alanjjohnstone
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Bijou Drain, My weakness as a moderator is my tolerance and reluctance to take firm action. As they say, the path to Hell is paved with good intentions.
And while I am at it, a reminder of Rule 14
“Rule enforcement is the responsibility of the moderators, not of the contributors. If you believe a post or private message violates a rule, report it to the moderators. Do not take it upon yourself to chastise others for perceived violations of the rules.”I acted because of the concern of others on the forum that their own contributions are not being acknowledged and appreciated by the distraction caused by you and TS.
TS takes exception to many of my own posts, often disparaging the sources as biased. I ignore the attempts to refute them, although I may add some further clarification, happy that an objective observer will come to his or her own decision on the merits or otherwise of its content and understand the motive of them.
As Marxists, we have a class-based analysis, not one that is built on national chauvinism as TM and MS indicated in some of their posts.
I know I will not change TS’s mindset. I no longer even bother to try.
I am reminded of what Wilhelm Reich once said, “The less he understands something, the more firmly he believes in it.”
However, I will not give him or others any satisfaction by blocking from the forum and sacrificing our own proud tradition of permitting criticism of our socialist position.
I will, nevertheless, use my power of suspension of posting rights if I deem it necessary. For how long that may be for, I leave to my own discretion. So be warned
All I request is civility and we all know how to use language to its best effect.
Both Bijou and Scotsman have paid no heed to my warning to desist from their personal exchanges.
I have deleted their last two posts. And will continue to do so if the rancour does not cease.
I have no wish to suspend either but will do so if required.
I did recommend those who wished to understand our position in the Serb-Kosovo war read what we said at the time.
“…NATO claims to be waging war to save the Albanian-speaking population of Kosovo. If this really were their aim then their war would have to be pronounced a failure. The Albanian-speakers of Kosovo are manifestly worse off than they would be had there been no war. Burned out by the one side and bombed by the other, in the biggest displacement of population since the end of the last world war, the majority of them are now languishing in miserable refugee camps in Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. But NATO’s aim never was humanitarian…What is going on is a turf war with the Serbian ruling class fighting to defend their already considerably reduced territory and NATO trying to grab Kosovo from them. It is for these sordid aims that the Albanian-speakers of Kosovo have been driven from their homes and that the workers of Serbia are being bombed and deprived of basic amenities such as water and electricity.”
“…Just thought a thread on this was called for. In several things Party members, like the general population, need to avail themselves of new discoveries, including in history, and to revise their Victorian and 20th century prejudices in certain things: attitudes and beliefs now disproven…”
I find pre-Marx socialistic ideas a fascination, not just the Diggers but the religious heretics such as the Ranters
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-ranters-religious-libertines.html
Or the earlier Taborites
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/05/sunday-sermon-taborites.html
I’m not saying it is identical but there are parallels between Serbia and Kosovo
Albanian speakers sought self-determination (read Donbas) and to break away from Serbia (read Ukraine). A civil war arose and to defend the Kosovans, NATO (read Russia) attacked Serbia.
Who did Russia support? The secessionists? Of course not. They supported Serbia’s right to impose its sovereignty.
Who did the SPGB support? Read our archives for that era.
A reminder of all the events in the Ukrainian Civil War 2014-2022
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Donbas_(2014%E2%80%932022)
Once again Media Lens reveals the manipulation of the media
A war 30 years in the making
One reason Putin is speaking the same language as the Golden Billion conspiracists is similar to Lenin who to protect the nascent Bolshevik state resorted to his imperialism theory, and the British Empire created super-profits from the colonies to ‘bribe’ what was called the aristocracy of labour into acquiescence to turn them into a privileged section of the world proletariat. Sound familiar?
In this war, Putin is using the golden billion conspiracy to call for support from undeveloped and developing nations against what he is hoping to be perceived as a common enemy. Whether Putin believes in it is neither here nor there. It is a propaganda tool he has adopted, just as right-wing Republicans (and leaders like Hungary’s Orban and Modi in India) have repeated the Great Replacement conspiracy to gather support.
A politician chooses his words very carefully as does Putin.
This video is a summary of the Golden Billion theory
“…A clear indication the Kremlin is preparing for a protracted war is the draft budget for 2023-2025. This shows that spending on the Russian army this year will amount to almost 5 trillion rubles ($86.2 billion), not the 3.5 trillion originally planned. In subsequent years spending will also exceed forecasts. At the same time, the Kremlin is increasing expenditures on the police, apparently fearing opposition protests. According to our calculations, Russia will spend at least 7.7 trillion rubles (about $110 billion) on the war in Ukraine and the reconstruction of the annexed territories in 2022-2025…”
https://faridaily.substack.com/p/putin-always-chooses-escalation
Following up on the golden billion conspiracy theory Tass, the Russian official news agency, refers to Putin commenting upon it as if it is a real goal for certain nations.
https://tass.com/politics/1482505
Has Russia its own version of QAnon, I seriously wonder.
Bijou Drain – Moderate your tone otherwise the next post I deem to be objectionable will result in its removal and your suspension.
The same goes for all others.
There will be no more warnings.
7. You are free to express your views candidly and forcefully provided you remain civil. Do not use the forums to send abuse, threats, personal insults or attacks, or purposely inflammatory remarks (trolling). Do not respond to such messages.
Ukraine’s economy will shrink at a rate eight times that of Russia this year as a result of the war triggered by Moscow’s invasion in February, the World Bank has estimated.
In its latest report on Europe and central Asia, the Washington-based institution said the Ukrainian economy would contract by 35% in 2022, compared with a 4.5% fall in Russian GDP.
Earlier estimates had suggested Russia faced a bigger economic hit this year, but the World Bank said the impact of sanctions had so far been less severe than forecast.
The cost of repairing the damage inflicted by the war would be enormous. It put the cost at a minimum of $349bn (£303bn) – more than one-and-a-half times the country’s prewar gross domestic product.
Ukraine was already Europe’s poorest country even before the war began in February this year, but more than seven months of conflict meant a third of its population of 44 million had been displaced and 60% were living below the national poverty line.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the biggest human displacement crises and exacted a heavy toll on human and economic life,” said Anna Bjerde, World Bank vice-president for the Europe and Central Asia region. “Ukraine continues to need enormous financial support as the war needlessly rages on as well as for recovery and reconstruction projects that could be quickly initiated.”
