ALB
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Even the man himself is too embarrassed to be anointed in public, so we won’t get to see and laugh at that but of superstitious nonsense. Apparently, it’s the most “sacred” part of the whole show:
Same down here as “Oop north”. Anyway, not like it was in 1938 for the coronation of George the whatever when
“two banners hung in the heart of a London slum. One read, “Down with Capitalism — God Save the King.” The other read, “Lousy but Loyal”.
Can’t buy a coronation mug anywhere. Don’t know what it’s like in Chelmsford and other parts of Essex to where they moved out people from the pre-WW2 slums of East London.
The government took the nurse’s union to court and managed to lessen their planned strike this weekend.
https://www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-events/news/uk-england-nursing-strikes-legal-challenge-latest
An example of how governments act to defend profits. In this case not to have to increase taxes on them to pay state employees more or to spend the money on something more in the general UK capitalist interest — like sending arms to Ukraine.
Don’t be taken in. A Labour government, under Sir Chief Scammer, would have behaved the same. And will do. Just wait and see.
I think we may have been the first to come up with the concept of workers cooperatives in a market economy being workers having to exploit themselves in this article from 1969:
Imposs1904 has now put up the whole of that artice about Formosa:
http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2023/04/facing-facts-in-formosa-1953.html
Then it was a question of Formosa (Taiwan) invading China with US support. Now it is a question of China invading Formosa. A measure of how the balance of imperialist forces has changed since 70 years ago in that area
Here’s what Article 5 of NATO says:
“Article 5
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”It does not say anything about using nuclear weapons or even about declaring war, just about taking “such action as it [a member state] deems necessary”. You could say that NATO’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an example of what could happen under Article 5.
In any event, Russia is highly unlikely to mount an armed attack on a NATO member state. So that all this is academic and speculation.
It is also unlikely that NATO will mount an armed attack on Russia. In fact, they seem to have told Ukraine not to do this either.
The crunch would come if ever Ukraine were to be in a position to invade and conquer Crimea. Even then it can be doubted that Russia would use nuclear weapons, though it could threaten to (though only against Ukraine). It has plenty of “conventional” weapons it could use or threaten to use to flatten Kiev or some other Ukrainian city.
So-called “conventional” warfare is bad enough (as we seeing daily in Ukraine).
No it won’t. All it says is that if one NATO state is attacked all the other NATO member states are obliged to help it. It doesn’t say that they have to drop a nuclear bomb on the attacking country. Where did you get that from?
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.
