The UK Ministry of Finance (HM Treasury) has issued
a general license that allows the transportation of
Kazakhstani oil using the infrastructure of
Transneft PJSC.
According to the document, these operations have been
exempted from the anti-Russian sanctions regime until
March 2028. This decision ....aims to ensure the
uninterrupted supply of raw materials from
Kazakhstan to global markets, including
through the Druzhba pipeline system
and terminals in Novorossiysk.
The license allows British companies and financial
institutions to participate in the settlement and
logistics of cargo, despite the sanctions
restrictions imposed on the Russian
state owned company.
____________________________________
Two EU countries have blocked the allocation
of a $90 billion loan to Ukraine. The funding
of Ukraine's Armed Forces is under threat
by Varvara Koshechkina (operational
information department. editor)
March 19th, 4:29pm
(Lenta.ru)
Several EU countries have blocked the union's decision
on a new package of sanctions against Russia and the
allocation of a €90 billion loan to Ukraine. The
countries that went against the majority
were Hungary and Slovakia.
The EU summit communiqué states that the politicians
discussed ..the latest issues related to Ukraine. The
entire text of EUCO 2/26 was "strongly supported
by 25 heads of government." However, two
European countries --- Hungary and
Slovakia, were not included
in this number.
As the newspaper Politico wrote, the EU
summit ..became almost a battleground.
The decision.. is expected to concern the supply of oil and
gas from Russia to both countries. Recently, the Russian
president - announced his readiness to supply energy
resources to Europe, emphasizing - that this would
happen if a certain "signal" was received.
The Russian leader added, that Moscow would continue to
supply oil and gas to countries that are reliable partners.
At the time, he mentioned Slovakia and Hungary... as
among these countries.
How did the EU react to Hungary's veto?
After the EU summit, the President of the EU Council, António
Costa, harshly criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
Orban's decision to block a €90 billion loan for Ukraine.
He stated that Orban had..... "crossed a red line."
In addition, Costa criticized Orbán's behaviour - calling it unacceptable. The conditions of cooperation and
support that underlie the EU...... have allegedly
been ''violated'' by Hungary's government.
According to Costa, no leader....... has
previously crossed this "red line."
During a closed meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels,
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul “very directly”
told his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, that the
country’s position on the loan to Kyiv - “can no longer
be tolerated.”
Orban, meanwhile, is allegedly supposed to understand
that he is constantly testing the limits of the rest of
the EU members’ patience.
What was said in Russia about Hungary's decision?
The decision of the Hungarian government was assessed by
the deputy of the State Duma Svetlana Zhurova. According
to her.... in recent days, the EU countries blackmailed
Hungary in order to allocate a loan to Ukraine and
impose new sanctions against Russia. This
approach could have influenced the
country's decision to veto,
she believes.
Hungary was persuaded to agree to the loan and
sanctions in a very strange way —— by threats.
Continuing, the parliamentarian said that Hungary had been promised that Druzhbato, an oil pipeline that is
important for the country --- would be repaired. However ----- this would only be possible if a loan was approved, she clarified, adding that the oil supplies will
also... ''be monitored''.
In this regard, the official suggested that Hungary's leader
Viktor Orban is finally realizing how costly all of the EU's
new decisions.. regarding both Ukraine's support and
energy supplies, will be. As a result - the politician
does not want to participate in an unprofitable
venture, she pointed out.
At the same time, it was possible to"simply negotiate
supplies with Russia"rather than through a bunch of
intermediaries. Now.. the EU's blackmail has only
deepened Orban's perception that his country's
interests are not being prioritized, according
to the Russian official.
The financing of the Ukrainian army is now...... under threat
Politico wrote that President Vladimir Zelensky would be
enraged by Hungary's decision at the EU summit, to
block a loan to Ukraine. The authors explained
that this loan is crucial - for Kyiv's ability to continue fighting Russia.
In general, the topic of Ukraine has recently become a
stumbling block for EU countries. Therefore, it is not
surprising that the EU summit has become a battle
-ground .....amid the "explosive agenda."
Meanwhile, Zelensky said that there are currently no
alternative options for financing the AFU other than
a loan from the EU. Against this backdrop, he
called on the leaders of the EU to unlock
...the €90 billion support package for
Ukraine, which is currently being
blocked by Hungary.
In Madrid, after meeting with the Prime Minister of Spain,
Pedro Sánchez, the Ukrainian leader said that .....the
financing had already been agreed upon -- until the
end of 2025. Therefore, it should be implemented
now, according to Euractiv.
_______________________________
PIT-CNT rejects opening of public
companies ....to private capital
March 19th, 11:46am
(Prensa Latina)
The PIT-CNT union centre today rejected the proposal
promoted by the government for national savers to
invest in Uruguayan public companies.
This is an initiative presented by the Secretary of the
Presidency, Alejandro Sánchez and endorsed by
President Yamandú Orsi.
For the labour movement, the project “aims to open
spaces for the privatization of goods and services
that are the rights of all the Uruguayan people».
The PIT-CNT «rejects any initiative - that puts into play the
definition of a public company, that threatens its integrity
under the rhetoric of ‘innovation vs. immobility’”,
according to the statement released here.
«Public companies are a central element of the country's
sovereign development and an essential condition for
access to rights for all citizens”, the text points out.
It adds that the public debate on the role of state companies
must always be based on respect for historical citizen
pronouncements, “which consolidated the principle
of state ownership of strategic companies, as an expression of national sovereignty”.
For the PIT-CNT ---- before promoting any type of«particular
savings collection mechanism through public companies»,
it is necessary«to review and make more flexible the
fiscal restrictions currently in force - that limit the
public sector».
«This will generate more equitable conditions
....so that these companies can compete
equally with the private sector», the
Union Centre - emphasized.
___________________________________
Sentence confirmed in Chile against
former Pinochet police chiefs
March 19th, 1:03am
(Prensa Latina)
The Supreme Court of Chile confirmed the prison sentences
for Pedro Espinoza and Juvenal Piña, former agents of the
dictatorship's secret police, for the kidnapping of the
communist activist, Rodolfo Núñez Benavides.
On May the 18th, in 1976, members of the National Intelligence
Directorate, also known by its acronym DINA, arrested Núñez
Benavides and took him - to Villa Grimaldi detention centre.
From there he was transferred to the Lautaro Brigade
barracks, a facility that was exclusively intended to
execute political prisoners, and since then he has
been missing.
Due to this fact, the Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme
Court ratified the sanctions of 10 years in prison for former
brigadier Pedro Espinoza and then first sergeant,
Juvenal Piña.
Espinoza is serving sentences for various crimes against
humanity in the Punta Peuco prison, while Piña is being
held in the Colina 1 Penitentiary Centre.
“After 52 years............. since the arrest and subsequent
disappearance of Rodolfo Núñez Benavides, his family
has managed to find a little justice. The ruling handed
down by the Supreme Court - constitutes a milestone
in the long and painful search for the truth”, said
plaintiff Carolina Vega, from Estudio
Caucoto Abogados.
She added that today there is a sentence, which is added to
the sentences that the perpetrators are already serving,
however, justice remains incomplete... because the
whereabouts are not yet known - and as long as
that does not happen, the fight for truth and
justice ....will continue.
Former brigadier Pedro Espinoza, former head of DINA
operations, was convicted in 1993 -- along with the
director of that secret police, Manuel Contreras,
for the attack in Washington - against former
Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier.
During the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990),
after a US -backed violent coup against Chile's elected
socialist government ---------- more than 40 thousand
cases of human rights violations were recorded
in the country, from kidnappings, arrests,
torture, murders and disappearances.
_________________________________________
Orbán: Hungary will not allow Zelensky
to deprive it of energy resources
from Russia
by Maxim Aleshin
March 18th, 8:26pm
(Vesti.ru)
Hungary will not allow the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir
Zelensky, to deprive it of profitable energy resources from
Russia through blackmail. This was stated by the
country's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, as
reported by RIA Novosti.
According to him, the refusal to use Russian oil has led
to gasoline prices in other European countries being
four times higher than in Hungary.
RIA Novosti reports the Hungarian Prime Minister's words.
''We have a battle in Brussels tomorrow, because, as you know,
the Ukrainians and Zelensky --- have decided to impose an oil
blockade on Hungary and have blocked the Druzhba pipeline.
One of their demands is to get rid of cheap Russian energy.''
In February, Hungary opposed the allocation of a €90 billion
loan to Kiev due to the termination of resource supplies
via the Druzhba pipeline.
Budapest has repeatedly emphasized -- that the pipeline is in
good condition, and the Kiev regime is not resuming transit
for political reasons. Orban himself noted that Kiev is
misleading everyone ---- and deliberately preventing
Hungarian specialists from accessing the pipeline.
According to him, Ukraine's decisions... are
effectively acknowledging its guilt.
_________________________________
Experts from Hungary and Slovakia - were not
included in the delegation for the inspection
of Druzhba
by Stanislav Mamrov
March 18th, 7:36pm
(Vesti.ru)
The EU Commission did not include Hungarian and Slovak
experts in the delegation assembled to inspect the
Druzhba oil pipeline in Ukraine.
Budapest considers this trip to be a "cheap comedy,"
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a
video message broadcast by M1 TV channel.
The diplomat said that on the morning of March 18th, the EC
reported the arrival of the delegation in Kiev. However, the
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that they were unaware
of the arrival of the expert group. According to him, the
fact --- that Hungarian and Slovakian specialists were
not included in the delegation, is highly significant.
''This once again confirms that there will be no on-site
inspection [of the pipeline] ..and there is no expert
commission that can be taken seriously. All this
is just a big dramatization..... This is just a
cheap comedy, a big scam --- because
--- both the Brussels residents and
Ukrainians --- do not hesitate
to lie and say all sorts of
nonsense,'' he said.
The minister also noted that Hungary still does not trust Kiev
and Brussels, who "came up with this together and decided
to impose an oil blockade on Hungary." He once again
demanded that oil supplies through the Druzhba
pipeline be resumed, which were halted on January 27.
''We demand that Brussels and Kiev immediately stop this farce
and stop treating us like fools, because we know for sure that
the pipeline is completely functional. We demand that the
transportation of oil.. through the Druzhba pipeline to
Slovakia and Hungary - be resumed immediately,''
Szijjarto emphasized.
Oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia, via the Druzhba pipeline,
were suspended on January 27. Ukraine...... which transports Russian fuel, has claimed that the pipeline is.. malfunctioning.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, today
defended the integration of Latin America -- as an
historic necessity, after receiving his Bolivian
counterpart, Rodrigo Paz, in this capital.
After a bilateral meeting at the Planalto Palace, the host
president maintained that regional cooperation is
essential to strengthen economic and political
development and affirmed that no country
will be able to prosper in isolation.
We agree that integration is not an ideological project, but an
historical necessity. Only an integrated South America will
be able to occupy the place it deserves in the global
economy and politics, Lula expressed, in
statements to the press.
The Brazilian head of state also described Bolivia's accession
to the Southern Common Market, formalized in 2024, as an
“historic step”, and he considered that the expansion of
the bloc strengthens strategic autonomy, in the face
of the instability of the global market.
Lula also highlighted the importance of cooperation in regional
spaces ---- such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to advance the political articulation of the continent and confirmed his participation in the upcoming summit of the group, which will be held on Saturday, in Colombia.
During the meeting, the presidents also addressed issues
on the bilateral agenda, with the emphasis on trade,
energy, infrastructure and border security.
The president of Brazil pointed out that trade between both
countries remains below its potential, after reaching a
volume of 2.6 billion dollars in 2025, a figure lower
than the 5.5 billion registered in 2013.
In this regard, he indicated that there are opportunities to
expand businesses in sectors such as food, dairy, seeds,
fruits, cotton, sugar cane and soybeans, as well as in
biotechnology .......with support from the Brazilian
Agricultural Research Company.
About the energy sector, another of the central topics of the
meeting, Lula recalled that Bolivia continues to be the main
supplier of natural gas to Brazil and announced that both
governments analyzed the possibility.... of expanding
investments to increase the volume exported to the
giant's south american market.
Likewise, the parties signed three agreements ----- the first of these linked to security and cooperation - for the prevention,
investigation & repression of transnational organized crime.
The other two ...include electrical interconnection through the
construction of a transmission line between the department
of Santa Cruz, in Bolivia, and the municipality of Corumbá,
in Mato Grosso do Sul; and a memorandum of under-
standing ------- for the promotion of tourism and
professional qualifications.
____________________________________________
Cuba open to investment
by US companies and
their compatriots
March 16th, 12:05pm
(Prensa Latina)
Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with US companies, as well as with Cubans residing in the US and their descendants, vice Prime Minister Oscar Pérez
Oliva, assured today.
Cuban citizens living abroad, in places like Miami, will be able
to invest in the private sector ...and own businesses in their
home country, the also head of Foreign Trade and Foreign
Investment (Mincex) explained to NBC News, as
revealed on the portfolio's official
Facebook profile.
This goes beyond the commercial sphere... added the deputy
prime minister, it also applies to investments, not only small
ones, but also large ones, especially in infrastructure.
Pérez-Oliva affirmed that the blockade imposed by the United
States on Cuba, is what hinders these efforts by the country.
On this subject -- on Friday, March 13 -- during an appearance
before the press, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel,
stated that the Government is working to expand the
participation of Cubans residing abroad in the
economic and social development of
the country.
According to the president, the number of Cubans residing
abroad or prolonging their stay in the country is growing,
and he considered it a government responsibility to
welcome them, listen to them, and, serve them
and provide them with a space.....
for participation.
Such participation, he continued, is conceived from the
willingness and real possibilities of these citizens to
contribute to the development of the nation, at the
same time, he highlighted that an important part
of that community is made up of professionals
and technicians --- who graduated from the
educational system of the Revolution ---
that maintain their roots and identity
with Cuban culture.
________________________________
Egyptian president: calls for an end to
the warand warns of consequences
March 15th, 2:27am
(Prensa Latina)
Egypt today makes every possible effort to put out the flames
of war in the Middle East, after the attack ----- by the US and
Israel against Iran, president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified.
It is necessary to reduce regional tensions, begin dialogue and
adhere to international law, said the president when speaking
at an iftar, a nightly dinner, with which Muslims break the
daily fast of Ramadan, their holy month.
He warned that the area is at a historical crossroads and
estimated that it faces serious challenges with direct
implications for the internal situation in Egypt.
The ongoing conflict --- has broad economic, humanitarian and
security repercussions that “no one will be able to avoid and
that will affect everyone without exception”, the president
assured, according to an official statement.
The head of state ratified Cairo's efforts to reduce tensions in
other Arab countries experiencing internal armed conflicts
both to the east, west and south of the country, in
reference to Libya, Palestine, Lebanon
and Sudan.
We urge to reduce tension, prioritize dialogue and reason, as
well as the need to adhere to the rules of international law,
he insisted.
Last Monday, the president renewed his call to end the war,
warning that it threatens the global institutional order.
The conflict --- needs to be resolved by peaceful means,
otherwise its continuation will erode the confidence of
developing nations in the rules-based international
system, the president stated at an emergency
meeting of leaders of the EU and the Middle
East, held via videoconference.
The president warned -- that the escalation disturbs energy
markets, trade and global supply chains, and assured that
developing countries --- are the most affected.
In recent days, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty
confirmed that his Government will continue mediation
to try to end the conflagration, which began on
February 28.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also warned about the serious
economic, political and geostrategic consequences derived
from the escalation of violence.
________________________________________
More than 78 million voters are
called to the polls in Vietnam
March 14th, 6:10pm
(Prensa Latina)
More than 78 million citizens were called to exercise their right
to vote today with a view to electing the members of the XVI
National Assembly (Parliament) of Vietnam and the Popular
Councils - at all levels.
According to the most recent official figures released here, the
number of registered voters in the 772,195 polling stations
amounts to 78,928,647 citizens, while the names of more
than 126 thousand candidates will appear on the ballots.
The candidates to occupy one of the 500 seats in the
Legislature total 864, while 4,227 will compete to
join the provincial Popular Councils and another
121,242 ---- to be part of the communal Popular
Councils, in all cases for the period 2026-2031.
The composition of the candidates guarantees a broad
representation of all social strata, sectors, areas and
regions, the president of the Vietnamese Parliament
and the National Electoral Council, Tran Thanh Man
highlighted the day before.... in statements to
the press.
In the case of the National Assembly, among the candidates
are 392 women, which represents 45.37 percent of the total,
188 members of ethnic minorities (21.76), 56 do not belong
to the Communist Party of Vietnam (7.52) and the majority
(612) are running for the first time.
Regarding the age structure, 187 are under 40 years old, 384
range between 40 and 50 years old, 259 between 50 and 60
years old, 26 range from 60 to 65 years old and eight are
over 65 years old.
Although the official date of the elections is set for this Sunday,
at the request of the Electoral Committees of 11 provinces and
cities, early voting was carried out in 217 polling stations
starting March 5.
According to the general secretary of the Communist Party of
Vietnam, To Lam, today's elections will consolidate Vietnam's
democratic tradition and their success will constitute a
fundamental starting point for the consolidation and
improvement of the state apparatus in the face of
the new era of development of the country.
This will also be - he stressed - an opportunity to reaffirm the
leadership capacity of the Party - the effectiveness of State
management, and the operational efficiency of the political
system, as well as to ratify the strength of national unity...
to promote sustained development in the new era.
“The period 2026-2031 is key to achieving the country's two
centuries-old strategic objectives, which have very high
demands; Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize the
incorporation of people with innovative thinking,
let them dare to think, to speak, to act and to
assume responsibilities”, the party
leader insisted.
In that sense, political scientist Nguyen Si Dung emphasized
in an article published in the Vietnamese Government's
electronic newspaper that today's elections mark the
beginning of a new cycle of national governance, in
a context of increasingly urgent demands....... for
institutional reform & accelerated development.
“In this process the importance of elections -- goes beyond the
exercise of civic rights; it also lies in the quality of the elected
representatives”, the former government advisor stressed
and recalled that each vote cast will contribute to the
configuration of state power bodies at all levels
for the next term.
The first legislative elections in Vietnam ---- were held eight
decades ago, on January 6, 1946, and were succeeded by
those called in 1960,1964,1971,1975,1976 (after national
The complex situation facing the planet, aggravated by a
scenario where there is a new fascism, and the law of
the most powerful, was tested today by the relevant
journalist, Ignacio Ramonet, in the capital city
Pabellón Cuba.
In the midst of circumstances so adverse, Cuba is a beacon
of dignity for the world, said the intellectual and specialist
in geopolitics and international strategy, who also
condemned the policy of the government of
the US and its appetite .... for domination.
Ramonet is a deep connoisseur of the history and times, and guarantees for a exchange -- bright intellectuals,
colleagues and admirers of his work.. in the Salon
de mai in the institution, national headquarters
of the Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS).
This is a very particular moment, warned the academic,
in a clear reference to the claims of the US --- to
dominate the western hemisphere.
Also, the blockade imposed on Cuba for more than 60 years,
a resurgence with the signing of an Executive Order that
blocks the supply of fuel to the caribbean nation, as
well as the fighting in Palestine, Venezuela,
and now Iran.
The Spanish intellectual warned about the dangers of nuclear
war and called to be attentive to the strategy of the US, with respect to international reality.
The little time left to president Donald Trump for his claims,
was a subject of analysis taking into account the date of
the mid-term elections in November.
He has a unlimited time of imperial action --- at this point ---
he can do and does what he wants, emphasized Ramonet.
In the meeting, hosted by the journalist Magda Resik, the
academy received the Status Soul AHS and the replica
of the monument to the Hermanos Saiz.
The ceremony was spent with the presence of personalities
such as... the president of the Casa de las Américas, Abel
Prieto, the president of the Union of Writers and Artists
of Cuba (Uneac), Marta Bonet, and the vice-head of
the Ideological Department of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of
Cuba, Luis Morlote.
The conference is part of the celebrations
for the Day of the Cuban Press.
For the author of the book one Hundred hours with Fidel,
among other essential titles, Cuba is a beacon of
dignity to the world, an example --- for the
intellectual training of his people.
In the midst of circumstances so adverse, Cuba is a beacon of dignity for the world, said the intellectual and specialist in geopolitics and international strategy, who condemns
the policy of the government of the US --------- and its
appetite - for domination.
Vice Chairwoman of Vinh Long Province
appointed as Deputy Minister of
Education and Training
March 12th, 2:47pm
(https://vietnam.gov.vn/)
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has decided to appoint
Vice Chairwoman of Vinh Long Provincial People’s
Committee, Nguyen Thi Quyen Thanh, as Deputy
Minister of Education & Training as Vietnam's
Lawmakers ---- have adopted breakthrough
mechanisms for education and training.
Nguyen, born in 1978 in the Southern province of Vinh Long
Province, holds a Bachelor's degree in English, a Master's
degree in English language teaching methodology - and
a PhD in educational management at Ho Chi Minh City
University of Education.
She is a deputy of the National Assembly
for the 2021-2026 tenure.
______________________________________
Exclusive: Chinese Consulate General
in Istanbul reveals to GT how it helped
93 stranded Taiwan compatriots
return home from Middle East
by Xing Xiaojing
March 12th, 12:02am
(Global Times)
Ninety-three Taiwan compatriots stranded in Istanbul, Türkiye,
due to the evolving situation in the Middle East have recently
returned to the Taiwan island via transit in Shanghai in
batches...... under the coordination of the Chinese
Consulate General, in Istanbul. This -- marks the
largest group of Taiwan compatriots returning
to Taiwan via the Chinese mainland since the
escalation of the Middle East war --- at the
end of February. The Chinese Consulate
General in Istanbul --- revealed more
details in an exclusive interview
with the Global Times...
on Wednesday.
"The stranded Taiwan compatriots - contacted us via the
consular protection hotline on March 5 local time. They
were part of three groups travelling to the Middle East
organized by Taiwan's Luxury Holiday Travel Service.
''Originally, they planned to return to Taiwan via Abu Dhabi after
finishing their trip in Istanbul. However, affected by the Middle
East situation, many countries closed their airspace -- and a
large number of flights were cancelled, leaving them with
no way to get home. They thus took the initiative to
contact us, hoping to return to Taiwan via transit
through the mainland," Sui Kaige, Director of
the Consular and Overseas Chinese Affairs
Office of the Chinese Consulate General
in Istanbul, told the Global Times.
Upon receiving the call, the consulate general took immediate
action and contacted the relevant departments in Türkiye
and China to coordinate all aspects of the entry and exit
procedures for the Taiwan compatriots, Sui said.
The first step taken by the consulate general was to quickly
verify the travel documents of the Taiwan compatriots.
According to Sui, it was found that 25 of the 93 stranded
Taiwan compatriots did not hold a valid Mainland Travel
Permit for Taiwan Residents. The consulate general
then coordinated with the relevant departments
- including the immigration and border control
authorities and airlines... and collected and
sorted out the information of the stranded
Taiwan compatriots in advance and sent
it to the mainland ----- to facilitate the
processing of their procedures.
At the same time, the consulate general also coordinated
with Istanbul Airport to ensure the smooth boarding of
the Taiwan compatriots.... from Türkiye.
According to Sui -- the consulate general had completed all
relevant coordination work on the very day it received the
consular protection call on March 5 local time. In the end
the consulate general assisted 19 Taiwan compatriots to
evacuate on Sunday & another 74 on Monday, bringing
all 93 stranded Taiwan compatriots to safety.
According to Sui, during the consulate general's two visits
to the airport to communicate with the stranded Taiwan
compatriots, staff from the consulate general found out
that among them were elderly people and students.
They had been stranded for about five days,
having changed their booking at least four
times, yet still had no hope of returning
home, which greatly affected.....
their emotions.
"We went to the scene and told the Taiwan compatriots that
the consulate general was doing its utmost to assist them
with the necessary procedures and asked them to rest
assured," Sui said. "After calming their nerves and
easing their anxiety -- we started chatting about
daily life. Some of them said,'The motherland
is always there for us, no matter when,'"
Sui told the Global Times.
The chairman of Taiwan's Luxury Holiday Travel
Service specially sent a letter of thanks to the
consulate general, Sui said.
The incident... has continued to attract attention on social
media. Some stranded Taiwan compatriots said that they
"sought help from the Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) authorities in Taiwan island but received no
response or assistance", that the authorities ---
were "totally ineffective" and that they were
"extremely disappointed".
Regarding the assistance provided by the Chinese Consulate
General in Istanbul, the stranded Taiwan compatriots said,
"We are very grateful to our motherland."
"We are certainly delighted -- to see the Taiwan compatriots
return safely," Sui told the Global Times. "As diplomats, my
colleagues and I all share the same feeling when handling
every case. In the process... we strive to consider every
detail thoroughly and demonstrate our professionalism
in all aspects of case handling. It is our bounden duty
to provide consular protection and assistance to all
Chinese nationals overseas, including compatriots
from Hong Kong & Macao special administrative
regions & Taiwan. This applies to all Chinese
embassies and consulates," Sui said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun.... told a
regular press conference on Tuesday that for days running,
the Foreign Ministry ....has been working closely with the
Civil Aviation Administration to boost the flight capacity
of domestic airlines to bring back Chinese passengers
stranded in the Middle East.
China's diplomatic and consular missions in the region have
reached out to their host countries to obtain facilitation for
Chinese carriers and have provided timely updates on
security alerts and flight information, while looking
after the stranded passengers.
"Our embassies and consulates in the region --- will do
everything possible to provide necessary assistance
to Chinese nationals in need," Guo said.
At a press conference on March 4, Zhang Han, spokesperson
for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said that
Taiwan compatriots are Chinese nationals.
"We will, as always, take all necessary measures to protect
the safety of all Chinese nationals -- including our Taiwan compatriots. If Taiwan compatriots need our assistance
they can contact Chinese embassies and consulates in
the local area at any time -- or dial the 12308 consular
protection hotline. No matter where they are or what
difficulties they may encounter, the motherland is a
powerful backing for the vast number of Taiwan
compatriots," Zhang said.
_________________________________________
Dmitriev - calledthe head of the EU
Commission ----- an economy killer
by Agatha Alshevskaya
March 11th, 8:25pm
(Vesti.ru)
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - is a
"killer of the economy." This opinion was shared by
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct
Investment Fund (RDIF) .....and the special
representative of the Russian President -
for investment & economic cooperation
with foreign countries, on the social
media platform X.
This was his comment on a video in which US economist
Jeffrey Sachs criticized the head of the EU Commission.
The head of the RDIF earlier noted that Ursula von der
Leyen does not like to admit her own mistakes and
denies her failures in energy policy. He stressed
that these failures ...will haunt her.
_____________________________________
Colombia & Venezuela resume
their cooperation on energy
March 11th, 6:44pm
(Prensa Latina)
Colombia and Venezuela resume the cooperation of
energy as announced today in this capital, Bogota
after a meeting where it was decided to replace
five kilometres of pipeline on the Colombian
side of the pipeline.
According to a communication from the Ministry of Mines
and Energy, it was agreed on the immediate reactivation
of the environmental license that remains interrupted
from 2019, which is a prerequisite to execute the
works to replace the section of pipe that
was dismantled.
The meeting was attended by Colombia's minister Edwin
Palma, and the minister of the Environment in charge...
and director of the National Authority of Environmental
Licenses, Irene Vélez, in addition to representatives of
the company Petroleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA),
Sucursal Colombia.
The work of replacement of the pipe - will be at the
expense of the company, PDVSA, and the material
for the replenishment... is already on the
Venezuelan side of the border area
of Paraguachón, as reported.
The minister Edwin Palma stated -- that his Government
has the political will to restore the energy cooperation
with Venezuela and advance solutions that will
strengthen the supply of gas to the country.
“We are working in coordination with the environmental
sector and the technical authorities to reactivate the
license and allow the replacement of the section of
pipe ....that will allow us to bring the gas from
Venezuela,” he revealed.
The agreements on the subject between the two countries
are reported prior to the meeting to enter the president in
charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, and the head of
State of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who will lead a
binational meeting next Friday in the North of
Santander, in the north-east of the nation.
____________________________________________
Remember 55th anniversary
of bloody repression at the
University of Puerto Rico
March 11th, 6:39pm
(Prensa Latina)
The leader of 'The leftist', Julio Muriente Pérez, recalled today the 55th anniversary of the shocking events at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in the Rio
Piedras campus.
“Those were the years of US aggression against Vietnam and
southeast asia (and) the law of compulsory military service
was imposed on the puerto rican youth, so that hundreds
of our young people -- were forced to go to war. Many
returned dead or wounded; many others refused
to abide by that imperial law”, recalled the
current professor of the institution.
The University of Puerto Rico, he said had been transformed
for years as a main stage of the anti-militarist struggle,
particularly against the presence in their halls of the Training Corps Reserve Officers -
a branch of the US armed forces.
Muriente Pérez of the UPR, who was expelled then, for his
activism with the Federation of University Students for
Independence, pointed out the proposed statehood
the New Progressive Party had won in the general elections of 1968.
“The University was taken as war booty ----- by the colonial administration, by annexation, which enthusiastically supported the US militarism - and war. The general
climate in the UPR had been stepped up --- since
March 4, 1970, a year before, when the puerto
rican police murdered a female student....
Antonia Martínez Lagares,” he said.
The current leader of the Independence Movement party (MINH) ..expressed that what started as one of many
clashes between students and ROTC cadets on the
morning of March 11th, 1971 - grew in intensity,
when the university administration launched
a police crackdown against the students
at la Guardia College.
“Thousands of students had moved in the university campus
when suddenly at all the entrances to the park, dozens of members of the strike-force of the Police showed up ----
with guns in hand, firing at the students,” he narrated.
The entry of that repressive body had been requested by the
management of the venue, no doubt with the approval of
The Fortress, the headquarters of the executive, when
the chair of the UPR Amador Cobas and the rector of
the Rio Piedras campus was Pedro José Rivera,
both imposed by the NPP.
Muriente Pérez said that among the crowd were armed men who confronted the shock-force and wounded to death at
the head of that repressive agency, colonel John Birino
Market, and the sergeant, Miguel Rosario Rondon.
“Also passed away, the cadet's ROTC Jacinto Gutiérrez, while
dozens of students were injured by guns and machineguns
by the Police,” he said. Chaos gripped the UPR and the
whole City University in River Stones.
The site was occupied by the police, and both sectors of the
extreme right, particularly Cuban exiles, took to the streets
to destroy the proponents of independence.
The UPR remained taken by the Police, for the space of a
month and when re-opened it was discovered that many
of the facilities of the student councils were destroyed.
“Fences - barbed wire fences - were rampant everywhere
and police stations -- the grounds had been converted
into a concentration camp, and dozens of students
were summarily ''suspended'' by the university
administration,” he stressed.
The university administration and their heads in the central
government, were mainly responsible for what happened
that march 11th, by promoting then, and long before, a
climate of intolerance and repression because of the
demands of students; launching the College Guard
first, and then, the strength of shock-troops after,
against thousands of students, with the express
intention -- to inflict injuries so indiscriminate and brutal...... summed up Muriente Pérez.
Shortly after, the ROTC facility were relocated
out of the Rio Piedras campus of the UPR.
“55 years.. have passed since then, but is maintained:
I remember that day - full of violence and struggle,
of claims and intolerance. It is --- an experience
that should serve as a lesson: an experience
that we must not forget”, summed up the
current professor.
_______________________
Berliner Zeitung: The conflict over Iran
has intensified criticism of von der
Leyin in the EU
March 10th, 3:54pm
(RT.ru)
There is growing discontent in Brussels with EU Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen. The reason is the conflict
over Iran.
This is reported by Berliner Zeitung.
According to the publication, tensions were particularly high
after the EU Commission President's statement on the
situation in the Middle East, which was published
shortly after the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
The statement said that the EU had imposed long-term
sanctions in response to the actions of the Iranian
authorities and the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps.
The need for a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear
and missile programs was also emphasized.
According to the publication, von der Leyen's position has sparked a strong reaction in the EU Parliament,
diplomatic circles, and among EU countries.
"The current disagreements --- are based on a fundamental
problem: while global conflicts are escalating every day,
the split within the EU is becoming deeper," the article says.
Earlier, it was reported that some EU countries are
dissatisfied with von der Leyen's public stance
on the conflict surrounding Iran.
____________________________________
Spain -- reaffirms against war
and criticizes Von der Leyen
March 10th, 11:55am
(Prensa Latina)
The 2nd vice-president of the Spanish Government, Yolanda
Díaz, defended today the validity of international law and
criticized the holder of the EU Commission, Ms Ursula
von der Leyen.
According to Diaz, in a statement to TVE, the maximum
representative of the executive arm of the EU, stood
on the side of barbarism by questioning the validity
of international law.
The minister of Labour was of the view that the reflections
of Von der Leyen are "most unfortunate" and constitute
a "nonsense".
Diaz noted that the war in Iran, driven by the united States and
Israel is "illegal" and "absolutely illegitimate." And she took
the opportunity to point to, in contrast, the statement of
the president of the EU Council, António Costa --- who
distanced himself from the criteria of Von der Leyen.
For his part, the minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel
Albares, stressed the position of the Government of
Spain and urged the bloc community to "defend"
the international order based on rules, on the
grounds that "the contrary ---- is disorder".
Albares agreed with the words of Antonio Costa, who
advocated --- "to ensure that the world follows rules-
based" order - and supports "multilateral solutions".
Von der Leyen said yesterday that "we can no longer rely"
on this international system as "the only way" to defend
the West's interests - in the face of challenges.
And with that, the Spanish foreign minister stressed that
"Europe has to defend the international order, because
the alternative is disorder, not order, and there is an
opposition between an old order and a new one
to replace it".
The diplomat, at the close of the Council of Ministers on
Tuesday, noted -- that they must choose between "the
righteous - or power; peace and peaceful relations
between States - or the use of war as an
instrument of foreign policy; towards
progress - or historic regression."
__________________________________________
Szijjártó said that there was panic in Ukraine
over the confiscation of millions of dollars
in Hungary
March 9th, 10:36pm
(Izvestia.ru)
There was a panic in Ukraine after Hungary confiscated tens
of millions of dollars and euros in cash, as well as gold, that
were transported by employees of the state Ukrainian
Oschadbank. This was stated --- by the Hungarian
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on March 9
"Today, the Hungarian ambassador in Kiev was summoned
again to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a
noticeable panic broke out in Kiev over the fact that
Ukrainians were caught red-handed --- moving
hundreds of millions of euros and dollars
through Hungary," he said .....on the
website of the TV program Híradó.
According to the minister, the incident involving the import
of a significant amount of money into the country under
suspicious circumstances.. is being considered by the
authorities as a potential threat to national security.
He also noted that questions remain.. about the purpose of
the funds' arrival in Hungary and their intended recipients.
Siyarto pointed out that the presence of military
personnel and intelligence agents
accompanying the funds is
being questioned.
The minister expressed concern about whether the
transportation of hundreds of millions of euros
and dollars could be linked to the alleged
Ukrainian interference.. in Hungary's
parliamentary elections, stressing
that the relevant authorities, are
committed to investigating the
circumstances surrounding
the incident.
On March 6th, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced the
alleged kidnapping - of seven Ukrainian bank employees
by Hungary. They were working on two bank carriages
that travel between Austria and Ukraine and transport
cash, as part of regular operations between state-
owned banks. The Foreign Minister also stated
that Kyiv considers this incident.... to be an
illegal act by the Hungarian authorities.
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic
Relations Péter Szijjártó said on March 2nd - that he had
summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the reason for it - was the “forced
mobilization of Transcarpathian Hungarians.”
He also emphasized that this situation confirms
the need ------ for an early end to the conflict.
_______________________________________________
The Spanish left-wing party Podemos
has proposed a referendum
on leaving NATO
March 9th, 10pm
(RT.ru)
The Spanish left-wing party Podemos --- has launched an
initiative to hold a referendum on the country's possible
withdrawal from NATO, according to Pablo Fernández,
a spokesperson for the political force.
This is reported by the Spanish
newspaper, Granada Hoy.
In addition, the party has also expressed its
disagreement with the US-Israeli military
operation in Iran.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump called
Spain a “loser” who is hostile to NATO.
________________________________________
Citizen Revolution assures - it will
participate in the 2027 elections
March 9th, 5:06pm
(Prensa Latina)
The political movement Revolución Ciudadana (RC), of
Ecuador, stated that it will participate in the local
elections scheduled for February 2027 - despite
the nine-month temporary suspension issued
by the Contentious Electoral Tribunal (TCE).
The president of the organization, Gabriela Rivadeneira,
stated this Monday at a press conference that the
decision ---- issued by electoral judge Joaquín
Viteri ..after admitting a complaint from the
Prosecutor's Office, is “1 more chapter”
of political persecution.
The leader maintained - that the decision would seek to
prevent the participation of the party, considered the
main opposition force, in the elections --- to elect
mayors, prefects, councilors and other local
authorities on February 14, 2027.
The suspension of the political group founded by former
president Rafael Correa was ordered on March 6, after
the judge accepted for processing a request from
the deputy attorney general Carlos Alarcón
within the investigation known as the
Caja Chica case.
This process investigates an alleged organized crime
scheme - related to the alleged irregular financing
with Venezuelan funds for the 2023 campaign.
The movement's lawyer, Gabriel Rivera, indicated that
the organization initiated legal actions to reverse the
suspension, including a request for annulment of the
TCE resolution.
Rivera explained that the investigation is directed at
natural persons - and not at the political movement
as an organization - and he argued that the crime
of organized crime for which he accuses the RC
would not be applicable to legal entities.
For his part, lawyer Diego Guarderas, who represents former
President Correa and other leaders, also questioned the
judicial decision and stated that the movement does
not appear as an investigated subject in the
criminal process.
According to Rivadeneira, despite the accusations, the
movement will participate in the next elections “with
its own cadres and as RC”, considering that the
sanction lacks any legal basis and “falls.....
under its own weight”.
In addition to the judicial actions in the country, Rivadeneira
announced that they will go to international bodies,
including the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights, United Nations human rights
organizations & the Permanent Conference
of Political Parties of Latin America and
the Caribbean.
Former presidential candidate Luisa González, for her part,
recalled how in 2017 they banned the Alianza País
movement with “legal tricks” and denounced
that there is currently persecution against
the leaders of the RC promoted by the
Executive ------ to prevent them from
participating in the next elections.
This morning, in a radio interview, president Daniel Noboa
referred to the suspension of the RC and said... that its
representatives could participate in local elections
under the auspices of another party.
According to the president, there are links between
narcoterrorist groups and political entities.
_____________________________________________
Mexico reaffirms rejection ------ of
Trump's proposal to send troops
March 9th, 12:46pm
(Prensa Latina)
President Claudia Sheinbaum reaffirmed today that only her
armed forces will operate in Mexico and urged the US to
stop arms trafficking and reduce drugs consumption,
if you want to help fight crime.
“It's good that President (American Donald) Trump - says publicly that when he proposed that the United States Army enter Mexico, we said no ---- because it is the truth, we have said no, and we proudly continue to say no”, she maintained.
The dignitary thus responded.. to a question about the magnate's statements over the weekend in which he referred to Sheinbaum's aforementioned position, asserted that Mexico is the epicentre of cartel violence - and announced a regional military ''coalition'' against drug trafficking.
Such comments were made during the Shield of the Americas Summit, convened by the Republican in Miami and attended by 12 right-wing Latin American leaders.
“We believe.... that there is something in which the United States can help us a lot: to stop the trafficking of illegal weapons”, she added, recalling how the US Department of Justice itself recognized that 75 percent of these devices used by criminals ------- come from there.
She pointed out that, if the entry of illegal weapons stops, criminal groups ---- will not have high-powered weapons.
In his usual press conference, Sheinbaum also spoke about the necessary ------- for a decrease in drug consumption in the US.
“It's not just that drugs stop passing from Mexico to the United States -- we are collaborating a lot there. The fentanyl that crosses from Mexico to the US, and other drugs too, has been reduced by half and we will continue working”, she explained.
“But, there is a very important part --- she added --- that we have to work on, which is reducing drug use in the US and in Mexico we are doing the same --- from schools and with campaigns against the consumption” of illicit substances.
She reported that tomorrow they will present the progress of the security strategy implemented by her government and based on four axes: attention to the causes, the consolidation of the National Guard, strengthening intelligence & research, and coordination with federal entities.
As a result of this, from October 1st, 2024, the beginning of the administration, to January 31, officers arrested 43,438 people for high-impact crimes and seized 22,832 weapons and 327 tons of drugs.
Added to the above ------ is the operation on February 22nd to capture Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho”, which ended with the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the most wanted drug trafficker in this country and the United States.
____________________________________________
Oil --- surges past $100 a barrel
as stocks tumble....... amid US-
Israeli aggression against Iran
March 9th, 11:56am
(PressTV)
Crude oil prices have soared past $100 a barrel amid
a large-scale and unprovoked US-Israeli war on Iran.
The international benchmark of Brent crude jumped more
than 20 percent on Sunday, and at one point hit $115 as
concerns increased --- over prolonged disruptions to
global energy supplies.
The benchmark was being traded at around $107.50 as of
0230 GMT on Monday following a slight moderation. The
uptick marked the first time oil prices climbed over
$100 per barrel ...since the onset of Russia's
operations in Ukraine in 2022.
US President Donald Trump, who campaigned heavily on
cost-of-living concerns in the 2024 vote, sought to
downplay the rise in prices.
"Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the
destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very
small price to pay for the USA, and World, Safety and
Peace," Trump asserted in a post on Truth Social.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright also tried to brush off
the prospect of soaring energy prices earlier on Sunday.
He told CBS News' Face the Nation program that any increase
in prices at the petrol pump would be "temporary."Crude oil
prices have spiked by about 50 percent since the US and
Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28.
Qalibaf: Continuation of anti-Iran war will
choke off oil sales, production in region
The speaker for the Iranian parliament says the
continuation of the US-Israeli aggression
against Iran will choke off both oil
sales - and production.
Iran, in retaliation, has effectively brought
shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to a halt.
Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait -- three of the
major producers in the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) ------ have slashed
production amid an accumulating backlog
of barrels with no destination to go to..
due to the effective closure of the
strategic waterway.
Meanwhile, stocks in Asia tumbled drastically on Monday
morning, as investors prepared for the fallout of soaring
energy prices.
Japan's 225 index fell more than 7 percent in early trading,
while South Korea's KOSPI plunged more than 8 percent.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong also fell by nearly
3 percent.
US stocks futures - which are regularly traded outside of
usual market hours, also experienced significant losses.
Futures tied to Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 fell by
1.7 percent, while those for the tech-heavy Nasdaq
Composite dropped by 1.90 percent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that a
sustained 10 percent rise in oil prices brings about a
0.5 rise in inflation and a 0.15 percent reduction
in global economic growth.
___________________________________
China advocates ties with
Latin America without
external interference
March 8th, 11:35pm
(Prensa Latina)
The spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Guo
Jiakun, emphasized today again, that cooperation with
Latin America does not have geopolitical calculations
....nor should it suffer external interference.
He stressed that Latin American and Caribbean nations are
sovereign and independent States with the right to choose
their development paths and cooperation partners.
China maintains principles of mutual respect and equality
in exchanges with the region, the spokesperson said.
The official indicated that bilateral collaboration is open and
inclusive and is not directed against third parties, so no one
should interfere with, or influence, these relationships.
Guo responded in this way to the recent summit of the Latin
American right ------- organized and held in the United States.
Previously, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out
that the old drama of the 19th century.... should not be
performed on the international stage of this century.
At a press conference the day before, the diplomatic chief
described China-Latin America cooperation as mutual aid
and support between nations of the Global South.
The chancellor mentioned the five projects launched at the
China-Community of Latin American & Caribbean States Cooperation Forum (Celac): unity, development,
civilization, peace.... and popular hearts.
Wang Yi indicated that these projects, outline a
plan - to move together towards modernization.
China and Latin America strengthened their commercial
and political ties in recent decades, with an exchange
that exceeded 500 billion dollars, within the frame-
work of strengthening South-South cooperation
and the search..... for a more balanced
international order.
According to official figures, the Asian giant is the region's
second trading partner - the first in Brazil and Peru for
example - and one of its main sources of foreign
direct investment.
On the other hand, 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries
joined the Belt and Road Initiative, while Beijing deepens its
cooperation with Cuba and Brazil ..within the framework of
building communities with a shared future.
____________________________________________
Persian Gulf states... review overseas
investments as war pressure mounts
after US-Israeli aggression on Iran
March 6th, 9:42am
(PressTV)
Persian Gulf states are reportedly reviewing overseas
investments and financial commitments - as the
regional fallout from the US-Israeli aggression
on Iran begins to strain budgets and long-
standing economic assumptions.
A Gulf official told the Financial Times, that the war engulfing
the region could affect “anything from investment pledges to
foreign states or companies, sports sponsorships, contracts
with businesses and investors, or the sales of holdings,”
particularly if the war continues at its current pace.
The review.. reflects growing concern among Persian Gulf
governments - about the financial implications of the war
triggered by Washington and Tel Aviv’s aerial aggression
against Iran on February 28.
Those attacks came - eight months after an
earlier round of unprovoked strikes on Iran.
The assault led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic
Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and more
than 1,200 civilians, including women, children
and senior military commanders.
Iran responded swiftly with waves of missile and drone
strikes targeting Israeli-occupied territories and US
military bases across the region, including
facilities in Kuwait, Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates.
Tehran insists the war was imposed on the country and
says its campaign, is a legitimate act of self-defense.
At the same time, Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed:
that there is no hostility toward neighbouring states and
that the strikes are aimed solely at US military assets
operating on their soil.
According to the Gulf official cited by the newspaper,
several governments - have already begun internal
reviews --- to determine whether “force majeure
clauses can be invoked in current contracts,”
while also reassessing present and future
investment commitments... to ease
potential economic strain.
For decades, the Persian Gulf’s economic rise rested on two
pillars: the perception that its rapidly expanding cities
offered stability in a turbulent region and the steady
flow of wealth from uninterrupted energy exports.
But the war sparked by US-Israeli aggression has shaken
both assumptions at once, forcing governments to
rethink how long they can maintain ambitious
global spending plans ---- amid mounting
regional tensions.
__________________________________________
After his conversation with Putin,
Orban convened a council on
the need for oil and gas
from Russia
March 3rd, 3:37pm
(RT.ru)
After a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban convened an
emergency council on the need to obtain oil and
gas from Russia.
"I have convened a meeting of the Energy Security Council.
We have reviewed the situation on the energy market.
We need cheap Russian gas and oil," he wrote
on social media.
Earlier, Hungary announced that Budapest and
Belgrade will strengthen their energy security
with pipelines.
_______________________________________
Fidel Castro Free Chair - is
inaugurated in Venezuela
March 3rd, 1:41pm
(Prensa Latina)
With the master class - Fidel and Chávez: Comandante
Pueblo - the Fidel Castro Free Chair was inaugurated
today in Caracas as part of a program in Venezuela
for the centenary --- of the historic leader of the
Cuban Revolution.
Vice Ministers, friends of solidarity, the accredited
diplomatic corps, and the State Mission of Cuba
- headed by Ambassador Jorge Luis Mayo, all
attended the inauguration of this initiative,
promoted by the Rómulo Gallegos Centre
for Latin American and Caribbean
Studies (Celarg).
The president of Celarg, Pedro Calzadilla, described the Chair
as another point and window of confluence between the
Cuban and Bolivarian Revolutions, epics that he
described as - “the glory of our people” that
both of you face today the intensification
of the aggressions of US imperialism.
He stated that this centre of Latin American culture and
thought is “joyful and moved” to be inaugurating the
Chair which - in his opinion - will soon become a
“vigorous space for reflection, study, debate,
discussion & formation of the enormous
mine ------ that is Fidel's thought”.
Calzadilla affirmed ---- that the space should be a place of
militancy “in favour of the supreme values & principles
of this greater homeland: humanity”, and will also
contribute, to fight “more wisely the battle of
ideas and the liberation of peoples” when
the first quarter of the 21st century has already concluded.
He stressed that the main challenge is that it must contribute
to “deciphering the dynamics that underlie this complex
current time of humanity”.
In an audiovisual message from Havana, the president of the
Fidel Castro Study Centre, René González, considered it a
privilege that, in the year of the centenary of the birth of
the Commander Chief, this seminar was organized in
honour of the historic Cuban leader.
He expressed that, this year, in addition to Fidel's birth,
the history of Cuba and Venezuela merges again as in
the wars of independence ----- for the cause of the
sovereignty and emancipation of both peoples.
González referred to the “slap of North American imperialism”
against the Bolivarian Republic on January the 3rd, in which constitutional president Nicolás Maduro... and his wife and deputy, Cilia Flores were kidnapped --- and he praised the
brotherhood that was sealed between the commanders.
The Venezuelan professor and researcher, Judith Valencia,
dedicated her inaugural master class, Fidel and Chávez:
Comandante Pueblo - to the revolutionaries present
and gave an historical account of the relations
of both eternal leaders, since they met in
Cuba.... in December 1994.
“Fidel allowed, Valencia stated, Chávez to climb on his
shoulders - to walk together as Comandante Pueblo,
two olive greens”, and that forging strategies
requires --- “beginning with whom --- to
counterattack”, she asserted.
The Cuban ambassador expressed his deep gratitude
to Celarg, the Ministry of Culture -- the government
representatives and others present, for attending
this meeting that “convenesand moves us” to
be held in the year of the centenary of the
birth of the historic leader.
He assured that - without a doubt - Fidel's arrival in the
history of Cuba made it change and it was something
totally different when he burst into it, and..... «he
continues, and will continue -- to be present»,
he noted.
______________________________________
Cuba defends sovereign right: to
economic-commercial relations
March 3rd, 1:38pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez,
today.. defended his country's right to develop
international economic and commercial
relations, without interference from
any other government or nation,
no matter how powerful it
may be.
The Minister, on his social network account X, made it clear that “as a sovereign country, #Cuba has the willingness
and capacity to develop economic and commercial
relations --- with any nation”.
The head of Cuban diplomacy also argued that “this is how
international trade should develop”, while clearing up any
doubts, in a clear reference to the measures against
Venezuela from the White House --- “without the
government of a powerful nation, having the
prerogative or capacity to dictate how
and with.. which nations another
State can develop its foreign
trade”, he stated.
For more than six decades, the United States has maintained
an economic, commercial and financial blockade against
Cuba, in addition to a group of sanctions, restrictions
and a network of laws, to pressure and punish
those... who establish any economic,
commercial and/or financial link
with the Caribbean nation.
The policy of harassment, in the attempt to strangle the
people and bring about change in the country -- has
intensified to unprecedented levels -- under the
current authoritarian US regime.
__________________________________________
Middle Eastern conflict
effects Europe inflation
European Central Bank
March 3rd, 9:41am
(Prensa Latina)
The conflict in the Middle East today is evaluated by the
European Central Bank, as an additional impact -- that
can significantly influence the peninsular's inflation.
The source points out, that a prolonged conflict in that region
would lead to a persistent drop in energy supplies and would
produce a substantial increase in inflation in the euro zone,
according to the ECB's chief economist, the Irishman
Philip Lane.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he recalls.... that the
possibility of an escalation of the conflict constitutes one of
the main risk scenarios contemplated by the ECB, whose
previous analyzes suggest ------- that there would be a
substantial increase in energy-driven inflation.
Furthermore, he noted, it will cause a sharp drop in
production if the conflict causes a persistent drop
in energy supplies.
Likewise, for the Irish economist, the impact would be
amplified if the situation also led to a revaluation of
''risk'' in the financial (insurance) markets.
In the case of the eurozone, Lane acknowledges - that
rising energy prices put upward pressure on inflation
--- especially in the short term, and a conflict with
these characteristics --- will be negative, for
economic activity.
______________________________________________
Record-breaking settlements
in national currencies will
keep the ruble strong
for a long time
March 2nd, 9:25pm
(Izvestia.ru)
According to the Central Bank's data, analyzed by Izvestia,
the combined share of the ruble and currencies of friendly
countries in payments for exports and imports exceeded
85% for the first time in 2025.
The ruble accounted for 53.7% of export revenue (an increase
of 12.4 percentage points over the year) and 54.4% of import
payments (an increase of 11.2 percentage points).
The share of the "toxic" dollar and euro fell to an all-time low
of 14.4% in exports and 15% in imports. In comparison,
in 2021, Western currencies accounted for
almost 85% of transactions.
Experts agree that the record-breaking increase in the ruble's
share was a result of sanctions --- and the reconfiguration of
the payment infrastructure. Vladimir Chernov, an analyst at
Freedom Finance Global, explained that it has become
easier and more reliable for businesses to conduct
transactions in rubles, avoiding the risks
of blockages.
He attributed the decline in the share of the yuan and rupees
after the peak in 2024 to technical difficulties & restrictions
on capital flows for these currencies. Rodin.Alexey Rodin,
Capital, added that the ruble is gaining ground against
friendly currencies due to the absence of conversion
losses, and predicted that its share could grow to
at least 60%.
Against the backdrop of rubleization, the dollar exchange rate
fell from 101.7 rubles at the beginning of 2025 to 76.6 rubles
on February 25, 2026. The ruble is also supported by rising
oil prices due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
However, the ruble may be pressured by the upcoming
reduction in the cut-off price in the budget rule (from
$59 to $45-50 per barrel), although experts do not
rule out that the adjustment may be postponed
due to the geopolitical situation. In any case,
the record-breaking share of settlements
in national currencies.... will mitigate
the impact.
In addition to rubleization, the exchange
rate is supported by a high key interest
rate (15.5%) ------- and a trade surplus.
______________________________________
Analyst Demidov predicts
oil prices could rise
to $200
March 2nd, 4:48pm
(RT.ru)
Vladimir Demidov, an analyst of the resource and energy
market and head of the Future Energy Laboratory at the
Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, predicts
that oil prices could rise to $200 - ''if'' Iran blocks
the Strait of Hormuz, completely.
"The price will not return to the levels it had in mid-February,
because the conflict is escalating in a region that produces
up to 25% of the world's oil. The Strait of Hormuz is also a
major route for LNG, accounting for almost a fifth of the
world's supply, so these factors are interconnected,"
Demidov said.
In turn, Igor Yushkov, a leading expert at the Financial
University under the Russian Government and the
National Energy Security Fund, confirmed to the
website kp.ru that oil prices are rising - due to
the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
"All of Qatar's LNG is locked up inside the Persian Gulf,
and there is no alternative. There is no other way for
Qatar to bring its LNG to the global market," he said.
According to him, the situation is worsening due to mutual
attacks on the oil infrastructure of the region's countries.
Earlier, it was reported that Saudi Aramco's oil refinery
in Saudi Arabia had suspended operations - following
Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been appointed
as an economic advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky, according to The Independent.
The article claims that Sunak has joined a special
international group of advisers helping Ukraine
with its ''economic reconstruction''.
Documents released on Friday by an independent adviser
on ministerial standards indicate that the former prime
minister.. has begun an unpaid role on Zelensky's
International Advisory Council for Ukraine's
Economic Renewal, the article says.
Earlier, Zelensky invited Slovak Prime Minister
Robert Fico to Ukraine....... so that they could
“discuss issues”.
______________________________________
Dominican Republic is ready -- to
promote relations with Vietnam
February 27th, 10:26am
(Prensa Latina)
The ambassador of the Dominican Republic here, Reinaldo
Espinal, today -- reaffirmed his country's full and firm
decision to decisively promote ties with Vietnam,
a valued friend in Southeast Asia.
It is pleasing to highlight the excellent relations that exist
today, between these two nations that reaffirm their
convergent vision on the importance of stability,
inclusive development and shared prosperity,
on the commemoration of the 182nd
anniversary of the proclamation
of Dominican independence.
Espinal said that the people of Vietnam and the Dominican
Republic share a sobering past, characterized by huge sacrifices and a firm and unwavering will: to love
freedom, to fight - to overcome adversity and
the vocation to work tirelessly to build
a better destiny.
Referring to bilateral ties, he recalled that diplomatic relations
were formalized 2 decades ago “and have been progressively
& firmly strengthening ties, based on mutual respect and the
political will to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship”.
The current strategic framework of these relations...
he noted later - involves fundamental aspects - like
political dialogue, trade, investment, agriculture,
and diplomatic training, among others.
But other -- no less important topics -- such as education,
technological innovation, academic, tourist and cultural
exchange await us just as promising, to address them
with a new vision for the future, city diplomacy and South-South cooperation, to build increasingly
substantive, dynamic and diversified
links, he said.
The Dominican ambassador also stressed that, likewise,
both countries are increasingly strengthening their
collaboration in multilateral spaces ---- in an
international scenario characterized by
tensions, uncertainty, and shared
challenges: such as climate
change, energy security,
economic resilience,
or cybersecurity.
“We are convinced that cooperation, complementarity
and constructive diplomacy are more necessary
today than ever”, he asserted.
Espinal also recalled the visit made in November 2024, to his
country by the Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh,
who held a fruitful meeting with President Luis Abidaner and
productive days of work with the Government authorities,
the business sector, and other important actors.
In another part of his speech, the diplomat referred to an
important twinning project between the provinces of
Dien Bien, and Hermanas Mirabal, “which we hope
to conclude very soon, and which will be a great
boost in our bilateral relations”, he anticipated.
Furthermore.. he congratulated the leaders of the Communist
Party of Vietnam, and with it, its people and Government, for
the successful completion of its XIV National Congress,
a process of singular importance in the clear and
cohesive determination of its strategic
direction for the coming years,
he noted.
________________________________
The Foreign Minister of Venezuela
pays tribute to those who fell
during the Caracazo
February 27th, 9:36am
(Prensa Latina)
The Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Yván Gil, paid tribute today
to those who lost their lives during the spontaneous social
revolt that shook Venezuela on February 27, 1989,
known in the world ...as the Caracazo.
On his Telegram account, the senior diplomat expressed that
this event “not only marked the breaking point of a political
system that had turned its back on the people and
imposed austerity measures --- by the orders
of Washington”.
He assured that it was also a popular expression that
called for - a profound transformation of the country.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister said that the answers
were found in the Bolivarian project, of Commander
Hugo Chávez (1954-2013).
“Honour and glory to the victims of the Caracazo;
their sacrifice -------- was not in vain”, he stated.
Regarding the 37 years of the Caracazo, the United Socialist
Party of Venezuela (PSUV) called for a large march this
Friday to commemorate the historic date, in which
the people rose up against the government in
power ------ in a rejection of the economic
measures imposed by the IMF.
The PSUV called on the revolutionary and Chavista people to
join the popular mobilization, in which they will demand -- the
immediate release of their constitutional president - Nicolás
Maduro, and his wife and deputy Cilia Flores, kidnapped on
January 3 during a United States' military operation.
During the spontaneous rebellion of February 27 and 28, 1989,
the angry people opposed the economic measures promoted
by Carlos Andrés Pérez known as El Paquetazo, at the
request of the IMF and the World Bank, macro-
economic adjustments... that resulted in
the suffocation of the people.
The imposition of neoliberalism in Venezuela --- led to
privatizations, increased costs of services, gasoline,
freezing of workers' salaries and price liberalization.
These government policies plunged the South American
nation into misery, hunger led the country to contract
an external debt with the World Bank of more than
32 billion dollars and a poverty rate above 74%,
according to data from the time.
____________________________________
Russia: West seeks to repeat
past ‘plunder’ of Iran’s oil
February 26th, 5:16pm
(PressTV)
Moscow has slammed Western powers for pursuing policies
toward Iran that mirror historical attempts to exploit the
country’s resources.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Maria
Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign
Ministry, referred to declassified historical
documents and said that in 1946 US and
British companies sought to plunder
Iran's oil fields ....and that similar
dynamics are unfolding today.
She added that, according to those records, Western powers
at the time pressured the Iranian government into producing
unlimited oil, describing this ------ as the central objective of
their agenda.
Zakharova continued that, while those events took place 80
years ago, she believes the situation surrounding Iran is
again taking a similar shape, though she noted that
the global foreign-policy environment, has
fundamentally changed.
Referring to Western threats against Iran and other countries,
she said Western states are unwilling to relinquish those
advantages gained through colonial and neo-colonial
practices and have grown accustomed to relying
on those benefits, to maintain dominance.
"The majority of countries in the world --- are increasingly
defending their rights, building their domestic economic,
industrial, and scientific capacity, and strengthening
their national sovereignty," she stressed.
In another part of her speech... the Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman said, "We are witnessing continuous threats
against Tehran, a show of force, intimidation, and an
irresponsible escalation of regional tensions
by Washington."
"Nevertheless, Russia and Iran continue to systematically
strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation --- in the
interests of the people of both countries,"
she noted.
The remarks came amid heightened regional tensions. US
President Donald Trump has ordered additional military
deployments to the region, including an extra aircraft
carrier, thousands of troops, warplanes, and guided
-missile destroyers, according to US officials.
In late January - Trump spoke of “another beautiful armada” of
warships heading towards Iran and said failure to reach a deal
would bring consequences “far worse” than the illegal strikes
of June 2025 on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Tehran has declared -- that it would respond decisively to any
military adventurism, as in the case of the June US attacks,
which prompted a ballistic missile barrage against
Al Udeid, Washington’s most important regional
airbase ....located in Qatar.
Speaking at the Supreme State Council of the Union State,
in Moscow on Thursday, Alexander Lukashenko criticized
the Western pressure --- on Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba,
describing them as shared partners of Belarus
and Russia ----- and condemned the open
interference by Western countries in
the affairs of sovereign states.
He stated that global trade is currently being damaged
by heavy tariffs, technological and energy blockades,
currency pressure and piracy along logistical routes.
The Belarusian president said that at present,
some countries are not being allowed to
export oil.
He added that, while the West is, to some extent, wary of
the leaders of the multipolar world -- China and Russia --
it has imposed unprecedented pressure on their allies.
As an example, Lukashenko said that, in recent weeks Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran -- “our shared partners” --
have been subjected to open interference,
primarily through economic means.
He emphasized that technological sovereignty, reliance on
domestic resources and competencies, prioritizing Union-
produced goods, and protecting the common market of
the Russia-Belarus Union State --- are key pillars of
security --- no less important than military and
foreign policy components.
In another part of his speech --- he said that China and Iran
are interested in developing relations with Belarus within
a framework similar to the current level of cooperation
between Moscow and Minsk.
“Today the Chinese have already suggested: ‘Let’s work
according to the principle of your work with Russia – a
region with regions.’Iran mentioned about half a year
ago that they want this kind of cooperation as well,”
he added.
________________________________________
Dominican lawyer and writer: “In
the US, let the majority prevail”
February 25th, 4:21pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Dominican writer and lawyer, Ramón Antonio Veras,
published today the article “In the US, let the majority
prevail”, in which he states that, although he
perceives US people -- as having “noble
feelings”, the country is run by a
minority of “evil” people.
Veras considers.. that the true driving force of the
US has been its working population, responsible
for its economic and scientific development..
but he warns ---- “those who love the least”
harm their country and humanity because
they only think about... the benefits that
the arms business brings them.
He considers.... that a powerful elite has imposed fear
and points out that “as war mongers only believe in
violence, they ignore International Law and the
United Nations Organization”.
In his analysis, the jurist maintains that those who
for more than 60 years have imposed a genocidal
blockade on the Cuban people, are those who
remain lacking in feelings -- and he qualifies
them as “those with hardness of heart”.
Women and men whose main objective is to generate
profits ---- even causing physical and moral harm to
others, are a part of US society, and are the ones
who today decide the destinies of their country,
he alerts.
He denounces that, furthermore, without providing any
evidence, US military forces - have murdered at least
150 people in Caribbean waters.. arguing that they
were drug traffickers.
Relying on accusations that, he claims, are unfounded,
the US intervened militarily in Venezuela, bombed
Caracas - and kidnapped President Nicolás
Maduro, and his wife.... Cilia Flores.
Any country that possesses natural wealth is exposed
to punishment by the North American minority, he
points out.
The jurist advocates that a democratic movement
emerge from within US society that is capable of
counteracting its war policies and restoring the
will of the majority.
To armaments and imperial militarism, the journalist
proposes opposing peace.... which is humanity's
desire to be able to develop, both materially
and culturally, he points out.
Likewise, he expresses his desire that the community
of good people in that northern nation mobilize, so
that the world can live in peace, and not, as is
currently the case ----- in constant stress.
___________________________________________
Young people, the least happy
age group ''in the world'' says West
February 25th, 2:48pm
(Prensa Latina)
The ''world's youth'' currently face unprecedented levels of
stress and uncertainty, driven by concerns related to job
insecurity, financial dependence and the lack of access
to social protection.
In an online seminar, professor, researcher and labour
economist, David Blanchflower, shared with experts
from the International Labour Organization.... his
concern for the well-being of young people.
Currently - he asserted - there is an inverse relationship
between happiness and age: older age groups express
the highest levels of happiness, while younger groups
express the lowest.
A study conducted in the United States by Blanchflower
confirmed the trends seen virtually around the world,
in all countries, in all regions, and in both advanced
and ''developing'' economies.
Declining job and income security, fuels youth
anxiety and distrust in institutions, he notes.
That today's young people feel anxious — more than
previous generations — was also reflected in the
ILO's Global Youth Employment Trends, 2024
report, where it is indicated that two out of
every three young people report feeling
stressed ---- due to job loss, and
job instability.
Likewise, it expresses concern about the economic
situation, the reduction of intergenerational social
mobility and prospects for financial independence.
The relationship between young people's mental
discomfort, and the rise of social networks and
smart technologies, can't be ignored, he adds.
These non-economic factors are clearly a central
part of this reality, Blanchflower acknowledges.
Other elements also play a role, such as labour
market challenges, gaps in social protection
...and young people's perception of their
future access to security, prosperity
and well-being.
In many countries, only a minority of young workers
have employment that includes social security
coverage, and many women of these ages,
remain excluded from educational and
employment opportunities.
Lack of protection and opportunities can be especially
stressful, for those commuting from school to work,
and can influence how they perceive institutions.
Obtaining and maintaining employment with due labour
and social protection, enjoying a work-life balance,
paying rent --- and becoming independent from
the family home --- is not guaranteed for
many young people.
According to an article on the website of the National
Office of Economic Research, there is evidence from
167 countries --- where young people have lower
levels of well-being than older age groups.
An analysis of the US, using 14 surveys found that
young people ---- had the lowest well-being of all
age groups.
Furthermore, young people feel significantly more alone
and unhappy than other age groups ---- in at least 26 of
the countries in the EU, according to the 2022 EU
Loneliness Survey.
[Rhondda Records adds - perhaps the West failed to survey youth happiness - in China, for example - which is blossoming.Might make for happier news, what!]
itineraries and exhibitions that generated new points
of interest for travelers.
With these results, China consolidates its domestic
tourism market as an engine of economic growth,
in a context of recovery in consumption and the
diversification of cultural offerings.
___________________________________________
They study the viability of zero fares
in public transportation in Brazil
February 24th, 8:24am
(Prensa Latina)
The Brazilian Government is studying the viability
of implementing a so-called zero fare in public
transportation ---- by determination of the
President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
the Minister of Cities, Jader Filho,
confirmed today.
In an interview with the program “Bom Dia, Minister”,
of the Brazilian Communication Company, the owner
stated that there is an internal discussion in the
Executive and that the Ministry of Economy is
carrying out a study to examine the cost of
the measure.
According to Filho, the current collective transportation
financing model ---- based on the almost exclusive
payment of the fare by the user, has failed and
no longer responds to social reality either in Brazil, or in other countries.
The model in which the citizen had to pay the entire fee
no longer works. We need to discuss, in fact, the
subsidy process, he stressed, when defending
a structural review of the system.
The initiative was based on direct guidance from Lula,
who commissioned the Ministry of Economy, to
prepare a feasibility study to calculate the
fiscal impact of eventual universal free
buses and metro systems, local
media indicated.
The head of that last organization, Fernando Haddad,
promised to present the report before leaving office,
which will allow the Ministry of Cities to advance a
specific proposal and debate its implementation
with states and municipalities.
According to Filho, the Ministry of Cities is already
discussing various solutions so that a national
debate can be opened and an understanding
can be reached on how to improve
public transport.
The issue could be incorporated into Lula's government
program for an eventual re-election, in a context in
which the cost of transportation weighs
significantly on the budget of
working families.
According to what the Secretary of Communication of the
Workers' Party, federal deputy Jilmar Tatto, told CNN
Brazil, the government wants to begin the process
of implementing a bill in this regard - this year.
''I met with President Lula at the PT anniversary celebration in
Salvador and he asked me about the issue. We are holding
a series of meetings with him - to discuss it. He is very
interested'', he said. In turn, the head of the Chamber
of Deputies, Hugo Motta, decided to create a
special commission ----- to analyze the
implementation of the zero fare.
__________________________________________
Kallas: The EU failed to reach an
agreement on the 20th package
of sanctions against Russia
February 23rd, 3:44pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Kaja Kallas, the head of European diplomacy, said that the
EU had failed to reach an agreement on the 20th package
of anti-Russian sanctions.
"Unfortunately, we have not reached an agreement on the
20th package of sanctions... But the work continues,"
she said. RIA Novosti quoted her as saying this.
Earlier, Hungary blocked the 20th package of anti-Russian
sanctions and a €90 billion loan to Ukraine - due to Kiev's
suspension of the Druzhba pipeline.
_______________________________________
Hungary blocks the 20th package
of sanctions against Russia
by George Parkhomenko
February 23rd, 3:04pm
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
To share
During a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday,
Hungary blocked the adoption of the 20th package
of sanctions against Russia --- due to Ukraine's
decision.... to halt oil transit through the
Druzhba pipeline.
Budapest also exercised its veto
power ...regarding a proposed
€90 billion loan for Ukraine.
This was announced... by the
Hungarian Foreign Minister
Peter Szijjarto.
"At today's meeting, I made it clear that we do not
support the 20th package of sanctions - and do
not give permission for it. And I made it clear
that we will not agree to Ukraine receiving
a €90 billion military loan," the agency
RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
Szijjártó explained that Ukraine was blackmailing his
country and threatening Hungary's energy security.
He also accused Kiev and Brussels of colluding
and supporting the Hungarian opposition.
"No ----- a clear no, that's exactly
what I said," the minister added.
He emphasized that the country's leadership views the halt
in Russian oil transit.... as an infringement on Hungary's
sovereignty. Earlier, Szijjarto stated that the Russian
side had informed Hungary... that the Druzhba oil
pipeline - which was damaged by a Ukrainian
strike - is fully restored and operational.
However, he denied reports that Hungary would stop
supplying electricity to Ukraine, as it would create
challenges for the Hungarian minority.......
in Transcarpathia.
This gentleman picks holes in the intellectual ''mistakes'' of the West and points to the best solution for the world's people.
Britain's enemy is not Russia but its own ruling class, UN report confirms by John Wight November 19th, at 2:48pm
John Wight has written for a variety of newspapers and websites, including the Independent, Morning Star, Huffington Post, Counter- punch, London Progressive Journal, and Foreign Policy Journal.
As the UK political establishment rips itself to pieces over Brexit, a far greater crisis continues to afflict millions of victims of Tory austerity.
A devastating UN report into poverty in the UK provides incontrovertible evidence, that the enemy of the British people, is the very ruling class that has gone out of its way these past few years to convince them it is Russia.
Professor Philip Alston, in his capacity as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, spent two weeks touring the United Kingdom. He did so, investigating the impact of 8 years of one of the most extreme austerity programs among advanced G20 economies in response to the 2008 financial crash and subsequent global recession.
What he found was evidence of a systematic, wilful, concerted and brutal economic war, unleashed by the country's right-wing Tory establishment, against the poorest and most vulnerable section of British society – upending the lives of millions of people who were not responsible for the aforementioned financial crash and recession, but who have been forced to pay the price.
From the report's introduction:
"It…seems patently unjust and contrary to British values that so many people are living in poverty. This is obvious to anyone who opens their eyes: to see the immense growth in foodbanks, and the queues waiting outside them, the people sleeping rough in the streets, the growth of homelessness, the sense of deep despair - that leads even the Government to appoint a Minister for Suicide Prevention - and civil society to report in depth, on unheard of levels of loneliness and isolation."
Though as a citizen of the UK, I respectfully beg to differ with the professor's claim, that such social & economic carnage, seems "contrary to British values,"(on the contrary - it is entirely in keeping with the values of the country's Tory establishment, an establishment for whom, the dehumanization of the poor and working class, is central to its ideology), the point he makes about it being "obvious to anyone who opens their eyes," is well made.
For it is now the case that in every town and city centre in Britain, it is impossible to walk in any direction for more than a minute, before coming across homeless people begging in the street. And the fact that some 13,000 of them, are former soldiers, casualties of the country's various military adventures in recent years, undertaken in service to Washington, exposes the pious platitudes peddled by politicians & the government as reverence for the troops & their 'sacrifice,' as insincere garbage.
As inequality increases, the wealthy and powerful become more desperate to cling onto their gains and distract us - with imagined threats and political sideshows - such as Jingoism, Russophobia and red-baiting...
Overall, 14 million people in the UK are now living in poverty, a figure which translates into an entire fifth of the population. Four million of them are children, while, according to Professor Alston, 1.5 million people are destitute – that is, unable to afford the basic necessities of life.
And this is what the ruling class of the fifth largest economy in the world, a country that parades itself on the world stage, as a pillar of democracy and human rights, considers progress.
The values responsible for creating such a grim social landscape, are compatible with the 18th, not the 21st century. They are proof positive, that the network of elite private schools – Eton, Harrow, Fettes College et al. – where those responsible for this human carnage are inculcated with the sense of entitlement and born to rule ethos that defines them, are Britain's hotbeds of extremism.
Professor Alston:"British compassion for those who are suffering, has been replaced by a punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous approach, apparently designed to instill discipline where it is least useful, to impose a rigid order on the lives of those least capable of coping with today's world, and elevating the goal of enforcing blind compliance, over a genuine concern to improve the well- being of those at the lowest levels of British society."
Here, set out above in bold relief, is the barbarism that walks - hand in hand - with free market capitalism. It is the same barbarism that was responsible for pushing post-Soviet Russia into a decade-long economic and social abyss, in the 1990s, and the values that have pushed 14 million people in the UK into the same economic and social abyss, in our time.
Austerity, it bears emphasizing, is not and never has been, a viable economic response to recession, in a given economy.
Instead, it is an ideological club, wielded on behalf of the rich and big business, to ensure that the price paid for the said economic recession, is borne exclusively by those least able to bear it - namely the poor and working people. It is class war by any other name, packaged and presented, as legitimate government policy.
However in Britain's case in 2018, this is a war like no other, because, as Professor Philip Alston's report lays bare, one side in this war has been throwing all the punches and one side has been taking them.
As the saying goes, wars take place when the government tells you who the enemy is; revolutions take place when you work it out for yourself.
(Source - RT)
_______________________________________________
Keiser Report: Reality of Creditor Jubilees
- fantastic - asks ''why don't we act like Jesus preached - and forgive debt?''
When what we do now, is what led to the slavery of feudalism: by refunding the creditors, instead!
Marx's theory still shines with truth: Xi May 4th, at 10:53am
Xinhua - Two centuries on, despite huge and profound changes in human society, the name of Karl Marx is still respected all over the world and his theory still shines with the brilliant light of truth, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a grand gathering in Beijing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth.
Xi said Marx is the "teacher of revolution for the proletariat and working people all over the world, the main founder of Marxism, creator of Marxist parties, a pathfinder for international communism and the greatest thinker of modern times."
"Today, we hold this grand gathering with great veneration to mark the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, to remember his great character and historic deeds and to review his noble spirit and brilliant thoughts," Xi said at the event.
''With noble ideals and no fear of difficulty or adversity, throughout his life, Marx devoted himself to perseveringly striving for the liberation of humanity, scaling the peak of thought in his pursuit of truth, and the unremitting fight to overturn the old world and establish a new one'', according to Xi.
''Marx is not only a great figure who bore the weight of the world, but also an ordinary person with a passion for life, who was sincere and true to his friends'', Xi said.
''The most valuable and influential spiritual asset that Marx left us is the scientific theory named after him -- Marxism. Like a spectacular sunrise, the theory illuminated the path of humanity's exploration of the law of history, and humanity's search for their own liberation'', Xi said.
"The thought and theory of Marx are of his times and go beyond his times," Xi said. "They are the essence of the spirit of that times and the essence of the spirit of all humanity."
Xi said Marxism is a scientific theory that reveals the rules of human society's development, in a creative manner.
Having developed the materialist conception of history and surplus value theory, Marx showed how humanity would leap from the realm of necessity, to the realm of freedom, and also showed the road for people to realize freedom and liberation, Xi said.
Marxism, the first ideology for the liberation of the people themselves, is a theory of the people.
"Marxism, for the first time, explored the path for humanity's freedom and liberation from the stance of the people, and pointed out the direction, with scientific theory, toward an ideal society with no oppression or exploitation, where every person would enjoy equality and freedom," Xi said.
Stressing that practicality is a prominent characteristic of Marxism that makes it different from other theories, Xi said Marxism is a theory of practices that directs the people to change the world.
It is an open theory that is constantly developing and always stands at the frontier of the times, Xi said.
"That is why it is always able to keep young, explore the new issues in the development of the times and respond to the new challenges for human society."
The general secretary said that over the 170 years since publication of The Communist Manifesto, Marxism had been spread around the world, unrivaled in the history of human ideology in terms of the breadth and depth of its influence.
After the end of World War II, a large number of socialist countries were established, Xi said, stressing that the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially, has greatly increased the socialist strength in the world.
"There might be setbacks in the development of socialism in the world, but the overall trend for human society's development has never changed, and it will never change," Xi said.
"Marxism has not only profoundly changed the world, but also China," Xi said.
The reverberations of the October Revolution in Russia brought Marxism-Leninism to China, pointing out the direction forward, offering a brand new choice for the Chinese people in their struggle to survive, and setting the scene for the birth of the CPC.
Since the CPC's birth, it has combined the fundamental principles of Marxism with the reality of the Chinese revolution and construction, transforming the Chinese nation from "the sick man of East Asia" to one who has stood up, by uniting and leading the people through long-term struggle.
"This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only through socialism, can we save China," Xi said.
Since reform and opening up, the CPC has combined the fundamental principles of Marxism, with the reality of China's reform and opening up, and the nation who stood up, has grown rich.
"This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only through socialism with Chinese characteristics, can we develop China," Xi said.
In the new era, the CPC again combined the fundamental principles of Marxism with the reality of China in this new era, uniting and leading the people in "under- taking the great struggle, building the great project, advancing the great cause and realizing the great dream."
The Chinese nation has come to embrace a tremendous transformation, as the one who has grown rich, now, is becoming strong.
"This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only by adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, can we realize national rejuvenation," Xi said.
"It is perfectly right for history and the people to choose Marxism, as well as for the CPC to write Marxism on its own flag, to adhere to the principle of combining the fundamental principles of Marxism, with China's reality, and continuously adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and the times."
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China lifts 740 mln rural poor out of poverty since 1978 September 3rd, at 12:57pm
Xinhua - China lifted 740 million people in rural areas out of poverty from 1978 to 2017, roughly 19 million each year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
The poverty ratio in rural areas dropped 94.4 percentage points during the same time period with an average annual decrease of 2.4 percentage points, according to the NBS.
NBS data shows that China's poverty relief achievements have contributed more than 70 percent to global poverty alleviation work, in the past 40 years.
The average annual income of rural residents in impoverished areas rose an average of 10.4 percent each year from 2012 to 2017, up 2.5 percentage points from the average for rural residents.
Over the past five years, over 68 million people were lifted out of poverty in China. The country aims to further lift 10 million people out of poverty this year and eradicate poverty by 2020.
China recently released guidelines on winning the battle against poverty in the next three years, in order to prepare the nation for eradicating poverty by 2020.
According to the guidelines, the impoverished people should be guaranteed food & clothing, and children from poor families should be guaranteed a 9-year compulsory education. Basic medical needs and living conditions of the impoverished, should also be guaranteed.
People whose annual income is lower than 2,300 yuan (337.3 U.S. dollars), are defined as living below the poverty line, in China.
Almost half of Russians see USSR collapse as shameful – poll January 17th, at 12:11pm
The collapse of the Soviet Union is considered a reason to be ashamed, by 45 percent of Russians, according to a recent opinion poll. The only option that scored higher, is Russia’s failure to eradicate poverty.
The poll, conducted in late 2018, by the Levada Center is its latest study of what Russians are proud and ashamed of, about their nation. The demise of the USSR, saw a rebound in popularity from a low point of 28 percent in mid-2015, and is at a level comparable with the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The only more popular answer is Russia’s failure to eradicate poverty, which was named as a reason to be ashamed, by 61 percent of the people polled. This answer has topped Levada’s polls, for decades.
Russians are also ashamed of fellow countrymen treating each other disrespectfully (37 percent), Russia’s failure to catch up economically with the Western powers (24 percent), the out- come of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms (24 percent), and Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror (21 percent).
On the opposite side of Russians’ national identity are the qualities and events, people are proud of.
Defeating Nazi Germany in World War II remains the one thing Russians are overwhelmingly proud of (87 percent).
There is also the role that the country played in space exploration – about half are proud to belong to a space pioneering nation.
The third most popular option is accepting Crimea (the breakaway former Ukrainian region) as part of Russia again, which is seen as a point of national pride, by 45 percent.
Many people are also proud of Russian literature, science, and martial prowess, Soviet-era industrialization and the best qualities of the Russian character, like resolve and patience.
A record 75 percent said Russia is definitely, or most likely, a great nation today, while 88 percent believe that it should be one.
There was no apparent correlation between wishing greatness for Russia and regretting the USSR’s collapse, the agency noted, suggesting that Russians expect a great nation to - first and foremost - provide social justice, and protection.
Sixty-two percent said the Russians are a great people.
Levada remarked that about 80 percent of the people polled, identified themselves as Russians.
When asked what makes them feel connected to their people, most respondents named national history (53 percent), Russia’s land (35 percent), their place of birth (33 percent), and the nature that they call their own (25 percent).
The formal national symbols, including the flag, the coat of arms, and the national anthem, was the least popular option (5 percent).
Interestingly, religion is a relatively small factor in Russian national identity (9 percent).
(Source - RT)
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Number of Russians who regret collapse of USSR hits 10-year high December 26th, 2017, at 7:20am
The number of Russians who regret the collapse of the Soviet Union has reached its highest level since 2009, with almost an equal share saying the event could have been avoided.
A public opinion poll conducted by the independent Levada Center in late November this year found that 58 percent of Russians now regret the collapse of the USSR. Twenty-five percent said they felt no regret about this, and 16 percent could not describe their feelings in one word.
When researchers asked those who regret the end of the USSR what the primary reasons were behind their sentiments, 54 percent said that they missed a single economic system, 36 percent said they had lost the feeling of belonging to a real superpower, 34 percent complained about the drop in mutual trust among ordinary people, and 26 percent said that the collapse had destroyed the ties between friends and relatives.
The same research showed that 52 percent of Russians think that the collapse of the USSR could have been avoided, 29 percent said that the event was absolutely inevitable, and 19 percent did not have a fixed opinion on the matter.
The share of those who regret the demise of the Soviet Union has risen continuously over the past decade, but in 2009 it was even higher than today – at 60 percent. The all-time high – 75 percent – was recorded in 2000.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly addressed the issue of the collapse of the USSR in his speeches. In an address to the Russian parliament in 2005 he called the event the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century and a cause of major disruption for the Russian people. In September 2016, Putin said the Communist Party should have transformed the Soviet Union into a democratic state, rather than see it break into separate nations.
At the same time, Putin has always emphasized that he and other Russian officials have no plans to revive the USSR, and has expressed anger that people cannot accept this. He's also accused Western governments of deliberately confusing modern Russia with the USSR and harming the interests of ordinary people, on the pretense of preventing an imaginary threat.
Historian:Russia's October Revolution Was Inevitable, Relatively Bloodless November 10th, at 4:33pm by Ekaterina Blinova
The October Uprising of 1917 became the logical conclusion of the February Revolution, Michael J. Carley, a professor of history at the Universite de Montreal has told Sputnik. According to the academic, the Russian Revolution was inevitable and occurred because evolutionary processes of change to benefit the lives of ordinary people had failed.
"February 1917 marked the beginning of a revolutionary change in power in Russia, that was accomplished in October," Michael Jabara Carley, professor of history at the Université de Montréal and the author of "Silent Conflict: A Hidden History of Early Soviet-Western Relations,"told Sputnik, commenting on the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
"The tsarist order was bankrupt and doomed. Almost everyone at the time said so. The immediate cause of the bankruptcy was the Great War [The First World War]," the Canadian academic stressed, adding that "the result was calamity marked by millions of casualties, large territories lost and an economy thrown into chaos, by the unsustainable financial and economic demands of fighting a world war."
Russian Provisional Government: 'Neither Revolutionary, Nor Democratic'
The so-called February Revolution, which is regarded as a combination of a popular uprising with an elitist anti- monarchist plot, led to the abdication of Russian Emperor Nicholas II and the establishment of the Provisional Government.
Still, the Provisional Government"was neither revolutionary nor democratic,"the academic pointed out: The crux of the matter was that it was largely controlled by the "bourgeois" urban and rural elites and old tsarist establishment"that was opposed to the revolution and attempted to block its further development."
October Uprising Was Relatively Bloodless
The professor explained why, contrary to popular belief, the October Revolution of 1917 that took place on November 7 (October 25 in the Julian calendar) was relatively bloodless.
"Well, in the first instance because the Provisional Government was utterly discredited. It had no popular support. It was a head without a body. It could give orders or issue decrees, but had no power to enforce them. In a revolutionary period, power comes from the support of the insurgent masses and the Provisional Government had none,"Carley told Sputnik.
The professor suggested that 1917 could have been averted if old elites as well as their forebears had not blocked"political and economic evolutionary processes"in Russia.
'Provisional Government Became a Cork in the Bottle'
"The Provisional Government became a cork in the bottle holding back the revolution,"the historian said."The revolutionary masses in Petrograd [Saint Petersburg] and elsewhere put pressure on their socialist leaders to blow the cork out of the bottle…. It was the Bolsheviks who put themselves at the head of the mass movement & articulated its demands, essentially peace, bread and land."
He pointed out, however, that"the Bolsheviks themselves were not united on all the big issues and most importantly on the seizure of power in October (the Julian calendar)."
"I would propose that the Provisional Government collapsed of its own rot. The insurgent masses led by the Bolsheviks only had to kick it over,"Carley remarked.
Was the October Revolution of 1917 Inevitable?
"It is a question impossible to answer except in this way: popular revolutions come about because political and economic elites over time are too selfish to share wealth and power with the masses,"Carley responded."Like the tsarist autocracy, they treat the masses as a resource to be exploited and rung dry. When evolutionary processes of change fail, revolution is often the result."
According to the academic, it is wrong to think that such revolutions succeed "because of the evil genius and cruelty of a small revolutionary elite"
"They succeed because of mass support and effective, responsive leadership."
The question then arises as to whether it was possible to follow an evolutionary path, rather than go through a revolution.
"A revolution occurred because evolutionary processes of change to benefit the lives of ordinary people had failed,"the professor responded."Serfdom, inequality, exploitation, violence, continued unabated until 1917."
October 1917: 'Driver of Transformations Across the Globe'. Revisiting the October Revolution of 1917.
Addressing the 14th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that"the largely utopian social model and ideology" the Soviets tried to implement initially following the 1917 revolution became "a powerful driver of transformations across the globe, caused a major revaluation of development models, and gave rise to rivalry and competition, the benefits of which were mostly reaped by the West."
The Canadian professor disagrees that the term "utopian" could be used with regards to the "Communist model," for instance.
"Is free, public education for everyone, no matter what their class, nationality or religion, utopian? Is the elimination of illiteracy, utopian? Are women's rights, or universal health care, utopian? Was the desire to create a more equal society, socially, economically and politically, utopian?"Carley asked, adding"in fact, that Soviet society was eventually able to withstand and then to destroy almost single- handedly, the so-called invincible Nazi 'colossus.'"
Still, he believes that the 1917 revolution certainly was"a powerful driver of transformations"around the world since it"inspired successful revolutionary movements in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Cuba."
As Putin noted during his Valdai speech "many Western achievements of the 20th century were an answer to the challenge posed by the Soviet Union," such as"raising living standards, forming a strong middle class, reforming the labour market and the social sphere, promoting education, guaranteeing human rights, including the rights of minorities and women, overcoming racial segregation."
Red October: Allied Intervention and 'Beginning of Cold War'
The October Revolution became the trigger for the Civil War (1917-1922) and prompted the Allied intervention of major foreign powers in Russia.
The Canadian academic pointed out that the October Uprising "produced an immediate violent reaction by the United States, France and Britain, whose elites attempted to overthrow the Soviet government."
"The foreign intervention against Soviet Russia fed a civil war and exacerbated the violence of the counter-revolution by many times over,"Carley said."On its own, the former tsarist elite could never have mounted such violent resistance to the October Revolution."
The professor underscored that after their failure to overthrow the Soviets,"the Western powers spent the next 70 years, with the exception of a truce between 1941-1945, in trying to harm or bring down the USSR and all those revolutions to which it had given birth."
According to the academic, the Cold War started in October (November) 1917.
"Just ask the Chinese, Vietnamese, Cubans, or N. Koreans about the frightful price of resistance to US and Western hegemony,"Carley remarked."Or for that matter, we might ask, if we could, the soldiers, sailors and workers of Soviet Russia, what price they had to pay, to defend their revolution."
(Source - Sputnik)
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Communist leader dispels new Russian budget as "oligarch orientated" October 28th, 2017 Fort Russ News - KtovKurse translated by Inessa Sinchougova
Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, called the draft federal budget for 2018-2020, "a budget of the oligarchy", which will increase stagnation and poverty.
On Friday October 27th, the State Duma considered the first reading of the draft budget for 2018 for the planning period 2019-2020. According to the draft of the Ministry of Finance, the budget deficit in 2018 will be 1.3 trillion rubles or 1.37% of GDP, in 2019 it will be 867 billion rubles or 0.84% of GDP, and in 2020 - 960 billion rubles or 0.87% of GDP.
Such a budget Zyuganov considers "a budget for the oligarchy, where further stagnation and deepening of poverty in the country will occur."
In his opinion, the draft budget does not meet the current challenges and can only aggravate the split in Russian civil society.
The Communist Party leader stressed that incomes and expenditures are constantly declining. Zyuganov noted that "in plain language" this means that the "share of the national pie" created by the working people is constantly shrinking in the budget.
Zyuganov's main issue with the budget was the reduction in government expenses for 14 out of 13 articles listed within. He explained that for eight of these articles, expenses are simply cut, and for four other articles, a small increase is offset by inflation, and as a result, real costs are below the ones prophesized.
According to Zyuganov, the current budget policy "creeps of the old Gaidar-Chubais reforms. It does not smell of modernization, nor a breakthrough for the future."
"I do not know why the president has not reacted to this helplessness, to this impotence of the financial and economic blockade on behalf of the government," Zyuganov said.
President Vladimir Putin does not oversee forthcoming bills until they pass all the stages of parliamentary negotiation - that is until his signature is required. It remains to be said that a majority of Russia's parliament and governmental organs, are liberal representatives, both economically and culturally, whereby it is only the President that stops certain bills being passed.
Without looking at the document in detail (which is not yet available to the public) it makes sense to assume that the Communist Party leader has every right to become concerned at this early stage.
Zyuganov's Communist Party enjoys the second most popular rating in the Russian political sphere, after United Russia (Vladimir Putin.)
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And a Record Number of Russians Want Socialism Back !!!
First published in Komsomolskaya Pravda Translated by Kristina Kharlova
The number of those nostalgic for the Soviet Union, is now growing steadily.
According to the findings of sociologists, 56% of respondents now express regret for the collapse of the Soviet state.
A majority of Russians regret the collapse of the Soviet Union, and do not mind if it's restored — conclude the sociologists of "Levada-centre".
2016 sees a record number of respondents nostalgic for the Soviet Union, in the whole history of public opinion surveys.
At the same time, the percentage of those who don't long for the Union, decreases over time: if, in November of last year it was 37%, today only 28% do not feel any pity.
58% of Russians would like a socialist system and the Soviet Union to be restored, and 31% say they don't want the Soviet Union back.
Over half of respondents, 51%, believe that it was still possible to save the country in 1991 while 33% of Russians say the collapse was 'inevitable'.
Experts, meanwhile, note that those most nostalgic for the Soviet Union don't yearn so much for the Soviet ideology, as for the stability, justice, confidence in the future, secure jobs, free education, medical care and housing.
Serbia:Mass anti-NATO demonstrations silenced Nothing has been the same since NATO brutally bombed Yugoslavia 17 years ago. The 5th column, trained by NATO, took over the destroyed country to continue the job that the West had started.
The economy collapsed, the country was ripped apart, and the Army, dismissed.
Year by year, malicious plans brainstormed by NATO, and executed by the government, are pushing all of the Balkans into the deep maw of the West's 'modern' imperialism.
The latest move was the Agreement with NATO about logistics. Parliament has approved, and the President has signed, an agreement which gives NATO soldiers immunity and freedom of movement on the territory of Serbia. The same people who killed thousands of innocent Serb civilians are now given freedom and immunity. NATO personnel rule the roost in Serbia
NATO personnel are exempt from paying taxes, VAT and/or customs duties. The adoption of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), lets NATO soldiers use Serbia's infrastructure, with free transit across the whole territory of Serbia, as well as protection from the law -- being given 'special status' while staying in Serbian territory.
However, although almost two decades have passed since NATO's cruel attack, most Serbs have not forgotten how important freedom is -- which is the main problem for the ruling elite.
In the mainstream media, news about signing the agreement with NATO, was published as small & irrelevant. In a couple of sentences, mainstream journalists wrote about it, as if it was tomorrow's weather forecast, but they couldn't fool people.
Boiling situation hidden by Government
The situation was boiling. A few patriotic parties and war veterans managed to organize a protest -- & expected no more than a thousand people in Belgrade, to show their disagreement with the ruling party's decisions.
On the 20th February, more than 15,000 Serbs, mostly youth, came onto the Belgrade streets to join in with the protesters. Even the police were surprised, quickly trying to reinforce -- fearing nonverbal shows of disagreement.
The mainstream media weren't at all interested in massive protests in the capital city. They just reported, after the protest, that there were only a couple of hundred demonstrators.
Amongst all media, just one, the alternative patriotic website, Srbin info, sent reporters to the vicinity, to cover the whole protest.
It was the only media that had pictures and videos of the massive protests, showing the huge number of protesters.
During the protest, over 2,000 readers per second were following their live streaming of the demonstrations. Each minute, their website was gaining more followers.
Just a couple of minutes after the end of the peaceful protest, huge cyber-attacks began.
The weak website couldn't defend itself from the biggest attacks in its history, & the web- site eventually crashed. Attacks continued for 24 hours, never letting the website repair.
The only possible source of the attacks on the website & freedom of the speech, is the ruling elite. There is no one else who would be able to manage such strong attacks.
The main problem for the alternative, free media in Serbia is that the web providers, most of them belonging to the SBB company, part of the Soros foundation, don't want to reveal who was behind the attacks. However, some opposition forces, also attacked by hackers, discovered that the IP address of the hacker belongs to one of the directors of SBB company.
It is also interesting that 25% of web providers and some mainstream media in Serbia - belong to David Petraeus, former director of the CIA.
Despite their crashed website, Srbin info reporters managed to find way to send the real story & used Facebook to spread the truth. A video showing the masses of people protesting, was viewed by over 1,700,000 Facebook users --- a huge number for Serbia, with its 7 million population.
For 48 hours after the attack, the website was closed.
Thanks to its loyal readers, who appreciate Srbin info's fight for freedom of speech, donations were collected to make a new website, with better protection.
But the problem of having a neutral web provider who will not sabotage the website -- after orders from the Government -- still exists. A much worse problem.... is that the once proud and honorable Serbia, is now under the boots of imperialists.
LEN RE-ELECTED - VICTORY FOR LEFT!
"Serving you, our members, is the greatest privilege of my working life. I'm proud to have stood shoulder- to-shoulder with you in your struggles and proud to have been asked by so many, to continue to fight for you"
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The Corbyn Supporters From Hell - Attila The Stockbroker,15th Oct 2015 at The Blue Boar Hotel, Maldon, Essex, UK
ONE UNION
Two weeks before Brexit, the African Union announced a new single African passport that permits holders to enter any of the 54 AU member states without a visa – an interesting turn in African history which NO-ONE in the West knows or cares about ! What a stunning reflection of how far our mindset and media are, from the 'world community' we say we love.
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ADAM JOHANNES, CO-CONVENOR, PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY
“Most people under 40 have never been a member of a trade union. So unions are irrelevant, right? Wrong. Unions are more relevant than ever before. With in- work poverty, zero hours contracts and precarious employment, trade unions urgently need to make inroads into the private sector where the majority of us work, but a majority are still un-unionised.”
3 recent campaigns show how this might be done -
1. BETTER THAN ZERO
"Better than Zero" is an exciting campaign launched last year by the Scottish TUC to combat employers using zero-hours contracts. It is run by young people for young people to take on the issue of insecure work. Its activists are mostly in their teens or twenties. The campaign calls upon an older generation not to stand by while a generation of young people are forced into insecure work.
It has responded to tip off from employees in workplaces charging staff for training or uniforms, and bars and restaurants where workers tips are taken by the company. It's fought against people routinely expected to work additional late hours at short notice, with little or no thought given to how they'll get home & whether they will be safe.
The campaign uses direct action, stunts and creative protests such as targeting bars and restaurants with 'flash mob choirs', activists and former staff posing as customers, before each stand up in a restaurant to make speeches while other activists leaflet out- side, Halloween funeral marches on exploitative employers, or, memorably, activists clad in chemical-spill clean up garb placing several popular bars & restaurants in 'quarantine', for exploitative work practices. A recent campaign victory saw restaurant chain Las Iguanas end a policy of deducting money from staff tips.
2. SPORTS DIRECT
Unite has waged a dynamic fightback against Sports Direct including pickets of over 30 stores across the UK, occupations, direct action such as the unfurling of a #SportsDirectShame banner by Newcastle United fans at the club owned by Sports Direct boss, Mike Ashley, other banner drops from bridges, shareholder action, and a social media campaign,
Sports Direct is Britain's biggest sportswear company. It made over a billion in profits last year, but the majority of its workers agency staff are on zero hour contracts with no holiday or sick pay, and no guaranteed work from one week to the next. It has been called more 'workhouse' than workplace with intense surveillance and searches of staff, a culture of fear, bullying and intimidation rife.
Unite's campaign had forced the issue of its Victorian working conditions into national media & a company review. Unite demands all staff are re-employed on permanent contracts on a living wage. So far they have won a pay rise for staff and the company is now being investigated by HM Revenue & Customs after the union exposed it for effectively paying under the minimum wage.
3. PIZZA EXPRESS
Unite scored a victory against Pizza Express after exposing and ending the company deducting a proportion of staff's hard earned tips as an 'admin fee', recruiting new members. The campaign involved union activists going into Pizza Express branches to speak to waiting staff, weekly pickets, handing out hundreds of flyers with customers given a ‘scrap the admin fee’ postcard to leave with their cash tips, and finally a 'meal of justice' when protesters went into a restaurant, enjoyed a meal and when the bill came, one person stood up and told customers about the admin fee while others handed out postcards. Customers often respond with spontaneous applause.
We need to think creatively of how to bring politics into the workplace whether collections for refugees in Calais, foodbanks or local homeless, organising delegations from our work to local protests, or even setting up People's Assembly networks with likeminded people we work with.
Cardiff People's Assembly is part of The People's Assembly Against Austerity, a UK anti-cuts network sponsored by eight trade unions. Locally we have worked with Unison defending our city's library service & PCS to organise solidarity with museum workers, we will be supporting Unite Community's day of action against benefit sanctions. With much of our nation's workforce unorganised in their workplace in unions, joining movements like ours can boost people's confidence to stand up to their employers and build workplace organisation.
In the 1980s Thatcher declared war on the unions --- as a prelude to letting the market rip through society --- transforming us into a highly unequal low pay, low skill economy. The assault on the 'social wage' means we now have the highest private rents, highest energy bills, highest rail fares, and most expensive university education in the EU. Now the Trade Union Bill aims to take out a key part of the resistance to extend the cuts, privatisation and outsourcing agenda and shift even more power and wealth from the 99% to the 1%.
Our economy is dominated by low paid jobs. Low pay makes people insecure. A low pay economy and tax avoiding corporations make it hard to invest in public services. Joining a union is one way to fight back.
Profit Is The Only Concern For Railway Privateers 2016 Thursday 29TH DEC
The only way to have a public transport system worthy of the name is to have a fully nationalised railway,says GORDON MARTIN
All things transport have been making the news in Scotland for a number of months and the signs are this isn’t going to change in the dark winter months ahead.
Scotland’s railways have been subjected to an unprecedented level of scrutiny and criticism with opposition politicians, media columnists and some trade union officials calling for Nicola Sturgeon to sack her Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf MSP.
In my view the roots of the public’s dissatisfaction with Scotland’s railways goes back to the Scottish government’s ill-conceived decision to award the ScotRail franchise to a state-owned rail operator.
Unfortunately for passengers and the ScotRail workforce, the state in question was not our own — and the Netherlands now benefits from profits made by its state company, Abellio, out of ScotRail.
A public-sector bid from Scotland was not allowed when the franchise was awarded to Abellio for a 10-year period. With profit the first and only concern of the profiteers at Abellio, a major dispute with Scotland’s biggest rail union RMT was highly predictable.
Abellio’s attack on the role of the guard on our trains brought a summer of discontent as industrial action spread across much of the Scottish rail network.
The Scottish government quickly showed its true colours. The normally very assured and competent First Minister committed a monumental blunder when she disgracefully inferred the strike was only about who pushed a button to open and close train doors.
While the SNP government very often claims to be on the side of working-class communities, it remains very much a political party wedded to capitalism. The First Minister should have taken the trouble to speak to disabled passengers or those travelling on Scotland’s trains who feel vulnerable in any way about how crucial the role of the guard is in making their journey a safer, more relaxing experience.
Thankfully the Scottish government and Abellio ScotRail finally saw sense and a negotiated settlement was reached which was favourable to RMT and which will see safety-trained guards remain in place.
Following on from our successful efforts to Keep The Guard on the Train, RMT has launched a high- profile “Safer Scottish Trains” campaign designed to ensure trains, stations & rail infrastructure in general are properly resourced and managed to ensure the best possible service is delivered.
Everyone, in particular disabled people, should be able to travel on a 21st-century rail network without having to check ahead days in advance to ensure staff will be in place to assist them.
At the same time, Westminster and the European Union have also intervened in a negative way which may have serious repercussions for rail workers and passengers in the years ahead.
Earlier this month Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary in Theresa May’s rotten Tory government, delivered a speech which potentially takes the rail industry back to the complete fragmentation foisted upon the people of Britain by the hapless government of John Major in the 1990s.
Grayling now seeks to reintroduce “competition” into rail infrastructure, maintenance and repairs.
Inevitably this will eventually lead to the complete break-up of Network Rail. The centralised standards implemented by this public-sector organisation will be discarded and profit and loss will become the decisive factor in deciding the standards for maintaining the rail infrastructure. This is a frightening scenario with potentially deadly outcomes and RMT will fight this with everything we have.
The latest plans for railways across the EU, the ultimate bosses’ club, are contained within the Fourth Railway Package which MEPs are voting on. These proposals make it mandatory to put rail passenger services out to competitive tender. With the Scottish government recently beginning to engage with the rail unions and others regarding a public-sector bid for the ScotRail contract, the 4th Railway Package underlines how fragile and fleeting this public-sector bid could ultimately be.
Scotland’s ferry sector also had a fair amount of publicity in the last year or so, with RMT engaged in a high-profile, long-running and ultimately successful campaign to keep CalMac ferries in public ownership.
RMT stands by our assertion that the Clyde and Hebridean ferry service did not have to go out to tender under the Teckal exemption.
Unfortunately, the Scottish government are keen to be seen as good Europeans, despite the negative impact on the Scottish people, and meekly went along with directives from the EU.
The uncertainty for island communities and the stress for the CalMac workforce while their future was unclear, was not high on the government’s agenda.
Unfortunately it looks highly likely that the workforce and the islanders on the Northern Isles are about to be put through the same uncertainty as their counterparts on the west coast.
The government is once again meekly following diktats from Brussels by putting the Northern Isles ferry service out to a competitive tendering process, despite the people of Britain voting to leave the EU, including a sizeable section of the Scottish working class.
RMT has a clear and principled position which is to insist that the Northern Isles contract is brought back into public ownership forthwith.
We demand an immediate end to the exploitation of eastern European seafarers. These workers, employed on a Scottish government contract, are being paid wages at a derisory rate while being denied the protection of a trade union agreement with wages and conditions covered by collective bargaining agreements.
As part of our ongoing Save our Seafarers campaign, we have highlighted this disgraceful fact to the media and the public with our slogan SNP — Ships of Shame.
This is causing the government and, in particular, the Transport Minister a great deal of embarrassment. I make no apologies for this and I sincerely hope the embarrassment will lead to action before too much longer.
It is clear to everyone, with the possible exception of right-wing profiteering zealots, that the only way to have a public transport system worthy of the name is to have a fully nationalised railway, properly resourced, with adequate staffing levels --- together with a publicly owned ferry operator, working exclusively on behalf of ferry users and the Scottish government, & money raised reinvested --- instead of lining the pockets of private shareholders.
Gordon Martin is Scottish regional organiser of the RMT.
(source - Morning Star)
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Tory aid-dumping revelation means the money should be seized and used by Mike Sivier
The worst part of this is, it suggests that people who said the International Aid budget could be used in better ways, were right.
The Times reports that the Tories have been ‘dumping’ billions of pounds in aid into shady World Bank funds, to sit unused indefinitely – in order to "keep up the appearance" of meeting the government’s commitment to donating 0.7% of the UK’s GDP in foreign aid.
According to the Times, at least £9 billion has been transferred like this in the past 5 years. Rather than helping developing countries, the money, which is spread across over 200 different bank accounts, simply sits there – doing nothing except rack up World Bank ‘administration fees’.
UK International Development Secretary Priti Patel’s only qualification for her job appears to be the fact that she had previously wanted to get rid of it and the funding it oversees. This seems to be the standard Tory qualification for any ministerial role that is supposed to help people – Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt infamously wrote a book, before becoming Health Secretary, that called for abolition of the ’60-year-old mistake’ of the NHS.
Clearly, to a Tory, maintaining the appearance of doing something is far more important than actually doing it – especially if it helps you put cash into the bank accounts of your backers and allies and ideally while you get rid of the very thing you’re supposed to be looking after. If you hear Tories say ‘reform’, run for cover – or better yet, get the pitchforks out.
Source: Keeping up appearances: aid-dumping shows Tories care for PR, not people The SKWAWKBOX
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Left Looks To Unite To Protect Its Power Base CHARLEY ALLAN
The Labour right was desperate to see the back of “Red Len,” as the tabloids call him.
But Len won his victory. Now’s the perfect time to join Unite, with full membership costing just £3.50 a week, reduced to 50p for the unemployed.
The AWL and its allies may have won the national committee battle, but they won’t win the OMOV war --- if the movementists get organised.
A new current called Opening Momentum has rallied round the point that anti-OMOVers had denied members their advertised right to “vote in national-level elections.”
And it’s crucial that every member who really believes in the fabled “new kind of politics” turns up to their local branch meetings - if they have them - to halt plans for a parallel party.
This is bigger than Momentum. We need to see much more direct democracy in Labour itself, although there will always be resistance from those who benefit most from the delegate system.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of new Labour members and Momentum’s top priority --- should making sure their voice is heard at next year’s party conference.
The Labour left can’t afford to be crushed again on the conference floor, as happened this year.
While Momentum was dazzling everyone with its World Transformed free festival, right faction Labour First was distributing fliers to let delegates know when and where vital votes were taking place.
Critically, Momentum must:- have slates of candidates ready when local constituency parties select conference delegates in thecoming months.
The new left movement needs to get serious if it wants to win the looming electoral battles within Labour, the trade unions and the grassroots.
Defending, strengthening and expanding this power base at the ballot box, will take back the leadership, and keep the movement fighting fit for the general election.
• Chat to Charley on Twitter: @charleyallan.
(source - Morning Star)
A New Lucas Plan For The Future by David King
The ideas pioneered by the Lucas workers are just as, or more, relevant now than in the 1970s, and there are strong political similarities in the situation.
As in the ’70s, we have an economic crisis caused by unjust economic policies and the failure of successive governments’ industrial strategy.
As usual, this has hit the working class hardest, and anger over this is being channelled into racism against immigrants. Now, the environmental effects of industrial capitalism are far more evident than 40 years ago, already creating wars, militarisation and widespread concern about insecurity.
Finally, introduction of new technologies threatens structural unemployment on a scale considerably greater than the ’70s.
The Tory government’s response to the economic and political crisis, despite continuing to publicly espouse neoliberal principles, looks a lot like a classic Keynesian economic stimulus package.
In the last few months it has made decisions to go ahead with a range of industrial infrastructure megaprojects — Hinkley C, fracking, HS2 and the Heathrow third runway, as well as pressing ahead with spending £200 billion on Trident renewal.
A key element in the case for all these projects is the jobs that they will generate or preserve, although the jobs estimates are bound to be inflated, while the price tag will be massively underestimated.
Compared to the ’70s, far fewer jobs will be created in this way because, due to automation and mechanisation, they are all highly capital rather than labour-intensive.
The Lucas Aerospace workers’ idea of socially useful production suggests a far better way forward.
Even in the early phase of the environmental movement, before most socialists realised the significance of these issues, the Lucas Plan acknowledged that protecting the environment is part of the concept of socially useful production.
With the exception of HS2, all the new projects are environmental anathema, and the damage that project would do to the English countryside and people’s homes and communities, for the sake of saving 30 minutes of executives’ time, makes it emblematic of neoliberalism.
The working-class people who voted for Brexit are demanding jobs and regeneration of their communities, but these industrial vanity projects are not the solution.
Now is the moment to realise the proposals of the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group (Million Climate Jobs Campaign), which is often seen as a successor to the Lucas Plan.
We should be investing in renewable energy, home insulation, public transport etc as part of the international trade union initiative of Just Transition, ie transition to a low-carbon economy with job protection for workers in industries that need to be phased out.
Imagine what could be achieved in regional economic renewal and environmental benefits with the Trident billions.
But exactly how that money should be spent should not be decided by economic planners alone.
One of the great strengths of the Lucas Plan was that it came from the bottom up, from workers, not managers.
Recognising that they could not, by themselves, define what people need, the Lucas workers began to work with various regional communities to develop “popular planning for social need.”
In London, the Greater London Council created technology development networks that involved users, for example disabled people, in technology design.
These traditions of bottom-up local planning have been continued by various citizens’ local planning initiatives, such as Just Space in London, and would be vital to a democratic solution to the crises.
The current economic and environmental crises are symptoms of a deeper crisis in the industrial capitalist mode of production, and they demand a fundamental rethink of how we produce the basic things that people need for a decent life.
One of the less well-remembered, but crucial aspects of the Lucas Plan was the workers’ struggle against the automation and deskilling of their work with computer-controlled machinery, a struggle shared with trade unionists around the world in that period.
As Phil Asquith of the Lucas Combine puts it, “Harold Wilson’s ‘white heat of the technological revolution’ was burning up workers’ jobs.’
The continuation of this trend over the last 40 years is a major source of the jobless recoveries and income polarisation that are creating the “squeezed middle” of angry, Daily Mail- reading, Brexit voters.
Forecasts suggest that digital technology will eliminate half the jobs in the economy over the next 20 years, but its track record shows that it creates far fewer new jobs to replace them.
One response to this that has become popular on the left is the belief that automation will usher in a post- capitalist society, if we can only feed those useless human workers with basic income.
This is a complex argument, but one thing for sure is that this was not the Lucas workers’ philosophy.
Instead of: “Demand Full Automation, Demand Universal Basic Income, Demand the Future,” they would have reminded us that the romance of high-technology leads to what historian of technology David Noble aptly called: “Progress without people.”
The Lucas workers’ slogan would likely have been: “Demand Democratic Control of Technology, Demand Socially Useful Production, Demand Equality and Sustainability.”
They were very clear that the idea of socially useful production is also about how things are produced.
There is no point in socially useful products if they are made in a way that alienates and deskills the workers who produce them.
They went on to design “human-centred technologies,” in which the point was to use and develop workers’ skills, rather than design them out of the production process.
A skills and people-based, more labour-intensive approach is, in the era of Brexit and environmental crisis, a much better way to create a socially just, sustainable economy than old-fashioned, capital- intensive high-tech mega projects. This is the agenda we will be discussing in Birmingham today.
(source - the Morning Star)
Construction Workers Can’t Be Expected To Work Into Their Sixties by Brian Rye (source - The Star)
British governments seem to think one of two things about construction workers: they're either superhuman, or they don’t give a toss about them. That would be the logical conclusion, given the raise in the pension age, to 68.
With the state pension age due to rise to 67 by 2026 and 68 by 2044, our political elites seem to believe that we are breeding a race of human beings with quite exceptional physical capabilities.
While professional sportspeople are pretty much done by their mid-thirties, with their strength, speed and stamina leeching away by the day, the British construction worker - if you believe our politicians - lives in a world that defies conventional science.
Despite the early starts, the exposure to the elements, the heavy lifting, the long hours, the poor diet & susceptibility to minor injury, these lions of the labour force are all going to get their telegram from the king - because the stats say we’re all living longer.
Sadly, if you have a shred of common sense you will immediately know this is not true.
Construction workers are the same as any other human being. Like professional sportspeople, they can feel their physical abilities start to wane from their mid-thirties.
The only difference being: construction workers have to stay in the game. & not only that, given the increase in the pensionable age, the game just went into extra time.
Empathy is a wonderful characteristic for a human being to possess because it creates understanding and caring for others.
So we have to ask ourselves, as our besuited, overweight politicians sit back in their comfy chairs before skipping off to their subsidised three-course meal in the House of Commons - with a glass of wine or two — how much empathy are they feeling with their compatriots in construction?
Can they imagine the freezing mornings, the hours of standing up, the repetitive physical work or the greasy chips for lunch? It would seem not.
Recent research carried out by the TUC, in a report called Postponing the Pension, shows that a significant proportion of the population won’t reach the pensionable age of 68 in any fit state to enjoy their retirement.
The results show that half a million workers within five years of the state pension have had to leave work for medical reasons, and that nearly half of 60 to 64-year-olds stopped working before their official retirement age.
This is why Ucatt is currently trying to get the Labour Party to support policies that would mean a future Labour government would introduce a flexible pension age for physically demanding professions.
Construction work is hugely physically demanding because it involves prolonged standing, highly repetitive work, heavy lifting, working with the hands lifted to shoulder height or higher, and working with the back twisted or bent forward. It can lead to musculoskeletal disorder, cardiovascular disease and long-term sickness absence.
These work conditions and their effects need to be factored into the calculation of a pensionable age. It is only fair.
At 60, most politicians are on a few company boards, are picking up consultancies, maybe writing a book and reaping the benefits of a lifetime’s work.
The current presidential candidates in the US are 68 (Hillary Clinton) and 70 (Donald Trump) - beneficiaries of a lifetime of comfort, good food, little or no physical exertion and excellent healthcare on demand.
These individuals see no reason to retire - they’re feeling fine. Construction workers often aren’t feeling fine.
We all know that one in four people in Britain will now live to 100 — but what about the other three? At what age will they be checking out? And what jobs are they doing?
According to figures from the government’s own Office for National Statistics, doctors and accountants are outliving builders and cleaners, by as much as eight years.
Men in professional occupations can expect to live to 80, almost eight years longer than those in unskilled jobs, whose life expectancy is 72.7. So people are not all the same - shock, horror! Comparing the accountant to the construction worker is comparing apples with oranges - and yet our governments conveniently ignore this.
Our ageing population and the fears surrounding the viability of the state pension in the future has caused the political class to legislate in a heavy- handed, insensitive and unsophisticated way.
The phrase “we’ve all got to work longer” is bandied about by those sitting comfortably behind a desk. For those leading a more active life, this phrase is just a plain, old-fashioned threat.
To quote ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn: “Living longer doesn’t mean we are able to work longer in physically demanding jobs like that of the firefighter, police officer or paramedic. And it’s not just in the emergency services. Construction workers, care workers and prison officers cannot be expected to work into their sixties. We need a flexible pension age that allows people to work for as long as they want to.”
Ucatt’s campaign plainly states “68 is too late.” It’s a campaign that needs to be fought to a victory - for the sake of thousands of British workers. We need to present our case, find broad support and build empathy within the country. And we have to find acceptance that it may cost us all a little bit more while we’re of working age.
Otherwise we will all be using another well- known phrase: “flogging a dead horse.”
We’ll leave the last words to Mr Corbyn: “If we want dignity for all in old age, then it has to be paid for.”
Brian Rye is acting general secretary of Ucatt.
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Britain’s workers feel stressed and insecure (originally in the Morning Star) by Carolyn Jones
The UK's 31 million workers are among the most insecure, stressed and unhappiest in Europe.
No wonder! According to the latest report by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER), the evidence is damning.
On average, UK workers work more hours per week, more days per year, more years before retirement -- after which, they receive lower levels of pension -- than most of their European counterparts.
In comparison to other European workers they generally receive less education and training, and (because of lack of employer investment) their productivity is lower.
They get fewer paid holidays than almost all European comparators and their pay is so low that a great proportion of them are in poverty --- with the state subsidising employers’ low wages.
And it doesn’t end there. The UK has a high proportion of its workforce in so-called “self- employment,” agency work, temporary work, and/or on zero-hours contracts.
It has more part-time workers who want full- time jobs, than other European countries.
UK workers have less entitlement to redundancy pay, sick pay, and maternity pay, than most European workers.
Workers’ rights to remedies for unfair dismissal and discrimination are set low and have been made practically unenforceable by the imposition of high access fees.
In the UK, unlike most European countries, there is no ministry of labour, no labour inspectorate and a negligible complement of health and safety inspectors.
All this in the fifth richest nation in the world. It is obscene. So what’s to be done?
An excellent starting point is the establishment of Jeremy Corbyn’s Workplace 2020 initiative. Launched in May 2016, the aim of the project is to start a national conversation on what work should be like in 2020.
Under the chairmanship of Ian Lavery, shadow trade union minister, the Labour Party wants to hear the good, the bad and the ugly stories about working life in Britain.
On a recently launched website people can submit their comments, complaints and suggestions on a range of workplace issues.
So whether it’s job security, pay and pensions, training and apprenticeships, diversity and equality, trade unions or health and safety that raises your passion, there’s scope to feed into the policy agenda.
Once again the Labour leadership team is turning out to the country for ideas rather than assuming it knows best in the corridors of power.
Labour is already committed to raising the minimum wage, banning zero-hours contracts, ensuring workers are given access to justice, and giving temporary workers the same rights as permanent staff. But it recognises that more needs to be done -- not just to secure fairness at work but to rebuild the UK's economy and industry.
So, at the request of Jeremy Corbyn and Ian Lavery, the IER drafted a contribution to the review, using 15 of its academic and legal experts. At the heart of our proposals is the need to ensure the voice of the UK’s 31 million workers is heard & respected -- in government (via a ministry of labour), in the economy (via a national economic forum) and in industry (via sectoral employment commissions).
The manifesto offers 25 major policy recommendations for consideration.
It proposes changing the way in which working conditions are regulated. It moves responsibility for workplace regulation from legislation to collective bargaining.
It calls for the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016, the removal of tribunal fees and the introduction of fundamental & enforceable rights for workers, enforceable in a labour court with the assistance of labour inspectors.
The Thatcher concept of individual rights for individual workers has to go. It does little for workers, it’s costly to enforce and it fails to deliver fairness at work.
IER’s manifesto offers a system based on the collective voice of workers, negotiating collectively agreed standards & delivering collectively enforced fairness at work.
A new framework of labour law should be built on the following 10 points:
A ministry of labour
A national economic forum
Sectoral employment commissions
Sectoral collective agreements and wages councils’ orders
Workplace bargaining
A strengthened framework of statutory employment rights
Labour courts and labour inspectors
Employment tribunals
Stronger support for freedom of association and collective rights
The right to strike
Carolyn Jones is director of the Institue of Employment Rights
A manifesto for labour law: Towards a comprehensive revision of workers’ rights --- is available from IER. Go to www.ier.org.uk for more information.
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Why Labour is putting energy reform at the heart of its green agenda Jeremy Corbyn
No issue better connects the environment to people’s lives than energy. To deliver clean, affordable electricity,we need to change our undemocratic system of supply.
We are on course for a climate catastrophe. 2016 is set to be the hottest year on record. Unless the Paris agreement’s target of limiting the rise in temperatures by 1.5C is met, heatwaves like that in 2003, which killed tens of thousands of people in Europe, will become the norm. And that's before considering rising sea levels and desertification, that will sink cities, and kill and displace millions, or the fact that the Earth has already lost half its wildlife, in the past 40 years.
The task for politicians is to propose real solutions to the single most important issue facing humanity. Too often, the environment is considered a matter for scientists, enthusiasts & activists. To increase public understanding and energise the political debate, we need more than facts – we need a programme that resonates with people’s every- day experiences, offering not just warnings, but opportunities and improvement.
No issue better connects the environment to people’s lives than energy. In Britain today, 7 million households struggle to pay their bills because of spiralling costs, while the big six energy companies have seen their profits rise by more than tenfold since 2007. The energy market is not just expensive, inefficient and polluting – it is, above all, undemocratic.
In order to deliver clean, affordable heating and electricity we need to change the whole system of energy supply. When energy is driven by the needs of people, it will be greener – because saving the planet is in the interests of everyone.
That is why I am today announcing a bold new set of policies which will pioneer a democratic, community- led system of energy supply. Over the course of the next parliament, we will use public investment and legislation to promote the creation of over 200 local energy companies, giving towns, cities & localities the powers they need to drive a clean, locally accountable energy system with public, not-for-profit companies.
At the heart of this policy will be a new generation of community energy co-operatives. We will create 1,000 of these co-operatives with the support of a network of regional development banks, and legislate to give them the right to sell energy directly to the communities they serve.
At the same time as building a new publicly run, locally accountable energy system, we will invest in the high quality homes & insulation needed to make Britain environmentally sustainable. We will create a National Home Insulation programme to insulate at least 4m homes to energy efficiency standard B or C. In the private rented sector, we will set compulsory standards at the same level & end the misery of cold rented accommodation. This would save millions of people money on their bills as well as saving energy that is currently wasted on poorly insulated homes.
In order to have any hope of keeping the rise in temperature to 2C – let alone meeting our Paris agreement target of 1.5C – we need to keep 80% of fossil fuels in the ground. This can and must be done. Scotland is already on course to generate 100% of its electricity by renewables, & Britain has an ample supply of wind & water. In government, I'll commit to generating 65% of Britain’s electricity from these sources by 2030.
All of these measures will create secure, skilled employment for hundreds of thousands of people. As part of our transition to a low-carbon economy, we estimate that we will create 316,000 jobs in wind, solar and wave power. We'll use a £500bn national investment programme, with a National Investment Bank and a network of regional development banks, to ensure that these jobs and opportunities are created in places where they are most needed – in coastal towns and areas with high unemployment.
Too often, environmental catastrophe is explained in the same terms as an asteroid hitting the earth. But the problems and the solutions are political – they are about the prioritisation of profit over the needs of people and, at the heart of it all, a lack of democracy in how decisions are made. By democratising our energy supply, and giving people power over their own destinies, we can rebuild and transform Britain so that no one and no community, is left behind.
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Together --- Stronger!
Change, when it comes, will not come from Westminster. The campaign to save our NHS must become a visible reality on every high street and a priority for Labour members.
The NHS is at breaking point, and as Keep Our NHS Public secretary John Lister says: “by 2020 it will all be over.”
To reverse the damage of four more years of A&E closures, outsourced or pared-down services and reduced access, could verge on the impossible.
MPs who obsess over the need to attract Tory voters may find that the champions who saved a local A&E win more hearts and minds than a lorryload of anti-immigration mugs ever could.
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HELP JOHN DUNN
John Dunn, ex-miner and a Labour Party member for 45 years, was blocked from voting for Corbyn, because he challenged Owen Smith for exploiting the legacy of Orgreave for electoral purposes.
He has been told he is suspended from the Labour Party.
John says: "45 years continuous membership and they couldn't even address me by my name"
It looks like the NEC are creating their very own blacklist.
Labour grew hugely under Corbyn and the ''guess'' is --- most of new members were Corbyn supporters.
A DREAM COME TRUE
Support for Jeremy Corbyn from Tyrone O’Sullivan, a fourth-generation south Wales miner, who led a workers’ buy-out of Tower Colliery, to save it from closure.
"I’ve been close to Jeremy since the miners’ strike. Knowing the man, knowing his abilities and his education, it was a dream come true for me when he became leader. His ideas and values are more necessary, here in south Wales, than probably anywhere else in the country. He wanted victory for Labour, but only under our terms - for a change."
O’Sullivan, a lifelong Labour member, says Jeremy is the only true socialist we have had as leader --- for 20 or 30 years.
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PEOPLE DESERVE RESPECT
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership opponent flaunted his contempt for democracy by backing a second referendum on UK membership of the EU.
And MPs pressured Jeremy Corbyn to resign, by constant smears, media lies and attacks on Labour's membership !!!
No wonder the Unite policy conference has overwhelmingly backed mandatory reselection of MPs - to ensure genuine democratic accountability in the party.
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Unite pushes for reselection of MPs by Conrad Landin
Candidates ‘should reflect members’ views’
Labour's largest affiliate is now behind the push for mandatory reselection of MPs, as Jeremy Corbyn critics have “destabilised” the party, to ditch anti-austerity policies.
Delegates at general union Unite’s conference are resolved to support the approach, in order “to ensure democratic accountability, and the rights of party members to select candidates that reflect their views.”
Currently, sitting MPs are only subject to a “trigger ballot” -- where they automatically become the candidate -- unless a super- majority of branches in the constituency support a new selection.
London and eastern region's delegate, Kevin Parslow: “The current trigger mechanism is difficult, & weighted in favour of the incumbent.
“We put ourselves up as reps and branch officers for election regularly.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for MPs to put themselves up for re-selection. They should be accountable to us, and not to Murdoch’s press: they're there because they have the Labour Party name on the ballot paper.”
Mike Hedges, another London delegate: “Four weeks ago I would have spoken against this motion--- but after the treachery of 172 MPs --- we have no option.”
The union’s leaders are also mandated to “support moves to bring more democracy into policy-making -- by returning powers to the party conference.”
A Unite spokesperson:
“This vote simply reflects the immense frustration that our members feel. They look at the conduct of some within the party, the challenge to the elected leader, and they feel angered.
“They want Labour fighting the Tories, not among themselves.”
KEEP FIGHTING FOR MORE DEMOCRACY!
Momentum and Labour are engaged in a huge consultation to expand democracy in Labour...
WHY NOT PASTE THE LINK BELOW AND JOIN THE DISCUSSION?
http://www.peoplesmomentum.com/democracy-review
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If you haven't done so already, join Labour, join Momentum, and let's rebuild #BuildOurMovement.
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_________________________________
GMB Wins Lidl Recognition by Peter Lazenby Ruling affects hundreds of warehouse staff
The Star - General union GMB has won a landmark legal ruling giving hundreds of warehouse workers at giant cut-price supermarket chain Lidl the right to be represented by the union.
The German-owned chain opposes union recognition and resisted the union’s claim.
But the Central Arbitration Committee, whose decisions are legally binding, supported the GMB case, and gave the union full rights to represent and negotiate on behalf of its 223 members among warehouse workers at Bridgend, south Wales.
GMB now presses ahead with its campaign for recognition at 8 more Lidl warehouses across England and Scotland.
National secretary Justin Bowden says: “Lidl’s attempts at union-busting were quite properly thrown out by the judge --- in a massive victory for rights at work.
“[Wednesday’s] ruling opens the gates to not only improving employees’ pay & terms and conditions at the Bridgend site, but is also a major victory for the GMB’s campaign for a trade union voice at the workplace.
“The suggestion that Lidl’s workers don't need the option of a trade union to stick up for them and fight for their interests is baloney, pure and simple.
“As a result of today’s ruling, employees will get the chance to decide for them- selves, if the company’s own ‘personal personnel hotline’ is any match for an independent union taking their side & defending their interests in the workplace.”
GMB Wales and south-west regional secretary John Phillips adds: “Regrettably, Lidl continues to show both hostility towards GMB & shameful disregard for the wishes of its own workforce, with expensive challenges against fair and objective decisions made by independent third-party organisations.”
Lidl is also resisting attempts by shop workers’ union Usdaw to recruit and represent staff in its supermarkets.
An Usdaw spokesperson said: “Lidl will not even let our representatives into stores, to talk to staff.”
Lidl has 637 stores & 9 regional distribution centres --- employing over 18,000 staff. Its ambitions to expand in Britain, could see it more than double in size --- with plans for 1,500 stores & 2 more distribution centres.
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Tax offices’ own cleaners don’t get minimum wage
Cleaners at 6 government offices on Mersey- side walked out over their employer’s failure to pay them the legal minimum wage.
The staff began the two-day strike, because they have not received that £7.20-an-hour rate the government introduced on April 1.
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Wales: 50,000 days lost due to teacher stress
The number of teachers off sick due to stress in Wales has soared by thousands in just one year, new research shows.
Stress-related illness caused the 51,795 sick days: an increase of 2,568 on 2014, freedom of information figures revealed.
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Unions stood by Corbyn & McDonnell
The entire labour movement could have been concentrating all of our efforts - on bringing down this mean government.
Instead, 172 Labour MPs launched an attempted coup on Corbyn. If it's true that Angela Smith MP described the 10,000 activists, including general secretaries of affiliated trade unions, who were at a recent pro-Corbyn rally, as “dogs,” --- then serious questions need to be asked about the relationship between the PLP and the trade union movement.
Every trade union in Britain has regular elections for shop stewards, branch secretaries, and their general secretary.
It's time those who fund the Labour Party demanded the same level of democracy for sitting MPs.
Anything less than a mandatory reselection of MPs before every parliament is now untenable.
Let’s get this straight: none of these MPs backed Corbyn for leader, most of them abstained in the Welfare Reform Bill, many of them voted for the Iraq war, & to this day, hero-worship Tony Blair.
The 172 Labour MPs aren't just trying to change the Labour leader -- they are plotting to drag the movement back to a Blairite view of politics.
The vote of no confidence wasn't just an attempt to oust Corbyn --- it was a declaration of war on the entire organised left.
The gloves are off and there’s no going back. Everyone will need to decide: which side are you on? I stand with Corbyn and McDonnell.
Dave Smith is co-author, with Phil Chamberlain, of Blacklisted: The Secret War between Big Business and Trade Unionists, (New Internationalist Publications).
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RMT: We Must Fight Assault On Our Rights Union ‘disappointed’ with lack of action from TUC
Unions should move to take “generalised” strike action: with or without a go-ahead from the TUC, RMT activists insisted.
The union was meeting in Cardiff that week --- but you wouldn't know it, if you'd read the Welsh press!
Delegates at the transport union’s annual general meeting in Cardiff expressed disappointment that fiery rhetoric about defeating new anti-strike laws was not followed up with action.
The union unanimously passed a motion expressing concern at the TUC’s “lack of campaigning” on the issue and called for a “high-profile campaign.”
Leeds delegate Trevor Howard said: “Personally, my own view is that the TUC is a waste of space and it needs to be reorganised.”
The Trade Union Act, which received Royal Assent last month, imposes arbitrary thresholds on strike ballots & other curbs on labour movement activity.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It’s fundamentally undemocratic when you put these thresholds in.”
He said unions must respond to the law by ramping up their organising. “Whatever we do, we’ve got to make sure we get our members’ support,” he said.
And he praised Jeremy Corbyn’s Workplace 2020 agenda, which aims to introduce new labour rights.
“What we need to be doing is turning the tables,” he added: “We’ve got to get an alternative to this legislation --- to get us positive rights.”
Cash blasts ‘self-indulgent MPs’ for sabotaging left’s moment
“Self-indulgent” Labour MPs have squandered the left’s best moment to go on the offensive, RMT's general secretary, Mick Cash, stressed.
He used his address to the transport union’s annual general meeting to warn of “massive fights ahead” amid “political and economic turmoil.”
He said the divisions in the Tory Party and shockwaves in the world of capital should have been an opportunity for the left to get its message across. But he said this had been sabotaged by the frontbenchers resigning and calling for Jeremy Corbyn’s head.
He fumed: “What have they done? Self-indulgence. They’ve created division, they created a lack of leadership of progressive forces.
“They’ve created a situation where, if we’re not careful, we’ll have a Tory government ------ and worse, a Tory government supported by Ukip.
“We need to seize the opportunity to put forward an agenda to fight against austerity, against cuts and for workers’ rights. But that won’t happen if our politicians in London are playing the game they’re playing.
“Ordinary working people are sick of the political class and what they’re doing --- and yet they’re doing it again.”
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Putschist MPs ‘Let The Tories Off The Hook’ Unions rally round previous Labour leader
Union reps on Labour’s ruling executive signed a defiant statement to show that Mr Corbyn still has institutional support.
The leader of Labour’s most recent affiliate Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack pointed his hoses at the quitters, saying their action was “co-ordinated to cause maximum damage” to Mr Corbyn.
“It is bizarre that some of the MPs making the loudest criticism of Jeremy Corbyn over the referendum -- completely failed to convince the electorate in their own constituencies,” he said.
“After the referendum, Labour should be setting out policies to defend jobs, public services & wages, as an exit from the EU is negotiated. Instead, some Labour MPs are playing irresponsible & silly games, from their Westminster bubble.”
Unite south-east secretary Jenny Formby, one of the executive members behind the statement in support of Mr Corbyn, said it was “nonsense” to blame him for the result. “Now, more than ever, is a time for loyalty and unity,” she stormed.
Communication Workers’ Union leader Dave Ward fired off a missive, stating Mr Corbyn “has our full support” as leader.
“Jeremy Corbyn is, and remains, the catalyst for change in the Labour Party and the country,” he said. “Those who seek to oust him, represent the politics that forgot ordinary people.”
And food union BFAWU turned up the heat. They said plotters would “only serve to let the Conservative government off the hook for the damage they've heaped upon our communities & the crisis they've caused in pursuit of power.”
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International Health Workers for People Over Profit (IHWPOP) has joined the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign against Israel.
We oppose Israel’s repression of the Palestinians and support a single state in Israel/Palestine with equal rights for all.
WHERE IS MOST UK YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT?
WALES!
(WHERE IN WALES? GUESS !!!)
Youth unemployment rates in some parts of Britain, such as the North East, have reached the highest recorded level ever, recent data gathered by the GMB union shows.
The GMB report says unemployment rates among people aged between 18-25 have hit record levels.
Wales is top of the unemployment list, with almost 23,000 claimants. The GMT reveals that some parts of Wales have a jobless rate of 37%.
Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary:
"In the UK there are nearly 400,000 young workers aged 18-24 claiming jobseeker's allowance. When you add to that number the rest of the young people not in jobs, but seeking work, the real number is more than double that figure.”
The number of young UK job seekers is really almost one million;- which makes this young generation the real victims of the current recession in Britain.
Kenny again: “The Government is in denial that it is deliberately creating unemployment.”
This is while reports say almost 150,000 jobs are under threat across the country.
What Wales needs is AN ECONOMY
ONE THAT WILL LAST
"Regional aid" - artificially importing factories that owe no allegiance to Wales - has failed.
Innovation means NEW ! New thinking.
Stop moaning about the past. Start building an economy NOW, for our youngsters.
Or else!!!
New means old, if you want to build a genuine economy. From the ground up, means exactly that!
Agriculture, producing smart new food and drinks. But based on our strengths.
All the land we need is here, and if we look up, 80 percent of Wales' "valley" land is up in the air, like Penrhys!
And it's almost unused. Imagine! All that land from the Rhondda over to Aberdare and beyond.
I'm sure people with vision can see orchards and new products... new ways of working, etc.
All it requires is a WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE.
ALL TOGETHER NOW FOR PEACE
The UK's TUC is calling on the UK government to end its meddling policies in the Middle East and North Africa. “The “war on terror” is still continuing and has failed, after ten years, to bring the promised peace and stability to either the Middle East or the wider world,” the motion says...
UK FOLLOWING US DOWN THE DRAIN
Last year’s table of 10 top EU economies - assessing income, prices, working culture & public spending, put the UK in last place.
The UK now has the 4th-highest retirement age of any country averaging 63.1 years - and this,thanks to the Tories AND a supine work-force, is set to keep rising higher and higher.
Average net household income after tax, (and remember, this "average" includes the stinking rich) is £37,172 a year, but even after ignoring the ridiculously high "average", this is now much lower than the average amount earned in Ireland, the Netherlands & Denmark, where there are less of the obscenely rich, to distort the figures.
In Wales, we know that the "average" worker earns far less than this: (£15,000 after tax)
Life for most in the UK is set to get even worse - if people don't fight back - as public services are to be cut more, after the next Spending Review ..and will lead to budget cuts of up to 40% in many public service departments.
France and Spain again top the quality of life index, as workers there have more paid holidays, earlier retirement, lower prices, longer life expectancy and, just to rub it in... better weather.
There are no separate figures for Wales.... why?
Could it be that knowing... might lead to discontent or is it because Welsh workers, with their vibrant economy, as they stop mindlessly following London... and build their new economy, are now so well off, that the English might get jealous? Yeah, right!
The lesson is obvious. Strong unions with gutsy membership abound on the continent, while UK residents sink apathetically down & down & down.
As Tony Blair said: we British are "special".
We think life gets better for us if we let the bankers of London exploit the rest of the world, and our non-working workforce sinks into apathy and selfishness...
Makes you proud, doesn't it! Does it?
WORKERS ACROSS EUROPE UNITE & FIGHT TO STOP CUTS PEACE - NOT WAR AND LOOTING !
Workers from across Europe took part in a major demonstration in Brussels --- to demand that austerity measures be dropped in favour of an end to wars & for peaceful reconstruction.
Europeans took to the streets of Brussels to demonstrate against wage & pension cuts and diminishing job opportunities.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), one of the EU's leading unions, says that about 100,000 people from 30 countries took part, and police estimates say 20,000.
“Cutting in a recession's crazy and we must fight it,” AFP quotes the ETUC's general secretary, a prominent UK union leader.
Marches also took place in Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Ireland and France.
The rallies coincided with a general strike in Spain where the government froze pensions and cut the salaries of government workers.
“This is the worst economic crisis in the post- war history of Western Europe,” the eTUC leader adds.
"We call for a rethink and a change - in Spain and in Europe. We are mobilizing, and they will have to listen to us."
The union says European workers could be the main victims of a financial crisis set off by bankers and traders.
Many European governments have imposed reductions in wages, pensions & employment - to deal with the escalating economic issues.
The OECD has released its long awaited Action Plan to curb "base erosion and profit shifting" (BEPS) by large multinational enterprises.
"The OECD Action Plan has the ambition to effectively curb tax evasion by large multinational enterprises – but it is a plan, and it needs effective commitments by governments and effective implementation,” says ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
The Action plan consists of 15 measures to strengthen corporate income tax rules and prevent tax avoidance through manipulating intra-group transfer pricing between subsidiaries, and the use of empty shell companies in low tax jurisdictions.
Tax challenges created by globalised production and service systems, the digital economy and increasing importance of "intangibles" – r & d, and intellectual property – feature prominently in the OECD Action plan.
