ALB
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Because there’s a war on between NATO and Russia. And war stories and scare stories sell newspapers and that attracts revenue from advertisers.
It seems that all Stoltenberg said is that Ukraine can join NATO after “victory”. But “victory” (in the sense of driving Russia troops out of and ethnically cleansing the Donbass and Crimea of pro-Russians) is completely unrealistic, that could be never.
And then there’s this:
Apparently — or ostensibly — the Hungarian government objects to Ukraine oppressing its Hungarian-speaking minority.
That might be the reason — because it’s involved in an actual war over an issue it considers a vital issue? Why else?
But it isn’t, as I pointed out before him. Did you look up the links he gave which showed that all nuclear states threaten to use them under certain circumstances? That’s what nuclear weapons are supposed to be — a permanent threat.
I read it as saying that the matter is on the agenda but not that it will be decided that Ukraine will be admitted ie that there will be a discussion about it. Ukraine doesn’t really need to be in NATO at the moment as its conscripted armed forces are already fighting for NATO.
It’s the same with joining the EU. The principle may be decided but it will take ages. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria have already made it clear that they are not prepared to allow wheat from Ukraine to flood their markets.
By coincidence Imposs1904 has just posted on his blog the 50 years ago column from the April 2003 issue of then Socialist Standard, ie an article from 1953. It’s about Formosa (as Taiwan was still then known) in the context of the clash between China and the US. At the time the Korean War was still on.
http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2023/04/50-years-ago-facing-facts-in-formosa.html
I don’t know if it is relevant but World War III didn’t happen ….
I don’t know but not necessarily. And a lot more would have to have happened before that hypothetical situation arose.
I suppose it would be because the Russian ruling class consider that its “vital interests”, in this instance the control of Crimea as a warm water base for its navy, as under direct threat. Just as the USA did in 1962 in response to the threat of Russian missiles being based in Cuba.
Russia isn’t the only power doing this. All the nuclear states are. That’s why they have nuclear weapons — to threaten any other state that might think of impinging on their “vital interests”.
So the members of the Royal College of Nursing have rejected their officials’ recommendation to accept the government’s pay offer (by 54% to 46% of the 61% of the members who voted).
The government can’t really complain. They have always said that their offers should be put to a vote, in the expectation of course that they will be accepted. Well, in this case it hasn’t been and now they are faced with a dilemma. If they up their offer this will encourage other workers to vote against what they have been offered, in the expectation of getting more. If they don’t, they will be faced with more strikes. They’ll probably try “divide and rule” tactics since the members of other unions have voted to accept.
The officials of the RCN also face a dilemma. To try to get round the vote or to accept and carry out the wish of their members. So far they have interpreted the vote as a vote to carry on with strikes, taking their orders from the membership (which is as it should be).
It’s a strange but instructive evolution for the RCN, originally set up under royal patronage as a professional body for nurses. Now it is a militant trade union — more militant than the TUC (and Labour Party) affiliated UNISON. It is affiliated to neither. Nurses are wage-workers just like the rest of the working class.
The British Medical Association has undergone a similar evolution. But they have evolved into more of an old-fashioned craft union where you have to had gone through an apprenticeship to join. But “junior” doctors too are wage-workers. Today I passed their pickets outside a nearby hospital. Naturally I tooted and gave them the thumbs up.
Confusing that the Russians call Bakhmut “Artyomovsk”, after a Bolshevik who was active in Kharkov and died in an accident in 1921:
Of course research on AI should not be stopped, not even for six months. Anyway, given capitalism it can’t be and won’t be. And of course, given capitalism, it will be misused but that can’t be stopped as long as capitalism continues.
It’s not clear what those who signed that call have in mind. They say they want a pause to consider these matters:
“Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?”
“Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones?”
“Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete, and replace us?”
“Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?”And come up with answers in six months !
The questions seem rather loaded as the answer to them all will presumably be “no”.
In any event, the first two could only be dealt with in a socialist world of common ownership and democratic control of the Earth. The third begs the question by assuming this is likely to happen, is even technologically possible. As to the fourth, humanity has already lost control (in fact never had it); market forces control what happens and that, too, can only be ended by socialism.
So Elon Musk and the BBC have got into an argument as to whether the BBC is “government funded” or not. Everybody knows that the BBC is a state-owned broadcaster yet the BBC is quibbling that technically it is not government funded. Of course the “licence fee” is a tax imposed by the government on owning a television set.
Further proof that the Labour Party is just a band of place-hunters is provided by their latest dirty tricks campaign in which they play the “pedophile card” against Sunak. Of course Sunak is just as opposed to sex offenders as they are but Labour are clearly out to garner as many votes as they can in whatever way they can, in this case from Tories rather than Liberals.
It can’t be said that this is a new low because they have been here before when their previous Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, played a major role in spreading the lie about a pedophile ring in high places that was later exposed as such and the originator jailed. Watson himself got off scot-free ; in fact he got elevated to the House of Frauds as Baron Watson.
Apparently their next dirty trick is going to be to accuse Sunak of favouring gun crime and then of being soft on rapists. Most people won’t believe that but the Starmer and his cynical spin-doctors calculate Labour might pick up enough Tory votes to win a marginal seat or two.
Politically bankrupt, morally bankrupt, but unfortunately not financially bankrupt.
The IMF has drawn attention to another set of financial intermediaries — the shadow banking system.
Like banks they obtain or borrow money and then lend it out. The only difference is that, unlike banks, they are not allowed to take deposits from individuals or companies.
But nobody claims that they can conjure money out of thin air to lend, even if some of the ways they obtain money are pretty dodgy. Hence the IMF’s concern.
But if they can’t, why can banks? The currency cranks’ claim is full of holes. This is just another one.
