alanjjohnstone
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Quote:No wonder most people in Syria are either putting up with the government or getting out of the place.
We are often accused of never having any real strategies to what capitalism does to us but we do. Socialists will seek refuge and sanctuary in other countries where possible and keep our heads down and play whatever lip-service is required to survive persecution and threats to life and limb. Our advice has always been, in my experience of having conversations with fellow members, live for socialism.We don't seek martyrdom nor have a death-wish such as James Connolly was said to have in making a blood sacrifice for his politics. We saw the futility of that. Perhaps the scenario hasn't arrived yet for us as a Party but we should always have in the back of our minds how we would- as an organisation – offer support for socialists fleeing to safety. The 1st International despite it limited resources did offer assistance to refugees from the Paris Commune.As i said we have not been faced with the situation but it is not an unlikely possibility that one day we may well be approached for help by fellow socialists in some future situation. I hope we can respond with comradely solidarity when it happens and accept the financial cost it may very well result in.
If i recall there are plans for an EU brigade to undertake the exact same sort of missions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU_BattlegroupAnd of course there are NATO units to do the samehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_Response_Force So i think the UK government is ignoring the principles of coalitions and i foresee that they will take action unilaterally (i can't actually envisage a scenario except the Falklands sort of situation) or more likely bilaterally with an ally (the USA being the obvious but perhaps with France in Africa) that cannot get EU or Nato approval.
Also Russian aircraft on bombing missions will now be escorted by interceptor jets. "the MoD announced three steps to be taken following the attack on the Russian Su-24 bomber, including providing aerial cover by fighter jets for every airstrike, boosting air defense by deploying guided missile cruisers off the Latakia coast, and suspending all military-to-military contacts with Turkey." Nor has there been any Western condemnation of the shooting at helpless pilots by "moderate" resistance fighters parachuting from the stricken aircraft which is akin to shooting at life-rafts from a sunk ship – a war-crime. Another double standard of which there are, of course, many more we can cite. It seems Russia was attacking Chechen nationalist units attached to the Turkomen militia who have Turkish government support for being ethnic Turks – or so i determine from reading various posts.
Turkey became the first Nato member to shoot down a Russian plane in over half a century.NATO flexes its muscle and rattles the sabres. As i mentioned in a previous post. Turkey unilaterally declared an air buffer zone that intrudes 5 miles inside Syria's legal air space. This may have a bearing. But what if Syria had shot down a French aircraft that is operating without Syria's permission …
The Kapitalism101 is what i was looking for from comrades …something that explains stuff …and places things into perspective and slots them into the real world. Wiki was a bit to dry to digest.I'll think i'll explore this website a bit more when i have time and the inclination to learn more
I don't think these exchanges make it any easier for me to understand Marx, the transformation problem and TSSI. As we have always argued and LBird too, our theory isn't too complicated and all workers should be able to understand it. When they don't it is often the communicators failure. I wish i never asked the question now
With the UN Security Council resolution permitting "all measures necessary", Cameron has the UN approval for intervention and Corbyn has one of the pre-conditions he demanded for supporting such action met.Increased UK involvement i think is now inevitable.
Missed that, Vin, and having now read it, i'm really not the better for it.Heard of this debate ..the transformation problem and prices versus value but never really understood its importance. Its the significance of it that i'm puzzled by. I still need an idiots guide to the discussion…and the implications in practice for workers…how we apply the theory to our understanding of exploitation and extraaction of surplus value.
The number is not 21 but 72 and in case you wondr how one man can cope “the penis of the Elected never softens. The erection is eternal; the sensation that you feel each time you make love is utterly delicious and out of this world and were you to experience it in this world you would faint.” – Al-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an,As for women "This number is only for men. A woman will have only one husband in Paradise, and she will be satisfied with him and will not need any more than that. The Muslim woman – who is not influenced by the claims of those who propagate permissiveness and knows that she is not like men in her make-up and nature, because Allaah has made her like that – does not object to the rulings of Allaah or feel angry. Rather she accepts what Allaah has decreed for her. Her sound nature tells her that she cannot live with more than one man at a time. So long as she has entered Paradise, she will have all that she desires, so she should not dispute now about the delights and rewards that her Lord has chosen for her, for your Lord does not treat anyone unjustly.", Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Jibreen, "The female martyr and the male martyr’s reward of seventy-two hoor al-‘iyn", Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 11419http://wikiislam.net/wiki/72_Virgins
In the case of one regular contributor, an ex-member, we have no doubt of his understanding and commitment to socialism and we all are aware that he holds firmly to a principle that the Party cannot subscribe to and refuse to countenance. In other cases i am sure similar positions are held that stop them being members.
From the report.http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/Documents/publications/reports/hbos.pdfThose with book-keeping literacy can explain to me better. Skimming this report these stood out regards refuting credit creation myth.
Quote:62. The disparity between the amount HBOS lent to its customers and the amount it held in customer deposits was further highlighted by HBOS’s loan-to-deposit ratio, which increased from 143% at the time of the merger to 170% at the end of 2007. While this was below the Bank of Scotland level of 194% immediately before the merger, it was well above the ratios of HBOS’s clearing bank competitors and at the top of the range for UK mortgage banks, with the exception of Northern Rock which failed. By the end of 2008, HBOS’s loan-to-deposit ratio had reached 192%.Quote:155. Further, with household savings ratios declining in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, banks also had to rely more heavily on wholesale borrowing to expand lending. Securitising packages of loans and selling them on to wholesale investors quickly became an important and cheaper way for banks to raise funds for new lending. It also created new dependencies, however, with securitising vehicles requiring liquidity commitments from their bank sponsors. Securitisations using master trusts also required the originator to be able to replenish or top up the asset pool, meaning the originator had to be capable of continued lending, while strengthening its obligations to the securitisation structure.Quote:160. With a significant proportion of banks’ funding coming from other financial institutions; shadow banks in turn dependent on liquidity support from banks; high system leverage; and chains of interdependencies created by complex financial products; linkages between financial institutions inevitably grew. The opacity of the system also grew and thus the ability of individual institutions and regulators to identify and assess the build-up of risks declined. This increased the risk that problems or concerns in one part of the global financial system could be rapidly transmitted to another part of the system, and then transmitted on again, and again.Quote:234. While the Group found it reasonably easy to grow its assets, it found it much more difficult to increase deposits. As a result, with the exception of a small pick-up in 2004, the Group’s self-funding ratio declined steadily from around 66% in 2001 to 56% in 2007 (Chart 2.22), while the customer funding gap almost trebled from £68 billion to £190 billion.The report on HBOS may make useful reading being covered by the pressOne explanation for the collapse was the lending/deposit gap. "By 2008 the gap between loans and deposits was a staggering £213bn." http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34859067So much for the credit creation myth.
Saw Snowpiercer, saw the first two Hunger Games and Elysium.The three-finger Hunger Games salute was adopted by some Thai protesters when the military took over and it was declared an arrestable offence to do such a salute in public.I'm not a fan of sci-fi politics believing that if directors were serious about making political statements they would be making labour history movies where there is a dearth …Matewan being an exception
Quote:Here's the best statement from a Left Communist perspective I've come across. It could have appeared in the Socialist Standard (maybe it could/should?)I'll post it on the blog which might suffice
Perhaps instead of volunteers we make it compulsory … any member subscribing has to do a year moderating. (i'm reminded of some tribe or other i once read about that keeps all the possible chiefs locked up in a hut until someone "breaks" and takes on the role.)Once again i think non-members can perform the moderating role despite those who claim it undermines Party democracy and accountability. I have often witnessed non-members selling the Standard and handing out leaflets and arguing the case for socialism. In one SPGB-run socialist discussion group a non-member was entrusted with being the treasurer, handling the cash and paying the bills, i see no reason why on a internet discussion list, one of the regular non-party or ex-member contributors cannot effectively be the moderator.A moderator is after all appointed by the internet committee and can be over-ruled by them without any reference to the members rule-book. I suggest e do the selection by reverse alphabet, Vin, rather than the usual such as in Alan,
