Image is from this SCMP article.
Much of the analysis below is sourced from Michael Roberts’ great website.
Japan’s ruling parliamentary coalition, consisting of the LDP (purple) and it’s junior coalition partner Komeito (in light pink) have lost their ruling majority. They have ruled post-war Japan for almost its entire history. The LDP is currently led by Shigeru Ishiba after Kishida stood down due to a corruption scandal, and ties to the Unification Church.
While geopolitical factors (over the cold war between the US and China, etc) may have played a role, by far the biggest reason for this result in the poor economic conditions over the past few years. Inflation has risen and real wages have fallen, with little relief for the working class via things like tax reductions. While inequality in Japan is not as extreme as in America, it is still profound, with the top 10% possessing 60% of the wealth, while the bottom 50% possess just 5%.
Shinzo Abe previously tried to boost economic performance through monetary easing and fiscal deficits, while Kishida ran on a “new capitalism” which rejected Abe’s neoliberalism and promised to reduce inequality. Nothing substantial has resulted from all this, however, other than increasing corporate wealth. Innovation continues to fall, and domestic profitability is low, resulting in decreasing investment at home by Japanese corporations. Labour productivity growth has only slightly picked up since the mid-2000s and is falling again. The rate of profit has fallen by half since the 1960s, and Japan has been in a manufacturing recession - or very close to it - since late 2022. In essence: there is no choice but between stagnation or decline.
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The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week’s thread is here.
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.
Burger national election news is scary and depressing. Got anything fun happening in your local or state elections?
Portland Oregon is choosing a new mayor and oh boy. Our choices this round include the lady with 150 unpaid parking tickets, who really probably shouldn’t be driving at this point, or we have the guy who falsely accused someone of assaulting him on the train, (there are cameras) who also used public funds to spiff up his wikipedia page and of course hates the homeless.
Or we got Keith, the guy who doesn’t seem to hate homeless people, provided they stay at an overnight shelter (he’s on the record as being against the 24-hour shelters with onsite case management). Or Liv, maybe better known as the stripper Viva Las Vegas, who seems to be running on a platform of…make Portland good and artsy again? Somehow? (The solution is lower rents).
There is also Mingus. Idk what Mingus has been up to. He’s already in the city government, probably coasting on being mediocre and not attracting controversy idk. I think he might be our water guy? Idk the city government is split really weird here. Anyways, not spicy enough to win, or get any real juicy news articles. Has a cool name though. Mingus Ulysses Mapps. Yeah that shit is tight.
You guys got anything fun going on?
Bernie Sanders uploaded a video on his YouTube channel about voting for Kamala even if you’re upset by her position on the genocide. He says “Israel has a right to defend itself” in the first ten seconds.
Denmark’s Air Force is unable to meet NATO’s demand for troop transport due to a shortage of operational EH101 helicopters, and has seen itself forced to prioritize domestic search-and-rescue missions instead. With outdated equipment and maintenance delays due to parts shortages, Denmark can barely sustain its own search-and-rescue capabilities, let alone fulfill ever-increasinsing NATO demands. Major General Jan Dam has highlighted the strain on the Air Force, stressing the difficulty in maintaining even minimal operations with the aging fleet.
- Source: DR (state media), October 28th 2024
someone made a thread about china allegedly banning halloween
it’s apparently a flg (CIA) initiative https://www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/1gdsmg9/psa_flg_and_us_gov_attempting_to_spread_the/meanwhile, in german media:
unlimited kievkyivkijevkijewcapital of ukraine spellings on the euroswait, shouldn’t it be spelled ookraine :really makes you think huh:
There is something morbidly funny to me in the Zionist line that Yahya Sinwar “died like a dog.” Basically just confessing that they regularly kill dogs using drone surveillance and tank shells.
It never looks quite good to compare the killing of your enemies to killing a dog, but if you’re gonna use it it needs to be embarrassing for the victim and not your own side, like death by starvation or just plain execution.
Not to mention we’ve obviously all seen the video of him dying like a fucking boss fighting to his final breath, making a last stand while using all the strength and determination he had to remain standing and fighting
High speed rail in Canada between Toronto and Montreal estimated to cost $100b plus, or about $150m per kilometre, or about 10x the cost of similar projects in China
This will never happen
Article
The National Police of the Andean country confirmed on Monday that a group of demonstrators in Peru keeps blocked the Panamericana Norte highway, in the province of Virú, in protest at the increase of public insecurity.
About 515 kilometers from the Peruvian capital, the villagers of Virú keep blocked with different objects and burning tires the main highway in the area, since last Sunday night.
Protesters are protesting against the authorities for considering that the declaration of a state of emergency to combat crime and organized crime in that region has failed.
«No to extortion. No more bombs», were the slogans of some of the villagers, who also marched to reject attacks by extortion gangs. In this regard, the Peruvian News Agency reported that a police officer and a civilian were seriously injured during the organizational actions to unblock the road, located in the region of La Libertad.
In a dialogue with Canal N, General José Zavala, head of the police region La Libertad, reported that 300 agents of the National Police of Peru (PNP) have been deployed to try to restore order and open the way, allowing free passage for citizens.
The event follows a national strike by truckers last Wednesday, to which other sectors such as the merchant sector joined, shaking Lima for the third time in less than 30 days to protest the increase in crime.
The carriers also requested the elimination of extortion, the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, and the filing of legislative projects that would make the crime of urban terrorism a criminal offence.
The west’s favorite 1 party state that had to become a 2 party state since 2009 has now been forced to become a 3 party state
Singapore, Russia (before Putin became the bad)
The parties will increase until morale improves.
legend says, if you vote for all 3 parties, you might unlock the secret fourth party.
The fourth party will be entirely focused on Quebec.
Biden suggests Trump supporters are ‘garbage’ after comic’s insult of Puerto Rico
In a call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino, Biden on Tuesday responded to a comic at Trump’s rally who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Biden’s initial comments were garbled.
“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m fr – in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent honorable people,” he said.
The president then added: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.* His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Dark Brandon Rises
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’” In referring to Trump’s supporters as “garbage,” however, Biden’s tone was at odds with the message that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is seeking to present as she aims to cast a broad appeal, including to disaffected Republicans. Shortly after Biden’s comments, Harris spoke from the Ellipse in Washington, vowing to be a president who would unite the country.
“I pledge to be a president for all Americans,” said Harris, who is Biden’s vice president.
“Muh Unity”, fucking spineless democrats no wonder they are going to lose. #WriteinBiden
I see Walz is going to get the very important Dreamcast Vote. Can’t wait to see trump play Simpsons Road Rage now.
I mean anyone who prefers Sega over Nintendo has earned my vote. SEGA defeating Nintendo probably occurred in the Al Gore timeline.
I blame Sega for all those platformers that used a weird-ass control scheme where the rightmost button on the controller was the action button, instead of being the jump button. Dear Altered Beast devs, WTF?
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Should’ve streamed GTA:SA to cash in on its 20th year anniversary. This is how you can tell the Democrats are fake gamers smfh
when I see Sanders debase himself I want to believe that it’s because the three letter agencies have guns trained on Bernie’s children and grandchildren, but deep down I know it’s because he was a chauvinist and a zionist all along.
France’s Macron wins Moroccan cheers on Western Sahara
For France, this territory’s present and future fall under Morocco’s sovereignty," Macron said to a standing ovation from Moroccan lawmakers. "This position is what France will advocate to help Morocco in international organisations. “This position is hostile to no one,” he added, referring to Algeria, which considers Morocco’s presence in Western Sahara an occupation.
France, Morocco sign deals worth over €10 billion during Macron visit
shilling for 
in Michigan.
