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.
Ansarallah says do not vote for Trump or Harris:
https://xcancel.com/Seamus_Malek/status/1851871758200246345“Trump’s danger is not limited to the outside world, but also to America itself, and he may be the cause of its destruction, but it is not appropriate for the Muslims of America to embrace his election so that they are not the deciding vote for his victory. It is preferable for them to abstain from voting for either candidate because both of them are linked to destructive projects for humanity, whether they are bloody or contrary to nature.”
Jesus christ, bill Clinton gave an incredibly pro genocide speech
Edit:
How many civilians should Israel kill? “I am sorry but we are not keeping score that way.”
He literally did the Hexbear post
Hitler wasn’t elected, he was appointed chancellor by the lesser evil candidate.
Kamala has vowed to have a Republican in her cabinet.
These two statements have absolutely no relation whatsoever.
Back online after two weeks of taking care of irl stuff. Random disconnected thoughts incoming:
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Aunt and her kids have successfully left Lebanon into Syria and then into Iraq, very happy with that. Thank God for the Iraqis, we’re forever indebted to them for just how extraordinarily generous they’ve been with the refugees. Fuck the Egyptians for not even doing 0.1% of that for the people of Gaza.
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Son is already nearly four months old. Very nice kid tbh, not too many sleepless nights so far.
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Damn the Ukraine war is progressing very fast now, I don’t even have time to learn the names of the villages anymore. Cursed town Ugledar might have been the glue that held together Ukraine’s defence in the south-east. Nonstop collapse since Ugledar fell and now we are looking at the first big Russian arrow since the first weeks of the war. South Donetsk is done if Russia reach Andriivka, that entire Kurakhove corner will fall in matter of weeks. Very interesting developments on the Oskol sector as well, don’t understand why Ukraine is letting their east Kupyansk grouping get pinned towards the river and not withdrawing behind a very defensible river line.
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I don’t believe the reports about any ceasefire whether in Lebanon or Gaza. The Doha talks about Gaza are just a last ditch effort to provide a “peace in the Middle East” boost for Kamala, there’s little real substance there. Same with the Lebanon negotiations, there’s no incentive for any side here. Israel continue their forever war, Americans sell guns, Iranians have an excuse to lob missiles at Israel whenever they want now and Hezbollah are inflicting record damage on IDF losers.
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Help me out Hexxies, who will win the election? My instincts say it’s big wet Donnie, but idk these days. How are the polls looking? I read reddit and in their world Kamala will win every single state, while right wings dumbasses on Twitter say that NY is a swing state.
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Richard Spencer just endorsed Kamala lol
Said his single issue is continuing the war in UkraineIsrael has killed more journalists in Gaza in one year (170) than all the journalists killed in WW2 (67) and the Vietnam War (68) combined.
There are kids in Gaza who are like 6 years old but they aged 50 years in mere days. The heavy toll on their mental health cannot be measured, it’s shattered, they are not only not having a normal infancy, they’re living and growing in genocidal conditions… I can’t even begin to comprehend what goes through their heads, how are they even able to process and make sense of what they do and what they’ve seen. I’m afraid the damage and the suffering they go through will give them company for the rest of their lives. May they find hope, love and solidarity within their community.
death to “israel” and death to everyone who is complicit of this. Anger, hate and violence against zionists and their genocide denial allies is not only morally justified… it is also desirable.
Hope this is legit (CW: Pictures of dead Palestinians left by the actionists):
https://north-shore.info/2024/10/31/sabotage-of-ottawa-factory-producing-parts-for-israels-f-35-warplanes/Anonymous Submission to North Shore Counter-Info
Earlier this week a group of people sabotaged Gastops’ factory in Ottawa, the only place in the world where engine sensors are produced for Lockheed’s F-35 combat jets — including the ones dropping 2,000 pound bombs on Gaza. We cut the wiring inside all of the heat pumps on the Gastops roof, locked them out with official Ministry of Health and Safety lock-out tags, shut off the gas, broke the handles for their systems, and cut the lines to their backup communication system on the way out.
The following letter and photos were left on site:
It’s worth noting that we disabled their heat pumps as it begins to get cold here in Ottawa and as displaced people in Gaza and Lebanon plead with us to help them secure shelter, blankets, clothing, as they freeze in displacement camps. Earlier this month an Ottawa neighbour lost her uncle while he returned to his home in Gaza attempting to bring back blankets for the children so they would not freeze to death. He was murdered by air strike while doing so, likely by an F-35 that Gastops supplies parts to.
People growing tired of politicians continuing to support the slaughter of civilians in Palestine and Lebanon will continue to escalate actions seeking peace and an end to these war crimes.
Before/after shots of Lebanon villages where Israel has been bombing
Looks like 80% of all buildings destroyed to me, very similar to descriptions of the US bombing operations in DPRK during the Korean War.
Paypal is staffed with Zionists who purposefully fuck with Palestinian Paypal accounts and purged the company of pro-Palestinian employees:
https://xcancel.com/el_sabawi/status/1852114821879070893Another deeply troubling discovery from infiltrating these political Zionist chat groups was that most of the participants were members of the risk management and AI teams - those responsible for designing and implementing security and moderation systems.
Israel is going in the direction of banning haaretz lol
Looks like a whole of government approach will be taken against Ha’aretz.
Israel’s Ministry of Communications has drafted a proposal to effectively ban the government/public services interacting with Ha’aretz.
Probably one step away from banning the paper as a whole.
https://nitter.poast.org/NaksBilal/status/1851935886549610671
Barclays bank has divested from Elbit Systems because of Palestine Action’s targeting of them over the last year.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/10/31/barclays-divest-elbit-palestine-action/
spoiler
After a year-long campaign against its premises by Palestine Action, Barclays PLC has sold all of its shareholdings in Elbit Systems Ltd (ELST). Until recently, Barclays owned over 16,000 shares in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company.
Barclays: divestment from Elbit, finally
Starting just over one year ago, Palestine Action’s campaign saw activists undertake 54 actions against Barclays premises nation-wide. Smashing branch windows, spraying them in blood-red paint, many of these actions put Barclays sites out of operation for weeks, actions which sought to raise the costs associated with dealing with Elbit:
In the latest U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Barclays owned 0 shares in Elbit Systems Ltd (ELST), down 16,345 since the previous filing, 15 May 2024, worth over $3,400,000.
Until then, recent filings had showed Barclays’ Elbit shareholdings at record high quantities, having steadily increased from zero ten years ago. The most recent SEC filings and NASDAQ data record an immediate total sale of Barclays’ ELST shares, abruptly sold just when Palestine Action’s campaign hit them hardest.
Initial research published in July 2022 by Campaign Against Arms Trade, War on Want, and Palestine Solidarity Campaign showed the bank held shareholdings worth over £1.5billion in companies complicit with Israeli apartheid. Palestine Action adopted the campaign in October 2023 due to the bank’s investments in Elbit Systems — the group’s primary target.
A sustained campaign by Palestine Action
Palestine Action’s 11-month long campaign against Barclays reached its peak on 10 June 2024, when 20 branches had their windows smashed, drenched in red paint, in a co-ordinated nationwide overnight action:
Four days after, Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan penned in the Guardian that the bank is concerned about “overall suffering” in the region, and is very accepting of the type of “peaceful protest” seen in multiple years of campaigning up until this year. But, in a media campaign co-ordinated with former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Venkatakrishnan complained of Palestine Action’s disruptive actions against the bank.
Inadvertently, Barclays CEO affirmed Palestine Action’s strategy, which is to make the cost of dealing in genocide, occupation, and apartheid exceed the potential to profit from it. Throughout this year-long campaign, several activists were arrested:
During questioning, police claimed that many actions caused damage between £250k to £500k in value. Most actions forced bank branches to close for weeks at a time, contributing to the financial disruption to the bank.
There are still many complicit institutions
These actions were taken as part of Palestine Action’s four-year campaign against the premises of Elbit Systems, and against the financial and industrial partners which support them like Barclays.
Elbit Systems is a major supplier of the Israeli military, its contributions including the vast majorities of Israel’s drones, along with mortuary munition and artillery rockets currently being used in Gaza.
The campaign has seen two of Elbit’s weapons factories forced to permanently shut down in Britain, and has forced a number of partners to halt relations with Elbit. Recently, activists have struck at over a dozen premises in Britain of Allianz a major shareholder in and insurer of Elbit.
A Palestine Action spokesperson said of the Barclays decision:
Through a focused strategy, direct action has achieved multiple successes and forced the hands of many complicit institutions. We will remain committed and focused to the task at hand and target any and all institutions and businesses which enable Israel’s biggest weapons firm to maintain their genocidal operations.
That means, if Barclays does reinvest into Elbit Systems in the future, Palestine Action will come knocking again.
The BBC is so fucking ghoulish lmao
