this post was submitted on 06 May 2024
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Image is of Stepanakert, essentially the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. It is now a ghost city, and Azerbaijan has recently torn down the parliament building and various other important places. Sourced from this article.


Despite the predictions and assertions of various NATO-aligned commentators that Russia's influence is waning, the opposite generally appears to be occurring. ASEAN has become more strongly aligned with Russia despite claims to the contrary. In Central Asia, there has been a propaganda push to declare that countries there are "emerging from Russia's shadow", while in reality, as Bhadrakumar analyzes, Russia's significant economic growth and ongoing march towards victory in Ukraine is creating opportunities for further integration, not separation, and there are no major political shifts there in terms of Russian ties. And in Niger, Russian soldiers have now entered an airbase which once hosted American soldiers, now kicked out, and generally Russia's diplomacy and economic deals (nuclear power plant construction, military equipment, grain shipments, etc) have accelerated in Africa.

Where Russia's influence has actually seemed to decrease (outside of the West, of course) is in Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh's remarkably rapid collapse in late 2023 demonstrated that Russia was not willing to escalate things in defense of Armenia to fend off Azerbaijan. One hundred thousand Armenians - most but not all of them in the region - fled in advance to avoid mass persecution, which received remarkably little attention by a West which calls itself overwhelmingly concerned with borders changing due to military action as in Ukraine. Since then, Armenia seems to be on some kind of self-annihilating bender, allured by the potential of Western military and economic deals. Armenia froze its membership in the CSTO due to its failure to protect them, and the head of NATO, Stoltenberg, visited the region in March. The West has offered up hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to Armenia and is helping them "modernize their military"; given the poor track record of Western military equipment in Ukraine, one wonders why they're even bothering. RAND has advocated for a balancing act; America should, in their eyes, realize that they can't entirely remove Russia's influence but nonetheless should make inroads to protect Armenia from Azerbaijan (which is an interesting position given that Israel provided arms to Azerbaijan to help them take Nagorno-Karabakh).

A quick look at Armenia's geographical position reveals the folly of trying to create some kind of Western outpost. With a hostile Azerbaijan to their east, a very unfriendly (albeit NATO member) Turkiye to their west, an ascendant Iran to their south, and Russia not far from the action, there is little hope of doing much more than causing a little chaos in the hopes it'll momentarily distract Russia while it makes inroads most everywhere else on the planet. The political situation appears miserable for Pashinyan, but there isn't really a popular alternative to take the reins. A truly cursed situation.


The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.

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

Please check out the HexAtlas!

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.


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[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago

Riiiiiip all my pooooooosts

[–] Alaskaball@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

From the great Soviet encyclopedia.

Earliest formations of the states that would later form the Soviet Union,

In Transcaucasia, by the turn of the first millennium B.C, many tribes had already reached the stage at which the clan tribal system was disintegrating and a class society was ready to emerge. In the eighth century B.C. what is now Armenia became part of the state of Urartu, whose capital was located at Lake Van. King Argistis I of Urartu annexed southern Transcaucasia and built several fortress-cities to serve as strongholds. The ruins of one such fortress, Erebuni, have been uncovered on the hill of Arin-berd in Yerevan; another, Argistikhinili, was located near what is now the village of Armavir, in the Ararat Valley. With varying success, the kingdom of Urartu warred against Assyria and northern nomadic tribes, the Cimmerians and Scythians. The fortress of Teishebaini, located on the hill of Karmir-Blur, near Yerevan, became very important in the seventh century B.C, when Urartu flourished anew. Excavations at the fortress have revealed many workshops, storage rooms, granaries, wine cellars, vessels, weapons, and decorations.

The struggle against the Urarteans helped the local Armenian tribes consolidate, but they remained too weak and disunited to found an independent state. Between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C the area inhabited by them belonged initially to the Persian Achaemenid state and later to the Seleucid state. The formation of a unified Armenian nationality was completed at this time; class relations developed, based on slaveholding and the exploitation of dependents still at the primitive communal stage. The important state of Greater Armenia was formed in the late fourth and third centuries B.C The city of Artashat, founded circa 176 B.C on the Araks River, became its capital. The state flourished in the late second and early first centuries B.C, when King Tigran II extended his possessions to the Mediterranean Sea. Tigran then joined King Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus against Rome; he was defeated and his state disintegrated in 66 B.C, and only the regions in Armenia proper were left. In the first centuries AD., Armenia, which was ruled by kings of the Parthian Arshacid clan, became the object of a struggle between the Roman Empire and Parthia. After the fall of the Parthian Empire and the weakening of Rome, Armenia fell under the sway of the Sassanids in the third century AD. The decay of slaveholding relations and the formation of feudal relations took place in Armenia at this time.

Transcaucasia and Middle Asia from the first half of the first millennium A.D. to the 13th century.

Feudal relations were established in Armenia, Caucasian Albania, and Georgia by the mid-first millennium A.D. The peoples that settled these territories inherited the stable traditions, in various areas of material culture, of the slaveholding states of Transcaucasia. The formation of feudal relations in Transcaucasia was accompanied by the struggle of the peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia against foreign aggressors: Iran, the Byzantine Empire, the Seljuk Turks, and the Arabian Caliphate.

In Armenia early feudal relations arose in the first half of the first millennium A.D. In 301, Christianity became the state religion. From the fourth to sixth centuries, Armenia warred against Iranian aggressors. The Byzantine Empire, which had aided Armenia in the wars against the Sassanids, itself tried to seize Armenia. In 387 the Byzantine Empire and Iran divided Greater Armenia between themselves. From the fourth to ninth centuries the liberation struggle of the Armenian people—the formation of the Armenian nationality had been completed in the fourth century B.C.—was combined with class struggle and extensive dissemination of heretical doctrines, notably by the Paulicians.

The Arabs conquered Transcaucasia in the first quarter of the eighth century, and the development of feudal relations in Armenia was slowed. Uprisings against Arab rule took place in 703, 748–750, 774–75, and 850–55. The rule of the caliphate was thrown off for good in the late ninth century. The liberation struggle of the Armenian people was depicted in the epic David of Sasun. In the ninth century, most of the region was ruled by the Armenian Bagratid dynasty; the territory under its control was known as the Ani Kingdom. At the same time that such cities as Ani, Dvin, and Artsn developed and large feudal estates were created, the country underwent feudal fragmentation into semi-dependent kingdoms and principalities. As the economy became increasingly based on large patrimonial estates, the personal dependence of the peasants became greater. The exacerbation of the class struggle was reflected in the Thondraki movement.

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[–] ThomasMuentzner@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] WeedReference420@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Something wrong

I hold my head

Russ Bentley gone

Prigozhin dead

[–] Alaskaball@hexbear.net 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] plinky@hexbear.net 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In fancy lad news-sphere, current affairs opened their issues from last year, which is very nice of them Care-Comrade

PDFs here - https://support.currentaffairs.org/issues

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[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 33 points 1 year ago

Brazil: Death Toll Hits 85 From Floods

Since April 29, the rainfall has affected more than 840,000 inhabitants of 345 municipalities.

On Monday, the Brazilian Civil Defense confirmed that the floods caused by heavy rains have left 84 dead and 111 missing since April 29.

The rainfall has affected more than 840,000 inhabitants of 345 municipalities, who are struggling with shortages of food, medicine, and basic services such as electricity.

Around 121,957 people have been forced to leave their homes and relocate to the homes of family and friends, while another 19,368 citizens are housed in makeshift shelters provided by the authorities.

Located on the border with Uruguay and Argentina, the state of Rio Grande do Sul has been the hardest hit by the rains with at least 83 fatalities, while the neighboring state of Santa Catarina recorded one death.

Authorities are investigating whether another four victims are related to the climatic tragedy that is hitting the country's southern part and is already considered the worst natural disaster in the region's history.

The Guaiba River, whose level stabilized at five meters, flooded downtown Porto Alegre, the regional capital where 1.3 million people live. With a population of 11 million people, Rio Grande do Sul has a total of 496 municipalities, 345 of which have been affected.

At least 1.2 million homes and commercial establishments remain without electricity, and 98 municipalities lack telephone and internet services. The rising rivers have fully or partially blocked around 61 roads.

President Lula da Silva ordered the mobilization of the Armed Forces and around 14,500 professionals to the region. So far, Brazilian military personnel have carried out around 25,000 aerial, land, and river rescues, with the support of 30 aircraft, 182 boats, and 951 vehicles.

Currently, weather forecasts predict further rains in areas already battered by the storms due to a new cold front that will bring heavy precipitation.

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