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Three members ran a small stall and handed out leaflets (surplus London election ones). Sunny day but the turnout for the march was pathetic. Without the Turkish, Kurdish and Tamil "Marxist-Leninists", some brandishing pictures of Stalin, there'd have been hardly anybody on it.  Hardly any trade unionists as such. In fact it was a "Marxist-Leninist" rather than a Trotskyist convention. Still, we met some old contacts and had some interesting conversations.There's an official TUC march and rally on Saturday 12 May at which there will be many, many more.

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I would think that future historians of capitalism's wars will come to the conclusion that the establishment of Israel and its sustaining as an outpost of the Western capitalist powers to further their interests in the Middle East was a monumental mistake even by capitalism's standards.

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I would say that it's due to bad reporting and/or sub-editing by the Grauniad, one of the reasons why  it's going down the pan.On the substantive issue, it's going to be interesting — a dodgy dossier case where the bombing powers are on different sides. This could result in a more objective discussion of the issue and dissection of the allegations in the mainstream media than when the three bombing states are on the same side..But what a hypocrite Nutty Yahoo is. As if israel had not itself secretly, and successfully, developed mass destruction nuclear weapons and still won't admit that it has done this.

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Yes, that's annoying but it should be possible to restore in the online version of the article what to what both the author and the editorial committee intended. We will publish a correction in the June issue.

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When Russia brought witnesses from Douma to testify at a press conference at the headquarter of the Organisation for the Progibition of Chemical Weapons in the Hague last week, an ITV journalist (who they promise to name and shame)

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asked the witnesses how much they were paid for taking part in the press conference,

It is not a question asked of the witnesses brought forward by the rebel side, but the obvious reply is of course "how much were you paid to ask this question?" The answer is provided by the famous poem by Humbert Wolfe "The British Journalist":

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You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God! the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to.

Incidentally, I notice that his wikipedia entry also says:

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Wolfe said, in an interview with Twentieth Century Authors, that he was "of no political creed, except that his general view is that money and its possessors should be abolished"

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But we don't want people to vote for the face, do we?

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From yesterday's Southwark News:https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/local-election-2018-socialist-party-of-great-britains-kevin-parkin-says-southwarks-problems-cant-be-solved-by-capitalism/As they say, it's the case not the face.

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These have been added .Click on title to read:

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The Advance of Technology, October 1965Alcoholics Numerous, February 1966Violence breeds violence, October 1966Notes on production for use, December 1982 Production for use, February 1983How socialism can increase food production, April 1984How Socialism Can Organise Production Without Money, Winter 1984Tin pot madness, December 1985 Remove the barrier of profit, January 1994 "It's only human nature", September 2001 Criticism, alienation and engagement, March 2004Breakdown at The Hague (1), January 2001Breakdown at The Hague (2), February 2001Breakdown at The Hague (3), March 2001

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Just got round to reading this. As an introduction to a re-edition of The Communist Manifesto (which it is) it's not bad and far better than those by AJP Taylor, David Harvey, etc.Just a mnor point, although it is true that the Manifesto was first pinted in London, at 46 Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate, it is not true that it was "commissioned by English revolutionaries". As its name (and language in which it was published) suggest, it was commissioned by German revolutionaries in the Bund der Kommunisten (Communist League).On its relevance today Varouflakis writes;

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Given that it is neither possible nor desirable to annul capitalism’s “energy”, the trick is to help speed up capital’s development (so that it burns up like a meteor rushing through the atmosphere) while, on the other hand, resisting (through rational, collective action) its tendency to steamroller our human spirit. In short, the manifesto’s recommendation is that we push capital to its limits while limiting its consequences and preparing for its socialisation.

This might have been a socialist perspective in 1848 (though the Manifesto clearly expectsnand states that a proletarian revolutioi in Germany is to immediately follow the then attempted bourgeois revolution there), it makes no sense today. It was in fact the perspective of the Social Democratic and Leninist parties when in power: further develop capitalism while trying mitigate the effects of this on the workers. Today, it is socialism that is the immediate issue and has been for years.

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alanjjohnstone wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/17/syria-crisis-medics-intimidated-over-douma-gas-attack

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medics who responded to the suspected gas attack in Douma have been subjected to “extreme intimidation” by Syrian officials who seized biological samples, forced them to abandon patients and demanded their silence.

With so many conflicting narratives, i find it hard to make a judgment 

As an organisation financed by the bombing states, UOSSOM would  say that, wouldn't they? It's part of a propaganda war in case the OPCW inspectors should find there was no gas attack, which of course would have devastating political consequences.http://www.uossm.org/who_we_areI agree, though, that it's not so much a question of who to believe as to who to disbelieve the least.

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Another chemistry lesson:https://www.businessinsider.com.au/chlorine-attack-effects-sarin-chemical-weapons-2018-4

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Why? Are chemical weapons more effective than more conventional ones? Rolling chlorine bombs out of a helicopter seems less destructive and so less effective than dropping a proper bomb or firing a missile from a war plane.

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Young Master Smeet wrote:

and we can also what would happen to civilians had Assad's mob gone in to dig the insurgents out (remember, children starved to death in Mosul)

I wouldn't put it that way. It would be equally accurate to say "had the bearded crazies of the Army of Islam not surrendered". In fact, if they hadn't split and some reneged on the surrender agreement neither the bombing of Douma (whether chemical or not) not the three rogue states' bombing of Syria would have taken place.As Tony Cliff might have put it, NEITHER DAMASCUS NOR MECCA.

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Carney (or his speech writer) obviously likes the phrase about Marx scribbling as he's used it before, albeit with reference to Capital rather than the Communist Manifesto:http://uk.businessinsider.com/bank-of-england-governor-mark-carney-britain-lost-decade-2016-12Still, interesting that he should frequently be referencing Marx.

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The extent to which the bombing states relied on those videos can be seen from this extract from the declassified French "intelligence" report

French government wrote:

The French services analysed the testimonies, photos and videos that spontaneously appeared on specialized websites, in the press and on social media in the hours and days following the attack.Testimonies obtained by the French services were also analysed. After examining the videos and images of victims published online, they were able to conclude with a high degree of confidence that the vast majority are recent and not fabricated. The spontaneous circulation of these images across all social networks confirms that they were not video montages or recycled images. Lastly, some of the entities that published this information are generally considered reliable.French experts analysed the symptoms identifiable in the images and videos that were made public. These images and videos were taken either in enclosed areas in a building where around 15 people died, or in local hospitals that received contaminated patients. These symptoms can be described as follows:- Suffocation, asphyxia or breathing difficulties, – Mentions of a strong chlorine odour and presence of green smoke in affected areas, – Hypersalivation and hypersecretions (particularly oral and nasal), – Cyanosis, – Skin burns and corneal burns. No deaths from mechanical injuries were visible. All of these symptoms are characteristic of a chemical weapons attack, particularly choking agents and organophosphorus agents or hydrocyanic acid. Furthermore, the apparent use of bronchodilators by the medical services observed in videos reinforces the hypothesis of intoxication by choking agents. (https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/full-text-french-declassified-intelligence-report-on-syria-gas-attack-1.5995544)

Note that they admit that some or part of the videos were "video montages or recycled image" as they say that only the vast majority were not. Note also that some of those "entities" said to be "generally considered to be reliable" are financed by the bombing states themselves.The evidence is that most of the video (which also had a huge effect on public opinion) was filmed recently at an identifiable place. It's the interpretation of what they actually show that is the issue. To say "chemical attack" on the basis of a video seems a bit cavalier, especially when there are other possibilities such as smoke or dust  inhalation as a result of a conventional bomb and without interviewing or medically examining people who were actually there.We will be see what the OPCW inspectors come up with, though a media campaign to discredit their findings has already begun.p.s Dave, what is "hydrocyanic acid"? Would hosing down be a way of getting rid of it?

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