Socialist correspondent

On a recent visit to Russia this commentator found a society that was functioning well with decent services and a sense of social cohesion. There was a sense of normality despite the war. Although people did not talk a lot about it, he found that people wanted peace, but not at any price.

Russia is routinely accused of interfering in democracy in other countries. While these accusations have been insubstantial, there is a growing body of evidence of Israeli interference in British politics. Both in the United States and in the UK pro-Israel groups have channeled cash into defeating pro-Palestine law-makers and funding a wide range of Members of Parliament. In the UK some of these groups have close working relationships with the Israeli embassy and have arranged for trips to Israel by MPs. This funding and these relationships are being used to further the interests of a foreign power and undermine British sovereignty as well as subduing criticism of Israel's genocide against the Palestinians.

The Labour government has made reform of the planning system central to its efforts to increase growth. There are problems with the system which has become increasingly fragmented and dominated by the private sector in recent decades. However Labour's response does not address the central problems and some of its proposals are quite negative, like changing the designation of green belt lad so that it can be built on. It seems to entirely have forgotten its own history where previous Labour governments took a broad visionary approach to planning which was in the hands of national and local government. Pioneering work was done in those times. Current proposals fall very far short of these past ambitions to ensure that people had good environments to live and work in.

The current homelessness crisis can trace its roots back 40 years to the "right to buy" policy of the conservative Government that took council housing out of public ownership and into private hands. Subsequent governments have done nothing to reverse this trend and additionally a lot of social housing has been hived off to housing associations. Increasingly individuals and families find it hard to afford homes of a decent standard. When council housing was widely available it acted as a break on rent increases and standards were higher. Organising tenants to put pressure on landlords and government is vital, but a task made harder by the fragmentation of housing stock where neighbours will have different landlords - private, housing association and maybe even the council. Above all we need more council housing.

State intervention and planning are not capitalism's preferred ways of working, yet the need for state and globally agreed action is essential to tackling global warming. Yet if there is no viable planet then there is no capitalism either. Could this existential threat force capitalism to deal with the climate crisis? Having posed the question and put forward demands for achieving progress, we certainly shouldn't just wait for this to happen, nor can we afford to wait for socialism to rescue us either. We need to campaign today to make governments act to halt the continued warming of our planet. We can also join with the developing world which is seeking climate justice. These are the countries often most affected by climate change, but they are not the ones which caused it. They demand that the industrialised countries who made their wealth from polluting the planet pay for the transition to a green future.

The BRICS alliance of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries took a major step forward at its 16th summit held in the Russian city of Kazan on October 22-24. Following decisions taken at last year's summit in South Africa, a total of nine countries took part as full members for the first time, with Ethiopia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran joining Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. BRICS now represents nearly half of the global population. A total of 36 countries participated in the summit, along with the leaders of six international organisations, which included Antonio Guterres, United Nations General Secretary. BRICS has announced its intention to challenge the Western domination of the bank transfer system by introducing BRICS Pay as and alternative to SWIFT. This was a key announcement at the summit which showed a determination to continue to strengthen relationships between BRICS members.

Frontex, the EU border agency is armed and is the only EU body to have a uniform. It's task is to guard the EU's borders and to implement the aggressive push back of migrants trying to escape war and poverty to reach Europe. With an increasing budget it also operates unaccountably. But as the EU tries to maintain "Fortress Europe" it's own system designed to maintain free-movement of labour within the Schengen Agreement area is beginning to fall apart. There are increasing numbers of instances of restrictions by individual countries on the Agreement's operation or of its suspension. The massive contradictions at the heart of the EU's management of migration are becoming impossible to ignore.

What will the prospects for the world be with Donald Trump back in the White House? It is not entirely certain how Trump will approach the war in Ukraine, but there is an increasing shift in the establishment towards the realistic view that Ukraine cannot win on the battlefield and that there should be negotiations. Other things are clearer. Trump will maintain a firm support for Israel's genocide in Gaza and ramp up hostility towards China as a prelude to war. But why was Trump able to win and Kamala Harris lose the Presidential election. Breaking down the statistics of where the Democrats lost ground it can be seen that the conscious neglect of core voters led to a drop in support for the Democrats through abstention, with Trump also capitalising on this disaffection. A failure by the Democrats to address the needs of working class Americans as well as alienation on the issue of Gaza were among the factors at work.

The tasks of the peace movement in Britain are urgent, as people continue to suffer poverty, cuts to services and crumbling infrastructure yet the government plans to increase arms spending to 2.5%of GDP or £87.1 billion including massive expenditure on replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system. This has nothing to do with self-defence and everything to do with Britain playing its part in fighting wars and imposing military power across the globe. Not only could this money be better spent elsewhere but Britain's active involvement in wars such as Ukraine make this country a target. But there is an alternative to an imperialist, warmongering UK. We could take the path of non-alignment and join with others, like BRICS, to have a more secure and prosperous future.

The Danger of direct conflict between the great powers have recently multiplied. The US has refused to accept its declining supremacy, to compromise or negotiate. Ongoing conflicts in the Ukraine and the Middle East are in danger of reaching a point of no return.The growing appetite for change, away from war ,sham democracy, and climate catastrophe indicates that millions of people are disillusioned with the entire system. The promotion of a socialist alternative is vital.

One aspect of the build up for war with China is the rearmament and increasingly aggressive military posture of Japan. Imperialists in Japan have long sought to shed the constraints placed on it as a defeated nation after the Second World War and now they have been given the green light to do this by the United States, which wants Japan to be part of the military encirclement of China and of Russia in the East. However, as the only country which has experienced the use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is also a strong peace movement in Japan which rejects these moves.

Israel is continuously escalating its genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza and increasingly in the West Bank too. It has no interest in ceasefires or negotiations as it seeks to turn Palestine into an uninhabitable wasteland which it can permanently occupy. On the contrary it is now seeking to expand its aggression to Lebanon and Iran and to provoke a regional war.

In August the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina resigned. On the surface, and as reported in mainstream media outlets, she was forced to step down due to student protests, but there were deeper geopolitical reasons behind her ousting. Not least she had raised US ire by refusing to host a United States military base in Bangladesh and by drawing closer to China and the BRICS countries. The student movement, as has happened in similar situations in other countries, provided leverage for the US regime change agenda.

Despite the dangers to Europe and the world, the West continues to press on with its disastrous war in Ukraine. Even with the evident failures on Ukraine's part to make progress in the war, including its incursion into Kursk and despite the suffering on all sides, the West is determined to double down on war. It has peremptorily dismissed peace plans and calls for negotiations. On the contrary, there are increasing moves to allow Ukraine to use weapons supplied by the West to hit targets within Russia. This has the potential to widen the war, making the countries who supply these weapons increasingly party to the conflict. There is also worrying build-up of NATO bases in Europe as the United States tries to move the responsibility for the war to European countries.

Can the African National Congress renew and recover in the face of declining support from the electorate who are dissatisfied with rising poverty and a failure to address corruption.

The new Labour government opens up new opportunities and also faces massive challenges. We will have to wait and see whether the movement can achieve real progress for working people in Britain.

One of the main accusations leveled by capitalist ideologues against socialism is that it simply does not work. This is rather unconvincing coming from the system which has brought us close to the edge of climate catastrophe, decaying living standards and infrastructure, lower productivity and stagnating growth in western economies. And yet this critique of socialism is routinely accepted without examining the evidence of the achievements of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. When these are set out they reveal the opposite - growing economies and improvements in the well-being of the citizens of those countries. This should give us confidence and hope that there is an alternative to the dire reality of our capitalist world.

Advanced computing systems are now essential to all aspects of our daily lives. They are also increasingly important to capitalism's power and to the West's military domination. Microchips are the fundamental components of key systems and hardware and the US in particular is battling to keep control of this strategic resource. This fight over tech lies at the heart of its confrontation with China and is the reason it threatens war.

In Britain we have seen a wave of strikes and massive demonstrations over Gaza. In response the Tory government has been passing multiple pieces of legislation designed to restrict free speech, the right to protest and the right to strike. This repressive agenda will give the government extraordinary tools to suppress opposition and represents a fundamental threat to democracy. And yet in defiance of these threats and ideological attacks protesters are still out in force in solidarity with the Palestinians and standing up for free speech.

There is always money to be made from war and Ukraine and Gaza are no exceptions. The arms industry has certainly benefited from both these current conflicts. Increasingly, however, electronic systems are vital to fighting wars. the US company Palantir has contracts in Israel, Ukraine and here in the NHS. It has been described as “…the AI arms dealer of the 21st century” and works closely with the US government. So what is it doing in our NHS? Apparently “integrating health data”. Access to data is a prime objective of tech companies and Palantir's role in the Health Service has met widespread opposition.

The miners' strike of 1984-85 demonstrated the power of the state acting in the interests of capital and against working people as jobs and mining communities were destroyed. That state power was no where more evident than the systematic attack on picketing miners at Orgreave with many injured and imprisoned. There were meticulous plans formulated by the government and the police to crush the miners. Orgreave became the blueprint for the policing of dissent and sent a harsh message to working class people that strike action would be met by the full force of the state. 40 years later those falsely arrested and injured are still waiting to see justice.

Politically and economically the war in Ukraine is becoming less sustainable, with no sign that pouring more arms in is bringing Ukraine any closer to winning and every sign that it is losing. However, the mantra of western politicians remains that “Ukraine must win”. This has led to talk of dangerous escalation, like sending more advanced weaponry and NATO committing boots on the ground (more than the small number it already has). Desperation in Kiev and among Ukraine's western backers is making the situation more volatile. Competing interests with the US and within Europe are complicating matters further and making a negotiated end to the war seem distant.

Israel has long defied international law and has been repeatedly censured by the United Nations, which has also supported the Palestinians. As the genocide in Gaza continues, Palestinians are now the front line of defence for international law and the United Nations as its institutional expression. The west does not talk about international law, but rather the rules based order – by which it means its rules and its order. Whilst the United Nation has not always been progressive – the security council has an inbuilt western bias – yet it has always been an arena of struggle for anti-imperialist forces. South Africa's bold move taking Israel to the International Court of Justice has proved a rallying call for supporters of Palestine and upholding the international law which Israel flaunts. Seeing the danger of the UN becoming a real force to counter western aggression Israel and the US have launched attacks on UN institutions, especially those which offer practical support to the Palestinians, like UNRAW. The global south, South Africa and the Palestinians are taking the lead in defending international legal norms from the west.

The news media and the Government seem intensely relaxed now the annual rate is “only” 4.2%. Yet vast sums have gone to the banks and corporations in the meantime, not least because higher interest rates, raised to bring inflation down, have speeded up the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. As a result, householders have permanently lost the income already spent on higher prices, and are still paying more now for gas, electricity, petrol, food and essential goods. Mortgages are higher and rents have always been high anyway. Life has been made harder, partly because of the Bank of England's so-called solutions. Even successful strikes for more pay have not fully recovered the incomes lost. The question arises: how would a progressive government tackle inflation differently, to narrow the gap between rich and poor? Can we escape from capitalist economics on this question?

The problems of advanced capitalist countries run even deeper than their desperate fight to cling onto global dominance. There are serious problems within the system itself. Throughout the G7 productivity is in decline - this is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a specifically British problem. As economic gurus have struggled to find an explanation for this, one thing has become clear, that the unleashing of neo-liberalism under Thatcher and Reagan did nothing to halt this tendency. So far capitalism is not providing the answer to its economic malaise, but can the left? If the problem is the system itself then it may not be fixable. If so then this is yet another reason to question the usefulness of capitalism to humanity, alongside the threat of global war and environmental catastrophe.

Even with determined trade union action and winning pay increases, wages are still not keeping pace with inflation. However, given the determination of strikers over the recent past the government is taking steps to curb strike action. Defending the right to strike will now be an essential part of working class struggle. As will campaigns which gain the broader support of the general public.

This year will see a general election in the UK. At present it looks like a safe bet that the Tories will lose and Labour will win. Is there any more to say? With media pundits taking up airtime and webpages with their endless, repetitious prognostications it will certainly feel like there is not. However, there are real questions about the direction of Labour and the future of the Tories.

We should not doubt that the UK government sees the threats posed by protest against war and unrest against the decimation of living standards and services. In the last couple of years Parliament has passed three pieces of legislation which restrict freedom of speech, the right to protest and the right to strike. A fourth which would outlaw public bodies from boycotting Israel is currently making its way through Parliament. Anti-democratic repression goes hand in hand with the militarist, anti-working class agendas of our rulers.

What shape is German imperialism in today? An imperialism that twice dared to reach for world power and thus triggered two world wars. Yet now its economy has been hard hit by US demands over Ukraine. It is suffering from increased fuel prices a result of the closure and sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia and rocketing arms spending. Discontent is fueling the far right, while the left remains relatively weak. There have been bans on pro-Palestinian protests. To achieve change common struggles based on class and for peace are essential.

The West's response to its growing problems in the world is to threaten others and wage war. There is now a concerted build up towards more armed conflict including war with China. The question is, can the US and its allies be constrained? What are the forces driving the West to war and what might hold it back? The West now is less able to build coalitions as potential allies do not want to have their vital interests sacrificed in support of Western objectives. In addition, there is some increase in anti-war sentiment within Western countries.

The emergence of a multi-polar world is not welcomed by the US as it sees its interests and its world hegemony threatened. More oil sales are being transacted in non-dollar currencies and organisations such as BRICS are attracting new members, pulling away from the US orbit. The US will us its considerable military and economic power to remain dominant in this new world.

NATO's conventional war-fighting capabilities are very visible in the wars it has fought and its military build-up across the globe. Less visible but very important to NATO are activities such as its ideological efforts to win hearts and minds and it's development of cyber warfare capabilities.

More cash is being earmarked for weapons, including for the war in Ukraine, but are the people's interests best served by sacrificing their living standards to the military build-up or would they be better served by Britain taking a different path? The world is shifting, with new alliances emerging in the global South, resisting western diktats. So shouldn't we consider abandoning the NATO alliance which only promotes imperialism and war, very different from the people's interests, and join developments, such as BRICS, which emphasise collaboration and which challenge US dominance.

During the Ukraine conflict Poland has taken a confrontational stance and has been at the forefront of pushing for more weapons for Ukraine. This has included pressurising Germany to fall into line. It has also become the centre of NATO operations in Europe and has 10,000 US soldiers based there. It is an essential ally for the United States in its proxy war.

Recent coups across west Africa have underlined the growing resistance in the global South to western domination. Each of these coups was led by military officers angered by the presence of French and US troops and by the permanent economic crises inflicted on their countries. Niger is a case in point with high levels of poverty in the country alongside the exploitation of its natural resources, especially uranium, vital to the French nuclear power industry. France is the historic colonial power and has used its control of the currency in west Africa, the CFA franc, and all the usual tactics of imperialism, to maintain its dominance in the region. However, France is being challenged by the US. Both have an extensive military presence in Niger. Unsurprisingly sanctions have been imposed and, with the encouragement of France, the Economic Community of West Africa is threatening military intervention. The infamous Victoria Nuland, Acting US Deputy Secretary of State has been deployed in the region to promote US interests and gather forces to try to intervene.

As we remember the 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile it stands as a concrete example which exposes the myth that Britain and the US stand for democracy. Both actively subverted the democratically elected Popular Unity government and sponsored the brutal coup which lead to the torture, disappearance, imprisonment and murder of so many Chileans. Popular Unity instituted many reforms and had many great achievements, despite facing huge odds with the United States imposing sanctions and supporting the fascist right within the country. Eventually the US decided that it would sponsor the overthrow of the government to crush social progress as an example to others.

In October 1983 the US president Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of the small Caribbean island of Grenada. The island was being governed by the socialist New Jewel Movement who had taken control away from the brutal dictator Eric Gairy in a bloodless coup four and a half years earlier. The invasion, illegal under international law, was condemned by the United Nations Assembly with a vote of 109 to 9. This article looks back on the events surrounding the invasion which took place 40 years ago.

BAE, as Britain's biggest arms manufacturer, enjoys immense financial privileges from both the British government and the USA. This relationship ensures the company receives massive state subsidies, providing high returns to its major investors Black Rock and Capital Group. BAE pushes to escalate the war in Ukraine to drive profits higher with its role a major inflence on foreign policy.

The first so-called Pink Tide of progressive governments was rolled back by external pressure from the United States and reactionary forces on the continent. That is with the exception of Venezuela which continued to survived. Now here is a second wave of leftist governments, but what has been learned from the experiences of the recent past about control of natural resources, the power of the media and the armed forces?

The Windsor Framework, agreed between the UK government and the EU, is supposed to deal with problems caused by Boris Johnson's hastily agreed Protocol which was part of his Brexit deal, but it still leaves many unsatisfactory provision in place. Furthermore it is unlikely to address the concerns of Unionists who opposed the original arrangement. Though violence has subsided Northern Ireland's politics remain deeply divided along sectarian lines. The power-sharing arrangements put in place by the Good Friday agreement have enabled sectional interests to block legislation and currently prevent the Assembly in Stormont from meeting. Although its successes should not be denied, 25 years on it needs to be reviewed

The wave of strikes currently still sweeping Britain has exposed not only the declining living standards of workers, especially in the public sector, but has also shone a light on the dire state of the NHS and other services. Just as cash wages have been decreasing so the social wage has also been under attack. One aspect is the housing crisis, which has grown since the sell-off of council housing under the so-called right-to-buy and the failure to build more social housing. Housing stock has gone to the private sector and been removed from local authority control - hived off to housing associations. The result has too often been poor quality and expensive accommodation, which is affecting the health and wellbeing of children and adults.

Yemen has been at war for eight years since the previous government was overthrown and Saudi Arabia intervened militarily to try to re-impose the former President. This received the backing of the West, which has provided arms. The United Arab Emirates is also fighting for control of the south of the country. Despite a partial truce the war is likely to go on, increasing the terrible suffering of the Yemeni people. A peaceful, decolonised Yemen could look very different and we can help bring that about by campaigning for an end to Britain providing arms to the aggressors in the conflict.

Voices advocating for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine have a big task and confront a substantial state-sponsored media machine. There are persistent untruths peddled by the mainstream media which, by their constant repetition, have a powerful effect on the public consciousness. These myths, for example, say that Russia was unprovoked, launched a "full-scale" invasion and that democracy is being defended in Ukraine. In addition there is the illogical argument the Russia blew up the Nord Stream pipeline. This reporting is certainly not the result of unbiased journalism and there are links between the state, military/security personnel and funding for this propaganda.

The implosion of the Scottish National Party provides an unparalleled opportunity to challenge the divisive constitutional wrangling which dominates Scottish politics and for the left to place unambiguous working-class demands at the centre of Scottish life.

The largest bank failure in the US since the 2008 crisis triggered a drop in share prices across the world and prompted central bank action to limit the spreading turmoil. Once more the fragility of the banking system has been exposed and reignited debates as to whether the world's capitalist economies can continue riding successive financial storms.

While China advances a plan for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine and a possible path to peace, the West plans to prolong the war in order to effect a regime change in Russia.

Though they managed to wriggle out of the crisis caused by Liz Truss' disastrous premiership, the Tories still face multiple problems. The party remains riven by divisions. Simply allowing public services to fall apart and taking a confrontational stance towards strikers doesn't seem to be going down well. Many more people support the strikes than oppose them, with striking nurses achieving over 60% approval ratings. There is an opportunity for the working class and the trade unions to take advantage of the Tories difficulties, to build greater unity of strike actions and campaigns and make gains.

In other parts of the world the United States' attempts to bully countries into line over Ukraine have not had the same success as in Europe and the West. Countries representing nearly half of the world's population have failed to support the US position on Ukraine at the United Nations. In return the United States is seeking to sanction African states who do business with Russia through its “Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act”. The US also has a widespread military presence on the continent with 29 military bases under the United States Africa Command - AFRICOM. While African countries have shown signs of defiance over Ukraine, America has no intention of giving up the fight for control of its rich natural resources.

Whilst the fall out from the war in Ukraine has increased opposition to US policies in many parts of the world, the biggest, long-standing imperial powers have fallen into line behind its war aims. The UK has gone further than others in stoking up the war. After the United States it supplies the most resources to Ukraine, including vast amounts of military equipment. The UK's active involvement not only extends to arms supplies, there are British troops deployed in the country and British intelligence is being provided to Ukraine. There are reports that Britain has been involved in major incidents such as the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines.

Israeli elections are usually a distraction from Palestinian self-determination. However, to the alarm of Israel's mainstream and liberal apologists, the hard-right government emerging from the November 2022 election puts Palestine centre-stage. The extreme anti-Palestinian racism of parties in Netanyahu's coalition and their anti-liberal views are causing concern among supporters of Israel abroad and buliding Palestinian resistance and solidarity.

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries are also among those taking issue with the US trying to impose its will on the world. Their alliance is one of a growing number of bi and multi-lateral agreements between countries of the global south which seek to develop trade and cooperation on a more equitable basis and now also circumventing the restrictions which the United States is imposing through sanctions. Though it remains at present massively dominant, the United States unipolar world is increasingly being challenged. The benefit of a multipolar world would be to break US power and open up the possibility of progressive change. Such a world, and the fight to achieve it, will not be without complications and challenges. It is, therefore, vital to support those opposing US imperialism, to defend the sovereignty of nations and to oppose US sanctions and its drive to war.