#geopolitics
The US invaded Korea first by setting up a collaborationist government against the popular will of the Korean people that forcibly kept alive the horrors, tactics, and even the command of the Japanese occupation. Compare this to North Korea, which not only was given free reign by the USSR to organize their own councils and organization, but which also used land reform and state planning to end landlordism and almost quadruple industry within a few years. Had almost every building in city not been completely bombed and millions murdered, the DPRK would be at an incredible level of development today. It is also important to remember that 20% of the North Korean population were slain by the imperialist lapdogs and that most infrastructure and living areas were firebombed to ashes. It is hard for the imperialist lapdogs such as MacArthur and those who believe in western propaganda to empathize with the North Korean model of democratic centralism, when the possibility of nuking the North Korean people were considered by the US authorities all in the name of neoliberal imperialism. Liberals will praise the United States for devising security laws such as the PATRIOT Act while berating North Korea for its democratic centralism after facing brutal oppression from the imperialist Japanese and the exploitaion by the imperialist Americans.
TLDR: Asians are seen as subhumans by white liberal Americans. They nuked Japan’s civilians. Twice. Still justify both bombings to this day. They wanted to nuke Korea’s civilians. They wanted to nuke Vietnam’s civilians. And people wonder why China is so “aggressive” about protecting itself? Maybe they’ve seen a pattern in history? When will the abhorrent Western imperialism and chauvinism end?
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For our subscribers: Our professional map of control in Yemen’s civil war has been updated to May 2021, as Houthi forces have reached positions just a few kilometers from Marib city, the last northern stronghold of the internationally-recognized Hadi government.
More info: https://www.polgeonow.com/2021/05/yemen-houthi-control-marib-2021.html
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Subscribers:New map of control in Libya. With a peace deal and unity government now in place, Libya’s civil war appears to be over. But former rival forces still maintain their own separate areas of control for now.
More info: https://www.polgeonow.com/2021/04/libya-control-map-2021-unity-deal.html
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For our subscribers: Though the map has barely changed, we’ve just published an in-depth article and timeline on territory and conflict related events in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the two months since Armenian withdrawals were completed under the ceasefire deal.
Among those events: A battle over villages held by holdout forces, a siege across the ceasefire line, and the contentious re-establishment of the border between southern Armenia and Azerbaijan.
More info: https://www.polgeonow.com/2021/01/nagorno-karabakh-war-map-post-ceasefire.html
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Subscribers: PolGeoNow’s Syria map has been updated for the events of the past four months, with the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS/ISIL) losing its last firmly-controlled site in the central desert. However, the group is still very much active, operating from mobile camps, and we’ve illustrated its major areas of presence with a new symbol on the map.
More info: https://www.polgeonow.com/2020/11/syria-control-map-isis-still-active.html
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For our subscribers: Updated map of territorial control in Yemen’s civil war, where the Houthis are currently on the defensive, but are still threatening to seize Marib city.
More info: https://www.polgeonow.com/2022/01/yemen-map-of-control-houthis-marib.html
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How China’s Digital Silk Road Is Leading Countries Away from the United States
The biggest problem, IISS found, is that governments are taking no steps to determine how much or what kind of Chinese investment posed a possible risk.
This is a very good example of when the capabilities of long term thinking wins. No other government is thinking ahead as far as they need to in order to meet China’s strategy.
materialsscienceandengineering:
The history of petrochemicals and their impact on global geopolitics
All aspects of people’s lives are now bound to a “seemingly unlimited supply of cheap and readily disposable” petrochemicals, a new essay argues.
Global demand for petrochemicals continues to outstrip increases in production capacity, despite substantial expansion in production in China and the Gulf.
The piece, written by Professor Adam Hanieh from the University of Exeter, describes how the synthetic production of petroleum drove post-war revolutions in productivity, labor-saving technologies and mass consumption.
From the 1950s onwards, an array of naturally derived substances—wood, glass, paper, natural rubber, natural fertilizers, soaps, cotton, wool and metals—were systematically displaced by plastics, synthetic fibers, detergents and other petroleum-based chemicals.
The growth of plastics at this time was possible thanks to the growth of the chemical industry in Germany and the U.S. in the early 20th century. By the end of the Second World War, the US was the dominant global chemical power.
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The fact that the earth is round has not been sufficiently studied from the military point of view.
– General Chassin, quoted by Virilio
At some point, either we have to decide to effectively cede Ukraine to Russia (bad) or actually force the issue with something more than harsh words, sanctions, and finger-wagging. Which will ultimately lead to armed conflict to one extent or another (also bad, but quite possibly less so than what we’ve been trying since Crimea)
NEW MAP: Europe 316: Battle of Cibalae (8 October 316) https://omniatlas.com/maps/europe/3161008/ Three years after the downfall of Maximinus Daza, the alliance between Constantine and Licinius broke down. Constantine invaded Licinius’ territory in the fall of 316, defeating him at Cibalae, near Sirmium, in early October. #4thcentury #constantine #constantinei #constantinethegreat #ancientrome #cartografia #cartography #byzantium #europe #europeanhistory #geopolitics #historia #historic #historyfacts #historygeek #historyinthemaking #historymatters #licinius #tetrarchy #maps #militaryhistory #october #october8 #roman #romancivilwar #romancivilwars #romanempire #romanhistory #romans #newmap (at Vinkovci)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTGV-B6pvk5/?utm_medium=tumblr
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NEW MAP: Europe 313: Battle of Tzirallum (30 April 313) https://buff.ly/2Wg5UUN Constantine’s capture of Rome established his preeminence among the three Augusti. Realizing that Constantine and Licinius were colluding against him, Maximinus Daza crossed into Europe in the spring of 313 but was decisively defeated by Licinius at Tzirallum. Maximinus was the last Roman emperor to persecute Christians; following his downfall, Christianity began to emerge as the dominant religion in the empire. #4thcentury #ancientrome #april #april30 #constantine #cartographer #constantinei #easternromanempire #europe #europeanhistory #geopolitics #historicalplace #history #historydegree #historyfacts #historylover #historymajor #historyschool #maps #riskgame #roman #romancivilwar #romancivilwars #romanempire #romanhistory #romans #teachinghistory #westernromanempire #worldatlas #newmap (at Çorlu)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSz3GTWB6AT/?utm_medium=tumblr
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NEW MAP: Europe 312: Battle of the Milvian Bridge (28 October 312) https://buff.ly/3md3TDJ In late 311 Constantine and Licinius secretly agreed to align against Maxentius and Maximinus Daza. Convinced that Licinius would attack Italy from the northeast, Maxentius was unprepared when Constantine invaded from the northwest. Marching out to confront Constantine’s army as it approached Rome, Maxentius was defeated and killed at the Milvian Bridge in October 312. #312 #ancientrome #milvianbridge #carta #cartography #christianhistory #4thcentury #europe #europeanhistory #geopolitics #histories #historybuff #historyinthemaking #historylesson #historynerd #constantinethegreat #mapping #maps #militaryhistory #october #october28 #roman #romancivilwar #constantine #romanempire #romanhistory #maxentius #romans #worldhistory #newmap (at Ponte Milvio)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSffPvGhKIH/?utm_medium=tumblr
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NEW MAP: Europe 1813: Armistice of Pläswitz (4 June 1813) https://buff.ly/3y5l1hm In the spring of 1813 Napoleon counterattacked the advancing Russo-Prussian forces in Saxony, defeating them at Lützen and Bautzen before advancing into Silesia. However, French losses in this campaign were almost as great as those of the Allies, and in early June Napoleon and his opponents agreed to an armistice at Pläswitz. #1810s #1813 #19thcentury #arthistory #austria #axisallies #cartographic #europe #europeanhistory #france #geopolitics #historian #historical #historicalatlas #historicalmap #historisch #history #historylesson #historylovers #june #june4 #maps #napoleon #napoleonicwars #frenchhistory #oldmaps #prussia #russia #saxony #newmap (at Bautzen)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQsnjSlAVzY/?utm_medium=tumblr
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Map of countries with no (permanent) rivers.
Sovereign states:
Bahamas
Bahrain
Comoros
Kiribati
Kuwait
Maldives
Malta
Marshall Islands
Monaco
Nauru
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Tonga
Tuvalu
UAE
Vatican City
Yemen
Dependencies and other territories:
Anguilla
Bermuda
British Indian Ocean Territory
Cayman Islands
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Easter Island
Gibraltar
Niue
Norfolk Island
Pitcairn Islands
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Martin
Tokelau
Wallis and Futuna
Map by reddit user darth_stroyer.
FromBrilliant maps
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The families losing their loved ones to hunger suicide in Afghanistan
People are dying by suicide across Afghanistan because of starvation, as the US has frozen the Afghan Central Bank’s assets and the IMF suspended access to funds after the Taliban takeover. The World Bank had also halted funding for the country—though it has now approved a package of $1 billion to address the population’s urgent needs. More than half the population, around 23m Afghans, are suffering from hunger. Millions of dollars in lost income after the collapse of the government, soaring food prices, a liquidity crisis, and shortages of cash have deprived much of the population of access to food, water, shelter, and health care.
Historian Dr. Gerald Horne on the historical and geopolitical implications of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine
r. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, and author of dozens of books, most recently “The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering, and the Political Economy of Boxing” to discuss Joe Biden imposing sanctions on Russia over the current tensions around Ukraine and how it fits into world politics, the western corporate media’s misrepresentation of the facts and history of the Ukraine situation and [US] complicity in pushing for war with Russia.
Follow:Socialist, activist and journalist-Morgan Artyukhina
Also, here’s Global times article: Evidence suggests US may have supported neo-Nazi Azov Battalion
“Ironically, despite being widely regarded as a threat to world security and an enemy of human civilization, Azov Battalion was found to have ties not only with the Ukraine authorities but also with the US. After looking into the public information from the US government and some investigative reports by Western journalists, the Global Times discovered that American politicians, military and intelligence officers were highly likely to have had cooperation with the Azov Battalion, in order to foster extremist forces in Eastern Europe against Russia.”
Hey so real quick -
I know a lot of you are young. This might be the first time you remember seeing a war break out. So I want to just give you a useful concept for thinking about this and talking about it over the next few weeks, in case you aren’t already familiar with it. That concept realpolitik.
It’s a German word that means “practical politics” (pronounced “ree-AHL pol-uh-TEEK”). What it means might be intuitively obvious, but I think it’s really helpful to have it in your back pocket as a concrete, widely-understood bit of terminology, because it can help you avoid confusion when you are talking about the crisis in Ukraine, or listening to other people talk about the crisis in Ukraine.
Realpolitik is a political and diplomatic concept that distinguishes actions taken by nations for ethical reasons fromactions taken by nations for practical reasons. That distinction - the existence of that distinction that is invoked by bringing up realpolitik - is really important in an online atmosphere where the two are often conflated out of bad faith, virtue signaling, or hysteria.
What I mean by that is: it is not a contradiction to say “the invasion of Ukraine is wrong” and “the invasion of Ukraine makes sense.” One is an ethical analysis of the situation; the other is realpolitik.
And you’re going to see a lot of people having both kinds of conversations in the coming days. And it’s important to remember that both are worth having. It is, of course, very important to emphasize the horror and unfairness of this unjust and inhumane invasion. It is, also, very important to be able to set that aside, and discuss the pragmatic causes and results of that invasion.
It is normal and sane to be upset and emotional right now. But before you get upset at something you read for sounding bloodless - or, worse, heartless - I want you to be able to ask yourself: is this a conversation about morality, or is this a conversation about realpolitik?
We are going to need both to understand what’s happening right now and what we should do about it going forward.
