Image is of Azerbaijan’s President, Aliyev (left) and Armenia’s President, Pashinyan (right) in a meeting a month or two after Azerbaijan took Nagorno-Karabakh.

  1. Never go to a second location.
  2. Always get the interior ministry post.
  3. Never get in a helicopter or any small aircraft.
  4. If someone with a gun enters your car, they’re gonna kill you.
  5. If someone tells you they’re not going to kill you, they’re calming you down to kill you later.
  6. Never give up your nukes.
  7. Never release the opposition’s political prisoners.
  8. Never let the opposition delay elections.
  9. If someone starts to get into German runes, drop them.
  10. Never trust a South American with a German name.
  11. Never move anywhere for a religion.
  12. Never go into the sewers unless you’re a sewer guy.
  13. If someone’s trying to get you to commit a crime, they’re FBI (sometimes CIA or military intelligence).
  14. Never become an FBI informant.
  15. If you do become an FBI informant, record everything.
  16. Never relinquish your arms.
  17. Always get it in writing.
  18. If you keep gambling, you’ll eventually win.
  19. Never talk to cops without a lawyer.
  20. Always pay your mercenaries.
  21. Don’t let anyone take your passport.

To add an addendum to rule 3, never put your President and Foreign Minister in the same helicopter or small aircraft. Especially if doing so in bad weather conditions. Especially if you’re already under threat from a hostile nuclear power in the region with a proclivity for terrorism (though this probably isn’t Israel’s doing, in this particular case).

Anyway, Azerbaijan. Not a great country, I think. Did some genocides. They’re a petrostate that is hosting Cop29, which I suppose is a way for the bourgeoisie to implicitly convey their contempt for the green movement. They got weapons from Israel, too.

Just for the record, there’s an Iranian province called East Azerbaijan, which is not the same as Azerbaijan.

The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you’ve wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don’t worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.

The Country of the Week is Azerbaijan! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

Please check out the HexAtlas!

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week’s thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA daily-ish 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 (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
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.

Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.

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.
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.

  • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]@hexbear.netOPMEnglish
    44·
    6 months ago

    well, if I’m celebrating something alongside NATOids and Zionists then I’ve probably deeply fucked up somewhere in my belief system

    but regardless I don’t think it’s really crab-party or kitty-birthday-sad, he was a complicated figure. kinda like Putin I suppose. the struggle session on this website when he dies will be very interesting to watch

    • Droplet [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      42·
      6 months ago

      Putin may be a reactionary shithead but in the end, he will have done more to help emancipate billions of people in the Global South from Western imperialism and denazified more Western neo-Nazis than all of the Western left combined over the past few decades.

    • niph [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      11·
      6 months ago

      well, if I’m celebrating something alongside NATOids and Zionists then I’ve probably deeply fucked up somewhere in my belief system

      Are you being flippant? Why is resisting western hegemony the only moral/political axis we care about? I don’t know anything about Raisi’s domestic policy tbh so can’t comment. But I don’t think it’s right to only focus on amerikkka bad while ignoring material conditions of those suffering under fascists globally.

      • s0ykaf [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        29·
        6 months ago

        you can say “amerikka bad” but really what it means is “western imperialism is the greatest obstacle to the left, even within 3rd world countries governed by the right-wing”

        ironically, imperialists, intentionally and unintentionally, are more responsible for conservatism in iran than iran’s own leaders. it’s bizarre, but that’s what a global system like capitalism manages to do

        • niph [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          5·
          6 months ago

          Ok, I take the point that imperialism is responsible for conservatism there, but I don’t really think that means we should skate over the abuses perpetrated by the conservatives themselves. I am happy our enemies are at each other’s throats

          • s0ykaf [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
            9·
            6 months ago

            imperialism is responsible for conservatism there

            hey i only said more responsible, iranian conservatives still had their own historical agency and are definitely our enemies. i mean, they’re the ones who pulled the trigger, even if imperialism put the guns in their hands

            • zed_proclaimer [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
              9·
              6 months ago

              iranian conservatives still had their own historical agency and are definitely our enemies

              they are not our enemies. They are one of our strongest allies on Earth in defeating Zionism

      • Droplet [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        29·
        6 months ago

        Figure out the principal contradiction of Iran (and the Middle East at large) first and you shall come to a clearer understanding about what your position should be.

        It’s the same reason that many on the left support Palestinian resistance even though they may not have the most progressive views by our standards.

      • bbnh69420 [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        28·
        6 months ago

        Despite not knowing anything, you’re still commenting and comparing him to a fascist. And it’s called the primary contradiction for a reason.

        Edit: this is the argument so-called “communists” use to both-sides colonialism in Palestine “why aren’t you liberating them from their theocratic fascist rulers”

        • niph [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          I was going off what the OP said about him being rabidly right wing and murdering communists, which I don’t think anyone has challenged. I will educate myself on this topic more though

      • zed_proclaimer [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        11·
        6 months ago

        Why is resisting western hegemony the only moral/political axis we care about?

        Because we live in the West and imperialism is the primary contradiction. It is your duty to be a revolutionary defeatist and oppose your nations imperialism, and if you aren’t then you are a failure of a communist

        • niph [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          I oppose western Imperialism to the core. My question was mainly about why we only focus on one axis of struggle when I feel we should also act with solidarity for the oppressed of other countries.

          I am perfectly happy to be self critical and learn from all of your comments but I don’t think “you’d be a failure of a communist if X” is that helpful of a way of communicating tbh

          • zed_proclaimer [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            I’m quoting Lenin almost verbatim.

            https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/dec/25.htm

            1. A policy designed not to mislead the workers, but to open their eyes to reality, should consist in the following:

            (a) Socialists in every country must now, when the question of peace is so directly posed, unfailingly and more vigorously than usual expose their own government and their own bourgeoisie. They must expose the secret agreements they have concluded, and are concluding, with their imperialist allies for the division of colonies, spheres of influence, joint financial undertakings in other countries, buying up of shares, monopoly arrangements, concessions, etc.

            For in this, and in this alone, lies the real, not deceptive, basis and substance of the imperialist peace now being prepared. Everything else is meant to deceive the people. Those who vow and swear by these catchwords are not really supporting a democratic peace without annexations, etc., for real support means exposing, in practice, one’s own bourgeoisie, which by its actions is destroying these great principles of true socialism and true democracy.

            For every member of parliament, every editor, every secretary of a labour union, every journalist and public leader can always gather the information kept secret by the government and the financiers that reveals the truth about the real basis of imperialist deals. A socialist’s failure to fulfill this duty is a betrayal of socialism. There need be no doubt that no government will allow, especially now, free publication of exposures of its real policy, its treaties, financial deals, etc. That is no reason to renounce such exposures. Rather it is a reason to renounce servile submission to the censorship and publish the facts freely, i.e., uncensored, illegally.

            For the Socialist of another country cannot expose the government and bourgeoisie of a country at war with “his own” nation, and not only because he does not know that country’s language, history, specific features, etc., but also because such exposure is part of imperialist intrigue, and not an internationalist duty.

            He is not an internationalist who vows and swears by internationalism. Only he is an internationalist who in a really internationalist way combats his own bourgeoisie, his own social-chauvinists, his own Kautskyites.

            (b) In every country the Socialist must above all emphasise in all his propaganda the need to distrust not only every political phrase of his own government, but also every political phrase of his own social-chauvinists, who in reality serve that government.

            © In every country the Socialists must above all explain to the masses the indisputable truth that a genuinely enduring and genuinely democratic peace (without annexations, etc.) can now be achieved only if it is concluded not by the present bourgeois governments, or by bourgeois governments in general, but by proletarian governments that have overthrown the rule of the bourgeoisie and are proceeding to expropriate it.

            Revolutionary Defeatism, the DUTY of all socialists, requires first and foremost opposing one’s imperialist government. One cannot expose an ‘enemy’ government that one’s nation is at war with, it only serves imperialist intrigue and most westerners do not understand the specifics of other nations anyway. They MUST focus on their own imperialist first and foremost and oppose any fake internationalism that targets only enemies, as that’s imperialist intrigue