this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2024
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Image is of Assad's presidential palace in 2013. There's more images of it in this article, though the words in it aren't worth reading.


Here is Assad's version of events. I like to imagine he's making one of those Youtuber apology videos where they sigh at the start and talk in a chastised yet somewhat defensive tone of voice.

As terrorism spread across Syria and ultimately reached Damascus on the evening of Saturday 7th December 2024, questions arose about the president's fate and whereabouts. This occurred amidst a flood of misinformation and narratives far removed from the truth, aimed at recasting international terrorism as a liberation revolution for Syria.

At such a critical juncture in the nation’s history, where truth must take precedence, it is essential to address these distortions. Unfortunately, the prevailing circumstances at the time, including a total communication blackout for security reasons, delayed the release of this statement. This does not replace a detailed account of the events that unfolded, which will be provided when the opportunity allows.

First, my departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed. On the contrary, I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday 8th December 2024. As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in co-ordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations. Upon arrival at the Hmeimim airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen. As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes.

With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th December. This took place a day after the fall of Damascus following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions.

At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.

I reaffirm that the person who, from the very first day of the war, refused to barter the salvation of his nation for personal gain, or to compromise his people in exchange for numerous offers and enticements is the same person who stood alongside the officers and soldiers of the army on the front lines, just metres from terrorists in the most dangerous and intense battlefields. He is the same person who, during the darkest years of the war, did not leave but remained with his family alongside his people, confronting terrorism under bombardment and the recurring threats of terrorist incursions into the capital over 14 years of war. Furthermore, the person who has never abandoned the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, nor betrayed his allies who stood by him, cannot possibly be the same person who would forsake his own people or betray the army and nation to which he belongs.

I have never sought positions for personal gain but have always considered myself as a custodian of a national project, supported by the faith of the Syrian people, who believed in its vision. I have carried an unwavering conviction in their will and ability to protect the state, defend its institutions, and uphold their choices to the very last moment.

When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose, rendering its occupation meaningless. This does not, in any way, diminish my profound sense of belonging to Syria and her people – a bond that remains unshaken by any position or circumstance. It is a belonging filled with hope that Syria will once again be free and independent.


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Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA 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.
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.

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.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
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.


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[–] geikei@hexbear.net 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That small % of FDI in proportion to GDP is responsible for 16% of China’s tax revenues and nearly 30% (!!) of China’s export value!

The 16% number is for FIE of all venture configurations and country sources , not just the US which is a small minority of total investment. And capital and revenues of FIE of any short =/= FDI to begin with which is what you mentioned. Also FDI in high tech sectors is at ~10% of total for 2024 but the increase came from non US sources ,is still only 10% and is hillarously dawrfed by China's domestic investment. If we are going to be pulling stats and facts that are only tangentialy true you are better of watching Trumps Joe Rogan episode and search for hints on how he plans on solidifying US dollar hegemony

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 5 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

No offense but you have no idea what you’re talking about.

The vast majority of inbound FDI in China came from Hong Kong SAR (~70%). Many foreign investors enter through Hong Kong, that’s why the US itself showed up as a minority of the total investment.

Why Hong Kong? Because Hong Kong is the major hub for offshore RMB, and foreign capital can (more or less) freely move in and out of China through this gateway. You will notice that the % of Hong Kong as FDI source went up since 2009, because that’s when offshore RMB was first created to allow RMB settlements to occur outside mainland China, following the creation of offshore RMB bond market in 2007. The code for offshore RMB is CNH - H stands for Hong Kong.

It is also where foreign investors can access to A Shares in Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges. In fact, there are Chinese businesses for tax evasion purposes deliberately set up offshore Hong Kong companies to make “round-trip” investments back to China so they get registered as “foreign investment” too!

If we really want to go into the intricacies, we have to go way back to understand the history of the development of China’s financial sector since the 1980s. One relevant point about Hong Kong: when China took back Hong Kong, they “forgot” to take back Hong Kong’s monetary sovereignty too, and that has resulted in the Hong Kong Dollar to be continuously pegged to the US Dollar for more than 40 years, and at 7.8 HKD to USD 1 since 2005! This means that the US finance capital has total control of Hong Kong monetary system even though it belongs to China under a “one country, two system” rule. None of this is a coincidence.

If foreign investment is indeed that negligible as you mentioned, then why has China been so eager to loosen its restrictions for foreign investment and opening up its capital markets? Surely that is a contradiction in terms.

[–] geikei@hexbear.net 1 points 17 hours ago

I already mentioned that some of the FDI from HK SAR is American . Beyond the tax evasion reasons a notable portion of that 70% is outside investment marching through HK into the mainland most of it is still HK Elite and Chinese diaspora. Hong Kong inbound FDI is just as much if not more a mainland round trip reinvestment yeah. So we could be pulling numbers out of our ass all day but based on the above even if lets say the rate of US FDI to other countries FDI that comes through HK is triple their open and direct investment it still doesnt crack 10% of total FDI. Gawking at Chinese FDI flows forget that for over a decade now $100-200 billion is a tiny drop in the now 60 trillion Chinese financial market. China’s growth hasn’t needed foreign capital to fund critical growth for more than a decade now.

As to why they urge it my read is that in a general sense if you still want to be connected to the global economy you will always want foreign businesses input as a channel to the rest of the world. Why give up on something that offers advantage if you can have it? The more direct and practical reason is that in China's view, while they’re trying to manage this transition to a different financial system they would really like imput from experienced foreign investors to show domestic investors how to do their business with smarter and more effective practices. Party directives cant and wont substitute that in the current stage of development. Because let’s be honest a very big reason China landed in this LGFV debt situation in the first place is because most of its financial industry is still extremely sloppy and unserious, maybe even more so than America's. Letting people play finance and after getting immensily rich while also being half a century removed from a non capitalist economy and a litte more from feudalism doesnt create the most competent financial actors. Any other party in charge would have had multiple crises blown on their face vby now

Beyond that sorry i just dont see China's recent monetary and finance moves to be nearly as much of a reaction to US moves and strategies or the attracting of foreign investment being nearly as much of a center focus and need. I see them much more so inwardly focused and reactive to domestic economic restructuring and changes in balance and sentiment. Focused on domestic investors, speculators, elites and doing a balancing act given the real estate bubble popping .

Also once again im confused on how your urge for dedolarization and non exporter economy status coincides with not losening capital controls? The RMB will never take a significant chunk of the global currency share in transactions while RoW remains capitalist and largely financialized with the current level of oppeness and contro of chinese capital markets by the PRC. It can never become a significant reserve currency let alone THE reserve currency. You cant have both that and a closed chinese capital market and controls. Thats why China , while pushing for its use in their own trade and lending more and more doesnt really have any such plans for it. Because if you want to run a hot industrial policy there will inevitably be financial crowding and you will also sustain losses here and there. Lifting capital controls magnifies volatility. Capital flies out more during highly loaded losses. This is prone to creating bubble and bust cycles. If your objective is extractive financial activity you can manage it. But if you want to drive growth of production that kind of volatility is bad. China isn't planning to be a global value extractor. It wants to own its own means of production. So it doesn't make much sense to encourage hegemonic currency dominance. That orientation only favors the financial class right now. I think there will be some “managed” capital account loosening but I don’t think China is ever relinquishing capital controls at any significant capacity so i am strongly skeptical that what they arrive at will ever look anything like an “open” capital account regime. China’s capital controls isolate their financial system from using USD as a primary financial collateral. There's huge quantity of Chinese companies and wealthy individuals recycling their savings into US assets and dollars but that is still a very small amount relative to the size of the Chinese financial system. At most hundreds of billions relative to an 18 trillion GDP and 60 trillion financial system. There is a lot room to relax them a bit without relinquishing sovereignity depending on their geopolitical goals, the yuan strength they target and whatever domestic need