alanjjohnstone
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Tunisian trade unions have held protests across the country over worsening economic woes and the arrest of a top union official.
Demonstrators chanted “Tunisia is not for sale!” and “No to removing subsidies!”
Protesters demanded the release of UGTT official Anis Kaabi, who was arrested on January 31 following a strike by toll barrier workers, in what the union has described as “a blow to union work and a violation of union rights”.
Tunisia expelled the head of the European Trade Union Confederation. Saied declared Esther Lynch, who is Irish, persona non grata. Lynch had addressed the crowd in Sfax, delivering a message of “solidarity from 45 million workers around Europe”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/18/tunisia-unions-protest-over-economic-woes-officials-arrest
According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an analysis by the institute in October that examined Russian-language discussions about refugees on Telegram in particular, the narratives differ depending on the target group.
Audiences in Russia are primarily told that people from Ukraine are fleeing from supposed “Nazis” who allegedly rule the country.
In the rest of Europe, on the other hand, they are led to believe that refugees are ungrateful, prone to violence and dangerous.
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-how-propaganda-denigrates-ukrainian-refugees/a-64731408
Iran has denied that it has intentionally enriched uranium to a purity of 84 percent amid ongoing issues with the global nuclear watchdog and disagreements over its 2015 nuclear deal.
US news agency Bloomberg reported on Sunday that inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had found uranium enriched to a purity of 84 percent — just below the 90 percent required for a bomb — and are trying to determine if it was produced intentionally.
Radioactive substances have been transported to Ukraine from an unnamed European country and Kyiv was preparing a large-scale “provocation”, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.
“The aim of the provocation is to accuse Russia’s army of allegedly carrying out indiscriminate strikes on hazardous radioactive facilities in Ukraine, leading to the leakage of radioactive substances and contamination of the area,” it said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/19/russia-again-accuses-ukraine-of-planning-false-flag-attack
In the UK Black people are seven times more likely to die than white people following restraint by police
Anarchists for Ukraine
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/32731
“…Will a victory by Ukraine, with its current state and imperialist alliances, open up the possibility of more freedom and democracy—leading to a greater possibility of an anarchist-socialist revolution? This cannot be said for sure. I do not have a crystal ball. But the defeat of the Ukrainian people by the authoritarian Russian empire of Putin will probably make our goals even harder to reach. In either case, it is the right thing to do to stand on the side of greater freedom…”
TS, What were the Soviet losses at Stalingrad to achieve its victory?
The USSR official figures are 478,741 personnel killed or missing, and 650,878 wounded or sick
Three scenarios
1. Russia launches a new offensive on Kyiv, as well as in the Donbass and the province of Kherson. These attacks fail, however. Russia loses many men and a large chunk of the four provinces annexed. Ukraine retakes Russian strongholds and moves toward Crimea.
This scenario would pave the way to ceasefire and eventually to genuine peace negotiations (that would not be synonymous with Russian victory). For Ukraine, with victory there are no “negotiations”2. A series of military wins for Russia from the end of the winter. The country retakes most of the Kherson province, threatens Kyiv directly from Belarus and marches on toward Odessa.
Such successes would see a clear Russian victory in Ukraine, consolidating the annexations and a pro-Russian government. Ukraine would lack the unity which is necessary to rebuild the country.3. A third outcome for this conflict could see prolonged and protracted war, the inability of either protagonist to gain the upper hand.
This scenario does not preclude intense fighting and limited success on both sides but would fail to change the balance of the conflict.Again, nobody, not even experts, hold a crystal ball.
But whatever the outcome, one prediction we can definitely make, the working people will pay the price of victory or defeat.
French president, Emmanuel Macron listed the four clear defeats Putin has already suffered.
The war he had started was long, not rapid;
not legitimising but neocolonial;
not strategically prescient, but one that has drawn Sweden and Finland into Nato’s orbit;
and not prestige-enhancing, but mistrust-engendering.
A ballot of more than 45,000 junior doctors closes on Monday, with results expected to be announced later in the day.
The BMA has warned the government that if its junior doctors’ ballot succeeds, there will be a 72-hour full walkout next month, with action across all NHS services, including emergency care.
Promising news that China is preparing a peace plan
“China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi, one of the few external politicians able to influence Russia, announced that China would launch its peace initiative on the anniversary of the war, and has already been consulting Germany, Italy and France on its proposals.
He said the peace plan would underscore the need to uphold the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the UN Charter. But at the same time he said the legitimate security interests of Russia needed to be respected.”
The Israeli ‘democracy’ protests side-line Palestinians
More on casualties – solely the Wagner mercenaries
30,000 casualties with about 9,000 KIA
Half of the overall KIA have occurred since mid-December.
I have not seen any reliable figures for POWs for either side
British film-maker Peter Watkins was recently mentioned during one of our Friday nigh Zoom talks.
Our WSM website had previously posted one of his films ‘Punishment Park’
https://www.worldsocialism.org/wsm/2023/02/05/punishment-park-movie/
