Image (source here) is of a section of the Yarlung Zangbo river, which forms the deepest canyon on the planet.

The idea of doing any sort of general preamble for China is a little absurd given how ubiquitous they are in economics and politics, so I’m just going to hop right in to a recent news item of interest: China is working on the construction of an enormous new hydropower project in Tibet (@Metabola@hexbear.net had brought this up just before the last news mega ended).

This project (consisting of, I believe, five dams) will be overall three times larger than the Three Gorges Dam, will cost $167 billion, and will supply 70 GW (by itself more power than several significant countries generate). There are, of course, meaningful concerns regarding concerning environmental damage, but helping to avert catastrophic climate change seems worth it. The news coming out of the clean energy sector of China has getting only more encouraging over the last few years, even as the fully neoliberalized Europe and America descend into climate skepticism and refuse to adequately fund projects that could avert the worst of climate change.

Geopolitically, given recent India-China tensions (for example, sending Pakistan the equipment to shoot down Indian jets, as well as run-of-the-mill border tensions) one expects India to not receive the news very well, as the river upon which the dam is being constructed proceeds to flow into Arunachal Pradesh. But from what I understand of the Indian hydrological situation (which is, admittedly, not much), I don’t think enough of the water in India comes from the river for China to hypothetically cause any kind of water shortages in India - the monsoons seem to supply plenty of freshwater all by themselves. Nonetheless, as with all Chinese news, wild fearmongering abounds.

Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

Please check out the RedAtlas!

The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.

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 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.

  • Redcuban1959 [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    38·
    8 days ago

    Portugal Open to Recognizing The Palestinian State - Telesur English

    Article

    France had previously announced its willingness to recognize the Palestinian state. On Friday, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said his country is open to recognizing the State of Palestine, following France’s signal that it intends to do so in September.France had previously announced its willingness to recognize the Palestinian state. On Friday, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said his country is open to recognizing the State of Palestine, following France’s signal that it intends to do so in September.

    Rangel was asked by reporters about the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron and said it was not new, noting this is the third time in recent months Macron has made such a statement.

    Portugal “has shown openness and will remain open to recognizing a Palestinian state,” said Rangel, who emphasized that his country has taken “a shared path” with other allies, including France.

    The diplomat added that Portugal will participate in the meeting set for July 28–30 in New York, sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, aimed at advancing a two-state solution in the Middle East.

    He said his government is following the process “very closely,” but reminded that Portugal is “a sovereign country and its policy is not defined by other states, although it has always been coordinated with its partners.”

    In June, Rangel stated that Portugal had not yet made a decision on recognizing the State of Palestine, saying the issue is something his government is “constantly” evaluating and prefers to approach in a way that is “useful.”

    On Thursday, Macron said France would recognize the Palestinian state in September, according to a letter sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas—a move that has sparked outrage from Israel.

    “True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron announced, adding that he will formalize the recognition at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

    • sodium_nitride [she/her, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      11·
      7 days ago

      In June, Rangel stated that Portugal had not yet made a decision on recognizing the State of Palestine, saying the issue is something his government is “constantly” evaluating and prefers to approach in a way that is “useful.”

      Mfs acting like this is some grave decision that needs to be made with the utmost care. These buffoons can’t even put out a nothing burger statement like macron and “settle” the matter (pun unintended). Such a recognition might have meant something in 2023.