Russian Tensions

May 2024 Forums General discussion Russian Tensions

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  • #232311
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster
    #232312
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    What do they mean by class war ? I have read many groups talking about class war, but they are talking about the workers arming themselves, similar to the guerrillas fighters

    #232319
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Everyday we read that the Ukraine war has caused price rises and food shortages across the world.

    Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director at the Oakland Institute, stated that according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global food production and stocks are at historic high levels in 2022, with only a slight contraction compared to 2021.

    “Skyrocketing food prices seen this year are rather due to speculation and profiteering than the war in Ukraine…”

    Millions Go Hungry– While Billions Worth of Food Go into Landfills

    #232333
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Can Ukraine sustain its resistance?

    Tax revenues have plummeted due to an economy in free fall while military spending has skyrocketed, leaving the government facing a budget shortfall of $5 billion (€5.02 billion) per month. To make up for the lack of cash, the country’s central bank has effectively been printing money — buying government bonds to the tune of $7.7 billion over the past six months. The Financial Times reported that the printing presses effectively created $3.6 billion in June alone.

    the London-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) urged a “decreasing reliance” on money printing, or seigniorage, warning that Ukraine would likely face much higher inflation, a currency crisis and even a banking crisis if it continued.

    “Money printing makes sense at the beginning of the war, when there is a lot of chaos, and allows you to raise money very quickly,” report co-author, economist Yuriy Gorodnichenko from the University of California, Berkeley, told DW. “But it’s not a sustainable solution. If you keep doing this, you’re going to destroy the rest of the economy.”

    https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-battles-to-avoid-hyperinflation-as-war-costs-soar/a-62890235

    The World Bank has predicted that 55% of Ukrainians will be living in poverty by the end of 2023, compared with 2.5% before the conflict.

    #232336
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Adding evidence to our position that the Ukraine war is not the major reason for the food price crisis is this article on Big Ag profits

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/23/record-profits-grain-firms-food-crisis-calls-windfall-tax

    #232452
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Putin recently signed a decree to increase the Russian armed forces by a potential 137,000.

    Currently, Russia has a limit of just over a million military personnel, plus almost 900,000 civilian staff.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62705001

    #232464
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    1) It has been proven that before the war, Ukraine had produced enough food and grains to feed millions of human beings around the world, during the beginning of the pandemic they blame the food crisis on the pandemic by the meantime the capitalists were destroying vegetables, and killing millions of cows and chicken

    2) Probably the Russian army will need more soldiers because they are being defeated like it was done in Afghanistan, they became famous during WW2 because Joseph Stalin with the help of the Orthodox Church was able to recruit millions of peasants to fight against the German Nazis and millions of them died.

    3) During the government of Donald Trump there was an over production of petroleum and prices of oil barrels went all the way down and many capitalists used the tankers as storages and they were seating on many ports and the price of gasoline continued being high for the general population, they used price speculations to make for profits

    #232567
    Thomas_More
    Participant

    Why would the Russian army be shelling the Zaporozhye plant if they control it? They would be shelling their own troops.

    #232569
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Interesting article here about UK government policy in Ukraine being out of step with US policy. I know this magazine is accused of being “pro-Kremlin” but it would be:

    https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/britain’s-next-prime-minister-must-pull-back-brink-ukraine-204548

    #232577
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Russian state-backed energy firm Gazprom is poised to hand a bumper £8.6bn payout to the Kremlin after notching up record profits.

    The company reported a net profit of 2.5tn roubles (£35.8bn) for the first six months of this year. Oil and gas prices soared during that period

    The Kremlin owns 49.3% of Gazprom and will share in a 1.21tn rouble payout, after its board proposed a 51.03 rouble per ordinary share payout to investors.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/31/gazprom-to-pay-kremlin-86bn-after-record-profits

    #232586
    ALB
    Keymaster

    I know this is from RT but that doesn’t necessarily mean there is no substance to it. It’s the sort of “aid” the present government here might indeed have given to the Zelensky regime ;

    https://www.rt.com/news/561756-ukraine-anti-worker-laws/

    #232615
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Ukraine’s war against the workers

    https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-labour-law-wrecks-workers-rights/

    70% of workers in Ukraine have been stripped of many labour protections. Collective agreements negotiated by unions – over salary or holidays, for instance – no longer apply.

    The policy is opposed by Ukraine’s Federation of Trade Unions and has been criticised by a joint European Union-International Labour Organisation project. Some of its critics argue that the government is using Russia’s invasion as an excuse to push for deregulation and the stripping back of social support.

    Another draft bill proposes a drastic overhaul of Ukraine’s labour code itself. This would introduce a maximum 12-hour work day and allow employers to dismiss workers without justification.

    #232617
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Ukraine gets plenty of publicity for the aid it receives. Russia less so.
    Who is assisting the Russians?

    Where Does Russia Receive Its Aid From?

    #232618
    ALB
    Keymaster

    https://westobserver.com/news/europe/segolene-royal-questions-war-crimes-in-ukraine-citing-volodymyr-zelenskys-propaganda/amp/

    A former presidential candidate for the French so-called Socialist Party has dared to put her head above the parapet to question some of the exaggerations of the Ukraine lie factory — and has been shot at from all sides.

    The two particular atrocity stories that she questions have been exposed as fabrications (the first by the Ukrainian authorities themselves and the second by no babies having been found under the rubble as first claimed by Zelensky).

    #232635
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Now Zelensky has the cheek to tell workers in the West that they must suffer pain to save his regime:

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/zelensky-exclusive-threat-from-putin-the-nazi-outweighs-pain-of-rising-energy-bills-mtw9k526r

    Meanwhile tens of thousands of demonstrators in Prague disagree:

    https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Business/wireStory/tens-thousands-protest-czech-government-89271741

    I would think we will see more and more of this sort of thing and politicians, being politicians, will eventually take it up.

    I know that this is what the Putin regime is banking on but working class interests in protecting their standard of living come first.

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