alanjjohnstone
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And the answer is in what you replied, alien1…My genuine emotional outburst for the overwhelmingly neglected populations around the world is described as gibberish but your personal friends are more deserving of understanding and support than individuals not known to you, even if it does bring the world to the brink of a nuclear war.
I would be sympathetic if I really thought Putin cared for Donetsk and Luhansk. Once the incorporation of the two republics is accomplished they are claimed as part of Russia and the war now becomes the defence of Mother Russia, a good old patriotic recruitment ploy.
Is it any different in Tigray? Ethiopia and Eritrea combining to devastate another breakaway republic, and starving its peoples into submission. Their suffering is ignored.(Just to add, my attitude to Tigrayan separatism is the same as it is to any nationalism, a tragic mistake.)
Have you “taken the time and made the effort to do what you could do as well if so inclined – to understand what is actually going on by finding reliable and generally very accurate sources.” ?
What is so unique about the Ukrainian war is the question I keep asking myself.
What is so deserving of the Ukrainian refugees who fled the war that they are welcomed and others fleeing to safety are shut out?
What is so deserving of ethnic Russians in the Donbass that they merit special protection from a Great Power but not other populations at risk?
Why are so many resources being spent on the defence of both sides of this war?
I take it you consider yourself a world socialist, Alien1 and that what happens to workers anywhere is the concern of socialists everywhere.
We have a blog that offers news on what is happening across Africa.
How many on this forum actually care enough to read it?
https://socialistbanner.blogspot.com/People are people and we shouldn’t differentiate among them regards ending their misery and pain.
Perhaps the answer to my questions is white privilege. Some people’s skin colour happens to be wrong to create sympathy and solidarity.
As long as you and I have our mobiles and laptops who fucking cares about the price being paid in blood every day, every month, every year in the Congo for the cobalt to power them?
Sometimes, I just lose it at the sanctimonious hypocrisy and righteousness of my fellow workers and I apologise in advance
All but forgotten, its failure no longer news worthy
Two-thirds of countries are yet to meet the target of vaccinating 70 percent of people in all countries against COVID-19 set a year ago.
The death toll from COVID-19 is four times higher in lower-income countries, where less than half (48 percent) of the population have had their full initial round of vaccinations. At the current rate, it will take almost two and a half years for 70 percent of people in the poorest countries to be fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, rich countries are already beginning to roll out booster programmes and in some cases fifth shots, using the new generation vaccines, the majority of which have been ordered by rich nations.Peace in Ukraine Coalition (PIUC)
PIUC condemns the Russian invasion, but at the same time also draws attention to several very provocative actions of the USA which led to this invasion…
PIUC is for further improving/increasing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and calls upon countries to accept and assist more refugees from Ukraine. At the same time it wants weapons and military assistance by the USA and its allies to Ukraine to be checked.
The key demands of PIUC are—
Ceasefire
Diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine
More dollars for climate, jobs, health and housing, not for weapons for endless war
Do not risk nuclear war.
PIUC has opposed all those sanctions which hurt ordinary people of Russia.
It has expressed solidarity with those peace activists of Russia who have opposed its invasion.
Where is the solidarity?
Some Western nations have suggested they will not provide asylum or refuge to people fleeing Russia.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics wrote on Twitter: “Due to security reasons, Latvia will not issue humanitarian or other types of visas to those Russian citizens who avoid mobilisation.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu was quoted by Reuters as saying that a “refusal to fulfil one’s civic duty in Russia or a desire to do so does not constitute sufficient grounds for being granted asylum in another country.”
https://www.dw.com/en/russia-rush-for-flights-out-after-vladimir-putins-military-call-up/a-63197512
Another Big Business Bail-Out according to some
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/21/energy-bailout-benefit-corporate-giants-mps-warn
Protests Persist.
Is it the start of the fall of the Ayatollahs?
Nine people are now reported to have been killed at protests in Iran sparked by the death of a woman detained for allegedly breaking strict hijab rules.
Among those reported killed is a 16-year-old boy, shot dead when security forces opened fire on protesters.
The unrest has spread to more than 20 major cities, including the capital Tehran.
Prepare yourself for the next big jamboree – Coronation Day.
Don’t forget to buy your souvenir mug and tea towel.
Another public holiday day off for many.
Russian police are reported to have arrested hundreds of protesters rallying against the Kremlin’s decision to call up thousands of extra troops to fight in Ukraine.
Russian human rights group OVD-Info put the total at more than 900. The largest number arrested was in Yekaterinburg, a major city east of Moscow.
Dozens were also detained in Irkutsk and other Siberian cities, and Moscow.
Flights out of Russia sold out fast after Vladimir Putin’s announcement.
Russia’s president ordered a partial mobilisation, meaning some 300,000 military reservists – but not conscripts – will be drafted to bolster Russia’s forces who have suffered recent battlefield reverses in Ukraine.
Ever since this topic thread was created we have been faced with the problem of reliable sources and have always acknowledged that when we cite media reporting it should always be with the important caveat that we are subject to misinformation from all sides in this war. That fact was well understood, even if not always included in a post.
We questioned some of the atrocity stories. We questioned the so-called democracy of Ukraine. We understood the war as being part of a vastly bigger picture of Great Power geo-politics. We agreed the best strategy for individual workers was to flee to safety and condemned the forced conscription of them, first by the Ukraine government, now the Russian call-up.
Even those who are pro-peace and anti-war do not always agree on the causes and the pretext for either the Russian invasion or the West’s support for Ukraine.
We are well aware of the crocodile tears being shed for all those countries suffering food price crisis when the military aid given to Ukraine is ten-fold the humanitarian aid to Africa.
2,415 posts started from before the war began, perhaps a record contribution and sometimes the prevailing analysis has been mistaken.
From the very beginning, one voice raised the prospect of nuclear war which was thought alarmist but that threat has not disappeared but has only been reinforced.
We have linked to many articles of our political rivals and accepted that we share much of their no war but class war position with our own nuanced understanding of that slogan.
Our position has never been the liberal Guardian echo-chamber, nor the Daily Mail bellicose one, or the loyal opposition of Starmer’s Labour Party seconding Johnson and now Truss.
Our position on the war has remained consistent. Neither the assault of Russia even if in “self-defence” nor the resistance of Ukraine, equally supposedly in “self-defence” is worth the economic pain much less the blood of our fellow-workers.
The sovereignty of Ukraine or the two breakaway separatist republics can be sacrificed if it means an end to the war. A patch of dirt that has never actually owned by workers living on it has never been justification for dying.
Any type of patriotism and nationalism is always to be objected to. It makes us unpopular but we will live with that and try to explain why every fucking day some war is happening somewhere around this world.
Too often the case is that our people dying unnecessarily in capitalist conflicts are ignored and neglected, other than a token passing mention, hidden away in the inside pages of the Guardian.
I’m uncertain what is happening, hence the question mark.
The similarity with the Rangers-Celtic bigotry is that it appears to have begun with sports rivalry, in this case cricket.
I expect that partisan tit-for-tat reporting may confuse getting an understanding of what is happening.
Middle East Eye which is predominantly a Muslim-leaning website blames Hindutva militants and the Indian High Commission, claiming they are a proxy for the BJP/RSS
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/uk-leicester-riots-civil-war-hindu-nationalism
The truth will trickle through eventually
The Peace Activists
The Peace ProtestersCODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin told the press,
“Further escalation should be unthinkable, but so should a long war of endless crushing artillery barrages and brutal urban and trench warfare that slowly and agonizingly destroys Ukraine, killing hundreds of Ukrainians with each day that passes. The only realistic alternative to this endless slaughter is a return to peace talks to bring the fighting to an end.”Demanding a “Ceasefire now!” activists hosted anti-war events in DC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Madison, Boston, Rockville, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Pedro, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
The Peace in Ukraine Coalition—CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, Democratic Socialists of America, Massachusetts Peace Action, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-US and other organizations—mobilized for negotiations, not escalation in what CODEPINK describes as a proxy war threatening a direct war between the two most heavily armed nuclear nations, the United States and Russia.
Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will call on the United Nations during the General Assembly’s general debate this week to create an international committee to promote dialogue between Biden, Putin and Zelensky with invitations to Pope Francis, the prime minister of India and the U.N. secretary general to act as mediators to end the war in Ukraine.
Women protest the hijab law
