Image is a frame taken from this video of Iranian missiles raining down on Israel without interception due to a weak and depleted air defense system after a year of war and genocide.
Mao, 1956:
Now U.S. imperialism is quite powerful, but in reality it isn’t. It is very weak politically because it is divorced from the masses of the people and is disliked by everybody and by the American people too. In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain. I believe the United States is nothing but a paper tiger.
When we say U.S. imperialism is a paper tiger, we are speaking in terms of strategy. Regarding it as a whole, we must despise it. But regarding each part, we must take it seriously. It has claws and fangs. We have to destroy it piecemeal. For instance, if it has ten fangs, knock off one the first time, and there will be nine left, knock off another, and there will be eight left. When all the fangs are gone, it will still have claws. If we deal with it step by step and in earnest, we will certainly succeed in the end.
Strategically, we must utterly despise U.S. imperialism. Tactically, we must take it seriously. In struggling against it, we must take each battle, each encounter, seriously. At present, the United States is powerful, but when looked at in a broader perspective, as a whole and from a long-term viewpoint, it has no popular support, its policies are disliked by the people, because it oppresses and exploits them. For this reason, the tiger is doomed. Therefore, it is nothing to be afraid of and can be despised. But today the United States still has strength, turning out more than 100 million tons of steel a year and hitting out everywhere. That is why we must continue to wage struggles against it, fight it with all our might and wrest one position after another from it. And that takes time.
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Israel-Palestine Conflict
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.
This assumes a chunk of the occupation will be indoors and smaller spaces?
In the long run, dealing with rioting police ends with the defenders losing.
Playing defense, meaning occupying a physical location, should be viewed as a “temporary” situation. You will be displaced by force, one way or another unless a larger friendly force can flank the attackers or the attackers are called off by their bosses.
That being said:
Do you have a place to pee, poop, and other things typically done in a private room with running water? If the water gets cut off, what are you going to do? If the power gets cut off, how will that affect things?
Ventilation? Are there windows that can be opened or closed to get dust, gas, smoke out of a room? Are there A/C ducts that can pump smoke or gas into the location?
Can you seal off door frames, windows, ventilation ducts/grates to keep smoke or gas from being pumped into a location?
Flashlights, masks, goggles, heavy duty work gloves, brooms and dust pans, electric fans (until the police/authorities cut the power they will help keep the indoors spaces comfortable and can move dust/smoke/gas around).
Stockpile food and water before the police start rioting. Keep it safe, secure and inventoried. Do some research now to figure out how much water and food to you will need, per person, per day to sustain the group occupying all locations. Once a group is barricaded into a location, you’re going to want to start keeping things rationed.
A separate supply of water for hygiene. At a minimum, washing hands and faces for when you eat food and after using the toilet but be prepared for having to deal with pepper spray and teargas.
Medical supplies, first aid. Bandages, pressure dressings, antibiotic ointment, antiseptic (rubbing alcohol), medical tape, butterfly bandages, disposable gloves. Stuff to clean up blood, snot and vomit. Trashbags, cat litter (absorbs stuff), baking soda (helps to absorb odors), medical sanitizer (if you can) for cleaning contaminated surfaces/floor.
Sleeping gear. Towels and sheets and some way to create privacy. If you’ve got to use a bucket as a toilet or want to change out of soiled clothes, it will definitely make things more comfortable. Also, for spaces where there are lots of windows facing outside, you will need to think about covering the windows to make snipers, spotters and drones unable to see inside.
Have an idea of how many people are going to be at each location. Figure out who has the physical capacity to stay for a long period and who can’t (people with disabilities, people with outside obligations, etc). Those who cannot stay barricaded inside a room for a long period of time should be the first to leave when it looks like the police are bringing the riots indoors. This will help with rationing food, water, and cleaning supplies.
If possible, for those who can occupy a location for a long period of time, try to work out a schedule to rotate people in and out before the police get to the point of causing a group to barricade themselves in a location. Its not good physically or psychologically to keep a person cooped up in a small space with a bunch of other people. Example: You’ve got a group of 20 who can occupy an administrative space for a long duration, make sure that 10 are always in the space while the other 10 have some time to go outside and walk around. Then the two groups switch. There can be more comrades in the space but there should always be a dedicated group that can be relied on to ALWAYS be in the space and ALWAYS rely on being rotated out to take a break before the police start a siege of the location.
Which ways to the doors open? Where are the hinges located? Are the doors metal, solid wood, wood with a sheet of metal on the outside, or thin sheets of wood over a hollow core? Will it be easy or hard for a battering ram to break down the door? Are the door frames wooden or metal? Are there deadbolts? Does the door sit in the door frame in a way that makes it harder for crowbars to be used to force entry? How are you going to keep the doors closed, to keep rioting cops out? In the room you are occupying, are there things you can put in front of the doors/windows to keep the cops from easily getting inside? Things to remember: Pulling is easier than pushing. If you can make a floor slippery, (think of vegetable oil and dish soap), somebody trying to pull down your obstacle is going to have a harder time.
GOOD post