alanjjohnstone
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The US-China trade war
The US has accused China of causing “serious harm” to workers and firms around the world with its trade policies.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60408667
After 20 years of WTO membership, China still embraces a state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade, despite other WTO members’ expectations – and China’s own representations – that China would transform its economy and pursue the open, market-oriented policies endorsed by the WTO. In fact, China’s embrace of a state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade has increased rather than decreased over time, and the mercantilism that it generates has harmed and disadvantaged U.S. companies and workers, often
severely.An essay with conclusions I find very questionable, to say the least. (I feel it reflects a dangerous romantic attachment to Makhno in a very different situation)
https://crimethinc.com/2022/02/15/war-and-anarchists-anti-authoritarian-perspectives-in-ukraine
“…the authors of this text are divided between two standpoints…one has to think about accepting support from NATO… The other standpoint… the emphasis should not be on the importance of NATO technology and support for the regular army, but on the potential of society for grassroots guerrilla resistance…Anarchists are now trying to create horizontal grassroots ties in society, based on common interests, so that communities can address their own needs, including self-defense…if a war breaks out, the main thing will again be the ability to participate in armed conflict.”
Having already generously awarded the military, Biden is said to be preparing to give it in 2023, $770 billion – $770,000,000,000 – at least $17 billion higher than the defense budget requested by the Biden administration for 2022, higher than the $740 billion that Trump requested for 2021 and higher than the $639 billion that Trump requested for 2018 during his first year in office.
Biden Is Reportedly Requesting Over $770 Billion for Defense for 2023
Jack F. Matlock served as U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. from 1987-1991 so his insightful and historical view may be of interest.
I cannot dismiss the suspicion that we are witnessing an elaborate charade, grossly magnified by prominent elements of the American media, to serve a domestic political end. Facing rising inflation, the ravages of Omicron, blame (for the most part unfair) for the withdrawal from Afghanistan, plus the failure to get the full support of his own party for the Build Back Better legislation, the Biden administration is staggering under sagging approval ratings just as it gears up for this year’s congressional elections.
Since clear “victories” on the domestic woes seem increasingly unlikely, why not fabricate one by posing as if he prevented the invasion of Ukraine by “standing up to Vladimir Putin”?Who to believe?
Russia is building up its military forces on Ukraine’s border with more troops on their way, contradicting Moscow’s claims of a drawdown, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said.
Scott Ritter’s assessment
Q. Between the FONOPS [Freedom of Navigation Operations] in the South China Sea and the recently expressed enthusiasm for Taiwan’s independence, the risk of military conflict with China keeps increasing. Where is this headed? If the People’s Republic of China decides to use military force for full reunification of Taiwan, do you see the U.S. going to war in an attempt to prevent it?
A. You can’t have two competing major powers operating in the same space without conflict. The US will either have to retreat from the South China Sea, and stop supporting Taiwan, or there will be a military conflict. I don’t see the US retreating, so the question is what level of conflict will ensue. The US lacks the capacity for meaningful military engagement in either front. China will probably seek some form of low-level conflict that can be contained as a way of compelling a US retreat. But unless the US changes course, there will be a war.
The American West is experiencing its worst drought since 800AD
From the Internationalist Communist Tendency
The workers of one country share the same interests as the workers of the other. This is a fundamental principle of Marxism, which postulates that “workers have no fatherland.” It is for this that the workers of the US don’t have any interest in fighting against and killing the workers of Russia, nor do Russian workers against Ukrainian workers, etc. If they send us to the battlefields, we have to do as the Russian, German, and French soldiers did during the First World War, or as many US soldiers did during the Vietnam War; that is, refuse to kill our fellow workers under a different flag, and make war against those that send us to fight!
But one cannot begin the struggle against imperialist war in a vacuum. We have to contextualize the recent machinations of the world bourgeoisie within the global crisis of capitalism, which now extends 50 years ago to the beginning of the 1970s. The bourgeoisie does not walk down the path towards war just because they feel like it, but rather because they find that, in addition to attacking the working class, it is the only path to alleviating their cyclical crisis of the tendency for the rate of profit to fall over time. Additionally, while the crisis continues exacerbating itself in its impact on the working class, nationalist mobilizations and propaganda are useful tools in distracting our class. Instead of recognizing that the bosses are our enemies, our bosses want to fool us into thinking that our enemies are over the border.
“Make no mistake: Sea level rise is upon us,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service.
America’s coastline will see sea levels rise in the next 30 years by as much as they did in the entire 20th century, with major Eastern cities hit regularly with costly floods even on sunny days, a government report warns.
By 2050, seas lapping against the U.S. shore will be 10 to 12 inches (0.25 to 0.3 meters) higher, with parts of Louisiana and Texas projected to see waters a foot and a half (0.45 meters) higher
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/15/so-far-putin-is-the-biggest-winner-in-the-ukraine-conflict/
Russia will never get a public declaration by Nato that Ukraine will not join the organisation, but then it does not really need to. It has already succeeded in toxifying the issue, making it unlikely that Nato powers will raise it as a serious option in future.The Iron Heel
Cuban courts have handed out sentences of up to 20 years in prison to a group of people accused of taking part in protests that swept across the island in July. Hundreds of other people await verdicts following trials elsewhere.
Human rights groups say the crackdown shows how Cuba’s judicial system is routinely used to snuff out dissent.
Another trial and another selective group
All young people leaving care in Wales at the age of 18 are to be offered the chance to take part in a basic income pilot scheme under which they will receive £1,600 a month for up to two years.
The money will be given unconditionally and participants will be able to earn from paid jobs on top of the basic income with ministers hoping it will help give some of the most vulnerable in society a better chance of thriving.
Biden…Invasion – from a probability to now just a possibility
Belgium announced Tuesday a package of labor reforms that includes affording workers the right to request a four-day work week.
Under the deal, “employees can work a maximum of 9.5 hours per day, with the possibility of extending to 10 hours per day via a collective agreement between the company and trade unions to allow employees to complete their full-time working week in just four days.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/15/belgian-workers-win-right-request-four-day-week
I don’t consider her opinion as any more informed than any other here, but AOC states “a very real risk” democracy will cease to exist in the US within a decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/15/aoc-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-democracy
Simple demographics suggest the demise of US democracy
By 2040, 70 percent of Americans are expected to live in the 15 largest states, which are also home to the overwhelming majority of the 30 largest cities in the country. By extension, 30 percent of Americans will live in the other 35 states. That means that 70 percent of Americans get just 30 Senators and 30 percent of Americans have 70 Senators.
