/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

>>480064
whoever coded that website is a RETARD

yes, marxists.org

Israel bombs military convoy of new Syrian authorities

Al Jazeera Arabic reports that at least one person was killed and several others were injured when Israel targeted a military convoy of the new Syrian authorities on the outskirts of Quneitra near the occupied Golan Heights.

The Israeli military had confirmed in a statement that it fired at vehicles carrying “weapons and ammunition” in the area.

Israel has been relentlessly bombing Syrian military and civilian infrastructure and further advancing into the country’s territory since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last month.

‘Gaza defeats the genocide’: PFLP

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has released a brief statement celebrating the ceasefire agreement.

“Gaza defeats the genocide,” the left-wing group said. “Long live the resistance. Long live the arms of our steadfast people.”

Palestinians imposed ‘honourable’ agreement on Israel: PIJ
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>486957
Why do you still post Al Jazeera the Qatari state media after what they say about Syria?

>>486958
For the same reason I posted it before. It's comprehensive and there's literally nothing wrong with their Gaza coverage, it's some of the best around.

Houthi leader threatens more attacks if Israel breaches ceasefire

Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi has threatened to keep up their attacks if Israel does not respect the recently announced ceasefire with Hamas.

While he called the breakthrough in negotiations an “important development”, he warned that his group “will watch the implementation of the agreement, and if there is any Israeli breach, massacres or attacks, we will be ready to provide military support to the Palestinian people”.

In a statement published by the group on X, he said Israel and the US “were forced to [accept] the agreement in Gaza after months of horrific crimes”.

“The Israeli enemy failed in Gaza despite the siege on the resistance which was established from the beginning,” he added.

Palestinian NGO mourns death of staff member killed in Israeli air raid

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has said one of its workers was killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City earlier today.

Ihab Faisal, 33, was killed in the early morning hours alongside his wife Hanin Jamal Al-Dahdouh, 29, and his two children, Reem, 6, and Najma, 3.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

Electronic Intifada - Day 468 of Al-Aqsa Flood

Death toll since ceasefire announcement nears 100

As we have been reporting, the Israeli military has intensified its attacks across the Gaza Strip since Wednesday’s announcement that a ceasefire deal had been agreed with Hamas.

The death toll for those attacks now stands at about 90, according to the Wafa news agency, citing medical sources in the besieged enclave.

Northern Gaza has faced repeated Israeli strikes over the past day, with one attack in Jabalia killing at least 20 Palestinians.

Lebanon reports four more Israeli violations to ceasefire: Report

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports four more Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement that took effect 52 days ago between Israel and Hezbollah.

According to NNA, the Israeli military blew up several homes in Meiss El-Jabal town of the Marjayoun district in southern Lebanon.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>486964
Many people use smartphones, which compared to desktop computers, are worse in terms of technological functionality, because so much utility has been stripped out. But you can hardly say that a smartphone contains less technology.

I'm assuming you are trying to say something else. Like maybe the average smartphone user today is less tech-savvy, than the average desktop computer user 20-30 yeas ago.

But then again on the hole there are a lot more tech-savvy people now that there were 20-30 years ago.

>>486968
they sort of only use what they need
rather than depend on it more like maybe in the past
today smartphone is just a tool to access some shit
it can be also greatly simplified (which is actually good. nobody runs irc with its long setup on a smartphone)

>>486969
Ok lets dispel some errors.

Smartphones are not designed for the needs of the user. Users don't need any of the surveillance bullshit that has been inserted into smartphones. Also smartphones are not simplified. All the superfluous surveillance technology is anything but simple. If you removed all the tracking, profiling and personal data gathering crap, smartphones might actually be able to achieve reasonable battery autonomy. Once upon a time personal communication devices could remain on battery standby for 2-4 weeks. That must have been an ancient civilization with advanced alien technology now lost to time.

Furthermore cell towers could work like public wifi, that allowed any device with a compatible radio to connect to it and go online. All the fuss with cell contracts, sim-cards/e-sins, that is just legacy crap far more outdated than IRC. The only reason why that still persists is because it enables legacy telecom companies to maintain a monopoly. While an open model similar to wifi is a service that can be provided by anybody with the technical skills to configure advanced network routers and radio equipment. The open model would even allow for smartphones them selves to route some of the network traffic which would make the system far more robust and fix most situational bandwidth bottlenecks.

>today smartphone is just a tool to access some shit
Yeah from the point of view of surveillance capitalism and panopticon-surveillance-state extremists perhaps. For whom Smartphones are a privacy violation tool to access some personal data they shouldn't be able to. People use their smartphones as a brain-extension, they clearly need to have full controle over it because that tech clearly is now included in personal bodily autonomy.

>it can be also greatly simplified (which is actually good. nobody runs irc with its long setup on a smartphone)
Technologically smartphones could be simplified a lot but for that corporate walled gardens have to die, no more proprietary lock-in of any kind: not with screws , not with spare parts, not with cables, and certainly not with software. Governments also have to chill out and stop behaving like creepy stalkers. No gate keepers and no creepers. Also locked boot-loaders need to die extra hard, all those slightPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>486970
you probably don't read news
but there *is* linux smart phones
there's also *wifi* only phones (no cell technology)

and cell tower tracks you even harder
try to call police for instance or ambulance… they don't ask you where you are (because they already know…)

its not really how it works

>>486972
i can say even how it works, because now even kids know

basically
and it was actually in the design since always or forever
1. your phone is registering on a tower (or multiple towers)
2. for this it sends the number or anything
3. there number stored in a local (tower's) (or multiple towers) database
4. these database (with just has numbers) uploaded or sent to the central unit or something (via cell technology/level)
5. there it (this data) can be processed. which just means easily triangulated.
there fore your position is easily calculated (from the distance or something, from near by towers (more towers better))

also they probably can send signal level or w/e that improves distance in theory, but generally its not needed
some 3 towers give nice accuracy (maybe like 50 meters)

Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

https://x.com/redstreamnet/status/1879285394069762424
Red - NOW: Authorities in the Republic of Korea (ROK) are attempting to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol for the second time over his brief declaration of martial law in December. Up to 1,000 police officers have been deployed, currently attempting to enter Yoon’s residence.

>>486892
Vietnam should invade South Korea as revenge for when South Korea joined in on invading Vietnam.

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2025/01/jk-kim-dong-wook-faces-legal-complaint-for-violating-south-koreas-foreign-nationals-political-activity-ban
In the document, the complainant stated, “JK Kim Dong Wook (John Kim) relinquished his South Korean citizenship to acquire Canadian citizenship, making him a foreign national. According to Article 17 of the Immigration Control Act, foreign nationals residing in South Korea are prohibited from engaging in political activities. Violators may face penalties.”

>>486949
>Are you sure that these "Greek tyrants" actually were tyrannical ?
That was exactly the point of the sentence you're responding to. Like democracy, autocratic rulers were sometimes capable of doing nice things for their demos. Michael Hudson points out in his recent book The Collapse of Antiquity that many of the Greek tyrants of the 7th century where dissident aristocrats who exploited anger against the nobility to seize power, and then instated populist reforms which would later pave the way for the development of democracies. Alternatively, you could have despotic tyrants like Dionysius of Syracuse who overthrew the Syracusan democracy and established a terror regime of cruelty and vindictiveness. The point is that you should define forms of government based on how the governing is done, not their outcomes. Especially when invoking the ancient, original definitions.

>>486950
>IP theft
Spookiest spook that ever spooked.

>>486950
>That's not true at all. The average soviet citizen waited decades for housing and automobiles while party members got the best houses and cars right away.
You are overstating your case a little, the delays weren't that bad. However you are not entirely wrong the soviet system didn't do particularly well for consumer items. You definitely can't organize the production of consumer goods like heavy industry. You are entirely wrong about Soviet housing tho, that was a massive success. Capitalist countries that had a wealth and development level comparable to the Soviet system had over 50% of their population living in slums. The Soviet apparent blocks were small and the massive cement housing units were dull and dreary, but they had reliable electricity, heating, fresh water, plumbing and some degree of personal space. Slums didn't have that and mostly don't to this day.

>lol that's the lefty equivalent of believing Hitler was
What the ? Oh i get it, Hitler must be compared to Stalin. It's ideologically mandatory, no matter how nonsensical.

>It's the only way to do it if you think about it. Giving the MoP directly to the people just means nobody will work and the project will not even get off the ground. Having an ultra-authoritarian state turn the citizens into slave laborers is the only way to get any productivity at all after private property has been abolished.
<Public sector economy is slavery
Now you're just trolling.
It is somewhat true that the Soviets never reached the communist goal of organizing the economy without wage-labor, but that isn't slavery. Your grasp on economic relations is dogshit.

>Inequality between worthless peasants perhaps but not inequality between the worthless peasants and the people running the state. That is the wrong metric to fetishize anyway. You would prefer that everyone has a bicycle rather than have a Mustang and let your neighbor have a Ferrari?
It's true that Soviet cars were boring and less sophisticated, but the Soviets had amazing public transport. I'm not convinced this difference was caused by economic ideology. Russia is geographically enormous and maintaining a nice road system that would have genePost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>486950
>Only after they scraped communism and allowed private property again.
They allowed capitalist elements because bribing western capitalism by letting it exploit Chinese workers for a few decades was preferable to fighting off imperial invasions.

>Even then most of china's "success" is down to slave labor
Labor conditions in china were bad but it's improving. Labor conditions in the west have been better but it's deteriorating.

>IP theft
"Intellectual property" is nothing more that monopoly privileges. All the neo-liberal economists that went to China in the 70s to proselytize the free market, guess what, the Chinese took them by their word. >>486952 is correct.

>and the same short sighted fiat currency manipulation that is fucking over the west
I think it's true that China does have the ability to controle the exchange rate of their currency, and they very likely do use it, probably to keep the prices of their exports stable. However that doesn't compare to what the US has done with it's controle over the world reserve currency.

>>486951
>That was exactly the point of the sentence you're responding to. Like democracy, autocratic rulers were sometimes capable of doing nice things for their demos. Michael Hudson points out in his recent book The Collapse of Antiquity that many of the Greek tyrants of the 7th century where dissident aristocrats who exploited anger against the nobility to seize power, and then instated populist reforms which would later pave the way for the development of democracies. Alternatively, you could have despotic tyrants like Dionysius of Syracuse who overthrew the Syracusan democracy and established a terror regime of cruelty and vindictiveness. The point is that you should define forms of government based on how the governing is done, not their outcomes.
Maybe i'm being extra dense, but isn't the dissident aristocrats seizing power to pave the way for democracy, a desirable outcome ?
I guess what i'm saying here is that i don't understand how you distinguish
<how the governing is done
from
<their outcomes.

>>485931
This author makes a lot of dogmatic assertions without arguments to justify them and I couldn't take her seriously after she brought up "misogyny".

Trump announces Massad Boulos as adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs

US President-elect Donald Trump says Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos will serve as a senior adviser.

During Trump’s election campaign, Boulos repeatedly met with Arab American and Muslim leaders.

Boulos is also the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/1/live-aid-workers-among-45-killed-by-israel-in-gaza-as-hamas-in-truce-talks

https://twitter.com/CornelWest/status/1879645785328844932
Statement from Cornel West on the ceasefire

>>486939
Does anyone still pay attention to this clown?

>>486941
… It's a good statement. I watched it.

>>486315
It was long ago, if i remember i'll make a thread about it.

Are you prepping, my fellow preppers?
Nuclear bunker sales increase, despite expert warnings they aren’t going to provide protection
https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-bunkers-war-atomic-bombs-0356fa5b34067c138c64b9143f73c308
>Global security leaders are warning nuclear threats are growing as weapons spending surged to $91.4 billion last year. At the same time, private bunker sales are on the rise globally, from small metal boxes to crawl inside of to extravagant underground mansions.

>Critics warn these bunkers create a false perception that a nuclear war is survivable. They argue that people planning to live through an atomic blast aren’t focusing on the real and current dangers posed by nuclear threats, and the critical need to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

>Meanwhile, government disaster experts say bunkers aren’t necessary. A Federal Emergency Management Agency 100-page guide on responding to a nuclear detonation focuses on having the public get inside and stay inside, ideally in a basement and away from outside walls for at least a day. Those existing spaces can provide protection from radioactive fallout, says FEMA.

It's the fucking Cold War shitshow all over again
>preppers start nuclear hysteria
>anti-nuke activists say that preparing for the war is le bad because it implies the nuclear war is survivable
>the government says that buying or building expensive bunkers is not necessary because you can survive the nuclear blast just hiding under the table

>>486780
Impending nuke warnings are down to 5 minutes or so. Rich people won't have time to get to their bunkers. If somebody survives in a luxury bunker it will be the maintenance and cleaning crew. Sweet irony.

>Critics warn these bunkers create a false perception that a nuclear war is survivable. They argue that people planning to live through an atomic blast aren’t focusing on the real and current dangers posed by nuclear threats, and the critical need to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
That doesn't work, wrong psychology. They should sell bunker-sealing-kits with a bunker-map, instead. You know something to block-off bunker-doors and seal-up the air-exchange-vents from the outside. The left-behind F-U kit. Psychology wise that might be more convincing, than explaining the logistics errors of trying to treat nuclear war like a contingency problem. People didn't investigate and understand the material consequences of nuclear war and based on that attempted to create a nuke-proof habitat. I think people treat this like a game of musical chairs where they pay to reserve a chair.

>preppers start nuclear hysteria
>anti-nuke activists say that preparing for the war is le bad because it implies the nuclear war is survivable
>the government says that buying or building expensive bunkers is not necessary because you can survive the nuclear blast just hiding under the table
First as a tragedy then as a farce.

There is a case to build houses and buildings underground tho, because temperatures below ground are stable and energy use for heating or air-conditioning would go down to a small fraction. Most people probably would only run a water draining pump and ventilation . Since building-roofs would be at ground level they could be little parks or gardens. Windows could be simulated with stereo-cameras and 3d-effect screens. It would also somewhat harden civilization against war. If we hide industrial society a little the reactionary anti-prosperity strain that took over a lot of environmentalism would fade away too.

>>486782
>That doesn't work, wrong psychology. They should sell bunker-sealing-kits with a bunker-map, instead. You know something to block-off bunker-doors and seal-up the air-exchange-vents from the outside.

But how will that help?

>>486925
>But how will that help?
If a nuclear war breaks out, it does nothing, just like the bunkers.

The bunkers are imaginary protection from nuclear war.
The bunker-sealing-kits are imaginary bunker-spoilers.

If you wanted to weather a nuclear war for real you need a fully fledged underground habitat, one that is self sufficient in everything, a fully fledged biome that yields food, geothermal energy, resource gathering , artificial atmosphere generators, … It would need to support a population of about 100000 people. More like a giant space station. You have to plan for unforeseen complications. A nuclear war could ruin the surface in ways that we can't predict. That means you need to include the capacity to rebuild civilization underground. The means to expand the underground habitat until a level of economic power and technological sophistication is achieved that enables terra-forming the ruined surface so that it once again supports human live. It means committing to a scifi scenario where the next 10000 years, humanity might have to larp as mole-people. We could technically do this, but lets face it, we won't.

Most people think that a bunker only needs to be a underground hotel room that has enough provisions. Explaining why that's wrong is complicated. Some rich people might see a bunker as nothing more than the ability to live out the rest of their lives, once nuclear war has extinct humanity, so they get to have the last party.

So with all that in mind, it's easier to tell people that those left behind will ruin their bunker and therefor the only option to deal with a nuclear war, is not having the nuclear war in the first place and idk throwing the WW3 lobby into a vat of boiling acid or something.

>>486826
That's nice and all, but is a guy who had a meltdown because his fastfood wasn't delivered properly prepared for such a situation?

>>486927
Not going to lie, as someone who deals with fucking entitled as fuck, retarded, aggressive uber eats drivers alot. He's just spitting facts lol.
t. worked as a driver.

>>486927
Service was rude in the Soviet Union:
https://jacobin.com/2013/02/soviet-waiters-emotional-labor-customer-service

Haz is just acting authentically, the same way he would react if he lived in AES. He is acting authentically, as opposed to the forced happiness/fake smile that is enforced on employees in capitalism/neo-feudalism.

Also it's agitprop.

>>486927
Wow you're right, fuck his writing, let's focus on this one meaningless clip that definitely exposes him as being a piece of shit. I'm quitting communism right now.

>>486930
cry harder, butthurt snowflake, lol

>>486828
They're referring to the UA forces. In the title, Russians "seize" territory.

>>486899
Yeah, I got that, I just assumed it was Russian Pravda at first, hence why I was surprised. I didn't see the .ua after the .com. It would be weird if Russian Pravda phrased things this way.

>>486899
Does the language game pay off ? As in, is it really worth it to call governments one doesn't like "regimes" or like in this case say "seize" instead of "liberate".

Are we doing it wrong by not calling Ukraine "the democracy abandoned Bandarist neocon backed regime" or something like that ?

>>486901
… I mean, personally, "seized" and "liberate" are both perfectly accurate in this case. Like, I don't see that as particularly propagandistic - Ukraine objectively has a better claim to that territory than Russia does. Russia's best claim for reason to be there is security concerns, and that still doesn't entitle them, legally, to control of the territory or anything like that. I wouldn't even have commented on it at all if I hadn't mistakenly thought that the linked article was from regular Pravda instead of Ukraine's Pravda. It would be weird if Russian Pravda wrote it that way, but it would be weird if Ukrainian Pravda didn't.

>>486908
>I mean, personally, "seized" and "liberate" are both perfectly accurate in this case. Like, I don't see that as particularly propagandistic
Clearly these words are not synonymous, but i can't really be bothered to pick this apart.

>Ukraine objectively has a better claim to that territory than Russia does.
The Russians did a referendum, and while you can criticize that on the basis that it did not include people who fled the war, or that it was held while the Russian military was present, it's still more democratic than Ukraine's abolished elections. Technically Ukraine doesn't have a government until they hold elections.

>Russia's best claim for reason to be there is security concerns, and that still doesn't entitle them, legally, to control of the territory
The US invaded Ukraine via a covert war, you know the CIA arming and training groups like Azov. I don't know enough about international law to say for sure, but i think the Russians can claim that this was the US attempting to mass forces on Russia's boarders which technically is an act of war.

I think that it's pure ideological distortion to say this was a war between Ukraine and Russia. Nato poured so many weapons into Ukraine that it would best be described as a Russia-NATO proxy war. International law prohibits proxy wars too, so not sure where that leaves this.

Then there is the matter that some regions of formerly east Ukraine declared independence from Ukraine, that is something people can do. Democratic self determination and all that jazz. Lets not forget that the Ukrainian government was doing heavy discriminating against some parts of the population. You can only claim governance over people that are enfranchised. But wait there is more. At some point the Ukrainian military began shelling residential areas, they claimed to be part of Ukraine. I'm sorry but I don't really see how that tracks. I think that's the point when Kiefv relinquished it's claims. Governance by artillery that's not really a thing.

My preference was east Ukraine becoming a new country, instead of this war. The western governments would have needed to officially recognize it for that to happen. So i do get why this is fantasy-land.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.