On December 4th, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and the DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi signed the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity (pictured above). Trump boasted that he was settling a war that had gone on for decades, and remarked, idiosyncratically, “[…] and now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands […]”
A few days later, the M23 militia (backed by Rwanda) advanced into Uvira, a city near the DRC’s eastern border with Burundi and a major commercial and strategic location in the region. Burundi, although a small country, is a significant ally to the DRC and has sent thousands of soldiers to aid them during conflicts; this offensive by M23 aims to cut off a direct route between the two, though they do still share quite a long border over Lake Tanganyika. Tens of thousands of civilians (possibly up to 200,000) fled as M23 approached.
Signed almost simultaneously with the Accords was a Strategic Partnership Agreement between the DRC and the United States, which effectively threw open its critical minerals in the east to American exploitation. These minerals include tin, tungsten, and tantalum, which is vital for many industries. The irony is that M23 has been taking territory in the eastern DRC in order to transport these very minerals to Rwanda and onwards to global supply chains. Signing the Accord was, therefore, a remarkably pointless endeavour for everybody involved. Burundi and the DRC have complained, calling for sanctions on Rwanda, and appeasing to Trump’s pride, calling this a “slap in the face to the United States”, though I doubt the US is ultimately all that bothered about it one way or another.
Last week’s thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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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 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.
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.
DM me to feature effort posts and good threads in the newsmega/newscomm here (including your own).Please review and provide feedback on revised comm policy and rules
@xiaohongshu@hexbear.net and others discuss weakening Chinese domestic consumption and the importance of their trade surplus to the status quo
@LeninWeave@hexbear.net and @demerit@lemmygrad.ml on the fraught discussion of harm to Jewish versus Palestinian lives and the implicit racism of the Palestine exception
Previous posts of the week: Oct 27 | Nov 3 | Nov 10 | Nov 17 | Nov 24 | Dec 1 | Dec 8
A lot of interesting discussion and debate in this thread, though it’s somewhat controversial, so I’m not sure if you would want to include it.
it’s good discussion but also a lot of
with site rules lawyering for good measure.https://hexbear.net/comment/6761055
Nominating this specifically, comrade @demerit@lemmygrad.ml made an absolutely excellent comment regarding Holocaust exceptionalism, the western left, and the supremacy of “Jewish pain” (but only when it helps zionists).
Yeah, that’s what I mean by “controversial”.
@xiaohongshu@hexbear.net and others discuss weakening Chinese domestic consumption and the importance of their trade surplus to the status quo
(242 new)
“holy shit did they start bombing Venezuela?”
[look inside]
it’s a huge slapfight over the zionist cancer
Video from Luna Oi about the ongoing conflict between Cambodia and Thailand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3tjEBXhLgShe briefly goes over the ceasefire from the previous border conflict. The timeline of the conflict and she explaining the geopolitical stance of Cambodia and Thailand with respect to China and the US starts at 6:44.
USS Gerald R. Ford was spotted today roughly 40 miles southwest of the Venezuelan Federal Dependency of Aves Island in the central Caribbean.
Almost exactly 500-600km out from mainland Venezuela. I assume this is an operational safety range they’re maintaining?
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/60-minutes-pulls-cecot-trump-brutal-prison-1236614034/ CBS News ‘60 Minutes’ Pulls Segment on ‘Brutal’ El Salvador Prison Where Trump Administration Sent Deportees, Just Hours Before Airtime
Russian communists organized the annual ‘two carnations for Stalin’ event today (4,400 red carnations were placed at his grave/memorial site, in observance of his birthday):
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/10258565.html (in Russian)
Looks like the third tanker the US is attempting to seize around Venezuela, the BELLA 1, is now on the run. The vessel did not comply with orders to be boarded by the US Coast Guard and Navy, and the US Coast Guard is currently in “active pursuit” of BELLA 1.
Pretty good statement that could be pushed around left-leaning spaces:
https://nocoldwar.org/news/statement-from-no-cold-war-on-the-us-aggression-against-venezuela
Statement from No Cold War on the US aggression against Venezuela:
The No Cold War collective stands in firm opposition to the illegal embargo of Venezuela, the sanctions policy, and the military aggression already faced by Venezuela through the armada and the attack on small boats. We believe that this aggression in the Caribbean has nothing to do with human rights or democracy.
The United States has tried to overthrow the government of Venezuela since the Bolivarian process passed the Hydrocarbons Law in 2001, which increased taxation on oil extraction for transnational companies and mandated a minimum state participation of 51% in ‘mixed companies’ for private partners. The first coup against the Bolivarian process was in 2002, not even a year after the Hydrocarbons Law was passed.
This attack on Venezuela is about oil. It always was about oil. And it always will be about oil. The United States government is trying to use its financial and military instruments to overthrow the Venezuelan government not for the Venezuelan people but for the US oil companies.
In the US National Security Strategy 2025, the administration of President Donald Trump made it clear that his government would now focus attention on the Western Hemisphere so that the US can restore its dominance in the region. It has evoked the 1823 Monroe Doctrine with a Trump Corollary – namely to enforce the Doctrine with armed will – to suggest that the US has licence to do what it wants in this region.
But, in fact, the Monroe Doctrine is not international law; international law, namely rooted in the United Nations Charter, prevents any attack without a UN Security Council resolution. If the US does attack Venezuela, then that is a violation of international law and would immediately constitute a war crime (in the same way as the US illegal war on Iraq in 2003 was a war crime).
The United States has been at war with Venezuela since 2002, when it participated in a failed coup against President Hugo Chávez. For almost a quarter of a century, the United States has been trying to overthrow not only the government in Venezuela but the Bolivarian process that seeks to enhance the sovereignty of the country and the dignity of the Venezuelan people.
We call upon the world’s people to stand with the Venezuelan people against this aggression by the United States and its allies in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Europe. The world must not allow such aggression to continue.
Third tanker off the coast of Venezuela intercepted.
The PFLP have released a Chavez/Bolivarian Republic fancam (with AI generated elements, I know, but the real stuff is cool)
https://t.me/Palresistmirror/83060
https://tankie.tube/w/dWLjBFXoRC6j1BUW8tyvDM
There is currently a memorial service being held at Bondi Beach for the recent mass shooting being attended by Australian politicians and Jewish community leaders.
What shocked me was just how quickly local Zionists have capitalized on the whole thing. I’m watching this on live TV right now and many people in the crowd are wearing Israeli flags. One of the speakers, a guy named David Ossip who is the president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, just said “Am Yisrael Chai” on stage after talking about fighting against anti-Semitism. When the Australian Prime Minister arrived to the vigil, he was getting boos from the crowd. In contrast, the NSW Premier (who ironically is from the same party) was getting cheers, no doubt because he has historically been way more of a hardliner in regards to suppressing anti-zionist activism.
Meanwhile, an anti-immigration rally led by the far right One Nation party is being held in Sydney at the same time and is also attended by Zionists calling for pro-palestine individuals to be deported. All without any pushback from the government.
Elon is still doing Effective Altruism, rebranded as Abundance. The idea is that we have to give rich people as much money and power as possible so that they solve climate change or prevent the Sun from running out of hydrogen. When will they start to solve these problems, or even propose an actual solution that could be implemented at some point in time? Well, not now, but maybe in the future. In the meantime, they just want more money. Remember how Tesla’s branding was “saving the planet” and that justifies all the subsidies and free cash they get from the government? Well, saving the planet has just been downgraded. Sorry.
Asean economies head into 2026 on a strong note
Graphs in the actual website.
Resilience and strength in regional exports
Evidence mounts that supply chain realignment is generating an increase in intra-regional trade and benefiting Asean exports. This momentum is particularly evident in regional economies plugged into the artificial intelligence (AI) and electronics supply chain.
For instance, Malaysia and Singapore both experienced a strong jump in exports, led by the electronics and semiconductor sector. Persistent global AI-related capital expenditure has created a clear “halo effect”, transmitting stronger demand across the entire electronics value chain as the AI replacement cycle intensifies.
Regional currencies defy expectations
Second is the strength in South-east Asian regional currencies. At the start of the year, there was widespread fear that intense US tariffs against China and Asean would cause export contraction across the region. This could lead to pronounced US dollar strength or, worse, a synchronised devaluation of the yuan and regional currencies.
The reality was markedly different. Given that Asean economies have a large export component, strong export performance bolstered regional currencies. This was magnified by the underlying global trend of de-dollarisation, which intensified across the year.
Benign inflation trajectory across the region
Investors were also worried that the higher trade tariffs would spike inflation globally. However, supply chains in various industries proved more flexible than expected, with many intermediaries helping to absorb the tariffs. This meant limited passthrough of higher prices to end-consumers.
Strong currencies across Asean also increased purchasing power, dampening imported inflation risks. Furthermore, the influx of competitively priced goods and services from China helped drive down manufacturing costs, keeping inflation in check. As a result, most inflation trajectories across Asean economies remained soft.
…While most regional currencies performed well, the dong and rupiah remained weak. Specifically, the weak rupiah was cited as a key factor for Bank Indonesia in its decision to refrain from further rate cuts. Meanwhile, the Prabowo government remains focused on its various stimulus measures to push Indonesia’s economic growth rate beyond the current 5 per cent handle.
On the inflation front, Thailand faces increasing deflationary risk with the headline consumer price index falling 0.76 per cent in October, intensifying the 0.72 per cent contraction in September. The trend is fuelled by supply side forces and soft underlying demand…
In another article,
Another obstacle is the middle-income trap: Thailand’s average income remains about US$7,500 per capita, far below the US$13,000 threshold for high-income status.
Furthermore, business and industrial models largely generate low value-added output. At current growth rates, Thailand may need 30–40 years to become a high-income nation and risks having its GDP overtaken by Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines in the coming years.
Young Japanese opting for 50-year loans amid soaring housing prices
The use of housing loans with terms of up to 50 years, far longer than the standard 35-year term, is spreading among younger generations in Japan amid a rise in housing prices.
Young Japanese are buying the properties of their choice by reducing monthly payments, but a longer loan term raises the total repayment amount and keeps company employees paying even after they retire.
In July, PayPay Bank began to offer 50-year loans, with 70 percent of people in their 20s and 49 percent of people in their 30s selecting repayment periods of more than 35 years to 50 years.
Other internet banks and regional banks are also providing longer-term loans, targeting people in those age groups. In principle, a customer must complete the payment by age 80.
According to calculations by Takashi Shiozawa of housing loan service provider MFS Inc., if a customer borrows 60 million yen ($380,000) at an annual interest rate of 0.75 percent, the monthly payment for a 35-year loan will be about 160,000 yen and the total amount of interest paid will be about 8.23 million yen.
For a 50-year loan, the figures will be about 120,000 yen and 11.97 million yen, respectively, he said.
It’s important to consider your medium- to long-term life plan before borrowing," [Toshiaki Nakayama of the Lifull real estate group] said, citing risk factors such as illness and difficulty in paying due to a job change.
The risk of interest rate fluctuations, caused by the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy shift, is another thing to worry about.
The new york crimes and their tortured use of the English language borders on the hilarious. Should we start saying “the military forces of President Donald Trump of the United States”? Maybe we should.
