Image is from this SCMP article.
Much of the analysis below is sourced from Michael Roberts’ great website.
Japan’s ruling parliamentary coalition, consisting of the LDP (purple) and it’s junior coalition partner Komeito (in light pink) have lost their ruling majority. They have ruled post-war Japan for almost its entire history. The LDP is currently led by Shigeru Ishiba after Kishida stood down due to a corruption scandal, and ties to the Unification Church.
While geopolitical factors (over the cold war between the US and China, etc) may have played a role, by far the biggest reason for this result in the poor economic conditions over the past few years. Inflation has risen and real wages have fallen, with little relief for the working class via things like tax reductions. While inequality in Japan is not as extreme as in America, it is still profound, with the top 10% possessing 60% of the wealth, while the bottom 50% possess just 5%.
Shinzo Abe previously tried to boost economic performance through monetary easing and fiscal deficits, while Kishida ran on a “new capitalism” which rejected Abe’s neoliberalism and promised to reduce inequality. Nothing substantial has resulted from all this, however, other than increasing corporate wealth. Innovation continues to fall, and domestic profitability is low, resulting in decreasing investment at home by Japanese corporations. Labour productivity growth has only slightly picked up since the mid-2000s and is falling again. The rate of profit has fallen by half since the 1960s, and Japan has been in a manufacturing recession - or very close to it - since late 2022. In essence: there is no choice but between stagnation or decline.
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Last week’s thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
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.
Backstabbing in BRICS? President Maduro has just revealed that Brazil told him that they would not veto Venezuela’s membership, but at the last minute Lula’s government blocked them off.
yea, it was 100% about the venezuelan elections drama about them not doing what Lula told them
In neither here nor there news: bitcoin is close to reaching all time high again
The Mythology Behind the Grameen Bank
We look at the history of Bangladesh’s New Leader Mohammed Yunus
The day after the color revolution in Bangladesh, Mohammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen bank, a darling of the west, and a favorite of the Clinton foundation was coronated as “Chief advisor” to the new interim government. To understand the man, and how he will govern in Bangladesh, it is important to understand his history.
Before occupying his newest role as Bangladeshi Juan Guaido, Mohammed Yunus rose to fame in the 1990s, for his Grameen bank, a bank whose purpose was to give micro-loans to poor people. It eventually expanded to create a cottage industry with his Grameen Telecom, Grameen Fisheries, Grameen Danone Food and more!
In his effort to promote the Grameen Bank, Mohammed Yunus has made outrageous claims about his micro-loan program. He once said, “Poverty will be eradicated in a generation. Our children will have to go to a `poverty museum’ to see what all the fuss was about."
Even after 40 years of founding his ‘revolutionary’ institution, Bangladesh remains as poor as ever with 71.4% of the population living on less than $5.50 a day, while 1.3 million children are engaged in child labor. Sadly, people in Bangladesh experience poverty first-hand, and life, itself, is the poverty museum.
However, if we look at articles and literature on the Grameen Bank in the West, it mostly consists of hagiographies and repetition of outlandish claims made by Mohammed Yunus. A cursory examination proves that it is anything but a poverty relief program and the only thing these micro-loans guarantee is that their borrowers will take on more predatory loans.
The theory of micro-lending goes something like this: Give an impoverished, destitute villager 10,000 Takas as a loan. They will use that money to open up a Bhel Puri stand (or something similar), and then, with the income they generate from the Bhel Puri stand, they would not only repay the loan, but they will lift themselves out of poverty using their Bhel Puri straps.
By the fucking way, has any other big entity supporter country has a party with explicit goals of sanctioning pisrael (die linke doing struggle sessions as far as i know, bsw is kinda soft for weapon embargo, greens in uk are for embargo but not sanctions i don’t think).
Is this some kinda universal point of being shit?
Here’s a song for that lib nerd who showed up earlier to troll
The SAJBD has issued baseless accusations of supporting terrorism against Gift of the Givers, one of several South African aid organizations still active in Palestine. While the MJC-SA has steadfastly refuted these allegations, this will no doubt create a precursor for more targeted killings of South Africans in particular.
Sources: PoliticsWeb, The Citizen
While not explicitly mentioned, other major aid groups include Africa Muslims Agency, Penny Appeal South Africa, Islamic Relief South African branch, Ashraful Aid, etc. all of whom will become likely targets.
Members of Gift of the Givers have been already killed in direct strikes since last year. The perpetrators may well even be other South African IDF servicemen seeking retribution.
I increasingly understand the world in terms of communism and anti-communism (fascism).
Anyone else listen to the TrueAnon 2-parter on Klanada? I think it’s mostly review for most Hexbears but I learned a lot.
Activists sentenced for Palestinian banner drop
Yesterday a Copenhagen court convicted five activists for having dropped a Palestinian flag in the Danish parliament on November 3rd last year. The flag had the text “your silence kills” on it and was a reaction to the Danish regime’s cowardly decision to abstain from a UN vote demanding an immediate ceasefire.
The trial was short and undramatic with the most emotional outburst being the prosecutor weaving about how “parliament is the beating heart of the state” and how it was a “very rude alternative that they make, that the politicians should be responsible for the killings of civilians”.
Each activist was sentenced to fines in the USD 200-300 range in accordance with the prosecutor’s demands.
- Source: Arbejderen, October 29th 2024
Many new comments!
It’s all from a Zionist troll
Russia has taken this one Ukrainian town and the other 2 towns in a little offensive in the South and Selydovne is confirmed.
EDIT : now there are reports of Kostyantynopil’ beeing attacked , which would kinda fuck ukraine if true, as it would create a “Kurakove Cauldron”, and behind Kurakove theres basiclly just cottages no big towns anymore.
The German greens are literal eco-fascists
Seems like israeli chatter says hezbollah is ready to unwind ceasefires in lebanon and gaza
dropsitenews yet to say definitely, just reports ceasefire talks
Don’t forget to advocate boycott among your friends
Updates on floods in West and Central Africa this year, and a discussion of climatic trends in these regions (not good):
[Phys.org] Climate change-worsened floods wreak havoc in Africa
Kadyrov declares open season on the NATOids
in today’s hopium news: The US Military Is In A Death Spiral by comrade Indrajit
Teaser:
The US army is the worst army in the world. They’re the only army that aspires to worldwide dominance, and they suck at it. It’s the only Empire based on losing every war and looting its own treasury. Losing the last war is always covered up by the starting the next war, but if you look at it historically, America has been losing it for decades now. Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Palestine, these are all losses or draws.
