Shv2 - S (it/its)

new wife

Miles Edgeworth(35) meets Phoenix Wright(21) 

Phoenix Wright(35) meets Miles Edgeworth(20)

    A short reminder that Russia is imperialist, has been imperialist for a long time, and there’s no way around that fact.

Sections of the Western left have developed a narrative according to which Russia has been gradually surrounded by NATO and that supposedly “provoked” Putin. It’s increasingly difficult to sustain the notion that Russia is simply “defending itself” after 24 February 2022, but the thing is - the invasion did not come out of the blue. One needs a different narrative to understand what Russia actually is: an aggressive imperialist power alongside other imperialisms.

So, a different narrative:

- 1994: Russia, with US support, acquires Ukrainian nuclear arsenal in exchange for the assurances to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity

- 1997: Russia acquires the Sevastopol naval base and almost all of the ships (82%, to be exact)… in exchange for the assurances to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity!

- 2004: Russia meddles in Ukrainian presidential elections, fighting hard to force an undemocratic fraudulent outcome, but fails

- Mid-to-late 2000s: As punishment for Ukraine electing Yushchenko, Russia uses energy blackmail, a form of economic coercion not very different from the IMF and World Bank lending and conditionality

- 2008: NATO refuses to adopt a roadmap towards Ukraine’s membership and in effect postpones the decision indefinitely. Ukraine’s security is in no way guaranteed, while Russia has already demonstrated the propensity to use coercion to force Ukraine to do its bidding

- 2009: Dmitry Medvedev, then president, writes to Yushchenko that “Russia does not pose and cannot pose any kind of threat to Ukraine”, so seeking NATO membership is stupid. Yea, sure

- 2014: Russia, which “does not pose and cannot pose a threat to Ukraine”… annexes Crimea. Really, Dima?? I thought you were for real??

Of course, by annexing Crimea Russia not only makes all the previous statements that it “can never pose a threat to Ukraine” a ridiculous lie, but also breaks the 1994 memorandum and 1997 treaty. “We are the Kremlin. Our word is worth nothing”

- Crimea’s annexation provokes armed separatism in Donbas that Russia supports and coordinates, including direct military command and control, and then completely subordinates Donbas “authorities”, in effect occupying the region

- Ukraine’s still not in NATO, its security is still in no way guaranteed, and the supplies of US weapons only begin in 2018. They are kept to a minimum… out of fear of provoking Russia!

- Nevertheless, on 24 February 2022 Russia launches a full-scale invasion to establish 100% control over all of Ukraine in one way or another. There is literally no military development on the ground that could have provoked the invasion. On Russia’s part, it’s a war of choice in exactly the same way the invasion of Iraq was a war of choice for the US in 2003.

Now, this is only the general outline. One should add Russia’s drowning of Ukraine with spies and agents of influence, money to corrupt Ukrainian politicians and massive acquisition of Ukrainian assets to impose economic and political dependency.

These are well-known facts, but so many on the left refuse to see the story behind them. It’s a story of decades of imperialist aggression, culminating in a war that cost 150,000 lives in 2022 alone. Any discussion of left-wing internationalism should begin with recognizing the reality of what Russia is and what it did.

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EMERGENCY PROTESTS FOR RAFAH

CANADA Feb 12 Montreal - 5 PM Ottawa - 4:30 PM Toronto - 5:30 PM Feb 13 Montreal - 5:30 PM UNITED STATES Feb 12 Austin - 5 PM Cleveland - 5:30 PM Los Angeles - 3 PM New York - 4 PM Seattle - 6 PM Washington DC - 6:30 PM

Feb 13 Atlanta - 7 PM Houston - 4 PM Philadelphia - 5:30 PM San Francisco - 5:30 PM

I'm sure more will be announced in the next few hours, please add any you see!!

Genocide experts warn that India is about to genocide the Shompen people

Who are the Shompen?

The Shompen are an indigenous culture that lives in the Great Nicobar Island, which is nowadays owned by India. The Shompen and their ancestors are believed to have been living in this island for around 10,000 years. Like other tribes in the nearby islands, the Shompen are isolated from the rest of the world, as they chose to be left alone, with the exception of a few members who occasionally take part in exchanges with foreigners and go on quarantine before returning to their tribe. There are between 100 and 400 Shompen people, who are hunter-gatherers and nomadic agricultors and rely on their island's rainforest for survival.

Why is there risk of genocide?

India has announced a huge construction mega-project that will completely change the Great Nicobar Island to turn it into "the Hong Kong of India".

Nowadays, the island has 8,500 inhabitants, and over 95% of its surface is made up of national parks, protected forests and tribal reserve areas. Much of the island is covered by the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, described by UNESCO as covering “unique and threatened tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. It is home to very rich ecosystems, including 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, among others. In terms of fauna, there are over 1800 species, some of which are endemic to this area. It has one of the best-preserved tropical rain forests in the world.”

The Indian project aims to destroy this natural environment to create an international shipping terminal with the capacity to handle 14.2 million TEUs (unit of cargo capacity), an international airport that will handle a peak hour traffic of 4,000 passengers and that will be used as a joint civilian-military airport under the control of the Indian Navy, a gas and solar power plant, a military base, an industrial park, and townships aimed at bringing in tourism, including commercial, industrial and residential zones as well as other tourism-related activities.

This project means the destruction of the island's pristine rainforests, as it involves cutting down over 852,000 trees and endangers the local fauna such as leatherback turtles, saltwater crocodiles, Nicobar crab-eating macaque and migratory birds. The erosion resulting from deforestation will be huge in this highly-seismic area. Experts also warn about the effects that this project will have on local flora and fauna as a result of pollution from the terminal project, coastal surface runoff, ballasts from ships, physical collisions with ships, coastal construction, oil spills, etc.

The indigenous people are not only affected because their environment and food source will be destroyed. On top of this, the demographic change will be a catastrophe for them. After the creation of this project, the Great Nicobar Island -which now has 8,500 inhabitants- will receive a population of 650,000 settlers. Remember that the Shompen and Nicobarese people who live on this island are isolated, which means they do not have an immune system that can resist outsider illnesses. Academics believe they could die of disease if they come in contact with outsiders (think of the arrival of Europeans to the Americas after Christopher Columbus and the way that common European illnesses were lethal for indigenous Americans with no immunization against them).

And on top of all of this, the project might destroy the environment and the indigenous people just to turn out to be useless and sooner or later be abandoned. The naturalist Uday Mondal explains that “after all the destruction, the financial viability of the project remains questionable as all the construction material will have to be shipped to this remote island and it will have to compete with already well-established ports.” However, this project is important to India because they want to use the island as a military and commercial post to stop China's expansion in the region, since the Nicobar islands are located on one of the world's busiest sea routes.

Last year, 70 former government officials and ambassadors wrote to the Indian president saying the project would “virtually destroy the unique ecology of this island and the habitat of vulnerable tribal groups”. India's response has been to say that the indigenous tribes will be relocated "if needed", but that doesn't solve the problem. As a spokesperson for human rights group Survival International said: “The Shompen are nomadic and have clearly defined territories. Four of their semi-permanent settlements are set to be directly devastated by the project, along with their southern hunting and foraging territories. The Shompen will undoubtedly try to move away from the area destroyed, but there will be little space for them to go. To avoid a genocide, this deadly mega-project must be scrapped.”

On 7 February 2024, 39 scholars from 13 countries published an open letter to the Indian president warning that “If the project goes ahead, even in a limited form, we believe it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.”

How to help

The NGO Survival International has launched this campaign:

Survival International

The Shompen face obliteration: they urgently need your support

Take action for the Shompen now! The Shompen are one of the most isolated tribes on Earth. They live on Great Nicobar island in India, and

From this site, you just need to add your name and email and you will send an email to India's Tribal Affairs Minister and to the companies currently vying to build the first stage of the project.

Share it with your friends and acquittances and on social media.

Sources:

India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe, 7 Feb 2024. The Guardian.

‘It will destroy them’: Indian mega-development could cause ‘genocide’ and ‘ecocide’, says charity, 8 Feb 2024. Geographical.

Genocide experts call on India's government to scrap the Great Nicobar mega-project, Feb 2024. Survival International.

The container terminal that could sink the Great Nicobar Island, 20 July 2022. Mongabay.

[Maps] Environmental path cleared for Great Nicobar mega project, 10 Oct 2022. Mongabay.

WOY- Short Story

Lets take a moment to imagine this:

Peepers walks up to some printers in a white room. Two Watchdogs are whistling with hands behind their back. As Peepers walks past them with papers in his hands, they bolt out the door. Peepers reaches the printers, and to his surprise, all the printers are broken, and there is black ink everywhere. Peepers gets angry and mumbles to himself. He walks out the door and into a different room, only to be met with another broken printer. Again, he gets angry, storming out. This happens several times, Peepers only getting more and more frustrated. (You know, the little squeak he does when that happens). Finally, he knocks on Hater’s door.

Hater: No, go away.

Peepers: It’s Peepers.

Hater *groans*: What do you want?

Peepers *walking in*: Sir, all the printers are broken, and these papers are really important, they must be printed.

Hater *looking slightly sheepish*: Oh. Yeah. I-I tried making some cool posters, but the stupid things wouldn’t work.

Peepers: Sir! And you tried on every printer?!

Hater: Uh, yeah?

Peepers sighs: I guess we’re going to have to go to the copy store.

Hater: WE’RE?! I DON’T HAVE TO GO! WHY DON’T YOU GO BY YOURSELF!?!

Peepers: Because I didn’t break all the printers, did I?

Hater: But I don’t wanna go!

Peepers: Come on, sir. They do say copy stores are fun.

Hater: Who says that?

Peepers *shrugs*: Everyone.

Two Watchdogs walk past the doorway talking to each other.

Watchdog 1: Dude, I’ve heard the copier store is the best.

Watchdog 2: Yeah, I’ve heard so too. You know, I wish I could go there someday.

Watchdog 1: Yup, same here.

Their voices fade out as they continue walking down the hallway.

Hater *grunts* : Ugh, fine.

Peepers *hand Hater dollar bills*: I need you to hold these for me. Remember, once we get off the ship, we can’t come back to the ship because I ordered the Watchdogs to go get fuel before they pick us up, okay?

Hater *looks up*: Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.

When the ship drops them off:

Peepers: Okay sir, where’s the money?

Hater: M-money?

Peepers: Yes sir, the money I gave you in order to buy the copies.

Hater: Oh. T-that money.

Peepers: Yes, sir. Where is it?

Hater: Umm… On my bed.

Peepers: S-sir! We needed that! I told you we couldn’t go back because the Skullship needs fuel! Now what are going to do?!

Hater puts a finger on his chin and thinks. Finally, he removes it and smirks.

Hater *smirking*: I think I know this planet.

Peepers *looks up*: You do?

Hater: Yeah, and I remember there was a way of getting things for free.

Peepers: Really?!

Hater: Oh, definitely.

Hater bends down and whispers in Peepers ear [(?) side of head?]. Peepers looks shocked and slightly angry.

Peepers: No! There is no way I’m doing that! EVER!

Hater *points at Peepers threateningly with lightning*: That’s an order, Commander Peepers!

Peepers *sighs*: Y-yes sir. But are you certain there is no other way to do this?

Hater *rubbing hands together*: Oh, I’m certain, alright.

Inside the copier store:

Peepers walks down the aisle. Hater stands in the back, snickering with his hands near his face. Peepers turns to look at Hater. Hater looks upwards, arm swinging to the sides. He looks at Peepers and gives him two thumbs up. Peepers sighs before looking forward again. Hater goes back to snickering.

Peepers *doing full-blast puppy-dog eye (not eyes)*: Can you please print me 100 copies of this?

Peepers hands over the papers.

Cashier Guy: Sure thing there, buddy.

A Few Minutes Later…

Cashier Guy: Here ya go. *hands over papers and copies*. Have a nice day.

Peepers *doing puppy-dog eye*:  Thank you so much. Have a nice day!

Note: Hater was snickering into his hands the whole time.

Peepers walks out the door. Hater follows him. It was getting dark, the sun was setting. Outside, Hater bursts out laughing.

Hater *laughing a lot*: Y-you! Haha! You-you actually did it! Haha! Noo! Haha! And it actually worked! Hahaha!

Peepers *slightly shocked before he gets annoyed*: Y-you mean you- *sighs* Of course you did. Let us NEVER speak of this again!

Hater *calming down*: Haha. Sure thing, C.Peeps. This will be our own little joke. I couldn’t have anybody else in on it… But I never will forget about it.

Peepers *rolling his eye*: Of course you won’t.

They both walk into the arriving Skullship, and it takes off. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet… 

Sylvia *looking at Peepers on her phone*: Oh! Haha! This will be the end of him! I’m NEVER letting him forget about this! Hahaha!

gofundme.com

Donate to Menstrual Care Kits for Women and Girls in Gaza, organized by DIYALA ABDLRASUL

Goal Achieved!! #Sisters4Gaza successfully sent 2,000 menstrual… DIYALA ABDLRASUL needs your support for Menstrual Care Kits for Women

Palestinian girls and women are forced to use tents as pads. People boost. Donate if you can

DONATIONS FOR GAZA

As you probably know, the situation in Gaza gets worse every day. At this stage, every donation, no matter how small, might make a difference between life and death for someone trying to escape Rafah.

Donate as little as 7$ today and you get a sketch or a small illustration of yourself, an animal, a friend - whatever it is that you want.

You can find the full spreadsheet of families here: Operation Olive Branch

or you can donate to one of the randomized gofundmes from here: Gaza Funds

Send me proof of your donations and the details for the artwork you desire. YOU CAN SEND IT THROUGH DMs OR EMAIL ME (email and useful links here:)

Linktree

Help Gaza! | Linktree

Linktree. Make your link do more.

Depending on how busy this gets, commissions might take two days or more.

*Biggers commissions are available for bigger donations! You can see illustrations I did in the past here.