Russian Tensions
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This is sort of funny. I always thought that Truss was out of her depth as Foreign Secretary, not understanding anything about capitalist diplomacy (or any diplomacy, actually). Where do the capitalists find these second-raters to look after their political affairs?
‘Where do the capitalists find these second-raters to look after their political affairs?’
I’d be interested to know who ALB considers as a ‘first rate’ statesman or woman? I’m sure you’re correct that there has been a drop in quality of these careerist lickspittles of the parasite class but who do you consider the best of a rotten bunch?
Of the people that they wheel out to explain the government’s position on this matter, this bloke, James Heappey, a junior minister at the ministry of war, seems to know what he is talking about, much more than his boss, Ben Wally, the minister of war himself. No gaffes about Munich or about going to war with Russia.
But of course, as you say, they are all careerist lickspittles, including those on the “Opposition” benches (the Outs for the time being before the roles are reversed and they become the Ins).
From a Tory perspective they must think that they have their third eleven out on the pitch.
The 1st eleven being Cameron and his cronies, the 2nd eleven was May and her lot and all they’ve got to put on the pitch are the political equivalent of three asthmatics, four fat kids, two kids with heart trouble and a couple of volunteers from the chess club. Still they can still outsmart Starmer and his mob.
Some useful information in this piece by Michael Roberts
https://braveneweurope.com/michael-roberts-russia-from-sanctions-to-slump
The Western capitalist bloc and the Russian capitalist state are already virtually at war, with the West using the Ukrainian armed forces as their proxies who it is arming and treating as “our boys”.
At stake is which side should be the dominating influence over the territory that is called Ukraine but also has come to involve trade routes (pipelines but also at some point the Arctic route from the Atlantic to the pacific will come into it) and supplies of raw materials (oil and gas).
The economic sanctions against Russia — seizure of assets, blocking access to finance, airports, ports, trade, even sporting events — are those normally applied against a state that another state is at war with.
These sanctions and counter-sanctions will have the economic effect in the Western bloc of diverting resources from profit-making and slowing down capital accumulation, as happens when a state is concentrating on winning a war. But their leaders have evidently decided that this is a price worth paying to bring the Ukraine into their sphere of influence.
And a Russian state so far pushed will see no recourse but apocalypse.
Further to the Russian translation, our language expert has pointed out more flaws in the automatic translation that changes the political content of the article.
EG ‘fellow countrymen’ instead of ‘fellow workers’ – an important change of words – so the translation now reads more appropriately ‘class brothers and sisters’
His far better translation is now used and the blog updated and his effort much appreciated.
The reality of what has happened will in due course sink in for those patriotic Russians who were duped into believing it was a humanitarian intervention for the protection of the Donbas Russian-speakers.
Despite any pro-Putin spin, the assured victory with minimal cost has not materialised. Russians will gradually understand their country was defeated. Who will become the scapegoats? The West? Or Putin’s government?
All the benefits of thaw of the Soviet-era Cold War will be eroded for ordinary Russians. They will begin to feel the economic pain of the sanctions.
We have witnessed the beginnings of an anti-war peace movement, albeit small and easily suppressed by the State.
Can the domestic Russian consumer market sustain jobs and wages and standard of living for the working class? Will the state enterprises require heavy subsidies once again? Denied the facility of capital export, can the Russian oligarch achieve their profit accumulation from investing solely in Russian industry and businesses?
Discontent will issue forth more dissent. The class war intensified and State repression increased.
Will it all bring closer another Russian Revolution?
For sure, a ceasefire, a peace treaty will eventually in the due course of time will lead to a relaxation in the sanctions imposed upon Russia but I have an inkling that the psychological aftermath will linger and be long-lasting.
I have seen the importance of the Russian tourist income where I live. Already the focus was concentrating on the Chinese holiday-maker. Now they become even more important for the hotels and tour operators.
The world now becomes even more heavily Beijing oriented with Russia isolated once again.
In a couple of years, it will be all about Taiwan and the China South Sea. A new stage but the same old story.
Just a few speculations going about inside my head that I thought I express.
Yes, that article by Michael Roberts is informative. He has identified what might be another reason why the Western capitalist bloc is going to such lengths to bring Ukraine into its sphere of influences:
“Ukraine is rich in natural resources, particularly in mineral deposits. It possesses the world’s largest reserves of commercial-grade iron ore—30 billion tonnes of ore or around one-fifth of the global total. Ukraine ranks second in terms of known natural gas reserves in Europe, which today remain largely untapped. Ukraine’s mostly flat geography and high-quality soil composition make the country a big regional agricultural player. The country is the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wheat and the world’s largest exporter of seed oils like sunflower and rapeseed. Coal mining, chemicals, mechanical products (aircraft, turbines, locomotives and tractors) and shipbuilding are also important sectors of the Ukrainian economy. All of this remains to be fully exploited. The EU and the US have also been drooling over the prospect of getting hold of these resources.”
So of course is China and why it has friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine. I am not sure this will be what motivates Russia, though its oligarchs might be interested in having a go at exploiting this. But, whoever it is that is going to do this, it requires stable, peaceful conditions and it is not clear that Russia would be able to maintain this as an occupying power.
But does Russia want to conquer and permanently occupy Ukraine?
I would still say that Russia’s concern is the security as a state. Roberts hints at this when he says:
“All in all, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a huge gamble which if it does not succeed in ‘neutralising’ Ukraine and forcing NATO into an international agreement, will seriously weaken the Russian economy.”
In other words, making Ukraine neutral would be the main aim. Russia might still be able to achieve this but that depends on it winning militarily and decisively. Which is what the Western bloc is doing all it can to prevent short of sending its own troops in. A dangerous situation, I admit.
Abiezer_Coppe
Participant
Russian capitalism is being pushed into a corner and must react. It cannot allow itself to be cut off from the global market. It must either remove its current head of state, be given a way out by the West, or kill everyone._————————————————————–
The Japanese capitalist class was also pushed into a corner by the USA, and they decided to bomb Pearl Harbor, and that was the pretext to start a war against Japan
And yet you think Putin won’t fire his nuclear arsenal? Why wouldn’t he? He can’t climb away now.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraines-ambassador-u-says-russia-223425959.html
Ukraine ambassador says Russia used cluster bombs
And yet you think Putin won’t fire his nuclear arsenal? Why wouldn’t he? He can’t climb away now.
Are you still insisting that wars can be started by an individual, by coincidence and by conspiracy? That is the individual conception of history which is in opposition to the materialist conception of history
https://en.internationalism.org/content/17148/capitalism-war-war-capitalism-international-leaflet
An analysis made by the International Communist Current
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