There were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account.
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.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
The Country of the Week is Palestine! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
The weekly update is here.
Links and Stuff
The bulletins site is down.
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can.
Resources For Understanding The War
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.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
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
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.
Last week’s discussion post.
Watching people die is not good for your mental health. I would strongly recommend against viewing footage of violent death and injury unless you have a clear purpose in doing so; Confirming information, attempting some kind of study of tactics or troop disposition. Watching violent death and injury is traumatizing and generally speaking you won’t learn anything useful. It’s much more likely you’ll end up carrying some degree of trauma, which may make you less effective at a later date when you will need a sound mind. Consider it a matter of preparedness; Just like you avoid physical injury so you’ll be able to run and carry and fight later, avoid psychological injury so you’ll be able to make decisions and handle stress later.
Don’t we want IOF and settlers to be killed, though? Isn’t that a good thing worth celebrating? If you’re not willing to see something, why cheer for it?
The goal is for Palestinians to be free, not for their occupiers to suffer as much as possible. Our politics are based on liberation and equality, not punitive vengeance. Now, does that mean you can’t smile when you head 7 IOF members killed each other? No, of course not, but it’s also some borderline antisocial behavior to want to watch them die terrified. The effect for the side we’re rooting for is the same whether or not you have footage of the deed, so you can celebrate that it happened and move on.
I had a longer post but it got deleted when I scrolled. : (
But to make a very short point, Sun Tzu says thus;
“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
Sun Tzu’s military philosophy strongly emphasizes that in warfare it is best always to capture the enemy intact, to convert them to your side, and to then employ them to your advantage. Doing so serves many goals; You avoid direct battle, which prevents your own troops from being killed or exhausted. You can capture important economic resources and capital intact, so avoiding the costly process of re-building after the conflict. On an individual level Sun Tzu emphasizes that captives should be treated well specifically because well treated captives will be willing to give up vital information and will be easier to convert to your cause and rule after the conflict. It is a very cold-blooded, pragmatic philosophy that emphasizes again and again that war and battle are incredibly destructive and undesirable. The best outcome is always to win without fighting, if that can be achieved.
In a pertinent example to the current siege, Sun Tzu emphasizes that you should always leave a gap through which your enemies will retreat, as people who have no means of retreat will fight with reckless courage to the end. The Israeli military, motivated by blind hatred and fascist brutality, cannot see the value of this. They have caged the Palestinian people and relentlessly tormented them, creating a situation where the Palestinians must fight or die. This has completely poisoned their society, made them pariahs towards their neighbors, fundamentally destabilized their state, and propelled them towards the inevitable self destruction that befalls most fascist states. The current status quo was not fait acompli - There were voices and movements in the 30s that wanted to build a multi-ethnic, multi-religious secular state in the Mandate of Palestine that would throw off British rule and incorporate all the people of the Levant; Jewish and Arab, Muslim and Christian and Jewish, in to a modern, democratic nation state. Obviously these voices were put down, often violently, but I think it’s important to understand and remember that this situation was a decision made by fascists, not an inherent quality of either side or of any ethnicity or religion.
Another example from the current battle; Many Zionists and their supporters are decrying the brutality and horror of taking hostages, ignorant or uncaring of a simple reality; The exchange of prisoners and hostages is as old as human warfare, and the Israeli state holds countless thousands of Palestinians imprisoned in terrible conditions. The exchange of hostages is one of the few reliable levers Palestinians have to release their fellows from these conditions to the relatively greater freedom of Gaza. Despite the whining of Zionists, it is not inherently a tactic of terror or brutality, but can be (I don’t know how the hostages are being treated or exactly what the goal is) a pragmatic means of securing the release and liberty of Palestinian captives. To try to free these captives from Israeli prisons using sheer military force is untenable and even if it was possible it would be ruinously expensive in lives and materiel. An exchange of hostages leverages the Palestinians strengths and advantages while cutting directly as Israeli weaknesses, achieving Palestinian goals where direct military force would not.
