At the heart of the far-right Maidan agenda — the 2014 coup d’état supported by openly Nazi paramilitary groups and political organisations — is the Ukrainian ultra-nationalist Kulturkampf against the Orthodox Church; a struggle with its roots in the country’s Nazi era past. … More Ukraine’s Unholy War
Over the past six months Socialists in every part of the EU have united with anti-war groups, dissenters, and the growing number of ordinary people who are becoming increasingly alarmed by the effects this war and the sanctions against Russia are having on their lives. The limitation of oil and gas in the global economy has driven costs up, accelerating an already developing cost of living crisis; threatening less-well-off people with a bitter winter in which they will be unable to afford the basics of food, heating, and rent. … More Is Europe Losing Patience with Zelenskyy?
And so as Russian soldiers closed in on the Azov Regiment in Mariupol, it can be seen that the Azov commanders and troops were truly important to the regime in Kyiv. They functioned as a paramilitary structure able to enforce the diktats of the regime in Kyiv with more fervor than those taking orders from regular Ukrainian general officers. … More The Azov Regiment, Mariupol, and Ideology
The notion that Putin has designs on invading Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, or anywhere else in eastern Europe is unsupported by the facts. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has largely stayed within its own borders. There has been no realistic indication or intelligence that Russia has been planning an assault on Europe. It is plain to see that, like the war in Georgia in 2008, Russia has no plans on annexing Ukraine. … More Parallel Realities on Russia
NATO and the western media have made a great fuss about Russia’s revision of its nuclear strategy; suggesting that, by incorporating a particular nuclear option into its conventional military response, the Putin administration has adopted a fundamentally more aggressive and bullying strategy — and has leapt on this to accelerate the expansion of the anti-Russian nuclear alliance and the buildup of ‘defensive’ forces on the Russian border. Little if anything, however, has been said about why Russia made these revisions in the first place. … More Chekhov’s Nuclear War
Within Ukraine, there is clear evidence of a disinformation mill churning out outrageous anti-Russian propaganda that is repeated by western Ukrainian journalists in English on their social media pages for western consumption. Naturally, this is picked up by western media and treated — uncritically — as news from the war. It is interesting to note that Lapatina also contributes in English to The Guardian and The New York Times. … More The Propaganda War
Doubling-down on the massacre narrative, The New York Times released satellite images from the US military contractor Maxar showing a number of bodies lying about the streets of Bucha. Perhaps to the uninformed this proves the corporate media case that Russian soldiers were indiscriminately killing defenceless civilians during the occupation, but to anyone familiar with modern urban warfare this scene proves the opposite. … More The Anatomy of a Russian Massacre
One does not have to be ‘pro-Russian’ or a ‘Putin apologist’ to ask these questions. Bucha is a story about ordinary human beings caught up in an awful situation. Journalism should be about seeking the truth and serving people in a healthy and informed democracy. What we know for certain is that hundreds of people have been deliberately targeted and ruthlessly and mercilessly murdered by a state actor. What we do not know is which state actor perpetrated this despicable crime … More Serious Questions about Bucha
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began (24 February 2022), there has been one clear runaway winner of the conflict — the global arms trade. After two years of near stagnation in the industry due to a pandemic emergency, the war in eastern Europe has been a massively lucrative lifeline for behemoth weapons manufacturers in the United States and Europe. … More Weapons Trade Driving Ukraine War
We have not witnessed a hard push into the interior or to the west of Ukraine because the Russians are not interested in the interior or west of Ukraine. Strategically speaking, even a cursory glance at the map shows the Russian army either has or is within striking distance of everything of any value. This is Russian military doctrine — an economic war rather than ‘Shock and Awe.’ … More Russian Invasion of Ukraine (Assessment)
Standpoint Zero 