to the Resistance!

Here is an update on the story of the south African illegal miners stranded underground. Pretty grim, I can't imagine what it must be like underground there. It's a tomb.

https://www.business-standard.com/amp/world-news/at-least-78-dead-at-abandoned-south-africa-gold-mine-toll-expected-to-rise-125011501286_1.html

He might still change his mind, but it looks like Trump's demand to end the genocide by inauguration day is already applying lots of pressure on Israel.

https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1878919246547403165

SCMP: China runs final tests of hypersonic air-to-air missile in extreme Mars mission tunnel

This is the first official confirmation of the existence of this mysterious weapon, which could pose an unprecedented threat to US military aircraft, including the B-21 stealth bomber that is currently undergoing flight testing.

A major agreement has been reported between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages.

According to American and Israeli media, the concluded agreement provides for a preliminary six-week stage , during which a ceasefire must be observed, a partial withdrawal of the Israeli army must be carried out, and an exchange of hostages must be carried out. The agreement provides for:

• Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, partial withdrawal of the IDF and the return of local residents to the north of the region.

• Gaza will receive 600 trucks with humanitarian aid .

• Hamas will release 33 captured Israelis in stages.

• Israel, in turn, will release 30 Palestinian prisoners for each kidnapped person and 50 for each female soldier.

no fucking way trump told bibi to pound sand

note to self: if you participate in bloody civil war - win it, so you don't be prosecuted.

BREAKING: Blinken sheds single tear upon news of a ceasefire

The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) as part of it's carrier strike group, is the closest it's been to Yemen since the 21st of December. Highly likely we'll see an attack on Ansar Allah (known as the Houthis in mainstream western media) in Yemen before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas goes into effect.

Update: The Carrier Strike Group has already come under attack within the last hour, according to the latest statement by the Yemeni Armed Forces, likely in self defence to try deter an upcoming attack.

Final update: latest reports from Yemeni sources (Al Masirah TV) of US strikes targeting the Al-Azraqeen area, north of the Yemeni capital Sana'a, as well as aggression targeting Sana'a itself.

Twitter source

Xcancel mirror

Netanyahu says a ceasefire in Gaza has been delayed until Hamas releases a list of hostages

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/ckg0znng8x2t

So is Trump really pressuring Netanyahu into this supposed ceasefire? Trump was the harm reduction candidate all along huh

The United States takes steps in the right direction, but the blockade remains. - Cuban Goverment

today's nakedcapitalism roundup on the gaza ceasefire is worth a look. the triumphalism of unsurprising given how desperate any normal person is to see even a pause in the israeli genocide, but celebration seems quite premature given modern history and the incentives of various parties to fuck things up or look the other way while people fuck things up.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/01/gaza-ceasefire-deal-still-not-approved-by-knesset-and-why-should-the-world-trust-israel-to-comply-if-so.html

Btw the IMF has an online library where you can download a bunch of their analysis (analyses?) of various regions of the world. Presumably you can learn a lot about how the vampires all think, and where they see potential faultlines in the financial empire of the United States. Same with the world bank, which has a quarterly commodities forecast which talks about the potential price developments in wheat, oil and others.

This is not to encourage people to take their word as gospel, but it's probably a decent idea to know how these specific institutions looks upon the world, since their ideology is so dominant among the ruling elites of the world.

Elon Musk has claimed that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer "sent agents to America to undermine the US election!" This is how an entrepreneur from Trump's team commented on the publication in X about Starmer not being invited to the inauguration.

Musk has previously said Washington should step in and "liberate" the people of Britain by changing the government. According to the FT, Musk is exploring ways to destabilise the Labour government with the help of his allies.

Why does he give a shit about the UK?

So, what is up with BadEmpanada? Seems like some neoliberal polandball youtuber got angry at him, and BadEmpanada fans trolled the guy so hard, he thinks BadEmpanada owns 200 different twitter accounts.

seeing happy freed hostages is nice at least;

https://xcancel.com/SamidounPP/status/1881131475791409245

The Greenland Crisis Continues: Danish Regime Scrambles to Reassure Business Leaders After Trump Call

Denmark’s Social Democrat-led government finds itself in crisis mode following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s demand to buy Greenland, accompanied by threats of economic warfare and even military action. This unprecedented situation marks the most serious threat to Denmark’s territorial integrity since World War II, thrusting one of Washington’s most loyal vassals into the unfamiliar position of being the target of American imperialist ambitions.

Yesterday Danish leader Mette Frederiksen had a 45 minutes long phone call with Trump, asserting that Greenland is not for sale and any future change in its status must be decided by the Greenlanders themselves. In statements to the press Frederiksen avoided confirming if Trump fully grasped her message, she only acknowledged his "very strong" interest in Greenland. Trump, however, did not back down from his threats of putting punitive tariffs on Danish goods, placing Denmark in a precarious position given its economic reliance on U.S. trade, with the U.S. being Denmark's largest export market, ahead of Germany.

In response, Frederiksen held a meeting with business leaders to inform them and help them prepare for potential tariffs. Minister of Business Morten Bødskov sought to project calm, stating that the government was "taking it easy". Criticism arose from the pro-democracy Red-Green opposition for excluding unions from these discussions, arguing that workers will suffer most from any economic fallout.

Despite Trump’s continued threats, Frederiksen extended an invitation for him to visit Denmark during their phone call, underscoring the regime’s steadfast Atlanticist loyalty. No concrete plans for a visit have been made. Since the end of WWII, Denmark has been a an extremely loyal vassal to the U.S., even among western European countries. Trump’s previous attempt to buy Greenland in 2019 was dismissed by Frederiksen as "absurd," led to him to throw a tantrum and labeling her "nasty." Now, Frederiksen walks a tightrope, trying to square the circle of rejecting of Trump’s outrageous and offensive demands while continuing Danish subservience to U.S. interests.

As Denmark’s political elite continues to recite the atlanticist mantra of the U.S. being "our most important ally," their desperation becomes increasingly apparent. With allies like these, Denmark may find that enemies are hardly necessary.

Another unrelated rant

One thing israhell will never admit is that their envy of Ireland. Almost no one hates Irish, anyone who knows 2 things about their history will welcome them, while israhellis forever will have risk of being confronted for their war crimes if they ever go to another country. I should send some baklava to my Irish neighbour

AFD intimidating immigrants with fake deportation tickets

Article

Marco Rubio says the U.S. may put Cuba back on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism Removal of the Caribbean country from the list was announced in the last days of Joe Biden's Democratic administration.

“I have no doubt that (Cuba) meets all the requirements to be considered a state sponsor of terrorism,” Marco Rubio said on Wednesday before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing as secretary of state.

The statement was made just one day after President Joe Biden announced the removal of Cuba from the list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism”. “Nothing that the Biden administration has agreed to in the last 12 to 18 hours is binding on the next administration, which begins on Monday,” he said.

mBridge, a Bank of International Settlements Project Hyped by BRICS Fans as a Way to Evade Sanctions, Shut Down by Naked Capitalism

A case study in how much the world has changed, and how promoting narratives (boy do I hate that word) trumps getting things right is mBrigde, a BIS project that just got canned.

A bit of a “told you so” tone from Yves Smith but an excellent dissection on the practical challenges faced by BRICS (if they truly want to challenge US dominance) and how overenthusiastic multipolar fans hyped up projects without understanding the fundamentals of the issue at hand.

Importantly, we have Michael Hudson in the comment section saying this:

Yves highlights the big problem with well-wishers hoping that BRICS can create a better financial and economic system than the West has.

The idea is that financial independence requires one’s own “money.” But money itself is a legal creation that requires agreement by the governments issuing it as to (1) what countries — and who in them — gets the money that is being created, and (2) what will the money be created for.

This requires political unification and that a collective BRICS government is far from being created in the foreseeable future.

What CAN be created is a settlement system for intergovernmental debts among countries running surpluses and deficits. Keynes described such a system in his proposals for a banker back in 1944. If creditor countries did not pursue policies that enabled debtor countries to pay — by accepting their exports, for instance — then when the balances reached some critical mass, the creditor claims and debtor liabilities would be wiped off the books, because creditors had not taken responsibility for enabling debtors to pay. Such debts were bad loans, Keynes argued.

The US opposed this, wanting Hard Money, because the US had 75% of the world’s gold (and increased its share to 80% by 1950).

And today’s US would not take responsibility for loans to countries that can’t afford to pay their dollar debts without stifling their economic growth by accepting IMF austerity plans.

None of this kind of reform requires a common currency. The problem is the IMBALANCES among countries. That is the key.

As Hudson pointed out, the main problem has always been how are you going to sort out balance of payments issue. Keynes had the right idea with bancor, but with China running $1 trillion trade surplus these days, there is virtually zero incentive for China to get onboard with such a trade arrangement because bancor will only heavily punish the two countries (US and China) for running their huge trade deficits (huge import) and surpluses (huge export) - the two countries that have benefited tremendously from the status quo at the expense of the rest of the world.

This again goes back to why I always said that China’s only way out is to transition into a domestic consumption economy and give up their export industries, because the very act of transitioning itself has a very nice built-in incentive for China to embrace the bancor-like mechanism that will return the world to a more balanced trade, and also contains the antidote against dollar hegemony at the same time. That means industrial capacities more equally distributed across the world, as well as simultaneously blunting the force of US monetary imperialism.

Authorities in the Republic of Korea (ROK) are attempting to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol for the second time over his brief declaration of martial law in December. Up to 1,000 police officers have been deployed, currently attempting to enter Yoon’s residence.

Pissrael is bombing Gaza. Ceasefire was a lie.

Trump, China's Xi hold call on TikTok, trade, Taiwan

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump takes office again promising tariffs that could ratchet up tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

Both leaders were upbeat about the call, with Trump calling it "a very good one" and Xi saying he and Trump both hoped for a positive start to U.S.-China relations, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

It was the first known phone call between the pair after Trump's election in November.

The U.S. and China are embroiled in an array of diplomatic and economic disagreements, including an accelerating technological and military rivalry and bitter trade disputes. Marco Rubio, Trump's nominee to be his secretary of state, has defined China as the gravest threat facing the U.S. and warned about the risks of possible military conflict between the two countries.

The call came shortly before U.S. Supreme Court on Friday announced a ruling upholding a law that mandates TikTok owner ByteDance divest TikTok's U.S. assets by Sunday to a non-Chinese buyer, or be banned on national security concerns.

"The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A. It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects," Trump wrote on his social media platform.

"President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!"

Xi raised China's concerns about Taiwan, which Beijing maintains is part of its territory, and said he hoped the U.S. would treat the matter with great care.

"The Taiwan issue concerns China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and he hopes the U.S. side will handle it with caution," he said according to Chinese state television.

Xi said the United States and China can have their differences but must respect each other's core interests, and that trade relations can be mutually beneficial without confrontation and conflict, comments similar to those he made during Trump's first term.

The Chinese readout of the call said the two leaders agreed to set up a "channel of strategic communication to keep in regular touch on major issues of shared interest."

Trump offered strong support to Taiwan, including regularizing arms sales, in his first term. But during the campaign last year, he said Taiwan should pay the U.S. to be defended.

The Republican president-elect, who upended trade relations in his first term, is about to embark on an even more aggressive effort in his second term. He has pledged to impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods unless Beijing does more to stop trafficking of the highly addictive narcotic fentanyl, and he threatened tariffs in excess of 60% on Chinese goods while on the campaign trail.

Trump said on Jan. 6 that he and Xi have been communicating through representatives, expressing optimism about their relationship.

Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, said whether Trump in coming days would permit TikTok to operate without a qualified divestment and whether he applied tariffs on China quickly or first began negotiations with Beijing would be early indicators of how confrontational his stance toward China would be.

Trump posted online later that his decision on TikTok would be coming soon, and that "everyone must respect" the Supreme Court ruling.

Breaking with tradition, Trump had invited Xi and other foreign leaders to his Jan. 20 inauguration, but China is sending Vice President Han Zheng, a move signaling Beijing's desire to step up communication with the incoming administration.

Still, any "grand bargain" between the two sides over trade, Taiwan and other strategic issues would be difficult to reach, said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

"There's an immense amount of distance between what one can imagine and actually achieving such an outcome. The interests between the U.S. and China on many of these issues are different and the views of key advisors to both are quite hawkish," Kennedy said.

Folks, we’re gonna do so many great things, folks. lmao this guy.

But as I’ve said, there is a good chance of easing US-China tension with Biden gone.

SpaceX's Starship explodes in flight test, forcing airlines to divert

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.

SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT).

Video shot by Reuters showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind.

"We did lose all communications with the ship - that is essentially telling us we had an anomaly with the upper stage," SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot said, confirming minutes later that the ship was lost.

The last time a Starship upper stage failed was in March last year, as it was reentering Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, but rarely has a SpaceX mishap caused widespread disruptions to air traffic.

Dozens of commercial flights diverted to other airports or altered course to avoid potential debris, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24. Departures from airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were also delayed by about 45 minutes, it added.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates private launch activities, said it had briefly slowed and diverted planes around the area where space debris was falling, but normal operations had since resumed.

The FAA regularly closes airspace for space launches and reentries, but it can create a "debris response area" to prevent aircraft from entering if the space vehicle experiences an anomaly outside the originally closed zone.

SpaceX CEO Musk posted a video on X showing the debris field and said: "Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!"

The failure came a day after Blue Origin, billionaire Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab founder Jeff Bezos' space company, successfully launched its giant New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time.