Chisinau's plan to open only two voting centres in Russia
for the parliamentary elections on September 28, is an
offence --- to Moldovans, Russia's Foreign Ministry
spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said today.
The Central Election Commission of Moldova announced
that only two polling stations will be opened in Russia
for the next elections --- both in Moscow --- despite
various estimates, of Moldovan citizens living in
Russia .....at up to half a million.
In the 2024 presidential election, only two polling stations
opened, causing long lines.... and many of those who
wanted to vote, did not have the time to do so.
''For 250 thousand Moldovans in Italy --- the authorities plan to
open 73 electoral centres, while for 350 thousand in Russia
there will only be two centres. This is a spit in the face
of the citizens of Moldova'', Zakharova said, at a
press conference.
The spokesperson pointed out that for each electoral centre
there are five thousand ballots, so in Russia ------ only 10 thousand Moldovan citizens will be able to vote.
''What the regime of the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, does, is
bandit arbitrariness. This turns parliamentary elections abroad
literally into a political circus. There can be no talk of any
justice in this case'', she stressed.
Zakharova also accused the current Moldovan government of
trying to get rid of its competitors, after refusing to register
the opposition bloc Pobeda (Victory!) in the elections.
''In addition, the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova, has requested the Ministry of Justice of this country to cease the activities of four parties, that are part of this political bloc'', the spokesperson added.
She commented - that these actions are a copy of the Romanian
scenario, where, according to Zakharova, alternative forces are
banned or canceled. On July 19, the Moldovan Central Electoral
Commission denied the opposition bloc Pobeda, its registration
- to participate in the parliamentary elections. The spokesman
for that party, deputy Vasili Bolya, described the commission's
decision as politically motivated.
The opposition filed a lawsuit against
the electoral commission's ruling.
Sabotage leaves thousands
without electricity in
German capital
September 10th, 6:59am
(Prensa Latina)
Tens of thousands of homes and companies in Berlin, remain
without electricity supply, after incendiary sabotage against
high voltage towers in the southeast of the city, local
authorities confirmed today.
The distribution company Stromnetz Berlin indicated that some
25 thousand homes were affected, especially in the Treptow-
Köpenick district, and warned that the service could only
be normalized by or after Thursday.
Mayor Kai Wegner condemned the act and stated that human
lives and urban safety were deliberately put at risk, at the
same time, two mobile crisis centres were activated
to assist the population.
The state criminal police are investigating who was responsible
for the attack, the first clues of which point to alleged elements
of a far-left Indymedia platform, according to ARD newspaper.
Analysts consider that the target could have been the Adlershof
technology park, where firms from the military industrial
complex operate, which reveals the vulnerability of
critical infrastructures.
The outage affected schools, daycare centres and nursing homes;
Several patients with mechanical ventilation ----- were rushed to
other hospitals, and a dozen educational centres closed.
Traffic lights, street lighting, loudspeakers, elevators and ticket
machines at the city's main railway station... also failed.
France plans to pass a vote
ofno confidence --- in the
new Prime Minister
September 13th, 2:34pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The party "France Unbowed" intends to submit a vote of no
confidence, to the new Prime Minister, Sebastian Lecornu.
This was announced by the party's coordinator, Manuel
Bompard, on September 13.
"We will not break the comedy with negotiations and put
forward a vote of no confidence," he wrote on his page
in the social network X (ex. Twitter).
According to him, the party intends to do this -
after the parliament returns from its summer
break, later in the Autumn.
The leader of the Unbowed France party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
demanded impeachment of French leader Emmanuel Macron
on September 9. It was noted that the signatories accused
Macron: of "violating the Constitution in several ways" of
"acting as an autocrat" and "threatening the Republic."
Reuters reported on 8 September that French MPs voted against a
vote of confidence in the Baudouin government, after which the
French Armed Forces Minister, Lecornu, was appointed to the position on 9 September.
Later, on September 12th, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman,
Maria Zakharova said that Moscow had no illusions about possible
changes in France's foreign policy due to the country's new prime
minister. She added that the Elysee Palace is pursuing an openly
Russophobic policy. This is the fourth change of government in
France ..in the past two years.
Still no mention of the fact that Nepal had a three-decade-long elected Communist Government!
Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Duric said during a meeting with Kirill Logvinov, the Director of the Department of International Organizations at the Russian Foreign Ministry, that it is
important to maintain dialogue and regular contacts with Russia at the highest of high levels.
This was reported on the website of the Serbian Foreign Ministry, on September 11.
"Emphasizing the importance of maintaining the continuity of
dialogue and high-level meetings, Duric noted the recent
meeting between Presidents Vucic and Putin in Beijing,
emphasizing that it was a confirmation of the mutual
readiness to maintain the traditionally close ties
between the two countries," the Foreign
Ministry said.
The Serbian minister expressed his readiness to continue good cooperation with Russia. Duric also thanked Moscow - for its principled position on the status of Kosovo and Metohija.
Earlier, on September 2nd, Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, described his conversation with Putin in Beijing as very honest and important. He also expressed hope for strengthening bilateral relations and stated his principled position --- of not supporting anti-Russian sanctions, despite pressure from the West.
_______________________________
Lukashenko thanked the United States --
for partially lifting sanctions on Belarus
September 11th, 4:15pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed his
gratitude to the United States for initiating the process of lifting the sanctions imposed on the republic.
He announced this on September 11 at a meeting with the
permanent representative of the republic to the United
Nations, Valentin Rybakov, according to the BelTA
news agency.
"The fact that they have started lifting sanctions against us
is a good thing, and it will make it easier for us to work.
This, is also very important. As I warned you, this is
not the main focus of our work. However, it does
exist. It weighs heavily on the economy, and
the economy is the life of the people,"
said the Belarusian leader.
Earlier in the day, the US special representative John Cole
at a meeting with Lukashenko announced the lifting of
sanctions from the Belarusian airline Belavia. Cole
noted, that the decision was made by the US
leader Donald Trump. According to him,
the lifting of sanctions --- is also
accepted by all the relevant
agencies and ministries.
__________________________
National Electro-energy System
now re-established in Cuba
September 11th, 1:38pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Ministry of Energy and Mines of Cuba reported today
that all the country's provinces are connected to the
National Electroenergy System (SEN).
Portfolio specialists specified that so far more than
1,400 megawatts of generation are available.
According to the deputy director of the Electrical Union,
Omar Ramírez --- although the system has already
returned to its condition before disconnection,
“it is not yet possible to meet the country's
total demand”.
Ramírez stressed to national television that - thanks to
the experience accumulated by similar situations --
protocols were consolidated that allow a faster
response to restore service throughout the
national territory.
He explained that to provide more robustness to the system,
it is expected that in the afternoon the Antonio Guiteras
thermo-electric plant will synchronize, joining Mariel
unit 6, already connected to the SEN.
The National Electroenergy System of Cuba suffered a total
collapse the day before, after an unexpected failure from
the Antonio Guiteras plant, the most efficient thermal
block in the Caribbean country.
_________________________________________
Noboa marches in Ecuador and asks
to defend his popular consultation
September 11th, 1:27pm
(Prensa Latina)
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, today led a march
in the city of Guayaquil “for security and peace”, where
he defended the right of citizens to decide - with his
popular consultation scheduled for this year.
A crowd dressed in white accompanied him on a short drive
of a few blocks through the centre of the coastal city until
he got into a van and gave his two-minute speech, in
which he spoke of a “final battle”.
“We must let the people decide, there are questions on which
citizens will be able to speak out and that will be our final
battle”, Noboa said --- in reference to the questions
proposed for a popular consultation and
referendum that the Constitutional
Court must review.
The ruler claimed to be in the mobilization to fulfill a civic
and democratic duty, but he insisted on questioning the
constitutional control body that partially stopped
articles of three laws that he considers key, as
well as four questions that he intended to
include in his popular consultation.
“They want to be on the side of drug traffickers, they want
to be on the side of criminals. We have to raise our voices
and demand at the polls - what the direction of this
country is, without positions or extremism, this
is pure democracy”, stated the president.
Analysts question whether the Executive organizes a
mobilization to demand peace and security, when it
is precisely the Government that is responsible
for guaranteeing that right.
In the last few hours, complaints have emerged indicating
that public servants in the country have been forced to
attend ---- under pressure from their superiors.
At the same time, protests are also expected in Quito and
other cities in the country this afternoon, but against
Noboa's laws and measures, as well as in rejection
of the consultative process, which would cost
around 60 million dollars.
In the capital, Quito, the Unitary Workers' Front (FUT)
and other social organizations, will march for the
“defense of health, public education, decent
work, social security, the environment,
and human rights”.
From 4:00 p.m. (local time) they will gather outside the
headquarters of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social
Security, and walk towards the historic centre,
where fences and military tanks are already
placed around the Carondelet Palace....
the headquarters of the Executive.
_________________________________________
Europe is at risk - of becoming completely
dependent on the US for its gas supplies
by Oleg Artyukov
September 11th, 1:05pm
(Pravda.ru)
In recent years, European energy policy has been
increasingly influenced by geopolitical factors
rather than economic feasibility.
After a sharp decline in Russian gas imports in 2022,
and announced plans to completely phase them out
by 2027, the EU is facing a new dilemma: reducing
dependence on one major supplier --- almost
inevitably leads to increased dependence
on another.
At the same time, the current situation demonstrates
that it is primarily the US --- that has rapidly taken
over the vacated niche in the European market.
According to industry statistics --- in the first half of this year, liquefied natural gas imports to Europe
increased by 25 percent --- compared to the
same period last year, reaching a record
high of 92 billion cubic metres.
More than half of this volume, about 55 percent, came
from the US, and Russia, surprisingly, remained in
second place with 14 percent, despite political
statements about completely abandoning its
energy resources.
This dynamic confirms that the replacement of Russian
pipeline supplies is primarily due to American LNG,
which means that the structure of dependence
is not disappearing, but rather, transforming.
Representatives of the European Commission do not hide
their readiness to strengthen the energy partnership
with the US. At the official level, this is presented
as part of the energy security strategy, but in
reality, a paradox arises: the rejection of an
"unreliable" supplier leads to an increase
in the role of another monopoly.
According to Reuters analysts, if the current trend continues,
the US share in European LNG imports could reach 70%.
Moreover --- if another 16 billion cubic metres of gas
are replaced through the Turkish Stream pipeline,
this figure could exceed 80 percent.
It is important to note that even these figures do not reflect
the full picture, as the total volume of gas consumption in
Europe is also influenced by pipeline supplies from
Norway, Azerbaijan, and North Africa.
According to rough calculations, the share of US gas in
Europe's total imports could be around 23 percent. For
comparison ----- before 2022, Russia accounted for
approximately 40% of the EU's total gas imports.
The EU's strategy raises questions. Firstly, the high
concentration of supplies from a single source
objectively reduces the flexibility of the
energy system. The European market,
which previously balanced between
Russian pipeline supplies.... and
alternative sources, now risks
being exposed to the price
and political volatility
of US' LNG.
Given that the US actively uses energy as a foreign
policy tool, it cannot be ruled out that Europe will
be at a disadvantage when negotiating prices
or the terms of long-term contracts.
Secondly, the economic aspect should be taken into
account. LNG from the US requires more complex
logistics, as it needs to be liquefied, transported
by tankers, and then regasified at European
terminals. This increases the final cost
of fuel for consumers, compared to
pipeline gas.
While Europe was willing to pay significantly above market
prices during the 2022 energy crisis, to diversify its supply,
this could have a negative impact on the competitiveness
of European industries.... in the long term.
Thirdly, the formation of a new dependency goes against
the EU's declared goal of building a sustainable and
autonomous energy system. Theoretically.... the
transition to renewable energy sources should
have reduced the dependence... on external
suppliers, but in practice, Europe remains
highly vulnerable to external shocks.
In the meantime, gas imports, especially LNG,
continue to play a key role in ensuring
energy stability.
Thus, the current EU policy can be seen as an attempt to
solve a short-term problem by creating long-term risks.
If the share of US gas reaches the projected 70-80%
in the LNG segment in the coming years, it will be
the highest degree of supply concentration in
the history of the European energy market.
At first glance, this situation appears to be a guarantee of
security due to its alliance with the US, but --- in reality,
it leaves Europe with very little room for maneuver.
The EU Court has banned Hungary from financing the construction of reactors in Russia for its nuclear power plant
by Oleg Artyukov
September 11th, 10:15am
(Pravda.ru)
The EU Court of Justice, has decided to cancel the European
Commission's approval - that allowed Hungary to finance the
construction of new nuclear reactors at the Paks II nuclear
power plant by the Russian company, Nizhny
Novgorod Engineering.
This move was the result of a years-long dispute over the
legality of the project and its compliance with various
EU regulations.
The court's decision emphasizes that the European Commission
allegedly made a mistake by only verifying whether Hungary's
investment assistance complied with the rules on state aid.
According to the judges, it was also necessary to
thoroughly examine whether the construction
contract itself complied with the EU's rules
on public procurement.
Thus, the key argument was that the contract for the construction
of two new power units was concluded directly with the Russian
side, allegedly bypassing competitive procedures, which could
be considered a violation of the principles of transparency
and equal access for market participants.
As a reminder, back in March 2017, the European Commission
approved Hungary's plan to allocate €12.5 billion in public
aid for the Paks II project.
Of this amount, Russia pledged to provide a ten-billion-euro loan,
while Hungary planned to contribute the remaining 2.5 billion.
The decision was met with protests from Austria, which
opposed the project, arguing that it violated EU rules
on public procurement and undermined the
principles of fair competition.
The Paks-2 project itself - is of strategic importance for Hungary.
Currently, the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, located approximately
100 kilometres from Budapest, provides almost half of the
country's electricity needs. The commissioning of two
new units equipped with VVER-1200 reactors ---- was
intended to double the amount of energy generated
and strengthen Hungary's energy independence.
The country's leadership has repeatedly stated that nuclear
energy is the key to stability in the face of high gas prices
and political tensions in Europe.
The new Paks-2 power units were supposed to be built on a
turnkey basis, with a design life of at least 60 years. The
license --- issued by the Hungarian regulator in August
2022, confirmed that the project meets international
safety standards.
Moreover, for Russia, this project would have been the first
experience of building a nuclear power plant within the
EU, which would have given it both economic and
political significance.
However, the EU court's decision raises questions about the
project's future implementation. On the one hand, Hungary
is highly interested in completing the construction, as the
country's dependence on energy imports, particularly
gas, remains significant.
On the other hand, the EU is seeking to strengthen its control
over infrastructure projects involving Russia, especially in
light of the escalating geopolitical situation and growing
tensions in relations. Therefore, it is important to note
that the court's decision is politically motivated.
The situation surrounding Paks-2 reflects a broader conflict
of interests within the EU. Some member states, such as
Hungary, seek to maintain economic cooperation with
Russia in the energy sector as a pragmatic way to
ensure their own security.
Other countries insist that such projects not only undermine
the rules of competition, but also increase political
dependence on Moscow.
In addition, the precedent of the European Commission's
decision to overturn the decision shows that legal
mechanisms within the EU ------ remain tools for
monitoring and revising major
energy agreements.
____________________________
Oil prices up about 2% -- after Israel's
Doha attack; oversupply caps gains
September 10th, 7:13pm
(PressTV)
Oil prices are up following an Israeli attack on
Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Qatar.
Oil prices rose nearly 2% on Wednesday in response to an
Israeli attack in Qatar, Poland's downing of drones in its
airspace, and a push by the US for new sanctions on
buyers of Russian oil, although concerns about
excess crude supply, capped the gains.
Brent crude futures were up $1.20, or 1.82%, to $67.60 a
barrel at 1:42 p.m. EDT (1742 GMT), and US West Texas
Intermediate crude futures rose $1.10, or 1.9%, to
$63.75 a barrel.
Prices had settled 0.6% higher in the previous trading session
after Israel said it had attacked the leadership of the
Palestinian group Hamas in Doha. Both benchmarks
rose nearly 2% shortly after the attack, but then
retraced much of their gains.
EU mulls faster phase-out of Russian fossil fuels
Geopolitical tensions also rose when Poland shot down drones
over its airspace during a false flag ''Russian attack'' in
western Ukraine on Wednesday, marking the first time
a NATO member had fired shots in the war. However,
there is no immediate threat of oil supply disruption.
“The dark cloud of surplus ahead is ... hanging over the market
with Brent trading two dollars lower than last Tuesday.
Geopolitical risk premiums in oil rarely last long
unless actual supply disruption kicks in,”
SEB analysts said.
US President Donald Trump has urged the EU to impose 100%
tariffs on China and India - major buyers of Russian oil - as a
strategy to pressure Moscow to enter peace talks with
Ukraine, according to sources.
With EU officials in Washington ----- to discuss Russia sanctions,
EU Commission ''chief'' Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday
that the bloc was considering a faster phase-out of Russian
fossil fuels as part of new measures aimed at Moscow.
The 27-member bloc is very unlikely to impose
crippling tariffs on India or China, EU
sources said.
Traders expect the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates
at its September 16-17 meeting, which could boost
economic activity and demand for oil.
But the supply outlook remains bearish.
US crude stocks, gasoline, and distillate inventories rose
last week, the Energy Information Administration said
on Wednesday.
Crude inventories increased by 3.9 million barrels in the week
to September 5, the EIA said, compared with analysts'
expectations in a Reuters poll for a draw of
1 million barrels.
US gasoline stocks rose by 1.5 million barrels, compared with
analysts' estimates for a draw of 200,000 barrels. Distillate
stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by
4.7 million barrels, versus expectations for a rise of
35,000 barrels.
“A very bearish report. The big headline is that crude build ...and
then on top of that we had a big drop in gasoline, so now we are
waiting to see how much gasoline demand will fall off a cliff
after the US summer driving season, and it looks like it will
be substantial,” said John Kilduff, a partner with
Again Capital.
“Given the economic data points lately, showing an indicated
slowdown, especially in the labour market, this weak
gasoline demand and pattern of low exports could
be other indicators of a slowing economy in the
US and potentially globally,” Kilduff added.
The EIA cautioned on Tuesday that global crude prices will be
under significant pressure in the coming months because of
rising inventories as the OPEC+ group, which includes the
members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and its allies, increases output.
(Source: Reuters)
_________________________________________________
The EU does not want to impose new
restrictions on oil and gas imports
from Russia
by Oleg Artyukov
September 10th, 3:10pm
(Pravda.ru)
The EU is preparing to discuss the 19th package of sanctions against Russia, but the key aspects of its content - are becoming increasingly difficult to discuss.
According to The Wall Street Journal, European politicians
are unlikely to impose new restrictions on the purchase
of Russian oil and gas. This is due to the high political
sensitivity of the issue, within the EU.
The energy sector.... has traditionally been the most sensitive
issue for the EU. Despite efforts to diversify supply sources
and actively develop projects for importing liquefied
natural gas, several countries, particularly those
in Central and Eastern Europe, remain
dependent on Russian fuel.
The introduction of additional restrictions - on the purchase of
oil or gas could have serious socio-economic consequences,
including: higher energy prices, reduced competitiveness
of European industries, and increased pressure on
government budgets.
Instead of new measures in the energy sector, another strategy is
being discussed: expanding the sanctions lists to include foreign
companies. This includes enterprises, including those from
China, which...... according to European institutions, are
assisting Russia in circumventing existing restrictions.
This approach reflects a broader trend in Western sanctions
policy, which is gradually shifting from direct restrictions
on trade with Russia - to controlling supply chains
and monitoring the actions of Russia's
international partners.
This course has both political and economic risks. On the one
hand, the EU is demonstrating its intention to limit Moscow's
ability to adapt to sanctions pressure.
On the other hand, increased pressure on Chinese companies
could complicate relations between Brussels and Beijing,
which are already tense due to global competition and
trade disputes.
It is equally significant that Washington is actively involved in
the discussion of the sanctions package. According to EU
officials, US President Donald Trump has ''suggested''
that the EU consider imposing higher tariffs on
goods from China and India.
According to his plan, this should increase indirect pressure
on Russia, as these countries maintain active economic
cooperation with Moscow.
This initiative demonstrates a typical US policy approach:
using sanctions not only to influence Russia, but also to
strengthen its own position in global trade.
However, the reaction of EU ''partners'' to this proposal
remains unclear. For the EU, such measures may seem
too risky, as they could lead to trade conflicts with
major Asian economies.
Europe is already facing difficulties in its relations with China,
which is its key trading partner in several industries, and an
escalation of tariff wars could have a significant impact on
European exports and supply chains.
The situation is also ambiguous... in relation to India: Brussels
is interested in developing a strategic partnership with New
Delhi, and sharp tariff steps are unlikely to be perceived
as a rational policy.
_________________________________________
Lula insists on Bolsonaro's
guilt for coup plot inBrazil
September 10th, 7:15am
(Prensa Latina)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reiterated that
former president Jair Bolsonaro, accused today of an
attempted coup d'état, is not innocent, according
to evidence ----- that directly links him to
documented criminal conspiracies.
At an event in the northern state of Amazonas, Lula criticized
the maneuvers of his son, deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, in
the United States.
He pointed out that the parliamentarian sought support from
the US president, Donald Trump, for Washington to apply
sanctions against Brazil, which he described as a
shameful act, due to the trial his father faces
for being a coup plotter.
«We are living in a delicate moment, in which we see elected
candidates, aware of their mistakes, sending their son to
ask the US Government to punish Brazil”, said Lula,
without directly naming the far-right politician.
So far, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) has two
favorable votes, out of a possible five, to
convict Bolsonaro.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the case, stated that
there is sufficient evidence --- that Bolsonaro headed a criminal
organization to remain in power after losing the 2022 elections.
Member of the first chamber of the STF, Judge Luiz Fux, must
vote this Wednesday and could increase the number of votes
against the former Army captain to three and bring the court
closer to an historic ruling against him.
According to De Moraes, the former head of state intended to
annul the 2022 electoral contests, in which he lost to Lula,
through subversive plans that sought to alter the
constitutional order and ignore the elective
result expressed by the citizen majority.
The Federal Police maintains that Bolsonaro knew about the
plan called Green and Yellow Dagger, which proposed using
explosives and poison against Lula, Vice President Geraldo
Alckmin and De Moraes himself. Documentation reveals a
coordinated assassination attempt.
Another project, called World Cup 2022, consisted of capturing
De Moraes. Both conspiracies would have had the support of
military circles and radical sectors linked to Bolsonaroism
(Bolsonaro followers), who sought to destabilize the
Brazilian democratic system through violent acts.
Lula recalled that it is the first time in history that a former
president faces trial for conspiring against democracy.
He criticized the requests for amnesty made before the process
concluded. Such requests, he said, amount to a confession of
guilt. «It makes no sense to pardon someone who has not
yet been convicted», he stressed.
________________________________________
Syria and Russia relaunch relations
based on mutual respect
September 9th, 11:28am
(Prensa Latina)
The governments of Syria and Russia reaffirmed today
in Damascus, their willingness to consolidate a
bilateral relationship based on sovereignty,
mutual respect and shared interests.
This position was expressed by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad
al-Shaibani and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander
Novak, during a joint press conference.... after the
conclusion of their talks in Damascus.
The Syrian Foreign Minister, considered that relations between
both countries, although historically marked by friendship and
cooperation, have lacked balance at certain times, and he
emphasized the need to build a new stage ---- on fair,
transparent and sovereign bases.
Any foreign presence in Syrian territory, must have the sole and
legitimate objective of helping the people build their future, al-
shaibani expressed when referring to the two Russian bases
deployed in the coastal region of this Levante nation.
Likewise, he highlighted the progress made in sectors such as
energy, agriculture, health and reconstruction, within the
framework of cooperation with Moscow.
The head of Syrian diplomacy stressed that “the more stable
Syria is, the more opportunities for cooperation will open up
for everyone; the weaker it is, the greater the risks of
chaos and terrorism”.
He assured that Russia's support for the country's new
direction represents a benefit not only for Syria, but
for the entire region.
In reference to Israeli aggression against Syrian territory, Al-
Shaibani denounced that it constitutes a direct threat to
regional stability, and he urged the international
community to assume its responsibility, in the
face of such violations of international law.
For his part, Alexander Novak, reaffirmed the Kremlin's
commitment to the sovereignty & territorial integrity
of Syria and expressed his country's intention to
continue deepening bilateral cooperation.
Our relations will be based on mutual respect and we
hope that they continue to grow... for the benefit of
both peoples, he noted.
Novak also highlighted the importance that Moscow
attaches to the upcoming visit of Syrian President
Ahmed Al-Shara, scheduled for October 15, on
the occasion of the Arab-Russian summit.
According to him, this ---- is a key opportunity to
strengthen strategic ties between both nations.
The statements come at a decisive moment for Syria,
which is going through a stage of national
reconstruction ---- after the fall of the
previous government -- and seeks
to redefine its alliances, based
on development, sovereignty
and social justice.
_____________________________
The EU may change its plans
to phase out Russian LNG
by Oleg Artyukov
September 9th, 9:50am
(Pravda.ru)
The EU is facing a dilemma in regulating the
import of liquefied natural gas from Russia.
Initially, the European Commission outlined a plan to gradually
phase out Russian LNG, aiming to reduce energy dependence
on Moscow ....and simultaneously, free up infrastructure
capacity for alternative suppliers.
According to the plan, starting this year, Russian companies
were supposed -- to be banned from using terminals in
European ports that receive and process LNG. This
measure was intended to put pressure on Russian
exports and encourage diversification of supply.
However, the real situation on the European energy market has
changed Brussels' plans. It has become clear that alternative
LNG suppliers are not actively seeking to fill the
available capacity.
The competition for access to European terminals has not been
as intense as expected. For the EU, this means the risk of
facing resource shortages with strict limitations on
Russian participation, which could negatively
impact energy supply stability and price
dynamics within the region.
Against this backdrop --- the position of some member states
has begun to change. In particular, Denmark has proposed
lifting the strict ban... on the use of terminals by Russian
companies. Copenhagen has pointed out that existing
EU laws ......already allow for the control of capacity
distribution and the prevention of monopolization.
Thus, regulators at the national level have the opportunity to
flexibly regulate operators' access to infrastructure without
resorting to radical prohibitive measures.
The situation demonstrates the contradictions in the EU's energy
policy. On the one hand, Brussels is pursuing a strategic goal of
reducing its dependence on Russian energy resources, which
is part of a broader policy ----- of energy security and
sanctions pressure.
On the other hand, the practical side of the issue requires
taking into account market realities: Europe is still the
largest consumer of LNG, and it is not possible to
quickly find a full replacement for the
Russian volumes.
Alternative suppliers, such as Qatar, the US, and Nigeria, have
limited production capacity, and competition for their gas is
not only in Europe but also in Asia, where demand is
consistently high.
Analysts note that abandoning Russian LNG will require
significant investments in infrastructure and the
conclusion of long-term contracts with
new suppliers.
At the same time, European energy policy faces a challenge:
how to combine political goals.. aimed at reducing Russia's
influence, with the need to ensure a stable and affordable
energy supply for the economy and population.
The possible easing of the Danish course can be seen as an
attempt to find a compromise between political ambitions
and economic realities.
If a strict ban leads to higher prices and supply disruptions,
public support for the sanctions policy may decrease.
Therefore, a flexible regulation based on existing
EU regulations seems more pragmatic.
The discussion around Russian LNG has revealed a key problem
in European energy: the balancing act between ideological
and practical interests.
The EU continues to look for ways to diversify, but it must admit
that quickly and completely phasing out Russian energy
resources remains a challenging task --- that requires
time --- and financial resources.
_______________________________________
Nepal’s Prime Minister Steps Down
After Deadly Protests Over
Social Media Ban
September 9th, 7:03am
(teleSUR)
Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli resigned
after mass protests against a social media ban
and corruption left 19 people dead and the
homes of senior leaders - burned.
Khadga Prasad Oli resigns, following unrest that left
19 dead, with protesters targeting political leaders’
homes in Kathmandu.
Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli resigned on
Tuesday after nationwide protests against a social
media ban, and corruption, left 19 people dead.
The resignation came hours after the authorities lifted
restrictions on Facebook, X, YouTube ...and other
platforms ---- but only after demonstrators set
fire to the homes of senior political leaders.
Local media and videos posted online showed protesters
torching residences in and around Kathmandu, including
those of President Ram Chandra Poudel, Nepali
Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, Home
Minister Ramesh Lekhak, and Communist
Party of Nepal (Maoist) leader.. Pushpa
Kamal Dahal. A private school owned
by Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba Rana
- Deuba’s wife, was also attacked.
The authorities declared a curfew in the capital and
other cities, and schools in Kathmandu were closed.
Anger over corruption and deadly crackdown
The protests began in opposition to the social media ban
but quickly turned into broader demonstrations against
political corruption.
“I am here -- to protest about the massive corruption in
our country,” said student Bishnu Thapa Chetri. “The
country has got so bad, that for us youths ---- there
are no grounds for us to stay back in the country.”
Others voiced outrage at the police response. “As long as
this government is in power, people like us will continue
to suffer,” said protester Durganah Dahal. “They killed
so many youths yesterday who had so much to look
forward to, now they can easily kill us all. We will
protest ----- until this government is finished.”
Despite the curfew, demonstrations continued on Tuesday.
Crowds chanted, “Punish the murderers in government.
Stop killing children,” as police used loudspeakers -
urging them to disperse.
Police open fire on crowds
On Monday, tens of thousands surrounded the Parliament
building in Kathmandu in what was called a “Gen Z
protest.” Police opened fire, killing 19 people
and injuring dozens.
“Stop the ban on social media. Stop corruption, not
social media,” demonstrators shouted...... while
waving national flags.
At the National Trauma Centre, Dr. Badri Risa said many
of the wounded “appear to have been shot in the head
and chest.” Families of the injured waited outside,
while volunteers lined up ...to donate blood.
Oli later announced the creation of an investigative committee
to report within 15 days and pledged compensation for the
victims’ families and free medical treatment for
the injured.
Censorship disputefuels unrest
The ban targeted around two dozen platforms that failed
to comply with a new law requiring registration and
government oversight. While TikTok, Viber and a
handful of others registered, Meta, Google and
X did not respond to requests for comment.
Rights groups criticized the proposed legislation as a tool for
censorship, warning it could restrict freedom of expression
and silence government opponents.
Nepal has previously clashed with tech companies. TikTok was
banned in 2023 for allegedly undermining “social harmony”
before the restriction was lifted after executives pledged
compliance with local laws.
______________________________________________
The Indonesian President
Reshuffles Cabinet After
Deadly Protests
September 9th, 6:40am
(teleSUR)
President Prabowo Subianto removed five ministers,
including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati,
following protests over lawmakers’ ''perks''...
that left at least 10 dead.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto dismissed five
ministers.... including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani
Indrawati, in a rapid cabinet reshuffle, following
mass protests that left at least 10 people dead
& exposed deep public anger - over economic
inequality and parliamentary privileges.
The shake-up, announced on Monday, comes after weeks
of demonstrations triggered by revelations that all 580
members of the House of Representatives... were
receiving a monthly housing allowance - of 50
million rupiah (US\$3,075), nearly ten times
the minimum wage in Jakarta ---- and far
higher than rural incomes.
Among those removed was Indrawati, one of Indonesia’s
longest-serving finance ministers, who previously held
senior positions at the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank. She was replaced by Purbaya
Yudhi Sadewa, chairman of the Deposit
Insurance Corporation.
At his first press conference, Sadewa, 61, underlined
his record of providing fiscal advice to the last two
administrations. He pledged to stimulate
economic growth.... through targeted
fiscal measures.. and more efficient
government spending, while ruling
out major structural changes.
Other officials dismissed include Coordinating Minister
for Politics and Security Budi Gunawan, the minister
of cooperatives, the minister of youth and sport,
& the minister for migrant workers protection.
The protests expanded... after the death of Affan Kurniawan,
a 21-year-old motorcycle delivery worker, who was struck
and killed by an armoured police vehicle - while
completing a food delivery order. His death,
resonated widely, in a country where high
youth unemployment - forces many into
low-paying gig work.
The National Commission on Human Rights reported at least
10 deaths during five days of unrest, criticizing what it
called an inhumane security response. Riot police
deployed water cannon and tear gas - against
demonstrators, & on university campuses.
Prabowo -- instructed security forces to act firmly against
protests that displayed what he described as “treason
and terrorism.” Activists, however ---- continued
mobilizations, targeting government offices
and the homes of politicians, including
Indrawati’s residence on August 31.
Calm has since returned after Prabowo suspended most
overseas trips for lawmakers and revoked their perks,
including the housing allowance. Yet.... concerns
persist over the growing role of the military
under the president, a former special
forces general, once banned from
entering the United States.
The reshuffle.... marks Prabowo’s most significant move
since taking office, aiming to stabilize his government
after the deadliest unrest of his presidency.
________________________________________________
The EU is talking about sanctions against
China for buying oil and gas from Russia
by Oleg Artyukov
September 9th, 12:20am
(Pravda.ru)
The EU is discussing the introduction of so-called
secondary sanctions against China and several
other countries that continue to purchase
Russian oil and gas.
According to European politicians and officials, such
a measure could reduce the effectiveness of
circumvention schemes, and increase
pressure on Moscow.
The idea of secondary sanctions means that not only
companies and structures within Russia will be
affected, but also the foreign countries that
cooperate with Russian energy suppliers.
However, it will be extremely difficult for the EU to implement
such a step on its own. In recent years, the EU's sanctions
policy has been closely aligned with the US, and any new
decisions require coordination with Washington.
That's why a delegation of representatives from European
institutions traveled to the US capital on Monday to
discuss the details of a potential 19th package
of restrictions against Russia.
The new measures may affect not only the energy sector, but
also the banking sector in individual Central Asian countries.
The possibility of restricting the activities of financial institutions
that, according to Brussels, help ensure the transit of goods
or money flows in circumvention of existing sanctions,
is being considered.
A coordinated position with the US plays an important role
in shaping this strategy. Washington traditionally takes
a tougher stance on anti-Russian policies and
simultaneously seeks to benefit from the
new conditions in the energy market.
The US side is consistently pushing European countries
to reduce their purchases of Russian energy resources
and replace them with supplies from the United States.
The relevant trade agreements include a requirement to
increase purchases of US hydrocarbons. This means
that the sanctions policy is not only politically and
ideologically motivated, but also has a clear
economic dimension, where each party
pursues its own interests.
From the US perspective, a complete European rejection of
Russian oil and gas would strengthen its position as the
main supplier of energy resources to the global market.
At the same time, it would create new opportunities
for US companies and increase the dependence
of European countries on Washington.
In fact, the EU's energy security will be determined not only
by its internal diversification strategies but also by US
political decisions.
The imposition of secondary sanctions also carries geopolitical
risks. Increased pressure on China or India.... could lead to the
consolidation of these countries around alternative economic
blocs, such as BRICS. Already, Washington and Brussels are
pushing the countries of the global South towards closer
cooperation --- through their harsh policies.
India, China, Brazil, and other BRICS members are beginning to look
for new formats of cooperation, including in the financial sector.
While the idea of creating a single currency within the BRICS
group may have seemed utopian in the past, such initiatives
are gaining new significance -- in the context of increased
Western sanctions.
So far, the focus has been on expanding the role of the New
Development Bank and similar institutions, but the trend
towards strengthening an alternative financial
architecture is clear.
In this regard, it is important to consider that the Western
sanctions policy is not only a tool for exerting pressure
on Russia, but also ------- a factor in the global
transformation of the world economy.
Each new restriction stimulates the search for workarounds,
the development of alternative payment systems, and the
strengthening of cooperation between states that feel
threatened by the collective West.
Thus, instead of isolation, Moscow can receive support
from countries that are interested in reducing their
dependence on the dollar ....and the euro.
___________________________________
BRICS leaders have secretly discussed
countering US tariffs. What is known?
by Lyubov Stepushova
September 8th, 4:10pm
(Pravda.ru)
An emergency BRICS summit was held in Brazil.
The countries are moving -- from talking about
all the good things to a coordinated political
and economic strategy.
The urgency of the BRICS summit is a political challenge
Participating in online communication from the BRICS,
were the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
the Russian, Chinese and South African presidents,
respectively, with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and
Cyril Ramaphosa, and from India — the
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The initiative to convene a summit in order to find a common
position and response to the US tariffs came from Brazil,
not China or Russia --- but was supported by them ---
which is important. The urgency of the moment
is that the tariff on Brazil was imposed for
political reasons, not trade (on US
partners with a trade surplus).
The reason... was the prosecution in Brazil of former President
Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of attempting a coup d'état.
In other words ---- under the guise of fairness in trade,
undesirable politicians (Lula) are being pressured.
This is something.. that sovereign countries can
not afford, as they risk losing their elections.
Putin's speech was held in a closed format for the media.
Xi's three proposals call for the protection
of the global South's interests
Xi made three proposals, according
to the Chinese Foreign Ministry text:
To uphold multilateralism and guarantee international justice
and fairness in order to strengthen the representation and
voice of the global South.
To support the multilateral trading system, with the World
Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, and to counter any
forms of protectionism. To enable the Global South to
participate in international cooperation on an
equal footing.
To maintain the BRICS' unity and cooperation because
"the blacksmith must be strong." "We must use our
strengths, deepen our practical cooperation,
and achieve more fruitful results in the
fields of economics, trade, finance,
science, and technology."
Xi called for taking responsibility and helping
each other. There is a call for decisive steps
in finance, first of all.
BRICS will accelerate the creation of its own financial system
It is Lula who is promoting the idea of a BRICS single currency.
In an interview with Band News --- he stated that "we cannot
continue to depend on the dollar, which is a single country's
currency that has been adopted as a global standard."
Instead, the Brazilian leader has proposed promoting
transactions in local currencies or a BRICS single
currency.... for intra-group trade. At this year's
summit in Brazil, the leaders reported that
up to 90% of intra-block trade ------- has
already been converted to national
currency settlements.
There are two concepts of a single currency. The first
is designed as a basket of currencies with different
weights, with about 40% coming from China and
25% from India.
The second option is a model where 40% comes from gold
and 60% comes from the BRICS currency basket.
In 2019, the BRICS Business Council formed a working group
to explore a "special cryptocurrency that facilitates trade."
In parallel, the BRICS payment system ("BRICS Bridge") is
developing, connecting central banks and thousands of
banks through digital solutions and blockchain.
So far, India has been against progress in finance and has said
that it does not seek to "replace the dollar". However, political
pressure from the United States may change its position. For
example, US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lattnik, has
explicitly demanded that India leave BRICS and switch
to the dollar.
If the BRICS accelerate the transition to their own financial
mechanisms -- it will reset the global banking market and
change the value of capital markets around the world
--- which is death for the United States. It is no
coincidence..... that Trump has promised
draconian 100% import tariffs on all
BRICS countries if they attempt
to replace the dollar.
Brazil and India, which are part of the bloc, have been the most
affected by Trump's additional import tariffs, which are 50%.
China and South Africa have been affected by tariffs of 30%,
while Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi
Arabia have been affected by tariffs of 10%. Among the
10 BRICS partners, Thailand faces tariffs of 36%,
Kazakhstan faces tariffs of 25%, Malaysia faces
tariffs of 24%, Vietnam faces tariffs of 20%,
Nigeria faces tariffs of 14%, and Belarus,
Bolivia, Cuba, Uganda and Uzbekistan
face tariffs of 10%.
No tariffs have been imposed on Russia, as they are replaced
by sanctions, and trade with the United States is negligible
and beneficial for Washington (all Russian imports will
Fear is behind Trump's recent posts. Putin calls it a sense of humour, and many call it trolling, but it's simply a fear of America losing its "exceptionalism."
The US has lost Russia and India, so let them suffer
This is primarily a post where the US president writes about
the loss of Russia and India in favour of "dark China".
"It seems that we have lost India and Russia, which have passed
to the deep, dark and mysterious Chinese empire. May they
have a long and prosperous future together!", - wrote
Donald Trump in his social network.
The text is accompanied by a photo showing Trump walking with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi slightly behind.
The second post was published after the summit with the
"wannabes" in Paris. The first photo shows him and
Putin looking up and in the same direction, and a
second photo was published later, showing
them looking at passing American
military aircraft. These photos
were posted without
any captions.
The statement of fact that the United States "lost" Russia and India
in favour of China, suggests that it considers China to be equal in
power, while Russia and India are "tied" to it, with India playing
a secondary role (the photo was chosen specifically to prick
Modi). Putin looks at American planes - this is also a show
of force - let him be afraid. In all the interviews, Trump
directly says this: "peace - is through strength, we
have won all wars, we have the strongest army,
the smartest people".
Trump's God-given Exceptionalism
There is a sense of exceptionalism, which is not necessarily a bad
thing, as every nation believes that it is exceptional. However, the fear lies in the belief that the US, rather than the "dark"
China, has the right to spread democracy and help countries "become better", by colonizing them.
And the U.S. was successful on this path, creating the dominance of
the petrodollar, destroying the USSR, Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq, Syria,
and many Latin American countries. The exclusivity of the dollar
as the main force seemed unshakable, but recently it was
discovered that Treasuries had to be forced to be
bought, because creditors had stopped
believing in the creditworthiness of
the U.S.
The national debt had reached catastrophic levels, as had the
budget deficit, and something had to be done about it. Trump
was brought to the fore not to change the US exceptionalism
paradigm to another, but to destroy the previous system of
its support and try to retain dominance and expansion by
other means. These are tariffs, the transfer of debt into
cryptocurrency with the subsequent collapse of the
pyramid, and the tactic of intimidation by
military force.
It's not Russia that's lost, but the opportunity to colonize
it.But Russia will not allow this new strategy to be
implemented. It has overcome the sanctions,
and tariffs --- are not a problem, with its
meager trade with the United States,
and, there is no point in trying to
intimidate it with war, as it has
been at war - for three years.
Russia is not "lost" to China, but it has become an independent
centre of the world, making it impossible for the United States,
China, and Europe to colonize it. It remains to be seen whether
the United States will fight for its allies in Asia and Europe, but
Russia will, and Trump knows this. Russia has always fought
and always won, but the United States has only won against
the weak, after buying their elites or armies, or when
everything was already clear, as in 1943 during the
Great Patriotic War.
It is the fear of uncertainty about his own country that is currently
driving Trump. The next step is a war with China (which has
Russia and North Korea as allies), in which America will
no longer be able to stay on the sidelines.
The psychology of the American is based on the Western branch of
Christianity, which has a basic principle: if you are rich, then God
loves you. America is losing its wealth and its "exceptional
status from God," and the elites are aware of this. As a
result, they are constantly reinforcing their positive
worldview by self-hypnotizing themselves with
the message that "we will win and we are
the best."
However, there is a subconscious fear among those
who brought Trump to power -- that the reliance on
"exceptionalism" is rotten and will soon collapse.
_________________________________________
Beginning of trial against Bolsonaro
and allies ----------- shook Brazil
September 6th, 8:17am
(Prensa Latina)
The beginning in the Supreme Federal Court (STF) of the trial
against former president Jair Bolsonaro and 7 other allies,
all accused of attempted coup after the 2022 elections,
stood out in Brazil in the week ending today.
The process, which is expected to last five days of plenary
sessions, simultaneously judges all the accused from the
so-called crucial or main nucleus, and the 5 magistrates
of the first chamber of the STF will decide the
sentence individually.
The lawsuit is expected to conclude on September 12,
if no magistrate requests a review, which will give
more time to analyze the case.
In addition to the former far-right president,
former ministers and senior military
commanders are also in the dock.
Among them are Alexandre Ramagem, former director of
the Brazilian Intelligence Agency and current deputy,
Admiral Almir Garnier, ex commander of the Navy,
and police chief Anderson Torres, the former
Minister of Justice.. and former Secretary
of Public Security of the Federal District.
The list also includes General Augusto Heleno, former head of
the Institutional Security Cabinet, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro
Cid, Bolsonaro's former assistant, General Paulo Sérgio
Nogueira, former Minister of Defense, and General
Walter Braga Netto, former minister of the Civil
House and Defense, and Bolsonaro's elective
running mate in 2022.
Most of them face charges of violent abolition of the
Democratic Rule of Law, an attempted coup d'état,
criminal organization, qualified damage to federal
property and impairment of protected possession.
Only Ramagem, who, as a congressman, will now only face
charges of attempted coup d'état, attempted abolition of
the Democratic Rule of Law, and criminal association.
Litigation for the other two crimes
is expected to resume after his
departure from office.
Tuesday's session was inaugurated by Judge Cristiano Zanin,
president of the first chamber of the STF, who opened the
debate and gave the floor to the speaker, Alexandre de
Moraes, who read the report.
This document summarizes the entire trajectory of the criminal
case, from the initial investigations to the final arguments,
concluded in August.
After the reading, the arguments phase began. The Attorney
General's Office was the first to present and subsequently
the defense lawyers of the accused had up to an hour
each --- to present their oral invocations in plenary.
Bolsonaro did not attend any of the trial sessions
and close sources alleged that his absence is
due to health problems ---- that make his
participation difficult... even remotely.
Added to this is his current judicial situation. Since August 4,
he has been under house arrest, by order of De Moraes, for
failing to comply with precautionary measures.
________________________________________________
Media forum in China: debate on unity
and challenges of the Global South
September 6th, 12:09am
(Prensa Latina)
Over 500 representatives from 110 countries in the Global South
inaugurated here today a forum focused on strengthening
alliances in the face of a scenario marked by
misinformation and false news.
The event also marks the formal launch of the Global South Joint
Communication Partnerships Network, which brings together
more than a thousand media outlets, think tanks and other
institutions of 95 nations and regions.
The Vice President of Information.... at Prensa Latina, Alejandro
Gómez, who participates on behalf of the agency, highlighted
the need to reflect the realities and aspirations of the
nations of the South.
«We trust that this forum will contribute to amplifying these efforts,
reaffirming our collective commitment to a more just and balanced
world, and by denouncing coercive measures such as the United
States blockade against Cuba, which violates international law
and the fundamental right to development», he added.
The Forum of Thinking Media and Tanks of the Global South
becomes a platform to articulate the voices of the South in
an international scenario marked by inequality and the
concentration of power in large media centres.
«From Prensa Latina, our expectation is that this space will allow
us to strengthen cooperation between media and think tanks, so
that we can counteract hegemonic narratives and place the
realities, aspirations and proposals of our people - on the
international agenda», Gómez noted.
The manager also highlighted China's key role in this regard, since
the Asian giant not only promotes mechanisms such as the BRICS,
the Global Governance Initiative or forums similar to this one, but
it also articulates common agendas and gives visibility to
demands from the South in major international events.
The president of Telesur, Patricia Villegas, is also present at
this forum organized by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
In statements to Prensa Latina, Villegas pointed out that this
is the place where the same ethical principles and values
of the daily efforts of our media are embraced.
«We are an actor (Telesur), who with humility and perseverance,
decisively contributes to building global governance through
communication. We are determined and convinced that in
consolidating this effort, hand in hand with China, we
will achieve balance for the world that resists and
that will make its way - in the face of the ethical
collapse of the supremacists», he emphasized.
Villegas insisted on the urgent call to address
these issues and stressed the need for
coordinated actions in this regard.
The 2025 edition of the Global South Thinking Tanks and Media
Forum -- supports the call to promote media development and
cooperation at a time of escalating media war a global scale.
Until tomorrow, participants also discuss the challenges of
current communication marked by the use of artificial
intelligence, technology and innovation.
__________________________________________
China reiterates in Argentina its policy
of peace anduniversal prosperity
September 5th, 2:24pm
(Prensa Latina)
Ambassador Wang Wei ratified here today China's policy of
promoting peace and universal prosperity, as fundamental
pillars for the development of peoples and global security.
Wang was the main speaker at a seminar held this Friday in
Buenos Aires to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the
victory in the War of Resistance of the Chinese people
against Japanese aggression and the anti-fascist
world conflagration, under the pwerful motto:
“Remember history, appreciate peace”.
The head of Mission assured that China has applied a defensive
policy since its founding as a republic; It has never started a
single war, it has not occupied any centimetre of territory
of other countries and has never practiced subsidiary or
proxy wars. That “is the essence that enshrines the
path of peaceful development”, he noted.
He recalled that his country is a permanent member of
the UN Security Council that has sent the most forces
to maintain peace.
The Chinese government, he noted: “presented the global security
initiative that advocates a common, comprehensive, cooperative
and sustainable approach to security”.
That policy “demonstrates China's firm determination to be a force
for world peace, stability and progress, and ensuring the future”,
he summarized.
Its fundamental principles are, he added: “defending sovereign
equality, respecting the international rule of law, practicing
multilateralism, advocating for people-centred approaches
and emphasizing action-oriented outcomes”.
That “provides once again China's wisdom and solutions to
promote a more just and equitable global order, and jointly
build a community with a shared future for humanity”,
Wang emphasized.
Patricio Giusto, head of the Sino-Argentine Observatory of the
New Generations Foundation, one of the organizers of the
event, also participated; former ambassador Diego
Gueler, consultant at that study centre, and the
president of the Open Embassy Foundation
and former ambassador to the US,
Jorge Arguello.
The reflections were closed by Dr. Jorge Malena, director of
the Asian Affairs Committee of the Argentine Council for
International Relations.
Malena explained that the dominant narrative about World War II
has been aimed at privileging the Western perspective,
relegating the role played by China in the Allied
victory ------ to the background.
This omission constitutes – he pointed out - an historical distortion
that not only makes invisible the enormous sacrifices borne by
the Chinese people, but also underestimates the strategic relevance of the Asian front in the outcome of the
global war.
The specialist stressed that “international news shows us
that international peace cannot be taken for granted;
its preservation requires memory, responsibility
and cooperation”.
In a world once again stressed by hegemonies and rivalries –
Malena summarized - “recovering the deep meaning of the
fight against totalitarianism, is an indispensable act to
sustain peace and guarantee that the human costs
of that tragedy --- do not repeat themselves”.
Argüello, for his part, endorsed the One China principle
by making an analogy that Taiwan is to China like the
Falkland Islands are to Argentina, integral parts of
their respective territories.
_____________________________________
Cuba and Timor Leste sign validity of
the Medical Cooperation Agreement
September 5th, 10:57am
(Prensa Latina)
Cuban ambassador Alina Aldama, and the vice minister
for Institutional Strengthening of Timor Leste, José
dos Reis Magno, today, signed the Validity of the
Cooperation Agreement between the countries.
Also present at the signing for the continuity of Cuban medical
collaboration were the head of the Cabinet of the Political
Plane of Cooperation and Development of Timor Leste,
Narciso Fernández and senior officials of the
Timorese Ministry of Health, as well as the
head of the Cuban Medical Brigade,
Sergio Rabell, and the minister-
counselor Pablo Romero.
According to statements from the Timorese embassy, this historic
collaboration «has as its genesis the meeting in 2003, in Kuala
Lumpur between (the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution)
Fidel Castro Ruz and Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, first Timorese
president and currently, the prime minister».
Once again -- the legacy of the Commander in Chief is ratified, as well as the wishes of the people of Timor Leste to maintain healthcare and teaching collaboration in that sector.
This includes.... the training of professionals and
specialists in both capitals under the exchange
of experiences of the Cuban health model, as
an enduring symbol of the friendship
between both nations.
_______________________________________
Education --- a key driver that determines
Vietnam's future, says To Lam
September 5th, 2:21am
(Prensa Latina)
The general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam,
To Lam, affirmed here today that education and training
constitute the main national policy and the key engine
that determines the future of the nation.
“More than ever we must consider investment in education as
an investment in the future, in the sustainable and powerful
development of the country”, he stressed at the opening
ceremony of the 2025-2026 school year, in which the
80th anniversary of Uncle Ho's letter to students
and the creation of the Ministry of Education
were commemorated.
To Lam highlighted that, in the last eight decades, whether
in the midst of war or in peacebuilding, Vietnamese
revolutionary education remained at the forefront
“training human resources, cultivating talents
and contributing decisively, to the victory of
the cause of national liberation, unification
and development”.
However, he said, in addition to the achievements we
are proud of, we also seriously recognize that the
quality of education is still uneven, with large
regional differences.
“Fundamental and integral innovation is not yet synchronized,
and there is confusion... in both perception and action.
University education is... slowly innovating, and the
connection between training, research and the
labour market, is not strong”, he noted.
On the other hand, he added, teaching methods in many places
do not encourage creativity --- or the capacity for self-learning.
Facilities, digital transformation and international integration
remain limited and inadequate, and there was a period when
education did not fully promote its role as a driver
of development.
These are problems that we must overcome with determination,
emphasized the top party leader and noted that Vietnam is
entering a new stage of development, aiming to become
a modern industrialized country by 2030, and a high-
income society developed... by 2045.
“In the context of globalization, the knowledge economy, science
and technology and digital transformation in strong development,
education and training must maintain their leadership position
in national politics, becoming a key driving force for national
development”, he said.
The general secretary of the PCV alluded to some main guidelines
to successfully carry out the cause of educational and training
innovation in the new period and mentioned among these.. to
innovate strongly in thought and action --- and move from
corrective reform to creative thinking.
In addition, he said, we need to guarantee - equal access to
education; improve the intellectual level of the population;
reform general education comprehensively; promote
higher education and vocational training; prioritize
investment in the sector, and build a learning
society ---- and promote it permanently.
“The previous generation achieved victory with blood and bones.
Today, in peace, integration and with aspirations for progress,
the responsibility of this generation is to achieve new
victories, with knowledge, courage and creativity”,
he asserted.
_____________________________________
Government of Brazil -- will defend
sovereignty on independence day
September 5th, 12:20am
(Prensa Latina)
The federal government will make final adjustments
today for the civil-military parade on September 7
for Independence Day, in the capital's Esplanade
of the Ministries with the motto Sovereign Brazil.
The organizers confirmed that President Luiz Inácio Lula
da Silva will participate in the event, which will also be
attended by ministers and officials.
The public will be able to access the stands starting at
06:30 local time on Sunday, and the parade will begin
at 09:00, with the performance of the National Anthem.
Afterwards, the stop will continue with a presentation
by Navy, Army and Air Force troops.
The program includes three thematic areas: Brazil of
Brazilians, the United Nations Climate Conference
(COP30) and New Growth Acceleration Program
(Novo PAC), as well as Brazil of the Future.
In addition, there will be motorized presentations,
horse-drawn vehicles, a human pyramid and the
so-called Smoke Squadron.
The civil component will highlight state policies on
education, the environment and the promotion of
sports, with the participation of military and
non-militarized schools.
According to sources, the event seeks to show the
strength of the Armed Forces and their integration
with society, reinforcing national sovereignty.
The Sovereign Brazil issue becomes relevant at a time
of trade tensions with the United States due to the
50 percent tax increase for national exports.
It also emerges in the midst of the trial against former
President Jair Bolsonaro, in the Supreme Federal
Court, for an attempted coup after the 2022
general elections.
Likewise, this September 7, the Cry of the Excluded returns
to the streets in its 31st edition, with the motto: «Taking
care of the Common Home and Democracy is a
daily struggle».
This issue, which connects with the global context of the
climate and social crisis, reinforces the unwavering
defense of democracy and the importance of
caring for the environment.
The traditional demonstration marks a popular counter-
point to the civil-military parade. This year, dozens of
cities will host events, debates and mobilizations
that seek to give voice --- to the demands and
struggles of workers, and redefine the date.
On September 7, 1822, Don Pedro de Alcântara, son of the
King of Portugal, D. João VI, officially declared the
independence of Brazil, on the banks of the
Ipiranga River, in Sao Paulo.
Thus the 322 years of Portuguese rule ended
and a new era began for the former colony,
now converted into an empire.
Since then, September 7 is one of the nation's most
important holidays, commemorating its beginning
..... as an independent country and people.
_______________________________________
Pezeshkian calls for Iran-China resistance against bullying, and unilateralism
September 3rd, 11:33am
(PressTV)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has underscored the
necessity of standing firm against the intimidation and
pressure from countries seeking to disrupt the
amicable relations between Iran and China,
reaffirming Tehran’s commitment to
implement bilateral agreements.
Pezeshkian concluded his visit to China on Wednesday,
heading back to Tehran after participating in the 25th
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of
State Summit and the SCO Plus meeting.
“We must resist the bullying of those countries that are opposed
to the friendly relations between Iran and China,” Pezeshkian
said in Beijing where he met Huang Hu, a permanent
member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Pezeshkian also emphasized the importance of multilateral
cooperation, characterizing the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) as an effective tool to
counter unilateralism.
He went on to say, that humanity yearns for justice, fairness,
and adherence to the rule of law, adding that the foundation
of global civilization is rooted in the rich history and culture
of nations like Iran and China, and through these
civilizations, nations can coexist with dignity.
Pezeshkian further said Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah
Seyyed Ali Khamenei has mandated the Iranian administration to
prioritize ties with China, expressing hope that a joint working
group would soon accelerate the implementation of
bilateral agreements.
The Chinese official, for his part, expressed appreciation for Iran’s
positive assessment of the recent SCO summit in Tianjin, saying
Beijing is ready to operationalize the understandings reached
between the two sides.
He added that China will continue to support Iran
on matters concerning sovereignty and national
interests, as it has done in the past.
The permanent member of the Chinese Communist Party
also highlighted the commitment of both sides, to
enhance practical cooperation - and he further
emphasized the importance of strengthening
multilateral cooperation, while denouncing
coercive tactics in international relations.
He also pointed out that both nations share perspectives on
global governance and are opposed to hegemony, a policy
which he stated ---- facilitates the expansion of
their cooperation.
During his trip, which began on Sunday, Pezeshkian attended a
large military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary
of the end of World War Two. He delivered speeches at both
the SCO Heads of State Summit and the SCO Plus meeting
held in Tianjin.
In addition to multilateral engagements, Pezeshkian held
bilateral talks with leaders from China, Russia, Turkey,
Tajikistan, Pakistan, and also met with UN Secretary
-General António Guterres.
The Iranian president also met with a group
of Iranian expatriates, during his visit.
____________________________________________
Trump ClaimsPutin, Xi, Kim
Conspiring against US after
China Military Parade
September 3rd, 9:53am
(al Manar)
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Russian President
Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un of conspiring against the US.... after the
three world leaders met in Beijing during a military parade
on China’s Victory Day at the end of World War II.
“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong
Un, as you conspire against The United States of America,”
Trump posted on Truth Social.
“The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of
China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that
The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to
secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader,”
Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory,”
he continued. “I hope that they are rightfully Honoured - and
Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice! May President
Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and
lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest
regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as
you conspire against The United States
of America.”
China held one of its biggest-ever military parades on Wednesday,
with Chinese President Xi Jinping joined by leaders from a host
of countries at odds with the United States and its allies,
in a display of unity.
Topping the guest list were Russian President Vladimir Putin and
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. This was the first time Putin,
Kim and Xi have been seen together in public.
Commenting on Trump’s remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Yuri
Ushakov has rejected any suggestion of a conspiracy
against the US, according to Russian state media,
calling Trump’s words “ironic”.
Tass news agency quoted Ushakov as saying that Putin, Xi and
Kim are “not even thinking about a conspiracy against the
United States” ----- and that the three leaders understand
Washington’s role “in the current international situation”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has flown to China to
attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit,
where he is scheduled to meet with his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin. This was reported by Anadolu.
As noted, at the Esenboga airport, the head of state was
accompanied by officials, including Vice President
Cevdet Yalmaz and the governor of Ankara, Vasap
Sahin. And on September 1, in Chinese Tianjin,
Erdogan will speak at an expanded session
of the summit and hold meetings with the
leaders of other states.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an international
organization founded in 2001 by the leaders of China,
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and
Uzbekistan in Shanghai. The SCO focuses on
combating terrorism, extremism, and drug
trafficking, as well as promoting trade
and economic cooperation.
Currently, the SCO consists of 10 member states,
including the founding countries, as well as
Belarus, India, Iran, and Pakistan.
_________________________________________________
Kallas: The EU - has no money to help Ukraine
by Ivan Sysoev
August 30th, 7:11pm
(Rossiyskaya Gazeta)
According to Kaja Kallas, the head of EU diplomacy - the
EU countries are experiencing a "colossal lack of funds"
to finance Ukraine.
According to Kallas, Brussels is having difficulty planning a
budget for aid to Ukraine for 2026. She said that many EU
countries have been pushing for the use of illegally
frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
"We also need to see a clear political reality: Belgium and a
number of other EU countries do not want to discuss the
immediate confiscation of assets," Kallas said, adding
that this will require a unanimous decision of the EU
member states.
_________________________________________
Hungary has lost €22.5 billion ---- due to
the conflict in Ukraine and EU policies
August 30th, 2:22pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The Hungarian government estimates the economic damage
caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the EU's policies at
more than €22.5 billion. This was announced by Antal
Rogan, the head of the Hungarian Prime Minister's
Office, on August 30, as reported by the
portal Origo.
Rogan also said that each Hungarian family had incurred
expenses of approximately 2.3 million forints (€5,500).
"We have to accept.. that the leadership and attitude of the
United States has also changed: Trump is seeking peace.
But the reason why peace will not be so easy to achieve
....is that the EU is not seeking peace," Rogan said.
The Minister also noted that family support programs, reduced
overhead costs, and the preservation of subsidized utility
tariffs are helping to strengthen the economy while
also supporting the population. He added that
family benefits have quadrupled since 2010,
and the introduced child tax allowance will be fully doubled by 2026.
Rogan also announced plans to protect industry and jobs under
the EU's customs agreements and emphasized the need for
unity among Hungary's society in making decisions about
the country's foreign policy and economic course.
On March 6, Orban said that supporting Ukraine and its army is very
expensive. The Prime Minister also agreed with President Donald
Trump United States that EU countries should allocate a higher
percentage of their GDP to their own defense.
On March 8, Orban also said that Hungary's economy had lost €20
billion in the three years of the conflict in Ukraine. According to
him, this was a major factor in Budapest's refusal to sign an
agreement with 26 EU countries that "effectively calls for
sending more weapons and money to Ukraine."
The British newspaper Financial Times (FT) reported on March 14
that officials in Europe have once again started discussing
whether Hungary can be deprived of its voting rights due
to Budapest's firm stance on Russia, as the country
could block joint EU decisions, including those
aimed against Moscow. According to the
publication, this is the most extreme
measure of depriving a member
state of its voting rights.
____________________________
Bloomberg: The EU Wants to Abandon
the Principle of Unanimity in
Decision-Making
August 30th, 1:23pm
(RT.ru)
A group of EU countries has been studying the possibility of
abandoning the unanimity principle when voting on certain
bloc decisions, using a qualified majority principle instead.
This information was provided by the Bloomberg agency,
citing a document sent to EU members --- before an
informal meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers
in Copenhagen.
It is noted that this document describes legal options,
including the EC's approval of certain areas, that
allow for qualified majority decisions.
Earlier, Politico reported that Hungary may block
the training of Ukrainian military personnel by
European instructors.
_________________________________________
The Strategic 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit:
A Vital Opportunity and Transformational Force in
Rising Multipolarity
August 30th, 9:06am
(teleSUR)
The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin
marks a turning point in global geopolitics, uniting over 20
nations in a bold push for multipolarity, economic
sovereignty, and regional stability.
The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit:
A Defining Moment for Eurasia
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - is poised to host its
most consequential summit to date. As world leaders converge on
Tianjin, China, for the August 31–September 1 gathering, the event
is set to become the largest in the bloc’s history - both in scale
and geopolitical significance. With confirmed attendance from
heads of state representing more than 20 countries and
delegates from over 10 international institutions, the
summit underscores a growing shift in global
power dynamics.
This is not just another diplomatic meeting ------ it is
a strategic recalibration of the international order.
At the centre of the stage will be the Chinese President Xi Jinping,
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, and other key figures from across Eurasia. Their presence
signals a unified front in pursuit of multipolarity, economic
resilience, and collective security, all against a backdrop
of deepening global uncertainty. From Ukraine to the
Middle East, from trade wars to technological
competition, the decisions made in Tianjin
could reverberate far beyond the
conference halls.
The summit arrives at a time ------ when traditional Western-led
institutions are facing unprecedented challenges. Meanwhile,
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has evolved - from a
regional security pact into a powerful multilateral platform
with global ambitions. Representing 43% of the world’s
population and nearly a quarter of global GDP, the SCO
now stands as a counterweight to U.S.-dominated
alliances and financial systems.
Key Point:
The SCO’s expansion - from six founding members in 2001
to include India, Iran, and Belarus - reflects a broader
realignment toward non-Western governance models.
As the world watches, this summit may well mark the moment
when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization transitions from
a regional actor to a central player in shaping the 21st-
century world order.
Geopolitical Context: Why the SCO Matters Now More Than Ever
The rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, cannot be understood in isolation. It is part of a larger trend: the decline of unipolarity, & the emergence of a fragmented multipolar world. In the new landscape regional powers are forging alternative institutions that challenge the post-Cold War dominance of the US and its allies.
Organizations like the SCO, BRICS, and ASEAN, are increasingly
coordinating on trade, finance, and security — often bypassing
Western-controlled mechanisms such as the IMF and SWIFT.
The war in Ukraine, sanctions regimes, and rising
protectionism have accelerated this trend,
pushing countries to seek economic
sovereignty and political autonomy.
China sees the SCO as a cornerstone of its vision for a “community
with a shared future for humanity” - a phrase that encapsulates its
push for a rules-based but non-Western international system.
Russia, under increasing isolation from Europe and North
America, relies on the SCO for diplomatic legitimacy and
economic partnerships. India, though cautious about
aligning too closely with Beijing or Moscow, finds
value in engaging with both through
multilateral forums.
Key Point:
The SCO offers a rare space where rivals like India and Pakistan,
or Iran and Saudi Arabia (via observer status), can engage
without direct confrontation.
This delicate balance is maintained through what Beijing calls the
“Shanghai Spirit”—a set of principles emphasizing mutual respect,
equality, consultation, & non-interference. While internal tensions
persist, the organization’s strength lies in its pragmatic
diplomacy, allowing divergent interests to coexist
under a common framework.
For the Global South, the SCO represents an opportunity to
participate in shaping global governance without being
subject to conditional aid or political pressure from
Western donors. As former UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon noted, “Regional cooperation is no
longer optional—it is essential for peace and
development.” Source: United Nations –
Regional Cooperation Initiatives.
This growing relevance explains why even non-member states are
sending high-level delegations. The SCO is no longer just about
Central Asia; it is becoming a geopolitical fulcrum for Eurasia
and beyond.
Agenda and Strategic Goals: What’s at Stake in Tianjin
While the full agenda remains confidential, several key themes
are expected to dominate discussions at the 2025 Shanghai
Cooperation Organization summit. At the top of the list is the
adoption of 2 landmark documents: the Tianjin Declaration
of the Council of Heads of State and the SCO Development
Strategy for the Next Decade (2025–2035). These will
serve as blueprints for the organization’s
future direction.
1. Economic Integration and De-Dollarization
One of the most anticipated outcomes is progress toward reducing
reliance on the U.S. dollar in intra-SCO trade. China is expected to
push for greater use of national currencies - especially the yuan -
and the potential institutionalization of the SCO Development
Bank, which would provide an alternative to Western-
dominated financial institutions like the World Bank
and IMF.
Key Point:
Over 70% of bilateral trade between China and Russia is already
conducted in local currencies, according to data from the
People’s Bank of China.
Source: PBOC – Cross-Border RMB Settlement Report
Discussions will also focus on strengthening industrial and supply
chain resilience, particularly in critical sectors like energy, food,
and semiconductors. With global supply chains still fragile after
years of pandemic disruptions and geopolitical shocks, SCO
members aim to build a more self-sufficient economic bloc.
2. Technology and Digital Sovereignty
Another major pillar is technological cooperation. Leaders are
expected to launch joint initiatives in artificial intelligence,
cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure. A proposed SCO
Digital Economy Framework could standardize data
policies, promote cross-border e-commerce, and
support innovation hubs across member states.
This aligns with China’s Digital Silk Road initiative --- part of its
broader Belt and Road vision. By integrating digital networks
across Eurasia.... the SCO aims to create a technologically
independent ecosystem that resists external interference.
3. Security and Counterterrorism
Security - remains a core mandate of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization. The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) will
present updated threat assessments ---- and plans for joint
military exercises later this year are likely to be finalized.
These drills are not just symbolic - they reflect real
concerns about instability in Afghanistan, Central
Asia, and the Caucasus.
In addition, the SCO is expected to strengthen intelligence-sharing
protocols and expand coordination on countering transnational
crime, including drug trafficking and cyberattacks. Given the
presence of both Iran and India, discussions on regional
security in the Persian Gulf and South Asia will also
be sensitive but critical.
Lula Champions BRICS Integration ----------- to
Counter U.S. Tariffs and Assert Sovereignty
Who’s In, Who’s Out: The Global Divide on Display
The guest list at the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization
summit reveals much about the shifting tectonics of global
diplomacy. Among those attending, are leaders from
Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and other ASEAN
nations - highlighting the growing synergy
between the SCO and Southeast Asia.
The Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, tho' not a formal member,
has deepened ties with the SCO
through trade & infrastructure
projects, as well as counter-
terrorism cooperation.
Meanwhile, no senior officials from the US, or the EU, will
attend, underscoring the growing East-West divide. This
absence isn't accidental. It reflects a strategic choice
by SCO members - to pursue autonomous foreign
policies - and resist what they see as
coercive unilateralism.
Key Point:
The exclusion of institutions like the IMF and World
Bank signals a deliberate move toward alternative
financial architectures.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Iranian President
Masoud Pezeshkian are confirmed attendees, both representing
nations under Western sanctions. Their participation reinforces
the SCO’s role... as a safe space for sanctioned states to
maintain international engagement.
Even more telling is the symbolic timing: many leaders, including
Putin and Lukashenko, will remain in China for the September 3
military parade in Beijing, commemorating the end of World
War II in Asia. That event - featuring displays of advanced
missile systems and joint drills - will serve as a visual
extension of the summit’s message: Eurasian unity
and strategic independence.
Xi Jinping’s Vision: Multipolarity and the ‘Shanghai Spirit’
For President Xi Jinping, the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation
Organization summit is a pivotal platform to advance
China’s global agenda. As China holds the rotating
presidency of the SCO from 2024 to 2025, Beijing
has used this opportunity to shape the narrative
around cooperation without confrontation,
inclusivity without hegemony.
Xi is expected to deliver a keynote address emphasizing the
“Shanghai Spirit” as a model for 21st-century diplomacy -
one rooted in dialogue, mutual benefit, and respect for
sovereignty. This -- stands in stark contrast to what
Chinese officials often describe as the “zero-sum
mentality” of Western powers.
Key Point:
China’s push for a multipolar world order is not anti-Western
per se, but rather a call for a more balanced distribution of
power and influence.
Beyond rhetoric, concrete proposals are on the table. These include:
Launching a SCO Free Trade Area feasibility study
Expanding the Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI) within SCO corridors
Establishing an SCO Green Development Fund
to support renewable energy projects
These initiatives --- aim to deepen interdependence among
members while reducing vulnerability to external shocks.
They also position China as a provider of public goods -
infrastructure, finance, and stability - in a region long
shaped by colonial and Cold War legacies.
Yet challenges remain. India, despite being a key member,
has expressed reservations about certain BRI projects,
particularly those passing through disputed territories.
Managing such sensitivities will be crucial if the SCO
is to function as a cohesive bloc.
Internal Tensions and the Limits of Unity
Despite the outward show of unity, the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization faces significant internal divisions. These
tensions do not negate its importance but reveal the
complexities of managing a diverse coalition.
Russia-Ukraine War and Divergent Stances
Russia continues to seek SCO support... for its position on
Ukraine. However, India has maintained a neutral stance,
calling for dialogue and peace while increasing energy
imports from Russia. This balancing act allows New
Delhi to maintain relations with both Moscow and
Western capitals.
Similarly, Central Asian members like Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan have avoided taking sides, prioritizing
stability and economic ties.... over
ideological alignment.
India-Pakistan Rivalry
One of the most persistent fault lines is the India-Pakistan conflict. Since both became full members in 2017, their bilateral tensions ------ especially over Kashmir and terrorism - have complicated consensus-building. While the SCO offers a rare forum for indirect dialogue, progress remains limited.
Iran and Regional Security
Iran’s full membership since 2023 adds another layer of complexity. While Tehran seeks SCO backing against U.S. sanctions, its regional activities - including support for proxy groups in the Middle East - create friction ----- with other members,
particularly India and Gulf observers.
Key Point:
The SCO’s strength lies not in eliminating differences,
but in managing them through diplomacy.
Still, the organization has proven resilient. Annual summits, joint
exercises, and working groups help maintain communication
channels even when bilateral relations are strained. As one
Central Asian diplomat noted, “We don’t have to agree on
everything... to cooperate on something.”
Conclusion: The SCO as a Pillar of the New World Order
The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin is
more than a diplomatic gathering - it is a statement of intent. At
a time when the global system is fracturing, the SCO offers a
vision of cooperation based on mutual respect, economic
interdependence, and collective security.
With its expanded membership, ambitious agenda, and symbolic
timing, this summit could mark the moment when the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization emerges as a true alternative to
Western-dominated institutions. It will not replace NATO
or the G7, but it will challenge their monopoly on
global decision-making.
The road ahead is not without obstacles. Internal disagreements,
logistical hurdles, and external pressures will test the
organization’s cohesion. But if the SCO can deliver
tangible results - on trade, security, & sustainable
development - it will prove that multipolarity is
not just a theory, but a reality in motion.
As the world watches Tianjin, one thing is clear: the centre of
gravity in international relations is shifting eastward. And the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization ------- is at the heart of
that transformation.
Final Thought:
In an era defined by fragmentation, the SCO represents one of the
few platforms where East meets West, North meets South, and
rivals sit at the same table - not as adversaries, but as
partners in shaping a new world order.
Author: JMVR
Source: Aljazeera
________________________________________________
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!
Cleaners form a picket line with their UVW comrades
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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With 640,000 members - and a huge 200,00 joining in just 2 weeks- Labour was the largest left-wing party in Europe.
If you haven't done so already, join Labour, join Momentum, and let's rebuild #BuildOurMovement.
join.labour.org.uk
join.peoplesmomentum.com
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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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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.
