alanjjohnstone
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UK see the US suspension of arms trade because of Yemen as a business opportunity.
UK Foreign Office minister, James Cleverly, said “The decisions the US takes on matters of arms sales are decisions for the US.”
Saudi Arabia represented 40% of the volume of UK arms exports between 2010 and 2019.
Opposing anti-abortion laws is not about imposing abortions but supporting a woman’s ability to choose to have control over her reproduction, especially now that non-invasive surgical procedures are available for early pregnancies.
You inferred in your first post that abortions exist because men seek sex without responsibility for the consequences (taken from here i suspect http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/mother/against_1.shtml)
Almost three-quarters of abortions are sought by married women, the majority already mothers, (i’ll add my own caveat to the statistic that in some patriarchal societies there is gender preference which means abortions are carried out if a girl so we can’t be confident of the statistic).
There is also the eugenics policy in some countries of forced sterilisation rather than voluntary.
With the fall in fertility rates i perceive the real danger will be the possibility of compulsory pregnancy.
There will be many anti-social industries shut down in socialism but the skills and technologies won’t be wasted.
I am minded that at the beginning of the pandemic, Ineos, an oil-related company, retooled a factory in a matter of days to manufacture ventilators for hospitals.
Nor should we forget how the unions back in the 1970s developed a plan to transform armament technology into socially useful production
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-lucas-aerospace-plan.html
It has always been the case for the fossil fuel employers that ending CO2 pollution will end jobs. Oil in the soil. Coal in the hole. And sadly that is the case when alternative occupations and training is rarely offered to compensate.
Socialists are anti-war and in effect are calling for redundancies within the military and armament industries for the common good.
As anti-capitalists we are happy to call for an end to many occupations dependent upon the exchange economy.
But unlike the reformers we do not impose punitive consequences for losing ones job.
Workers are in the position of dog-eat-dog competition. Workers often put sectional interests before social and community interests. We are wage-slaves chained to the job, both physically and mentally.
Having experienced a number of years of limited liberty, the people of Myanmar are not going to passively submit to the return of the army dictatorship.
Public protests have been daily and growing despite the great risk to the demonstrators from a ruthless and brutal military.
You will find that i often follow-up threads on the forum.
But yes, i do think that access to terminations should be defended, and where restricted for political or religious purposes, expanded. (as with many other health facilities such as maternity see the recent report on maternity healthcare for minorities)
It is women who are predominantly out in the streets protesting against the archaic old laws and the draconian new laws, mostly enacted by patriarchal legislatures influenced by misogynist religions.
Are men supposed to with-hold their solidarity and sympathy because of their gender?
Wouldn’t your argument that abortions facilitate the sexual exploitation of women equally apply to the provision of contraception?
It is the same president, MS, who says to the Saudis, we’re not going to arm you to defeat the Houthis in Yemen but we are still going to give you every weapon you need to defeat the Iranians. And whatever the Israelis might happen to do, is not in any way going to undermine support the president’s support for them. The US media seem to overlook that Israel is regularly launching attacks on Iran’s military in Syria.
Biden refuses to lift sanctions
https://www.bbc.com/news/world
The BBC omits some vital details.
Iran was in full compliance with the original agreement and was about to get the sanctions removed. Trump unilaterally reneged on the deal despite EU opposition to his actions. Iran then purposefully began to publicly breach the agreement as political pressure.
Since it was the US who first broke the deal, Iran expects them to repair the damage and is willing to return to the agreement but only if the US proves itself by honouring the earlier situation.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/7/honduras-hardened-abortion-ban-these-women-remain-undeterred
Protests in Honduras to block the hardening of the anti-abortion laws
I’m not sure what to make of the SPC comment.
It makes no mention of the long-standing protests against the Keystone XL pipeline from the Alberta Tar Fields. Nor to the environmental damage of this fossil-fuel source.
Our blog has a number of critical posts on the Alberta Tar Fields
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/search?q=alberta+tar+fieldsAnd of the pipeline
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/search?q=xl+pipelineBiden is being consistent with his many executive orders to return to what the situation was under Obama.
Of the job losses, more details here:
https://factcheck.afp.com/posts-inflate-job-losses-bidens-keystone-pipeline-reversal
Our view for those who want to disseminate on their social media
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2021/02/anti-putin-protests.html
Just who really is the military threat in the region?
The US has five major military bases in the Philippines, 40 bases in Japan and Korea, and its 7th Fleet–based in Yokosuka, Japan–is Washington’s largest naval force.
The alliance of the US, Australia, Japan, and India called the “Quad” coordinates joint actions. These include the yearly Malabar war games that model interdicting China’s energy supplies by closing off the Malacca Straits between Malaysia and Indonesian island of Sumatra.
US military strategy in the area, titled “Air Sea Battle,” aims to control China’s south coast, decapitate the country’s leadership, and take out its nuclear missile force. China’s counter move has been to seize islands and reefs to keep US submarines and surface craft at arm’s length, a strategy called “Area Denial. The Americans claim that the modernization of the Chinese navy poses a threat, YET it was US actions in the 1996 Taiwan Straits crisis that frightened the PRC into a crash program to construct that modern navy and adopt the strategy of Area Denial.
Think about how Washington would react if China held naval war games off Yokosuka, San Diego or in the Gulf of Mexico.
Cuba continues economic reforms
the Cuban government will allow small private businesses to operate in most fields, eliminating its limited list of activities
For those interested in the MMT debate and taxation, here is an exchange
I lack the knowledge to comment except to say, those for and against MMT are desperate for a solution that retains a form of capitalism but one that makes it sound ever so radical.
Is this farmers strike more than a Punjabi one?
As November’s bandh suggested – Yes. As today’s chakka jam confirms, yes.
Avik Saha, a secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of farmer groups, said about 10,000 places across India were blocked in the three hours. “Today’s chakka jam clearly showed the government that this is an all-India protest,” Saha said.
