news

That feel when you'll never get Hezbollah swag:
https://xcancel.com/TVFreePalestine/status/1861686023282930002

Locals order audit of shameless criminal:
https://africanstream.media/niger-orders-audit-of-aid-to-eus-chagrin/

November, Niger claimed the EU ambassador allocated $1.36 million to international NGOs without consulting with the Nigerien government. Despite the devastating floods that have claimed over 300 lives and displaced more than 1.1 million people, Niger stated it did not request EU aid and would address the disaster’s aftermath using its resources. The EU recalled its ambassador to Brussels and announced it would replace him following Niger’s request.

My guess - Iran is unwilling to continue escalation when they lack nukes and Trump is coming in to power, and Hzb leadership is unwilling to fight on without Iranian backing.

::: spoiler To add to the pile of takes being posted about this ceasefire, here is a quick writeup Derek Davidson from Foreign Exchanges/probably the most frequent Chapo guest sent out tonight. I am just posting this because it gets delivered to my inbox:

While I am technically on vacation I did want to send a brief update on the ceasefire that Joe Biden announced earlier today between Israel and Hezbollah. Momentum had been building toward this for several days now, despite outward appearances as the Israelis maintained and arguably intensified their bombing campaign. Indeed, they continued bombarding Lebanon throughout the day on Tuesday, while Hezbollah kept up its rocket attacks on Israel, everybody getting in a few last licks before the ceasefire goes into effect at 4 AM Wednesday local time. If all goes well this will mark the end of a conflict that started shortly after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack in southern Israel, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel. That conflict has killed nearly 3800 people in Lebanon and nearly 130 in Israel, while displacing upwards of 1.2 million in Lebanon and some 46,000 in Israel.

The deal in its most basic form opens a 60 day window, during which Hezbollah and Israel will attempt to implement the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Lebanon War. That means Hezbollah will withdraw its military forces, or at least its large weapons that are capable of striking Israel, north of the Litani River or about 30-ish (give or take) kilometers from the Israeli border. The Israelis in turn will withdraw from southern Lebanon. If those two conditions are met then the 60 day window will turn into a full-fledged ceasefire—at least until the next time Israel and Hezbollah go to war. Israel’s security cabinet approved the deal on Tuesday prior to Biden’s announcement. The Lebanese government had already signaled its approval, which came along with Hezbollah’s indirect approval.

There are mechanisms in the deal that aim to ensure Hezbollah’s compliance. The most immediate of those involves the Lebanese military, such as it is. As the Israeli military (IDF) and Hezbollah withdraw, Lebanese forces will deploy to the area between the Litani and the Israeli border where they will function in concert with the United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) to police the ceasefire. This is where the United States and France enter the picture. They’re apparently committed to supporting the Lebanese military and improving its capabilities so that it’s able to fulfill this mission, as well as to unspecified measures to improve the wrecked Lebanese economy.

The US and French governments will also join the Israeli and Lebanese governments, and UNIFIL, in overseeing the deal. This is a significant development considering that as recently as Sunday the Israeli government was refusing to have anything to do with Paris because Emmanuel Macron had recognized the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Lebanese government had conversely insisted on French participation, presumably reasoning that the French government might actually try to constrain future Israeli military action where the United States is barely even a rubber stamp anymore on that front. That’s important because the main thing the overseers will be doing is determining whether/when the Israelis are entitled to resume their military campaign in Lebanon.

By all accounts, Israeli officials wanted it written into the deal that they retain the right to use Lebanon as a free-fire zone if they decide that Hezbollah isn’t meeting its obligations. That is not, as far as I know, explicitly written into the agreement Biden announced on Tuesday, surely because it was unacceptable to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government. But the Israelis reportedly have assurances from Washington that the US will support their reentry into Lebanon should it come to that.

Based on what’s been reported so far I think we have to conclude that the Israelis have gotten much of what they wanted out of this conflict. In the main they got Hezbollah to break its “Axis of Resistance” ties to Hamas and agree to a ceasefire that has nothing to do with Gaza. That’s meaningful both in the near term, as it means in theory that the Israeli government can begin moving displaced people back into northern Israel without having to interrupt its genocidal campaign, and in the long term, if it permanently fractures the relationship between those two groups. Then there’s the damage Hezbollah has taken. Over the course of the past 13 months the Israelis were able to exploit apparently gaping holes in the internal security of Hezbollah or one of its allies to kill several of its senior leaders, including former Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, along with a larger number of mid-level officials. Those losses will take time to overcome.

That said, the Israelis haven’t gotten everything. For all the hits it’s taken Hezbollah is still standing and still seemed to be putting up a fairly robust resistance to IDF incursions in southern Lebanon—robust enough that it may have made Israeli leaders more amenable to a ceasefire. It’s also still a major force in Lebanese politics, and if we take its civilian elements into account the damage it’s suffered over the past 13 months is still significant but not debilitating. As I noted earlier the Israelis didn’t get the explicit permission they wanted to continue operating in Lebanon with impunity, though that’s more a technical setback than a real one.

This deal is hours old and as I write this it only came into effect about 30 minutes ago so I think to say much more would be to delve fully into speculation, and to be completely frank I think I’d rather go back to being on vacation. One bit of speculation that I will offer is the possibility that this deal isn’t so much going to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as shift the locus of that fighting into Syria. The IDF has never been reluctant to attack Hezbollah targets in Syria but it’s ratcheted up the frequency and intensity of such attacks in recent weeks, and it may be worth noting that after Biden’s announcement it bombed three crossings along the Lebanese-Syrian border in northern Lebanon. We’ve also seen reports of late about IDF construction projects in the occupied Golan that may be encroaching deeper into Syrian territory.

Bashar al-Assad’s government has been scrupulous about staying out of this conflict and maybe he’s got some sort of private understanding with the Israelis, but I still think this is something to watch. I’m not saying that the Israelis will immediately shift their operations to Syria in anything like the intensity we’ve seen in Lebanon, but over time they may continue to ramp things up on that front.

55 days, 63 Merkavas

Netanyahu under a barrage of criticism after announcing a ceasefire with Hezbollah

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the Zionist regime, following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, has been the target of sharp criticism from politicians and domestic media.

The absence of a clear tone in the ceasefire regarding the freedom of action of the Zionist regime army against the Lebanese Hezbollah is one of the provisions that have been criticized.

The officials of the Zionist regime had previously claimed that they wanted to include a clause in the ceasefire agreement that would allow the regime's army to act against Hezbollah in case of a ceasefire violation. Channel 12 of the regime's TV says that the current agreement does not contain explicit provisions in this regard.

Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition to Netanyahu's cabinet, said that the Israeli cabinet was forced to make this agreement after a year of war with Hezbollah.

He said: "The northern communities have been destroyed, the lives of the residents have been destroyed, the army is tired and at the same time you are pushing desertion laws."

This agreement also has critics from within the cabinet, and Itmar Ben-Gvir, the minister of internal security of the regime, has described it as a "historical mistake that failed to achieve promises"

Israel is continuing to bomb major cities in Lebanon (in Bekaa, Beirut, Tyre) along with the southern villages and border crossings with Syria, while continuing to release "evacuation orders" for residential buildings. The ceasefire is supposed to come into effect within the next two hours, it seems as if Israel is trying to cause maximum destruction before they won't be able to anymore, and for the genocidal entity that means murdering as many people as possible and terrorising civilians.

Some videos for today from Russia’s special military operation.

A Russian drone destroyed another US-supplied “Bradley” infantry fighting vehicle in Kursk oblast: https://news-pravda.com/world/2024/11/25/878599.html

A Russian ground drone destroyed a Kiev regime position: https://news-pravda.com/world/2024/11/26/881483.html

An interview with the British mercenary recently captured in Kursk oblast: https://odysee.com/@Support4Z:b/%F0%9F%93%BD%EF%B8%8F-A-%F0%9F%87%AC%F0%9F%87%A7-%F0%9F%87%AB%F0%9F%87%B7,--Kursk-group-captured-this-piece-of-shit!:7

Can anyone send me that Barbara Pit Massacre get in the pit video? Having a hard time finding it anywhere.

With the IDF on the cusp of annexing the West Bank and half of Gaza this ceasefire seems like a potential disaster for the Palestinian people. I have absolutely no idea how Hezbollah is faring, or what is happening in Lebanon. I don't want all of the brave fighters in the resistance to be killed, but I hope this is the right call

I know some people have been asking about EZLN updates. A friend sent me a photo of a flyer that Schools for Chiapas recently sent out which I will transcribe, and I will link the group's most recent blog post below. It's not quite the update that people are looking for, I don't think, but it's better than nothing imo.

Another mile marker along the road. Another leg in the relay. Another year in our collective struggle for a world in which many worlds can fit. Along the way we look back at our own journey, evaluate our progress, and alter our pace, shedding the forms and the ways of being that do not serve our compassionate respect for difference, our vocation of freedom and justice, our defense of life. This year, another cycle of the politics from above comes to a close, posing new obstacles to our shared vision, shifting the terrain under our feet. But we, inspired by struggles for humanity and life around the globe, compañerxs, will remain undeterred.

The work from below and to the left continues, taking new and creative forms. The examples of indigenous communities, as ever on the front lines, weave the strands of resilience and autonomy, defying the forces that seek to divide us. We must take time to gather our strength, to nurture ourselves and our communities, to listen to one another, and to care for the seeds we have sown. And in this process, we find the next steps along the path.

As another year comes to a close, we wish you a regenerative season to do just that.

In 2024, as the Zapatista caracoles were closed to outside collaborations in order to reorganize, we expanded our accompaniment to work with other kindred communities organized in alignment with this shared vocation of justice and dignity. These relationships of mutual learning, growing organically from our collaborations over devades, offer opportunities for the co-mingling of perspectives and the synergy of skills.

This year, with you generous support, we have:

• Organized and facilitated three workshops in herbal medicine and health autonomy with the Mujeres en Rebeldía de Costa.
• Supported 2 regional gatherings of women defenders of land and territory.
• Offered over 20 workshops with community education promoters in training.
• Systematized and developed curriculum to expand our work in education to more communities.
• Provided orientation and preparation for 11 groups of BriCo volunteers in collaboration with Frayba Human Rights Center.
• Hosted biweekly public conversations on indigenous resistances in the Mexican Southeast including analysis on the current political context, migration, human rights and more in Sendas, our collaborative community space in San Cristóbal.
• Published weekly translated news updates and calls to action through our blog.
• Worked with autonomous artisans' collectives in the development, marketing and distribution of products, both in Sendas and through our online store.
• Promoted and garnered support for displaced communities and the unjustly incarcerated and supported local calls to action through Sendas.
• Raised funds to build, and supported the construction of a new community schoolhouse.

Thank you for walking beside us, for joining us in this journey. As always, we are humbled and honored to have your support.

From the blog:

Compañerxs, this year has presented indigenous communities throughout Chiapas with extreme threats to their physical, material and spiritual well-being. On October 16th, the EZLN denounced a series of aggressions, supported by authorities from the municipality of Ocosingo, against one of its support base communities 6 de Octubre, announcing that they would be severing all communications for the foreseeable future. Then on October 20th, the murder of Padre Marcelo, a beloved priest and defender of life, delivered a knife to the heart of the people. Two weeks later 20,000 people came out in the streets of San Cristóbal to demand justice and an end to the violence.

In the organized indigenous communities of Chiapas and Mexico, we see important models of sustainable autonomy and a struggle which places the defense of territory on the frontlines of the confrontation between the plunder of the Earth and its care. Like these courageous peoples, we must organize to cultivate those spaces of support and strength both in our communities locally and internationally. We share the collective responsibility of caring for one another, and of protecting this beautiful planet we call home.

Link: https://schoolsforchiapas.org/our-work-now-after-nearly-30-years/

Liu Liange, former chairman of the Bank of China, was on Tuesday sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribe-taking and illegal issuing of loans. He was found to have accepted bribes worth over 121 million yuan (about $16.8 million), according to a court verdict.

Brazil Donates Cuba 10 Tons of Aid After Two Hurricanes Passage - Telesur English

Good on Lula for doing this. Also, surprised at Japan giving Cuba aid, but the Japanese Goverment and people have mostly been on friendly terms with Latin America.

Supposedly a million Israelis in shelters right now, it's gonna be a rough night in both countries. If the ceasefire goes through, it'll be in about four hours.

linky to poast (xcancel broke for me) with full statement (not that of banger, bragging about stopping caravans etc)

https://nitter.poast.org/ishaantharoor/status/1861447614568239551

Breaking: Supreme Court has now sent the 800+ page Federal Police report into the Bolsonaro-Military Lula assassination and coup plot to the Prosecutor General for actioning. Secrecy of the report has also been lifted.

Brazilian social movements are organizing a nation-wide demonstration calling for the immediate arrest of Jair Bolsonaro, which will take place in dozens of cities on December 10.

The Entire Document (800+ Pages, all in portuguese)

Bonus (CW: Male Genitalia)

Translation: “He will arrest us”

Btw, theres text showing that Bolsonaro called his own supporters "Idiots".

'Total Surrender': Anger sweeps northern Israel over potential Lebanon ceasefire | The Cradle

Shmuel described the situation of living under the fire of Hezbollah rockets since the war started.

“It's tough. There's no life, we've had no life for a year now. You can't plan anything, can't go anywhere, can't go out freely, not even to do something simple like exercise outside.”

damn maybe if you thought Palestinians were people I would give a shit