this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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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 the three leaders of the constitutive states of the Alliance of Sahel States (Mali's Assimi Goïta, Niger's Abdourahamane Tchiani, and Burkina Faso's Ibrahim Traoré) marching together in Bamako, Mali.


At the start of last week concluded the Summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES in French), in which, among other significant news, was the announcement of the creation of a unified military force for the alliance - called, rather straightforwardly, the Unified Force - which currently consists of about 5000 soldiers. Strictly speaking, joint military operations between the three countries had already been taking place for over a year before this point, but I imagine this organization streamlines the internal processes and makes it truly official.

Mali's Goïta delivered a speech during the summit in which he stated there were three main threats to the alliance: military, economic, and media. While this new military force is a major effort to combat military threats, the three countries have also mutually launched television, radio, and print media organizations to combat disinformation and psychological warfare. The economic aspect is the most tricky aspect of all, as (albeit decaying) American hegemony is not friendly to states which seek an independent economic path, most especially if that path does not directly benefit Western international corporations. Nonetheless, the three countries are doing what they can; they mutually launched an AES passport earlier in 2025, and this month, Mali has taken a bold move, recovering $1.2 billion after renegotiating mining deals with mining corporations after a comprehensive audit. Gold mining in Mali is a major sector of the economy, comprising about 20% of annual government revenue.

The three countries have also withdrawn from ECOWAS. The remaining countries consist of a small collection of West African countries, most significantly among them Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. ECOWAS is increasingly seen by the AES leadership - quite rightfully - as an organization which seeks to contain the radical shift in West Africa and return the region to the neocolonial French-governed status quo. As I talked about in a semi-recent news megathread, Nigeria is experiencing its own suite of internal problems, so perhaps in the coming years, ECOWAS will crumble from within and the AES can push back the terrorist organizations threatening them.


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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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[–] Torenico@hexbear.net 39 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

ancaptain UPDATE: Anarcho Capitalism? No no, I was saying Narco-Capitalism!

‘Fiscal innocence’: how Milei’s no-questions-asked law encouraging savers to use their stashed dollars works

A new law raises the threshold of how much money Argentines can spend without reporting it to tax authorities and encourages people to use the dollars stuffed ‘under their mattress’

President Javier Milei scored two wins on Friday: the congressional approval of his first budget bill, and the creation of a new law that applies the principle of innocence to tax evasion, with the goal of allowing Argentines to use their savings — especially dollars — with less supervision from authorities. The law, known as “fiscal innocence,” modifies the Argentine tax system, loosening controls and raising the threshold of how much money Argentines can spend without justifying where the funds came from.

One of its main goals is to encourage people to use the dollars they keep “under the mattress” — a term used to describe the money that is kept outside the bank system and that, therefore, is not part of the country’s cash flow. “Although the Argentine judiciary system states that we are all innocent until proven guilty, regarding tax issues we were all guilty until proven innocent,” Milei said in an interview with Radio Mitre on Saturday.

In an X post after the law passed, the president wrote that the new legislation is “revolutionary” and that it will “bring back the freedom” to use savings. “We are protecting Argentines’ savings forever. No government that comes after us will be able to rob the savings of good citizens.”

A new simplified income tax regime was created as part of the law. It will allow taxpayers who sign up to the scheme to no longer have to periodically inform authorities what their assets are, reducing bureaucratic steps. Their taxes will be calculated on the basis of their formal earnings. The regime only applies to residents with income exclusively of Argentine origin.

Economy Minister Luis Caputo said that, with the new law, people can make a dollar deposit in their bank and start using the money immediately and that the only requirement banks should ask for is to be registered in the simplified income tax regime. “If your bank starts asking for more information, don’t waste your time,” he wrote on X, recommending that people go to the state-owned Banco Nación instead.

If the bank asks you where did you get these 50,000 USD just tell them to fuck off and die.

The law has raised concerns over the possibility that it could be used to commit crimes such as tax evasion, money laundering and even drug-trafficking without the state stopping them. Months ago, when the government filed the bill, Milei said that he did not care how Argentines use their money and where it comes from, and that if there is an issue it should be solved by the judiciary, adding that the criminal sphere should be completely separate from fiscal controls.

Narcos will have a field day with this law.

Tax evaders, he also said, “are heroes, not criminals”, a phrase the anarcho-capitalist has repeated often, to signal his criticism of the high level of taxation Argentina has had in the past, to finance its constant fiscal deficit.

How the new regime works

The new fiscal law allows Argentines to use up to close to US$70,000 without having to declare its origins to the national tax agency ARCA. Up until now, taxpayers were considered to be engaging in tax evasion if they were unable to prove the origin of any expense above US$1,000, a number the government considered outdated.

Now, residents will start being investigated when they make unjustified money movements starting at AR$100 million (almost US$68,000). Undeclared movements of AR$1 billion (US$680,000) or more are now considered to be aggravated tax evasion, which carries a potential jail time of up to nine years. With the new law, ARCA will also pardon those who cancel their tax debt and interests, meaning they will not file a criminal complaint against them. This benefit can only be used one time per person. If a complaint has already been filed but the taxpayer pays the debt, interests and an additional 50% fine, the authorities will remove the complaint.

The statute of limitations for tax debts was also lowered from five to three years, meaning those who don’t pay will be let off the hook quicker. If registered in the new simplified income tax regime, people with annual earnings below AR$1 billion (US$680,000) and assets below AR$10,000 billion (US$6.8 million) will not be considered large taxpayers and ARCA will no longer look into their spendings or their assets.

The agency will only take into account the income the taxpayer informs and their deductible spendings to calculate how much they have to pay for their taxes. This means that those taxpayers will be able to buy assets or make large money transfers without being obligated to inform the nature of those movements to the tax agency or bank. “Now, you will be able to spend all you want and no one will be controlling you or collecting taxes based on your declared income,” Milei told Radio Mitre.

Now the question is, will Trump, the Great Crusader Against Drug Traffickers, bomb milei's attempt at building a narco state?

The biggest issue for milei today is getting US Dollars. There are three ways for him: Privatisations (which will see in 2026), Loans (which will never end) and going after people's savings. Argentina has A LOT of US Dollars but they're out of circulation, meaning people are keeping them somewhere in their homes stashed away from the banks and the state, milei wants them. This law is made not just to benefit some particular shady people linked with milei but also to suck up argentine's savings and get them in circulation. This practice of buying US Dollars and keep them as savings is common in Argentina, it's a reliable way of protecting your finances from inflation (like buying Euros or Gold) because the US Dollar rarely depreciates compared to the Peso, which is agonizing. This practice became very popular after the Corralito in 2001, where a fuckton of people lost their savings in US Dollars which were "safeguarded" by the same banks that left the country during these terrible years, never to be seen again. A lot of people lost their entire life savings in mere moments, which led to increased rates of suicides.

Anyways, and as always: DEATH TO "ISRAEL"

[–] TechnoAnomie@hexbear.net 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Narcos will have a field day with this law.

Yeah, but corruption will be trivial to get away with, so it's worth it.