Corduroy Academy

( Mostly) radical thoughts, ideas, and links from late stage colonial capitalism.

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    Aidan
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    Landslide in small-scale mine leaves 22 dead in Tanzania

    Twenty-two people have been killed following a landslide at a small-scale mine in northern Tanzania, government officials said.

    The accident occurred at the Ng’alita mine in the Bariadi district of Simiyu region, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Sunday, expressing “great sadness” at the loss.

    “These brothers of ours were small miners in this area, earning a living for themselves, their families and contributing to the development of our nation,” she said in a post on the social media platform X.

    Faustine Mtitu, acting commander for the region’s fire and rescue force, told AFP news agency that rescue operations closed on Sunday and all 22 deceased were men.

    “We are convinced that there are no more bodies trapped in the rubble,” he said, adding that safety procedures had not been followed at the mine.

    Extractive work finding bad ends. A sad situation for those involved. A deeper problem about the way we organise society incarnate.

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    Aidan
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    Yemen Houthi rebels fire missile at US warship in Red Sea in first attack after American-led strikes

    Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea on Sunday, but a U.S. fighter jet shot it down in the latest attack roiling global shipping amid Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, officials said. 

    The attack marks the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since America and allied nations began strikes Friday on the rebels following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea. 

    The Houthis have targeted that crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe over the Israel-Hamas war, attacks that threaten to widen that conflict into a regional conflagration.

    The number of world leaders, including our spineless neoliberal shithead Albanese, who have bandied on “blow them up it’s an issue of global security” but refuse to acknowledge the actual genocide committed by Israel is indicative of the deeply hegemonic colonial capitalist society which we collectively decide to endure every single day.

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    Aidan
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    Three Gunmen, One Israeli Killed In Clashes Along Lebanon Border

    Three gunmen who crossed into Israel from Lebanon and an Israeli man were killed in clashes and a strike along the frontier between the two countries on Sunday, the army and medics said.

    Since the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip erupted on October 7, the Israel-Lebanon border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Iran-backed Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces.

    The Israeli military said troops patrolling a contested border area “identified a terrorist cell who crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory and fired at the forces” overnight.

    Three gunmen who clashed with troops were shot dead, the army said, revising an earlier statement that said four fighters had been killed.

    The army said five soldiers were wounded in the firefight.

    I truly feel like we’re 30 seconds away from world war three. Capitalism needs more grist and crisis to reassert its thinly held control.

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    Aidan
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    Guatemala is expectant as the new president is set to take office after months of legal battles

    Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo is scheduled to be sworn into office Sunday afternoon. But just like almost every day since his resounding Aug. 20 election victory, the inauguration will be tinged with doubts and tensions.

    The still-serving Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, has tried every legal trick in the book to put him on trial or in jail before he takes office. And Arévalo’s Seed Movement party won’t have a majority in Congress, and may not even have formal recognition there.

    And it’s not even clear if the leaders of Congress — who oppose Arévalo — will turn up for the inauguration, which could introduce legal doubts, because they are supposed to attend.

    Arévalo is an academic, diplomat and the son of a progressive president from the middle of the 20th century, and his election marked a political awakening in a population weary of corruption and impunity.

    I’m so skeptical of any positive change in quasi-democratic conditions at this point.

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    Aidan
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    U.S. does not support Taiwan independence, Biden says

    U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday the United States does not support the independence of Taiwan, after Taiwanese voters rebuffed China and gave the ruling party a third presidential term.

    Earlier in the day, the Taiwanese ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te came to power, strongly rejecting Chinese pressure to spurn him, and pledged both to stand up to Beijing and seek talks.

    “We do not support independence…” Biden said, when asked for reaction to Saturday’s elections.

    Did anybody even ask you? Or are you just a continuing to prove that you’re a voluntary, genocidal, colonial, and capitalist piece of shit? Oh yeah ok the latter. Also Australia isn’t far behind this bullshit either. What is the world’s “leadership”?

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    Aidan
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    Taiwan ruling party’s Lai wins presidential election

    Taiwan’s ruling party candidate Lai Ching-te on Saturday, January 13, won the island’s presidential election, a vote watched closely from Beijing to Washington. Lai delivered an unprecedented third consecutive term for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after a raucous campaign in which he pitched himself as the defender of Taiwan’s democratic way of life.

    Lai vowed to defend the self-ruled island from Chinese “intimidation.” “We are determined to safeguard Taiwan from continuing threats and intimidation from China,” he said in his victory speech, while also pledging to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

    Fighting nationalism with nationalism. Hopefully they are able to maintain independence but somehow I’d suggest China’s imperialist force is pretty hard to reckon with.

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    US launches new air strike on Houthi target in Yemen

    The UK and US have defended their action to carry out strikes against the Houthis in retaliation for the Yemeni rebel group’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

    Both have said the strikes are legal under international military law.

    US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council the strikes were “to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ ability to continue the reckless attacks against vessels and commercial shipping”.

    She added more than 2,000 ships had been forced by the Houthi attacks to divert from the Red Sea since November.

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted the UK and US acted “in self-defence” and that allies would not hesitate to ensure the safety of commercial shipping.

    The countries supplying arms for genocide are bombing one of the only groups that is trying to stop it. Paint it this way: Houthis are imposing sanctions on Israel because it is committing genocide. No? No.

    Of course anyone who doesn’t agree with imperialist genocide is a terrorist. And they were hurting daddy’s capitalism. Won’t somebody think of the (climate destroying) oil shipments? Surely petrol prices are the most important global issue… sick.

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    Aidan
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    US, British militaries launch massive retaliatory strike against Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen

    The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, U.S. officials said.

    The U.S. Air Force’s Mideast command said it struck over 60 targets at 16 sites in Yemen, including “command-and-control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defense radar systems.”

    President Joe Biden said the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies “will not tolerate” the militant group’s ceaseless attacks on the Red Sea. And he said they only made the move after attempts at diplomatic negotiations and careful deliberation.

    This is what a promise from the US not to escalate looks like. These warmongering, violent and irrelevant dickheads cannot keep their weapons in their pants. Heaven forbid they fix shit in their own country. Nah – rather bomb or destabilise someone else. MAH ECONOMY.