Contention

Formerly a dissident business newsletter.

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@policytensor @ripplebrain But that's not an act of war

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@MarkAmesExiled And Uncle Sam ain't gonna be there for you.

[Contention @ContentionNews]

Always remember: Drug cartels do not exist.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🇮🇱 🇲🇽 Mexico bought more guns from Israel than from any other country last year, even as President Sheinbaum condemned genocide in Gaza.

Amid genocide in Gaza and Israel’s wider regional war, Mexico's government bought more firearms from Israel than from any other country in 2025, according to Mexico's report to the UN Arms Trade Treaty, in an analysis by Stop US Arms to Mexico published in NACLA.

The nearly 18,000 assault rifles, light machine guns, and pistols made up 37% of all firearms Mexico imported that year, more than triple its 2024 purchases and just ahead of the US. Most were bought by state police, as no federal policy in Mexico blocks the imports.

The reliance on foreign arms reflects a security bind: Mexico is fighting heavily armed cartels supplied largely by what analysts call the “iron river” of guns flowing south from the US, where an estimated 80% to 90% of firearms recovered in Mexico originate.

Still, the purchases highlight a contradiction in Sheinbaum's stance: her government has elevated Palestine's mission to embassy status and labeled Israel's actions "genocide" in September 2025, yet deepened its weapons ties with Israel.

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@FACEE444 @TheRealVarnVlog The Democratic Party is a fascist political party. Always has been. If you vote for them, what does that make you?

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@TheRealVarnVlog The Democratic Party is the clearest brightline there is in USian politics. Every time the left has collaborated with it, Dems have liquidated the left. The Dem Party is a fascist political party, period, and any collaboration with them invalidates a political project.

[Christopher Derick Varn @TheRealVarnVlog]

The observation that large portions of the DSA “right” or Jacobin magazine types talks about its comrades to its left like Atlantic and Liberals talk about them is something I have noticed since 2019. The fact that arguments aren’t often about possibility but electoral optics cut off from material limits makes the pragmatism obviously false since you actually can’t spell out the significant victories aside from revitalizing progressives cooption of socialist politics, they have zero legislative or policy victories nationally despite all their fucking pathetic wringing. Their local victories are often just rebranded by populists as being more than they are as most of Zohran’s policies are explicitly enabled by DiBlasio’s legal framework. They are just as immaterialist and immature as what they critique.

What it has done nothing but enabled some people to have upper middle class life styles from writing articles about nationalization and abolishing the senate when they can’t even deal with gerrymandering.

[Contention @ContentionNews]

KOSPI crash reckoning inbound

[unusual_whales @unusual_whales]

BREAKING: Jim Cramer says he "sees a sure signal to buy stocks."

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@BigBicNick Funniest part... who the fuck do they think was in charge then? Lol

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@ggreenwald The fact that he's voting at all is pretty moderate of him for that cohort.

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@shadihamid I was like "what kind of quisling thinks it's okay to deny this genocide?" and then saw you were a Washington Post columnist. Hadn't heard of you before, but that fits.

Quick question: What country is Jerusalem in?

[MenchOsint @MenchOsint]

Iran's FM Araghchi regarding the drone attack on an LNG tanker in the Egyptian port of Damietta yesterday:

"We must all remain vigilant toward Israeli schemes and false flag operations that aim to undermine regional peace"

[Seyed Mohammad Marandi @s_m_marandi]

The "Saudi-led coalition" won't lift a finger against the Zionist regime. Instead, it will attempt to target the Yemeni people who supported Gaza.

All have been exposed.

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@adamjohnsonCHI Well more in the sense that it's getting rolled up in defeat

[𝙂𝙐𝙈𝘽𝙔 @gumby4christ]

Hell yeah, @samhusseini!

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@yarubibnqahtan Only Allah knows the true Muslims.

[Contention @ContentionNews]

@adamjohnsonCHI Well if they are, that's the one thing they are accomplishing lol

[unusual_whales @unusual_whales]

BREAKING: US mortgage rates rise to 6.66%, highest level in a year

[John Hudson @John_Hudson]

What a Reuters headline: "US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference"

[Séamus Malekafzali @Seamus_Malek]

A sign from a Yemeni demonstrator in Sana'a, armed with a shovel:

"Tell [King] Salman there is no escape from us

Even if he is in the depths of the earth, we will come for him"

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

CHART OF THE DAY: The Rhine river, a key waterway for petroleum refined products, chemical commodities, coal and steel, is closing due to low water levels.

As a result, the freight cost for Rhine barges has zoomed to an all-time high.

🔗: https://t.co/dPWkrwLVZ4