news

DM me to feature effort posts and good threads in the newsmega/newscomm here (including your own).

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@xiaohongshu@hexbear.net and others discuss weakening Chinese domestic consumption and the importance of their trade surplus to the status quo

@LeninWeave@hexbear.net and @demerit@lemmygrad.ml on the fraught discussion of harm to Jewish versus Palestinian lives and the implicit racism of the Palestine exception

Previous posts of the week: Oct 27 | Nov 3 | Nov 10 | Nov 17 | Nov 24 | Dec 1 | Dec 8

Video from Luna Oi about the ongoing conflict between Cambodia and Thailand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3tjEBXhLg

She briefly goes over the ceasefire from the previous border conflict. The timeline of the conflict and she explaining the geopolitical stance of Cambodia and Thailand with respect to China and the US starts at 6:44.

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/60-minutes-pulls-cecot-trump-brutal-prison-1236614034/ CBS News ‘60 Minutes’ Pulls Segment on ‘Brutal’ El Salvador Prison Where Trump Administration Sent Deportees, Just Hours Before Airtime

(242 new)

"holy shit did they start bombing Venezuela?"

[look inside]

it's a huge slapfight over the zionist cancer

Looks like the third tanker the US is attempting to seize around Venezuela, the BELLA 1, is now on the run. The vessel did not comply with orders to be boarded by the US Coast Guard and Navy, and the US Coast Guard is currently in "active pursuit" of BELLA 1.

Source

USS Gerald R. Ford was spotted today roughly 40 miles southwest of the Venezuelan Federal Dependency of Aves Island in the central Caribbean.

Almost exactly 500-600km out from mainland Venezuela. I assume this is an operational safety range they're maintaining?

Russian communists organized the annual ‘two carnations for Stalin’ event today (4,400 red carnations were placed at his grave/memorial site, in observance of his birthday):

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/10258565.html (in Russian)

Pretty good statement that could be pushed around left-leaning spaces:

https://nocoldwar.org/news/statement-from-no-cold-war-on-the-us-aggression-against-venezuela

Statement from No Cold War on the US aggression against Venezuela:

The No Cold War collective stands in firm opposition to the illegal embargo of Venezuela, the sanctions policy, and the military aggression already faced by Venezuela through the armada and the attack on small boats. We believe that this aggression in the Caribbean has nothing to do with human rights or democracy.

The United States has tried to overthrow the government of Venezuela since the Bolivarian process passed the Hydrocarbons Law in 2001, which increased taxation on oil extraction for transnational companies and mandated a minimum state participation of 51% in ‘mixed companies’ for private partners. The first coup against the Bolivarian process was in 2002, not even a year after the Hydrocarbons Law was passed.

This attack on Venezuela is about oil. It always was about oil. And it always will be about oil. The United States government is trying to use its financial and military instruments to overthrow the Venezuelan government not for the Venezuelan people but for the US oil companies.

In the US National Security Strategy 2025, the administration of President Donald Trump made it clear that his government would now focus attention on the Western Hemisphere so that the US can restore its dominance in the region. It has evoked the 1823 Monroe Doctrine with a Trump Corollary – namely to enforce the Doctrine with armed will – to suggest that the US has licence to do what it wants in this region.

But, in fact, the Monroe Doctrine is not international law; international law, namely rooted in the United Nations Charter, prevents any attack without a UN Security Council resolution. If the US does attack Venezuela, then that is a violation of international law and would immediately constitute a war crime (in the same way as the US illegal war on Iraq in 2003 was a war crime).

The United States has been at war with Venezuela since 2002, when it participated in a failed coup against President Hugo Chávez. For almost a quarter of a century, the United States has been trying to overthrow not only the government in Venezuela but the Bolivarian process that seeks to enhance the sovereignty of the country and the dignity of the Venezuelan people.

We call upon the world’s people to stand with the Venezuelan people against this aggression by the United States and its allies in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Europe. The world must not allow such aggression to continue.

Alright, i don't know if this is news worthy so if it isn't i or a mod can remove it. I found a useful website, maybe some of you have already heard of it, still, it gives you all of the major mappers of the Ukraine war combined with a timeline. So heads up if anyone is interested, the link is in the bottom. Useful for comparing pro-Russian mapmakers to more pro-Ukrainian ones, if you care about that.

https://ukraineviews.org/

Next thread is up!

Happy Holidays!

Third tanker off the coast of Venezuela intercepted.

https://archive.is/6FDdk

The PFLP have released a Chavez/Bolivarian Republic fancam (with AI generated elements, I know, but the real stuff is cool)

https://t.me/Palresistmirror/83060

https://tankie.tube/w/dWLjBFXoRC6j1BUW8tyvDM

There is currently a memorial service being held at Bondi Beach for the recent mass shooting being attended by Australian politicians and Jewish community leaders.

What shocked me was just how quickly local Zionists have capitalized on the whole thing. I'm watching this on live TV right now and many people in the crowd are wearing Israeli flags. One of the speakers, a guy named David Ossip who is the president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, just said "Am Yisrael Chai" on stage after talking about fighting against anti-Semitism. When the Australian Prime Minister arrived to the vigil, he was getting boos from the crowd. In contrast, the NSW Premier (who ironically is from the same party) was getting cheers, no doubt because he has historically been way more of a hardliner in regards to suppressing anti-zionist activism.

Meanwhile, an anti-immigration rally led by the far right One Nation party is being held in Sydney at the same time and is also attended by Zionists calling for pro-palestine individuals to be deported. All without any pushback from the government.

The new york crimes and their tortured use of the English language borders on the hilarious. Should we start saying "the military forces of President Donald Trump of the United States"? Maybe we should.

Elon is still doing Effective Altruism, rebranded as Abundance. The idea is that we have to give rich people as much money and power as possible so that they solve climate change or prevent the Sun from running out of hydrogen. When will they start to solve these problems, or even propose an actual solution that could be implemented at some point in time? Well, not now, but maybe in the future. In the meantime, they just want more money. Remember how Tesla's branding was "saving the planet" and that justifies all the subsidies and free cash they get from the government? Well, saving the planet has just been downgraded. Sorry.

An update on the oil tanker seized by the US Coast Guard and Navy today.

• A Panamanian flagged, Chinese/Hong Kong owned Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) under the name M/T CENTURIES.
• The vessel itself is not under any sanctions, and it's registration and flag, by all accounts, appears legitimate. It may have been using a false name, CRAG, while loading Venezuelan oil.
• It had loaded up to 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil recently. I guess the argument will be that even though the vessel is not sanctioned, the cargo is.
• It was escorted up to the edge of Venezuela's EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) by what is believed to be the Venezuelan Navy on satellite imagery. However, upon leaving the Venezuelan EEZ, it was no longer under escort and was seized by the United States.

Due to the above facts, this is different from the previous US seizure of the vessel SKIPPER, which was sanctioned and operating under a false flag and registration, and became "stateless". This is a significant escalation, the US making the point that any vessel, even those not sanctioned, is subject to seizure if transporting sanctioned cargo (Venezuelan crude oil). This also opens up questions about legality under international law (lol), did the US contact Panama, China and/or Hong Kong before boarding and seizing CENTURIES? Will CENTURIES be returned to one of the aforementioned parties after the seizure and offloading of it's cargo (crude oil), given that only the cargo is under US sanctions, and not the vessel itself, or will the US keep CENTURIES? I'm pretty sure the latter is called "theft".

Source, Tanker Trackers

I was just checking natopedia to look some random info, and they list Zelensky and Ngo Dinh Diem as an anti-imperialism figure, together with (not a joke): Tito, Peron, Zapata, Fidel Castro, Lenin, Mao, Nasser, Lula da Silva, Ho Chi Mihn, Che Guevara, Yasser Arafat and Khomeini.

Young Japanese opting for 50-year loans amid soaring housing prices

The use of housing loans with terms of up to 50 years, far longer than the standard 35-year term, is spreading among younger generations in Japan amid a rise in housing prices.

Young Japanese are buying the properties of their choice by reducing monthly payments, but a longer loan term raises the total repayment amount and keeps company employees paying even after they retire.

In July, PayPay Bank began to offer 50-year loans, with 70 percent of people in their 20s and 49 percent of people in their 30s selecting repayment periods of more than 35 years to 50 years.

Other internet banks and regional banks are also providing longer-term loans, targeting people in those age groups. In principle, a customer must complete the payment by age 80.

According to calculations by Takashi Shiozawa of housing loan service provider MFS Inc., if a customer borrows 60 million yen ($380,000) at an annual interest rate of 0.75 percent, the monthly payment for a 35-year loan will be about 160,000 yen and the total amount of interest paid will be about 8.23 million yen.

For a 50-year loan, the figures will be about 120,000 yen and 11.97 million yen, respectively, he said.

It's important to consider your medium- to long-term life plan before borrowing," [Toshiaki Nakayama of the Lifull real estate group] said, citing risk factors such as illness and difficulty in paying due to a job change.

The risk of interest rate fluctuations, caused by the Bank of Japan's monetary policy shift, is another thing to worry about.

Source

https://t.me/AMK_Mapping/20923

Russia started a new offensive in the Sumy region of Ukraine. Good write-up from AMK with details.

I suspect that it's intended to be a diversion from Ukraine's own Kupyansk counter-offensive, although it could turn into something more if Ukraine refuses to address it.

Asean economies head into 2026 on a strong note

Graphs in the actual website.

Resilience and strength in regional exports

Evidence mounts that supply chain realignment is generating an increase in intra-regional trade and benefiting Asean exports. This momentum is particularly evident in regional economies plugged into the artificial intelligence (AI) and electronics supply chain.

For instance, Malaysia and Singapore both experienced a strong jump in exports, led by the electronics and semiconductor sector. Persistent global AI-related capital expenditure has created a clear “halo effect”, transmitting stronger demand across the entire electronics value chain as the AI replacement cycle intensifies.

Regional currencies defy expectations

Second is the strength in South-east Asian regional currencies. At the start of the year, there was widespread fear that intense US tariffs against China and Asean would cause export contraction across the region. This could lead to pronounced US dollar strength or, worse, a synchronised devaluation of the yuan and regional currencies.

The reality was markedly different. Given that Asean economies have a large export component, strong export performance bolstered regional currencies. This was magnified by the underlying global trend of de-dollarisation, which intensified across the year.

Benign inflation trajectory across the region

Investors were also worried that the higher trade tariffs would spike inflation globally. However, supply chains in various industries proved more flexible than expected, with many intermediaries helping to absorb the tariffs. This meant limited passthrough of higher prices to end-consumers.

Strong currencies across Asean also increased purchasing power, dampening imported inflation risks. Furthermore, the influx of competitively priced goods and services from China helped drive down manufacturing costs, keeping inflation in check. As a result, most inflation trajectories across Asean economies remained soft.

…While most regional currencies performed well, the dong and rupiah remained weak. Specifically, the weak rupiah was cited as a key factor for Bank Indonesia in its decision to refrain from further rate cuts. Meanwhile, the Prabowo government remains focused on its various stimulus measures to push Indonesia’s economic growth rate beyond the current 5 per cent handle.

On the inflation front, Thailand faces increasing deflationary risk with the headline consumer price index falling 0.76 per cent in October, intensifying the 0.72 per cent contraction in September. The trend is fuelled by supply side forces and soft underlying demand…

In another article,

Another obstacle is the middle-income trap: Thailand’s average income remains about US$7,500 per capita, far below the US$13,000 threshold for high-income status.

Furthermore, business and industrial models largely generate low value-added output. At current growth rates, Thailand may need 30–40 years to become a high-income nation and risks having its GDP overtaken by Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines in the coming years.

Nation steps up measures to stimulate consumption China Daily

China has been implementing targeted pro-consumption measures to spur immediate spending while advancing structural reforms to unlock sustainable consumption growth, as the country moves toward a more balanced growth model anchored by its vast domestic market, economists said.

They said that a robust and expanding consumer base not only powers China's high-quality development, but also provides a stabilizing force for the global economy amid fluctuating external demand and geopolitical complexities.

At the annual Central Economic Work Conference held last week, Chinese policymakers placed "boosting domestic demand" first among eight key priorities on the economic agenda for next year.

President Xi Jinping pointed out in an article published on Monday in Qiushi Journal, the flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, that expanding domestic demand is crucial not only for economic stability but also for economic security. It is not a temporary measure, but a strategic move, he said.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, called for accelerating efforts to address weaknesses in domestic demand, especially consumption, to make domestic demand the main driving force and stabilizing anchor for economic growth.

See, President Xi agrees that consumption should be the top priority. I’ve said that I am usually 6-9 months ahead of the government agreeing with what I’m saying.

The U.S. Coast Guard is currently seizing a sanctioned vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters of the Caribbean Sea, according to three U.S. officials - ABC

Source

As for the F-22s at Langley, Virginia, it looks like the movements before Trump's speech a few days ago were a fake out. They're still flying there, doesn't look like they've forward deployed to any other location.

Video

The F-35As from the 158th Fighter Wing in Vermont, a unit that specialises in the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and deployed to Iran earlier this year to participate in strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, has arrived in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.

Video of arrival, 12x F-35s visible, unsure which are the A or B models

Flight tracking data

An update: all 12x F-35s visible are F-35As from the 158th fighter wing. That's 12 out of the total of 20 in the wing now forward deployed. In addition to the 10x F-35Bs, 6x EA-18G Growlers, and 6x Harriers already in Puerto Rico.

Source, with detailed photographs

22x F-35s and 6x EA-18Gs with Next Generation Jammers is a very substantial force for going up against an air defence network. The F-35s can carry a maximum of 176x Small Diameter Bombs (SDB, multiple variants exist) while remaining stealthy, 8x each.