The wheels are falling off the system

 

Under intense pressure from the Trump administration, at its June 25 meeting NATO agreed to massively boost “defence” (I.e., military) spending. Along with the turn to war, an intense Russophobia has gripped the European political elite. To justify its existence NATO needs enemies and Russia fits the bill. Fear and loathing of Russia is both cause and consequence of the NATO countries’ plans to dramatically increase military budgets. The failure of the West’s proxy war in Ukraine has stoked anti-Russia sentiment to unprecedented levels.

The Ukraine war & Trump

1. The Ukraine war was actively and persistently prepared by the West. The work began years before Ukraine became independent in 1991 following the breakup of the USSR, dating from the point where it became possible for Western NGOs to operate on Soviet territory under perestroika. As key US operative Victoria Nuland notoriously boasted in 2013, the sums spent were of the order of $5 billion.

This process took a huge step forward with the Maidan events in 2014 and the coming to power of anti-Russian chauvinist and far right forces (many ideologically inspired by World War II Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera), determined to crush the ethnic Russian population and “Ukrainise” the whole country. They began a civil war against the Donbass.

Syria: The fall of the regime, the future of the country & Turkey’s war on the Kurds

 

[Educational given to the Melbourne branch of Socialist Alliance, December 17, 2024.]

The extremely rapid and unexpected fall of Syria’s Assad dictatorship is a political earthquake in the Middle East. A regime (father and son) that had endured since 1970 is gone.

There were hardly any battles; the regime’s forces didn’t want to fight and just melted away (deserted, defected). Assad’s long-time backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah — had all been weakened by recent events but in any case they couldn’t support the regime if its own forces had lost all will to fight.

Palestine: Notes on a tumultuous year

 

[Educational given to Melbourne branch of Socialist Alliance, October 1, 2024. Photo above: Gaza ruins.]

The world is not the same since October 7

Since October 7 last year, Palestine has become the number one issue in world politics. And, as Israel’s current war on Lebanon shows, this is likely to be the case for some time to come.

‘Two-state solution’ a fig leaf for Western leaders

At the time of the Fatima Payman affair, Prime Minister Albanese told the ABC on July 1: “Labor supports a Palestinian state existing alongside an Israeli state. We don't support a one-state solution.” 

Calling for a separate Palestinian state serves as a fig leaf for Western politicians to cover their fundamental position of support for Israel. It suggests they support Palestinian rights when they know it is never going to happen. And the West has no intention of ever doing anything to even try to make it happen (like ending all arms deliveries to Israel and imposing strong sanctions).

Notes on the war in Gaza

  

[Educational given to Melbourne branch of Socialist Alliance,April 2,2024. Photo above: Palestine solidarity rally in Amman, Jordan, October 13, 2023.

The struggle in Palestine is now the number one issue of world politics. The armed breakout from Gaza on October 7 by Hamas and its allies has raised numerous questions, mainly because the West and Israel have spread lies about what actually happened and continually try to obscure what the real issues are.