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A way forward for the majority who love and aspire to build a better world
UK’s complicity in Israeli genocidal
war on Gazato shape Thursday's
election
by Yara Mahdi
July 3rd, 1:51pm
(Press TV)
Britons will be casting their votes in the general election
on Thursday, however, this year, a dark cloud weighs
heavy over the ballot boxes, that will serve as a
powerful reflection of - not just the political
trajectory of the nation - but our own
moral compass as voters.
Almost nine months into the genocide in Gaza, 37,765
Palestinians have been martyred, 86,429 wounded
and 1.9 million have been forcibly displaced
whilst we are left to listen.. to leaders of
parties contesting the election debate
topics of ceasefire ....and whether
Israel is ‘really’ committing
war crimes.
Since the events of October 7, London has been a hub
of political activism and protest, where Britons have
mobilized as a united voice --- in support of the
civilians in Gaza enduring the violent
genocidal war.
The digitalization of terror inflicted by the Zionist regime,
with the backing of Western powers, has flooded our
timelines - with the reality of bloodshed and
destruction ------ that has blanketed the
narrow and besieged strip of Gaza.
The constant broadcast of massacres and war crimes on
our screens - has driven us to the streets in thousands,
shaming and condemning the British leaders who are
directly aiding and facilitating the Zionist regime's
genocidal was against Palestinians.
Inflamed with the spirit of Gaza, it is undeniable that this
genocide will play a key role in the July 4 election.
Labour vs. Conservative - two sides of same coin
Throughout the election campaign,....it has been made
abundantly clear that Keir Starmer, the leader of the
Labour Party, and Rishi Sunak, the leader of the
Conservative Party, share the same podium
for their unwavering support for Israel.
Despite... more than 70 percent of British citizens
supporting the implementation of an immediate
ceasefire deal in Gaza --- due to the pressing
humanitarian urgency, Starmer and Sunak
have proved --- to be completely out of
touch with British public opinion.
The UK abstained three times on United Nations
Security Council resolutions that called for a
ceasefire in the besieged and bleeding
Palestinian territory.
Meanwhile, Sunak believes that calling for “humanitarian
pauses” is a sufficient move to achieve, what he refers
to as, “peace, dignity and security” despite Gaza
being completely flattened.
In a similar light, amid the vote that was conducted
in November ----- with the SNP’s emergency motion
instructing the UK government to vote for an
immediate ceasefire ----- the Labour
leadership instructed the party
...to vote against one.
The political coercion fabricated by Starmer, resulted
in shadow ministers quitting their roles to back the
motion from the SNP, including Jess Philips,
Afzal Khan and Yasmin Qureshi.
Gaza fuels election anger against Labour and Tories
Britain’s tightly controlled political system is facing new
challenges from independent candidates ---- especially
in light of the country’s ongoing support for the
genocide in Gaza.
According to the UK parliament website, statistics
compiled by the Campaign Against Arms Trade
(CAAT) underlined that -- since 2008 -- the UK
has licensed arms worth over £574 million
to the Israeli regime.
By approving and sending a huge cache of arms to Israel,
the UK is not only facilitating the genocide against the
Palestinian people, but actively inciting the Zionist
regime ---- to continue committing horrendous
war crimes ---- with impunity.
Following a review of the Israeli military’s presence
in Gaza, UK government ministers concluded in a
statement that: “as required by the UK’s robust
arms export control regime, (sic) the foreign
secretary... has now reviewed the most
recent advice about the situation in
Gaza and Israel’s conduct of their
military campaign.”
It further stated that the assessment covered the period
to 24 April 2024, adding that the “business secretary
has therefore decided our position on export
licenses ...remains unchanged”.
To add to their tone-deaf line of thought, Oliver Dowden,
the deputy prime minister, insisted that Israel was
conducting a “legitimate war of self-defense”.
A poll commissioned by Action for Humanity and
conducted by YouGov found that 56 percent of
UK voters are in favour of banning the export
of arms to the Israeli regime, while only
17 percent are against the ban.
The poll further underlines that an overwhelming
71 percent to 9 percent of those intending to
vote Labour back an arms export ban on
the Tel Aviv regime.
Despite the distinct poll results, Labour has failed
to call for a ban on arms sales to Israel and has
instead, demonstrated its commitment to the
Zionist regime as it wages the most violent
and genocidal war against Palestinians,
in what they regard as, self-defense.
Where does this leave voters?
There is no doubt that the apathetic responses of the two
major parties to the Israeli-orchestrated genocide in
Gaza --- have visibly diminished their support across the UK.
However, it has sparked an evident rise in independent
candidates to stand in this year’s elections, which
augurs well for the country.
Spread across 317 constituencies, 459 independent
candidates will be running in Thursday’s election,
a figure that has more than doubled since 2019.
This surge reflects the public's lack of trust in the
Conservative and Labour leaderships, who
appear set for their lowest combined
vote share ------ since 1945.
Several independent candidates have been mobilized by
pushing for a pro-Palestine campaign and standing as
an alternative to mainstream parties, thus giving
British voters the chance to vote against the
genocide of Palestinians.
After being barred from the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn
is a prominent independent parliamentary candidate
running in Islington North.
His campaign has prompted several leading members
of the Labour Party in his constituency to resign or
announce that they are willing to be expelled
--- in order to campaign for him.
Corbyn has been a staunch voice for the oppressed and
has, consistently, since October 7 navigated the field
of political activism to campaign against the
Zionist onslaught on Gaza.
Corbyn has insisted that he will use his platform in
parliament to expose the arms trade, along with
British military participation - and their use of
RAF Akrotiri.. (the British airbase in Cyprus)
throughout the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
He further stressed the importance of effectuating
a ceasefire - and the immediate recognition of
Palestinian statehood.
Beyond doubt, the British public has grown increasingly
disillusioned with the current political leadership
structure: resulting in the diminishing support
for both Conservative and Labour parties.
This discontent --- triggering the remarkable surge
of independent candidates, in this year's general
election has certainly challenged the traditional
dominant two-party system, thus signaling... a
promising move towards a more diverse and
representative political landscape.
The genocide in Gaza has had a momentous effect
on UK politics, with the upcoming election
introducing a plethora of candidates
.....who are driven to be forces
of justice and serve as a
beacon of hope for
British voters.
Yara Mahdi is a UK-based political analyst.
(The views expressed in this article
do not necessarily reflect those
of Press TV.)
Foreign Ministry of Pridnestrovie:
Moldova rewrote the declaration
on a peaceful settlement
July 1st, 7:17pm
(RT.ru)
The Moldovan Government has rewritten and made
unacceptable the declaration of commitment to
a peaceful settlement with Transdniestria.
This was stated by the Head of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic
Vitaly Ignatiev to the "First Pridnestrovian".
"This is the sad reality in which we
have to work, every day," he said.
Earlier, former Moldovan President, and leader of the
Party of Socialists, Igor Dodon, said that the actions
of President Maia Sandu are leading the country
---- to war.
-_______________________________________________
The population of Moldova
has dropped to the level
of 1953
June 29th, 6:29pm
(RT.ru)
The number of people living in Moldova
has decreased to the level of 1953 ----
2.7 million people.
The data was announced by Vyacheslav Ionita --- an
expert on economic policy at the Viitorul Institute
for Development and Social Initiatives, RIA
Novosti reports.
The expert recalled that, in 1991, 4.3 million
people lived on the territory of the republic.
"We have increased the migration of young people...
The largest group in the country is people over
60 years old," Ionita said.
Earlier, the EU began negotiations
with Moldova --- on membership.
Shor supports Moldova's joining
the Eurasian Economic Union
March 16th, 8:36pm
(RT.ru)
Opposition Moldovan politician Ilan Shor
spoke in favour of Moldova's accession
to the EEU.
"At the upcoming referendum, I will call for
voting against joining the EU and for
joining the EAEU," RIA Novosti
quoted him as saying.
Shor noted that when Moldova joins the EAEU,
it receives preferences in the supply of
agricultural products.
Earlier, Ilan Shor noted that, in his opinion,
the movement in the EU is a movement
against, while the movement in the
EAEU is a movement for.
He stressed that the only salvation
for Moldova --- is to join the EAEU.
Gagauz authorities are working on
purchasing gas directly
from Gazprom
April 10th, 4:32am
(RT.ru)
The Gagauz authorities are working to buy gas
directly from Gazprom, said the head of the
region, Yevgenia Gutsul.
"We are currently working on directly purchasing gas from
Gazprom without the various offshore companies that the
Chisinau authorities are currently buying gas from and
from which we now get five to six times more
expensive to the consumer," she told
RIA Novosti.
Earlier, the head of the autonomous region reported on
the discussion with the Russian leadership of direct
gas supplies to Gagauzia... at reduced prices.
____________________________________________
Gagauzia.. reveals action plan
for Chisinau troops entering
the region
April 10th, 4:04am
(Lenta.ru)
The head of Gagauzia, Eugenia Gutsul, told what actions
the region will take if Moldova reacts to the declaration
of independence of the Gagauz autonomy by sending
troops. Her words are quoted by RIA Novosti.
Gutsul expressed hope that Chisinau will not resort to sending troops to the region. Otherwise, Gagauzia will turn to Russia... for help.
"I hope for the common sense of our authorities. But if it comes to this, we will apply to all countries --- of course --- including the Russian Federation," she said.
The politician added that the Gagauz Autonomous Region intends to remain part of Moldova, but will take measures.. if the country wants to unite with Romania.
Earlier, Gutsul stated that Moldovans do not want to join the EU. In her opinion, Moldova does not need any military blocs --- including NATO.
_________________________________________________
Gutsul: Gagauzia will take measures
in case of Moldova's decision to
unite with Romania
April 10th, 3:34am
(RT.ru)
Gagauzia will take measures if the authorities
decide to unite with Romania, said the head
of the region, Eugenia Gutsul.
"If the Republic of Moldova moves towards rapprochement
with Romania, of course, we will take some measures,
because we want to be, live ---- in an independent
Republic of Moldova," she told RIA Novosti.
As noted in the Russian Foreign Ministry, Moscow
sees attempts by the Moldovan authorities to
forcibly "Romanize" Moldovan society.
Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolaku, said
that he believes in unification with Moldova.
Moldovan Socialist Party calls for
developing strategic partnership
with Russia
March 27th, 8:05am
(TASS)
The Socialist Party of Moldova supports the development
of relations of strategic partnership with Russia, the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
and some other Eastern countries.
"Along with continuing the process of European
integration, Moldova should benefit from and
participate in other global processes, such
as the Belt and Road Initiative, develop
relations with the CIS economic space
and strategic partnership relations
with such countries as Russia, the
CIS, China and Turkey," a party
representative said at
a briefing.
"Moldovan citizens want good relations with both
the West and the East. The authorities should
promote a sovereign foreign policy," she pointed out.
Moldova's parliament and government are now
controlled by the pro-European Party of Action
& Solidarity, which has set a course towards
severing ties with Russia and the CIS.
The German ''defense'' concern
received the largest order in its history
July 1st, 7:42pm
(Lenta.ru)
German defense concern Rheinmetall received the
largest order in the company's history for the
supply of up to 6,500 military trucks to the
German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) for
3.5 billion euros. This is reported on
the organization's website.
The contract was signed on Monday, July the 1st, after
the Bundestag budget committee approved the funding
last week. At the 1st stage, the Rheinmetall subsidiary
is to deliver more than 610 trucks worth 312 million
euros, 250 of which are to be delivered this year.
Armin Papperger, CEO of the company... said that the
"tipping point in the procurement of logistics trucks"
has arrived, as evidenced by the "extremely short
period of four months from the moment of the
tender announcement to the signing of
the contract".
On June 20, Rheinmetall announced a record-breaking
order in recent history, received from the Bundeswehr
in partnership with Denmark, the Netherlands and
Estonia, for the manufacture of ammunition for
8.5 billion euros.
The first deliveries under the contract will begin in early
2025. The main buyer, Germany, will transfer some of
the ammunition to Ukraine.
_______________________________________
Welt - Ukraine has been lagging
far behind the mobilization plan
in recent months
July 1dt, 5:51pm
(Vesti.ru)
Kiev.. has recently lagged significantly behind the
mobilization plan, writes the newspaper Die Welt.
According to this plan, Ukraine should mobilize
50 thousand people every three months.
This is necessary, the newspaper notes, to create new
brigades - and compensate for losses. By the end of
the year... Kiev needs to replenish the ranks of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine by 200 thousand troops.
Since May, 2,800 prisoners have been sent to the front in
Ukraine. At the same time, German journalists added
that there are cases ------ when the administration of
colonies prevents the recruitment of prisoners to
the front line, because of their unwillingness to lose cheap labour.
General mobilization was announced in Ukraine --- from
February 2022. On May 18, 2024, the law on tightening
the rules of mobilization came into force. It makes it
possible to fill the shortages in the Ukrainian army,
since it makes it possible to dispense with the
full passage of the conscripted military
medical commission.
For evading military service during mobilization in
Ukraine, a penalty of up to five years in prison is
provided. Ukrainians are trying to leave the
country at the risk of their lives, fearing
the violent mobilization.
Trying to cross the border river Tisza, only this year
several dozen evaders were killed. In Chernivtsi
region, on the border with Romania, Ukrainian
border guards -- shot dead a man of military
age who tried to illegally cross the border.
This was announced on June 30 by the
Telegram channel of the Ukrainian
Internet media.
_______________________________
Wagenknecht: Zelensky's dream
to end the conflict with Russia
on Kiev's terms is unrealizable
June 29th, 2:05pm
(Vesti.ru)
German politician Sarah Wagenknecht --- said that the
demands of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
to end the conflict on Kiev's terms are an illusion.
"Zelensky said that the time for compromise with Russia
has passed, and the conflict will end on the terms of
Ukraine, which is an illusion," Wagenknecht quotes
RIA Novosti with reference to the ZDF channel.
The politician stressed that Europe also risks
being on the verge of a major war ------ if it
continues to interfere in the Russian-
Ukrainian conflict.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that our
country is ready to sit down at the negotiating table
with Ukraine as soon as Kiev withdraws its troops
from new Russian regions and declares its
rejection of plans to join NATO.
Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin
noted that the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada
of Ukraine --- began to discuss the proposals
of the Russian leader.
_____________________________________
NYT: NATO plans to create a mission
--- in Germany ---to ''help'' Ukraine
June 27th, 1:54pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Ukraine will not receive an invitation to join NATO at
the next summit of the alliance on July 9-11, but it
will announce... the creation of a mission of the
military bloc in Germany, that will coordinate
all types of assistance to Kiev. The New
York Times (NYT) writes about this
on June 26.
The Biden administration and NATO officials have come
up with the idea as a way to give Kiev something solid
at the summit, even though they don't think it's the
right time for Ukraine to join.
It is also noted --- that the NATO mission in Germany will
also help in training Ukrainian servicemen. At the same
time, the alliance intends to support Kiev in the long
term, even if former head of state Donald Trump
wins the upcoming US presidential election.
"This is an attempt to protect Ukraine from Trump and
a deliberate effort to bring Ukraine and NATO closer
together to support Kiev today, as well as in the
future," the newspaper quoted former US
Ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder,
as saying.
In addition, the NYT noted that the announcement at the
NATO summit, on the creation of an alliance mission to
coordinate assistance to Kiev is designed to reassure
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, whose term
of office expired on May 20. At the same time, it is
known that Germany itself asked to exclude the
word "mission" from the title in order to avoid
hints...... of a confrontation with Russia.
Earlier, on June 14, NATO Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg said that the alliance countries had
agreed on a plan to transfer the control unit for the supply of weapons to Kiev. It was
specified that the final decision will
be announced at the summit in
Washington. A coordination of
arms supplies will be carried
out by the NATO structures
in Wiesbaden.
At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
announced NATO's plans to create three large military
bases on the territory of their countries - to supply
weapons to Kiev. He stressed that the creation
of such bases - will mean full control by the
alliance of the coordination of weapons
transfers. According to the Prime
Minister, the bases will be
created in the countries
bordering Ukraine ---
Poland, Romania,
and Slovakia.
Later, on June 21st, Orban added that Hungary will not
participate in the NATO mission in Ukraine. He added
that he had received guarantees from Stoltenberg,
and his possible successor, Dutch Prime Minister
Mark Rutte, that he had the right to refrain from
participating in the bloc's actions to expand
military support for Kiev.
On September 30th, 2022, Ukraine applied for accelerated
membership in NATO. Then the President of the country,
Vladimir Zelensky, said that in fact the country is
already in the alliance and meets its standards.
On June 15, 2023, members of the EU ''Parliament''
adopted a resolution --- calling on NATO to invite
Ukraine to join its membership.
__________________________________
The State Duma responded to Scholz's
accusation... that Russia does not want peace in Ukraine
June 27th, 1:47pm
(Izvestia.ru)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's accusations that
Russia allegedly does not want peace in Ukraine
seem strange, given that both President Vladimir
Putin and other political figures always talk
about openness to dialogue. This was
stated by the State Duma Deputy
Alexey Chepa on Thursday,
June 27.
"It is difficult.. to comment on such statements. Maybe
Scholz can't hear anyone but himself. It is difficult to
find another reason. The fact is that everyone,
starting from the president and ending with
any other political figures in Russia, has
always said and continues to say that
we are ready for dialogue for many
years," the parliamentarian said,
in a conversation with Lenta.Ru.
Chepa recalled that Russia has been trying to achieve
peace in the region for a long time, starting with the
Minsk agreements. However, he said that Germany,
at the same time as declaring a commitment to
peace and negotiations, said that it was not
going to fulfill the agreements -- but had only misled Russia.
"And today --- Scholz is trying to shift the blame from a
sore head to a healthy one. These are some double,
triple standards," the MP concluded.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during a speech in the
Bundestag, said that Russia does not want peace in
Ukraine and refuses dialogue on the settlement
of the armed conflict.
Commenting on this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
said that the Russian president has repeatedly stated
his openness to negotiations and Russia was not the initiator of curtailing any dialogue.
Earlier, on June 14, Putin said that Russia has always
sought peace --- and is ready to sit down at the
negotiating table. This will become possible
when Kiev withdraws its troops from the
regions of the Russian Federation and
officially renounces its intentions to integrate into NATO, he said.
However, if Kiev and the West refuse, the
responsibility for the ongoing conflict
lies solely with them, the Russian
leader added.
In the West and in Kiev, the initiative was rejected. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, whose
term of office expired on May 20, called the
proposal an ultimatum.
Adviser to the head of the office of the Ukrainian leader
Mikhail Podolyak, in turn, said that the initiative
allegedly does not contain "real peace
proposals." It was also rejected by
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
and Italian Prime Minister
Giorgi Meloni.
________________________________________
ZDF: Poland and the Baltic States
demand money from the EU...
to protect themselves from
Russia and Belarus
June 27th, 2024
(ZDF The original
translated by InoTV)
Due to threats from Russia and Belarus, Poland, Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania are calling on the EU to support
military and civilian border security, German TV
channel ZDF reports.
The heads of state and government of these countries
wrote this in a letter to EU Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen and the Council President
Charles Michel, shortly before the summit,
which will be held on Thursday
and Friday: "We need a
defense initiative, to
protect Europeans
today and in the
coming years."
As a specific project, they call for "development of the
defense infrastructure system... along the external
border of the EU with Russia and Belarus." This
could address the urgent need to protect the
EU from military and hybrid threats.
"Instrumentalized migration" ...has a particularly strong
impact on the security of the entire EU, the letter says.
As the Baltic states and Poland explain, these are
attempts to smuggle people from poor or
conflict-ridden countries into the EU.
The authors of the letter believe that the scale and cost
of the proposed defense initiative require political and
financial support from the EU. However, planning
and implementation.. must be carried out in
coordination with NATO and its military
requirements.
EU diplomats have estimated the cost of building
a common defense line along the EU's 700-
kilometre border with Russia and Belarus
at around €2.5 billion.
Poland and the Baltic States, have no doubt, that the
policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his
Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, will become increasingly hostile if they are
not contained.
"Russia has not changed its strategic goals, which
include restoring buffer zones and spheres of
influence from the past, and this poses an
existential threat to Europe and the
transatlantic community,"
they warn.
''We live in the shadow of war, and our countries
feel what it means to be frontline EU states."
______________________________________________
Scholz believes that Putin's
proposal for Ukraine was
"not serious"
June 15th, 9:32am
(Vesti.ru)
The G7 leaders did not discuss Vladimir Putin's peace
initiative in Ukraine. This was stated by German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In his opinion, the
proposal of the Russian president
"was not meant seriously."
Allegedly, the option of ending the conflict, voiced by
the national leader of our country, is not fair and
acceptable. The German politician is sure that
Kiev should ignore the ultimatum of Moscow.
"These are not the proposals that can work.
The world should be fair and honest, first
of all for Ukraine," he said, on the
ZDF channel.
Meanwhile, Moscow did not expect a different reaction to
the peace initiative. Russia will continue to achieve the
goal of a special military operation by force, and
liberate the territories of the new regions
occupied by the nationalists.
As the allied forces move deeper into Ukraine, Zelensky's
junta will lose the last trump cards in the negotiation
process with Putin. and willl have to sign, for him, a humiliating surrender.
__________________________
Bundestag deputy Wagenknecht
urges the West ---to listen to Putin's initiative
June 14th, 8:08pm
(RT.ru)
The West... should listen to the initiative of Russian leader
Vladimir Putin on a peaceful settlement of the conflict in
Ukraine, said Bundestag deputy Sarah Wagenknecht.
This is reported by DPA.
According to her, Kiev and the West, should avoid the
historical mistake of sharply rejecting the signals of
the Russian side as unrealistic maximum demands.
"Putin's initiative should be taken with due seriousness
and considered as a starting point for negotiations,"
“China encourages cooperation in cultural exchange
and environmental protection, and emphasizes the
importance of “soft power” to build strong
relations among member countries,”
the expert added, and mentioned
less effective decision-making
and the increase... in internal
contradictions, exacerbated
by external interference, as
the SCO’s challenges.
China is expected to gather consensus, promote
multilateral dialogue and propose strategies
for the future of the SCO.
___________________________________
Senior Russian and Belarusian
officials discuss bilateral
cooperation
July 2nd, 6:10am
(Prensa Latina)
The head of the Presidential Administration of Belarus,
Dmitri Krutoi, met in Moscow with Russian Foreign
Minister, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss bilateral
cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs informed on Tuesday.
Krutoi and Lavrov met on the occasion of the end of
the former’s diplomatic mission in Moscow, the
Russian Foreign Ministry wrote, on its official Telegram channel.
The two officials discussed the current issues
of Belarusian-Russian cooperation, highly
appreciated the results achieved on
the path of inter-ministerial
cooperation, outlined
promising areas of
work and agreed
to continue the
contacts, the
report says.
Lavrov presented Krutoi with the award “For
Contribution to International Cooperation.”
Before his appointment at the end of June as head of
the Belarusian Presidential Administration, Krutoi
was the ambassador of the Republic of Belarus
to Russia..... with the rank of deputy
prime minister.
When appointing Krutoi to his new position, Belarusian
President Aleksander Lukashenko stressed that he
remains responsible for the implementation of
all agreements with Russia.
________________________________________
Ex-Prime Minister of Greece ---- called
the results of the European elections
a revolt of peoples
July 1st, 11:07pm
(Lenta.ru)
Europe is at a crossroads, and its "captains" must realize
that they are facing a "crew riot". At the same time....
Europe has an unprecedented shortage of leaders
and no great personalities, said former Greek
Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras.
The politician spoke at the presentation of the book
"Secret folders of Karamanlis", the speech of the
former prime minister was published by the
public television website ERTNews.
"The recent elections in Europe were extremely important. The low turnout of European citizens to the polls, even now, during the war, clearly shows that Europe is really at a crossroads," Samaras said.
According to him, the recent election results
in France may even be evidence...... of a riot.
After the failure of the EU Parliamentary elections,
French President Emmanuel Macron announced
the dissolution ----- of the lower house of the
country's parliament, the French National
Assembly --- and called early elections.
The first round of elections was held
on June 30.
Earlier it was reported that the "National Association"
is leading in the first round of elections to the French
parliament. Preliminary data.... was called in the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic.
Marine Le Pen's party got 33%of the vote.
In turn, Sky News correspondent Adam Parsons said
that Emmanuel Macron's "big gamble" with early
parliamentary elections, is probably doomed
to failure.
According to the journalist, before the EU Parliamentary
elections ------ it was clear that Macron's bloc might be
defeated, losing to the alliance of the right.
__________________________________
Switzerland plans to allocate €500 million
to Ukraine ------at the expense of the
countries of the Global South
July 1st, 12:56pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The Swiss government was criticized -- for its decision
to unilaterally allocate more than €500 million for the
reconstruction of Ukraine instead of supporting the
countries of the Global South, the Tages-Anzeiger
newspaper reported on June 30.
On June 26, the Swiss Cabinet of Ministers decided to
reserve 500 million Swiss francs (€516 million) ....for
projects aimed at restoring Ukraine, over 4 years.
The funds should come from the fund for support
of developing countries, and the Swiss
Parliament has not yet approved
this measure.
It is noted that these plans have attracted criticism from
experts. According to them, as a result, the aid will be
provided "at the expense of the countries of the
Global South" and may cause international
disputes, since Ukraine, as a recipient
country..... will be tied to
Swiss companies.
The newspaper pointed out that in the matter of
supporting Kiev, the Swiss authorities have so
far, tried to comply with legal norms. In the
issue of restoring Ukraine -- they probably
plan to go a different way, journalists say.
On June 15 and 16, a conference on Ukraine was held in
Burgenstock, Switzerland. As a result, a declaration
was adopted, which more than a dozen countries,
including BRICS members, refused to sign.
Russia did not participate in the summit, but Moscow
regularly expresses its readiness for negotiations.
Following the meeting, Bloomberg noted that President
of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term of office
expired on May 20..... failed to attract a number of key countries of the Global South to his side.
Before that, on June 3, the Swiss Senate refused to
allocate additional assistance to Kiev in the form
of a special fund in the amount of 15 billion
francs (more than $16.7 billion) for the
needs of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine (AFU).
In addition, no decision was made to allocate an
additional 5 billion francs (about $5.6 billion)
to help restore Ukraine.
Western countries have increased their military and
financial support for Ukraine... with the start of the
Russian special operation to protect the Donbass,
which Russia announced on February 24, 2022.
The decision to hold it was made by the President of
the Russian Federation against the background of
the aggravation of the situation in the region -
due to the aggression of Ukrainian troops.
However, in recent years, the West has increasingly
voiced statements about the need to reduce aid
to Kiev.
_____________________________________________
Tucker Carlson pointed out ---
Biden's dementia noticeable
for 10 thousand miles
June 29th, 7:27pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The dementia of US President Joe can be seen from
10 thousand miles away. This was stated by US
journalist Tucker Carlson, published on
June 29th, in the social network X
(ex. Twitter) video dedicated
to the presidential debate.
"Joe Biden's dementia is visible from 10 thousand
miles away," the journalist signed his post.
He was struck by how much people are surprised
by reports of the US leader's illness. In addition,
Carlson noted that Democrats do not believe
in Biden's dementia.
As the journalist noted, in 2019, he learned about the
diagnosis at that time of the running candidate and
in one of his speeches, touched on this topic.
People were outraged by these statements
and called the columnist a racist, he added.
The debate between Biden and former US President
Donald Trump took place on June 27 in Atlanta.
The current President of the United States
said that he did well.
In turn, CNN, citing sources, notes that the US
Democrat Party began to panic after Biden's
speech. In particular, Vice President Kamala
Harris acknowledged that the beginning of
the debate between Biden and Trump is
not going well.
One of the former employees of the current US leader
said that he "looked and sounded terrible", and also
spoke incoherently.
After the debate in the US, Reuters conducted a poll
that found that US voters who previously could not
make a choice between presidential candidates
Biden and Donald Trump, are now inclined to vote for the Republican.
The next day.. The Wall Street Journal, citing sources,
reported that after Biden's unsuccessful pre-election
debate with Trump, the Democrat Party is informally
discussing replacing the current head of the White
House with another candidate. Journalists note
that Biden's unsuccessful speech threw the
Democrat Party into confusion.
The next presidential election in the US is scheduled
for November 5, 2024. In August–September, party
congresses should be held, at which one
candidate from each party will be
officially approved. The final
stage will be..... the
November vote.
______________________________
Jalili and Pezeshkian... Likely
Headed for Run-Off in Iranian
Presidential Election
June 29th, 10:31am
(al Manar)
Preliminary results from Iran’s presidential election show
that Saeed Jalili and Massoud Pezeshkian are leading
the race, with a second round of voting expected.
The Ministry of Interior reported that Jalili received
4,266,386 votes, while Pezeshkian garnered
4,244,815 votes.
Polls indicate that the election is likely to proceed
to a run-off round, with voter turnout reaching
approximately 40%. Campaigns are already
gearing up for the next phase, with Jalili’s
campaign manager announcing that the
election will go to a second round.
Iranians are currently selecting their 9th president since
the Islamic Revolution in 1979. This election follows the
tragic death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter
crash. With over 58,000 polling stations available,
Iranians have been voting for one of four
candidates, including Jalili, Pezeshkian,
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and
Mostafa Pourmohammadi.
Stay tuned for more updates as the official
result is expected to be announced.. soon.
Source: Iranian Websites (Edited
by Al-Manar English Website)
_________________________________________
IMF: decision to use income from
Russian assets threatens the
currency system
June 29th, 3:21am
(RT.ru)
The West's decision to use the proceeds from frozen
Russian assets to help Kiev, continues to threaten
the functioning of the international monetary
system - due to a lack of legal framework.
This was stated by the head of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) mission in Ukraine,
Gavin Gray.
"We call on the countries involved to ensure that
any actions have a sufficient legal basis and
do not undermine the functioning of the
international monetary system,"
he said.
Earlier, the newspaper Politico reported that the first
tranche of profit from Russian assets to the aid
fund for Ukraine... will amount to €1.4 billion.
Later... the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrel, said
that the first tranche of profits from frozen Russian
assets will ''arrive'' next week.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said - that Moscow may
appeal to the UN court ----- because of the situation
with the transfer of income from Russian assets,
to Ukraine.
_________________________________________________
Conservative Jalili beats
reformist Pezeshkian in
Iran's election
June 29th, 2:56am
(RT.ru)
The representative of the spiritual leader of Iran in the
Supreme National Security Council of the republic,
Saeed Jalili, who belongs to the wing of the
conservatives, beats reformist Masoud
Pezeshkian in the elections in Iran.
This was announced by the representative of the
election headquarters of the Islamic Republic,
Mohsen Eslami.
It is noted that these interim results became
known after counting 8.379 million votes.
Earlier, Tasnim wrote that Masoud Pezeshkian
is leading in the Iranian presidential election.
In addition, it was reported that unknown
assailants attacked a car with ballot
boxes in Iran.
_______________________________________________
US House Speaker Johnson says Biden’s
cabinet - should remove him from office
June 28th, 10:28pm (TASS)
US President Joe Biden’s cabinet should consider
removing him from office, due to incapacitation,
US House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
"There’re a lot of people asking about the 25th
Amendment, invoking the 25th Amendment
right now - because this is an alarming
situation," Johnson said.
"Our adversaries see the weakness in this White
House as we all do," he said. "I think this is a
very dangerous situation."
According to the 25th Amendment to the US
Constitution --- if a president is unable to
discharge the duties of his office, the
vice president becomes president.
The amendment also details the
procedure for replacing
the president.
"I would ask the Cabinet members.... to search their
hearts," Johnson continued. "It’s not just political.
It’s not just the Democrat Party. It’s the entire
country. We have a serious problem here ---
because we have a president who by all appearances, is not up to the task."
"We hope that they will do their duty," he said.
On Thursday, Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the season’s
first US presidential debate between incumbent
President Joe Biden and former President
Donald Trump.
The Wall Street Journal reported Democrats
were panicking as they thought Biden’s
performance was ''poor''.
The US... will hold a presidential
election on November the 5th.
_________________________________________
Maduro highlights strength
of relations with China
June 28th, 2:45pm
(Prensa Latina)
President Nicolás Maduro assured that diplomatic
relations between China and Venezuela, are
increasingly strengthened, in sisterhood
and fraternity, on the 50th anniversary
of bilateral ties.
“It is a sincere alliance for the construction of a new
world of Peace ....and more humane,” the head of
State posted on X.
Maduro said that on this day - “we celebrate with great
happiness 50 years of a friendship that is unbreakable,
foolproof and at all times.”
The head of State sent “a big hug, to my big brother
President Xi Jinping and to all the Chinese people.”
China and Venezuela will always be united,
he stressed.
In an audiovisual that accompanies the message,
Commander Hugo Chavez (1954-2013) said to
the “comrades of China, that here we have
raised the flags of socialism.”
''I take advantage of this wonderful circumstance
to stress the great importance of our sovereign
policy,'' he affirmed.
The Bolivarian leader noted that the relations
between China and Venezuela proved “it is
not necessary to run over other peoples
to be a world power.”
He stressed that Beijing & Caracas feel “as brothers,
as equals, complementing each other, mutually
learning from each other,” and assured that
both nations will “always walk as
true sisters.”
Maduro said on the video he appreciated “very much the
friendship we have cultivated in 50 years of China-
Venezuela relations. We are entering the fifth
stage, which will be the expansion of the
economy, health and development of
tourism beneficial to the people,”
he asserted.
The Bolivarian president highlighted that China is
an example in the world of how it has achieved
a sustainable development that impacts the
entire world.
“China ---- has already become a superpower of peace,”
he stressed, and sent greetings to the Chinese people.
The leaders exchanged messages on Friday, on the
occasion of the commemoration, in which they
ratified the solid ties of union and sisterhood
expressed in the all-weather comprehensive strategic alliance promoted by President Xi Jinping last year.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were
established on June 28, 1974 and up to date they
have signed over 600 cooperation agreements
in various sectors of the economy, science,
health, education, mining, and aerospace,
among others.
________________________________________
Progressive International demands Cuba’s removal from SSOT list
June 28th, 2pm
(Prensa Latina)
More than 250 organizations globally, grouped in the
Progressive International (PI) founded in the United
States in 2018, demand this Friday the immediate
removal of Cuba from Washington's State
Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list.
“Cuba is not a sponsor of terrorism,” the PI affirmed
in a letter of appeal published on its X profile,
explaining that the Caribbean nation is
indeed a sponsor of health, peace,
and liberation.
Across its revolutionary history, more than 605,000
healthcare professionals and technicians have
provided their services in some 165 countries,
the text stressed, referring to Cuban
cooperation in that field.
It also stated that Cuba sponsors peace for its role in the
peace agreements with Colombia and liberation for the
heroic deeds of the Cuban internationalist forces, in
the liberation of Angola and Namibia, besides the
elimination of Apartheid in South Africa.
The letter recalled that Cuba has suffered for more than
six decades a US blockade that, as the April 1960
infamous secret memorandum by then Under-
secretary of State Lester Mallory stated,
was intended to lead to the people’s
desperation to overthrow their
social project.
_______________________________
Georgian association demands
removal of Cuba from
US SSOT list
June 28th, 10:08am
(Prensa Latina)
The Georgian-Cuban Friendship Association has firmly
rejected Cuba's inclusion in Washington's State
Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list, Cuba's
Ambassador to Georgia, Carlos
Valdes, informed on Friday.
The diplomat told Prensa Latina...... that the Friends of
Solidarity of Georgia handed him a document signed
by Pavle Jibuti, president of the said Friendship
Association - which describes the drawing-up
of that list as a selective mechanism of the
US ---- against progressive countries.
Cuba’s inclusion in this list violates the principles of
the United Nations Charter, human rights, and the
prosperity of the Cuban people, states the
document, which was addressed to the
Cuban Institute of Friendship with the
Peoples (ICAP) and the Cuban
Embassy in Georgia.
The text points out that such behaviour is a dangerous
act of interference and seeks to destabilize Cuba’s
internal order.
The note of the Georgian Friendship Association adds
that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism and has been
a victim of this scourge in the development of its
revolutionary history; what is happening ---- is
illegal and dishonest.
______________________________________
Bolivia TV: military personnel
leave Murillo Square in the
Bolivian city of La Paz
June 26th, 10:53pm
(RT.ru)
This is reported by the Bolivia TV
channel, RIA Novosti reports.
"The military is leaving Murillo Square,"
the report said.
Earlier, the Bolivian leader, Luis Arce,
addressed the nation, with a
statement about the
attempted coup.
General Zuniga -- who is leading the coup
- demanded "the return of democracy"
and the release of political prisoners
including the former President,
Jeanine Agnes.
________________________________________
Jailed former Bolivian president
Agnes denounces coup attempt
June 26th, 10:46pm
(RT.ru)
Former Acting President of Bolivia Jeanine Agnes,
who is currently in prison, has condemned the
attempted coup with the participation of
the military.
She wrote about this on her page in
the social network X, reports TASS.
"I fully condemn the mobilization of the armed forces
trying to destroy the constitutional order in Murillo
Square," the statement reads.
________________________________________
Russia says work underway
on‘big treaty’with Iran
June 26th, 5:28pm
(PressTV)
Russia says it is working on a significant cooperation
agreement with Iran, a sign of growing friendship
between the two nations.
"Now we are working on a treaty – probably you have
heard about it, and I ask you, once again, not to use
the formula ‘the same as the one with North Korea’
– now the work is underway on the big treaty with
Iran," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria
Zakharova told a presser in Moscow
on Wednesday.
Her comment referred to a comprehensive bilateral
cooperation agreement that has been negotiated
between the two sides, for years.
In January, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said a new inter-
state treaty reflecting the "unprecedented upswing"
in Russia-Iran ties, was being finalized.
Over the past couple of years, the two countries
have strengthened their bonds of friendship.
Earlier this month, Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali
Bagheri Kani said Tehran and Moscow had serious
intentions of expanding their cooperation ------ in
several domains.
Bagheri Kani, in an interview on the sidelines of the
BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the Russian
city of Nizhny Novgorod, said Iran and Russia
are two neighbouring countries... with
historical relations.
“In the past years, the relations between the two
countries have increased and also the two
countries... share similar challenges
and threats -- promoting several
opportunities for cooperation.”
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
expressed Moscow’s commitment to finalize the
comprehensive long-term cooperation
agreement with the Islamic Republic
of Iran. “Moscow is dedicated to
concluding this memorandum
with Tehran.”
In a press conference following the BRICS meeting,
Lavrov said the draft of the agreement had been
agreed upon - but still had to be signed - by
the presidents.
He said signing the agreement would need to go
through some formal protocols, to be finalized.
Lavrov said the signing of this document.... would
elevate Tehran-Moscow relations to a new stage.
“As soon as the stages I mentioned
are implemented in Iran, we can
do this.”
___________________________________
Nebenzia blamed Kiev - for
the deaths of 192 children
in the Russian Federation
June 26th, 4:47pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are responsible for
the deaths of 192 children and injuries of 554 children
on Russian territory from February 2022 to April 2024.
This was stated on June 26 by Russia's Permanent
Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia at a
meeting of the World Organization's
Security Council.
This day's meeting is dedicated to
the protection of children during
armed conflicts.
"Armed groups controlled by the Kiev regime, deliberately
hit civilian objects: schools, kindergartens, and medical
institutions. Ukraine's Armed Forces are responsible for
the deaths of 192 children and the mutilation of 554
children on the territory of the Russian Federation
--- just for the period from February 2022 to April
2024," he said.
Kiev is also responsible for the deaths of 129 minors and
the maiming of 503 children in the Donbas region
between 2014 and 2022, Nebenzia added.
In addition, he said that in 2023, the Armed Forces of
Ukraine destroyed or damaged more than a thousand
medical and educational institutions in Russia.
Earlier, on June 19, the State Duma and the Federation
Council approved the report of the parliamentary
commission for the investigation of crimes
against minors in Kiev.
Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina
Matviyenko then said that the report proves
that the Ukrainian leadership committed
criminal acts against children, and
called for its dissemination
around the world.
___________________________
Cuba recalls declaration of
non-revocable socialism
June 26th, 4:37pm
(Prensa Latina)
The National Assembly of Cuba (ANPP) on Wednesday
recalled on X the 22nd anniversary of the declaration
of the irrevocable socialism, after a referendum
supported by more than eight million people.
On X, the Secretary of Organization of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC),
Roberto Morales, distinguished that --- ''in 2002,
after a broad process of popular participation
and the signature of millions of Cubans, the
ANPP approved the Constitutional Reform
Act --- that proclaimed the irrevocability
of Cuba's socialism.''
Electors voted in favour of the socialist content of
their Magna Carta, in response to the interfering
protests of the then president of the US, George W. Bush (2001-2009).
Later, the ANPP members unanimously approved the
inclusion of an article in the 1976 Constitution,
declaring that Cuba would never return
to capitalism.
The text clearly expressed the irrevocable nature of the
prevailing political, economic and social system --- as
well as the prohibition to negotiate under pressure,
coercion or threats..... from a foreign power.
After approving the agreement by the Cuban Parliament,
the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro
expressed that the purpose of this action, was to
preserve the fruits of their revolutionary work -
when the unfeasibility of capitalism, to solve the most pressing problems of Humanity, was increasingly evident.
______________________________________
Syria inaugurates the
specialized food fair
June 26th, 2:19pm
(Prensa Latina)
The nineteenth edition of the Food Industries Fair 'Food
Expo 2024' was inaugurated today at the Damascus
fairgrounds, with the participation of over 280
national and foreign companies.
After touring the various exhibition halls, the Minister of
Industry, Abdel Qader Joukhadar, said that the event
represents an opportunity for participants to
promote their products and update
themselves with the latest
technologies in food
manufacturing.
While the Minister of Agriculture, Hassan Qattana,
highlighted the increase in the number of
industrialists participating in this new
edition and revealed that the rise
in agricultural production in the
country demands an
expansion... of the
food industries.
The governor of Damascus City, Mohamed Tariq Krishati,
explained that the fair is an important promotional
platform for agricultural industrial products and
an important opportunity to tell people about
the latest developments in Syrian industry
--- despite the unjust US blockade.
The magnitude of the national participation shows
the great capabilities of the food manufacturing,
packaging and marketing sector, said the head
of the Syrian Federation of Chambers of
Commerce, Abu Al-Huda Al-Lahham.
_______________________________________
DPRK celebrates Anti-Yankee
Struggle Day in Pyongyang
June 26th, 1:49pm
(Prensa Latina)
A large number of events were held in Pyongyang, and the
main cities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) on the occasion of the Anti-Yankee Struggle Day,
the state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday.
The rally held at the capital’s May Day Stadium, one of
the largest in the world, was attended by more than
100,000 workers, youths and students, as well as
members of the diplomatic corps and a group
of overseas Koreans visiting the homeland.
Several speakers recalled the atrocities committed by US
troops and their allies during the Korean War (1950-1950),
a documentary was screened on the subject, in addition
to the sentiments expressed during these days in the
so-called Oath of Vengeance Acts.
On the occasion, a White Paper was made public in the
country depicting the brutal crimes perpetrated by the
United States.
According to the text, edited by the Institute of American
Studies of the Foreign Ministry, more than five million
people were harmed at the hands of US soldiers,
nearly 1,250,000 of whom died, more than
910,000 were kidnapped and around
390,000 were reported missing.
The interventions also highlighted the need to strengthen
the armed forces and the nuclear deterrent system as a
warning against new enemy threats and aggression.
_________________________________________
Cuban presidentcongratulates
the leader ofthe Russian
Communist Party
June 26th, 12:52pm
(Prensa Latina)
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Wednesday
congratulated the president of the Communist
Party of the Russian Federation, Guennadi A.
Zyuganov, on the 80th birthday of the party
leader, during the post-Soviet era.
On his X profile, the head of State referred to a telephone
conversation he had with Zyuganov, in which he thanked
him for his ongoing contribution to the friendly relations
between the two peoples, parties and governments.
The secretary of Organization of the Communist Party
of Cuba (PCC), Roberto Morales, conveyed cordial
congratulations on X, and thanked Zyuganov for
his ongoing support for and solidarity
with, Cuba.
The head of the PCC International Relations Department,
Emilio Lozada, in turn, highlighted on X the Russian
politician’s firm commitment to his homeland,
to Cuba and to the PCC ---- throughout
his fruitful life.
President Vladimir Putin honoured Zyuganov on
Wednesday, at his birthday ceremony, noting
“his great merits in the development of the
Russian State, the strengthening of civil
society and his fruitful work over
many years.”
__________________________________________
Xi meets with Vietnamese
prime minister in Beijing
June 26th, 11:57am
(Prensa Latina)
President Xi Jinping met with Vietnamese Prime Minister
Pham Minh Chinh in this capital on Wednesday. Chinh
is in China to attend the Summer Davos Forum.
The head of Government attended the World Economic
Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions for the
second year in a row in Dalian and gave a speech
at the opening ceremony.
On the forum’s sidelines, Pham Minh Chinh is paying a
working visit to China until Thursday, during which
he will meet with other senior Chinese leaders.
Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Thanh Binh
said that the meetings in China are crucial to improve
political trust and materialize perceptions and high-
level agreements between the two countries.
During his participation in the Summer Davos Forum,
the prime minister shared Vietnam’s views on the
short-term prospects, opportunities, and
challenges of the global economy and
proposed solutions to optimize the
potential and strengths of the
Asia-Pacific region.
_____________________________________________
Assange's lawyer: WikiLeaks'
activities -------- will continue
June 26th, 3:18am
(RT.ru)
Julian Assange's lawyer says WikiLeaks'
work will continue. This is reported by
The Guardian.
Lawyer.. stated that.. ''Assange.. will continue
to advocate for freedom of speech and
government transparency.''
According to the lawyer, Assange - "has
a strong voice that cannot be silenced."
On June 26, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded
guilty to charges of violating the Espionage Act. Later
it became known that the court finally released
Assange, after pleading guilty.
___________________________________
WP: Assange pleads ''guilty''
June 26th, 12:45am
(RT.ru)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has pleaded
guilty to charges of violating the Espionage Act.
This is reported by The Washington Post.
Earlier, the court hearing in the Assange case
began in the Northern Mariana Islands
District Court.
On June 25, it became known that WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange may admit part of the charges as
part of a deal with the US attorney's office,
which will allow him to be released.
Later, it was reported that Assange was released
from prison in the UK..... and is flying to Australia.
________________________________________
The plane with Julian Assange
landed on the island of Saipan
June 25th, 9:44pm
(Lenta.ru)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's plane landed on the
Pacific island of Saipan, where he is expected to be
released after a trial. This is evidenced by data
from the Flightradar service.
Assange's plane left Bangkok at 21:21 local time (17:21
GMT) and arrived in Saipan at 06:14 am on Wednesday (23:14 on Tuesday GMT).
On Wednesday, June 26, a hearing will be held in the case
of Assange on the island of Saipan, the largest in the
Northern Mariana Islands, which are not part of the United States.
Earlier it became known that Assange, released on bail
from a British prison on June 24th, flew from Bangkok,
Thailand, to the island of Saipan in the Pacific Ocean.
It is noted that there should be final court hearings
--- with his subsequent release.
In turn, military analyst Scott Ritter said that no one
should suffer what the founder of WikiLeaks had
to face.
On June 24, Julian Assange was released from Belmarsh
prison in London and flew out of the UK. The decision
to release the journalist was made after reaching a
preliminary deal with the prosecution.
_________________________________________
Lavrov said BRICS decided to
"take a pause" in the entry
of new members.
June 25th, 8:22pm
(RT.ru)
The BRICS countries decided to.. "take a pause"
on the issue of new members joining, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"By an overwhelming majority of votes in the top ten,
it was decided to take a pause with new members
in order to" digest" the new arrivals, who
doubled their membership," he said.
Earlier it was reported that Thailand and Malaysia
have applied to join the BRICS' work.
It also became known that South African President
Cyril Ramaphosa will arrive at the BRICS summit
in October accompanied by a large delegation.
________________________________________________
Putin awarded Orders of Courage
posthumously to 15 policemen
killed in Dagestan
June 25th, 7:49pm
(RT.ru)
Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded 20 police
officers who confronted militants in Dagestan
with Orders of Courage.
This is evidenced.. by the decree posted on the
official portal for the publication of legal acts.
It is noted that 15 policemen were awarded
Orders of Courage, posthumously.
The presidential decree notes that the law
enforcement officers were awarded "for
courage, bravery and loyalty to duty ---
shown in repelling a terrorist attack."
Putin also awarded the Order of Courage to Archpriest
Nikolai Kotelnikov, who died in Dagestan, and the
medal "For Courage", to security guard
Mikhail Vavilin.
________________________________________________
Gang member calls for ------ public
services for Haiti’s working class
June 25th, 2:43pm
(Prensa Latina)
The leader of the gang coalition, Jimmy Cherizier, alias
Barbecue, asked the Haitian Government to provide
public services for the working class, as a first
step to pacify the country that today lives
in chaos.
The best way for Haiti’s transitional Prime Minister Gary Conille to bring peace back to the nation is through dialogue, Barbecue said.
Cherizier accused traditional politicians and
entrepreneurs --- of using violence for
personal ends --- and now they want
to take back by force ------ all the
weapons they once distributed.
“The problem that exists nowadays, can only be solved through dialogue,” the former policeman stated.
Barbecue, for months, announced a bloodbath in Haiti if
corrupt politicians continued to lead the country, but
blamed France, Canada and the United States
for what happened in the nation.
The gang leader’s intention to establish a dialogue
comes against the backdrop of the arrival of the
first Kenyan troops.
Kenya will lead a multinational force that along with
the Haitian National Police --- will begin a war of
extermination against the Barbecue coalition
that today controls 80% of the capital.
________________________________________
Dominican Republicboosts
agricultural growthwith
Brazilian support
June 17th, 4:16pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Ministries of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic
and Brazil signed a collaboration agreement for the
knowledge and technical transfer to improve
agricultural production in this country, the
local press reported on Monday.
To this end, the Dominican Republic will have the
support of the Brazilian agricultural research
company (EMBRAPA), the Ministry of
Agriculture said in a statement.
Both ministries approved a memorandum of cooperation
and understanding that has been promoted for about
three years through the Dominican Embassy in
Brazil with this agreement.
By the agreement, both countries are committed to
working together on digital and virtual production
tools, knowledge transfer and advances in the
agricultural and livestock models they use.
Dominican Minister of Agriculture Limber Cruz announced
plans to establish an office of the Brazilian multinational
EMBRAPA in the country, which will work with
technicians, local producers and
professionals from other
neighbouring countries.
Dominican Ambassador to Brazil Patricia Villegas
de Jorge said that it is of great interest to the
Government to develop a policy focused on
the transfer and capture of knowledge
from nations such as Brazil, with
greater development ------ in
research and technology.
____________________________
Cubaindustria 2024 bets on
industrial development
June 17th, 10:59am
(Prensa Latina)
The 4th edition of Cubaindustria 2024 opens on
Monday, with a broad agenda -- that includes
technical and scientific exchanges, the
strengthening of technological
associations, the promotion
of exportable products &
the consolidation -- of
national production.
The event is held at the Conference Centre and the
Pabexpo fairgrounds in Havana. It aims to achieve
the country’s integration, complementarity, and
international insertion in the industrial sector.
In a press briefing, before the Cubaindustria meeting,
Deputy Industry Minister, Ernesto Cedeño, explained
that the event is an opportunity --- to join efforts and strengthen alliances with companies in the sector,
national and foreign technological partners, non-
state management forms, and the Union of
Military Industries.
Cedeño recalled that this edition, marked by the existing
national and international complex scenario, highlighted
the effects of the economic, financial, and commercial
blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba.
In addition, other measures implemented by the
US Government affect the country’s industrial
and economic development.
Cubaindustria 2024 will have an industrial development
policy that will be the leading issue in each gathering,
congress, and trade fair.
The International Congress, will feature ten congresses
and a design forum; 62 keynote speeches, 38 of which
are national and 24 international; and 333 lectures,
including 315 national and 18 international.
About the exhibition fair, Carlos Alberto Gomez,
vice president of the event, said that some 360
participants, 338 exhibitors, 276 nationals
with 94 companies, 49 foreigners with 22
firms,13 non-state management forms,
and 22 related to design activity ---
will display their works.
_____________________________________________
Salvadorans in a state of
national emergency
June 17th, 10:08am
(Prensa Latina)
The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved
the National State of Emergency at the request
of President Nayib Bukele --- due to the bad
weather affecting the country today.
Since yesterday, Sunday, Salvadorans have been on high
alert (red) due to heavy rains and the development of
Tropical Depression 19-E, located southwest of the
coast of El Salvador, which led to the decree of
emergency, for 15 days.
From the early hours of Sunday morning until 04:30 this
Monday, the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources (MARN) reported an accumulated
rainfall of 307.6 millimetres in the district
of Apaneca in the department of
Ahuachapán. The amount of
rainfall .....could reach 700
milimetres in other areas
of the country in the
coming days.
This increases the threats of collapse and landslides,
which according to the Observatory of Threats of the
ministry, raises the probability of 80 and 100 percent,
causing damage to road infrastructure and housing
in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range area,
something that increased in some areas of the
west by the occurrence of small earthquakes.
Also in this period, a total rainfall of 205.6 millimetres
was recorded at the El Imposible station in San
Francisco Menéndez, always in Ahuachapán,
while 166.4 millimetres were reported in
Los Naranjos, Juayúa, in Sonsonate.
_______________________________________________
President of Brazil - to receive plan against organized crime in Amazon
June 17th, 8:36am
(Prensa Latina)
President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will receive
the signature of the contract to allocate 318.5 million
reais (about 62 million dollars) from the Amazon
Fund for the so-called Amazon Plan: Security
and Sovereignty (AMAS).
Apart from investing in the federal and local police, intelligence and inspections, other actions will be
reinforced by acquiring and renting equipment to
fight organized crime... such as medium-sized
helicopters, armoured boats, and vehicles.
One of the main objectives of AMAS is to structure and
equip the International Police Cooperation Centre, in
Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas, and
strengthen integration with the Environmental
Operations Company, a unit of the National
Force specialized in beating deforestation.
The idea... is to expand and facilitate the exchange
of information between federal security forces,
representatives of the public security
secretariats of the nine states of the
Legal Amazon, and representatives
of the other countries that make
up the biotic community.
Environmental organizations have warned ------ that the
expansion of criminal factions, increases indicators of
violence in the region and aggravates criminal actions
linked to the devastation of the Amazon, such as
deforestation, mining, land grabbing, and fires.
The presentation entitled Cartographies of Violence in
the Amazon ---- released in November by the Brazilian
Public Security Forum, & the Madre Criolla Institute,
warned that criminal factions gained ground in the
region, not only expanding drug trafficking but
also associating them with environmental
crimes that devastate the Amazon.
A third of the region’s inhabitants live in conflict areas
and clashes between criminal groups. At least 8.3
million people live there, who are subject to the
dynamics of extreme violence in their routines,
such as exchanges of gunfire and murders in
broad daylight. 59 percent of the region’s
population, equal to 15.4 million persons,
live under the rule of at least one of
those factions.
______________________________________________
Honduran government ------ to appoint
prosecutors for anti-crime operations
June 17th, 8:18am
(Prensa Latina)
The Attorney General's Office of Honduras will designate magistrates and other personnel as requested by the
National Police, Armed Forces, and Military Police
of Public Order for anti-crime operations.
This was agreed during the celebration of the most
recent National Defense and Security Council,
presided over by President Xiomara Castro,
in which the radical actions of the solution plan against crime in Honduras were presented.
Attorney General of Honduras Johel Zelaya explained
that the Ministry of Public Security and the National
Police will coordinate this plan for radical solutions
against crime in collaboration with the Ministry of
Defense, the Armed Forces, and the Military
Police of Public Order.
During the meeting, the President ordered all instances
to plan and execute urgent interventions, in all the
municipalities of the country... identified with the
highest incidence of crimes of contract killings,
drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, among
other transgressions committed by maras
(gangs) or organized crime.
The order was also given ----- to immediately build an
emergency detention centre with a capacity for 20
thousand prisoners.... in the depopulated area
between the departments of Olancho... and
Gracias a Dios, where prisoners currently
confined in the national penitentiary
system will be transferred to be
processed for the crimes
mentioned above.
The authorities will also control and recover order in the
physical spaces -- taken over by criminal structures in
colonies and neighbourhoods, and... in the areas that
represent the highest criminal incidence. In addition
they called to intensify investigation & operations
for the location, eradication, securing, and
destruction of Coca leaf plantations, plus
marijuana, and drug and prohibited
substance processing centres.
The president of the National Congress of Honduras, Luis
Redondo, announced that the legislative branch must
reform the penal code.. so that members of gangs,
and organized crime bands who commit crimes
of contract killing, drug trafficking, extortion,
kidnapping, arms trafficking, and other
crimes.... should be classified
as terrorists.
________________________________________
Chinese PM says China-Australia
relations on the right track
June 17th, 8:04am
(Prensa Latina)
After some ups and downs, relations between China
and Australia have returned to the right track, said
Prime Minister Li Qiang, during his official visit
to Australia.
However, joint efforts are required to develop these ties,
said Li, who co-chairs the 9th Annual China-Australia
Leaders Meeting ---- with his counterpart,
Anthony Albanese.
The visit of the Chinese head of government coincides
with the tenth anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s
successful state visit to Australia and the first
decade of the establishment of the
comprehensive strategic
partnership between
both countries.
Li arrived in Australia on Sunday from New Zealand,
where he embarked on the 13th on a tour
that will last until the 20th and
conclude in Malaysia.
In statements to the press, Li maintained that
cooperation between China and Australia can
cross the vast Pacific Ocean, transcend
differences, and achieve shared
achievements - and mutually
beneficial results - as long
as both sides treasure it.
In announcing Li Qiang’s visit to Australia, Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian emphasized
that both nations --- are important in the Asia-
Pacific region, because they have highly
complementary economies and broad
prospects for cooperation.
The spokesman stressed that China works for
high-level exchanges, mutual understanding,
trust, deepening practical cooperation, and
jointly building a more mature, stable,
and fruitful ......comprehensive
strategic partnership.
________________________________________
US militaryran secret anti-China
campaign during COVID-19
pandemic: Report
June 15th, 11:20am
(PressTV)
The US military ran a secret psychological operation
to undermine China during the COVID-19 pandemic,
an investigation has found.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the US
military launched a secret operation to manipulate and
neutralize what it deemed to be a Chinese threat
posed by Beijing’s growing clout in the
Philippines, Reuters reported
ON Saturday.
The Philippines was among the worst-hit
nations affected by the deadly virus.
To undermine China, the US launched a disinformation
campaign in the Philippines, claiming the Chinese
had not only developed and spread the virus
but were providing cheap masks and fake
vaccines to other nations... to gain
geopolitical influence.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,
the US military had launched its anti-Beijing campaign
via fake online accounts meant to impersonate
real Filipinos.
“COVID came from China --- and the VACCINE also came
from China, don’t trust China!” one typical anti-Beijing
post on Twitter from July 2020 read. Another post
read, “From China – PPE, Face Mask, Vaccine:
FAKE. But the Coronavirus is real!”
Reuters said it had reportedly found hundreds of
accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched
descriptions shared by former US military
officials... familiar with the
Philippines ''operation''.
Its investigations found at least 300 accounts were created in the summer of 2020 and centred on the slogan #Chinaangvirus - Tagalog for China
is the virus.
Reuters said approached X and asked
the company about these accounts.
The social media company, now owned by billionaire
Elon Musk, removed the profiles, determining they
were part of a coordinated bot campaign based
on activity patterns and internal data.
Health experts believe the anti-China campaign
persuaded people to avoid vaccines, causing
more COVID-19-related deaths.
A spokesperson for the Philippines Department of Health
said the “findings by Reuters deserve to be investigated
and heard by the appropriate authorities of the
involved countries.”
Some public health experts in the United States have
also condemned the US military campaign, saying it
put civilians in jeopardy for potential geopolitical
gain. An operation meant to win hearts and
minds endangered lives, they said.
“I don’t think it’s defensible,” said Daniel Lucey, an
infectious disease specialist at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine.
“I’m extremely dismayed, disappointed
and disillusioned to hear that the US
government would do that,”
Lucey added.
Survey: Majority of S. East Asians favour
China over US in regional alignment
Over half of Southeast Asians would now prefer to align with China - and not the US - if forced to pick sides, a regional survey has found.
___________________________________
Medvedev: theambitionsof
Western "neo-colonialists"
know no bounds
June 13th, 10:41pm
(RT.ru)
The ambitions of Western "neo-colonialists" know no
borders, neocolonialism has long been very close
to the borders of Russia, said Dmitry Medvedev,
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security
Council, in an article published in
Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
According to him, for many years it was assumed
that neocolonialism, in all its unsightly
manifestations, exists somewhere
far away - in Africa, Asia or
Latin America.
"The ambitions of new metropolises know no limits -
neither economic nor political... We have to admit
that neocolonialism has long been very close to
the borders of our country," Medvedev said.
He stressed that the first step in this direction, was
the neo-colonialists gaining control over Russia's
neighbours ------ including inciting "colour
revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine.
Earlier, Medvedev said that the West does not
disdain to artificially create crises - for the
sake of its dominance.
At the same time, he noted --- that the new system
of international relations will be based on respect.
Medvedev --- New system of international relations
will be based on respect
June 13th, 10:32pm
(RT.ru)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry
Medvedev expressed the opinion in an article published
in Rossiyskaya Gazeta that a new system of
international relations, based on the
principles of respect & benevolent
non-interference, will be formed
in the very near future.
Medvedev noted that multipolar globalization, is
rapidly replacing the "complete injustice" of
monocentric Western universalism.
According to him... it involves the creation
of "a completely new dialogue paradigm."
Medvedev also stressed that Russia hopes for
the BRICS — African Union cooperation
to reach a new level.
Earlier, he said that the West does not shun
artificially creating crises, for the sake
of its dominance.
________________________________________
Rosatom constructing 39
power generating units
overseas — CEO
June 13th, 6:16pm (TASS)
Rosatom is currently constructing 39 power generating
units overseas and seven more in Russia, CEO of the
state nuclear corporation Alexey Likhachev said.
"We have 39 units in orders abroad,"
the chief executive said.
The cost of building the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in
Turkey, provisionally, stands at $24-25 bln, Likhachev
added. Construction funding is fully at the expense
of the Russian side so far, he noted.
_____________________________________
Opinion: The US is poisoning Europe
with sanctions,and the Europeans
are asking --- to save them
June 13th, 5:50pm
(DAN news agency)
Russia must help the Germans, the French, and anyone
else who wants to get rid of the American yoke.
Historically, we have been neighbours for the
last few millennia, and we will continue to
be neighbours. The chaos --- to which the
current EU leadership is leading Europe
is not beneficial for our country.
In addition, we are part of the Western world, the same
Europeans who were lucky not to be captured by the
neoliberal plague of the XIX century. We are not
indifferent to the fate of Paris and Berlin,
because we have been intersecting and
complementing each other culturally
for hundreds of years. And it is not
the first time for our country - to
save both Paris - and Berlin: in
1814 and in 1945, we already
saved our Europe.
I just want to hope that you won't have to
resort to such measures.. as you did then.
Adding the Moscow Exchange to the sanctions lists, will
hit the EU first of all: Europe trades with us much more
actively than the United States. And the hail on the hill
for its own stability siphons all the economic capacity
out of Europe. Past elections... to the European
Parliament -- have shown that the majority of
residents of EU donor countries - no longer
believe in the neoliberal ideas of leaders.
European peoples are dissatisfied and ready to vote with
their feet against the dominance of non-integrated
migrants, Sodom values, and outspoken support
for Ukraine.
It seems that this ---- shocked one of the leaders of the
community — Macron. The French president was even
forced to dissolve the lower house of parliament and
call new elections. The Germans, also, did not
support the party of the current Chancellor
Scholz, once again dividing the electoral
map according to political preferences
into Germany and the GDR, but there
was no place for the SPD (Scholz's
party) on it.
The US doesn't care about Europe. Europe, although
close to the United States in spirit, is too far away.
Pursuing its own interests, trying to "defeat Russia on the
battlefield", overwhelmed by prejudices and unreflected
complexes of the Cold War.... the United States wants only one thing - that Europe should be comfortable.
North Americans do not care that once 10% of the
federates (in the modern sense — migrants) in the
Roman Empire... destroyed it to the ground. The
neoliberals in the European Union leadership,
fed by Washington, are aiming for the same
numbers.
Currently, 5.3% of the EU population is migrants, and this
figure, is growing from year to year. Things are also bad
in the economy: by the end of 2023... German industry,
the locomotive of the economy of the entire European
community, collapsed by almost 5% in annual terms,
and the government has not yet found a way to stop
the recession, because most of the production is
transferred to the "white owners" in the
United States.
The corruption of children with neoliberal rainbow values also takes place at the expense of the US's foundations.
But how can Russia save Europe from the Anglo-Saxon
yoke? Support the new political leaders of the EU
through all official and unofficial channels:
Alternative for Germany, the National
Association in France, the Austrian
Freedom Party, the Freedom Party
in the Netherlands and others.
Don't American foundations sponsor lobbying for their
interests in Russia? Our country can and should also
afford to train cadres, and create an "independent"
press in Germany - or France. It is also necessary
to try in every possible way to maintain contacts
with any national-oriented parliamentary faction in Europe.
President Vladimir Putin... is already working in the same
direction. We can see this in our relations with Hungary
------ a country that was one of the first countries to
understand the ruinous nature of the US path.
Moscow has the warmest relations with Budapest, which
are built on mutually beneficial cooperation and mutual
respect for values — both traditional and common for
both sides, and sovereign and sacred for each.
We need to start acting now. It is clear that neoliberal
fans of the United States are not asleep -- and have
already seen that the chair under them began to
crackle. For us, for Russia, the votes of the
European voters have become a signal
that they are ready, and that they
themselves, do not want to live
under the heel... of the North
American states - anymore.
__________________________
Trust in dollar will decline
even further, after new
US sanctions — official
June 13th, 3:29pm (TASS)
Trust in the dollar will fall even further after new
sanctions from the United States, not only in
Russia, but also in other countries, as the
US uses its currency to resolve political
issues, Chairman of the State Duma
Committee on Financial Markets,
Anatoly Aksakov, told TASS.
On Wednesday..... the US Treasury Department imposed
sanctions against the Moscow Exchange. The National
Settlement Depository and the National Clearing
Centre (part of the Moscow Exchange group)
were also included in the sanctions list.
"Such decisions...... undermine the United States’ financial
dominance. Trust in the dollar will undoubtedly plummet
further. It is apparent that such judgments are being
scrutinized - not only in our country - but also
internationally. People are becoming more
aware of the fact that the United States
uses its currency to resolve political
disputes. Many other nations --- may
fall under this situation (sanctions -
TASS) after Russia - and, therefore,
de-dollarization will happen even
faster than it has recently,"
Aksakov said.
The Bank of Russia said earlier on Thursday commenting
on the new sanctions, it will calculate the official ruble
exchange rate on the over-the-counter market, the
rate will remain uniform, and market-based.
"The Bank of Russia... will determine the official ruble
exchange rate on the over-the-counter market. The
rate will remain uniform and market-based, but the
range of data used to calculate it will shift. It
should be noted that both the international
and domestic currency markets of most
countries in the world are over-the-
counter," the regulator’s press
service said.
The Central Bank also emphasized that currency
exchange trading is not a necessary condition
for the convertibility of the national currency,
the free circulation of foreign currency, and
the formation of market exchange rates.
The US introduced sanctions yesterday --- against the Moscow Exchange, the National Settlement
Depository & the National Clearing Centre.
The Moscow Exchange said that it would not trade
in the dollar, the euro, and the Hong Kong dollar ,
since June 13th, due to sanctions.
_____________________________________
PM blasts EU court ruling
to penalize Hungary over
''noncompliance'' with
migration rules
June 13th, 9:47am (TASS)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has castigated
as outrageous and unacceptable the decision by the
EU ''Court of Justice'' in Luxembourg --- to fine his
country 200 million euros for refusing to
follow EU migration rules.
"Under today's ruling by the EU Court of Justice,
Hungary will be fined 200 million euros -- plus
a million euros a day for not letting in illegal
migrants. This decision ----- is outrageous
and unacceptable!" the prime minister
wrote on his Facebook page (banned
in Russia, as owned by Meta
Corporation... recognized
as extremist in Russia).
The EU court decided to fine Hungary 200 million euros,
as well as daily payments of one million euros for
refusing to comply with previous court rulings
related to the ''rules'' on the admission
of migrants.
___________________________________________
Medvedev urges to turn life in West
intoa ---'permanent nightmare' in response to sanctions
June 13th, 7:19am (TASS)
Russia should get biblical, with its response to Western
sanctions by turning life in the West into a "permanent
nightmare" ----- and inflicting maximum damage on
unfriendly countries, Russian Security Council
Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.
"We should try -- every day -- to do as much damage as
possible to those countries that have imposed these
restrictions on our country and all our citizens. Hit
them where it hurts," the official wrote on his
Telegram channel.
"Do damage everywhere ---- paralyze the operation of their
companies and government agencies. Find vulnerabilities
in their critical technologies & attack them mercilessly.
Literally destroy their energy, industry, transportation,
banking and social services," he said.
"Let's turn their lives into an ongoing permanent
nightmare," Medvedev concluded, referencing
the Old Testament principle of "an eye for
an eye."
_______________________________________
Russian-Pakistani trade exceeds
$1 billion in 2023 — ambassador
June 13th, 12:30am (TASS)
Trade turnover between Russia and Pakistan
exceeded $1 billion in 2023, the Russian
Ambassador to Pakistan, Albert
Khorev said.
"Russia and Pakistan have strong ties of friendship," he
said, addressing a reception at the Russian embassy
on the occasion of Russia Day. "I arrived in Pakistan
six month ago, and I can already see the huge
potential - for deepening and strengthening
our bilateral relations. Russia & Pakistan
cooperate closely on various multilateral
platforms, including the United Nations,
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) and the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC). Our bilateral trade
is growing..... exceeding one billion
US dollars last year, and I’m sure
that this not the limit."
"Russia...... values Pakistan’s independent and
balanced position --- regarding key issues on
the global agenda," the ambassador added.
______________________________________________
Putin said that the BRICS Games
will demonstrate the triumph
of sports values
June 12th, 6:25pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, June 12,
declared the BRICS Games open. The Head of State
addressed the participants and guests of the video
competition and wished them successful starts
and bright victories.
"For the first time this year, they are held in an open
format. This means that the Games will become
another symbol of the expanding intercultural
dialogue -------- a significant contribution to strengthening the friendship of peoples, and fruitful interaction between states in the interests of people & universal
development," the Kremlin's press
service reports.
In addition, the Russian leader noted, that the games in
Kazan will demonstrate an example of fair competition
and equal opportunities. According to the head of
state, the two-week competition will bring
together more than 3,000 athletes
from almost 100 countries.
Among the largest delegations -- are Russia, Belarus,
China, Brazil, India, Iran & the United Arab Emirates
Also on Wednesday, the head of Tatarstan, Rustam
Minnikhanov, pointed out that such major sports
events as the BRICS Games prove that Russia
is not isolated. He stressed that the event
unites different peoples --- and the
representatives of all countries
are welcome to attend.
The BRICS Games kicked off on June 12 and will last
until June 23. The program includes 27 sports,
which will be held in Kazan and Moscow.
A total of 387 sets of medals will
be awarded.
__________________________________
Mockery of human rights:
Iran blasts US sanctions
on disabled community
June 12th, 8:02am
(PressTV)
The head of State Welfare Organization of Iran (SWO)
has censured illegal sanctions imposed by the US
and Western governments on the country’s
community of persons with disabilities.
Ali Mohammad Qaderi said “The global community and
human rights forums must address these critical
questions: Which human rights principles are
consistent with and justify the sanctions
imposed on the Iranian community of
persons with disabilities?”
He was speaking at the the 17th session of the
Conference of States Parties (COSP17) to the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities in New York on Tuesday.
Qaderi said Iran will make every effort to promote
services needed for the disabled in accordance
with the convention’s framework as the Islamic
Republic has prioritized the implementation of
community-based rehabilitation programs at
the national level.
Washington's sanctions against Iran have taken a new
turn since May 2018 when the former US President
Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country
from the 2015 nuclear deal and reinstated
harsh economic bans on Tehran.
Qaderi said the Islamic Republic, with a commitment to
further enhancing the empowerment, independence,
and social integration of persons with disabilities,
has embarked on comprehensive initiatives to
ensure accessibility in both physical
environments and cyberspace
for the disabled.
“This is notwithstanding the fact that the cruel sanctions
imposed by the US and many Western countries on the
Islamic Republic of Iran have significantly increased
the prime costs of rehabilitation items and
specialized services, and affected the
economic capabilities of individuals
receiving such services,” he said.
Qaderi asked the forum, “Don’t you think that creating
barriers to the international communication of the
Iranian community of persons with disabilities
will ultimately deprive them of their equal
rights to educational and rehabilitation
facilities?”
The Iranian authorities have - on numerous occasions -
censured the decades-long unilateral US sanctions on
the Islamic Republic as a crime against humanity
since they severely undermine the basic rights
of the entire nation.
Blaming US sanctions for a shortage of medicines that
treat special diseases --- such as cancer and epilepsy,
health experts have warned that the harm caused by
bans on Iran’s access to medicine supplies may get
worse, in the future.
Iranian governments have tried to circumvent the
sanctions and import the drugs from suppliers
that normally charge exorbitant prices.
'Gaza genocide occurring before our very eyes'
During his address to COSP17, Qaderi underscored the
dire plight of the Palestinian people, particularly the
children of Gaza and persons with disabilities, who
endure unimaginable suffering under the Israeli
regime’s brutal occupation.
"The Zionist regime’s systematic repression --- serves as a
stark reminder of the most harrowing chapters in human
history," he said. "Atrocities such as war crimes, crimes
against humanity, genocide, and widespread
humanitarian crises ---- are occurring
before our very eyes."
Qaderi stressed - that the deliberate destruction of
healthcare facilities and infrastructure has further
compounded the Gaza crisis, depriving
Palestinians with disabilities of
access to vital services.
"It is incumbent upon the international community
to act decisively and hold the Israeli regime
accountable for its egregious violations
of international humanitarian and
human rights law."
________________________________
USA Today ---- the guilty verdict for Joe Biden's son was the first such case --- in the history of the US.
June 11th, 2024
(USA Today - The original
retold by InoTV)
Hunter Biden was found guilty by a jury in the case of
possession of weapons, reports USA Today. This
decision was the first in the history of the US
guilty verdict handed down to the son of a sitting president.
A jury found Hunter Biden guilty of violating the
federal gun possession Act, USA Today reports.
This -- was the first time in the history of the US
when the offspring of the current head of state
was found guilty of committing a crime.
Joe Biden's son now faces up to 25 years in prison on
three charges — illegal possession of weapons, as
well as providing false information to registration
authorities and the seller. The article notes,
however, that in the United States, first-
time perpetrators of nonviolent crimes
usually receive shorter sentences.
U.S. District Judge Mariellen Noreika will soon
set a sentencing date for Hunter Biden.
InoTV materials contain estimates exclusively from foreign media and do not reflect RT's position.
____________________________________________
Newsweek: EU elections ---- have strengthened Moscow's supporters
June 10th, 2024
(Newsweek The original
translation by InoTV)
The ruling parties of Europe suffered a resounding
defeat: Moscow supporters, Eurosceptics and
opponents of immigration took revenge in the last parliamentary elections,
writes Newsweek. According to
the publication this may affect
the pro-Ukrainian course of the EU.
The European Parliament elections - caused a shock in
the EU establishment, reports Newsweek. The liberal
Renew Europe bloc... is projected to lose more than 20 seats, while the centre-right European People's Party returns at least 185 lawmakers to the
next parliament, and the right-wing
European Conservatives and
Reformists (ECR) party, is
projected to gain about
73 seats.
185 million votes cast in 27 countries provided the
predicted surge in support for the far-right: Euro-
sceptics, anti-immigration and Moscow-
sympathetic parties won big victories
in both France and Germany.
These countries are --- traditionally --- considered the
economic and political pillars of the EU community.
A far-right turn in either direction could derail the
pro-Ukrainian transatlantic strategy spear-
headed by the Biden administration.
Marine Le Pen's National Union (RN) won almost a third
of all votes cast in France ------ prompting President
Emmanuel Macron to dissolve parliament & call
for early elections. In neighbouring Germany,
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social
Democratic Party (SPD) were also
humiliated by rivals on the right.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, recently
expelled.... from the far-right Identity and
Democracy bloc in the EU Parliament,
is projected to win 16% of the vote.
While the immediate effect of the vote will be limited, a
change in the balance of power in Parliament poses
"the risk of growing divisions - and even chaos," the newspaper notes.
The vote will change the battlefield for EU Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen, who is seeking a
second term in office.
The Parliament will also have an impact on the
expansion of the bloc. Ukraine, along with
Moldova, Georgia, and a number of other
countries where Russia has significant
influence, is currently in the EU
waiting room.
A more powerful far-right bloc in parliament
may try to delay or torpedo the addition of
new members, writes Newsweek.
InoTV materials contain estimates exclusively
from foreign media and do not reflect
RT's position.
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BRICS nations to expand cooperation......... with developing countries — statement
June 10th, 4:29pm (TASS)
The BRICS foreign ministers have committed themselves
to expand cooperation with developing countries,
according to the joint statement they passed
during their conference in Nizhny Novgorod.
"The Ministers committed --- to enhancing engagement
with the developing countries. They welcomed their
participation in the special session to be held on 11 June 2024 within the framework of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting --- as a good opportunity for an exchange of views on the current global & regional developments," the
document reads.
"The Ministers noted the considerable interest of
emerging markets and developing countries in
joining BRICS. They discussed the Partner
Country Model in line with paragraph 92
...of the Johannesburg II Declaration.
They reviewed the progress on the
relevant preparations to be
reported to the BRICS
Leaders, by the XVI
Summit in Kazan,"
it says.
"Welcoming the active participation of the new members
of BRICS, the Ministers assured continued support to
their seamless and full integration into BRICS
cooperation mechanisms," the
statement emphasizes.
This is the first ministerial meeting, following BRICS'
expansion in 2023 when Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi
Arabia, and the UAE joined Brazil, Russia, India,
China, and South Africa as full-fledged BRICS
members. About 30 more countries are
interested in cooperating with the
association in this or that format.
Representatives from Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus,
Cuba, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia,
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela, and
Vietnam are expected to attend events
on Tuesday, June 11.
Russia took over the BRICS’ year-long presidency on
January 1, 2024. Russia’s presidency features more
than 250 various events, with a BRICS summit in
Kazan, in October 2024, being the central one.
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The Green Left party won the
EU ''Parliament'' elections
in the Netherlands
June 10th, 3:47am
(Izvestia.ru)
The centre-left Green Left party - won the European
Parliament elections in the Netherlands with 21.6%
of the vote. The relevant data was published on
the website - with the election results.
According to the latest information, the Green Left Party
received 21.6% of the votes (nine mandates)..... the
Freedom Party-17.7% of the votes (six mandates),
the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy-
11.6% of the votes (four mandates)... and the
Christian Democratic Appeal — 9.7% of the
votes (three Democrats 66 — 8.1% of the
vote (three mandates), Volt — 4.9% of
the vote (two mandates), Farmers'
and Civil Movement (5.3% of the
vote), Animal Protection Party
(4.4% of the vote), New Social
Contract (3.8% of the vote)
and Reformatskaya Pravda
party" (3.4% of the vote) —
one mandate each.
In total, Dutch parties took 31 places in the new
composition of the EP. The turnout was 46.8%,
which is almost five percentage points more
than in 2019 (41.93%).
Earlier in the day, former Slovak Prime Minister Janez
Jansa announced the victory of his Progressive
Slovakia party in the European Parliament
elections. In Spain...... the opposition
"People's Party" won. In Hungary,
the ruling Fidesz alliance won
the election.
On June 9, it was reported that the turnout for the
European Parliament (EP) elections, according to
preliminary estimates, was 51%. In the last
election in 2019, the overall turnout
reached 50.66%.
Sunday, June 9, was the final day of the EU ''Parliament'' elections for over 350 million voters from EU countries.
The results of the election campaign.... running
from June 6 to 9 will be announced on June 10.
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!
Neocons have taken over Committee: UK's FCO Committee Report 'Through the Looking Glass' by Neil Clark
''The decision not to intervene in Syria has had very real consequences for Syrians, their neighbours, the UK and our allies. We believe the Government needs to under- stand the role the UK's inaction has had, and learn the lessons from it, for the future.''
Between December 2015 and June 2016 there were a total of 51 British air strikes in Syria. This year, there has been further bombing, including the targeting of military bases near Damascus and Homs in April.
"We believe that the consequences of inaction can be every bit as serious as intervening," the Foreign Affairs committee report states.
How can we explain this extraordinary attempt to portray Britain's extensive and well-documented operations in Syria as 'not intervening'? After all so much is on the public record, including, on the Ministry of Defence website, details of RAF air strikes.
A look at the membership of the Foreign Affairs Committee is illuminating. Its chair, Tom Tugendhat, Tory MP for Tonbridge and Malling, is a hard- core neocon and a former member of the Intelligence Corps. Peter Oborne, the highly respected political commentator, wrote about the 'neocon coup' that took place on the committee last year and warned us of its consequences. But how many were paying attention?
Other members of Tugendhat's committee include Ian Austin, the Labour MP who likened Russia's holding of the World Cup to Nazi Germany's hosting of the 1936 Olympic Games, and who told Jeremy Corbyn to "sit down and shut up" when he was criticizing the Iraq war.
Then we've Chris Bryant, a signatory to the statement of principles of the uber neocon, Henry Jackson Society, and Priti Patel, who stepped down from the Cabinet, in 2017, when it was revealed she had undisclosed, unofficial meetings with Israeli ministers.
In fact, if we look at the composition of the committee and compare it to the far more balanced one under the chairmanship of Crispin Blunt, (which produced a critical report on the UK government's intervention in Libya in 2016) it's no surprise we've got the document we have.
Neocons know that after the disasters of Iraq and Libya, 'interventionist' foreign policies have been utterly discredited. So, the only way out is to portray Syria, however ludicrously, as an example of UK 'non-intervention', in the hope that some people might fall for it and support 'rectifying' the 'inaction' at some point in the near future. Perhaps in response to a non- independently verified chemical weapons attack in Idlib, later this month?
The Foreign Affairs Committee report, which makes George Orwell's 1984 look quite understated, is perfectly timed for that.
(Source - taken from longer article on RT, Beyond Orwellianism') :
Rail’s funding for enhancements during 2019-24 will be
£9.4bn followingthe government’s spending review.
This is down almost 10% on the £10.4bn which rail regulator
the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) had previously calculated.
The reduction was omitted from Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s
announcement last week when he told the Commons the
government would deliver on “record investment plans
in infrastructure.”
Industry experts have said the decision is likely to affect a
number of forthcoming projects, which they say calls into
question Britain’s ability to rebuild following the corona-
virus pandemic.
The government defended its decision,saying it continues
to“invest significant sums in modernising our railway” but
admitted it was“closely examining”spending to“strive for
a better deal for taxpayers”given the scale ofsupport
for railways.
A Department for Transport spokesman added: “We must
ensure that, where necessary, projects are reviewed to
reflect the changing demand for rail services as a
result of the pandemic.”
Rail unions have warned the decision threatens jobs when
Britain should be investing and building its way out of the
Covid and climate crisis — also hitting out at the govern-
ment also over its latest environmental targets, which
were announced today.
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Associationgeneral secretary
Manuel Cortes said: “On the day when the government
has committed itself to increased binding targets to cut emissions, it is foolhardy to cut investment to the green transport offered by our railways.
“The fact that this spending cut didn’t feature in the Chancellor’s
speech, in which he lauded record investment in rail, but was
instead snuck out, says it all. The Tories are duplicitous -
and their commitment to levelling up and investing in
our futures, is paper thin.
“Without doubt cutting investment in our railways is both short-
sighted and reckless, particularly when borrowing costs are at
a historic low.
“You can’t trust Boris Johnson and this lot as far as you can
throw them.”
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said itwas timefor the
government to “come clean” on what it plans to cut.
He added: “How is Britain to be rebuilt after Brexit, and after
the pandemic, which has ravaged this country’s economy?
And what has happened to this government’s promises?
“This revelation puts a question mark over not only some long-
planned, and much-needed, improvements to our transport
infrastructure, but to the whole question of rebuilding this
country after the pandemic.”
Environmental campaigners hit out at the government’s continued
spending on road building while snatching back cash to improve
rail infrastructure.
Greenpeace UK’s Sam Chetan-Welsh: “The Chancellor is happy
to waste £27bn on road building schemes that will tear up our
countryside --- adding to harmful air pollution and climate-
wrecking emissions that we desperately need to reduce.
“But when it comes to the little money that was available
for upgrading our railways, he’s snatched it back at the
first opportunity.
“This is completely indefensible, as is his attempt to bury this
bad news, by leaving it out of last month’s spending review.
“Rishi Sunak either doesn’t get that we’re in a climate
emergency or he simply doesn’t care.”
RMT representatives demanded thegovernment reverse the
cuts and instead invest and build its way out of the corona-
virus and climate crises.
The union said the spending cut could jeopardise planned
works to electrify parts of the rail network, threatening both the creation of new skilled jobs and Britain’s carbon reduction promises.
General secretary Mick Cash said: “These massive cuts to
rail infrastructure budgets are a shameful indictment of the
government’s understanding of the importance of our rail
network and fly in the face of their stated objective of
building and investing our way out of the
Covid-19 crisis.
“At a time when our economy and transport links need a
once in a generation investment in rail to create skilled
jobs and shift passengers and freight off the roads
and on to rail, this Tory austerity by stealth, will
only serve to do the opposite.”
_________________________
Unison says Welsh Labour must democratise leadership contest by Peter Lazenby Friday, July 27, 2018
Labour’s biggest trade union affiliate in Wales is demanding that the party democratise the process of electing its Welsh leader.
At present, there are three blocks of voters in leadership elections – party members, affiliated trade union members and elected members of legislative bodies (the Westminster Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, and the European Parliament).
Each block of votes carries the same weight.
The Labour Party in Wales has around 25,000 individual members and 76,400 affiliated union members.
It has 58 legislators - 29 Welsh Assembly members, 28 MPs and one MEP - whose combined voice counts for one-third in leadership elections.
Unison says the voice of MPs, AMs and MEPs in a leadership election “is completely out of proportion,” compared with party and trade union members.
The union wants a 50-50 split between party members and union members, with legislators simply have one vote each.
Unison Cymru/Wales Labour Link chair, Dan Beard, said:
“We cannot support the disproportionate voting bloc of elected members continuing in its present form.
“The Labour Party is the fastest-growing political party in western Europe, and it’s time we agreed a more democratic method of electing our leaders.
“It’s vital unions retain a significant voice, when electing the leader and deputy leader of Welsh Labour.
“Unions helped establish the Labour Party at the beginning of the last century and we have supported it through some very difficult times.
"Our members help to keep the Labour Party’s feet on the ground, and in touch with its natural supporters.
“Reforming the electoral college will mean that, whoever becomes the new leader of Welsh Labour, will have a firm mandate from the members and trade unions --- to work together, to deliver the policies contained in the manifesto.”
A pioneering new report argues that thousands more engineering jobs could be created, by stopping the renewal of the Trident missiles system.
The report, Defence Diversification: International Learning for Trident Jobs, was published today by the Nuclear Education Trust. It examines various government and Civil Service initiatives in Britain, western Europe and the United States.
It argues that an internationally led programme to diversify the work of Trident’s workers, would cost far less than it would to renew the cold-war-era nuclear weapons system — estimated to be between £180 billion and £205bn over the next several decades.
The authors claim that further jobs — particularly in the skilled engineering sector — may be created by ditching Trident, and point to the decline in British arms industry employment, in which 263,000 jobs have vanished since 1980.
CND general secretary Kate Hudson said that the report demonstrates, from real-world examples, how the scrapping of unpopular projects such as Trident doesn’t have to mean the loss of high-skill employment.
“Far from it, in fact — if there is the political will to fully engage with defence diversification, far more high- skilled jobs can be created in the engineering sector,” she said.
Shadow minister for peace & disarmament Fabian Hamilton commented that while it is not Labour’s policy to get rid of Trident, “a defence diversification strategy would go hand in hand with Labour’s plan to invest in our economy.
“We do not lack the talent, we simply lack the funding.
“There is no denying that Trident is a major employer in some parts of the country, so proper funding must be made available so those in high-skilled work stay in high-skilled work.
“High-skilled jobs are good for our economy and, if we decide to transition away from Trident, defence diversification is the only way to ensure that the vital skills used in the development of Britain’s nuclear weapons, are not lost.”
The study argues that workers and local communities must be lead decision makers in diversification decisions related to nuclear weapons, and that serious government intervention - at every level - must be taken in their support.
Vatican calls for more regulation of markets, financial systems, condemns ‘economic cannibalism’ May 17th, at 10:52am
The Vatican called on Thursday for more regulation of markets and financial systems.
A major document says economic crises showed they were not able to govern themselves, and needed a strong injection of morality and ethics.
‘Considerations for an Ethical Discernment Regarding Some Aspects of the Present Economic-Financial System,’ jointly prepared by the doctrinal office and the department on human development, appeared to take aim at the plans to further de-regulate markets in some countries, such as the US, Reuters said.
The document attacked the “economic cannibalism” of some financial practices, saying profit for the sake of profit and not for the greater good, was “illegitimate.”
The Vatican condemned an “amoral culture of waste” that has created oligarchies in some countries, while leaving great masses of impoverished people “without any means of escape.”
The pronouncement is considered official teachings of the Catholic Church and could affect the attitude of the church’s 1.2 billion members.
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."
_____________________________________
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)
____________________________________________
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.
‘Appalling injustice’overturned as UK court clears names of Post Office workers wrongfully convicted due to faulty software
April 24th, 11:09am (RT)
Dozens of former Post Office workers have had
their convictions for theft and fraud thrown out
--- after an accounting system used in their
branches was later deemed faulty,
bringing partial closure to a
decades-old legal scandal.
Some 39 subpostmasters were cleared on Friday of
wrongdoing after being accused of stealing from
their offices. Their cases hinged on a soft- ware programme called Horizon.
The system, developed by the Japanese firm Fujitsu,
was used by the Post Office to keep track of trans-
actions and accounting. There was one problem:
the software had a bug, that caused accounting
errors, leading to hundreds of suspected cases
in which employees were accused of theft.
According to reports, some employees even used their
own money to try and correct the software’s account- ing errors, and avoid accusations of wrongdoing.
Between 2000 and 2014, the Post Office prosecuted 736
subpostmasters based on data outputted by Horizon.
Six other convictions were overturned back in
December. According to the BBC, the
miscarriage of justice is one of the
largest the UK has ever seen.
Shockingly, the Post Office “knew there were serious
issues about the reliability of Horizon” but didn't take
action, to investigate possible defects, concluded a
judgment issued by the Court of Appeal of the Royal
Courts of Justice in London. Instead of looking into
the matter, the Post Office consistently claimed that
Horizon was reliable, effectively “steamrolling” any
employee who challenged the software’s accuracy,
one of the presiding judges commented.
Many former employees who were slapped with criminal
charges due to Horizon’s bug went to prison or had their
lives ruined in other ways. One ex-employee spent nine
months in prison in 2007 after her Post Office branch
reported a shortfall of £59,000. The ordeal took her
away from her two children and “destroyed
everything.”
Another subpostmaster who was convicted of theft in
2008 and spent more than three years behind bars
denounced the Post Office as a “disgrace” and
demanded that the “bullies” responsible for
pressing the charges against ex-workers, such as himself, be held accountable.
Post Office chief executive Nick Read expressed his regret
over the episode, and said that the quashing of convictions
served as a “vital milestone” in correcting past wrongs by
his organisation, adding there should be compensation
for the victims that “reflects what has happened.”
In December 2019, the Post Office settled a civil claim
brought by 555 ex-employees for £57.75 million, but
did not admit liability.
Prime Minister Borish Johnson also weighed in,
describing the scandal “an appalling injustice
which has had a devastating impact on these
families for years.”
No one has yet been held accountable for the scandal. The
government launched an 'inquiry' into the matter last year,
but campaigners seeking justice say that the investigation
lacks teeth and suffers from a conflict of interest because
it is being carried out by the Department for Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy, which runs the
Post Office.
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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.
_________________________
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.
________________________________________
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.
____________________________________
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.
____________________________________
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
* * *
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
_________________________________
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.
_______________________________
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.
_____________________________________
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.
______________________________
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).
________________________________
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.”
_______________________________________
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.
