Image of destruction in Mandalay, Myanmar, from Al Jazeera.
As if the ongoing civil war wasn't enough, Myanmar has now been struck by a very powerful earthquake, resulting in 2000 deaths and thousands more injured as of the time of writing. Estimates are that the death toll could reach 10,000. Infrastructure like roads and bridges are damaged, and the hospitals are overwhelmed. The earthquake struck during Eid prayers, resulting in even higher casualties as several mosques collapsed. 20 million people already required humanitarian assistance in Myanmar, and now the situation there will be even worse. International rescue teams have rushed into the country, and aid is being raised, though with USAID experiencing the... changes that it is, the United States will be of even more limited help than usual. So far, China has sent $14 million, while USAID has supplied $2 million. In Thailand, the death toll seems considerably lower, though there has still been significant damage; a skyscraper under construction collapsed in Bangkok.
Myanmar is located very close to the boundary between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. In particular, the country is divided in two by the north-south oriented Sagaing fault. This fault is typically strike-slip; that is, each side of the fault moves horizontally past each other. The earthquake's depth was 10 kilometers, which is pretty shallow, and its proximity to the surface amplified the felt force of the earthquake. Additionally, the soft soil in this region tends to further amplify seismic waves through a process called liquefaction. Combine all this with the lackluster building codes due to many years of impoverishment and civil wars, and this explains why the death toll, and the expense to the country in general to repair damage, will probably be extremely high.
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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.
US airstrikes continue on Yemen for the 23rd night in a row, with four airstrikes reported at Kamaran Island.
More airstrikes in Sana'a Governorate.
More airstrikes in Sana'a Governorate, targeting Al-Jabal Al-Aswad (Montenegro/Black Mountain in English). This site was targeted in previous airstrikes, before the B-2 deployment.
Reports of intense drone activity over Sana'a and Saada, with Yemeni residents able to video drones (likely MQ-9 Reapers) flying at low altitude earlier this evening, and hearing them now. Air defences are suppressed.
The initial strikes in Sana'a targeted the home of Sheikh Saleh Al-Suhaili (part of the Social Affairs Department) and his family.
More airstrikes in Saada, 3 strikes repeatedly targeting the Al-Ammar family.
Three airstrikes in Hajjah Governorate.
Videos of the drones
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Al Masirah TV twitter
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what is their aim here, not stop until Ansar Allah stop attacking ships or w/e? and if so do you think that is a realistic aim?
Aim of the US air campaign is not to destroy or overthrow Ansarallah/the Houthis (at least for now), but to degrade their capabilities, with regards to medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) fired at Israel, anti ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), and anti ship cruise missiles (ASCMs) and drones.
The US is trying to accomplish this by trying to reduce Ansarallah's industrial capacity, from targeting factories, mines, quarries and solar power plants, to bombing their underground facilities and weapons caches, to targeting technical and military experts in assassination attempts.
So far, only one of those goals appears to have been accomplished, with regards to MRBMs being fired at Israel, I think it's been over a week since the last MRBM was fired at Israel. ASBMs are a hard threat to counter, because Ansarallah have access to wide range of ASBM like systems, from longer range ones like Zolfogar Basir and Tankeel (700km and 500km range respectfully), to short range systems based off of artillery rockets like the Red Sea missile (sub 140km range). These short range quasi ASBM systems, while not as sophisticated as the longer range systems, are perfect for carrying out a naval blockade at key choke points, like the Bab al-Mandab Strait. They are also considerably more difficult to intercept than other weapons. With drones and cruise missiles, the US Navy can counter/intercept them when fired at their warships from long range, but that's different from actively protecting other ships sailing through key choke points close to Yemen in a defensive operation.
I honestly think it depends on just how much support Iran gives or continues to give Yemen, if it's achievable to degrade these three capabilities. So far, it appears to be 1/3 degraded as I've said, but that only protects Israel, not ships. An extended campaign would be needed to even try degrade all of their capabilities. The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber deployment allows for the US to bomb the deep underground facilities in Yemen with GBU-57 MOP 30 000lb bunker buster bombs so that's a difference there, or carrying a large amount of smaller bombs and cruise missiles. But a lot more strikes would be needed to accomplish the USA's goals. Otherwise the US could just go all in on war against Iran if they think it's necessary, but that would obviously be a huge escalation.