Antifa's New Foreign Terror Designation, the Epstein Email Dump, and Trump's Brewing Invasion of Venezuela
Additionally, China and Russia sell Gaza out at the UN, and suspicious protests crop up in Mexico.
This article is part of a digest series delivered every Thursday, highlighting what I find to be the most interesting stories covering politics, working class struggles, and international current events of the week, along with my own brief commentary.
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After a long hiatus, this will be the first of hopefully many entries to come in our recurring digest series. Covering current events via the digest frees up regular mainline entries to focus on broader, philosophical, and evergreen subject matters.
Of note this week are developments in Trump’s wars both abroad and at home (against Venezuela and Antifa respectively) set upon the salacious backdrop of new Epstein File revelations, as well as global developments in Gaza. Mexico, and Sudan.
🇲🇽 Gen-Z protests in Mexico or coordinated chaos?
Pablo Meriguet/People’s Dispatch
Uruapan Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, an outspoken critic of organized crime and the cartels in Mexico, was gunned down in broad daylight during Day of the Dead celebrations earlier this month. On November 15th, demonstrators took the streets of Mexico City, ostensibly to demand a tougher response towards organized crime from the current administration. Western media framed the demonstration as organic and youth-led. However, President Claudia Sheinbaum alleges that a network of conservative moneyed interest groups funneled millions of dollars into the demonstration.
A cursory glance at footage of the demonstrators online contradicts the mainstream notion that this was a youth-led protest. Many of the demonstrators appear to be of an older disposition. People donning Nazi iconography and graffiti attacking Sheinbaum for her Jewish ethnic roots were also seen at the event. Considering her long-maintained 70%+ approval rating and her party’s (Morena) innumerable substantive accomplishments (major infrastructure projects, raising the minimum wage, expanding social welfare programs, lifting millions out of poverty), the suggestion that there’d be any legitimate popular uprising against her administration strains credulity. Though, clearly, forces appear to be working to sow the seeds of discontent.
🇻🇪 What is really happening in Venezuela? US attacks and economic situation explained
Ben Norton/Geopolitical Economy Report
In this transcript of an interview, Ben Norton of Geopolitical Economy Report describes what is really motivating the Trump regime’s recent militaristic encroachment on Venezuela: namely, desires to weaken progressive movements in Latin America, to safeguard American corporate interests in the region, and to capitalize on the country’s massive oil reserves.
As he highlights in the piece, there is little-to-no popular support for such an intervention among the American populous. Additionally, though Venezuela shares some resemblance to past targets of US intervention in the Middle East, Venezuela differs in one significant way. After experiencing years of turmoil wrought by a combination of external pressures (American sanctions and embargoes) and internal mismanagement, its domestic economic and political situations seem to have turned a corner and have begun to stabilize. By contrast, places like Syria and Iraq had been experiencing significant internal strife even prior to US intervention (in many ways, second order consequences of past colonial exploits). A war with Venezuela, Ben speculates, could possibly tip popular support against the current government among its people, which is likely a major consideration for the Trump regime.
🏴🚩 Trump Escalates War on Leftists With Antifa Foreign Terror Label
Ken Klippenstein
A couple of months ago, Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), instructing his national security agencies to consider any person or organization espousing “anti-Americanism”, “anti-capitalism”, “anti-Christianity”, and other imprecise and broad categories of dissent as risk factors for terrorism. Now, he is escalating his crackdown.
In this latest development, Trump is labeling several European anti-fascist groups as foreign terror organizations for the first time. As Ken points out in his piece, many talking heads and political figures have downplayed the significance of NSPM-7, citing the fact that no laws on the books criminalize domestic terrorism specifically. Never mind the fact that there are many adjacent laws by which the Department of Justice can (and does) weaponize to pursue charges (i.e., RICO); now, with this new designation, the Trump DOJ has a new weapon in its arsenal: foreign terror laws. We can only assume that they plan to wield it against their political enemies, which appears to encompass everyone not explicitly betrothed to the MAGA movement.
🇵🇸 UN Security Council passes US resolution backing international Gaza force
Al Jazeera
In what many are viewing as an act betrayal by members of the UN Security Council, the group approved a US-authored plan for the future of the Gaza strip. The plan includes the demilitarization of Gaza, the introduction of an international peacekeeping force, and gives preferential and open-ended treatment to Israeli forces, who are afforded lenient terms for withdrawal, “based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarisation."
What this plan ultimately accomplishes is effectively establishing an illegal trusteeship over Palestinians without honoring their dignity, sovereignty, and right to representation (unless you consider the Palestinian Authority’s endorsement of the plan, who co-governs West Bank territories with Israel and is abysmally unpopular with the Palestinian people). It also bears similarities to prior Western blunders in the Middle East, placing ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was instrumental in the 2003 Iraq War, at the helm of the operation. Most significantly, the bill is modeled after Trump’s 20-point peace plan proposal, which includes considerations for “exciting development ideas” in Gaza. Trump and cronies in his inner circle like Jared Kushner have time and again expressed glee at the prospect of colonizing Gaza for their own speculative real estate aspirations.
📧 Zeteo Scoured 26,000 Epstein Docs. Here’s What We Found
Prem Thakker and Micah Lee/Zeteo
The House Oversight Committee published a mountain of emails procured from the Jeffrey Epstein estate. Within these emails, Epstein is seen corresponding with various powerful figures. Trump was a constant topic of discussion; his name appears over 1,000 times across the over 20,000 emails. In one email thread, Epstein states that Trump spent hours at his home with a documented victim. Other notable figures corresponding with Epstein long after his outing as a sexual predator include Trump advisor Steve Bannon, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, infamous economist and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, professor Noam Chomsky, and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel.
At the time of publication, after fighting a months-long battle, Trump has just recently and finally signed the bill to release the Epstein files, which passed nearly unanimously in both chambers of Congress. It’s unclear if Trump’s DOJ will stall, heavily redact incriminating elements of the published files, or what other surreptitious dealings may occur which obscure the full truth once the files finally come to light.
🇸🇩 Sudan’s el-Fasher ‘a crime scene’ after RSF takeover: UN aid chief
Al Jazeera
The situation on the ground in Sudan is deteriorating, as the RSF paramilitary group continues their genocidal campaign of abject conquest and destruction. After having captured the major city of Al Fashir late last month, millions have been displaced, starved, and killed. Foreign aid groups describe the current condition as, “the epicentre of human suffering in the world.”
For more on the topic and places you can look to for help and regular updates, consult my article on the matter from late last month:
America's Role in the World's Largest Humanitarian Crisis
Sudan has known nary tranquility since its inception in the 20th century. Like much of the Global South and East, its borders wer…
🥞 Party for Socialism and Liberation organizes free breakfast for children in Atlanta amid SNAP cuts
