D'you Wanna know the Difference Between Heaven and Hell? Well..... in one we trust and put aside all lies. While down in Hell .....nobody even tries..
Misleading Parliament, is a ''nice'' way of saying: lied about breaking the law ---- by arming Israel.
The grandfather of the new head of
British intelligence - deserted the
Red Army - and served the Nazis.
He was nicknamed 'the Butcher'
by Anastasia Alympeeva (editor
- operational information dept)
June 27th, 12:06pm
(Lenta.ru)
The grandfather of the new head of British intelligence
(MI6), Blaise Metreveli, was Ukrainian and allegedly
served in the German army. This was reported
by the Daily Mail, citing archival data.
We are talking about Konstantin Dobrovolsky --- nicknamed the
Butcher. As stated in the material, he deserted from the Red
Army and went over to the side of Nazi Germany, serving
on the side of the SS. So, first he served in a tank unit
of troops, then in intelligence. In particular ---- he
participated in punitive operations against
partisans and Jews.
Dobrovolsky was born near Chernigov, in 1906, the son of a German father with Polish roots ...and a Ukrainian mother.
At age 20, he was sentenced to 10 years of exile
for anti-Soviet agitation, anti-Semitism.... and
concealing his origins. After the outbreak
of World War II - he volunteered to join
the front. He joined the Nazi side
------- in August 1941.
Dobrovolsky was the "main informant"
After Dobrovolsky deserted, he lived in the occupied territory
of Ukraine and was the "chief informant" in the Chernihiv
region. As journalists pointed out, he personally killed
hundreds of Ukrainian resistance fighters, boasting
of these "achievements" to German commanders.
"There are even stories - about how he robbed the bodies
of Holocaust victims and laughed at the sexual abuse
of female prisoners," the article says.
Metreveli did not know the Butcher
The Daily Mail claims that the new head of MI6 did not
know her grandfather... as her family left German-
occupied Ukraine in 1943, while Dobrovolsky
chose to stay.
"Blaze's ancestry is characterized by conflicts and
disagreements and.. as is the case with many
individuals of Eastern European origin, is
only partially known," the UK Foreign
Office commented.... on the
material's findings.
The Nazi's granddaughter --- will become
the first female head of MI6. A woman
at the head of the British foreign
intelligence service, for the
first time in 116 years.
Prior to this, the 47-year-old Metreveli --- also held
senior leadership positions in both MI6 and MI5.
She is also known to have studied social
anthropology at university, and spent
much of her career on operational
assignments in the Middle East
and Europe.
Before her, MI6 was led for almost
five years.. by Richard Moore.
________________________________
Sky News: Britain's Labour Party
Government --- to Buy Nuclear-
Capable F-35 Fighters
from the US
June 25th, 5:59pm
(RT.ru)
The UK will purchase more than ten nuclear-
capable F-35 fighter jets from the US.
"The UK will buy at least 12 F-35 stealth aircraft
capable of carrying nuclear warheads,"
according to Sky News.
Earlier, it was reported that Britain plans to provide nazi Ukraine with missiles, using stolen Russian assets.
Moldova,Ukraine... expandingjoint
intelligence operationsin Russia
— FSB
June 25th, 6:58am
(TASS)
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) is aware of stepped
up espionage activities by Moldovan intelligence agents on
Russian soil, an FSB operative said in a video comment
following the arrest of two agents of the Moldovan
special services in Moscow.
"Since our country launched the special military operation in
Ukraine and tensions in Russia’s interstate relations with
countries in the collective West escalated, the Security
and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova
- in cooperation with Ukraine’s special services -
has intensified activities aimed at disrupting
the security of the Russian Federation,
with agents recruited among
Moldovan citizens -- taking
part," the operative said.
According to him, two SIS agents, provided with fake documents
by an executive of the SIS External Intelligence Department,
Alexandru Sirbu, arrived in Russia in May.
The two were personally recruited by Ukraine's special
services, who instructed them --- on how to conduct
clandestine operations, expose field surveillance,
and gather intelligence.... about facilities of
interest to foreign special services
- in Russia.
__________________________________________
FSB arrests two Moldovan
intelligence agents
June 25th, 5:44am
(TASS)
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained
two Moldovan intelligence agents, with pseudonymous
documents on them, who arrived in Moscow on a
mission against Russia’s security, the FSB
told TASS.
"The FSB in Moscow has foiled unlawful activities of agents
of the Moldovan special services. It has been established
that two Moldovan citizens arrived in Moscow, having
pseudonymous documents on them, to perform
tasks set by the Security and Intelligence
Service of the Republic of Moldova and
aimed at undermining the security of the Russian Federation,"
the FSB said.
The two suspects have already confessed, the FSB added.
Criminal cases have been launched against them, and
they may face up to eight years behind bars.
The Moldovan Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) is in charge of intelligence gathering and counterintelligence operations.
______________________________________________
Dodon.... spoke about the upcoming
parliamentary elections in Moldova
Dodon: The coming months will be
crucial for Moldova
June 20th, 2:46pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The next few months ---- will be crucial for Moldova in light
of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for
late September, former President Igor Dodon, told
Izvestia, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg
International Economic Forum on June 20.
"Moldova is a parliamentary country - and a president without a
parliament is a lame duck. Therefore, the struggle for the next
parliament will be very fierce. We see that Moldova is being
led according to the Ukraine scenario. Anything ----- can
happen. According to all polls, the current government
has the trust of no more than 25% of the population,
so we will see what happens. We will fight ----- to
change the situation," he said.
Dodon added that other European leaders want to keep the
current president, Maia Sandu, in power, but they need
control of the parliament to do so.
"They will not succeed with democratic methods, because they
are losing these elections. The opposition, including us, the
Party of Socialists, and other parties, can form a
parliamentary majority. Therefore, they [have
an option] either to cancel the elections,
as in Ukraine, or.... to make some
provocations. We understand
this, and are preparing for
the toughest fight,"
he concluded.
Violated observation: The OSCE will
monitor the elections in Moldova
Moscow has repeatedly pointed out the biased nature of
the mission, which also worked for the 2024 campaign
...of Maia Sandu.
On May 27th, Dodon said that the actions of Moldovan
President Maia Sandu aim to split Moldovan society
and its radicalization before the parliamentary
elections, which will be held in September.
Image: Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader,German Chancellor --- Keeps on the Paranoid WAR trail
Merz promised.... that Germany would not become a party to the conflict in Ukraine
by Yulia Ryabinina
July 1st, 10:28pm
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
Despite supplying weapons to Kiev, Berlin will not
become a party.... to the conflict in Ukraine,
the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz,
said in an interview with ARD TV.
"One thing is certain.... and I say it again: Germany
will not be a party to the conflict," TASS quoted
the German politician as saying.
He added that it is necessary to try to do
everything possible to end the conflict
in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the day before, the German Chancellor
reported that he had discussed with Volodymyr
Zelensky, the issue of training the Armed
Forces of Ukraine to handle German
Taurus cruise missiles. According
to him, such work has not yet
begun, but "this was - and
remains - an option."
Earlier, Merz admitted that there is a deep-rooted fear
of war with Russia among some segments of the
German population due to increased military
spending and a policy of confrontation
with Moscow.
________________________________
The German Chancellor has expressed
his readiness to discuss the creation of a European nuclear umbrella
July 1st, 4:44pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Germany is focused on maintaining its partnership with
the US and preserving the US "nuclear umbrella" - but
it is also open to discussions on creating a European
nuclear shield. This was announced by German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, on the July 1st.
"We must do everything possible..... to maintain a nuclear
exchange with the United States in the coming years,
if not decades," the magazine Spiegel quoted him
as saying.
As noted by Gazeta.Ru, Merz added that this does not
mean that the countries of the continent cannot
discuss the creation of an “atomic defense”
in the medium and long term. According
to the Chancellor, he is “open to
discussing this issue.”
On June 28th, Jens Spahn, a leading politician in Germany's
ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, called for
''Europe'' to become an independent nuclear power.
According to him, countries should debate an
independent European nuclear defense, but
"only under German leadership."
[Rhondda Records adds: Unrepentant German supremacist filled with raw hatred for Russia wants a European umbrella ...sounds reasonable.]
'Mad In Germany' has some interesting videos on the failure of ''de-nazification'' - particularly amongst the wealthy in Germany!
Image: Macaroon's words and face in the open now
Kosachev revealedhow Macron
"bypassed Merz" ...with his
conversation with Putin
by Fyodor Korneev
July 1st, 9:31pm
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
Emmanuel Macron, with his call to Vladimir Putin,
"bypassed the turn" of the German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz -- who opposes contacts
with the Russian leader.
This opinion was expressed by Deputy Chairman
of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev
in his Telegram channel.
According to him, the conversation was a manifestation
of "normality" in a world where a large number of
contradictions are accumulating. However,
these problems.. cannot be resolved
through "monologues" from the
West, the parliamentarian
pointed out.
Kosachev noted that nuclear powers and permanent
members of the UN Security Council should remain
ready to listen and hear each other.
The Deputy Chairman of the Security Council - recalled
that the dialogue with Russia - was interrupted at the
West's initiative, which had negative consequences
for the entire world.
"If the restoration of dialogue, becomes systematic, the
world will only benefit from it. And Macron's 'no talk
with Putin' has clearly passed Merz by now. Just
as Trump passed all the European leaders by,"
he said.
The head of the RDIF commented on Putin's
telephone conversation with Macron.
The parliamentarian added that Moscow is
always ready for a “meaningful and
equal” conversation.
As a reminder, during the first conversation
in almost three years, Putin and Macron
discussed the situation in Ukraine
and the Middle East.
In the context of the Ukrainian crisis, Putin
reminded Macron that the current conflict
was a direct consequence of Western
policies - that had ignored Russia's
security interests for many years.
The Russian leader also pointed out --- that a
possible solution to the crisis should be
comprehensive ---- address all its
underlying causes, and be
based on the realities
on the ground.
Following the phone call, the Kremlin noted
that the two leaders - had a substantive
conversation. The Elysee Palace ---
in turn, announced that Macron
.....intends to continue his
contacts with Putin.
_________________________
Putin pointed out to Macron
that the West -is to blame
for the Ukrainian conflict
July 1st 5:40pm
(DAN)
Russian President Vladimir Putin - reminded French President
Emmanuel Macron of the responsibility of Western countries
for fueling the crisis in Ukraine. This was reported by the
Kremlin's press service after a telephone conversation
between the two leaders today.
The last time the leaders of Russia and France spoke on the
phone was in September 2022. According to the Kremlin,
the current conversation is "meaningful."
"Vladimir Putin recalled --- that the Ukrainian conflict is a direct
consequence of the policies of Western countries, which have
ignored Russia's security interests for many years, created an anti-Russian foothold in Ukraine & condoned violations of the rights of the Russian-speaking residents. And now they are pursuing a policy of prolonging hostilities by providing the Kiev regime -- with various modern
weapons," the Kremlin press service said.
Putin reaffirmed --- Russia's principled approach to
peace agreements on Ukraine - which should be
comprehensive, long-term, address the root
causes of the conflict, and be based on
territorial realities.
In addition, the leaders discussed the Iran-Israel conflict and
the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Putin and Macron
expressed their support for resolving this crisis through
political and diplomatic means and agreed to continue
their contacts ------ for a possible coordination of
their positions.
Image: Dollar round-a-bout an illusion
Guatemala created Strategic Command
Against Transnational Threats
July 1st, 3pm
(Prensa Latina)
Guatemala today made official the reactivation of a Strategic
Command Against Transnational Threats (Cecat), aimed at
protecting national sovereignty against possible threats
by air, sea, land and cyberspace.
Through the official Diario de CentroAmérica - government
Agreement Number 110-2025 stated that among the main
functions of the new military organization, is conducting
defense operations and coordinating actions with other
local and international institutions.
Signed by the president of the country, Bernardo Arévalo, the
Minister of Defense, Henry Saenz, and the Secretary General
of the Presidency, Juan Gerardo Guerrero, explained that
Cecat will operate as a special military command.
It will have jurisdiction throughout this Central American territory
and will be led by a General or Colonel, or a similar rank, in the
Sea Force, that he has completed Higher Strategic Studies,
or its equivalent, abroad, he added.
The Defense Staff has a period of 30 days from tomorrow, when
it will come into force, to prepare the regulations, design the
budget ...and establish the operational structure of
the command.
With this measure, the Guatemalan Executive seeks
to strengthen security and respond effectively to
transnational challenges that may compromise
the country's stability.
The idea of reactivation came after the incursion of Mexican
soldiers into the Chapín department of Huehuetenango
and an armed incident in that area at the beginning
of last June.
This force is designed to facilitate coordination, both within the
National Civil Police and with security organizations from other
States that face similar situations, Arévalo previously detailed.
Authorities from Guatemala and Mexico have met several times
after the incident ---- to determine an agenda within the
framework of monitoring a border strategy.
_____________________________________
Díaz-Canel -- congratulates
scientific centres in Cuba
July 1st, 2:57pm
(Prensa Latina)
The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, today congratulated
the workers of the National Centre for Scientific Research
(CNIC) and Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
(CIGB), on the occasion of their 60th and 39th
anniversaries, respectively.
Through the social network, as projected by the
historical leader of the Cuban Revolution,
Fidel Castro.
The CNIC was founded on July 1, 1965 and
represented the first multidisciplinary
centre in Cuba.
It is currently a company that is part of the Biotechnology
and Pharmaceutical Industries Group (BioCubaFarma),
dedicated to scientific research, and the production
and marketing of pharmaceutical and
biotechnological products.
For its part, the Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology
constitutes a large research-productive complex equipped with
cutting-edge equipment --- and staff busy developing new
products in all their phases, from cloning and protein
expression with DNA recombination techniques
to production on industrial scales.
Among its main lines of work are the recombinant obtaining
of proteins and hormones, vaccines and diagnostic means,
and the production of monoclonal antibodies, the use of
biomass and its transformation by chemical-enzymatic
means and the micro-propagation of cells and
tissue cultures.
_______________________________________
President of Mexico reiteratesrejection
of criminalization of migrants
July 1st, 2:14pm
(Prensa Latina)
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, today rejected
the treatment of migrants as criminals and reiterated the
importance of compatriots and other Latin Americans
for the United States economy.
“We do not agree with treating migrants as criminals. A family,
a man, a woman, a young man who goes to the United States.
The United States was formed from migrants”, she asserted
when answering a question about a new immigration
detention centre in the neighbouring country.
She emphasized that particularly Latinos and Mexicans are
very important for the economy of the northern territory.
“Wanting to classify a migrant as a criminal --- or seeking the
deportation of millions of migrants, as they say, will affect
the United States economy..... seeing it from their
perspective. But, in addition, it totally violates
human rights”, she noted.
What we have stated “in diplomatic notes, in conversations every
time we are there, is that, in the case of a Mexican who does not
have papers, that he is detained... that we immediately receive
him in Mexico, but in conditions that do not violate his rights”,
she said.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, visited
Alcatraz Cayman this Tuesday, the new immigration
detention centre --------- built in record time.
Images in local media showed protesters at the doors of the
controversial facility waiting for the president, who upon
his arrival in the state was seen with the Secretary of
Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and the Florida
Governor, Ron DeSantis.
_______________________________
They offer new revelations
of terrorist plans against
Venezuela
July 1st, 2:11pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Minister for Interior Relations, Justice and Peace,
Diosdado Cabello today offered new statements of
terrorist plans planned against Venezuela by the
national extreme right, in complicity with drug
trafficking and foreign agents.
In statements to the press, the owner reiterated that it is
a single plot, in which drug trafficking, conspiracy and
armed violence through gangs are associated, in
which judges, mayors, police officers, business
men, among other people involved, have been
captured in several states.
“We denounce to the world that the United States continues
to plan plots against Venezuela”, he asserted, and revealed
implications of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, of
which he gave his opinion, “they have to be authorized
by their bosses”.
Cabello insisted that this is a single articulated conspiracy and
stated that “the political leadership of the opposition lost its
shame” for its projection and actions; he revealed “their
alarming level of despair” and stressed, that they are
the same... as always.
He alluded to the capture of Venezuelan citizen Marco José
Balbuena Rodríguez, alias Patas Largas, from the state of
Zulia, from where he moved to Sucre (northeast), and
whose front man and payer for the purchase of
weapons ---- was captured today.
The sectoral vice president of Politics, Citizen Security
and Peace showed a batch of captured weapons such
as grenade launchers, rifle and RPG-7 grenades,
machine guns, Israeli-made rifles, cell phones,
radio equipment, GPS, among others.
He assured -- that everything is linked to José Balbuena and
as part of the operations of the security agencies, a citizen
of Trinidadian origin, Venezuelans and Colombians, was
captured.
“These weapons were not for trafficking drugs, but for
carrying out terrorist attacks within the country”,
he certified.
When referring to the issue of narcotics, Cabello pointed out
that they continue working and reported that, between
yesterday and today “they captured a very significant
amount of drugs”, including 317 kilos of marijuana
in the state of Apure (southwest) and 3,161
kilograms in Falcón (northwest).
He reported that the amount of drugs captured in the first half
of this year exceeds that seized in 2024, just as 396 aircraft
used for drug trafficking --- were shot down.
Cabello declared that they are currently carrying out an
operation in La Cañonera, state of Zulia (southwest),
where 163 kilograms of cocaine were seized, in
addition to those already announced, they
also made several arrests.
All of these drug trafficking actions, he reaffirmed, are linked to
terrorism operations, paramilitarism, conspiracy in Venezuela
and money laundering.
The political leader stressed the links of the extremist
opposition, led by María Corina Machado, with
Colombian drug trafficking and identified
former presidents Álvaro Uribe, Juan
Manuel Santos, Iván Duque and
Andrés Pastrana, as their
political bosses.
_______________________________________________
Russian Ambassador Botan-Kharchenko
said that the situation in Serbia...
is under control
July 1st, 12:53pm
(Vesti.ru)
The situation in Serbia is quite stable and is under the control
of the authorities, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander
Botsan-Kharchenko said on the Russia 24 TV channel.
This was the diplomat's comment on the mass protests in Serbia.
"In general, we can say that it [the situation in Serbia] is quite
stable. And in any case, this is probably the main thing, it is
under the control of the authorities. It is.... quite calm, at
least in Belgrade, in the main cities," the diplomat said.
However, it is too early to talk about a complete end to
the protests, according to Botsan-Kharchenko.
On June 28, protesters blocked Slavia Square in the centre of
Belgrade and the surrounding streets. They demanded early
parliamentary elections. On the same evening, they issued
an ultimatum to the authorities, demanding a date for the
vote. On June 29th, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic,
declared victory for the government over the protesters.
The day before, Serbian protesters announced on social media
that they had started a total blockade of roads, streets, and
intersections in the country.
_______________________________________
A floral bouquet was laid in Moscow
on the occasion of Belarus'
Independence Day
by Yuri Sizov
June 1st, 11:53am
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
On July 1, a wreath was laid at the Kremlin Wall to
commemorate the Independence Day of Belarus,
according to the Belarusian diplomatic mission
in the Russian capital.
"Ambassador Alexander Rogozhnik... and diplomats of
the Belarusian Embassy in Russia laid a wreath and
flowers at the Eternal Flame --- at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier and the memorial signs "Hero
City Minsk" and "Brest Hero Fortress" in the
Alexander Garden of the Kremlin, on the
occasion of the Independence Day of
the Republic of Belarus" ------ the
Embassy of Belarus informed.
The solemn ceremony, according to BELTA, was also
attended by representatives of the leadership and
staff of the Permanent Committee of the Union
State, the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Union of Belarus and Russia, plus the
Eurasian Economic Commission,
the CIS Executive Committee,
Russian diplomats.... and
representatives of the
Belarusian diaspora.
________________________
Without the Communist Party ---
There Would Be No New China:
Xi Jinping
July 1st, 10:24am
teleSUR)
The Chinese leader emphasized that his country’s
modernization requires strengthened unity
and diligence.
The Communist Party of China (CPC), which has led its
country through a remarkable transformation over the
76 years since it came to power, marked the 104th
anniversary of its founding, on Tuesday.
Ahead of the anniversary, President Xi Jinping, the Communist
Party’s top leader, presided over a group study session of the
Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, during which
he stressed ------- advancing full and rigorous Party
self-governance, by promoting good conduct.
“The tasks of advancing Chinese modernization entrusted to our
Party are extremely challenging, and the governing environment
is unusually complex. We must pull the string of self-reform
tighter,” said Xi, who believes that the Party must keep
strengthening itself, to always be the backbone of
the Chinese nation.
“Without the Communist Party of China, there would be no new
China and no national rejuvenation. The Party was chosen by
history and the people,” he said, as recalled by China Daily.
According to the latest tally, the CPC had more than 100 million
members and 5.25 million primary-level organizations at the
end of 2024. Monday’s group study session centred on a
theme that Xi has made a key task this year -- for
strengthening the Party, namely, bolstering
the whole Party’s compliance with the
principles of a landmark code of
conduct, known as the
eight-point rules.
The code was introduced under the aegis of Xi in December
2012, shortly after he was elected general secretary of the
CPC Central Committee. The document sets out rules for
Political Bureau members when they conduct research
tours, meetings and paperwork — and banning
extravagances such as lavish banquets,
red carpets and luxury perks.
The code has evolved into a consistent, Party-wide measure to
curb unnecessary formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and
extravagance — tendencies that risk alienating the Party
from the people.
Having profoundly reshaped official work styles in China over
the past decade, the eight-point rules --- continue to drive
efforts in this regard today. To sustain this momentum,
a nationwide education campaign was launched this
year, with Xi warning against the resurgence of
undesirable practices, in disguised.... or
mutated forms.
The code has served as a breakthrough point ---- for
comprehensively strengthening Party governance,
said Shen Chengfei, the dean of the School of
Marxism -- at Sun Yat-sen University. By
enforcing the code, the CPC showed
it delivers on its word. That is how
the Party builds and maintains
public trust, Shen added.
Under Xi’s leadership, efforts to strengthen the Party
have since been implemented with consistency and
determination. With this spirit, Xi has reshaped the
Party from within. What was once lax and weak
self-governance in Party organizations -- has
been tackled at the root.
Moreover, an overwhelming victory in the fight against
corruption has removed serious hidden dangers in
the Party, the country and the military. Italian
scholar Francesco Maringio, said the CPC’s
ability to reform itself is a key factor in
its success
UNYIELDING MISSION
A strong governing Party - has proven instrumental to China’s
progress, with achievements over the past decade including
lifting nearly 100 million rural residents out of poverty,
maintaining its status, as the world’s second-largest
A bill that provides for the introduction of US 500% duties for
countries that import Russian oil and gas could lead to a
new trade war and the collapse of the US economy.
This is the opinion of industry experts
interviewed by Izvestia.
According to Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University
and a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, the
bill allows the US president to impose such sanctions, but
does not oblige him to do so.
"If [US leader Donald] Trump wanted to impose sanctions,
he would do it by presidential decree. He wouldn't need
a separate bill," he said.
Ekaterina Kosareva, Managing Partner of VMT Consult, agrees
with her colleague. She recalled that Donald Trump did not
support the G7's initiative to reduce the price cap on
Russian oil from $60 to $45 per barrel.
Tamara Safonova, General Director of the Independent Analytical
Agency for the Oil and Gas Sector (NAANS-MEDIA LLC), believes
that a fivefold increase in customs duties will lead to buyers of
Russian hydrocarbons ceasing trade with the United States,
as well as a new round of transformation of supply chains,
with these countries' products finding buyers ----- in
alternative friendly markets.
According to her estimate, Russia's share in global oil
exports is 11%, pipeline gas is 28%, and LNG is 10%.
"Let's say the United States imposes such a duty, but China
continues to purchase Russian oil. What will happen? Will
all trade relations with China be terminated immediately?
How long --- will the American economy survive?
Moreover, the United States is currently
close.. to signing a trade agreement
with China, so it would be unwise
to re-engage in a conflict with
Beijing, over Russian oil. The
same applies to India which
has a warmer relationship
with the United States
than China.''
Valery Andrianov, an associate professor at the
Financial University under the Government
of the Russian Federation, noted that
Washington is unlikely to want to
sever its cooperation with New
Delhi .......over Russian
raw materials.
_________________________
The IMF - has approved another
$500 million loan - for Ukraine
June 30th, 7:41pm
(RT.ru
The IMF has approved another $500 million loan
for Ukraine under the ''Extended Fund'' Facility.
"The IMF Board of Directors today - completed the
eighth review of the Extended Fund Facility and
approved the allocation of \$500 million to
Ukraine, which will be used to support
the state budget," the fund said in a statement.
At the same time, the total amount of support
provided to Ukraine by the fund has reached
$10.6 billion.
Earlier, the author of an article in the newspaper
The Wall Street Journal, wrote ------ that the
International Monetary Fund, ''had
doubts'' about financing Kiev
due to a credit default.
______________________________
Lawyer Trunov: Ukraine's Western Allies
Funded the Terrorist Attack at Crocus
June 30th, 7:21pm
(RT.ru)
The Western allies of the Kiev regime financed the terrorist
attack at Crocus, and Ukraine itself was the organizer and
customer. This was reported by one of the terrorists in
his testimony, according to Igor Trunov, a lawyer for
the victims, as told to RT.
"From the testimony of Fariduni... the attack was ordered - by
the US, Germany, and the UK through funding. The organizer
was Ukraine, which attracted representatives of the Islamic
State*," he noted.
According to the defendant's lawyer, Ukrainian intelligence
agencies are hiring volunteers for subversive activities
within Russia.
According to Trunov, Fariduni wanted to stay in Ukraine after
the terrorist attack and participate in the fighting against
Moscow. The organizers promised to provide him with
a corridor to Kiev.
Earlier, it was reported that the perpetrators of the terrorist
attack at Crocus were waiting for a group near Bryansk to
escape to Ukraine.
* The Islamic State (IS, ISIS) is an organization recognized as
a terrorist organization by the Russian Supreme Court on December 29, 2014.
______________________________________
Ukraine - received $1.7 billion from
Canadain revenues from Russia's
''frozen'' assets
June 30th, 5:50pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Canada has transferred a $1.7 billion tranche to Ukraine,
the funds were received from the proceeds of Russia's
frozen assets. This was announced by Ukrainian
Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, on June 30.
"Ukraine has received about \$1.7 billion from Canada.
These are funds - secured by revenues from frozen
Russian assets," he wrote on Telegram channel.
Shmyhal said that, since the beginning of the year, Kyiv
has already received $17.6 billion from frozen Russian
assets, including the aforementioned tranche.
On June 17, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
announced that Ukraine would receive a $1.7
billion loan from Russia's assets. At the
same time, he stated that Ottawa
would provide Kyiv with a new
military aid package worth
$1.5 billion.
___________________________________
Putin called the potential of the DPR, LPR,
Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions ---
enormous
June 30th, 3:41pm
(RT.ru)
The potential of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's
Republics..... as well as the Kherson and
Zaporizhzhia regions, is enormous,
and it is important to unlock it,
Russian President Vladimir
Putin said.
He said this - at a meeting on
the development of Russia's
new regions.
Putin noted - that it is necessary to build or reconstruct
educational, cultural, healthcare, and sports facilities,
as well as to develop roads, housing, public utilities,
and the entire social infrastructure.
"It will be necessary to... in general, to reveal
the enormous potential of Donbass and
Novorossiya," the head of state said.
Putin emphasized that by 2030, the new regions must
reach the average Russian level in all indicators,
and it is necessary to create jobs with
decent salaries.
___________________________________
A post - calling for the extermination of Roma
cost a resident of Khabarovsk 10,000 rubles
by Marfa Mamaeva
June 28th, 9:32pm
(Gazeta.ru)
In Khabarovsk, a woman was fined 10,000 rubles for
commenting on a video of a child.... sitting in a toy
machine. This was reported by “Caution, News”.
According to the Telegram channel, the Lazo District
Court of the Khabarovsk Krai issued a decision on
the case of a 48-year-old woman on the charge
of inciting hatred on June 25. Her comment
was a response to a post that read: "In
the Khabarovsk Krai, Roma people
forced their younger brother into
a toy machine, so that he
could steal toys."
According to the publication, the woman wrote under
the post that the Roma had never worked, and were
used to stealing, and called for their extermination.
__________________________________________
Vucic rejected the Belgrade protesters'
ultimatum --- for early elections
June 28th, 9:21pm
(RT.ru)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic rejected an
ultimatum to hold early elections, which was
presented to him by protesters in Belgrade.
This is reported by Rossiyskaya Gazeta
with reference to state television RTS.
"The ultimatum has not been accepted,
there is no need to wait...," Vucic said.
According to him, the protests are part of
a foreign conspiracy to overthrow
the government.
Earlier, it was reported that demonstrators
clashed with law enforcement officers
in Belgrade.
According to the Serbian Interior Ministry, the
unauthorised protest in Slavija Square, is
attended by about 36 thousand people.
Police used force against protesters
in the centre of Belgrade.
_______________________________
Zakharova is right --- Nazis are being
brought to power in Europe: A lover
of the purity of the Greek race, has
been appointed Minister in Greece
by Sergey Gapchuk
June 28th, 6:22pm
(Komsomolskaya Pravda)
TO SHARE
The Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum is a far-right
politician who has advocated for the "purity of the Greek
race," Thanos Plevris. This was reported by the British
newspaper, the Daily Mail.
The publication noted that he is known for calling for
shooting migrants at the border, not providing them
with medical care, and not giving them food when
they arrive in Greece.
In addition, Plevris's father, who denies the Holocaust,
has been described by local media as the "founder of
Greek neo-fascism" and the "theorist of the
fascist state."
As the website KP.RU reported, the official representative of
the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented
on the biography of the recently appointed head of British
intelligence, Blaze Metreveli.
Her statement was prompted by information that Metreveli's
grandfather, Konstantin Dobrovolsky, collaborated with the
Nazis during World War II and ---- according to archival
documents, participated in crimes against civilians.
The diplomat highlighted a trend - where individuals
are purposefully and deliberately appointing Nazi
descendants to leadership positions in the
collective West.
Earlier, it was reported that back in 2023, Russian President
Vladimir Putin addressed German citizens in German and
warned them against supporting Nazism.
______________________________
A Democrat socialist from Uganda
could become mayor of New York.
Why is this important?
June 28th, 8am
(Izvestia.ru)
As part of the election of the mayor of New York, the
Democrat Party held primaries, which ended in an
unexpected way. The winner of the vote and the
main candidate for the post was a native of
Uganda, Zohran Mamdani, who calls
himself a socialist.
He promised to freeze the price of housing and tax the richest
residents of the city. Mamdani's victory was a success of the
radical wing of the Democrats, which can change the
political landscape of the USA. On why these
preliminary results of local elections are
important - is in this material of
the "News".
How did the primaries go?
The Democratic primary for the New York City mayoral election
took place on June 24, and was supposed to be a fairly routine
procedure that was unlikely to attract much attention. The
main favourite of the vote was the establishment
candidate, former New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo, who left office in 2021 amid
accusations of harassment -- and
an unsuccessful fight.. against
COVID-19. The only potential
rival for Cuomo, would have
been incumbent Mayor Eric
Adams, but... he declined
to run, for the Democrat
nomination ------- due to
corruption allegations
and low popularity.
Given that the Republicans' position in New York
is extremely weak -- the winner of the Democrat
primary is almost guaranteed to become mayor.
Until the final day of voting, Cuomo.. was confidently
leading the polls. However, the first results showed
that the experienced politician had been defeated
and unexpectedly lost to 33-year-old Zohran
Mamdani, who had virtually no support
in the spring.
The results of the primaries have not yet been finalized. They use
a so-called ranked voting system, where voters choose not just
one candidate from a ballot, but five at once, placing them in
order of preference. The results are tallied, using a system
that eliminates unpopular candidates, and transfers their
votes to other candidates. This process continues until
one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.
This type of voting avoids a second round, but requires a long
count. However, it is already known that Mamdani won and
Cuomo conceded defeat, and for the United States, this
event, which is formally only of a local level, became
a national sensation due to the personality and
views of the winning candidate.
Who is Zia Mamdani?
Zohran Mamdani was born in 1991 in Uganda. His father, an
Indian Muslim, is a professor of colonialism at Columbia
University, and his mother, a Hindu, is known in India
as a film director and producer.
When the future politician was five years old, his family moved
to South Africa, and two years later, they settled in New York.
In his youth -- Mamdani provided counseling to members of
ethnic minorities who were at risk of eviction from their
rental housing, and he also tried to establish himself
as a rapper. It was only 20 years after he moved to
the United States, that he obtained citizenship.
Mamdani began his political career --- as an aide to various
Democrat candidates in city and state elections. In 2020,
he ran for the New York State Assembly for the first time
and has since served as a congressman. Notably,
Mamdani.. has been the only candidate in his
district without any Republican opposition
in every election.
Mamdani calls himself a democratic socialist - for the US, this is
a fairly rarely used term, which of the well-known politicians
only identifies himself with the senator Bernie Sanders.
Some views and promises made by the candidate
during the participation in the primaries for
US society... are extraordinary.
The popularity of Mamdani's candidacy may also be influenced
by the current situation in the city. In recent years, New York
has been plagued by poverty, garbage, and an increase in
crime, with an increasing number of homeless people on
the streets, and the city's authorities struggling to
address these issues. As a result, real estate
prices have been on the rise, and Mamdani
has emerged as a representative of those
who are tired of the current situation and
the government's inability to address it.
In his campaign, Mamdani emphasized -- fighting inequality and
protecting the poor. He promised to limit rent increases, which
have made New York one of the world's most expensive cities
& build social housing by gentrifying wealthy neighbourhoods. Mamdani supports raising the minimum wage and increasing
the corporate tax rate, to match neighbouring New Jersey.
Among his proposals... which are particularly controversial in the
United States, is the introduction of a 2% tax on those who earn
more than $1 million per year. According to Mamdani, this
measure would generate $20 billion in revenue and fund
free university schools, freeze subway fares, make bus
travel free, and protect renters.
Mamdani, as a local-level politician, is an active critic of the State
of Israel, accusing it of the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip. He regularly participates in pro-Palestinian protests that
take place in New York City, the city with the largest Jewish
population in the world. At the same time, Mamdani
emphasizes that he is not an anti-Semite, and
has attracted a number of Jewish
organizations to his side.
What does his nomination mean for the United States?
Mamdani's victory in the New York primary was a major event
in U.S. politics, with far-reaching implications. It was a
notable success for the left-wing faction within the
Democrat Party. The centrist core --- which had
previously dominated the party -- but failed in
last year's federal elections, has now been
defeated in the internal arena, which
could signal a complete renewal
of the party.
Experts are already talking about the fact that the Democrat
Party is ripe for its own analogue of the MAGA movement -
a radical wing that will attract young people to its side
with its bold slogans and populist promises and will
become a formidable force in the next elections.
It is difficult to say yet that it will be led by
Mamdani, but the socialist ideas he has
proposed -- will definitely attract new
leaders who are ready to shock the
US in the same way as the current
president Donald Trump did in his
time. The radical left -- which the
White House chief ------ has been
scaring the US with, for so long,
will now be sufficiently inspired
to form a new force. Trump has
already expressed his opinion
quite clearly ----- about the
emerging popularity of
socialists..... calling
Mamdani a “crazy
communist.”
Mamdani also taught an important lesson to his party colleagues
on how to run a campaign. He did not focus on identity issues,
which the neutral majority was tired of. Mamdani prioritized
economic and social assistance issues, which were more
important to the public ----- than protecting the rights of
various minorities. He actively engaged with voters
on the ground, which was unconventional for the
democrat establishment.
Finally, Mamdani's clear and unambiguous stance on Palestine ---
contrasted with the compromise statements that typically come
from Democrats, which do not satisfy either Israel's supporters
or its opponents. The fact that a person with an active pro-
Palestinian stance has achieved political success -- could
potentially, lead to a shift in the traditionally favorable US attitude towards Israel, which seemed to be an
unwavering mainstream. Given Trump's active
efforts in this direction, the anti-Israeli
approach in US politics has a
promising future.
However, for now, only interim results should be drawn with
regard to Mamdani ----- and the revolution made within the Democrat Party. He has not yet become the mayor of the
largest and richest city in the United States.... as the
election.. is still more than four months away. The
defeated Cuomo may attempt to run again as an
independent candidate, and early polls suggest
his chances are roughly equal to Mamdani's.
Given the weakness, of the Republican position
in New York and the candidacy of Curtis Sliwa,
the two Democrats can afford to meet again
on the ballot without the threat of losing
the city to a different party.
Why this is important!
The election of the mayor of New York will now be
the starting point for changes in the Democrat
Party, which has been struggling.. to recover
from a series of defeats at the federal level.
The outcome of these elections -------- will
determine whether the party remains on
a centrist platform or fully transforms
into a left-wing force ------ capable of
challenging the Republican Party's
similar transformation. If this
happens, the US will divide
further into right and left
factions, exacerbating
the societal divide.
When preparing this article, Izvestia
interviewed - and considered - the
opinions of the following people:
US political scientist Malek Dudakov;
political scientist Dmitry Drobnitsky;
& the Americanist Roman Romanov.
After the NATO summit, the West -----
pointed to Putin's fulfilled prediction
by Ekaterina Volkova
June 27th, 10:15pm
(Gazeta.ru)
Russian President Vladimir Putin's prediction: of Europe's
subjugation to the United States came true at the NATO
summit in The Hague, according to journalist Clara
Statello of L'Antidiplomatico.
"The alliance leaders understood that in order to avoid a
disgraceful failure in The Hague, they had no choice
but to return to Trump on their knees,"
Statello said.
The journalist recalled that Putin said, in an interview with
Pavel Zarubin that Trump would “quickly restore order in
Europe” and that Western leaders would “fall at the
master’s feet.”
Statello clarified that the NATO summit in The Hague was
intended to hide growing disagreements over Russia,
the Middle East, and international trade.
Prior to that, Putin at a press conference on the results of
the EAEU summit in Minsk, said that it is not Russia that
is aggressive, but the collective West.
The President also noted that amid the rhetoric about
Russia's alleged aggressiveness, there is a need for
Europe to arm itself.
Earlier, the Russian Embassy accused NATO
of destroying the “peace dividend”.
_____________________________________
Trump: The US is ending trade negotiations
with Canada ---- and will impose tariffs
by Alexey Merkulov
June 27th, 7:45pm
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
US President Donald Trump announced the immediate
termination of all trade negotiations with Canada in
response to the country's introduction of a digital
services tax that affects US technology firms.
A statement by the White House chief of staff, published
on the Truth Social social network, noted Washington's
plans to impose tariffs on its northern neighbour.
The US leader noted that the US had just learned that
Canada had imposed a digital services tax on US
technology companies. "This is a direct and
blatant attack on our country," Trump
wrote on his social media platform.
According to him, Canada's actions are similar to those
of the EU..... which is also considering introducing a
similar tax, increasing tensions in trade relations
between the United States and its partners.
_________________________________________
"We paid for it with inflation."Putin revealed
Russia's defense spending & may reduce it
by Anastasia Alympeeva (editor of the
operational information department)
June 27th, 7:29pm
(Lenta.ru)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, June 27th, spoke
at a press conference in Minsk -- and said that the RF may
reduce budget spending on defense, the growth of which
has become ''one of the reasons'' ...for the increase in
inflation rates. At the moment, according to him,
the agencies are discussing such plans.
''We have a considerable [defence] spending today, it is
6.3 percent of GDP. Is it a lot or a little? I think it is a
lot, and this is, of course, one of the problems,
including for the budget, we have to solve.''
The Russian leader specified --- that 6.3 percent of GDP is
13.5 trillion rubles (the total volume of GDP in monetary
terms is 223 trillion). "We paid for it (the increase in
budget expenditures) in inflation, but we are now
struggling with this inflation," he stressed.
The Russian president noted that while the country's
plans include reducing defense spending, NATO
countries, on the contrary, plan to increase
spending in this area. "So ---- who, is
behaving aggressively?"
he asked.
In general... describing the economic situation in both
Russia and Europe, he pointed out that the European
colleagues are constantly “burying” Moscow,
despite the fact that they themselves are
experiencing great difficulties and are
literally on the verge of survival.
''They'll be dead soon! And they're
burying us ---- nonstop.''
He specified that last year, the Russian economy grew
by 4.3 percent. At the same time, in 2025, according
to him, this is... "much more modest, with the aim
of combating inflation - but we are doing it
purposefully."
"And - in the Eurozone, growth is 0.9 percent," Putin recalled.
The same happened in the country with the growth of
salaries, which last year added 9.7 percent, and at the beginning of this year - 4 percent.
Speaking at a Defense Ministry board last year, Putin
emphasized that the increase in defense spending
has its limit.... and cannot go on forever. As of
December 2024.. spending on increasing
defense capabilities had increased
to 6.3 percent.
The President noted that in addition to defense, it is
necessary to develop other areas as well: the
economy, science, education, healthcare,
and others --- that are important for
Russian society.
The Russian budget for 2025-2027 ---- envisaged the following
expenditures: 41,469.5 trillion rubles in 2025 (19.3% of GDP),
44,022.2 trillion rubles in 2026 (19.1% of GDP), and 45,915.6
trillion rubles in 2027 (18.5% of GDP).
At the same time, this week budget parameters for this year
were adjusted with an increase in the deficit from 0.5% to
1.7% of GDP. Also.. the annual decrease in the share of
defense spending in the budget was laid in the plan
until 2027. And in 2026, there is an increase in
spending on social policy, and the national
economy, but in general in the structure
of spending in 2025-2027, the largest
volume will be spent on national
defense, social policy and
the national economy.
At the end of last year, the head of the State Duma Committee
on Defense Andrey Kartapolov provided specific figures for
the National Defense section: 13.49 trillion rubles in 2025,
12.79 trillion in 2026, and 13.07 trillion in 2027.
"The allocated funds will allow us to continue developing our
army, which includes the needs of the special military
operation and, of course, the social protection of
our soldiers. This is an absolute priority,"
he said.
Global military spending has skyrocketed
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI), global military spending reached almost
$2.72 trillion last year. By 2023 --- it had increased by a
record-breaking 9.4% since the end of the Cold War.
Europe and the Middle East showed the fastest growth
in this area, while the US, China, Russia, Germany,
and India, accounted for 60 percent of global
defense spending.
In total - 100 countries increased
their defense spending last year.
___________________________________
Carney announces that Canada and the US
will continue their negotiations after
Trump's harsh remarks
by Alina Kochneva
June 27th, 7:25pm
(Komsomolskaya Pravda)
TO SHARE
Canadian Prime Minister Calls
Talks with Trump "Difficult"
The Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded to
the statements of Donald Trump about negotiations.
He emphasized - that the parties will continue
the dialogue. At the same time, Mark Carney
admitted that he had not yet spoken with
Donald Trump after the statement about
the termination of US contacts with
Canada. The Prime Minister
said this to journalists.
Mark Carney described the dialogue as "difficult." The Prime
Minister also declined to answer a question about Canada's
readiness to eliminate the digital services tax, a topic that
sparked a heated reaction in the White House.
"We will continue to conduct these difficult negotiations
based on the interests of Canadian citizens,"
Mark Carney concluded.
Donald Trump also described the dialogue with Canada
as difficult. He condemned Ottawa for imposing a tax
on US digital services.
_____________________________________________
Human Rights Council: More than 90 percent
of political fake news is generated by AI
by Anna Spitsyna
June 27th, 1:28pm
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
More than 90 percent of all political fakes are generated
by artificial intelligence, said Elina Sidorenko, head of the White Internet NGO and a member of the
Presidential Council for Civil Society
Development and Human Rights.
According to her, AI has become very involved in politics:
more than 90 percent of political fake news --- is generated by artificial intelligence.
According to her, AI generates such fake news
that "strikes at the heart of problems" and
affects a wide range of people.
"People sometimes don't have time to counter this
by verifying the information......... because the
avalanche - is huge," she emphasized.
According to experts, the use of deep fakes will grow
by 300 percent per year. Experts from the Human
Rights Council believe that this will have to be
countered "very soon and very seriously."
According to their estimates, deepfakes are also being
used in militarized areas. The current "era of drones"
is proof of this.
In this situation, the need to regulate the digital sphere is
becoming increasingly urgent. According to Sidorenko,
such regulation is already taking place through
"pilot modes."
However, it is crucial to consider
comprehensive legal protection.
__________________________________
Putin: The EAEU's trade turnover
is comparable to that of the
world's leading powers
June 26th, 5:24pm
(RT.ru)
The EAEU's trade volume is comparable to that
of the world's leading economic powers.
This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin
at the plenary session of the Eurasian Economic
Forum. RT is live streaming.
He specified that trade with third countries
increased by 38% and amounted to
$800 billion.
"This is a comparable trade turnover between the
world's leading economic powers, and it is a
substantial trade turnover," Putin said.
Earlier, the head of the RDIF, Kirill Dmitriev, said
that the internal trade of the BRICS countries
reached $1 trillion.
________________________________________________
Kosachev on the NATO summit:The West
is losing its illusion of permissiveness
towards Russia
June 26th, 11:11am
(Vesti.ru)
Western countries are losing the illusion of
permissiveness and impunity... in their
relations with Russia. This ---- was
stated by Konstantin Kosachev,
the Deputy Chairman of the
Federation Council of the
Russian Federation,
on the Russia 24
TV channel.
Commenting on the results of the NATO summit held
in The Hague, the senator noted that Russia was
mentioned only once in the final document,
compared to 63 mentions in 2021.
He also emphasized that individual European leaders
have repeatedly stated that they do not perceive a
threat from Russia.
"For me, the good news is that, finally -- in Western Europe,
or at least in Europe to the west of Russia, the illusion of
permissiveness and impunity... that they have nurtured
for as long as they have felt unwavering support from
the United States of America ----- is gone. It is no longer a factor," Kosachev said.
Earlier, the senator said that Germany - judging by the
summit held in The Hague - has strayed... from the
usual NATO formula which was declared by the first Secretary General of the alliance,
Hastings Ismay.
_________________________________________
Russia-China Relations
Stronger than Ever:
Defense Minister
June 25th, 4:10pm
(al Manar)
Relations between Russia and China are stronger than
they have ever been, thanks in large part to the
personal friendship between the leaders of
the two countries, Russian Defense
Minister, Andrey Belousov, said.
“Friendly relations between Russia and China have seen
an upward trend across the board --- and reached an
unprecedented level. Trusting contacts between
the two leaders --- have played a key role in
strengthening our strategic ties. And we
are set to put all agreements reached
so far, into practice,” the Russian
defense chief said at a meeting
with his Chinese counterpart
Dong Jun, in Qingdao.
Belousov noted, that Russia is looking forward to “close
and fruitful cooperation --- with our Chinese comrades,
including at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,”
as he expressed confidence that “today’s talks will
help deepen the bilateral strategic partnership ---
in the defense sphere.”
In turn, Dong revealed.... that he and Belousov will
“exchange opinions on issues of mutual interest.”
This year simultaneously marks the 80th anniversary
of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Russia
and the Chinese People’s War of Resistance
against Japanese Aggression.
Source: TASS News Agency
______________________________________
Russian Foreign Minister to head
delegation to BRICS summit
June 25th, 1:15pm
(Latin Press)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will lead the
delegation of the Slavic country to the BRICS
summit in Rio de Janeiro on July 6 and 7,
presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov,
reported today.
President Vladimir Putin will participate by videoconference,
but the foreign minister will be present in Brazil, Ushakov
told reporters on Wednesday.
He added that Putin’s participation by videoconference is due
to “certain difficulties in the context of the requirements of
the International Criminal Court (ICC)”, which, in 2023,
issued an arrest warrant against the Russian leader.
In this context, the Brazilian government could not take a clear
position that would allow our president to participate in this
meeting, he added.
In March 2023, the ICC, whose jurisdiction Moscow does not
recognize, issued arrest warrants against Putin and the
Russian presidential commissioner for children’s
rights, Lvova-Belova, allegedly holding them
responsible for the illegal transfer of
Ukrainian children to Russia.
The minors were actually evacuated from combat zones,
where their lives were in danger, to safer places.
The jurisdiction of the ICC is not recognized by countries,
where more than half of the world’s population lives:
China, Egypt, the US, India, Indonesia, Iran,
Russia and Türkiye, among others.
__________________________________________
Leaders of Cuba and Uzbekistan
to attend EEU Summit
June 25th, 12:59pm
(Latin Press)
Cuba and Uzbekistan... observer countries in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), will participate in the organization’s summit events in Minsk, Russian presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov announced today.
The senior official also reported in a briefing that, at the
event to be held on June 27 in the Belarusian capital,
the United Arab Emirates and Mongolia will also be
invited as guest states.
The expanded meeting.. will be attended by heads of the
observer states: the Cuban and Uzbekistan presidents,
Miguel Díaz-Canel & Shavkat Mirziyoyev, repectively,
said the representative of the Kremlin.
Ushakov also noted that, among the guests of honour, are the
first deputy prime minister of Mongolia, Nyam-Osoryn Uchral,
and the president of UAE, crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed
al Nahyan.
Moldova is an observer country in the EEU since 2018,
Cuba and Uzbekistan since 2020, and Iran since 2024.
In addition, Vietnam, Mongolia and the United Arab
Emirates have shown interest in cooperating with
the association.
The EEU has already signed a trade agreement with Hanoi.
Ushakov noted, that nearly 3,000 people --- including
members of the Eurasian Economic Union as well
as 26 other countries --- will participate in the
Eurasian Economic Forum.
The forum is being held in conjunction with the forthcoming
meeting of the Supreme Economic Council of Eurasia.
The current forum is the fourth.
This is a pretty big event, the counselor said.
It will be attended by representatives from the five UEE member
countries. “Several representatives from 26 other countries are
also invited. A great economic meeting. But..... under the
auspices of the UEE”, explained Ushakov.
____________________________________________
UN reaffirms condemnation of Israeli
distribution mechanism in Gaza
June 25th, 12:44pm
(Prensa Latina)
Desperate people in the Gaza Strip face the inhumane choice
of starving to death or risking murder while trying to obtain
food, the UN denounced, in a statement.
Since the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” began
operating on May 27, the Israeli army -- has bombed and
fired daily at Palestinians trying to reach distribution
points, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) criticized.
The institution noted that more than 410 people died as
a result of this campaign, in addition to another 93
who tried to approach the few aid convoys
entering the territory.
At least 3,000 Palestinians were injured
in these incidents, the Office warned.
Given this situation, it stated that “each of
these murders must be investigated -
promptly and impartially.”
The killing of civilians resulting from the illegal use
of firearms, constitutes a serious violation of
international law and a war crime,
it stressed.
The organization emphasized that Palestinians in Gaza
are suffering from hunger, caused by the conflict and mainly --- the Israeli blockade.
This is compounded by the systematic destruction of
local food production and the economy, as well as
the repeated, forced, mass displacements over
the past 20 months, it recalled.
___________________________________________
Venezuela mobilizes in support of
Maduro’s proposed World Summit
June 25th, 10:54am
(Prensa Latina)
In support of President Nicolas Maduro's proposal to hold
a World Summit for Peace and Against War, Venezuelans
will take to the streets of Caracas and other regions of
the country, including Guanare, Portuguesa state;
Yaracuy, in Sucre; Barquisimeto in Lara,
and Barinas.
Last Monday, Maduro proposed holding a world summit
in West Asia to urgently address the nuclear threat
looming over humanity, and the search for peace.
In a letter sent to heads of state and government around
the world - in the presence of ambassadors accredited
in Caracas, Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez
read the document in which Maduro called for peace,
a cessation of hostilities against Iran ------ and the
restoration of international law.
The message warned that humanity has entered a phase of
“maximum tension and violence,” with the intensification
of Israel’s attacks on Iran, which was aggravated by the
United States’ military aggression against peaceful
nuclear facilities in Iran.
It stated that this action threatens to unleash “a crisis with
catastrophic nuclear consequences” for that region and
the world, compounded by Israel’s persistent refusal
to dismantle its undeclared nuclear arsenal, and
its refusal --------- to comply with “the IAEA
inspection regime.”
The Bolivarian leader affirmed that this “sustained impunity
represents a serious risk to collective security”
by undermining the principles of the
multilateral system.
Hence the urgent call for organizations in the Global South and
other regional bodies - such as the Non-Aligned Movement,
the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, the Gulf Cooperation Council, plus the
African Union, the BRICS, and the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States.
In the Venezuelan dignitary’s view, this call for a cessation
of hostilities “should constitute the first step toward a
comprehensive political solution, built on dialogue,
legality, and sovereign respect among states.”
______________________________________
Russia calls on Bogotá to intensify its efforts
to combat the recruitment of Colombians
into the Ukrainian Armed Forces
June 25th, 1:16am
(Vesti.ru)
Russia is interested in Colombia strengthening its efforts
to combat the recruitment of Colombians into the
Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), according to
Russia's Ambassador to Colombia,
Nikolai Tavdumadze.
The Colombian Parliament is considering a bill to
ratify the 1989 UN Convention against the
Recruitment, Use, Financing and
Training of Mercenaries.
"We would like Bogota to act more decisively in this
direction and take measures to prevent "soldiers
of fortune" from traveling to Ukraine for the
"long ruble," RIA Novosti quotes the
ambassador as saying.
Meanwhile, each mercenary makes their own decision
about participating in the conflict in Ukraine. The
Colombian authorities - are not campaigning in
support of mercenaries and have even urged
their citizens to refrain from traveling to
Ukraine, Tavdumadze emphasized.
According to the Ministry of Defense, Colombians
are the first in terms of the number of foreigners
participating in the fighting....... on the side of
the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For example -
the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to hold
Lysovka in the DPR ...with the help of
Colombians and Poles.
Colombian citizens are asking the Russian embassy
for help in finding their relatives who went to fight
in Ukraine as mercenaries.
_________________________________________________
China to Receive Foreign Students from
Harvard -- after Trump’s Attempted Ban
on Foreign Admissions
June 25th, 1:09am
(teleSUR)
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
(HKUST) confirmed that five postgrad students from
Harvard, affected by Trump’s administration ban on
foreign admissions to U.S. educational institutions,
accepted scholarships to continue their research
in the Chinese city, becoming the first University
in the region to formalize the incorporation of
these Harvard students.
An HKUST spokesperson told the South China Morning Post
that the candidates, originally from Pakistan, Georgia, and
mainland China, received several offers of financial
support for projects in science, technology,
and humanities.
Hong Kong faculties opened simplified enrollment processes, issuing unconditional acceptance letters to the Harvard
candidates. Additionally --- they established teams to
assist with the transition, managing aspects such
as housing and visa procedures...... aiming to
ensure their smooth integration into the
local system.
The institution, globally recognized for its excellence and its
strategic position as a bridge between China and the world,
has attracted 200 global inquiries, consolidating itself as
an academic shelter amid Washington’s restrictions.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered -- in May -- the
transfer or departure of international Harvard students, claiming
alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party, a decision driven
by the Trump administration that heightened tensions with the
Massachusetts entity. However, a federal judge blocked this.
Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands,
leader of the political party "Forum for Democracy" (FvD),
Thierry Baud ---- called on the country's government ----
to facilitate a diplomatic settlement of the conflict in
Ukraine and normalize trade relations with Russia.
He made this statement in a video message
shared on the social network X
(formerly Twitter).
"FvD sends a strong message: that this is not our [conflict],
that the Netherlands should stay out of it, that we should
insist on a diplomatic solution and a ceasefire to stop
the loss of life and normalize trade relations with
Russia," he said. RIA Novosti quoted him.
Bode called this a truly important decision. According to him,
if the Netherlands does not do this, "things will only get
worse." He also emphasized that the country's
economy is being destroyed - due to
this situation.
He emphasized --- that FvD is the only party that wants to
end the conflict, and clarified that the entire policy in
The Hague ------- is aimed at continuing it.
The day before, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans
announced a new €175 million military aid package for
Ukraine. According to him, the package includes
radar systems and drones. He also said that
Amsterdam has signed contracts with
Kyiv for the production of
600,000 drones.
____________________
The Doctor of Economics - named the starting point of the collapse of the world's "Western-centric model"
by Dmitry Voronin
June 24th, 3pm
(Lenta.ru)
The economic crisis of 2008 - became the starting point of the
process of disintegration of the "West-centred model" of the
world, and the corresponding processes accelerated after
the coronavirus pandemic in the early 2020s. Professor
of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty
of International Relations of St. Petersburg State
University, Doctor of Economics, Stanislav
Tkachenko, told the radio station
"Moscow Says".
"For many decades, the global majority was satisfied with the
situation where Western countries provided financial or
technological assistance, and in return, they were
allowed to export their goods to the markets of
developed countries. Yes, this was unfair, it
was not assistance but corruption, and it
did not contribute to the development
of these countries, but this model
persisted for decades," the
economist explained.
Describing Russia's place in these processes, the expert
noted that the country "was pushed out of this Western
-centric world of geoeconomics, and now that we have
realized our interests, we understand - that we don't
necessarily need to integrate into the entire global
economy," as there are regions where Russia's
interests, are particularly significant.
Among these regions, Tkachenko mentioned the countries
of BRICS, SCO, and the post-Soviet states, with which, a
system will be established that "will not allow Western
-centric interests to prevail."
According to IMF data cited by RIA Novosti, the BRICS
countries' share in the global economy was 36.8%,
while the G7 countries' share .....was 28.86%.
Earlier, the President of Indonesia, which became a member of
the community in 2025 --- which includes China, India, Russia,
Brazil, and a number of other non-Western states, speaking
at the plenary session of SPIEF-2025 --- reported on the
country's refusal to make a choice between utopian
socialism and inequality-inducing capitalism.
According to Prabowo Subianto, every country should have
a sovereign economic policy, although many countries in
Southeast Asia, make the mistake --- of following the
"lead of the largest and most powerful forces."
_______________________________________________
US Congressman presents another
impeachment proposal for Trump
June 24th, 1:21pm
(Prensa Latina)
Democrat Al Green, member of the US House of
Representatives, today -- filed an article of
impeachment against President Donald
Trump -- for not notifying or seeking
congressional authorization ---
to attack Iran, as the US
constitution legally
requires.
The resolution ''alleges'': “abuse of presidential
powers, by ignoring the separation of powers,
which degenerates American democracy ----
into authoritarianism by unconstitutionally
usurping..... Congress's power to declare war”.
He added --- that President Trump's unilateral and
unprovoked use of force, “without authorization
or notice from Congress, constitutes an abuse
of power when there was no imminent threat
to the United States --- facilitating the
degeneration of US democracy
into authoritarianism”.
Congress has the exclusive power to “declare war”
under Article 1 of the United States Constitution,
but presidents of both parties have attacked
adversaries --- without the approval of the
highest body of the legislative branch,
making all of them unpunished war
criminals... but hey! It's the
USA!
The Texas congressman's resolution, calls Trump an
“authoritarian president” and “a threat to American
democracy”. Green also mentioned the attack on
the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the controversial
immigration agenda ----- and his attacks against
federal judges, in his impeachment attempt.
Trump was acquitted by the US Senate, when
subjected to impeachment attempts before:
continuing his career.... regardless.
Only a turning of the Senate, in the
mid-term elections ---- might do it!
___________________________________
SVR: Russia Regrets that Serbia's
"Thirst for Profit"Undermines
Traditions of Friendship
June 23rd, 1:10pm
(RT.ru)
Moscow regrets that Serbia's "thirst for profit"
has undermined its tradition of friendship
with Russia.
This information is provided in a statement issued
by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service's
press bureau in connection with the supply
of Serbian ammunition to Ukraine.
The article emphasizes - that their common faith has
united the Serbian and Russian peoples, for many
centuries ------ inspiring them to fight their
common enemies.
"It is regrettable, that these traditions of friendship and
mutual assistance, are now being undermined by the
desire for profit ---- and cowardly multidirectional
policies," the press release stated.
Earlier, the SVR said that Serbia's defense industry
enterprises..... send shells to NATO countries
for Ukraine.
____________________________________________
Hungary and Slovakia have blocked
the adoption of the 18th package
of anti-Russian sanctions
by George Parkhomenko
June 23rd, 11:57am
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
Hungary and Slovakia, prevented the adoption of
the 18th package of sanctions - against Russia,
Hungary's Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto said.
This was reported by the TASS news agency.
"Today, Slovakia and I prevented the adoption
of the 18th package of sanctions," the diplomat told reporters.
He argued that if the proposal were adopted, Budapest and
Bratislava would lose access to Russian natural gas and
oil, which account for a significant portion of their
energy imports. Replacing these sources, with
more expensive alternatives, would have a
negative impact on domestic prices.
On Monday, a meeting of EU permanent representatives is
taking place in Brussels, where the adoption of another
package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus..
is being considered.
Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after a meeting of
the country's Defense Council, emphasized that Brussels should
lift all restrictions on the supply of Russian energy resources --
as prices may significantly increase, in light of the escalating
conflict in the Middle East. According to him, Europe already
faces challenges in this area, due to the Iran-Israel conflict.
____________________________________________
Putin: The West is trying to prevent the establishment of a fair world order
by Kira Latukhina
June 23rd, 11:28am
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his greeting to
the participants of the Primakov Readings forum,
announced a serious destabilization in the world.
"Attempts by Western countries - to prevent the
establishment of a just multipolar world order,
and preserve the model of globalization that
is beneficial only to them ------ have led to a
significant destabilization, of the situation
in the world," Russian President, Vladimir
Putin said in his welcome to participants
of the Primakov Readings forum.
One of the manifestations of this is the tragic escalation
of the conflict in the Middle East, Putin emphasized.
The theme of the readings, "Global Turbulence,"
accurately reflects the current situation in
international relations, he noted.
The President is convinced - that an effective confrontation,
with challenges, and a departure from the Western-centric coordinated system ------ can only be achieved, through
collective efforts.
He made the same call ------ at the plenary session of the
St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.
___________________________________________
Medinsky spoke about the hatred
of Russia in Ukrainian textbooks
by Marina Sovina (night editor)
June 21st, 7:12pm
(Lenta.ru)
Ukrainian textbooks instill hatred of Russia in children,
said Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky on
Solovyov Live TV channel.
According to him, Ukraine instills “hatred of the Russian
people” from an early age. “Unfortunately, their
textbooks and educational materials instill
hatred,” the politician emphasized.
He clarified that sooner or later, this would stop, and
the authors of these manuals would "fade........
into oblivion."
Earlier, the Federation Council told about the formation
of a negative attitude towards Russia, among
Ukrainians. As the senators specified,
hatred towards Russia, has been
instilled in Ukrainian citizens
for many years.
_______________________________
Zakharova named the goal
of the West's hybrid war:
Zakharova -- The West's
hybrid war on Russia is
designed to destroy
the EU economy
June 21st, 1:05pm
(RT.ru)
One of the goals of the hybrid war waged by the West against
Russia --- is to undermine the economic performance of the European Union. This was stated by Maria Zakharova, the
official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, to media on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 21.
According to the diplomat, the EU has become a strong
player on the global stage, in recent years, with its
economy strengthening - and the euro currency
proving to be..... secure and stable. In her opinion, the dollar lacks such support.
"The euro currency is backed, but the dollar currency
is not. They had to influence it ---- somehow,"
Zakharova said.
In her opinion, this could be a reason for the collective
West's desire... to weaken the EU through hybrid
methods, such as sanctions and conflicts.
Earlier in the day... Zakharova spoke about protecting Russian
youth --- from the liberal dictatorship of the West. In her opinion, young people need not just to be informed or rallied -- but to be explained the fundamental moral and ethical norms ---- in order to counteract the destructive Western ideology.
It was not difficult to assume that the United States would
abandon Zelensky's Ukraine ----- at the most inopportune
moment for the Kiev regime. An illegitimate regime can
only win on television and only if the opposition media
is destroyed. The Iran-Israel war ....has pushed the
Ukrainian conflict into the background - and it is
not the last hot spot on the map of the United
States' most important interests, which
does not include Ukraine.
Washington is officially ending military aid to Ukraine, according
to The Telegraph. At a congressional hearing this week on the
U.S. military budget for 2026, Secretary of Defense Pete
Hegseth confirmed that the Trump administration has
a "completely different perspective" on the war in
Ukraine than Joe Biden, and insisted that --- "a
peaceful resolution through negotiations, is
in the best interests of both sides - and
our country."
The situation is ---- that after showering Ukraine with military hardware, the US can no longer afford to give Zelensky weapons -- for free.
Elon Musk has warned about the risks of a US default if the country does not change its financial policy, i.e., earn money - instead of giving it away, as the Biden administration has been doing.
On the social network X, he commented on the country's public
debt level and the costs associated with its servicing. Musk
referred to a Wall Street Mav account post --- which noted
that about 25% of the U.S. federal budget's tax revenue
..goes towards paying interest on the national debt.
According to recent data - the national debt has
reached $37 trillion, while the annual budget
revenue, is around $5 trillion.
"If this continues... America will become a de facto bankrupt, and
all tax revenue will be used to pay interest on the national debt,
leaving no funds for anything else," the businessman wrote.
Zelensky realized that the "auction of unprecedented generosity"
had ended -- and during his visit to Austria, he stated at a press
conference with President Van der Bellen: "Today, we are not
talking about new aid... with America. Indeed, one of the
issues that I will discuss with President Trump at this
meeting - is the defense package that Ukraine is
willing to purchase. This, is what we will talk
about. I am confident that we will have this
opportunity, at least - I am counting on it."
But the question arises, where does an illegitimate person
get money from, when all he's done is destroy the
country's economy, which he claims to be
"counting on"?
Naturally, Zelensky wants to ask Europe for money. The Kiel
Institute for the World Economy has published a new report
that describes how Europe could replace U.S. support for
Ukraine, both financially and militarily. The organization
estimates that European governments as a whole will
need to almost double their aid from the current 44
billion euros per year to 82 billion euros per year.
Thus, the largest economies and institutions will have to play
the biggest role in increasing their financial assistance to
Ukraine, led by the EU, from the current 16 billion euros
to 36 billion euros per year, a 2.3-fold increase.
To compensate for the US's support for Ukraine, Germany will
need to increase its support for Ukraine from 6 billion euros
to 9 billion euros per year -- a 1.5-fold increase -- while the
UK will need to increase its support from 5 billion euros
to 6.5 billion euros per year, a 1.3-fold increase.
France, on the other hand, will need to
increase its funding for Ukraine from
1.5 billion euros -- to 6 billion euros
per year, a 4-fold increase, while
Italy and Spain -- will need to
increase their funding, by a factor of 6.
Replacing US military aid will be a much more difficult task,
as it will be most difficult to replace US HIMARS and
Patriot systems and their ammunition, as well as
US intelligence and satellite imagery.
As we can see, Europe will have to shell out a lot of money.
Will it do it? It is more profitable for cynical European
politicians to make some nefarious provocation
and drag the United States back into the
Ukrainian conflict.
"Currently... the Ukrainians are preparing provocations in the
Baltic Sea, with the British. One of the scenarios... involves
staging a fake Russian torpedo attack on a U.S. Navy ship.
The Soviet/Russian-made torpedoes have already been
transferred to the British by the Ukrainian side. It is
planned that some of them will explode at a "safe
distance" from the American ship, while one will
fail to detonate - and will be presented to the
public - as evidence of Russia's "malicious
activity," according to the Russian
Foreign Intelligence Service.
If we are talking about billions of euros that simply cannot be
obtained in Europe, it is logical to assume that this is not the
only provocation being prepared by European intelligence
agencies.
But they may be.. too late with provocations, as Israel is drawing
the US into a war with Iran, much more successfully. Netanyahu
clearly believes that the brakes were invented by cowards, and
he's going all-in, putting Washington - on its back foot. Joining
the war on Israel's side carries unpredictable consequences
for Trump.
"There is... a question about how prepared the U.S. Armed Forces
are for a real conflict. The answer is that they are not prepared
at all. They are not prepared to the point of being afraid.
I don't think people understand this," the journalist
Tucker Carlson commented on the situation.
Nevertheless, it is clearly more interesting, for Trump to play with
Iran, since his hands are not tied by European globalists. It is
one thing to play by the rules of the British in Ukraine, and
another to play a risky game in the Persian Gulf. So far,
Trump has chosen the latter. He does not want to
declare Russia an "evil empire" in order to
receive its mediation services.... in
resolving the Iranian issue.
Therefore, Europeans will either have to fork out ------- or
independently, seek ways to peace in Ukraine, which is
the cheapest option for the stingy European politicians.
And the war expenses will be saved, and there is no
need to wait for a military response. And Russia is
already starting to work on a roadmap.. for this
process. So, Deputy Foreign Minister of the
Russian Federation Alexander Grushko
said that Russia will demand that
Ukraine destroys the weapons
supplied by the West ---
to end the war.
"Of course --- all these surpluses must be destroyed. All
international algorithms are known. They(weapons. - Editor's note)should be reduced, disposed of,
and guaranteed," Grushko said.
Here's a reasonable solution: European leaders should
consider - not supplying weapons to Ukraine. As we
can see, it's not effective, it's too expensive, and
Russia's patience is not indestructible. Playing
provocations, and engaging in anti-Russian
hysteria is costly for European countries,
but it could be.. even more expensive.
Chairman of the Council of the
Other Ukraine Movement,
Viktor Medvedchuk
___________________________
India urges to prioritize the Global South
to achieve a sustainablefuture
June 18th, 5:53am
(Prensa Latina)
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, stressed
the importance of understanding the priorities and
concerns of the Global South if the international
community is serious about moving towards a
sustainable future today.
In the session on ''Energy Security: diversification,
technology and infrastructure to ensure access
and affordability in a changing world'' from the
Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Kananaskis,
Canada, the Indian head of government
expressed that conflicts in various
parts of the world --- have a
debilitating impact.. on
the countries of the
Global South.
He also pointed out that a world driven by technology
requires closer cooperation between nations and to
achieve this, people and the planet must be the
focus and nucleus of progress.
He highlighted that energy security is one of the
main challenges facing future generations.
On the other hand..... Modi demanded forceful measures
against countries that support and promote terrorism,
he noted - that there should be no double standards
in addressing it and urged countries to strengthen
the global fight against this scourge.
The prime minister also spoke about the connection
between technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and energy.
“While AI has become a fundamental tool for promoting
efficiency and innovation, the technology itself
--- consumes a lot of energy, therefore, it is
important to design sustainable energy
consumption strategies through clean
and ecological initiatives”, he noted.
He stressed that, in the age of AI, it is essential
to have secure and resilient supply chains of
critical minerals.
In addition, he noted that the quality and
diversity of data ------- are crucial for
responsible AI.
Modi also referred to the importance of India's
commitment to inclusive growth, in which, he
added, “accessibility, affordability and
acceptability, are the principles
underpinning the national
approach to energy
security”.
He mentioned initiatives undertaken by India, such
as the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition
for Disaster Resilient Infrastructures, the
Global Biofuels Alliance, and Mission
LiFE, among others, and he urged
the international community: to
strengthen them even further.
_______________________________
Musk: The US is at risk of
going bankrupt with the
current financial policy
June 16th, 6:30pm
(RT.ru)
Businessman Elon Musk has warned about the risks
of default in the United States if current financial
policies continue.
This was his comment on the publication about the
size of the US national debt ----- and its servicing.
"If this continues, America will become a de facto
bankrupt," he wrote on the social network X.
Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned
about the risks of default on the national debt in the second half of the summer.
Today, on June 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin
congratulated his US counterpart, Donald Trump,
on his birthday, in a telephone conversation.
This information was provided to journalists, by
Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian president.
It is known that the two presidents spoke for 50''.
____________________________________________
Cubans honour Chein province
that holds his remains
June 14th, 12:25pm
(Prensa Latina)
A representation of the people of the central Cuban
province of Villa Clara paid tribute on Saturday to
Ernesto Che Guevara, on his 97th birthday,
at the memorial that holds his remains.
The day started with a parade of hundreds of workers and
students through several points of the city, protagonist
in 1958 of the Battle of Santa Clara, a key event for
the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, and left
Che ....forever linked to this city.
Later, the Sculpture Complex, which houses the remains of
the Argentine-Cuban guerrilla fighter since 1997, was the
venue where 130 fourth-grade pioneers changed their
scarves, representing all those in the province who
are now members of the “Jose Marti” Pioneers
Organization (OPJM).
The leading political and government authorities in the
central province awarded the “June 14” distinction
and the Young Communist Youth Union (UJC)’s
card to outstanding students and workers.
This June 14, Cubans also remember the 180th birthday of Antonio Maceo -- one of the leading leaders of the Mambi struggles for the country’s independence, and antagonist of the invasion of the West, one of the most important military campaigns in America in the 19th century.
______________________________
The United States --- between
protests and military parade
June 14th, 11:58am
(Prensa Latina)
Today will be a day of contrasts in the United States:
more than 2,000 protests against Donald Trump's
policies and a military parade in honour of the
250th anniversary of the Army, which
coincides with the president's
79th birthday.
The demonstrations, including in the country’s capital,
are expected to spread throughout the country under
the name “No Kings” with the aim of “honouring civil
liberties ------ for all,” according to the organizers.
In addition, they will express their open rejection of
deportations - the United States’ complicity with
Israel in the genocide in Gaza, the drastic cuts
that resulted in federal employee layoffs and
the dismantling of federal agencies.
The protests were called by the 50501 Movement (“50
States, 50 Protests, One Movement”), formed ---- as they suggest, by people interested in defending
democracy ---- against Trump’s authoritarianism.
“No King’s Day is a day of national rebellion. From cities
to small towns, from stairwells... to courthouses to
community parks, we are taking action to reject
authoritarianism and show the world what
democracy truly looks like,” they state
on their official website.
What began as widespread raids in Los Angeles and
its surroundings last week has become a flashpoint
that has sparked a hotbed of protests.
Trump deployed thousands of California National Guard
members to the city, and 700 Marines were mobilized.
About 400 immigrants have been detained since
June the 6th, by the federal authorities in
Southern California.
“Everyone is in shock,” said a reverend, who recorded a
video of an arrest in his church parking lot. “We never
imagined that this would - literally - come to our
doorstep,” according to press reports.
Meanwhile, on his Truth Social network, the Republican
president announced the parade that will take place in
Washington, DC, this Saturday. It will be spectacular
and will go down in history as the biggest and best
parade ever seen here, he said. The approximate
cost of this event could reach up to $45 million.
An estimated 200,000 humans are expected
to attend the parade, which will be open
to these sheeple, with free admission.
___________________________________
World Blood Donor Day:
save lives & give hope
June 14th, 11:09am
(Prensa Latina)
On Saturday, Humans celebrate World Blood Donor Day
(WBDD), a global tribute to the millions of voluntary,
unpaid blood donors who, in doing so, give others
another chance at life.
Officially designated as an annual event by the World
Health Assembly (WHA) in 2005, this year’s theme is
“Give Blood, Give Hope: Together We Save Lives.”
Among the campaign’s objectives are to raise public
awareness of the need to save blood and blood
products to ensure people’s health, and
convince regular and new donors to
do so regularly, to help ensure
stable, sufficient reserves.
It also aims to highlight the positive effect of blood donation
on the health, well-being of others, and promote solidarity,
compassion, and community spirit - through this action.
Blood transfusion is a medical procedure in which blood is
transferred from one person to another to replace blood
components lost due to surgery, injury, bleeding
disorder, or disease, including cancer,
hemophilia, diabetes, etc.
_____________________________
LGBT supportershave set up a "corner"
in a children's library in Australia
June 12th, 5:03pm
(RT.ru)
The Perth Children's Library - in Australia,
organized a corner with LGBT literature
to celebrate Pride Month.
An RT subscriber who lives there - sent a video
from the library. Among the books on display
are a memoir by a “drag star” who dressed
in women’s clothing and, “made a name
for himself in gay bars,” a collection
of travelogues -- with a focus on
LGBT topics ----- and a novel
about the same-sex love
.....of a US' ''maid''.
Earlier, Anatoly Norovyatkin, the distribution director of
the Eksmo publishing house, was detained due to the
promotion of the LGBT movement in the books of the Popcorn Books publishing house.
* The LGBT movement is recognized
as extremist and banned in the
Russian Federation.
______________________________________
Pushkov: The EUFailed to
Replicate the Maidan
Events in Tbilisi
June 12th, 4:27pm
(RT.ru)
The EU's attempts.. to create a second "Maidan" in Georgia
have failed, according to Russian Senator Alexey Pushkov.
"The EU --- failed to repeat the 'Maidan' in Tbilisi... The Georgian
authorities placed their bets on the interests of their country,
not the Brussels liberal dictatorship — and won," he wrote
on his Telegram channel.
According to him, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
has said that the EU is afraid of Georgia and envious
of its economy.
The senator added that Tbilisi had refused to follow the
EU's instructions in both its domestic and foreign
policies. He concluded that the "proud levers"
of European Commission President Ursula
von der Leyen - to falsify elections in
Georgia ---- had not worked.
___________________________
Orban called the Georgian authorities
"an animal" that the EUis afraid of
June 12th, 1:08pm
(RT.ru)
According to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban,
EU countries are afraid of facing the "beast" in the
form of the Georgian government.
"For them, the Georgian government is a beast that
Brussels is afraid to face..... face to face,"
NewsGeorgia quotes him as saying.
Orban claims that Georgia is the envy of the world
--- due to its economic growth and reduced
national debt.
Earlier, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze,
said that the country has evidence of EU funding
of extremism.
It was also reported that --- the NATO and EU
information centre in Georgia, will be closed.
______________________________________________
ANI: Indian police have found
two survivors at the site of a plane crash in Gujarat
by Elizaveta Bubnova
June 12th, 1:06pm
(Komsomolskaya Pravda)
TO SHARE
According to information as of 16:30 Moscow time, the
Indian police have found two survivors after a plane
crash in Gujarat on Thursday, June 12. This was
reported by ANI, citing the Commissioner of
the Ahmedabad department, Gyanendra
Singh Malik.
"The police --- found one survivor on the scene (in the cabin
of the plane) 11A. One survivor was found in the hospital
and is currently undergoing treatment," he said.
An Air India plane crashed shortly after takeoff near
Ahmedabad Airport in India. According to the
preliminary reports, there were 242
passengers on board, and their
fate is unknown. Witnesses,
have posted videos of the
fire at the crash site.
Malik added that the death toll from the plane crash may
rise further, as the Boeing crashed in a residential area.
The plane was en route to the UK, but something went wrong at the
take-off stage.
As KP.RU wrote earlier, footage of a medical dormitory in
Ahmedabad, India, where an Air India Boeing 787-8
Dreamliner crashed, has been posted online.
According to local media reports, at
least 30 students were injured.
__________________________________
Venezuela.. expresses
condolences to India
for plane crash
June 12th, 11:40am
(Prensa Latina)
Venezuela - extended its deepest condolences to the people
and Government of India, for the tragic plane accident that
occurred today in the Meghani Nagar area, that the entire
nation mourns.
On behalf of President Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan Foreign
Minister, Yván Gil, highlighted that the ties of brotherhood
between Caracas and New Delhi -- “call us to unite in
mourning, to pray for those who left and to wish
for the speedy recovery of the wounded”.
This Thursday, an Air India plane crashed to the ground near
the Ahmedabad airport, in the coastal state of Gujarat, in
which 242 people were traveling, of them.... 230
passengers and 12 crew members.
The first reports indicated that the airship was flying to London,
United Kingdom, with 169 Indian travelers, 53 British, seven
Portuguese and one Canadian, although the number of
victims is unknown at this time.
Health relief teams and firefighters were immediately sent to the
scene of the accident to provide first aid, while the competent
authorities began investigations to determine the causes
of the accident.
The plane was commanded by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal,
considered an experienced pilot, and was accompanied
in the cockpit by First Officer Clive Kundar, reported
the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of the
Asian country.
____________________________________________
South Africa expresses its
condolences to India
after plane crash
June 12th, 11:33am
(Prensa Latina)
The South African Government and people today expressed
their sincere condolences to the Government and people
of India following the crash of an India Airlines plane
that occurred today shortly after taking off from
Ahmedabad, India.
A statement from the South African Foreign Ministry recalls
that flight AI171 was traveling from Ahmedabad to London
when it crashed in a residential area shortly after takeoff.
The plane was carrying 242 people of various nationalities.
The crew was made up of two pilots and 10 cabin crew.
The travellers are divided into 169 Indian nationals,
53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese.
The cause of the accident is still unknown.
The South African people accompany the people of India, as
well as those of all other countries affected by the accident,
in these difficult times, and it extends its solidarity to
families who have lost their loved ones, the
brief text concludes.
_____________________________________________
The Polish Sejm expressed
a vote --of no confidence inthe Tusk government
June 11th, 3:44pm
(RT.ru)
The Polish Sejm... expressed a vote of no
confidence in Donald Tusk's government.
According to TASS, citing TVP Info, 243
deputies expressed their support for
the n--confidence motion ----- while
210 parliamentarians opposed it.
_____________________________________
A Fifth Day of Protests in California’s Los Angeles
June 11th, 2:09pm
(al Manar)
Protests over federal immigration policy - continued for
a fifth consecutive day in California’s Los Angeles, as
demonstrators demanded the withdrawal of National
Guard troops and condemned what they described
as overreach by President Donald Trump.
The unrest has sparked a widening political and constitutional
clash between the White House and California’s Democrat
leadership, which accuses Trump of inflaming tensions
---------- by violating the state’s jurisdiction over
internal security.
Hundreds of protesters once again blocked traffic on a major Los
Angeles freeway in a renewed wave of demonstrations across
California. In response, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
declared a local state of emergency and imposed
a nightly curfew in the downtown area, citing
concerns over looting and vandalism.
“I’ve declared a local emergency and imposed a curfew
downtown to stop the escalating destruction and
looting,” Bass told reporters.
She confirmed that at least 29 stores had been looted in
what she called the most serious escalation since
federal forces arrived. The curfew is expected
to remain in place for several days, pending
a review of the evolving situation.
Crisis Erupts Over Immigration Raids
The protests were initially triggered by federal raids targeting
immigrant communities but quickly morphed into a broader
political crisis between California and the Trump
administration. President Trump defended
his decision to deploy federal troops to
Los Angeles --- calling it a necessary
response to what he described as
a national security emergency.
Addressing US troops at a military base in North Carolina,
Trump declared that “generations of American heroes
didn’t shed their blood on distant shores only to see
our country destroyed from within by lawlessness
and third-world invasions.”
“What we’re witnessing in California, is a full-scale assault
on public order and national sovereignty, led by agitators
waving foreign flags. We will liberate Los Angeles,”
he continued.
Trump’s remarks followed his order to deploy 700 US Marines
and 4,000 National Guard personnel to Los Angeles - a move
critics have condemned as a politically
motivated overreaction.
Legal and Political Battle Intensifies
California Governor Gavin Newsom sought an emergency court
order - to block the deployment of federal troops, arguing that
Trump had unlawfully bypassed state authority. However, US
District Judge Charles Breyer denied the immediate request
---- though he granted additional time for the administration
to formally respond.
In a sharply worded statement, Newsom accused Trump of
“undermining American democracy” and “commandeering
state forces ------- to enforce immigration policies
....without consent.”
California has filed a lawsuit against the federal government,
alleging that Trump is using military force to carry
out immigration enforcement in defiance of
the state’s objections.
Unrest Spreads Beyond Los Angeles
As tensions grow, protests have expanded to other major cities,
including San Francisco, Dallas, and parts of Kentucky. With
no sign of de-escalation, both political and legal battles
continue to deepen — highlighting the fractured state
of US federalism in an election year defined by
immigration, national identity, and
executive power.
Source: Al-Ahed News Website (Edited and
translated by Al-Manar English Website)
____________________________________________
President Sheinbaum --- Expresses
Solidarity With Cristina Fernandez
June 11th, 12:31pm
(teleSUR)
‘It is a political matter, and she has our
full support,’ the Mexican leader said.
On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum
expressed her solidarity with former Argentine
President Cristina Fernandez (2007–2015)
after Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld
a six-year prison sentence ------ and
disqualified her from holding
public office.
“Yes ---- all our solidarity goes to Cristina. From our point of
view it is a political matter, and she has our full support,”
Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference.
Sheinbaum’s gesture came one day after the Argentine
Supreme Court rejected the appeal filed by Fernandez
against the 2022 ruling ------ which cited alleged
irregularities in the awarding of public
road contracts.
The unanimous decision by the three Supreme Court justices
will now move forward with Fernandez’s arrest in the coming
days so she can begin serving her sentence. Fernandez has
denounced the ruling as a case of “Lawfare,” referring to
the use of legal systems ---- for political persecution.
A text reads, “Now, in the middle of the night, thousands
of people in Argentina continue to take to the streets to support Cristina Fernandez - against lawfare.”
In a speech outside the Justicialist Party (PJ) headquarters,
Fernandez said the judges who upheld her sentence “are
puppets who answer to higher powers” and described
them as a “triumvirate of disgrace.”
The 72-year-old politician had announced last week her
intention to run as a provincial legislator in elections
scheduled for September in Buenos Aires Province,
the largest electoral district in Argentina.
Sheinbaum and Fernandez, have had a close relationship
marked by mutual admiration. After winning the Mexican
election, Sheinbaum invited the Argentine leftist leader
to her transition house ----- where they discussed the
importance ----- of supporting alternatives to
neoliberal governments.
Cristina Fernandez’s Prison Sentence
Is a Political Maneuver: Lula Institute.
_______________________________________
The EU has opposed the rejection
of Russian energy resources
by Andrey Prokopyev
(night line editor)
June 10th, 8:25pm
(Lenta.ru)
Hungary - strongly rejects the EU Commission's plan to
phase out Russian energy resources, as this proposal
will have a negative impact on the country's energy
ecurity and may lead to increased utility costs.
This was stated by Hungary's Foreign Minister
Peter Szijjarto, as reported by RIA Novosti.
The official emphasized that at the upcoming meeting of
the energy ministers of the EU countries, he intends to
ensure that the Brussels plan does not cut Hungary
off from its current energy sources. According to
him, Budapest considers this issue to be an
important part of its sovereignty, and
therefore it will not allow Brussels
to dictate to Hungary which
energy sources it can
purchase from.
Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto noted that
the country wants to continue cooperation with Russia in
the energy sector. In a telephone conversation with his
Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, he called the EC's
plan to abandon the supply of Russian energy
resources by the end of 2027 extremely
harmful for its economy.
He pointed out the importance of such cooperation, as
without it, the costs of citizens and companies will
increase several times. Szijjarto described this
development as unacceptable for Hungary.
______________________________________________
Arestovich: I despise Ukrainians, they
don't want to change their minds
by Artem Vereykin
(Night Line Editor)
June 10th, 8:11pm
(Lenta.ru)
Former adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine,
Alexey Arestovich (included in the list of terrorists and
extremists by Rosfinmonitoring) spoke extremely
sharply about Ukrainians. He stated this -- on
one of his last live broadcasts on YouTube.
"I despise the Ukrainians. You're bullshit. Utter bullshit,******,
about which it is a shame to wipe your boots. No self-
respecting person, Austrian, Australian or alpha
Centauri, on the same hectare with you *****
should not sit down," he said.
The reason for the emotional reaction -- was the news about the
release of a new school textbook, which praises some political
and cultural figures of modern Ukraine. "What are you fighting
for, for the system that turned you into cattle? You swear at
the Soviet Union, so it was 150 times freer. You can still
think about it, but you don't want to think about it,"
he concluded.
Earlier, Arestovich predicted the collapse of Ukraine. "The
familiar Ukraine within the borders of '91 - is no longer
there. There will be some other Ukraine. Maybe
there will be several of them," he said.
_________________________________________
Musk's father: Dostoevsky's books
taught me to see through the veil
of propaganda about Russia
June 10th, 6:51pm
(RT.ru)
The father of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, entrepreneur Errol
Musk, said that he was told from a very young age in the
West that things were bad in Russia, but this turned
out to be untrue.
"But I've learned to see through this veil. The books of
Dostoevsky that I've read... How can such beautiful
literature come from this 'barbaric nation'? And
then you realize where the truth lies, and you
can see --- that something is wrong with
Western theory," Musk shared in
an interview with RG.RU.
He also pointed out that many of the world's
leading inventors, including those in the
United States, have Russian names.
He cited Sergey Brin -- who became a
co-founder of Google, as an example.
__________________________________
Armies of Cuba and Nicaragua
will work to strengthen ties
Havana - June 10th, 12:17pm
(Prensa Latina)
Colonel General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez Ruiz, chief
of the General Staff of the Nicaraguan Army, declared
today in this capital that he will work to strengthen
ties with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Cuba (FAR).
With the FAR and the people of Cuba there are unbreakable
ties of brotherhood, and we hope that they continue to be
strengthened and we can continue learning from our
Cuban brothers, he assured ---- in a brief exchange
with journalists at the El Cacahual Mausoleum.
We are highly honoured to be here. Coming to Cacahual is a
source of pride for us. We are going to remember this and
we will transmit its importance to the new generations
of officers, he said.
Likewise, Rodríguez Ruiz thanked “our brothers from the FAR
for the invitation to return to what is our second homeland,
where, practically, many of us trained”.
He also declared that the importance of his visit demonstrates
to the world that we maintain ties of brotherhood and
friendship, permanently, as our people of Cuba
and Nicaragua deserve.
The FAR and the Nicaraguan Army are twinned, working to
better prepare ourselves, day by day, to fulfill the sacred
purposes of defending the homeland, the peace and
freedom of our people, he asserted.
At the monument, Rodríguez Ruiz, along with the delegation
accompanying him, was received by Army Corps General
Roberto Legrá Sotolongo, first vice minister, chief of the
General Staff of the FAR, and other senior officers.
In addition to placing a wreath where the remains of Lieutenant
General Antonio Maceo and his assistant Pachito Gómez rest,
Legrá Sotolongo explained to the visitor the events that led
to the inauguration of El Cacahual and its symbolism.
After his arrival in Cuba the day before, the Colonel General will
complete a work agenda until June 18 that includes visits to
military units and entities, in addition to centres of
cultural and historical interest.
____________________________________
Venezuela and Cuba for new levels
of cooperation and exchange
June 10th, 12:08pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Governments of Venezuela and Cuba are working for new
levels of economic cooperation and increasing bilateral
exchange, official sources reported here today.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Trade, revealed the
information on its Instagram account - after a meeting
between the head of the sector Coromoto Godoy and
the island's ambassador in Caracas ------- Dagoberto
Rodríguez, with a group of national businessmen.
This meeting served to promote the presence of the
Bolivarian Republic at the XX ExpoCaribe 2025
International Fair, which will be held from
June 23 to 27 in the eastern province
of Santiago de Cuba, the
source indicated.
He highlighted that ''this fair, is a strategic opportunity to
consolidate alliances, show the productive potential
of Venezuela and deepen economic integration
between our peoples.''
He highlighted that, united by an unbreakable brotherhood,
with formidable social achievements: ''we work for new
levels of economic cooperation, to increase bilateral
trade exchange and add value to our exportable
goods'' in addition to sharing knowledge and
experience for export diversification ---
he highlighted in the message.
______________________________________
Mexico registers a 25.8% drop
in intentional homicides
June 10th, 11:50am
(Prensa Latina)
Mexico's authorities reported today a 25.8% decrease
in the incidence of intentional homicide during the
first 8 months of President Claudia Sheinbaum's
administration.
The executive secretary.. of the National Public Security
System, Marcela Figueroa, stated that in September, a
month before the start of the current government, the average amounted to 86.9 homicides per day, which dropped to 64.5 in May.
“In eight months there was a 25.8 percent decrease in
this crime”, said the official during the dignitary's
usual meeting with the media, adding that the
data also represents a reduction of 22
homicides per day.
Furthermore, May of this year is the lowest average since
2016, said Figueroa, who also highlighted a reduction of
29.1% between 2018, with 100.5 homicides per day,
and the first five months of 2025, with 71.3.
According to him, from January to May --- seven states
are responsible for 51.6% of the total of these crimes
in the country: Guanajuato, which represents 13.3%
at the national level, Baja California (6.8), State of
Mexico (6.8), Chihuahua (6.7), Sinaloa (6.4),
Guerrero (5.8) and Jalisco (5.7).
“From the beginning of the administration, in September 2024,
to February 2025, Guanajuato maintained an upward trend,
with a 34.8% increase in intentional homicide crimes;
However, since March a downward trend began to
be registered”, the secretary highlighted.
Figueroa attributed the decline to operations and arrests
carried out by federal forces against generators of
violence, which influenced a 55.6% reduction in
the average daily intentional homicide
between February and May 2025.
Regarding high-impact crimes, authorities report a decrease
of 18.7% from October 2024 to May 2025, and a drop of
43.6% - between 2018 and this year.
“Regarding the daily average of high-impact crimes between
January-May 2019 and January-May 2025, in all cases,
except extortion, it is observed that there was a
significant decrease,” the official noted.
For example, he detailed, feminicide decreased by 24.4%;
gunshot injuries, at 27.1; kidnapping, at 72.8, and the
total number of robberies with violence, at 48.
The administration implements a national security strategy
based on four axes of action: attention to the causes,
consolidation of the National Guard, strengthening
intelligence and investigation, and coordination
with the federal entities.
________________________________________
Brazil:Ibero-American youth demands in
Brics -an end to the blockade of Cuba
June 10th, 11:48am
(Prensa Latina)
The general secretary of Ibero-American Youth, Alexandre
Puppo, broadcast here today, from the eleventh Brics
youth summit ---- a strong call to the international
community to denounce the prolonged United
States blockade against Cuba.
In his speech --- Puppo asked to make visible the devastating
effects of the criminal siege that directly affects the entire
Cuban society, and more crudely, its youth population.
He pointed out that this siege, in force for more than six
decades, represents a systematic violation of the
human rights of the Caribbean people, by
preventing full access to technologies,
financing, etc, --- medicines and
development opportunities.
''Cuban youth ------ are direct victims of an inhumane policy
that restricts their life projects and hopes,'' he stressed.
During his speech, he also firmly rejected the inclusion of
Cuba on the unilateral list of States sponsoring terrorism,
prepared by the White House.
According to Puppo, this qualification without legal basis
reinforces the financial isolation of the island --- and
criminalizes its sovereignty, further deepening
the daily difficulties of its youth.
''It is urgent to break the international silence and act
collectively:to make visible the havoc that this
blockade causes ----- in the new Cuban
generations,'' he expressed.
He added, that concrete actions of solidarity,
denunciation and support will be promoted
from the Ibero-American network.
The youth representative highlighted that, at a time when
Cuba is beginning to integrate as a nation associated
with the Brics, initially composed of Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa --- and recently
expanded, it is essential that the alliance
strengthen its support for the island.
Not only from economic cooperation, he said, but also from
an ethical position, regarding hegemonic policies that
seek to strangle a nation for ideological reasons.
Puppo's statements resonated with the delegations
present, many of whom expressed their support
for ending the blockade.
In a global context in which youth emerge as key actors
of transformation --- the demand for respect for the
development of young Cubans, is installed with
renewed force on the international agenda.
The illegal and widespread economic and financial
measure imposed by Washington against Cuba
has a profound and negative impact on key
sectors such as education and health,
especially on its youth.
________________________________________
CTV: About 700 US Marines will
arrive in Los Angeles in the
coming hours
June 9th, 11:25pm
(RT.ru)
About 700 US Marines will arrive in Los Angeles
in the coming hours.... to respond to ''the riots''.
This is reported by CTV News, referring to
the message of the Northern Command
of the US Armed Forces.
"On Monday, the Marines are moving out of their base
in Twentynine Palms in the California desert. The
soldiers have been trained in de-escalating
tensions, crowd control and current rules
of engagement - and they will be armed
with the weapons they normally carry.
In addition, it is specified that, in addition to the
Marines, more than 2 thousand National
guardsmen were sent to the city.
US President Donald Trump said earlier that Los
Angeles would have been destroyed by
protesters if he had not decided to
bring in the National Guard.
The head of the Federation Council Commission on
Information Policy, Alexey Pushkov, at the same
time, commenting on the riots in California,
said that, in the 21st century, the United
States.. can become "disconnected".
California sues Trump administration
over National Guard deployment
in Los Angeles
June 9th, 9:10pm
(PressTV)
California has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration
for deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid
protests over immigration raids, Attorney General
Rob Bonta, announced.
The deployment, ordered by President Donald Trump,
followed clashes in downtown Los Angeles, where
police urged protesters to disperse.. after police
reported incidents of vandalism and looting.
On Sunday, protests in a small section of downtown Los
Angeles, turned violent, with demonstrators setting cars ablaze, including five Waymo self-driving vehicles, and looting stores.
Law enforcement responded with tear gas and rubber
bullets. Trump, accusing protesters of "insurrection,"
deployed National Guard troops to quell what he
described as "violent, instigated riots."
He claimed the city would have been "obliterated"
without federal intervention - and warned that
protesters disrespecting security forces...
will be "hit ---- harder than ever before."
California Governor, Gavin Newsom, condemned the
deployment, accusing Trump of inflaming tensions.
"This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He fanned
the flames," Newsom said --- confirming the state’s
lawsuit against the federal government. Trump
dismissed Newsom’s criticism ------ even
suggesting the governor... should
be arrested.
The protests --- sparked by Immigration and Customs
EU countries have been ''allowed'' to use €335 billion
from the COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery Fund
for rearmament and ''defense'' spending.
According to Politico, for the implementation of this program,
the EC has set a deadline of August 2026. It is specified that
access to money from the fund will be granted only to those
countries ...that meet a number of ''requirements''.
The publication stressed that the preference for defense
projects ----- reflects "a radical change in EU priorities."
Earlier in Poland, containers with weapons
were found...... on the border with Ukraine.
Also, the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte,
spoke about ''the priorities'' in new military
purchases of the alliance.
____________________________
Multipolar world without dollar predominance, predicted in Seville
by Fausto Triana
June 4th, 12:22pm
(Prensa Latina)
A multipolar world - without the predominance of the dollar is on the horizon, although much will depend on international political ups and downs, experts in Seville said today.
During the final day of the VIII Congress of the Alliance
for Ibero-America Business Council (CEAPI), a panel
took place --- focused on expectations about
economic and commercial dynamics,
and the role of coins.
Under the name “Financial keys for a volatile environment in
Latin America” Juan Carlos Escotet, president of Abanca,
one of the most important banking entities in Spain, he
analyzed the context of uncertainty due to the tariff
increase imposed in markets by the United States
and its impact on the region.
“Any loss of multilateralism is going to be the main problem
of the new international order. A loss that increases
uncertainty and volatility -- which drives away
investments”, Escotet stressed.
By elaborating on the topic, he said that this is a change in the
rules of the game that deteriorates commercial relations and
threatens the US exceptionality that opted to convert the
dollar into a reserve currency, something that is
now questioned.
“The diversification of payment methods has also undergone
a change that hits the dollar predominance and increases
the presence of other currencies. We are going to a
multipolar monetary world”, Escotet predicted.
The president of Abanca - praised the attitude of “keeping a
cool head” of the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum,
towards the policies of Donald Trump, “because the US,
Canada and Mexico - are condemned to understand
each other”.
Likewise, he believed that there are alternatives such as
the EU-Mercosur agreement --- that diversifies options
and opportunities.
However, Escotet, generally, warned about.. “the
hyper-regulation”, in the sense that it “causes
a serious loss of competitiveness ---- by
accounting for 20% of our interests
and commissions. Also it's hard
- to reverse”.
Another topic addressed on that date referred to the energy
structure in Spain, with the explanations of the president
of Red Eléctrica (REDEIA), Beatriz Corredor.
The transformation of the global scenario and the opening of
unprecedented cooperation spaces for Ibero-America, with
a focus on “New world, new businesses, new
opportunities”, was the essence of
the colloquium.
In addition, the issue of the US call for Europe to assume a
more decisive role in its own defense, was addressed,
with an intense debate among businessmen about
its convenience ...or not.
___________________________________
President of Mexicodefends
the work ofthe Cuban
medical brigades
June 4th, 11:43am
(Prensa Latina)
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, affirmed today
that there is a legal contract for doctors from Cuba to help
the population of this nation --- and rejected that it is
“forced labour” as stated by the United States.
“First, it's not forced labour. It would have to be proven.
In the case of Mexico -- there is a contract with Cuba
and other countries, due to the problem that Mexico
had in the neoliberal period - when doctor training
stopped ”, the Chief Executive clarified, in her
usual press conference.
“So, there is a contract for Cuban doctors to help the
population in Mexico. We don't see any problem
with that. It is legal, it is open - and it has no problems”, she emphasized.
The president thus responded to a question about the
announcement by the US Secretary of State, Marco
Rubio, about the imposition of visa restrictions on
Central American officials.... for the alleged
“exploitation” of doctors on the island.
On May 23, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno
Rodríguez --- highlighted the scope of his country's
international medical cooperation and assured
that the United States Government, is now
carrying out a fake news campaign
to discredit it.
“Cuba's medical cooperation --- celebrates 62 years of
solidarity work”, said the head of diplomacy of the
Antillean nation - in a message published in X.
As highlighted on the platform itself - “more than
605 thousand Cuban Health professionals have
provided their support --- in 165 countries”.
Rodríguez also declared that - the “ignominious
campaign of the United States government --
will never stop this altruistic collaboration”.
“We have a sovereign right and a
moral duty towards humanity”,
he asserted.
_______________________________
Pachakutik Rejects: the Establishment
of Foreign Military Bases in Ecuador
June 4th, 10:34am
(teleSUR)
The constitutional ''reform'' --- will directly benefit the
United States and its geopolitical ambitions to use the Galapagos Islands.
On Tuesday, Ecuadorian lawmakers approved a measure
that will allow the installation of foreign military bases
in the Andean country — a possibility that would
directly benefit the United States, and its
geopolitical ambitions to use the
Galapagos Islands.
With 82 votes in favour, 60 against and 6 abstentions, the
right-leaning National Assembly, amended Article 5 of
Ecuador’s Constitution, which previously declared
the country a territory of peace, and explicitly
prohibited foreign military bases.
Minutes later, the Indigenous political party Pachakutik’s
national coordination rejected the constitutional reform,
which passed ----- with the support of some of its own
legislators. The party’s full statement is below:
The text reads, “So now we’re going to have well-being and
peace? Why are we getting a U.S. base? This time we’re
really going to fulfill our dream? People are truly naive.
They’ve been deceived so many times by right-wing
neolibertarian lies, and yet we’re still in misery.
Colombia --- with seven joint military bases with the U.S.,
remains the Latin American largest drug producer and
one of the most insecure countries. When are they
going to understand: that this has nothing to do
with laws or bases, but rather with the use of
public investment resources?”
“The National Assembly has finally approved a constitutional
reform -- that authorizes the installation of foreign military
bases. This not only undermines our national sovereignty
as a country, it also allows the Noboa administration to
deceive Ecuadorians with empty promises about
fighting drug trafficking groups.
There is ample experience in neighbouring countries that
have also fallen victim to drug cartels, facing similar or
even worse levels of violence - where more than one
foreign military base was installed — with almost
no results. Even when some of the most visible
cartel leaders were captured or killed --- the
cartels continued to grow. In many cases,
foreign military personnel ended up
joining the cartels or profiting
from the war.
Additionally, these foreign military forces were used to
suppress social and political sectors opposed to the
ruling governments ---- and to monitor territories
granted to foreign mining and oil companies.
The government has -- so far -- only mentioned possible
cooperation agreements with two countries - the US
and Israel. In the current international context, the
former - is pushing a military conflict with Russia
and an economic one with China ----- while the
latter is carrying out a war of extermination
against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
It is not speculation to state that,
given Noboa’s subservience, he
may ultimately drag Ecuador
into an international war.
By definition, Pachakutik and the Indigenous movement have
defended national sovereignty, not as an abstract right, but
as an effective way -- to protect our territories, national and local economies, the human and political rights of Ecuadorians, and peace and neutrality in
international conflicts.
These are our principles and ethics of struggle, which is why
we openly reject the vote of Pachakutik assembly members
who, guided by blindness or political opportunism, are
voting alongside the neoliberal government.
That --- is not why grassroots organizations or voters supported
their candidacies. If that was their vision from the beginning,
it would have been more honest for them to run under the
ruling party, the National Democratic Alliance, rather
than tarnishing the historic struggle of the people.”
China today.... advocated working together with South Korea
to improve bilateral relations, after learning of the election
of Lee Jae-myung ---- as the new president of the
neighbouring nation.
In a congratulatory message, Chinese leader Xi Jinping
noted... that Beijing attaches great importance to
relations with the Republic of Korea.
Likewise, he called for further progress in good
neighbourliness, friendship, and mutual
cooperation, a message that Foreign
Ministry spokesman, Lin Jian,
also highlighted.
The spokesperson indicated that both sides should
adhere to the shared benefit goal and jointly
promote the continued development... of
the strategic cooperative partnership.
Lin Jian noted that the fundamental driving force
for the development of bilateral relations
comes from the common interests of both nations.
In this sense, he stressed that these relationships
should not be directed against any third party or influenced by external factors.
''China.... has always opposed taking sides -- and
confronting in blocks'', the spokesperson said.
Regarding this issue, the spokesperson urged
Washington not to interfere in its relations
with South Korea.
''China advises the United Statesto change its old
stance of perceiving China based on its own
actions --- and stop creating discord in
China-South Korea relations'',
he stressed.
Lee Jae-myung, candidate of the liberal Democratic
Party --- won the early presidential election with
49.42 percent of the vote, after the political
crisis ----- that the neighbouring nation
experienced - after the dismissal
of Yoon Suk-yeol.
__________________________________
India wins presidency
of IIAS international
administration entity
June 4th, 7:36am
(Prensa Latina)
India won the presidency of the International Institute
of Administrative Sciences (IIAS)... in the elections
held between New Delhi and Austria, it was
announced today, in the above capital.
In a statement, the Ministry of Personnel, Public
Complaints and Pensions reported -- that the
Indian candidacy received broad support
from all members, with 87 of the
141 votes.
The ministry explained that India is a member of the IIAS
through its Department of Administrative Reforms; and
highlighted ----- that the international institution
maintains a close working relationship
with the United Nations.
The International Institute of Administrative Sciences
is a federation of 31 member countries, 20 national
sections and 15 academic research centres that collaborate in scientific research on public administration.
The entity participates in the Committee of Experts
on Public Administration and the United Nations
Public Administration Network, among other
multilateral platforms.
___________________________________________
Cuba highlights priorities as
a partner country of Brics
June 4th, 5:26am
(Prensa Latina)
The Minister of Communications of Cuba, Mayra Arevich,
referred today in Russia in an interview with the multi-
national network TVBrics ---- about his country's
priorities as a partner country of the Brics.
The owner, who participates at the head of the Cuban
delegation in the Innovations and Services Fair, and
in the Digital Forum that has been taking place in
the aforementioned Russian city since June 2,
he explained.. that the association with the
Brics, opens new opportunities for Cuba
in terms of science, technology and
international cooperation.
''The possibility... of being in the artificial intelligence
alliance with the Brics -- will open a path for us, to
integrate and work for association professionals
and Cubans, in projects that are not only done
for our people, but also, for the world of the
bloc's countries. I think it has potential'',
Arevich noted.
He also recalled that Cuba acquired the status of partner
country of the Brics in 2024 and, since then, has been
actively implementing joint initiatives. According to
the minister, the association has raised the status
of the Havana science and technology park.
At the same time, he stressed, Cuba is committed not only
to the technological field, but also to the social field.
In his opinion, the president of the country, Miguel Díaz-
Canel, has highlighted three key areas: work in the
online environment, support for social initiatives
and improvement of the level of education
---- especially with regard to modern
information technologies.
He added that the digital forum has become
an important opportunity for Cuba..... to
expand its potential in these areas.
___________________________________
Accused Zelensky and the United States:
the South Korean presidential election
is won by the "unfinished opposition
leader" Lee Jae-myung
by Irina Rinaeva
June 3rd, 7:18pm
(Komsomolskaya Pravda)
Zelensky critic Lee Jae-myung wins
South Korean presidential election
TO SHARE
South Korea's presidential election, was won by
opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung, who said
about the Ukrainian conflict that Russia was
provoked by Zelensky ---- who..... "has no
knowledge in politics and diplomacy.
Ukraine's President, is responsible
for unleashing war."
The politician --- supports dialogue with North Korea.
And what he has in common with Donald Trump is
that they both survived assassination attempts:
in January last year -- Lee was attacked by a
man during a political event, and seriously
wounded with an 18-centimetre knife in
the neck.
Lee Jae Myung, received about 49% of the vote. The
second candidate, Kim Moon-soo (representative of
the ex-president's party "People's Power") - 41%.
Kim Moon-soo.. lost the election with
the support of 41% of the electorate.
The 61-year-old politician, heads the Democratic Party of Korea (Toburo). His biography - is impressive: he
was born in such a poor family that he could not
even go to high school - he had to work after
the "elementary school".
Lee Jae-myung went to the factory - and there....... at the
age of 13, he suffered an injury to his left hand --- since
then it has been crippled. But at the cost of incredible
efforts, the young man managed to pass the exams
for the middle and high school course ---- as an
external student, and then go to university
and become a lawyer.
He started his career as a human rights lawyer. He
became mayor of Seongnam City ---- where he
introduced free school meals and benefits
for young people - and then governor of
the major Gyeonggi province.
Lee participated in the last presidential election,
but lost by less than 1% to Yoon Sung-yeol,
a candidate from the conservative
People's Power Party.
For Yoon, we recall, everything ended in impeachment
after his attempt to impose martial law in the country,
last December. Thus, he wanted to crack down on
the Democratic Party, which had a majority in
parliament. But it didn't work out.
Li was not afraid to show himself in front of the military
that the president had sent to block parliament. He
climbed over the fence --- and appealed to his
supporters for support. All this time, he
was broadcasting live on YouTube
from his mobile phone.
And before that, Lee Jae-myung was almost killed: at a
public press conference, under the pretext of taking
an autograph, a certain citizen Kim approached him
and stabbed the politician with a knife - it got into
the jugular vein. Lee was operated on for an hour
and a half. There's been a scar on his neck ever
since, which he hides... under the collar of his
shirt. Kim was jailed for 15 years. His motive
was to disagree with the actions of the
Democratic Party.
Lee supports dialogue with Pyongyang and a gradual
easing of sanctions against North Korea. He has
repeatedly promised to restore inter-Korean
communication channels ---- that were
severed under Yoon Seok-yeol.
He also sees the need for a diplomatic dialogue with
Russia. The winner of this election ------- supports
humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but he is against
the supply of lethal weapons to Kiev -
believing that this could increase
tensions in relations with the
Russian Federation and
the DPRK.
His country - says Lee Jae-myung,
should focus on peace initiatives.
Interestingly, the politician used to refer to American
troops in South Korea as "occupation forces" --- that
"allowed colonial collaborators to hold on to power."
But since Trump came to power, the Democratic
leader's rhetoric has changed - he says that
the alliance with the United States
should be strengthened.
_________________________________
WSJ: IMF......doubts
Ukraine's financing
amid credit default
June 3rd, 8:39pm
(RT.ru)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) doubts about
the financing of Kiev due to its credit default. This
opinion was expressed by the author of an
article in The Wall Street Journal.
"Ukraine is facing a sovereign default on the loan, after
it decided not to make payments due to holders of its
debt securities in the amount of $2.6 billion," the
journalist said.
According to him, the IMF called the situation risky
for the further conclusion of agreements on
financing Ukraine.
Earlier it became known that the International Monetary Fund had - previously - agreed to
provide Kiev a tranche of $500 million.
_____________________________________
Fidan: Erdogan is ready to organize talks
between Putin, Trump and Zelensky
June 3rd, 8:08pm
(RT.ru)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed
his readiness: to organize talks between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump with
the participation of Vladimir Zelensky, Turkish
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.
"We are ready..... for the leaders' summit. It is very
important that Putin, Trump and Zelensky meet,"
TRT Haber TV channel quotes the Turkish
politician as saying.
Fidan stressed that today there is no other leader who
would be so trusted by Putin, Trump and Zelensky.
Earlier, Fidan said that Russia and Ukraine
agreed on the next round of negotiations.
______________________________________________
Professor Lankov: Lee Jae-myung will
oppose arms supplies to Ukraine
June 3rd, 7:57pm
(RT.ru)
Lee Jae-myung ----- who is leading in the South Korean
elections -- is likely to oppose the supply of weapons
to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said Andrey Lankov,
an orientalist and professor at Kunmin University
in Seoul.
"Lee Jae-myung has repeatedly said - that South Korea
should ''not interfere'' in any possible conflict between
China and Taiwan - or in the ongoing conflict between
Russia and Ukraine. Most likely, he will do everything
not to provide direct military support to Kiev,"
the professor said - in an interview.
Lankov noted that ---- in the event of an urgent request
from the United States to supply weapons to Ukraine,
South Korea may agree, despite initial resistance.
The expert also added that one should not expect
Seoul to participate in actions against Moscow,
since the South Korean population as a whole
still has positive views on Russia.
Earlier, Lee Jae-myung allowed
cooperation ----- with the DPRK.
________________________________________________
Caldwell: Ukraine's attack on Russian airfields carries big risks ------- for the United States
June 3rd, 7:48pm
(RT.ru)
The United States --- must stop supplying weapons to Ukraine that it can use to attack Russian strategic
nuclear forces. This opinion -- was expressed by
former adviser to the Pentagon, Dan Caldwell.
According to him, this is fraught with escalation and
increases the risk of direct confrontation between
Russia and NATO.
"The United States.... should not only distance itself from
this attack, but also stop any support that may directly
or indirectly contribute to attacks on Russian strategic
nuclear forces," he wrote on his X social
network account.
Earlier, a former high-ranking officer of the French
army, Guillaume Ansel, said that an attack on
Russian airfields by Ukraine is impossible
- without US satellite communications.
The White House said that Kiev did not notify US
President Donald Trump in advance about the
attack on Russian airfields.
_________________________________
Lula da Silva:Biden believed that
Russia should be .....destroyed
June 3rd, 4:50pm
(RT.ru)
Former US leader Joe Biden considered it necessary to
completely destroy Russia, said Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"Biden, with whom I had a long conversation about this,
believed that Russia should be destroyed," Le Monde
newspaper quoted the Brazilian leader as saying.
Lula da Silva also stressed -- that Europe has supported
Washington's position and is now spending significant
funds on re-armament.
At the same time -- the Brazilian president
also confirmed his readiness to facilitate
negotiations between Russia & Ukraine.
Earlier, Lula da Silva said that he intends
to contribute to the success of the
negotiations in Istanbul.
___________________________
Bose:accused Rutte of changing
his position on Ukraine's NATO
membership- again
June 3rd, 4:42pm
(RT.ru)
Irish journalist Chay Bowes --- accused NATO
Secretary General, Mark Rutte, of changing
his position on Ukraine's entry to the bloc.
He responded to the words of the Secretary General
of the North Atlantic Alliance that "Ukraine's path
to NATO is irreversible."
"This blockhead (Rutte. - RT) has changed his mind again.
The rejected Dutch political loser and unelected head
of NATO now says that Ukraine will join (the bloc. -
(RT - someday). An awkward change of opinion
from the "boss" of NATO," he wrote on his
social network account.
Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky said that Ukraine was
allegedly, invited to the NATO summit in June.
Special Representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said
that the United States is ready to stop the expansion
of the bloc... to the borders of Russia.
________________________________
Voting on Burbok's candidacy for the post
of UN General Assembly President was
requested by the Russian Federation
June 3rd, 1:09am
(Izvestia.ru)
The vote on the candidacy of former German Foreign
Minister Annalena Burbock for the post of President
of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly
(GA) was requested by Russia. This was
reported by TASS on June 2, citing
sources in the UN.
"The vote was requested... by
the Russian Federation," the
agency's interlocutors said.
Burbok was the only candidate for the position
and received 167 votes out of a possible 193.
Burbok was elected to the post of President of the UN
General Assembly on June 2. Dmitry Polyansky, First
Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian
Federation to the organization ---- noted that
Berbok's candidacy received 167 votes,
which is an "indecently small"
indicator for a candidate
for such a high post.
He stressed that traditionally, all regional groups
make a decision to support a candidate
unanimously, and....... it is not
disputed afterwards.
_________________________________
Care for older adults
in the US ----at risk
June 2nd, 4:55pm
(Prensa Latina)
Long-term care services for older adults in the United States
are at risk if the Senate approves President Donald Trump's
priority bill that he has alreadyadvanced ----- in the House
of Representatives.
The voices of experts warn that within the (fiscal megaproject
that passed the test in the Lower House by one vote), cuts to
Medicaid are expected, the largest funder of long-term care
facilities ----- covering approximately two in three nursing
home residents.
Reducing the funds allocated to this massive program,
although already limited in resources - they point out
- could have disastrous effects on health, and the
safety and quality of life of older adults.
The Republicans, who also control the Senate, began the
legislative week with the top topic: to try to reconcile in
the next four weeks the criteria of the entire bench to
try to endorse the bill that covers a large part of
Trump's domestic agenda, and one of the key
points.... is its possible cuts to Medicaid.
The current budget initiative would extend overdue tax
cuts, adding about $3.8 trillion over the next decade to
the federal deficit, according to the Congressional
Budget Office.
In exchange, the House committee that administers
Medicaid proposed cutting nearly $700 billion in
spending for the program on the “big and
beautiful” project as Trump called it,
which is currently in conciliation.
Both houses of Congress must finally approve a
single plan based on their respective proposals.
Skilled nursing facilities, or nursing homes, are
the centres that require the most attention, in
the long-term care continuum.
Medicaid covers more than 60% of nursing home
residents, about 20% of people in assisted living
facilities and more than half - of all those living
in long-term care facilities.
But --- if states find deficits in federal funding, they
must generate revenue or make cuts on their own.
While the current proposal does not appear to make
direct cuts to long-term care, experts say reducing
federal funding for Medicaid overall will likely have
indirect effects ------ on states' ability to pay for
such care.
This could involve eliminating assisted living coverage
or reducing or eliminating reimbursement offered to
some home and community caregivers, experts
said, according to the Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS).
States could also reduce the reimbursement rate for
Medicaid residents in nursing homes or change
eligibility requirements, they pointed out that
insisting on any of these options ---- will
have profound repercussions.
_______________________________________
VenezuelaDismantles Network
Manipulating Parallel Dollar:
Government ----- Defends
Economic Sovereignty
June 2nd, 4:43pm
(teleSUR)
The Venezuelan government has arrested 25 individuals
for operating unauthorized websites that manipulated
the parallel dollar, intensifying efforts to protect the
bolívar and combat economic sabotage.
This operation, led by the state security agencies, marks a
new chapter in the government’s ongoing campaign to
defend the national economy from destabilizing
forces and reaffirm the authority of the Central
Bank of Venezuela (BCV) over currency policy.
The Venezuelan government’s action comes after a thorough
investigation into 18 websites accused of daily publishing
unauthorized dollar rates, which authorities say fueled
inflation and economic instability.
The arrested individuals -10 women and 15 men - were
apprehended across nine states, including Caracas,
Aragua, Mérida, Lara, Yaracuy, Miranda, Zulia, La
Guaira, and Barinas. According to the technical
analysis, these platforms set exchange rates
lacking any official basis --- contributing to
artificial price hikes & public discontent.
Minister Cabello emphasized that the operation was
conducted “silently, without abuse of any kind,”
and highlighted the diverse roles within the
dismantled network, from operators and
managers to programmers and
payment recipients.
During the raids, the authorities seized cheques issued
by Google, revealing that the websites profited from
advertising revenue generated by manipulating
economic information.
A text reads: In a major operation led by the Ministry of Interior
and Justice and personally overseen by President Nicolás
Maduro, which involved nearly a year of investigation,
25 people have been arrested for manipulating the
parallel dollar rate through social media.
Some individuals managed at least 18 social media accounts
that illegally set the currency’s price and were capable of
raising it by up to 40 points within hours or days
without any economic logic.
This network operated in nine states, mainly in
Guatire – Miranda, Caracas, Barinas, and Zulia.
Protecting the Bolívar and Combating Speculation
The Venezuelan government has long maintained currency
controls to shield the bolívar from speculative attacks and
ensure that foreign reserves are used for essential
imports, such as food and medicine.
The proliferation of parallel dollar indicators -- especially on
social media and digital platforms, has been identified as
a central driver of inflation and price speculation. By
artificially inflating the dollar, these networks
undermine the government’s efforts to
stabilize the economy and protect
the purchasing power of
ordinary Venezuelans.
Officials have repeatedly framed the battle against the parallel
dollar as a defense of economic sovereignty in the face of
external aggression and internal sabotage. Cabello
pointed out that some website administrators
received politically motivated instructions,
particularly in the lead-up to the May 25
elections, when the parallel dollar rate
spiked by 20%. This --- the authorities
argue, is part of a broader economic
war waged by powerful groups who
seek to destabilize the country.
The crackdown on parallel dollar networks is not an isolated
measure but part of a comprehensive strategy to restore
order to Venezuela’s currency market. Regulatory and
security agencies have intensified inspections of
businesses and digital platforms, imposing stiff
penalties on those found using unofficial rates.
The state’s actions reflect a determination to reclaim control
over monetary policy, even as international sanctions and
limited access to foreign reserves, complicate the
economic landscape.
Despite these challenges ---- the government remains resolute.
As President Nicolás Maduro and his cabinet have repeatedly
stated, Venezuela will not allow economic mafias and
external actors to dictate the fate of the nation.
The recent arrests send a clear message: the defense of the
bolívar and the well-being of the Venezuelan people remain
at the forefront of state policy. “We can’t be afraid of the
mafias. We want to see the currency speculators put
in prison”, President Nicolás Maduro has said.
The Venezuelan government’s decisive action against parallel
dollar manipulation underscores its commitment to economic
justice and sovereignty, even as it faces persistent external
and internal pressures.
__________________________________________
Burbok becomes new President
of the UN General Assembly
by Victoria Kondratieva
(Editor of the Mir dept)
June 2nd, 4:18pm
(Lenta.ru)
Former German Foreign secretary, Annalena Burbock,
has been elected President of the 80th session of
the UN General Assembly. This is reported by
RIA Novosti.
"Annalena Burbock from Germany, has been elected Chair
of.... the 80th session of the General Assembly," said
Philemon Young, Chair of the current 79th session.
In turn, the first deputy Permanent Representative of the
Russian Federation to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said
that the nomination of Berbok for this post was
a spit at the World Organization.
Earlier, the former head of the Munich Security Conference,
Christoph Heusgen, called the idea of nominating Burbok
for the post ---- absolute shamelessness.
__________________________________________
The president of Poland will be.... a
Eurosceptic, supported by Trump.
What do the media write?
June 2nd, 10:31am
(Izvestia.ru)
The victory in the Polish presidential election was won
by the conservative Karol Nawrocki. This was a blow
to the EU, which expected Warsaw to return to the
pro-European track, and the current government
of Donald Tusk.
Navrotsky is a Eurosceptic and an opponent of Ukraine's
entry into Western alliances, for which he is supported
by US President Trump.
CNN: Nawrocki won the Polish presidential election
Karol Nawrocki, a candidate from Poland's right-wing
populist Law and Justice Party (PiS), won 50.89% of
the vote, defeating the liberal mayor of Warsaw,
Rafal Trzaskowski ----- who had long been
considered the favourite. Navrotsky's
victory...... extends PiS's 10-year
presence in the presidential
palace.... and could spell
disaster ------ for Prime
Minister Donald Tusk.
During the election campaign, he emphasized his Catholic faith,
promised to reduce migration, and relentlessly criticized
Brussels and Tusk. He received late support from the
participants at the Conservative Political Action
Conference, which held its first meeting in
Poland earlier this week, cementing a
decades-long rapprochement...
between populist right-wing
movements in Poland &
the United States.
Navrotsky's victory seemed unlikely... until the first round of
voting two weeks ago. But the first round showed that he
was slightly behind Trzaskowski - and revealed a higher
level of support than expected among a small number
of far-right supporters, some of whom later... voted
for Navrotsky.
Bloomberg: Trump-backed candidate wins in Poland
US President Donald Trump supported the victorious Navrotsky.
His election was the first success for the MAGA movement,
which tried but failed to tilt the election in favour of
nationalist or far-right candidates in countries
such as Germany, Romania, Canada
and Australia.
Navrotsky's campaign - received support from the White House,
where he met briefly with Trump in the Oval office, last month.
During a visit to Poland last week, the US Homeland Security
Secretary Christy Noem presented the prospect of close
ties with Trump as an incentive to vote for Navrotsky
and called Trzaskowski ------- "an absolute loser
among leaders."
Poland is one of the EU's fastest-growing economies and the
country with the largest defense spending, so the failure of
the Tusk government is likely to reverberate throughout the
bloc, which is under growing pressure from Trump's tariffs.
Navrotsky told his supporters that his victory would mean
curbing Tusk's "monopoly on power," which "takes away
our big dreams and takes away our aspirations."
Financial Times: Nawrocki's victory --
strikes a blow to Poland's EU agenda
Poland's President-elect Nawrocki will give new impetus to
right-wing populists across the continent. His victory will
increase tensions between the president and the
government by derailing judicial reform that
Tusk promised in 2023, in exchange for
Brussels unblocking billions of euros
in EU funds - frozen during a rule of
law dispute with the previous
government.
"For Tusk, he will be much worse than [previous President
Andrzej] Duda," said Adam Leszczynski, director of the
Gabriel Narutowicz Institute for Political Thought, a
state-run think tank. "He - is much more radical in
his views and enters the office of president with
great indignation, after being dealt a very
personal blow by Tusk and his allies
during the election campaign."
Tusk's one-and-a-half-year premiership has failed to smooth
over divisions in a highly polarized Polish society.
Navrotsky's success comes ahead of other key
votes in Central Europe --- where Eurosceptic
billionaire, Andrej Babis, is hoping to return
as Czech prime minister and Viktor Orban
is hoping to extend his term as head of
the government in Hungary.
Reuters: who is Navrotsky and what
does he think about Ukraine
Navrotsky, a conservative historian, created the image of a
tough guy during his campaign, posting videos of him on
shooting ranges and boxing rings. His past has been
the subject of intense public debate following a
series of negative media reports. There were
questions about his purchase of an
apartment from a pensioner and
admitting that he took part
in organized fights.
Unlike other Eurosceptics in Central Europe, such as Slovak
Prime Minister Robert Fico or Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban, Navrotsky supports providing military
assistance to Ukraine. However, he said that if
elected --- he would oppose Ukraine's
membership in Western alliances.
This position - echoes the decline
in support for Ukrainians among
Poles, who have taken in more
than a million refugees
from abroad.
His supporters from the Law and Justice Party supported
Kiev's accelerated membership in the EU and NATO
while it was in power until the end of 2023.
Navrotsky also expresses a critical tone
towards Ukraine, supporting Poland's
far-right politicians on this issue.
Politico: Poland faces conflict at the highest level
Nawrocki seeks to push Poland further away from the
European mainstream in a more populist direction.
His victory deals a significant blow to the Tusk
government, whose legislative efforts were
blocked by the incumbent Duda. The
same thing is likely to continue...
under Navrotsky.
"The Nawrocki presidency means a high-level conflict between
the president and Tusk," said Joanna Sawicka, a political
analyst at Polityka Insight, a Warsaw-based think tank.
"But it is clear -------- that it will be difficult for the
government to implement key reforms, since
the president can veto most of them."
The Polish presidency is mostly a ceremonial function, but the
president can veto a bill or send it to the courts for judicial
review. The Tusk-led coalition does not have the votes in
parliament to override a veto, so President Nawrocki
will make it very difficult for the Prime Minister to
govern. The election result -- highlights deep
political divisions in Poland between more
liberal cities and conservative small
towns and villages.
This gentleman picks holes in the intellectual ''mistakes'' of the West and points to the best solution for the world's people.
Britain's enemy is not Russia but its own ruling class, UN report confirms by John Wight November 19th, at 2:48pm
John Wight has written for a variety of newspapers and websites, including the Independent, Morning Star, Huffington Post, Counter- punch, London Progressive Journal, and Foreign Policy Journal.
As the UK political establishment rips itself to pieces over Brexit, a far greater crisis continues to afflict millions of victims of Tory austerity.
A devastating UN report into poverty in the UK provides incontrovertible evidence, that the enemy of the British people, is the very ruling class that has gone out of its way these past few years to convince them it is Russia.
Professor Philip Alston, in his capacity as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, spent two weeks touring the United Kingdom. He did so, investigating the impact of 8 years of one of the most extreme austerity programs among advanced G20 economies in response to the 2008 financial crash and subsequent global recession.
What he found was evidence of a systematic, wilful, concerted and brutal economic war, unleashed by the country's right-wing Tory establishment, against the poorest and most vulnerable section of British society – upending the lives of millions of people who were not responsible for the aforementioned financial crash and recession, but who have been forced to pay the price.
From the report's introduction:
"It…seems patently unjust and contrary to British values that so many people are living in poverty. This is obvious to anyone who opens their eyes: to see the immense growth in foodbanks, and the queues waiting outside them, the people sleeping rough in the streets, the growth of homelessness, the sense of deep despair - that leads even the Government to appoint a Minister for Suicide Prevention - and civil society to report in depth, on unheard of levels of loneliness and isolation."
Though as a citizen of the UK, I respectfully beg to differ with the professor's claim, that such social & economic carnage, seems "contrary to British values,"(on the contrary - it is entirely in keeping with the values of the country's Tory establishment, an establishment for whom, the dehumanization of the poor and working class, is central to its ideology), the point he makes about it being "obvious to anyone who opens their eyes," is well made.
For it is now the case that in every town and city centre in Britain, it is impossible to walk in any direction for more than a minute, before coming across homeless people begging in the street. And the fact that some 13,000 of them, are former soldiers, casualties of the country's various military adventures in recent years, undertaken in service to Washington, exposes the pious platitudes peddled by politicians & the government as reverence for the troops & their 'sacrifice,' as insincere garbage.
As inequality increases, the wealthy and powerful become more desperate to cling onto their gains and distract us - with imagined threats and political sideshows - such as Jingoism, Russophobia and red-baiting...
Overall, 14 million people in the UK are now living in poverty, a figure which translates into an entire fifth of the population. Four million of them are children, while, according to Professor Alston, 1.5 million people are destitute – that is, unable to afford the basic necessities of life.
And this is what the ruling class of the fifth largest economy in the world, a country that parades itself on the world stage, as a pillar of democracy and human rights, considers progress.
The values responsible for creating such a grim social landscape, are compatible with the 18th, not the 21st century. They are proof positive, that the network of elite private schools – Eton, Harrow, Fettes College et al. – where those responsible for this human carnage are inculcated with the sense of entitlement and born to rule ethos that defines them, are Britain's hotbeds of extremism.
Professor Alston:"British compassion for those who are suffering, has been replaced by a punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous approach, apparently designed to instill discipline where it is least useful, to impose a rigid order on the lives of those least capable of coping with today's world, and elevating the goal of enforcing blind compliance, over a genuine concern to improve the well- being of those at the lowest levels of British society."
Here, set out above in bold relief, is the barbarism that walks - hand in hand - with free market capitalism. It is the same barbarism that was responsible for pushing post-Soviet Russia into a decade-long economic and social abyss, in the 1990s, and the values that have pushed 14 million people in the UK into the same economic and social abyss, in our time.
Austerity, it bears emphasizing, is not and never has been, a viable economic response to recession, in a given economy.
Instead, it is an ideological club, wielded on behalf of the rich and big business, to ensure that the price paid for the said economic recession, is borne exclusively by those least able to bear it - namely the poor and working people. It is class war by any other name, packaged and presented, as legitimate government policy.
However in Britain's case in 2018, this is a war like no other, because, as Professor Philip Alston's report lays bare, one side in this war has been throwing all the punches and one side has been taking them.
As the saying goes, wars take place when the government tells you who the enemy is; revolutions take place when you work it out for yourself.
(Source - RT)
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Keiser Report: Reality of Creditor Jubilees
- fantastic - asks ''why don't we act like Jesus preached - and forgive debt?''
When what we do now, is what led to the slavery of feudalism: by refunding the creditors, instead!
Cleaners form a picket line with their UVW comrades
Marx's theory still shines with truth: Xi May 4th, at 10:53am
Xinhua - Two centuries on, despite huge and profound changes in human society, the name of Karl Marx is still respected all over the world and his theory still shines with the brilliant light of truth, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a grand gathering in Beijing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth.
Xi said Marx is the "teacher of revolution for the proletariat and working people all over the world, the main founder of Marxism, creator of Marxist parties, a pathfinder for international communism and the greatest thinker of modern times."
"Today, we hold this grand gathering with great veneration to mark the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, to remember his great character and historic deeds and to review his noble spirit and brilliant thoughts," Xi said at the event.
''With noble ideals and no fear of difficulty or adversity, throughout his life, Marx devoted himself to perseveringly striving for the liberation of humanity, scaling the peak of thought in his pursuit of truth, and the unremitting fight to overturn the old world and establish a new one'', according to Xi.
''Marx is not only a great figure who bore the weight of the world, but also an ordinary person with a passion for life, who was sincere and true to his friends'', Xi said.
''The most valuable and influential spiritual asset that Marx left us is the scientific theory named after him -- Marxism. Like a spectacular sunrise, the theory illuminated the path of humanity's exploration of the law of history, and humanity's search for their own liberation'', Xi said.
"The thought and theory of Marx are of his times and go beyond his times," Xi said. "They are the essence of the spirit of that times and the essence of the spirit of all humanity."
Xi said Marxism is a scientific theory that reveals the rules of human society's development, in a creative manner.
Having developed the materialist conception of history and surplus value theory, Marx showed how humanity would leap from the realm of necessity, to the realm of freedom, and also showed the road for people to realize freedom and liberation, Xi said.
Marxism, the first ideology for the liberation of the people themselves, is a theory of the people.
"Marxism, for the first time, explored the path for humanity's freedom and liberation from the stance of the people, and pointed out the direction, with scientific theory, toward an ideal society with no oppression or exploitation, where every person would enjoy equality and freedom," Xi said.
Stressing that practicality is a prominent characteristic of Marxism that makes it different from other theories, Xi said Marxism is a theory of practices that directs the people to change the world.
It is an open theory that is constantly developing and always stands at the frontier of the times, Xi said.
"That is why it is always able to keep young, explore the new issues in the development of the times and respond to the new challenges for human society."
The general secretary said that over the 170 years since publication of The Communist Manifesto, Marxism had been spread around the world, unrivaled in the history of human ideology in terms of the breadth and depth of its influence.
After the end of World War II, a large number of socialist countries were established, Xi said, stressing that the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially, has greatly increased the socialist strength in the world.
"There might be setbacks in the development of socialism in the world, but the overall trend for human society's development has never changed, and it will never change," Xi said.
"Marxism has not only profoundly changed the world, but also China," Xi said.
The reverberations of the October Revolution in Russia brought Marxism-Leninism to China, pointing out the direction forward, offering a brand new choice for the Chinese people in their struggle to survive, and setting the scene for the birth of the CPC.
Since the CPC's birth, it has combined the fundamental principles of Marxism with the reality of the Chinese revolution and construction, transforming the Chinese nation from "the sick man of East Asia" to one who has stood up, by uniting and leading the people through long-term struggle.
"This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only through socialism, can we save China," Xi said.
Since reform and opening up, the CPC has combined the fundamental principles of Marxism, with the reality of China's reform and opening up, and the nation who stood up, has grown rich.
"This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only through socialism with Chinese characteristics, can we develop China," Xi said.
In the new era, the CPC again combined the fundamental principles of Marxism with the reality of China in this new era, uniting and leading the people in "under- taking the great struggle, building the great project, advancing the great cause and realizing the great dream."
The Chinese nation has come to embrace a tremendous transformation, as the one who has grown rich, now, is becoming strong.
"This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only by adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, can we realize national rejuvenation," Xi said.
"It is perfectly right for history and the people to choose Marxism, as well as for the CPC to write Marxism on its own flag, to adhere to the principle of combining the fundamental principles of Marxism, with China's reality, and continuously adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and the times."
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China lifts 740 mln rural poor out of poverty since 1978 September 3rd, at 12:57pm
Xinhua - China lifted 740 million people in rural areas out of poverty from 1978 to 2017, roughly 19 million each year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
The poverty ratio in rural areas dropped 94.4 percentage points during the same time period with an average annual decrease of 2.4 percentage points, according to the NBS.
NBS data shows that China's poverty relief achievements have contributed more than 70 percent to global poverty alleviation work, in the past 40 years.
The average annual income of rural residents in impoverished areas rose an average of 10.4 percent each year from 2012 to 2017, up 2.5 percentage points from the average for rural residents.
Over the past five years, over 68 million people were lifted out of poverty in China. The country aims to further lift 10 million people out of poverty this year and eradicate poverty by 2020.
China recently released guidelines on winning the battle against poverty in the next three years, in order to prepare the nation for eradicating poverty by 2020.
According to the guidelines, the impoverished people should be guaranteed food & clothing, and children from poor families should be guaranteed a 9-year compulsory education. Basic medical needs and living conditions of the impoverished, should also be guaranteed.
People whose annual income is lower than 2,300 yuan (337.3 U.S. dollars), are defined as living below the poverty line, in China.
Image: international community thugs
Almost half of Russians see USSR collapse as shameful – poll January 17th, at 12:11pm
The collapse of the Soviet Union is considered a reason to be ashamed, by 45 percent of Russians, according to a recent opinion poll. The only option that scored higher, is Russia’s failure to eradicate poverty.
The poll, conducted in late 2018, by the Levada Center is its latest study of what Russians are proud and ashamed of, about their nation. The demise of the USSR, saw a rebound in popularity from a low point of 28 percent in mid-2015, and is at a level comparable with the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The only more popular answer is Russia’s failure to eradicate poverty, which was named as a reason to be ashamed, by 61 percent of the people polled. This answer has topped Levada’s polls, for decades.
Russians are also ashamed of fellow countrymen treating each other disrespectfully (37 percent), Russia’s failure to catch up economically with the Western powers (24 percent), the out- come of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms (24 percent), and Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror (21 percent).
On the opposite side of Russians’ national identity are the qualities and events, people are proud of.
Defeating Nazi Germany in World War II remains the one thing Russians are overwhelmingly proud of (87 percent).
There is also the role that the country played in space exploration – about half are proud to belong to a space pioneering nation.
The third most popular option is accepting Crimea (the breakaway former Ukrainian region) as part of Russia again, which is seen as a point of national pride, by 45 percent.
Many people are also proud of Russian literature, science, and martial prowess, Soviet-era industrialization and the best qualities of the Russian character, like resolve and patience.
A record 75 percent said Russia is definitely, or most likely, a great nation today, while 88 percent believe that it should be one.
There was no apparent correlation between wishing greatness for Russia and regretting the USSR’s collapse, the agency noted, suggesting that Russians expect a great nation to - first and foremost - provide social justice, and protection.
Sixty-two percent said the Russians are a great people.
Levada remarked that about 80 percent of the people polled, identified themselves as Russians.
When asked what makes them feel connected to their people, most respondents named national history (53 percent), Russia’s land (35 percent), their place of birth (33 percent), and the nature that they call their own (25 percent).
The formal national symbols, including the flag, the coat of arms, and the national anthem, was the least popular option (5 percent).
Interestingly, religion is a relatively small factor in Russian national identity (9 percent).
(Source - RT)
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Number of Russians who regret collapse of USSR hits 10-year high December 26th, 2017, at 7:20am
The number of Russians who regret the collapse of the Soviet Union has reached its highest level since 2009, with almost an equal share saying the event could have been avoided.
A public opinion poll conducted by the independent Levada Center in late November this year found that 58 percent of Russians now regret the collapse of the USSR. Twenty-five percent said they felt no regret about this, and 16 percent could not describe their feelings in one word.
When researchers asked those who regret the end of the USSR what the primary reasons were behind their sentiments, 54 percent said that they missed a single economic system, 36 percent said they had lost the feeling of belonging to a real superpower, 34 percent complained about the drop in mutual trust among ordinary people, and 26 percent said that the collapse had destroyed the ties between friends and relatives.
The same research showed that 52 percent of Russians think that the collapse of the USSR could have been avoided, 29 percent said that the event was absolutely inevitable, and 19 percent did not have a fixed opinion on the matter.
The share of those who regret the demise of the Soviet Union has risen continuously over the past decade, but in 2009 it was even higher than today – at 60 percent. The all-time high – 75 percent – was recorded in 2000.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly addressed the issue of the collapse of the USSR in his speeches. In an address to the Russian parliament in 2005 he called the event the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century and a cause of major disruption for the Russian people. In September 2016, Putin said the Communist Party should have transformed the Soviet Union into a democratic state, rather than see it break into separate nations.
At the same time, Putin has always emphasized that he and other Russian officials have no plans to revive the USSR, and has expressed anger that people cannot accept this. He's also accused Western governments of deliberately confusing modern Russia with the USSR and harming the interests of ordinary people, on the pretense of preventing an imaginary threat.
Historian:Russia's October Revolution Was Inevitable, Relatively Bloodless November 10th, at 4:33pm by Ekaterina Blinova
The October Uprising of 1917 became the logical conclusion of the February Revolution, Michael J. Carley, a professor of history at the Universite de Montreal has told Sputnik. According to the academic, the Russian Revolution was inevitable and occurred because evolutionary processes of change to benefit the lives of ordinary people had failed.
"February 1917 marked the beginning of a revolutionary change in power in Russia, that was accomplished in October," Michael Jabara Carley, professor of history at the Université de Montréal and the author of "Silent Conflict: A Hidden History of Early Soviet-Western Relations,"told Sputnik, commenting on the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
"The tsarist order was bankrupt and doomed. Almost everyone at the time said so. The immediate cause of the bankruptcy was the Great War [The First World War]," the Canadian academic stressed, adding that "the result was calamity marked by millions of casualties, large territories lost and an economy thrown into chaos, by the unsustainable financial and economic demands of fighting a world war."
Russian Provisional Government: 'Neither Revolutionary, Nor Democratic'
The so-called February Revolution, which is regarded as a combination of a popular uprising with an elitist anti- monarchist plot, led to the abdication of Russian Emperor Nicholas II and the establishment of the Provisional Government.
Still, the Provisional Government"was neither revolutionary nor democratic,"the academic pointed out: The crux of the matter was that it was largely controlled by the "bourgeois" urban and rural elites and old tsarist establishment"that was opposed to the revolution and attempted to block its further development."
October Uprising Was Relatively Bloodless
The professor explained why, contrary to popular belief, the October Revolution of 1917 that took place on November 7 (October 25 in the Julian calendar) was relatively bloodless.
"Well, in the first instance because the Provisional Government was utterly discredited. It had no popular support. It was a head without a body. It could give orders or issue decrees, but had no power to enforce them. In a revolutionary period, power comes from the support of the insurgent masses and the Provisional Government had none,"Carley told Sputnik.
The professor suggested that 1917 could have been averted if old elites as well as their forebears had not blocked"political and economic evolutionary processes"in Russia.
'Provisional Government Became a Cork in the Bottle'
"The Provisional Government became a cork in the bottle holding back the revolution,"the historian said."The revolutionary masses in Petrograd [Saint Petersburg] and elsewhere put pressure on their socialist leaders to blow the cork out of the bottle…. It was the Bolsheviks who put themselves at the head of the mass movement & articulated its demands, essentially peace, bread and land."
He pointed out, however, that"the Bolsheviks themselves were not united on all the big issues and most importantly on the seizure of power in October (the Julian calendar)."
"I would propose that the Provisional Government collapsed of its own rot. The insurgent masses led by the Bolsheviks only had to kick it over,"Carley remarked.
Was the October Revolution of 1917 Inevitable?
"It is a question impossible to answer except in this way: popular revolutions come about because political and economic elites over time are too selfish to share wealth and power with the masses,"Carley responded."Like the tsarist autocracy, they treat the masses as a resource to be exploited and rung dry. When evolutionary processes of change fail, revolution is often the result."
According to the academic, it is wrong to think that such revolutions succeed "because of the evil genius and cruelty of a small revolutionary elite"
"They succeed because of mass support and effective, responsive leadership."
The question then arises as to whether it was possible to follow an evolutionary path, rather than go through a revolution.
"A revolution occurred because evolutionary processes of change to benefit the lives of ordinary people had failed,"the professor responded."Serfdom, inequality, exploitation, violence, continued unabated until 1917."
October 1917: 'Driver of Transformations Across the Globe'. Revisiting the October Revolution of 1917.
Addressing the 14th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that"the largely utopian social model and ideology" the Soviets tried to implement initially following the 1917 revolution became "a powerful driver of transformations across the globe, caused a major revaluation of development models, and gave rise to rivalry and competition, the benefits of which were mostly reaped by the West."
The Canadian professor disagrees that the term "utopian" could be used with regards to the "Communist model," for instance.
"Is free, public education for everyone, no matter what their class, nationality or religion, utopian? Is the elimination of illiteracy, utopian? Are women's rights, or universal health care, utopian? Was the desire to create a more equal society, socially, economically and politically, utopian?"Carley asked, adding"in fact, that Soviet society was eventually able to withstand and then to destroy almost single- handedly, the so-called invincible Nazi 'colossus.'"
Still, he believes that the 1917 revolution certainly was"a powerful driver of transformations"around the world since it"inspired successful revolutionary movements in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Cuba."
As Putin noted during his Valdai speech "many Western achievements of the 20th century were an answer to the challenge posed by the Soviet Union," such as"raising living standards, forming a strong middle class, reforming the labour market and the social sphere, promoting education, guaranteeing human rights, including the rights of minorities and women, overcoming racial segregation."
Red October: Allied Intervention and 'Beginning of Cold War'
The October Revolution became the trigger for the Civil War (1917-1922) and prompted the Allied intervention of major foreign powers in Russia.
The Canadian academic pointed out that the October Uprising "produced an immediate violent reaction by the United States, France and Britain, whose elites attempted to overthrow the Soviet government."
"The foreign intervention against Soviet Russia fed a civil war and exacerbated the violence of the counter-revolution by many times over,"Carley said."On its own, the former tsarist elite could never have mounted such violent resistance to the October Revolution."
The professor underscored that after their failure to overthrow the Soviets,"the Western powers spent the next 70 years, with the exception of a truce between 1941-1945, in trying to harm or bring down the USSR and all those revolutions to which it had given birth."
According to the academic, the Cold War started in October (November) 1917.
"Just ask the Chinese, Vietnamese, Cubans, or N. Koreans about the frightful price of resistance to US and Western hegemony,"Carley remarked."Or for that matter, we might ask, if we could, the soldiers, sailors and workers of Soviet Russia, what price they had to pay, to defend their revolution."
(Source - Sputnik)
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Communist leader dispels new Russian budget as "oligarch orientated" October 28th, 2017 Fort Russ News - KtovKurse translated by Inessa Sinchougova
Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, called the draft federal budget for 2018-2020, "a budget of the oligarchy", which will increase stagnation and poverty.
On Friday October 27th, the State Duma considered the first reading of the draft budget for 2018 for the planning period 2019-2020. According to the draft of the Ministry of Finance, the budget deficit in 2018 will be 1.3 trillion rubles or 1.37% of GDP, in 2019 it will be 867 billion rubles or 0.84% of GDP, and in 2020 - 960 billion rubles or 0.87% of GDP.
Such a budget Zyuganov considers "a budget for the oligarchy, where further stagnation and deepening of poverty in the country will occur."
In his opinion, the draft budget does not meet the current challenges and can only aggravate the split in Russian civil society.
The Communist Party leader stressed that incomes and expenditures are constantly declining. Zyuganov noted that "in plain language" this means that the "share of the national pie" created by the working people is constantly shrinking in the budget.
Zyuganov's main issue with the budget was the reduction in government expenses for 14 out of 13 articles listed within. He explained that for eight of these articles, expenses are simply cut, and for four other articles, a small increase is offset by inflation, and as a result, real costs are below the ones prophesized.
According to Zyuganov, the current budget policy "creeps of the old Gaidar-Chubais reforms. It does not smell of modernization, nor a breakthrough for the future."
"I do not know why the president has not reacted to this helplessness, to this impotence of the financial and economic blockade on behalf of the government," Zyuganov said.
President Vladimir Putin does not oversee forthcoming bills until they pass all the stages of parliamentary negotiation - that is until his signature is required. It remains to be said that a majority of Russia's parliament and governmental organs, are liberal representatives, both economically and culturally, whereby it is only the President that stops certain bills being passed.
Without looking at the document in detail (which is not yet available to the public) it makes sense to assume that the Communist Party leader has every right to become concerned at this early stage.
Zyuganov's Communist Party enjoys the second most popular rating in the Russian political sphere, after United Russia (Vladimir Putin.)
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And a Record Number of Russians Want Socialism Back !!!
First published in Komsomolskaya Pravda Translated by Kristina Kharlova
The number of those nostalgic for the Soviet Union, is now growing steadily.
According to the findings of sociologists, 56% of respondents now express regret for the collapse of the Soviet state.
A majority of Russians regret the collapse of the Soviet Union, and do not mind if it's restored — conclude the sociologists of "Levada-centre".
2016 sees a record number of respondents nostalgic for the Soviet Union, in the whole history of public opinion surveys.
At the same time, the percentage of those who don't long for the Union, decreases over time: if, in November of last year it was 37%, today only 28% do not feel any pity.
58% of Russians would like a socialist system and the Soviet Union to be restored, and 31% say they don't want the Soviet Union back.
Over half of respondents, 51%, believe that it was still possible to save the country in 1991 while 33% of Russians say the collapse was 'inevitable'.
Experts, meanwhile, note that those most nostalgic for the Soviet Union don't yearn so much for the Soviet ideology, as for the stability, justice, confidence in the future, secure jobs, free education, medical care and housing.
Image: serbs say no to NATO
Serbia:Mass anti-NATO demonstrations silenced Nothing has been the same since NATO brutally bombed Yugoslavia 17 years ago. The 5th column, trained by NATO, took over the destroyed country to continue the job that the West had started.
The economy collapsed, the country was ripped apart, and the Army, dismissed.
Year by year, malicious plans brainstormed by NATO, and executed by the government, are pushing all of the Balkans into the deep maw of the West's 'modern' imperialism.
The latest move was the Agreement with NATO about logistics. Parliament has approved, and the President has signed, an agreement which gives NATO soldiers immunity and freedom of movement on the territory of Serbia. The same people who killed thousands of innocent Serb civilians are now given freedom and immunity. NATO personnel rule the roost in Serbia
NATO personnel are exempt from paying taxes, VAT and/or customs duties. The adoption of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), lets NATO soldiers use Serbia's infrastructure, with free transit across the whole territory of Serbia, as well as protection from the law -- being given 'special status' while staying in Serbian territory.
However, although almost two decades have passed since NATO's cruel attack, most Serbs have not forgotten how important freedom is -- which is the main problem for the ruling elite.
In the mainstream media, news about signing the agreement with NATO, was published as small & irrelevant. In a couple of sentences, mainstream journalists wrote about it, as if it was tomorrow's weather forecast, but they couldn't fool people.
Boiling situation hidden by Government
The situation was boiling. A few patriotic parties and war veterans managed to organize a protest -- & expected no more than a thousand people in Belgrade, to show their disagreement with the ruling party's decisions.
On the 20th February, more than 15,000 Serbs, mostly youth, came onto the Belgrade streets to join in with the protesters. Even the police were surprised, quickly trying to reinforce -- fearing nonverbal shows of disagreement.
The mainstream media weren't at all interested in massive protests in the capital city. They just reported, after the protest, that there were only a couple of hundred demonstrators.
Amongst all media, just one, the alternative patriotic website, Srbin info, sent reporters to the vicinity, to cover the whole protest.
It was the only media that had pictures and videos of the massive protests, showing the huge number of protesters.
During the protest, over 2,000 readers per second were following their live streaming of the demonstrations. Each minute, their website was gaining more followers.
Just a couple of minutes after the end of the peaceful protest, huge cyber-attacks began.
The weak website couldn't defend itself from the biggest attacks in its history, & the web- site eventually crashed. Attacks continued for 24 hours, never letting the website repair.
The only possible source of the attacks on the website & freedom of the speech, is the ruling elite. There is no one else who would be able to manage such strong attacks.
The main problem for the alternative, free media in Serbia is that the web providers, most of them belonging to the SBB company, part of the Soros foundation, don't want to reveal who was behind the attacks. However, some opposition forces, also attacked by hackers, discovered that the IP address of the hacker belongs to one of the directors of SBB company.
It is also interesting that 25% of web providers and some mainstream media in Serbia - belong to David Petraeus, former director of the CIA.
Despite their crashed website, Srbin info reporters managed to find way to send the real story & used Facebook to spread the truth. A video showing the masses of people protesting, was viewed by over 1,700,000 Facebook users --- a huge number for Serbia, with its 7 million population.
For 48 hours after the attack, the website was closed.
Thanks to its loyal readers, who appreciate Srbin info's fight for freedom of speech, donations were collected to make a new website, with better protection.
But the problem of having a neutral web provider who will not sabotage the website -- after orders from the Government -- still exists. A much worse problem.... is that the once proud and honorable Serbia, is now under the boots of imperialists.
Image: keep the guard on the train
Image: I support my postal worker
Image: Len McCluskey RE-ELECTED
LEN RE-ELECTED - VICTORY FOR LEFT!
"Serving you, our members, is the greatest privilege of my working life. I'm proud to have stood shoulder- to-shoulder with you in your struggles and proud to have been asked by so many, to continue to fight for you"
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The Corbyn Supporters From Hell - Attila The Stockbroker,15th Oct 2015 at The Blue Boar Hotel, Maldon, Essex, UK
ONE UNION
Two weeks before Brexit, the African Union announced a new single African passport that permits holders to enter any of the 54 AU member states without a visa – an interesting turn in African history which NO-ONE in the West knows or cares about ! What a stunning reflection of how far our mindset and media are, from the 'world community' we say we love.
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ADAM JOHANNES, CO-CONVENOR, PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY
“Most people under 40 have never been a member of a trade union. So unions are irrelevant, right? Wrong. Unions are more relevant than ever before. With in- work poverty, zero hours contracts and precarious employment, trade unions urgently need to make inroads into the private sector where the majority of us work, but a majority are still un-unionised.”
3 recent campaigns show how this might be done -
1. BETTER THAN ZERO
"Better than Zero" is an exciting campaign launched last year by the Scottish TUC to combat employers using zero-hours contracts. It is run by young people for young people to take on the issue of insecure work. Its activists are mostly in their teens or twenties. The campaign calls upon an older generation not to stand by while a generation of young people are forced into insecure work.
It has responded to tip off from employees in workplaces charging staff for training or uniforms, and bars and restaurants where workers tips are taken by the company. It's fought against people routinely expected to work additional late hours at short notice, with little or no thought given to how they'll get home & whether they will be safe.
The campaign uses direct action, stunts and creative protests such as targeting bars and restaurants with 'flash mob choirs', activists and former staff posing as customers, before each stand up in a restaurant to make speeches while other activists leaflet out- side, Halloween funeral marches on exploitative employers, or, memorably, activists clad in chemical-spill clean up garb placing several popular bars & restaurants in 'quarantine', for exploitative work practices. A recent campaign victory saw restaurant chain Las Iguanas end a policy of deducting money from staff tips.
2. SPORTS DIRECT
Unite has waged a dynamic fightback against Sports Direct including pickets of over 30 stores across the UK, occupations, direct action such as the unfurling of a #SportsDirectShame banner by Newcastle United fans at the club owned by Sports Direct boss, Mike Ashley, other banner drops from bridges, shareholder action, and a social media campaign,
Sports Direct is Britain's biggest sportswear company. It made over a billion in profits last year, but the majority of its workers agency staff are on zero hour contracts with no holiday or sick pay, and no guaranteed work from one week to the next. It has been called more 'workhouse' than workplace with intense surveillance and searches of staff, a culture of fear, bullying and intimidation rife.
Unite's campaign had forced the issue of its Victorian working conditions into national media & a company review. Unite demands all staff are re-employed on permanent contracts on a living wage. So far they have won a pay rise for staff and the company is now being investigated by HM Revenue & Customs after the union exposed it for effectively paying under the minimum wage.
3. PIZZA EXPRESS
Unite scored a victory against Pizza Express after exposing and ending the company deducting a proportion of staff's hard earned tips as an 'admin fee', recruiting new members. The campaign involved union activists going into Pizza Express branches to speak to waiting staff, weekly pickets, handing out hundreds of flyers with customers given a ‘scrap the admin fee’ postcard to leave with their cash tips, and finally a 'meal of justice' when protesters went into a restaurant, enjoyed a meal and when the bill came, one person stood up and told customers about the admin fee while others handed out postcards. Customers often respond with spontaneous applause.
We need to think creatively of how to bring politics into the workplace whether collections for refugees in Calais, foodbanks or local homeless, organising delegations from our work to local protests, or even setting up People's Assembly networks with likeminded people we work with.
Cardiff People's Assembly is part of The People's Assembly Against Austerity, a UK anti-cuts network sponsored by eight trade unions. Locally we have worked with Unison defending our city's library service & PCS to organise solidarity with museum workers, we will be supporting Unite Community's day of action against benefit sanctions. With much of our nation's workforce unorganised in their workplace in unions, joining movements like ours can boost people's confidence to stand up to their employers and build workplace organisation.
In the 1980s Thatcher declared war on the unions --- as a prelude to letting the market rip through society --- transforming us into a highly unequal low pay, low skill economy. The assault on the 'social wage' means we now have the highest private rents, highest energy bills, highest rail fares, and most expensive university education in the EU. Now the Trade Union Bill aims to take out a key part of the resistance to extend the cuts, privatisation and outsourcing agenda and shift even more power and wealth from the 99% to the 1%.
Our economy is dominated by low paid jobs. Low pay makes people insecure. A low pay economy and tax avoiding corporations make it hard to invest in public services. Joining a union is one way to fight back.
Profit Is The Only Concern For Railway Privateers 2016 Thursday 29TH DEC
The only way to have a public transport system worthy of the name is to have a fully nationalised railway,says GORDON MARTIN
All things transport have been making the news in Scotland for a number of months and the signs are this isn’t going to change in the dark winter months ahead.
Scotland’s railways have been subjected to an unprecedented level of scrutiny and criticism with opposition politicians, media columnists and some trade union officials calling for Nicola Sturgeon to sack her Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf MSP.
In my view the roots of the public’s dissatisfaction with Scotland’s railways goes back to the Scottish government’s ill-conceived decision to award the ScotRail franchise to a state-owned rail operator.
Unfortunately for passengers and the ScotRail workforce, the state in question was not our own — and the Netherlands now benefits from profits made by its state company, Abellio, out of ScotRail.
A public-sector bid from Scotland was not allowed when the franchise was awarded to Abellio for a 10-year period. With profit the first and only concern of the profiteers at Abellio, a major dispute with Scotland’s biggest rail union RMT was highly predictable.
Abellio’s attack on the role of the guard on our trains brought a summer of discontent as industrial action spread across much of the Scottish rail network.
The Scottish government quickly showed its true colours. The normally very assured and competent First Minister committed a monumental blunder when she disgracefully inferred the strike was only about who pushed a button to open and close train doors.
While the SNP government very often claims to be on the side of working-class communities, it remains very much a political party wedded to capitalism. The First Minister should have taken the trouble to speak to disabled passengers or those travelling on Scotland’s trains who feel vulnerable in any way about how crucial the role of the guard is in making their journey a safer, more relaxing experience.
Thankfully the Scottish government and Abellio ScotRail finally saw sense and a negotiated settlement was reached which was favourable to RMT and which will see safety-trained guards remain in place.
Following on from our successful efforts to Keep The Guard on the Train, RMT has launched a high- profile “Safer Scottish Trains” campaign designed to ensure trains, stations & rail infrastructure in general are properly resourced and managed to ensure the best possible service is delivered.
Everyone, in particular disabled people, should be able to travel on a 21st-century rail network without having to check ahead days in advance to ensure staff will be in place to assist them.
At the same time, Westminster and the European Union have also intervened in a negative way which may have serious repercussions for rail workers and passengers in the years ahead.
Earlier this month Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary in Theresa May’s rotten Tory government, delivered a speech which potentially takes the rail industry back to the complete fragmentation foisted upon the people of Britain by the hapless government of John Major in the 1990s.
Grayling now seeks to reintroduce “competition” into rail infrastructure, maintenance and repairs.
Inevitably this will eventually lead to the complete break-up of Network Rail. The centralised standards implemented by this public-sector organisation will be discarded and profit and loss will become the decisive factor in deciding the standards for maintaining the rail infrastructure. This is a frightening scenario with potentially deadly outcomes and RMT will fight this with everything we have.
The latest plans for railways across the EU, the ultimate bosses’ club, are contained within the Fourth Railway Package which MEPs are voting on. These proposals make it mandatory to put rail passenger services out to competitive tender. With the Scottish government recently beginning to engage with the rail unions and others regarding a public-sector bid for the ScotRail contract, the 4th Railway Package underlines how fragile and fleeting this public-sector bid could ultimately be.
Scotland’s ferry sector also had a fair amount of publicity in the last year or so, with RMT engaged in a high-profile, long-running and ultimately successful campaign to keep CalMac ferries in public ownership.
RMT stands by our assertion that the Clyde and Hebridean ferry service did not have to go out to tender under the Teckal exemption.
Unfortunately, the Scottish government are keen to be seen as good Europeans, despite the negative impact on the Scottish people, and meekly went along with directives from the EU.
The uncertainty for island communities and the stress for the CalMac workforce while their future was unclear, was not high on the government’s agenda.
Unfortunately it looks highly likely that the workforce and the islanders on the Northern Isles are about to be put through the same uncertainty as their counterparts on the west coast.
The government is once again meekly following diktats from Brussels by putting the Northern Isles ferry service out to a competitive tendering process, despite the people of Britain voting to leave the EU, including a sizeable section of the Scottish working class.
RMT has a clear and principled position which is to insist that the Northern Isles contract is brought back into public ownership forthwith.
We demand an immediate end to the exploitation of eastern European seafarers. These workers, employed on a Scottish government contract, are being paid wages at a derisory rate while being denied the protection of a trade union agreement with wages and conditions covered by collective bargaining agreements.
As part of our ongoing Save our Seafarers campaign, we have highlighted this disgraceful fact to the media and the public with our slogan SNP — Ships of Shame.
This is causing the government and, in particular, the Transport Minister a great deal of embarrassment. I make no apologies for this and I sincerely hope the embarrassment will lead to action before too much longer.
It is clear to everyone, with the possible exception of right-wing profiteering zealots, that the only way to have a public transport system worthy of the name is to have a fully nationalised railway, properly resourced, with adequate staffing levels --- together with a publicly owned ferry operator, working exclusively on behalf of ferry users and the Scottish government, & money raised reinvested --- instead of lining the pockets of private shareholders.
Gordon Martin is Scottish regional organiser of the RMT.
(source - Morning Star)
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Tory aid-dumping revelation means the money should be seized and used by Mike Sivier
The worst part of this is, it suggests that people who said the International Aid budget could be used in better ways, were right.
The Times reports that the Tories have been ‘dumping’ billions of pounds in aid into shady World Bank funds, to sit unused indefinitely – in order to "keep up the appearance" of meeting the government’s commitment to donating 0.7% of the UK’s GDP in foreign aid.
According to the Times, at least £9 billion has been transferred like this in the past 5 years. Rather than helping developing countries, the money, which is spread across over 200 different bank accounts, simply sits there – doing nothing except rack up World Bank ‘administration fees’.
UK International Development Secretary Priti Patel’s only qualification for her job appears to be the fact that she had previously wanted to get rid of it and the funding it oversees. This seems to be the standard Tory qualification for any ministerial role that is supposed to help people – Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt infamously wrote a book, before becoming Health Secretary, that called for abolition of the ’60-year-old mistake’ of the NHS.
Clearly, to a Tory, maintaining the appearance of doing something is far more important than actually doing it – especially if it helps you put cash into the bank accounts of your backers and allies and ideally while you get rid of the very thing you’re supposed to be looking after. If you hear Tories say ‘reform’, run for cover – or better yet, get the pitchforks out.
Source: Keeping up appearances: aid-dumping shows Tories care for PR, not people The SKWAWKBOX
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Left Looks To Unite To Protect Its Power Base CHARLEY ALLAN
The Labour right was desperate to see the back of “Red Len,” as the tabloids call him.
But Len won his victory. Now’s the perfect time to join Unite, with full membership costing just £3.50 a week, reduced to 50p for the unemployed.
The AWL and its allies may have won the national committee battle, but they won’t win the OMOV war --- if the movementists get organised.
A new current called Opening Momentum has rallied round the point that anti-OMOVers had denied members their advertised right to “vote in national-level elections.”
And it’s crucial that every member who really believes in the fabled “new kind of politics” turns up to their local branch meetings - if they have them - to halt plans for a parallel party.
This is bigger than Momentum. We need to see much more direct democracy in Labour itself, although there will always be resistance from those who benefit most from the delegate system.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of new Labour members and Momentum’s top priority --- should making sure their voice is heard at next year’s party conference.
The Labour left can’t afford to be crushed again on the conference floor, as happened this year.
While Momentum was dazzling everyone with its World Transformed free festival, right faction Labour First was distributing fliers to let delegates know when and where vital votes were taking place.
Critically, Momentum must:- have slates of candidates ready when local constituency parties select conference delegates in thecoming months.
The new left movement needs to get serious if it wants to win the looming electoral battles within Labour, the trade unions and the grassroots.
Defending, strengthening and expanding this power base at the ballot box, will take back the leadership, and keep the movement fighting fit for the general election.
• Chat to Charley on Twitter: @charleyallan.
(source - Morning Star)
A New Lucas Plan For The Future by David King
The ideas pioneered by the Lucas workers are just as, or more, relevant now than in the 1970s, and there are strong political similarities in the situation.
As in the ’70s, we have an economic crisis caused by unjust economic policies and the failure of successive governments’ industrial strategy.
As usual, this has hit the working class hardest, and anger over this is being channelled into racism against immigrants. Now, the environmental effects of industrial capitalism are far more evident than 40 years ago, already creating wars, militarisation and widespread concern about insecurity.
Finally, introduction of new technologies threatens structural unemployment on a scale considerably greater than the ’70s.
The Tory government’s response to the economic and political crisis, despite continuing to publicly espouse neoliberal principles, looks a lot like a classic Keynesian economic stimulus package.
In the last few months it has made decisions to go ahead with a range of industrial infrastructure megaprojects — Hinkley C, fracking, HS2 and the Heathrow third runway, as well as pressing ahead with spending £200 billion on Trident renewal.
A key element in the case for all these projects is the jobs that they will generate or preserve, although the jobs estimates are bound to be inflated, while the price tag will be massively underestimated.
Compared to the ’70s, far fewer jobs will be created in this way because, due to automation and mechanisation, they are all highly capital rather than labour-intensive.
The Lucas Aerospace workers’ idea of socially useful production suggests a far better way forward.
Even in the early phase of the environmental movement, before most socialists realised the significance of these issues, the Lucas Plan acknowledged that protecting the environment is part of the concept of socially useful production.
With the exception of HS2, all the new projects are environmental anathema, and the damage that project would do to the English countryside and people’s homes and communities, for the sake of saving 30 minutes of executives’ time, makes it emblematic of neoliberalism.
The working-class people who voted for Brexit are demanding jobs and regeneration of their communities, but these industrial vanity projects are not the solution.
Now is the moment to realise the proposals of the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group (Million Climate Jobs Campaign), which is often seen as a successor to the Lucas Plan.
We should be investing in renewable energy, home insulation, public transport etc as part of the international trade union initiative of Just Transition, ie transition to a low-carbon economy with job protection for workers in industries that need to be phased out.
Imagine what could be achieved in regional economic renewal and environmental benefits with the Trident billions.
But exactly how that money should be spent should not be decided by economic planners alone.
One of the great strengths of the Lucas Plan was that it came from the bottom up, from workers, not managers.
Recognising that they could not, by themselves, define what people need, the Lucas workers began to work with various regional communities to develop “popular planning for social need.”
In London, the Greater London Council created technology development networks that involved users, for example disabled people, in technology design.
These traditions of bottom-up local planning have been continued by various citizens’ local planning initiatives, such as Just Space in London, and would be vital to a democratic solution to the crises.
The current economic and environmental crises are symptoms of a deeper crisis in the industrial capitalist mode of production, and they demand a fundamental rethink of how we produce the basic things that people need for a decent life.
One of the less well-remembered, but crucial aspects of the Lucas Plan was the workers’ struggle against the automation and deskilling of their work with computer-controlled machinery, a struggle shared with trade unionists around the world in that period.
As Phil Asquith of the Lucas Combine puts it, “Harold Wilson’s ‘white heat of the technological revolution’ was burning up workers’ jobs.’
The continuation of this trend over the last 40 years is a major source of the jobless recoveries and income polarisation that are creating the “squeezed middle” of angry, Daily Mail- reading, Brexit voters.
Forecasts suggest that digital technology will eliminate half the jobs in the economy over the next 20 years, but its track record shows that it creates far fewer new jobs to replace them.
One response to this that has become popular on the left is the belief that automation will usher in a post- capitalist society, if we can only feed those useless human workers with basic income.
This is a complex argument, but one thing for sure is that this was not the Lucas workers’ philosophy.
Instead of: “Demand Full Automation, Demand Universal Basic Income, Demand the Future,” they would have reminded us that the romance of high-technology leads to what historian of technology David Noble aptly called: “Progress without people.”
The Lucas workers’ slogan would likely have been: “Demand Democratic Control of Technology, Demand Socially Useful Production, Demand Equality and Sustainability.”
They were very clear that the idea of socially useful production is also about how things are produced.
There is no point in socially useful products if they are made in a way that alienates and deskills the workers who produce them.
They went on to design “human-centred technologies,” in which the point was to use and develop workers’ skills, rather than design them out of the production process.
A skills and people-based, more labour-intensive approach is, in the era of Brexit and environmental crisis, a much better way to create a socially just, sustainable economy than old-fashioned, capital- intensive high-tech mega projects. This is the agenda we will be discussing in Birmingham today.
(source - the Morning Star)
Construction Workers Can’t Be Expected To Work Into Their Sixties by Brian Rye (source - The Star)
British governments seem to think one of two things about construction workers: they're either superhuman, or they don’t give a toss about them. That would be the logical conclusion, given the raise in the pension age, to 68.
With the state pension age due to rise to 67 by 2026 and 68 by 2044, our political elites seem to believe that we are breeding a race of human beings with quite exceptional physical capabilities.
While professional sportspeople are pretty much done by their mid-thirties, with their strength, speed and stamina leeching away by the day, the British construction worker - if you believe our politicians - lives in a world that defies conventional science.
Despite the early starts, the exposure to the elements, the heavy lifting, the long hours, the poor diet & susceptibility to minor injury, these lions of the labour force are all going to get their telegram from the king - because the stats say we’re all living longer.
Sadly, if you have a shred of common sense you will immediately know this is not true.
Construction workers are the same as any other human being. Like professional sportspeople, they can feel their physical abilities start to wane from their mid-thirties.
The only difference being: construction workers have to stay in the game. & not only that, given the increase in the pensionable age, the game just went into extra time.
Empathy is a wonderful characteristic for a human being to possess because it creates understanding and caring for others.
So we have to ask ourselves, as our besuited, overweight politicians sit back in their comfy chairs before skipping off to their subsidised three-course meal in the House of Commons - with a glass of wine or two — how much empathy are they feeling with their compatriots in construction?
Can they imagine the freezing mornings, the hours of standing up, the repetitive physical work or the greasy chips for lunch? It would seem not.
Recent research carried out by the TUC, in a report called Postponing the Pension, shows that a significant proportion of the population won’t reach the pensionable age of 68 in any fit state to enjoy their retirement.
The results show that half a million workers within five years of the state pension have had to leave work for medical reasons, and that nearly half of 60 to 64-year-olds stopped working before their official retirement age.
This is why Ucatt is currently trying to get the Labour Party to support policies that would mean a future Labour government would introduce a flexible pension age for physically demanding professions.
Construction work is hugely physically demanding because it involves prolonged standing, highly repetitive work, heavy lifting, working with the hands lifted to shoulder height or higher, and working with the back twisted or bent forward. It can lead to musculoskeletal disorder, cardiovascular disease and long-term sickness absence.
These work conditions and their effects need to be factored into the calculation of a pensionable age. It is only fair.
At 60, most politicians are on a few company boards, are picking up consultancies, maybe writing a book and reaping the benefits of a lifetime’s work.
The current presidential candidates in the US are 68 (Hillary Clinton) and 70 (Donald Trump) - beneficiaries of a lifetime of comfort, good food, little or no physical exertion and excellent healthcare on demand.
These individuals see no reason to retire - they’re feeling fine. Construction workers often aren’t feeling fine.
We all know that one in four people in Britain will now live to 100 — but what about the other three? At what age will they be checking out? And what jobs are they doing?
According to figures from the government’s own Office for National Statistics, doctors and accountants are outliving builders and cleaners, by as much as eight years.
Men in professional occupations can expect to live to 80, almost eight years longer than those in unskilled jobs, whose life expectancy is 72.7. So people are not all the same - shock, horror! Comparing the accountant to the construction worker is comparing apples with oranges - and yet our governments conveniently ignore this.
Our ageing population and the fears surrounding the viability of the state pension in the future has caused the political class to legislate in a heavy- handed, insensitive and unsophisticated way.
The phrase “we’ve all got to work longer” is bandied about by those sitting comfortably behind a desk. For those leading a more active life, this phrase is just a plain, old-fashioned threat.
To quote ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn: “Living longer doesn’t mean we are able to work longer in physically demanding jobs like that of the firefighter, police officer or paramedic. And it’s not just in the emergency services. Construction workers, care workers and prison officers cannot be expected to work into their sixties. We need a flexible pension age that allows people to work for as long as they want to.”
Ucatt’s campaign plainly states “68 is too late.” It’s a campaign that needs to be fought to a victory - for the sake of thousands of British workers. We need to present our case, find broad support and build empathy within the country. And we have to find acceptance that it may cost us all a little bit more while we’re of working age.
Otherwise we will all be using another well- known phrase: “flogging a dead horse.”
We’ll leave the last words to Mr Corbyn: “If we want dignity for all in old age, then it has to be paid for.”
Brian Rye is acting general secretary of Ucatt.
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Britain’s workers feel stressed and insecure (originally in the Morning Star) by Carolyn Jones
The UK's 31 million workers are among the most insecure, stressed and unhappiest in Europe.
No wonder! According to the latest report by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER), the evidence is damning.
On average, UK workers work more hours per week, more days per year, more years before retirement -- after which, they receive lower levels of pension -- than most of their European counterparts.
In comparison to other European workers they generally receive less education and training, and (because of lack of employer investment) their productivity is lower.
They get fewer paid holidays than almost all European comparators and their pay is so low that a great proportion of them are in poverty --- with the state subsidising employers’ low wages.
And it doesn’t end there. The UK has a high proportion of its workforce in so-called “self- employment,” agency work, temporary work, and/or on zero-hours contracts.
It has more part-time workers who want full- time jobs, than other European countries.
UK workers have less entitlement to redundancy pay, sick pay, and maternity pay, than most European workers.
Workers’ rights to remedies for unfair dismissal and discrimination are set low and have been made practically unenforceable by the imposition of high access fees.
In the UK, unlike most European countries, there is no ministry of labour, no labour inspectorate and a negligible complement of health and safety inspectors.
All this in the fifth richest nation in the world. It is obscene. So what’s to be done?
An excellent starting point is the establishment of Jeremy Corbyn’s Workplace 2020 initiative. Launched in May 2016, the aim of the project is to start a national conversation on what work should be like in 2020.
Under the chairmanship of Ian Lavery, shadow trade union minister, the Labour Party wants to hear the good, the bad and the ugly stories about working life in Britain.
On a recently launched website people can submit their comments, complaints and suggestions on a range of workplace issues.
So whether it’s job security, pay and pensions, training and apprenticeships, diversity and equality, trade unions or health and safety that raises your passion, there’s scope to feed into the policy agenda.
Once again the Labour leadership team is turning out to the country for ideas rather than assuming it knows best in the corridors of power.
Labour is already committed to raising the minimum wage, banning zero-hours contracts, ensuring workers are given access to justice, and giving temporary workers the same rights as permanent staff. But it recognises that more needs to be done -- not just to secure fairness at work but to rebuild the UK's economy and industry.
So, at the request of Jeremy Corbyn and Ian Lavery, the IER drafted a contribution to the review, using 15 of its academic and legal experts. At the heart of our proposals is the need to ensure the voice of the UK’s 31 million workers is heard & respected -- in government (via a ministry of labour), in the economy (via a national economic forum) and in industry (via sectoral employment commissions).
The manifesto offers 25 major policy recommendations for consideration.
It proposes changing the way in which working conditions are regulated. It moves responsibility for workplace regulation from legislation to collective bargaining.
It calls for the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016, the removal of tribunal fees and the introduction of fundamental & enforceable rights for workers, enforceable in a labour court with the assistance of labour inspectors.
The Thatcher concept of individual rights for individual workers has to go. It does little for workers, it’s costly to enforce and it fails to deliver fairness at work.
IER’s manifesto offers a system based on the collective voice of workers, negotiating collectively agreed standards & delivering collectively enforced fairness at work.
A new framework of labour law should be built on the following 10 points:
A ministry of labour
A national economic forum
Sectoral employment commissions
Sectoral collective agreements and wages councils’ orders
Workplace bargaining
A strengthened framework of statutory employment rights
Labour courts and labour inspectors
Employment tribunals
Stronger support for freedom of association and collective rights
The right to strike
Carolyn Jones is director of the Institue of Employment Rights
A manifesto for labour law: Towards a comprehensive revision of workers’ rights --- is available from IER. Go to www.ier.org.uk for more information.
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Why Labour is putting energy reform at the heart of its green agenda Jeremy Corbyn
No issue better connects the environment to people’s lives than energy. To deliver clean, affordable electricity,we need to change our undemocratic system of supply.
We are on course for a climate catastrophe. 2016 is set to be the hottest year on record. Unless the Paris agreement’s target of limiting the rise in temperatures by 1.5C is met, heatwaves like that in 2003, which killed tens of thousands of people in Europe, will become the norm. And that's before considering rising sea levels and desertification, that will sink cities, and kill and displace millions, or the fact that the Earth has already lost half its wildlife, in the past 40 years.
The task for politicians is to propose real solutions to the single most important issue facing humanity. Too often, the environment is considered a matter for scientists, enthusiasts & activists. To increase public understanding and energise the political debate, we need more than facts – we need a programme that resonates with people’s every- day experiences, offering not just warnings, but opportunities and improvement.
No issue better connects the environment to people’s lives than energy. In Britain today, 7 million households struggle to pay their bills because of spiralling costs, while the big six energy companies have seen their profits rise by more than tenfold since 2007. The energy market is not just expensive, inefficient and polluting – it is, above all, undemocratic.
In order to deliver clean, affordable heating and electricity we need to change the whole system of energy supply. When energy is driven by the needs of people, it will be greener – because saving the planet is in the interests of everyone.
That is why I am today announcing a bold new set of policies which will pioneer a democratic, community- led system of energy supply. Over the course of the next parliament, we will use public investment and legislation to promote the creation of over 200 local energy companies, giving towns, cities & localities the powers they need to drive a clean, locally accountable energy system with public, not-for-profit companies.
At the heart of this policy will be a new generation of community energy co-operatives. We will create 1,000 of these co-operatives with the support of a network of regional development banks, and legislate to give them the right to sell energy directly to the communities they serve.
At the same time as building a new publicly run, locally accountable energy system, we will invest in the high quality homes & insulation needed to make Britain environmentally sustainable. We will create a National Home Insulation programme to insulate at least 4m homes to energy efficiency standard B or C. In the private rented sector, we will set compulsory standards at the same level & end the misery of cold rented accommodation. This would save millions of people money on their bills as well as saving energy that is currently wasted on poorly insulated homes.
In order to have any hope of keeping the rise in temperature to 2C – let alone meeting our Paris agreement target of 1.5C – we need to keep 80% of fossil fuels in the ground. This can and must be done. Scotland is already on course to generate 100% of its electricity by renewables, & Britain has an ample supply of wind & water. In government, I'll commit to generating 65% of Britain’s electricity from these sources by 2030.
All of these measures will create secure, skilled employment for hundreds of thousands of people. As part of our transition to a low-carbon economy, we estimate that we will create 316,000 jobs in wind, solar and wave power. We'll use a £500bn national investment programme, with a National Investment Bank and a network of regional development banks, to ensure that these jobs and opportunities are created in places where they are most needed – in coastal towns and areas with high unemployment.
Too often, environmental catastrophe is explained in the same terms as an asteroid hitting the earth. But the problems and the solutions are political – they are about the prioritisation of profit over the needs of people and, at the heart of it all, a lack of democracy in how decisions are made. By democratising our energy supply, and giving people power over their own destinies, we can rebuild and transform Britain so that no one and no community, is left behind.
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Together --- Stronger!
Change, when it comes, will not come from Westminster. The campaign to save our NHS must become a visible reality on every high street and a priority for Labour members.
The NHS is at breaking point, and as Keep Our NHS Public secretary John Lister says: “by 2020 it will all be over.”
To reverse the damage of four more years of A&E closures, outsourced or pared-down services and reduced access, could verge on the impossible.
MPs who obsess over the need to attract Tory voters may find that the champions who saved a local A&E win more hearts and minds than a lorryload of anti-immigration mugs ever could.
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HELP JOHN DUNN
John Dunn, ex-miner and a Labour Party member for 45 years, was blocked from voting for Corbyn, because he challenged Owen Smith for exploiting the legacy of Orgreave for electoral purposes.
He has been told he is suspended from the Labour Party.
John says: "45 years continuous membership and they couldn't even address me by my name"
It looks like the NEC are creating their very own blacklist.
Labour grew hugely under Corbyn and the ''guess'' is --- most of new members were Corbyn supporters.
A DREAM COME TRUE
Support for Jeremy Corbyn from Tyrone O’Sullivan, a fourth-generation south Wales miner, who led a workers’ buy-out of Tower Colliery, to save it from closure.
"I’ve been close to Jeremy since the miners’ strike. Knowing the man, knowing his abilities and his education, it was a dream come true for me when he became leader. His ideas and values are more necessary, here in south Wales, than probably anywhere else in the country. He wanted victory for Labour, but only under our terms - for a change."
O’Sullivan, a lifelong Labour member, says Jeremy is the only true socialist we have had as leader --- for 20 or 30 years.
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PEOPLE DESERVE RESPECT
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership opponent flaunted his contempt for democracy by backing a second referendum on UK membership of the EU.
And MPs pressured Jeremy Corbyn to resign, by constant smears, media lies and attacks on Labour's membership !!!
No wonder the Unite policy conference has overwhelmingly backed mandatory reselection of MPs - to ensure genuine democratic accountability in the party.
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Unite pushes for reselection of MPs by Conrad Landin
Candidates ‘should reflect members’ views’
Labour's largest affiliate is now behind the push for mandatory reselection of MPs, as Jeremy Corbyn critics have “destabilised” the party, to ditch anti-austerity policies.
Delegates at general union Unite’s conference are resolved to support the approach, in order “to ensure democratic accountability, and the rights of party members to select candidates that reflect their views.”
Currently, sitting MPs are only subject to a “trigger ballot” -- where they automatically become the candidate -- unless a super- majority of branches in the constituency support a new selection.
London and eastern region's delegate, Kevin Parslow: “The current trigger mechanism is difficult, & weighted in favour of the incumbent.
“We put ourselves up as reps and branch officers for election regularly.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for MPs to put themselves up for re-selection. They should be accountable to us, and not to Murdoch’s press: they're there because they have the Labour Party name on the ballot paper.”
Mike Hedges, another London delegate: “Four weeks ago I would have spoken against this motion--- but after the treachery of 172 MPs --- we have no option.”
The union’s leaders are also mandated to “support moves to bring more democracy into policy-making -- by returning powers to the party conference.”
A Unite spokesperson:
“This vote simply reflects the immense frustration that our members feel. They look at the conduct of some within the party, the challenge to the elected leader, and they feel angered.
“They want Labour fighting the Tories, not among themselves.”
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GMB Wins Lidl Recognition by Peter Lazenby Ruling affects hundreds of warehouse staff
The Star - General union GMB has won a landmark legal ruling giving hundreds of warehouse workers at giant cut-price supermarket chain Lidl the right to be represented by the union.
The German-owned chain opposes union recognition and resisted the union’s claim.
But the Central Arbitration Committee, whose decisions are legally binding, supported the GMB case, and gave the union full rights to represent and negotiate on behalf of its 223 members among warehouse workers at Bridgend, south Wales.
GMB now presses ahead with its campaign for recognition at 8 more Lidl warehouses across England and Scotland.
National secretary Justin Bowden says: “Lidl’s attempts at union-busting were quite properly thrown out by the judge --- in a massive victory for rights at work.
“[Wednesday’s] ruling opens the gates to not only improving employees’ pay & terms and conditions at the Bridgend site, but is also a major victory for the GMB’s campaign for a trade union voice at the workplace.
“The suggestion that Lidl’s workers don't need the option of a trade union to stick up for them and fight for their interests is baloney, pure and simple.
“As a result of today’s ruling, employees will get the chance to decide for them- selves, if the company’s own ‘personal personnel hotline’ is any match for an independent union taking their side & defending their interests in the workplace.”
GMB Wales and south-west regional secretary John Phillips adds: “Regrettably, Lidl continues to show both hostility towards GMB & shameful disregard for the wishes of its own workforce, with expensive challenges against fair and objective decisions made by independent third-party organisations.”
Lidl is also resisting attempts by shop workers’ union Usdaw to recruit and represent staff in its supermarkets.
An Usdaw spokesperson said: “Lidl will not even let our representatives into stores, to talk to staff.”
Lidl has 637 stores & 9 regional distribution centres --- employing over 18,000 staff. Its ambitions to expand in Britain, could see it more than double in size --- with plans for 1,500 stores & 2 more distribution centres.
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Tax offices’ own cleaners don’t get minimum wage
Cleaners at 6 government offices on Mersey- side walked out over their employer’s failure to pay them the legal minimum wage.
The staff began the two-day strike, because they have not received that £7.20-an-hour rate the government introduced on April 1.
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Wales: 50,000 days lost due to teacher stress
The number of teachers off sick due to stress in Wales has soared by thousands in just one year, new research shows.
Stress-related illness caused the 51,795 sick days: an increase of 2,568 on 2014, freedom of information figures revealed.
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Unions stood by Corbyn & McDonnell
The entire labour movement could have been concentrating all of our efforts - on bringing down this mean government.
Instead, 172 Labour MPs launched an attempted coup on Corbyn. If it's true that Angela Smith MP described the 10,000 activists, including general secretaries of affiliated trade unions, who were at a recent pro-Corbyn rally, as “dogs,” --- then serious questions need to be asked about the relationship between the PLP and the trade union movement.
Every trade union in Britain has regular elections for shop stewards, branch secretaries, and their general secretary.
It's time those who fund the Labour Party demanded the same level of democracy for sitting MPs.
Anything less than a mandatory reselection of MPs before every parliament is now untenable.
Let’s get this straight: none of these MPs backed Corbyn for leader, most of them abstained in the Welfare Reform Bill, many of them voted for the Iraq war, & to this day, hero-worship Tony Blair.
The 172 Labour MPs aren't just trying to change the Labour leader -- they are plotting to drag the movement back to a Blairite view of politics.
The vote of no confidence wasn't just an attempt to oust Corbyn --- it was a declaration of war on the entire organised left.
The gloves are off and there’s no going back. Everyone will need to decide: which side are you on? I stand with Corbyn and McDonnell.
Dave Smith is co-author, with Phil Chamberlain, of Blacklisted: The Secret War between Big Business and Trade Unionists, (New Internationalist Publications).
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RMT: We Must Fight Assault On Our Rights Union ‘disappointed’ with lack of action from TUC
Unions should move to take “generalised” strike action: with or without a go-ahead from the TUC, RMT activists insisted.
The union was meeting in Cardiff that week --- but you wouldn't know it, if you'd read the Welsh press!
Delegates at the transport union’s annual general meeting in Cardiff expressed disappointment that fiery rhetoric about defeating new anti-strike laws was not followed up with action.
The union unanimously passed a motion expressing concern at the TUC’s “lack of campaigning” on the issue and called for a “high-profile campaign.”
Leeds delegate Trevor Howard said: “Personally, my own view is that the TUC is a waste of space and it needs to be reorganised.”
The Trade Union Act, which received Royal Assent last month, imposes arbitrary thresholds on strike ballots & other curbs on labour movement activity.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It’s fundamentally undemocratic when you put these thresholds in.”
He said unions must respond to the law by ramping up their organising. “Whatever we do, we’ve got to make sure we get our members’ support,” he said.
And he praised Jeremy Corbyn’s Workplace 2020 agenda, which aims to introduce new labour rights.
“What we need to be doing is turning the tables,” he added: “We’ve got to get an alternative to this legislation --- to get us positive rights.”
Cash blasts ‘self-indulgent MPs’ for sabotaging left’s moment
“Self-indulgent” Labour MPs have squandered the left’s best moment to go on the offensive, RMT's general secretary, Mick Cash, stressed.
He used his address to the transport union’s annual general meeting to warn of “massive fights ahead” amid “political and economic turmoil.”
He said the divisions in the Tory Party and shockwaves in the world of capital should have been an opportunity for the left to get its message across. But he said this had been sabotaged by the frontbenchers resigning and calling for Jeremy Corbyn’s head.
He fumed: “What have they done? Self-indulgence. They’ve created division, they created a lack of leadership of progressive forces.
“They’ve created a situation where, if we’re not careful, we’ll have a Tory government ------ and worse, a Tory government supported by Ukip.
“We need to seize the opportunity to put forward an agenda to fight against austerity, against cuts and for workers’ rights. But that won’t happen if our politicians in London are playing the game they’re playing.
“Ordinary working people are sick of the political class and what they’re doing --- and yet they’re doing it again.”
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Putschist MPs ‘Let The Tories Off The Hook’ Unions rally round previous Labour leader
Union reps on Labour’s ruling executive signed a defiant statement to show that Mr Corbyn still has institutional support.
The leader of Labour’s most recent affiliate Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack pointed his hoses at the quitters, saying their action was “co-ordinated to cause maximum damage” to Mr Corbyn.
“It is bizarre that some of the MPs making the loudest criticism of Jeremy Corbyn over the referendum -- completely failed to convince the electorate in their own constituencies,” he said.
“After the referendum, Labour should be setting out policies to defend jobs, public services & wages, as an exit from the EU is negotiated. Instead, some Labour MPs are playing irresponsible & silly games, from their Westminster bubble.”
Unite south-east secretary Jenny Formby, one of the executive members behind the statement in support of Mr Corbyn, said it was “nonsense” to blame him for the result. “Now, more than ever, is a time for loyalty and unity,” she stormed.
Communication Workers’ Union leader Dave Ward fired off a missive, stating Mr Corbyn “has our full support” as leader.
“Jeremy Corbyn is, and remains, the catalyst for change in the Labour Party and the country,” he said. “Those who seek to oust him, represent the politics that forgot ordinary people.”
And food union BFAWU turned up the heat. They said plotters would “only serve to let the Conservative government off the hook for the damage they've heaped upon our communities & the crisis they've caused in pursuit of power.”
Image: solidarity
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Image: Stop the closures and cuts in Wales, Clegg !
WHERE IS MOST UK YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT?
WALES!
(WHERE IN WALES? GUESS !!!)
Youth unemployment rates in some parts of Britain, such as the North East, have reached the highest recorded level ever, recent data gathered by the GMB union shows.
The GMB report says unemployment rates among people aged between 18-25 have hit record levels.
Wales is top of the unemployment list, with almost 23,000 claimants. The GMT reveals that some parts of Wales have a jobless rate of 37%.
Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary:
"In the UK there are nearly 400,000 young workers aged 18-24 claiming jobseeker's allowance. When you add to that number the rest of the young people not in jobs, but seeking work, the real number is more than double that figure.”
The number of young UK job seekers is really almost one million;- which makes this young generation the real victims of the current recession in Britain.
Kenny again: “The Government is in denial that it is deliberately creating unemployment.”
This is while reports say almost 150,000 jobs are under threat across the country.
What Wales needs is AN ECONOMY
ONE THAT WILL LAST
"Regional aid" - artificially importing factories that owe no allegiance to Wales - has failed.
Innovation means NEW ! New thinking.
Stop moaning about the past. Start building an economy NOW, for our youngsters.
Or else!!!
New means old, if you want to build a genuine economy. From the ground up, means exactly that!
Agriculture, producing smart new food and drinks. But based on our strengths.
All the land we need is here, and if we look up, 80 percent of Wales' "valley" land is up in the air, like Penrhys!
And it's almost unused. Imagine! All that land from the Rhondda over to Aberdare and beyond.
I'm sure people with vision can see orchards and new products... new ways of working, etc.
All it requires is a WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE.
Image: Try and Stop US
ALL TOGETHER NOW FOR PEACE
The UK's TUC is calling on the UK government to end its meddling policies in the Middle East and North Africa. “The “war on terror” is still continuing and has failed, after ten years, to bring the promised peace and stability to either the Middle East or the wider world,” the motion says...
Image: solidarity
UK FOLLOWING US DOWN THE DRAIN
Last year’s table of 10 top EU economies - assessing income, prices, working culture & public spending, put the UK in last place.
The UK now has the 4th-highest retirement age of any country averaging 63.1 years - and this,thanks to the Tories AND a supine work-force, is set to keep rising higher and higher.
Average net household income after tax, (and remember, this "average" includes the stinking rich) is £37,172 a year, but even after ignoring the ridiculously high "average", this is now much lower than the average amount earned in Ireland, the Netherlands & Denmark, where there are less of the obscenely rich, to distort the figures.
In Wales, we know that the "average" worker earns far less than this: (£15,000 after tax)
Life for most in the UK is set to get even worse - if people don't fight back - as public services are to be cut more, after the next Spending Review ..and will lead to budget cuts of up to 40% in many public service departments.
France and Spain again top the quality of life index, as workers there have more paid holidays, earlier retirement, lower prices, longer life expectancy and, just to rub it in... better weather.
There are no separate figures for Wales.... why?
Could it be that knowing... might lead to discontent or is it because Welsh workers, with their vibrant economy, as they stop mindlessly following London... and build their new economy, are now so well off, that the English might get jealous? Yeah, right!
The lesson is obvious. Strong unions with gutsy membership abound on the continent, while UK residents sink apathetically down & down & down.
As Tony Blair said: we British are "special".
We think life gets better for us if we let the bankers of London exploit the rest of the world, and our non-working workforce sinks into apathy and selfishness...
Makes you proud, doesn't it! Does it?
Image: EU workers unite against cuts
Image: eaten alive cuts cuts cuts
WORKERS ACROSS EUROPE UNITE & FIGHT TO STOP CUTS PEACE - NOT WAR AND LOOTING !
Workers from across Europe took part in a major demonstration in Brussels --- to demand that austerity measures be dropped in favour of an end to wars & for peaceful reconstruction.
Europeans took to the streets of Brussels to demonstrate against wage & pension cuts and diminishing job opportunities.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), one of the EU's leading unions, says that about 100,000 people from 30 countries took part, and police estimates say 20,000.
“Cutting in a recession's crazy and we must fight it,” AFP quotes the ETUC's general secretary, a prominent UK union leader.
Marches also took place in Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Ireland and France.
The rallies coincided with a general strike in Spain where the government froze pensions and cut the salaries of government workers.
“This is the worst economic crisis in the post- war history of Western Europe,” the eTUC leader adds.
"We call for a rethink and a change - in Spain and in Europe. We are mobilizing, and they will have to listen to us."
The union says European workers could be the main victims of a financial crisis set off by bankers and traders.
Many European governments have imposed reductions in wages, pensions & employment - to deal with the escalating economic issues.
The OECD has released its long awaited Action Plan to curb "base erosion and profit shifting" (BEPS) by large multinational enterprises.
"The OECD Action Plan has the ambition to effectively curb tax evasion by large multinational enterprises – but it is a plan, and it needs effective commitments by governments and effective implementation,” says ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
The Action plan consists of 15 measures to strengthen corporate income tax rules and prevent tax avoidance through manipulating intra-group transfer pricing between subsidiaries, and the use of empty shell companies in low tax jurisdictions.
Tax challenges created by globalised production and service systems, the digital economy and increasing importance of "intangibles" – r & d, and intellectual property – feature prominently in the OECD Action plan.
