Image is of Brazilian chuds storming the National Congress building in opposition to Lula winning the election, on January 8th, 2023, in their remarkably even shittier version of the January 6th events in America.


Bolsonaro, who is in the tragic category of pro-US South American leaders who are so awful and uncharismatic that even they can’t get the US to help them overthrow a democratically elected left-ish government, has recently been facing that most elusive of things in this current world order: consequences for his actions. Bolsonaro and his friends have been under investigation by the police, and his passport has now been seized, meaning he is unable to leave the country. Alongside the man himself, the leader of the Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, has been caught up in searches and investigations. Brazilian Army Colonel Bernardo Correa Neto, a former aide to Bolsonaro, was very recently arrested upon his return to Brazil from the US, as well as another colonel.

From the Hexbear South American correspondent (a position I just made up), @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net:

Lol, they are really fucked. Iirc, this is a municipal election year in Brazil, Bolsonaro can’t campaign publicly, he can’t promote his candidates. The leader of his party is currently in prison. And even if he is released from prison, they are forbidden to communicate with each other. The high-ranking members of the Liberal Party are pretty much fucked because they can’t communicate with each other and getting support from Bolsonaro could be very bad, as left-wing candidates will exploit the fact that Bolsonaro will probably be imprisoned for planning a coup.

The FBI seems to have concluded its investigation into Bolsonaro’s money laundering scheme in the US and handed over its findings to the Brazilian Federal Police, I don’t think Bolsonaro can even go to the US anymore, or any other country. And it could get even funnier, there is a very small chance of the Liberal Party being banned and all its seats in congress and the senate being transferred to other politicians, many of whom, even if they are conservative, will be much more favorable to Lula’s social and economic reforms, as it has been proven that Bolsonaro used the party to finance the coup.


The Country of the Week is Brazil! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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 daily-ish 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 (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
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.

Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.

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.
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.


  • CoralMarks [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    In light of the currently happening Munich Security Conference, aptly titled “Peace through dialogue”, politicians of almost all parties are falling over themselves with only the possibly worst takes concerning German rearmament.

    I highlighted the dumbest parts:

    Bundestag member Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) immediately called for even more money for rearmament in the form of a higher “special fund”.

    “It’s completely clear that we need 300 billion instead of 100 billion so that the Bundeswehr becomes combat-ready,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday. It must also be ensured that this money is not “misused” to plug budget holes. Of course, he wants to stick to the two percent target set by NATO in parallel with the special fund: “This is only possible with re-prioritization and clear structural reforms.”

    FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr said: “If we succeed in generating more growth, we will be able to invest more money in defense on a long-term basis.” That has already worked in the past: “The Cold War was there back then too won because the West was economically much stronger. We must therefore do everything we can to become competitive again.«

    Andreas Schwarz (SPD) advocated in the SZ for permanently excluding defense spending from the so-called debt brake: “Excluding all defense costs from the debt brake would definitely be attractive.” In this context, he particularly emphasized civil protection: "We need much more cyber defense , bunkers, mobile operating rooms, hospital supplies.«

    Another Social Democrat has the home front in mind: The federal military commissioner, Eva Högl, wants a “serious and open discussion of concrete ideas and concepts” on the subject of compulsory military service, as she wrote in a guest article for the Table Media portal published on Monday. She suggested the formation of a “citizens’ council” and suggested a “social year” based on the Swedish model, because “everyone should get involved in our society for a while.” In order to make “the Bundeswehr omnipresent” and anchor it “firmly in the middle of our society,” “all young people should receive mail from the Bundeswehr once,” because “then everyone would actively engage with the Bundeswehr.”

    Katarina Barley, SPD top candidate for the European elections. In an interview with the Tagesspiegel published on Tuesday, she expressed the view that the EU nuclear bomb could become an issue “on the way to a European army.”

    In light of Barley’s comments, Fabio De Masi, the EU’s leading candidate for the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht party, called for the European elections to be a “vote on this madness.” Janine Wissler, co-chair of the Left Party, explained the demands of Kiesewetter and Barley: “The rearmament fantasies of Ampel and the CDU have apparently lost all measure.” In this context, she also spoke out in favor of a “special fund,” “but not for new weapons , but for a sustainable country with good schools, roads and rails.”

      • CTHlurker [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        Isn’t Munich (and Bayern in general) the main seat of the German bourgeoisie? I know they like to claim that they are the economic engine of Germany, so it makes sense that fascism would also be quite strong among leaders there. Unlike in the former GDR, where fascism is popular among the masses because liberalism has failed them and the left has been completely destroyed.

        • CoralMarks [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          5 months ago

          Economically they might be the biggest power within Germany, also just because Bavaria is the biggest state, but is far from being the only economical center you have the other two big car producers(Mercedes and VW) in Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, you got the banks in Frankfurt and so on.

          But it sure is like one of the places the bourgeois like to mingle.

          Bavaria is also one of the most conservative places in general in Germany, with them being basically a one party state ruled by the CSU(Christian Social Union) since the end of WW2.

          • CTHlurker [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            5 months ago

            Are the German banks / financial institutions able to wield any real power in comparison to the manufacturing giants? I was under the impression that ever since the whole Greek bailout crisis, the German government has been much less responsive to the rumblings of the financial press compared to the big manufacturing companies, since they employ a lot more people and contribute more to the german economy.

    • RyanGosling [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      In order to make “the Bundeswehr omnipresent” and anchor it “firmly in the middle of our society,” “all young people should receive mail from the Bundeswehr once,” because “then everyone would actively engage with the Bundeswehr.”

      Lol literally the “predictive programming” conspiracy theory