Image is of Iranian speedboats spotted by a satellite in the Strait of Hormuz.
Not terribly much has happened in the last week. The main two developments is the very much expected resumption of fire in Lebanon as the ZIonists are famously agreement-incapable, and the continuing supply of equipment to the Middle East, including the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier. This means there are now three aircraft carriers in the general vicinity, and while I'm uncertain how much of a role the burnt-out Ford and the increasingly exhausted Lincoln will ultimately play (they were rather ineffective during the first round), there are also a good ~20 destroyers and however many submarines that are carrying their own munitions. I have a couple more paragraphs of exposition below, but it's unlikely to be major news to anybody here, so I've spoilered it.
spoiler
On the one hand, it feels like a resumption of the war for the US at this point would be complete madness. We are getting article after article from even the Western media admitting to US standoff+interceptor missile shortages, as well as detailing the extensive damage to US bases. The Zionists are also getting ever more mired in Lebanon, with Hezbollah's unjammable fibre optic drones playing an ever more prominent role in causing substantial long range damage to invading forces. On the other hand, it is very unlikely that most of the US's remaining firepower is being brought to the region on a mere bluff. For its part, Iran and their allies seem to have their finger on the trigger, with their own extensive repairs, upgrades, resupplies, and adjustments having been made for round two.
Assessing the overall global economic situation is difficult, not least because of a degree of financial manipulation that is almost admirable in its sheer scale and recklessness - to quote Ghalibaf: "Their frontline is the yield curve." Multiple countries are now facing real and desperate shortages, including major economies like Japan. Diesel prices continue their record rises, and reports about the potential impacts to all sectors of the global economy are streaming in, with famines around the world now very likely. While the US is profiting from the rise in oil prices, it seems like it will be unable to meaningfully increase production for at least a year or two, and so the US will certainly not be replacing the massive oil barrel deficit to create an energy hegemony, as some have suggested. In contrary: this is the best opportunity in a generation for China, Russia, and Iran to collectively make economic decisions that could cripple entire pillars of American hegemony. However, if the response is lacking - and we've all seen before over the last four years how China's responses to crises have been on the lacking side - we could see a (albeit temporary) strengthening of the US's financial power, as this global crisis will almost certainly result in debt climbing even higher as Western financial institutions grant loans en masse to struggling countries in the developing world. It's very uncertain times.
Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
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 the Zionists' 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.
Trial of pro-Palestinian activists begins in Germany.
article text
Yesterday, the trial of the "Ulm Five" began in Stuttgart. They are accused of breaking into the premises of Elbit Systems Deutschland and causing property damage there as part of a protest against the genocide in Gaza last September. Elbit Systems Deutschland is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Elbit Systems Group, one of Israel's three largest defense contractors. Elbit profits directly from the Israeli army's war and the genocide in Gaza. "The act of which the defendants are accused on September 8, 2025, was an expression of deep moral conviction: Civil disobedience directed exclusively against property in order to save human lives," reads a statement by the defendants' attorneys, which was distributed outside the courthouse. The charges include property damage, trespassing, and membership in a criminal organization. For nearly eight months, the five young activists in solidarity with Palestine have been held in pretrial detention, scattered across various prisons throughout Baden-Württemberg.More than 150 people gathered outside the building and in the courtroom to show solidarity with the defendants. The supporters came from France, England, Ireland, and Germany, making the group just as international as the defendants themselves. Forty activists traveled from Berlin alone. When the defendants were led into the courtroom in handcuffs an hour and a half late, there was applause that lasted several minutes along with chants of solidarity.
There was a heavy police presence in front of and inside the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart's Stammheim district; the officers' equipment was warlike, and the security checks extremely strict. The checks amounted to petty harassment, far more so than what is customary at other political trials. Nothing was allowed into the courtroom. Watches, belts, jewelry, everything had to be removed and stowed away. Even shoes had to be removed and the soles of the feet shown. A woman with a walking disability had her cane taken away. The statement distributed by the lawyers had to be handed in. Not even the press was allowed to bring their own pens, only pens provided by the court were permitted. Repression and intimidation permeated the entrance as well as the proceedings of the first day of the trial.
The five defendants sat behind bulletproof glass, separated from their lawyers and the interpreters. They were only allowed to communicate with their lawyers via microphones, some of which did not even work. The defense attorneys were not permitted to file motions; they were denied the floor, and their microphones were muted. For half an hour, they tried to make it clear to the judge that their clients had the right to sit next to them. The judge would not listen. She repeated over and over: "I have not given you the floor" and "I have not granted permission to file motions." Motions were only to be allowed after the reading of the charges. The defense attorneys refused to accept this and left the courtroom. The judge then adjourned the hearing for two hours. When proceedings were set to resume at 1:00 p.m., the attorneys were standing behind the bulletproof glass with their clients. The judge gave them five minutes to take their seats. They were not willing to do so. The hearing was then adjourned again.
At the solidarity rally that followed, the lawyers reported that they had tried to speak with the judge during the recess, but she was unwilling to do so. They made it clear how essential it is for them that their clients be able to sit with them while the charges are read. They had never experienced anything like this before, not even in "terrorism"-related trials is there such a separation. They also wanted to discuss with the judge the schedule of the 16 scheduled trial dates: how long each individual session was planned to last, and why they were always set for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday instead of three consecutive days. Four of the attorneys are from Berlin; for them, the fragmented trial schedule is difficult to organize. The judge is blocking everything and giving no answers, making any exchange impossible. This first day of the trial was a lesson in how this state and its courts are becoming increasingly repressive and no longer even adhere to their own regulations.
For a long time afterward, supporters outside the building chanted slogans of solidarity. "Germany finances, Elbit Systems massacres," "Free Palestine - Free Ulm Five," "Freedom for all political prisoners," "Free, free Gaza," "Shut Elbit down," "Germany finances, Israel massacres," "German weapons, German money murder all over the world". These slogans accompanied the defendants as they were driven past the rally, back to their cells.
The Higher Regional Court in Stammheim is where the trial against the RAF took place in the 1970s. Having become somewhat outdated, the original building was decommissioned and replaced ten years ago with a new structure equipped with state-of-the-art security technology, at a cost of 29 million euros. Spectators can watch the proceedings through a two-meter-high pane of bulletproof glass. For safety reasons, the chairs are bolted to the floor. The fact that the trial of the Ulm Five is taking place in Stammheim shows what category the defendants are being placed in.
Free and fair democracy
the krauts are at it again