Image is from this CNN article.
The DPRK's history has been a rollercoaster, with admirable highs and heartbreaking lows, most notably the Korean War and the fall of the USSR. Its steadfast commitment to Juche, a variant of Marxism-Leninism that focuses on self-sufficiency, has both made the DPRK a target for imperialist genocidal powers, and allowed them to survive these attacks.
Lately, we seem to be seeing a transition from surviving to thriving. China and the DPRK have always had a much more complicated history than Western education and media allows its population to know, with periods of quite strong disagreement - it's not the case that China is somehow the DPRK's master. Russia is the DPRK's other neighour that isn't US-occupied, and while they obviously differ substantially in ideology since the USSR fell, the tsunami of sanctions on Russia has changed things. The stick has been removed from the equation, with Russia facing no possible punishment from the West because they were unable to enact sanctions effectively and used all their ammunition in the first few barrages rather than turning the screws over time (I don't care if we're on the 14th sanctions package, it's all been meaningless for Russia since the end of 2022).
The carrot is also more visible, with an alliance making a lot of sense for both. Once again, Western education and media would have you believe a Parenti-esque reality in which Korea is a massive and unpredictable danger to the world, but is simultaneously so poor and destitute that their artillery pieces are made of wood and their missiles out of paper-mache. The truth is that Korea has innovated greatly in missile technology, with some of their weapons matching or even exceeding those of the Russians, hence the Russians' use of them in Ukraine. Russia also finds it advantageous to invest in Korea to strengthen the anti-hegemonic alliance's presence in the Pacific, countering the US-occupied lower half of the peninsula who has naturally sided with Ukraine. Additionally, Russia is investing deeply in the Arctic sea route. This will open up as climate change continues; is naturally quite defensible for Russia so long as Korea is there to provide further defense at its eastern edge; and is both a faster and safer route for Russia to access China - especially in a world where straits can be blockaded by even impoverished yet determined countries like Yemen. The situation in the Red Sea benefits Russia and China now, but in the coming years, the US may apply the same lesson for their own benefit elsewhere.
It is perhaps this new sense of self-confidence that has let Korea give up on reunification with its lower half via peaceful measures. A new Korean War would be devastating for both sides even if it remained non-nuclear, but with a rising DPRK and with the South falling yet further into hypercapitalist exploitation and misery, and a US that remains non-committal to its "allies" when times get difficult (as in Ukraine and Europe), a reality where Korea may finally hold the upper hand and have the ability to liberate its south may be approaching in the years and decades to come.
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 *the DPRK! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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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 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.
![](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/23b8b7a0-c331-4777-b689-6d3d85363de2.jpeg)
Trump was still better for the market than Biden is. just do another massive round of tax cuts, deregulation, force the Fed to lower rates, etc... plenty of ways to juice the market
I remind you that S&P500 is 50% higher than Trump’s highest point right now. The growth over the past few years under Biden has been insane.
And that’s not to mention that Biden’s rate hike to 5% has led to $1 TRILLION dollar being printed as interest income payment in 2023 ALONE. Most of that money went to the rich people, while poor people are penalized to pay higher interests when they can’t afford to pay their debt in time. How is Trump ever going to match that?
And I will give you one final piece of evidence why Biden is the perfect president for the American capitalist class (I have used this data a few times already so you probably have already seen it):
Source: Federal Reserve
Under Trump from 2016-2019, the wealth of both white and black families remained relatively stale. Just two years under Biden, white family wealth has grown exponentially while black and Hispanic families have become poorer.
To be an American capitalist is not just about gaining disproportionate amount of wealth, it’s also about screwing poor people and especially kicking poor minorities down the rung of the ladder. That’s what gave these ghouls the satisfaction of being part of the rich elite, and Biden has managed to deliver that level of satisfaction to them.
Do you not think the jump in economic inequality during Biden's régime may also be related to Trump's tax cuts for the rich? My understanding is that material outcomes tend to lag behind fiscal policy by a number of years. Its why the ping-ponging and blame game both parties play at is destructive for the working class. There is little cohesive planning between the parties other than maintaining class rule, capitalism, and imperialism. Meanwhile the working class is fed, and in turn latches onto narratives that just blame the current guy for current bad thing without much respect for history.
that's part of it, but I think the most significant factor was COVID and how the Fed reacted to it. lowered rates to zero, propped up the market, colossal QE, etc. at the same time that the working class lost their jobs, the rich gained an unthinkable amount - probably one of the largest wealth transfers in modern history. that all took a year or two (into Biden's term) to play out.
It’s more about who dares to cross the line that nobody had dared to cross previously. Biden’s policies have changed the game so much and to the point that you cannot put the lid back on anymore. No future president can rescind Biden’s policies now that all the American capital interests are on the line. They want the treats, and you cannot tell them to change the game it is run now if you cannot come up with an alternative.
Regarding Trump’s tax cut, it still pales far in comparison at 4-4.5% GDP deficit spending when compared to Biden’s 8% GDP deficit spending. That’s where all the money came from, it just didn’t reach the working class’s pockets.
the S&P went up 68% during Trump's presidency, it's only up 40% since Biden took over. but yeah, mostly agree with the rest.
68% under Trump and COVID, 40% under Biden in an era of super-inflation, supply chain shocks, and the sudden return of meaningful interest rates.
It’s almost like line gonna go up no matter who is in power and the bankers run the country.
Where did this figure come from?
just looking at the SPX chart, 2017-2021 was ~68% return and 2021-present is ~40%.