Young Master Smeet
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“there are limits to the losses Ukraine can take. We do not know where that limit lies, but we’ll know when it happens. Crucially, there will be no victory for Ukraine. Unforgivably, there is not, and never has been, a western strategy except to bleed Russia as long as possible.”
and
“More fundamentally, two ancient ethical questions governing whether a war is just must now be asked and answered: whether there is a reasonable prospect of success, and whether the potential gain is proportionate to the cost.”
This seems to be a sobering analysis, Ukraine is collapsing slowly, it cannot afford to mobilise its 18-25 year olds: Russia will not overrun Ukraine, and the author is right, they simply could not hold it. They may seek to Finlandise the Ukrainian government, but I suspect they will opt for taking Luhansk and Donetsk: I doubt they’ll strike for Odessa (link up with Transnistria?).
An interesting read from a researcher in the area.
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In this case, as a result of such a notice, I was able to go along and have a pleasant discussion, hear the ICC case and put the party case in opposition.
I went along to this, interesting discussion on the state of the world (although one visitor was there to discuss sectiana and micro-disputes from the 1970’s).
For a bright moment, it seemed we’d been re-admitted to the proletarian milieu, but it ended up with us being confirmed as being relegated to the swamp.
This the JVP’s website:
Looking at their publications:
They have a pamphlet ‘Rapid response to overcome current challenges’
https://www.jvpsrilanka.com/english/download/7416/?tmstv=1727078465Some quotes:
“This economic policy laid the foundation for the severe economic crisis that we face today. Instead of prioritizing and strengthening production, the key features of this policy are the unnecessary expansion of financialisation, austerity measures subsidy cuts, creating market monopolies, inefficient and excessive borrowing, and sale of public property and state-owned enterprises to a small coterie of favoured individuals and companies. This policy, which gradually evolved, is called neoliberalism.”“We advocate a value-added economic approach that considers which products and services should be
manufactured, which production methods should be adopted, which technologies to use, how to utilise
human and physical resources, how foreign trade structure should be shaped and how benefits of the
manufacturing process should be shared among the people. ”“•A comprehensive national plan on economic development goals to be achieved in the short,
medium and long term
• Prepare the human resources required to implement the above plan
• To provide an opportunity for every citizen to participate in the collective task of nation building, in the public and private sectors
[…]
•Constitutional reforms to include the right to recall people’s representatives”A lot of anti-corruption and political reform stuff, which sounds broadly sensible.
Sri Lanka is the refutation to the MMT crowd, as it is a sovereign currency issuing state that did go bankrupt in 2022.
This will be interesting to watch.
I think this does matter: “we will abolish money” does sound a bit like we’re going to do some sort of decree of state getting rid of it. We could talk of abolishing buying and selling, but that has overtones of force and preventing people from doing that: that’s why I think the focus should be on the need, you won’t need to buy or sell, we’ll work together to provide for everyone. It strikes me as a more positive tone.
And, yes, some states have abolished money from time to time, usually through hyper inflation or general collapse.
I think the comparison with ‘abolish the state’ is apt, just getting rid of the actual state won’t rid us of state thinking or behaviour, we need to build the alternatives so that state behaviour becomes unnecessary and unwanted.
It looks like he is doing as intended:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-given-4m-from-tax-haven-based-hedge-fund-with-shares-in-oil-and-arms/“While the £4m donation by Quadrature Capital is the sixth-largest in British political history, it is noteworthy not just for its size, but also its timing.
Electoral Commission records suggest Labour received the donation in the one-week window between former prime minister Rishi Sunak announcing the general election and the start of the ‘pre-poll reporting period’ in which all political donations over £11,180 had to be published weekly, rather than the quarterly norm.”
Worth reading in full.
Quadrature sounds fucking nightmarish: https://quadrature.ai/
“We see a future where Quadrature trades all liquid electronically tradeable asset classes across all horizons to generate consistent, significant returns on our proprietary capital.” It’s the purest form of capital that is now bankrolling the Labour Party.
Well, Reform are showing there may be a way to muscle out one of the big two. But, also, that’s why I think they need a substantial party grouping (and at least 10K members). Partly they’d need to drown out any star leader to avoid the Sherridan effect. I think there are elements in Labour would love a split.
But, they’d need to go about now, to have enough time to build for a decent chance at the next general election.
I think the only way it could come about would be a substantial group forming in Parliament, 10+ MPs to be the 4th largest group, with the RMT onboard (and maybe Unite?). An earthquake would be 70+, but I think that,. realistically, is what it would take to make any more difference over previous left of Labour splinters.
To be honest, I don’t see a group coming out of the usual suspects: it’d have to be a breakout group from newly elected people, that stays away from Corbyn himself.
I certainly never said we would ‘Abolish Money’ I was always careful to say the need for money.
Interesting levels of brand penetration the SWP have that that is where his mind goes; also, not McDonell says ‘not the socialist party’.
It was nice to hear Burghart use our favourite Benn quote about the Labour Party.
[Moderator note] The theme of this thread is the recent riots and the response, I’ll remove any more posts on the topic of conspiracies (unless they directly relate to the riots).
[Moderator note] The theme of this thread is the recent riots and the response, I’ll remove any more posts on the topic of the party’s name.
Tangently, it was interesting to read the background of the recent revolt in Bangladesh:
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/bangladesh-crossroads-aftermath-peoples-revolution
” the near absence of any democratic accountability, countless violations of human rights and above all the shameless rigging of elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024. In 2014 the entire opposition, including the left, boycotted the election and 153 (out of 300) members of parliament were elected unopposed.
In 2018 the opposition parties along with the left front participated but the election was hijacked the night before when the ballot boxes were filled and the Hasina regime got nearly 100 per cent of the seats.”
Sheikh Hasina fled when she lost support of the army: until then, they clearly blatantly rig elections. the important point is the army decided its future lay in sacrificing Hasina.
So long as Maduro has the army, he will be able to cling on, but he only has the army as long as it suits them, not vice versa.
Oh, go on:
E.C. 12.4.38 Groves & Wilmott “That South West London Branch be informed that in the opinion of this E.C. the participation of a Party contingent in the May Day demonstration does not conflict in any way with the Party Principles, and this E.C. sees no reason to alter the decision previously arrived at.” Cd. 9-2
Party Poll 1938 “Are you in favour of a unit representing the Socialist Party marching with and being a part of the procession organised to celebrate May Day?” YES 62 NO 103
Party Poll 13.9.38 “Shall the Party participate in demonstrations of the May Day type?” FOR: 95 AGST: 81
E.C. 15.6.54 McClatchie & Lake “That Comrade Langston be informed that, in the opinion of the E.C., it is inadvisable for members to march in May Day Processions associated with other Political Parties, because of the confusion that is likely to be engendered by doing so, but straightforward trade union processions are a different matter.” Cd. 8-2
@Chelmsford: I did try to leaflet a bunch of fascists who had turned up to counter protest an anti war march, they didn’t want to take any.I think the fash have shot their bolt, they’ve demonstrated they are committed and organised, but their numbers are small, and the counter protest being peaceful and disciplined shows they wouldn’t win.
I think this case is similar to the mysterious appearance of the Countryside Alliance, it’s the right showing they have teeth, and are not out for the count (and also regrouping). Telling, also, that Labour is trying to hold the centre by still being against immigration and seeing ‘legitimate grievances’.
