SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]
newsImage is of thousands of Cubans gathering in 2026 to honor José Martí.
After the Soviet Union fell, in the 1990s, Cuba entered a period (known as the Special Period) of extreme economic pressure, losing almost all of its international trade and fuel imports. Caloric intake almost halved, and electricity was mostly unavailable for much of the day. In response, Cuba undertook Option Zero, in which the country prioritized distributing resources to the most vulnerable, and rationed what little was available as fairly as possible. During this time, the threat of total collapse led to experiments and innovations, and, paradoxically to those on the outside, Cuba's population came together under pressure, rather than shattering. The collective understanding that their suffering resulted from abroad rather than from internal inefficiencies and corruption meant that Cuba's government, and thus their sovereignty, survived.
As the American Empire contracts in the wake of multipolarity and can now no longer tolerate sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere, we are seeing a return to the time of the Special Period, with the illegal blockade being dramatically worsened - among other measures, the US is preventing all fuel from entering the island, a strategy made more viable with Venezuela's fuel exports now restricted. Imperialist supporters are predicting an imminent collapse, after which American mining corporations would descend on Cuba's massive nickel and cobalt reserves.
While it's absolutely possible that this time Cuba's government could collapse, it's important to note four things: 1) as noted, Cuba has been in a situation like this before and survived; 2) the geopolitical situation is quite different to how it was in the 1990s, with China and other powers increasing in power and influence compared to the USSR's incompetent final leaders leaving the lane wide open to American exploitation; 3) there has been a concerted effort to transition to renewable energy sources recently, with solar panels being imported from China and making up an increasing amount of the energy supply; and 4) Cuba's government is taking this threat very seriously, and beginning rationing efforts immediately.
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.
::: spoiler 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.
:::
::: spoiler 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.
:::
He does not want to risk giving Cuba any relief huh
If Trump got to sit down at the Deals Table with Diaz-Canel, it could absolutely lead to significant opening up of the blockade so Trump can make a Deal.
FT - Europe’s Next Hegemon - The Perils of German Power
::: spoiler Article
People in Europe have largely been happy to see Berlin rebuild its military to defend against Russia. But they should be careful what they wish for. Today’s Germany has pledged to use its outsize armed power to help all of Europe. But left unchecked, German military dominance might eventually foster divisions within the continent. France remains uneasy about the fact that its neighbor is becoming a major military power—as are many people in Poland, despite Sikorski’s sentiments. As Berlin ascends, suspicion and mistrust could grow. In the worst-case scenario, competition might return. France, Poland, and other states could attempt to counterbalance Germany, which would divert attention away from Russia and leave Europe divided and vulnerable. France, in particular, may seek to reassert itself as the continent’s leading military power and “grande nation.” This could prompt outright rivalry with Berlin and place Europe at odds with itself.
Such nightmarish outcomes are especially likely if Germany ends up being governed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is rising in the polls. The intensely nationalistic party has long been critical of the European Union and NATO, and some of its members have made revanchist claims about the territory of neighboring countries. An AfD-controlled Germany might use its power to bully or coerce other countries, leading to tensions and conflict.
Berlin does need to build up its military. The continent is in danger, and no other European government has the fiscal capacity that Germany can bring to bear. But Berlin must recognize the risks that accompany its strengths and restrain German power by embedding its defensive might in more deeply integrated European military structures. Germany’s European neighbors, for their part, should make clear what kind of defense integration they would like to see. Otherwise, German rearmament could very well yield a Europe that is more divided, mistrustful, and weaker—exactly the opposite of what Berlin now hopes to achieve.
And yet, as some realist scholars have argued, rivalry among Europe’s countries never really disappeared, and certainly not through the EU alone. It was merely subdued, and largely by NATO and American hegemony. The EU was, and is, primarily an economic organization. Security and defense in Europe were mostly in the hands of NATO and the U.S. military. It was an overbearing U.S. presence, in other words, that ameliorated the European security dilemma that Germany’s size and position have traditionally posed—not just the political and economic integration fostered by the EU.
Analysts who want to understand why Europeans fear German hegemony do not need to look back a century; a decade would suffice. During Europe’s 2010s fiscal crisis, several EU countries were drowning in debt and in need of bailouts from the EU. That meant, in practice, getting approval for bailouts from Germany, the biggest and wealthiest eurozone economy. But rather than showing solidarity and using its enormous wealth to generously help these states, Berlin was concerned about fiscal responsibility and imposed harsh austerity measures as part of bailout packages, resulting in double-digit unemployment and protracted misery for debtor countries.
If Germany does not take steps to mitigate mistrust and discomfort, competition really could return to Europe. To counterbalance Berlin’s military might, Poland, for example, might look to ally itself more closely with the Baltic and Nordic countries and the United Kingdom in the Joint Expeditionary Force. It might also look to join the Nordic-Baltic Eight, a regional cooperation framework among Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden. Either way, the result could be the fragmentation of common European defense efforts. Paris, for its part, might be tempted to reassert itself by significantly increasing its defense spending as a way of catching up with, and containing, Germany, despite France’s domestic fiscal troubles. Paris might also seek closer cooperation with London to counterbalance Berlin.
A militarily dominant Germany could prove particularly dangerous if its centrist domestic leadership starts to lose power—as it just well might. The country is not due to hold national elections for three more years, but the extremist AfD now polls in first place at the national level.
It subscribes to a far-right, illiberal, and Euroskeptic ideology. It is Russia-friendly, opposed to supporting Ukraine, and wants to reverse Germany’s post-1945 economic and military integration into the EU and NATO, at least in their current form. It sees military power as a tool of national aggrandizement that should be used exclusively to benefit Berlin. It hopes to develop a German defense industry that’s entirely autonomous from those of Berlin’s traditional allies. If it wins federal power, the AfD will use the German military exactly as Thatcher feared: to project power against Germany’s neighbors. In the same way that Washington has made once inconceivable claims on Canada and Greenland, an AfD-led Germany might eventually make claims on French or Polish territory.
There is a way for Berlin to expand its military power without sending Europe back to an era of competition and rivalry—perhaps even if Germany is eventually governed by the AfD. The solution is for the country to accept what the historian Timothy Garton Ash, writing in these pages three decades ago, called “golden handcuffs”: restrictions on its sovereignty through greater integration with its European neighbors.
Germany should also push for the stronger integration of Europe’s national defense industries, including by seeking more collaboration on its own projects rather than spending largely on domestic firms. Likewise, Germany should embrace true European defense companies akin to Airbus, which was created as a European aviation consortium to provide an alternative to American manufacturers. All these measures would not only avert fears of a dominant Germany by ensuring that Berlin’s defense base relied on others. It would also provide greater scale and effectiveness in Europe’s overall military buildup.
:::
Here's the archive link: https://archive.is/urTwK
People in Europe have largely been happy to see Berlin rebuild its military to defend against Russia. But they should be careful what they wish for. Today’s Germany has pledged to use its outsize armed power to help all of Europe. But left unchecked, German military dominance might eventually foster divisions within the continent. France remains uneasy about the fact that its neighbor is becoming a major military power—as are many people in Poland, despite Sikorski’s sentiments. As Berlin ascends, suspicion and mistrust could grow. In the worst-case scenario, competition might return. France, Poland, and other states could attempt to counterbalance Germany, which would divert attention away from Russia and leave Europe divided and vulnerable. France, in particular, may seek to reassert itself as the continent’s leading military power and “grande nation.” This could prompt outright rivalry with Berlin and place Europe at odds with itself.
People in the continent that birthed nazis are cheering on nazis, more news at 7.
People in Europe have largely been happy to see Berlin rebuild its military to ~~defend against Russia.~~ crush the communist threat to the east
same assholes, 1930s
HASSETT: LOWER JOBS NUMBERS SHOULDN'T TRIGGER PANIC
The BLS report was delayed because of the partial shutdown, but should be released this week I think. I guess Hassett has already seen the numbers. I don't know why they don't just lie about the numbers. For most of 2023-2024, the Biden admin would just put out fake data and then revise it down afterwards and literally no one cared. Everyone (especially the trading algos) just cares about the big headline number.
P.s.: Someone is betting huge money on Iran strikes by the end of the day. Could be real, could also be a bait to get people to rush in with new money, thinking they are following an insider.
Someone is betting huge money on Iran strikes by the end of the day.
my pet theory is that pentagon figured they can't stop insider trading from happening so they themselves are making bets that look like insider bets in order to generate noise and maintain secrecy.
For most of 2023-2024, the Biden admin would just put out fake data and then revise it down afterwards and literally no one cared.
From what I understand revising the numbers down all the time is normal, its just that the revisions are worsening over time due to changes in the US economy. There's a crisis in the way jobs numbers are forecasted in the United States. Used to be that state institutions could, say, take the number of new companies being created and multiplying them by the median number of employees that companies tend to have in each given area. That's a forecast of the demand for labor, one that used to always be revised because the economy is always a different beast after only a few years.
The problem is the US economy is hollowed out and everyone is saturating the gig economy market. Each single individual being counted as a company, the forecast revision involves the government going from 'there were 400,000 companies with a median of 7 employees' to 'actually its just 400,000 people becoming doordashers'. This makes for especially bad numbers over and over again.
This however seems to be the final hammer in a particularly garbage year where most consumption was driven by the top 10% spending interest incomes on luxury goods, while almost all investment was just capex spending on AI datacenters. At this point lying might actually make things worse.
CNN: Maxwell can clear Trump's name in Epstein probe in exchange for clemency, attorney says
Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to prison for 20 years for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to abuse minors, sent a clear message to Donald Trump on Monday that if the president were to grant her clemency, she would clear his name of any wrongdoing as it pertains to Epstein.
They continue to dab on us.
I get: Total clemency for pedophilia
You get: No justice for pedophilia
What a win for the justice system against pedophiles!
‘Penisgate’ at the Olympics: why inject acid into your penis, and what are the health risks?
The World Anti-Doping Agency is investigating whether ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly further
AFAIK the penis injections are purely speculative right now, the Norwegian team was caught cheating last year in a more mundane way (sewing extra fabric into the seam).
yes why would they put it there?
the flying on acid part sounds fun tho
Haters gonna hate
This really highlights just how desperate people get to achieve the top spot in a sport. A gold medal by itself might not seem worth it, but that’s not entirely what they’re after. They’re after the sponsorships and brand deals that comes with being a gold medalist.
It’s very difficult to make money in the more niche sports and stuff like sponsorships are often the only way you can, although the average skier tends to have more money than say a track and field athlete even before reaching Olympic level.
Yeah. The amount of time, money, and effort that go into jumping 2cm further than the person next to you, or finish 0.03 seconds faster, or whatever, is absolutely astounding.
Netanyahu’s son Yair sent to Miami after assaulting his father: Report https://thecradle.co/articles-id/35836 critical support
Tony Soprano ass family
Let them fight
Because his dad didn't go to his karate practice???
US military buildup against Iran update:
There have been 122 strategic airlift C-17 Globemaster III and C-5M Super Galaxy (majority C-17) flights towards the Middle East, with a further 20 flights in progress or set to take-off in the next 24 hours. Of these, 77 flights are related to the movement of air defence systems (PATRIOT/THAAD) to the Middle East, with a further 16 set to depart from US military bases that host air defence units. The previous movement of air defences for last year's attack on Iran consisted of at least 115 flights, and we are likely going to see that number suppassed in the coming weeks. According to Theintelfrog and Armchair Admiral on X/Twitter for the exact numbers, I haven't been keeping track of exact numbers and I don't really pay attention much on weekends. However a general trend I've noticed is an increase of C-5M flights from Fort Hood, and an increase of C-17 flights from Fort Bliss.
6x F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard, a unit that specialises in the suppression of enemy air defences and participated in previous airstrikes on Iran and Venezuela, have departed from Burlington, Vermont, and are set to stopover at RAF Lakenheath in the UK. There are currently 6x F-35A from the Vermont Air National Guard in Rota, Spain. The two groups will likely both simultaneously deploy to the Middle East soon, I'd guess to Jordan. It's possible that 12x F-15Es will also rotate out of Jordan and return to the USA soon, of the 36x F-15Es currently in Jordan.
2x P8-A Poseidon maritime warfare and reconnaissance aircraft have deployed to Bahrain and Oman, bringing the total number of P-8A Poseidon aircraft in the Middle East to 4.
Defences at Diego Garcia have been supplemented, with an AEGIS equipped Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer providing air and missile defence, 2x P8-A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft capable of anti ship and anti submarine warfare, and a presumed attack submarine. According to satellite imagery purchased from the Chinese company Mizarvision.
I mean at this point it's pretty obvious, no? Have we ever seen deployments like this without the empire carrying out a strike? Basically telegraphed, and anybody in Iran still clinging to so-called «negotiations» is kidding themselves. The Americans don't move basically their entire C-17 Globemaster III fleet without intending to strike.
Yeah at this point I'm just wondering if he has the "decency" to wait until the olympics are over
Have we ever seen deployments like this without the empire carrying out a strike?
We certainly know that under Trump these always precipitate actual military action. In the two previous examples - Venezuela to kidnap Maduro and Iran to bomb the nuclear facilities - they were both 'restrained' or 'limited' strikes rather than entry into an ongoing war. So my best guess is they're lining up to do something similar - blow up the IRGC HQ or something and then walk away with their hands up.
my guess is that the US government is being misled by iranian opposition leaders into making them hope an uprising will happen after "limited" strikes dismantling iranian military capabilities and decapitating leadership leads to a power vacuum that will be filled with pro israel monarchist forces. the only deterrent iran has left at this point is threatening regional war, which will be extremely bad for the gulf monarchies as it will destroy oil exports and tourism. white people don't like spending time in shopping malls when there are missles flying around.
the real question is how much influence and corruption do the israeli have to make this happen versus the gulf monarchies. either US can convince UAE and the rest that the air defences in the region are sufficient to not disrupt the flow of capital, or israel will start another war "alone". there is basically no hope for peace (because israel wants war), except for the false hope of negotiations which are clearly designed to buy time.
Come on, it'll be any day now, there will be a small earthquake originating ~1km under some mountain in Iran. They are going to do it right? Right?
death to the western empire
The endless rehabilitation of the Unabomber is going to kill me from frustration.
Guy quit Harvard the year MLK was shot and still wrote that contemporary racism was made up by leftists so they could feel like victims. Oh he bombed a guy who fed worms to other worms to test if memory was transferable like that(in worms)?
Yeah sounds like an evil villain plot if you are dumb I guess.
He was so horrifically misogynistic as well, but he was kind of right about some stuff that anyone who's spent a day reading Marx is right about so I guess people are going to worship a murderous arch reactionary.
the maha movement and gutting the epa are the only anti-imperialists forces in the 1st and 2nd world, hope burn pits continue for all members of military, disgusting freaks.
when whole latin amerikkka is living under shadow of reaper drones, at least they didn't get tariffed for a year
not news
thank you for posting this i dont want to be the only dork that whines about news mega moderation in every thread
Feels like every week you say some shit that is more out of pocket than the last week, you okay?
i dunno, cuba is the last good country on earth, and it's about to be strangled from existence, while amerikkkans are gushing about super bowl and burgers or whatever happens in their deceased country. all palestine energy inside empire has gone to elect obamdani, europe are useless pieces of shit waiting out trump so that they can finally join war with russia and lowkey enjoying his handling of any resistance together with entity, china doesn't understand the world it inhabits (or does), russia doesn't understand the war they are in, everything points to a 100-year burgerreich with drones controlling whole global south and borders, without red army on horizon, you tell me what i should be in pocket about. and the only force willing to liquidate americans is americans themselves
china doesn't understand the world it inhabits (or does), russia doesn't understand the war they are in
im sorry i didnt know you were dr. big world understander
I’ve certainly had my fair share of saying some unhinged things out of frustration but there are times when you need to step back and breathe. Going full doomer mentally and emotionally paralyzes you.
Think of the scene in Aliens. Sometimes the dooming soldier needs to be slapped and told to focus up. Hope is not lost but it will be if we give up
Try learning about marxism and doing some organizing with real humans offline. Good country / bad country isn't a materialist dialectic, it's marvel movie idealist nonsense. There is plenty to criticize and feel dejected about but you would have to be willingly ignoring the whole picture to focus solely on the worst parts. blaming colonized people for the conditions of colonialism is getting into territory
I strongly disagree with this assessment. Creating an incubator for communicable diseases that will spread because the world is connected, and Americans go everywhere, is not anti-imperialist. Especially considering how many outbreaks will happen particularly in migrant detention and prison facilities, where people have no medical care and are overcrowded. It's another vector for imperialism as the poor are plundered of their health globally.
The same goes for gutting the EPA. American climate destruction is a planetary crisis, it isn't confined to the US, and in fact the US will suffer less for its own poisonous death drive than most other places (especially in the Global South).
Hating the US and not caring if Americans suffer is your prerogative, but these two particular issues you mentioned are not "anti-imperialist," they are another form of imperialism that will have outsized impacts on the US's victims. Our world is connected, and so health crises and climate destruction in the US will affect many more people than just the US. Not to mention the colonized people living within the US who are the ones that bear the brunt of most new poisonous development.
it is what it is, the porky empire won over humanity in gaza, so we will get amerikkka strangling china out of latin amerika, then asia, then they will sell out themselves.
~~"colonized"~~ colonized and oppressed people inside usa don't seem to mind terribly much nor do they exhibit solidarity outwards, and military drones outpaced capacity for violence of any liberatory movement, so again, glory to anti vaxxers and coal burners.
You are putting scare quotes around colonized people for what purpose? Are the Indigenous survivors of colonization not colonized? And in what world are Indigenous survivors of colonization--the people who, by the way, are overwhelmingly the ones who end up having to live next to the poisonous developments--not exhibiting solidarity elsewhere? You're so fucking cynical that you're saying "glory to anti vaxxers and coal burners" which is surely a very leftist sentence.
i'm embracing my inner nihilist to try to see what can be done going forward, and situation on the ground should be analyzed cynically, on lower bounds what is available, which is even lower than i expected. you say look at reservations, so why exclude casinos, for fuller picture? how did they support dapl protests? or any other mining shit?
I can tell you don't know shit about Indigenous people on Turtle Island, because now you're saying Indigenous people haven't supported protests against mining interests, and also, what, painting them as predatory gambling profiteers? Like as a whole? All Indigenous people? This is why nihilists make very shit leftists.
of course not as a whole jesus christ, i'm saying there is no inbuilt defense against becoming porky. those who became porkies are suddenly not so interested in affairs of other tribes, those who don't - suffer and fight, as well as unrecognized tribes or poisoned by uranium/zinc/copper mining.
of course not as a whole jesus christ
I'm sorry, you don't get to act all put-upon when you get called out for your reactionary positions
But what does that have to do with you putting colonized people into scare quotes and then deflecting and bringing up casinos when I point out that colonized people will be the prime victims of suffering in your dismissal of the harm caused by anti--vaxxers and poison development?
