I can tell you're all excited about inauguration shitposting and so as a treat I will not remove all these not newsworthy posts. Get it out of your system now as tomorrow we will be back to our usual schedule of mod tyranny. Also, everyone shitposting now had better be thinking about what useful content they can bring to the thread later in the week.

edit: I encourage those shitposting on this blessed day to join the imperialism book club

Edit 2: it is now tomorrow. mod tyranny is back on the menu

HEAR YEA

HEAR YEA

I, the resident town crier am here to screm at the top of my lungs at the crack of dawn that the 72T Imperialist Book Club has kicked off and people are dropping their analysis' like it's hot

CLICK HERE AND LET YOUR BRAIN FEAST ON THIS MOST SUMPTUOUS KNOWLEDGE SO THAT IT CAN GROW BIG AND STRONG LIKE THE FICTICIOUS HORSE!

The News Megathread Imperialism Reading Group: Week 1 - January 13th to January 19th, 2025

IGNORE THE FACT IT IS THE 20TH AND GO READ YHROUGJ THE THRED

CLICK HERE FOR HOT MARRIED REVOLUTIONARIES WRITING ECONOMIC ESSAYS WEEK 2

The News Megathread Imperialism Reading Group: Week 2 - January 20th to January 26th, 2025

Constitutional amendment to allow Trump third term introduced in the House

A Republican House member introduced a resolution to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow President Donald Trump — and any other future president — to be elected to serve a third term.

Am I understanding correctly that if the Supreme Court upholds the executive order removing birthright citizenship, it would basically allow the president to modify the Constitution via executive order, it would pretty much be the new Enabling Act?

Vice-president of the Shanghai Institute of Technology proposes removal of Great firewall partially https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3295169/unplug-great-firewall-boost-chinas-competitiveness-shanghai-lawmaker-says

Amazon pulling out of Canadian province of Quebec (population ~9 million) in a blatant act of union busting

Meta genai org in panic mode

It started with deepseek v3, which rendered the Llama 4 already behind in benchmarks. Adding insult to injury was the "unknown Chinese company with 5..5 million training budget"

Engineers are moving frantically to dissect deepsek and copy anything and everything we can from it. I'm not even exaggerating

Management is worried about justifying the massive cost of gen ai org. How would they face the leadership when every single "leader" of gen ai org is making more than what it cost to trained deepseek v3 entirely, and we have dozens of such "leaders"

Deepseek r1 made things even scarier. I can't reveal confidential info but it'll be soon public anyways

It should have been an engineering focused small org but since a bunch of people wanted to join the impact grab and artificially inflate hiring in the org, everyone loses

https://www.teamblind.com/post/Meta-genai-org-in-panic-mode-KccnF41n

Saudi Arabia plans $600 billion in new US investment, trade over four years

In a phone call between the two leaders, the crown prince said the Trump administration's expected reforms could create "unprecedented economic prosperity", the state news agency reported.

The report said Saudi Arabia wants its investments to capitalize on these conditions. It did not detail the source of the $600 billion, whether it would be public or private spending nor how the money would be deployed.

…

Trump said following his inauguration on Monday that he would consider making Saudi Arabia his first destination for a foreign visit if Riyadh agreed to buy $500 billion worth of American products, similar to what he did in his first term.

"I did it with Saudi Arabia last time because they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our product. I said I'll do it but you have to buy American product, and they agreed to do that," Trump said, referring to his 2017 visit to the Gulf kingdom.

Remember when we all naively believed that the US confiscating $300 billion of Russia’s foreign reserves was going to “break the trust” in the dollar and leading to the world abandoning them?

Remember when people thought that Saudi Arabia was looking to abandon the so-called “petrodollar” and the US dollar is somehow going to collapse from it?

What we have learned since is that foreign holdings of US Treasuries soared to all-time peak in 2024, more than two years after the incredible sanctions against Russia.

This is what I have been saying since a couple years back: the dollar was at its weakest when the Fed under Biden first raised its interest rate back in 2022 to “fight inflation” - but if nobody was seizing the opportunity to provide an alternative, it is only a matter of time before the treasuries mature and huge interest payout reverses the flow of the dollar back to the foreign sector once again.

And here we are, with the dollar primacy strengthened not weakened after nearly three years of “recklessly” confiscating hundreds of billions of foreign assets. This should disillusion anyone who still thinks the dollar is built on “trust” or “reputation” rather than through coercion. The harvest phase is over, and the consolidation phase has begun.

Today’s news from the Donbass.

Russian forces advanced inside the central area of the partially Kiev-occupied DPR town of Velikaya Novosyolka, fully encircling a pocket of Kiev regime troops in the settlement’s southern half. Kiev regime troops in the town’s northern half are also mostly encircled and under close fire control (map and 18+ videos included): https://southfront.press/ukrainian-garrison-divided-and-surrounded-in-velyka-novoselka-russians-gave-time-to-surrender-18/

More Ukrainian soldiers continue joining the Russian military to fight against the Kiev regime: 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,--A-group-of-Ukie-soldiers-defects-and-joins-the-Russian-army!!:4

Kiev regime Rada deputy Alexander Dubinsky stated that Zelensky does not have more than 280,000 troops left: https://tass.com/world/1902927

Russian shooting champion Anna Taranosova came to the front to help train troops on shooting down enemy drones: https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/01/23/1001537.html

Nothing ever happens: judge blocks Trump's rollback of the 14th amendment.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/23/us-judge-blocks-trumps-order-restricting-birthright-citizenship?traffic_source=rss

The US Congress passes the Laken Riley Act and Trump will likely sign it. This allows states to push US immigration policy right as well as requiring the DHS to detain legal immigrants accused of certain crimes.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5

I suspect the broad strokes of this story are well known to long time newsheads, but here is a well sourced story on past and potential peace options for ukraine v Russia. If you are new to the news or are looking for something sharable to the libs in your life then this is a good one

https://www.readthemaple.com/who-will-win-the-peace-in-ukraine/

Donald Trump says he wants nuclear talks with China, Russia

“Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about,” Trump told World Economic Forum attendees in Davos during a video address, while also stressing the war in Ukraine needed to end soon.

The president said he had pushed for nuclear arms cuts in his first term. “So we want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think that’s very possible. And I can tell you that President Putin wanted to do it. He and I wanted to do it. We had a good conversation with China, they would have been involved, and that would have been an unbelievable thing for the planet.”

The big wet boy really wants his Nobel Peace Prize, huh?

https://earth.nullschool.net/#2025%2F01%2F24%2F0300Z%2Fwind%2Fsurface%2Flevel%2Forthographic=-6.31%2C53.26%2C4382

eire about to experience a storm tomorrow morning, stay safe conrades

*wait, the link breaks over time?

60-100 km winds over nearly whole ireland

Just so we're on the same page - we're 100% watching the start of american labor camps for illegal immigrants, right?

When do you'll think we'll get the first official facility? Will it be state run or private? Will it stem from prisons, due to that new law (accused of robbery in the last 10 years)?

Denmark Bows to US Demands, Ramps Up Military Spending

Denmark's regime is turning a big dial that says "military spending" on it and constantly looking back towards Washington for approval like a contestant on the price is right.

Denmark’s Social Democrat-led regime has unveiled plans for another hike in military spending, promising "massive investments" that will "make a big dent" in the economy. Troels Lund Poulsen, head of the Liberal Party-controlled Ministry of Defence and party chairman, declared the need to “strengthen the bulwark,” though his bombast conceals the true aim: appeasing Washington and its erratic far-right supreme leader leader Donald Trump, rather than countering Russia.

Last year at his party's congress, Poulsen demanded an additional DKK 300 billion by 2033, atop a DKK 200 billion boost already agreed upon. Now, without offering specifics, he hints at even greater spending, citing Arctic militarization as a necessity. Although he won't be specific, Poulsen is promising Danes that "large and tough economic prioritizations" lies ahead.

Although the regime is invoking a non-specified Russian menace, this frenzy most likely stems from Trump’s obsession with Greenland and accusations that Denmark’s Arctic defences are inadequate to fend off Russia and China. Instead of resisting American pressure, Danish leaders mimic NATO’s calls for escalation, with Poulsen declaring the Arctic no longer a “low-tension area.”

The "Will to victory"

Denmark’s political elite, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, remains blindly loyal to American demands. Frederiksen’s recent New Year’s speech, full of faux-folkish sentimental platitudes and celebrity name-dropping, stated that the world was getting more dangerous and reserved that "it would be expensive" before she called for the “will to victory” in response to the claimed Russian menace with no mention of diplomacy or alternatives to militarization. Meanwhile, state and corporate media dutifully amplifies the regime’s agenda, drowning out dissent and leaving the public convinced that the military buildup is necessary as public funds are funnelled into expensive American weapons, leaving schools, welfare, and the cost-of-living crisis unaddressed.

Critics within the political elite quibble over details rather than question the premise. Neoliberal and libertarian factions wants more details on the costing of the proposed spending and wants to wait for the American NATO pact to issue its dictates for Danish military capabilities before committing, but none challenge the militaristic fervor or suggest de-escalation.

The Price of Subservience

With the American NATO pact's figurehead recently demanding that American satellite states reserves 3.7% of GDP for the military and Trump’s ludicrous 5% target looming, Denmark appears eager to sacrifice its economy to imperialist ambitions. Poulsen openly acknowledges the “tough” sacrifices civilians must endure, prioritizing Arctic militarization over domestic welfare. Denmark’s leaders seem trapped in a delusional loyalty to Washington, leaving ordinary Danes to bear the cost of their fanatical Atlanticism.

• Source: DR (state media), January 23rd 2025