Image is of Bolivian President Luis Arce (center, with glasses) face-to-face with General Zuñiga (in camouflage) during the coup attempt.
On the 26th of June, while Hexbear was in an 8-hour hibernation, General Juan José Zuñiga marched 200 troops and some armored vehicles on the government palace in an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Luis Arce. This is somewhat reminiscent of Jeanine Anez’s coup in November 2019 where she overthrew the socialist president Evo Morales, but while that coup was due to a colour revolution likely orchestrated by the United States and had at least a tiny amount of political/public legitimacy and “followed the rules” in a certain sense (as Morales was trying to abolish presidential term limits, which is only evil if a socialist is doing it), this was a much more naked attempted seizure of power by a military general.
This coup was quickly terminated without even a momentary transfer of power. Democracy was saved.
Despite being in the same party, Morales and Arce have increasingly been in opposition. Morales champions anti-imperialism, rights for indigneous people, and poverty reduction. This last one especially has been threatened by Arce, though it’s not entirely his fault, as the Bolivian economy is threatened by the same crisis affecting so many developing economies around the world right now - say it with me now - a lack of dollars and mounting debt. The US Federal Reserve is carrying out a bloody offensive against the world’s poor, and this has combined nastily with a rather uninspiring “post”-coronavirus economic recovery in Bolivia, as well as diminishing natural gas production (and thus less exports with which to earn dollars).
While the coup was ongoing, Morales banded behind the government. Afterwards, however, Morales expressed his skepticism about whether the coup was, in fact, genuine, calling for an independent investigation into it, and saying that Arce “disrespected the truth, deceived us, lied, not only to the Bolivian people but to the whole world." This is because General Zuñiga made a series of very interesting statements to his family and colleagues, saying that Arce had “betrayed” him, and saying that Arce had told him “‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity.'" This does check out on the surface level, at least: Arce has suffered increasing unpopularity as the economy has suffered.
Interestingly, Morales’ narrative has been supported by the anarchocapitalist leader of Argentina, Javier Milei, who is currently busy completely destroying his own country and stripping the copper out of the walls to give to American capitalists. Milei said that the coup attempt was “fraudulent”. Meanwhile, those inside MAS opposed to Morales’ accusations of a false coup have accused him of allying with the fascist right and becoming an instrument of imperialism.
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 Bolivia! 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
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.
In a stunning turn of events, the Supreme Court has once again hit that sweet 6-3 split, this time on the question of whether ol Donny Trump can wriggle his way out of his biggest jam yet.
This SCOTUS ruling sets the precedent that the office of the Presidency is immune to any legal repercussions for crimes committed as part of an ‘official act’. Any president can now do whatever they want in office and face 0 consequences for it.
Remember, you have to VOTE Dem forever now, lest this weaponised office of unchecked power that the Dems have done nothing to meaningfully stop the creation of fall into the hands of a Republican. Your ability to continue VOTEing Dem while conditions deteriorate depends on it!
Thinking about having some fun online telling Biden loyalists they would rather lose than vote for a black woman
happy birthday and rest in peace eternally, Aaron Bushnell. you’re a brave beacon of hope
Make way make way news coming through
https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1807603930601578971?s=46
🧵🚨 URGENT: Scientist whose previous work included directed energy beam research for the US intelligence community said Biden’s symptoms during the CNN debate made him think of the Havana Syndrome. This is according to former KGB spy Yuri Shvets who defected to the US in 1993.
That’s right folks the russians mind beamed your glorious leader, the cognitive decline that you saw was not a cold but a hot, like a sizzling fajita, microwave hitting the powerful cranium of Joe, the CIA and the FBI are on the case but it seems like the only way to protect the president is through a helmet not unlike the Comic book villain Magneto. Reports indicate that the Military Industrial Complex is building the most expensive tinfoil hat money can buy.
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/1808063812244804060
Kieth stormfront will conduct a genocide against trans people
anybody remember all the nonsense in US state propaganda outlets about how Putin or Xi are insulated from bad news due to the fear of punishment of reporting that bad news and so have an extremely biased view of reality? it was all, unsurprisingly, projection, given the recent news about how Biden only listens to his family and a tiny circle of advisors and ignores everybody else
Meeting the restrictions to the letter would disrupt the Pentagon’s ability to purchase the vast quantities of medical supplies, drugs, clothing and other types of logistical support the military relies on, officials contend. “There are certain parts of the world where you literally cannot get away from Huawei,” said Brennan Grignon, the founder of 5M Strategies and a former Defense Department official. “The original legislation had very good intentions behind it, but the execution and understanding of the implications of what it would mean, I personally think that wasn’t really thought through,” she said."
US can’t ban Huawei use by the US government because the US needs Huawei to conduct imperialism abroad because western companies won’t operate in warzones the US created.
The Pentagon is against the US blanket banning Huawei hardware for supposed “national security” reasons because of national security reasons.
Ah, well, Biden’s losing? damn. Should have picked Sanders when they had the chance to save their pathetic party. But no, they went for Hillary first (the eternal loser) and a walking cadaver second. This is all of their own doing. The man was even willing to drag himself through the dirt for the party, but even as he became very obedient, he was stabbed over and over again. Not that I pity Sanders too much, regardless.
You know, sometimes you gotta pay for the things you broke. This goes for the Dems and for the whole capitalist class, but that one is for later down the line.
You know that Hurricane Beryl, the earliest known category 4 hurricane to ever form in the Atlantic? Fun fact: it’s now the earliest known category 5 hurricane to ever form in the Atlantic!
Another fun fact: Beryl reached category 5 faster than any other known storm (aside from itself) reached category 4.
possibly getting banned in germanyIn Hexbear news: you losers have been surpassed!
Kneel to trans
The largest operation so far by Hezbollah was just carried out, 200 missiles and 20 drones were fired in the last few hours, settler bases everywhere in the north are on fire
It is mandatory for all Hexbear users to watch this fascist tears video of the French far-right cheerfully counting down to see tonight’s election results, where they were supposed to win nearly an outright majority, only to see that their fascists have come in third place behind the liberals (2nd) and left coalition (1st)
I made a post to discuss it here
“What Keir has done is taken all the left out of the Labour Party,” billionaire businessman John Caudwell, previously a big Tory donor, told the BBC. “He’s come out with a brilliant set of values and principles and ways of growing Britain in complete alignment with my views as a commercial capitalist.”
The Labour Party highlighted his endorsement.
from https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/07/election-in-britain.html
The balloons full of garbage that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been sending to South Korea for weeks are having an impact on air traffic. More than 110 flights have been disrupted by the balloon launches that have been going on since the end of March, said South Korean MP Jeong Jun Ho on Wednesday, citing the Ministry of Transport. More than 10,000 passengers were affected. The DPRK is using the balloons to respond to previous actions from South Korea in which propaganda material was also sent north in balloons.
