Ruling political party of the Soviet Union
POPULARITY
11 episodes with cpsu
15 episodes with cpsu
4 episodes with cpsu
4 episodes with cpsu
2 episodes with cpsu
2 episodes with cpsu
11 episodes with cpsu
9 episodes with cpsu
9 episodes with cpsu
Jiselle Hanna, public servant and Community and Public Sector Union, discusses A Voice For Members, a group of rank-and-file CPSU SPSF members committed to fighting for grassroots democracy and empowering members within the CPSU. This interview was recorded live on Green Left Radio on 3CR on March 14. Tune in from 7-8.30am on 3CR, 855 AM, or stream online for the latest in activist campaigns and struggles against oppression fighting for a better world with anti-capitalist analysis on current affairs and international politics. Listen to the full episode here: https://www.3cr.org.au/greenleftradio/episode/nestl%C3%A9-workers-strike-cpsu-voice-members-v4m-rank-file-campaign We acknowledge that this podcast was produced on stolen Aboriginal land. We express solidarity with ongoing struggles for justice for First Nations people and pay our respects to Elders past and present. If you like our work, become a supporter: https://www.greenleft.org.au/support Support Green Left on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/greenleft Green Left online: https://www.greenleft.org.au/ X: https://x.com/GreenLeftOnline YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/greenleftonline TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greenleftonline Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenleftonline/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@greenleftonline Bluesky: https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/did:plc:46krhuuuo6xjpofg6727x6fi Podbean: https://greenleftonline.podbean.com/ Telegram: https://t.me/greenleftonline Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563834293752
Featuring the latest in activist campaigns and struggles against oppression fighting for a better world with anti-capitalist analysis on current affairs and international politics. Presenters: Jordan AK, Jacob AndrewarthaNewsreportsHeadline news story discussion about the Trump administration threats to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in the Palestinian rights protest movement from Columbia University drawing on Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University and a leader in the Palestinian rights protest movement at the school, drawing on the article United States: New Yorkers protest Trump's arrest of Palestinian student activist published in Green Left.Discussion of the announcement that the Flemington and North Melbourne towers will be redeveloped with no public housing and why this represents a fundamental attack on public housing.Newsreports drawing on the following articles from Green Left.Dutton ramps up culture war on women, work-from-homeRefugee lawyer: Labor's new anti-migrant laws the ‘harshest in decadesRojava joins historic partnership to build a new SyriaInterviews and DiscussionsBen, a AMWU worker at the Nestlé factory in Campbellfield joins the program to discuss their ongoing strike action fighting for better working conditions and wages. You can listen to the individual interview here.Jiselle Hanna, public servant, member of the CPSU joins the program to talk about, A Voice For Members , a group of rank-and-file CPSU SPSF members committed fighting for grassroots democracy and empowering members within the CPSU. You can listen to the individual interview here.
Since being elected the Albanese government has created 36,000 secure jobs in the public service bringing immense benefits to the Australians they serve.Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton has signaled that, if elected, a Coalition government will fire 36,000 APS workers. Many of these people work in regional areas, providing local services and supporting local economies.Debra Smith and Nick Franklin ask Rebecca Fawcett, Deputy Secretary of the union representing public servants, the CPSU, why cutting the services provided by these workers will hurt Australians how we can support public servants.If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.This episode was recorded via Zoom on 5th March 2025 and broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 7th March 2025.Apply to be a guest on our radio show, Rights, Rorts and Rants on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM, Fridays from 4pm to 6pm or livestreamed via rbm.org.au.Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online. Join BMUC.Blue Mountains Unions & Community pays its respect to and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.Authorised by D Smith, Management Committee, Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc, 52-52A Great Western Hwy, Mount Victoria, NSW.
Last week saw a momentous occasion at the North Fitzroy Library, Melbourne – the launch of A Voice For Members a new rank-and-file caucus covering Victorian state public servants. A Voice For Members is a group of CPSU SPSF members the Community and Public Sector Union and State Public Service Federation committed to revitalising the union by strengthening grassroots democracy. donations
On this week's episode, we share moments from the Public Sector Workers rally that took place on Wednesday 30th October outside Parliament House in Naarm/Melbourne. Workers across the state rallied together to demand that the Victorian State government sanction Israel and not public sector workers; that they break all military, diplomatic and industrial ties with Israel as well as cancel the Memorandum of Understanding with the IOF; and finally to end co-operation and investments with Israeli weapons companies such as Elbit Systems. In attendance on Wednesday were members of the Australian Education Union (AEU) who are also part of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine, Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) Victoria for Palestine, Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) for Palestine and Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) for Peace. Today's episode will be in three parts. Firstly, we will hear from Justine, an educator and organising member of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine. Secondly, we'll listen to a statement that was produced by members of CPSU for Palestine. And lastly we will hear a short conversation with an anonymous CPSU member.
Seolfar feachtas nua I mBleá Cliath inniu ar a dtugtar “Le chéile den Phobail”.
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) spokesperson, Julian Kennelly, said it's a "no-win situation" for the workers inside the facility.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In which we hear about how members can have power in in their union by contesting the rare thing that is a genuine union election in Australia. Benno chats with union activists Jordana Colvin and Chris Warren from Democracy4CPSU a rank and file union group. Who organised a serious challenge to the leadership in the recent Community and Public Sector Union (PSU Group) national elections with it Members United ticket. We learn how Members United pulled off an incredible challenge in less than three months created a national rank and file network of hundreds of union activists and what initial thoughts and lessons union activists can learn from in 2024. Data on Australia's miserable wage increases can be found here Wage Price Index and here Consumer Price Index at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.Jordana Colvin, Members United, quoted in Rate rise adds fuel to public servants' claim for a better pay deal, 8 November 2023 Chris JohnsonAPS pay deal labelled a betrayal, CPSU challenger group urges rejection, 25 November 2023, Julian Bajkowski CPSU leadership in fight for APS wages and its own survival, 3 November 2023, Chris JohnsonMembers United - Members United Team - HomeAustralia's Public Sector Union Is in Decline Thanks to Its Labor-Aligned Leadership, Adam Mayers and Adriana Boisen, Jacobin, 31 August 2023Cease Fire Now! Free Palestine. Show solidarity for peace wherever you are.Thank you to our listeners and supporters that have kept this this show running. It means a lot. You can find our link tree and patreon supporter page here https://linktr.ee/dohkapital Please subscribe, like, share or leave a review on your preferred platform.Keep on, keeping on. Benno
CPSU Branch Secretary, Rikki Hendon, says assaults in youth prisons outstrip assaults in adult prison.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It's beginning to look a lot like Ham-Mas. Emerald and Tom talk through the latest on Israel's attacks on Gaza and the fallout from the Greens walkout in parliament protesting the government's refusal to call for a ceasefire. Then Adam Mayers from the Members United joins, to discuss their run for leadership roles in the CPSU (Community and Public Sector Union). He describes the push for more democracy, better pay and conditions, and to give the members a say in whether the union should still be affiliated with the ALP. Finally, a call to action. Full video version of this episode available on https://www.youtube.com/c/SeriousDangerAU Kitchen Cabinet recap Patreon bonus ep now out!Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and check out over 30 full-length fortnightly bonus episodes, with guests like Lee Rhiannon, Geraldine Hickey, Max Chandler-Mather, Michael Berkman, Wil Anderson, Cam Wilson, Tom Tanuki and Jon Kudelka, and deep dives into topics like the history of the party, co-operatives, Taylor Swift, when Friendlyjordies owned us, and whether a Greens government would lead to the apocalypse. https://www.patreon.com/SeriousDangerAU Links - Stand With Palestine - https://www.standwithpalestine.au/ Members United - https://www.membersunitedteam.com/ https://www.facebook.com/membersutd/ Adam Mayers and Adriana Boisen in Jacobin - “Australia's Public Sector Union Is in Decline Thanks to Its Labor-Aligned Leadership” https://jacobin.com/2023/08/australian-public-unions-cpsu-alp-progressive-caucus/ Come to our live 100th show in Melbourne!Sat 18th Nov 5pmOnly a few tickets left - https://www.comedyrepublic.com.au/event/38:304/38:704/ Serious Danger Merch!!! - https://seriousdanger.bigcartel.com/ Produced by Michael Griffin Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Patreon @SeriousDangerAUSupport the show: http://patreon.com/seriousdangerauSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In which we hear that we need Australian unions to fight for working people more than ever. And why Benno is supporting the challenge to the CPSU leadership this election.Data on Australia's can be found here Wage Price Index and here Consumer Price Index at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.Jordana Colvin, Members United, quoted in Rate rise adds fuel to public servants' claim for a better pay deal, 8 November 2023 Chris JohnsonMembers United - Members United Team - HomeAustralia's Public Sector Union Is in Decline Thanks to Its Labor-Aligned Leadership, Adam Mayers and Adriana Boisen, Jacobin, 31 August 2023Cease Fire Now! Free Palestine. Show solidarity for peace wherever you are. Thank you to our listeners and supporters for keeping this show running. It means a lot. You can find our link tree and patreon supporter page here https://linktr.ee/dohkapital Please subscribe, like, share or leave a review on your preferred platform.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Борис Гуселетов - родился и до 5 лет жил в Сибири. С 5 до 45 лет жил в Свердловске, на Урале. Окончил уральский политехнический институт металлургический факультет. С 3 курса он занимался наукой. После окончания института остался работать на кафедре, в 28 лет защитил кандидатскую диссертацию. Занимался общественной деятельностью стройотряды, комсомол. В 30 лет перешёл работать в другой вуз доцентом. С началом перестройки вступил в КПСС, в 1990 г. Был делегатом последнего съезда КПСС, на нем несколько раз выступал. По решению Горбачева избран членом ЦК КПСС. После развала СССР участвовал в создании ряда социал- демократических партий. В 2000 г. По приглашению Горбачева переехал в Москву, был его заместителем в партии. До 2016 г. Работал на руководящих постах в ряде партий. Был помощником депутата Госдумы. В 2013 г. Защитил докторскую диссертацию по политическим наукам. В 2016 г. Перешёл работать в институт Европы РАН. С 2021 г. Работает и в институте социально политических исследований РАН. Автор 300 статей. Boris Guseletov was born and lived in Siberia until he was 5 years old. From 5 to 45 years old he lived in Sverdlovsk, in the Urals. Graduated from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, Metallurgical Faculty. From the 3rd year he studied science. After graduating from the institute, he remained to work at the department and defended his Ph.D. thesis at the age of 28. He was involved in social activities, student's construction brigades, and the Komsomol. At the age of 30, he moved to work at another university as an assistant professor. With the beginning of perestroika, he joined the CPSU in 1990. He was a delegate to the last congress of the CPSU, and spoke at it several times. By decision of Gorbachev, he was elected a member of the CPSU Central Committee. After the collapse of the USSR, he participated in the creation of a number of social democratic parties. In 2000, at the invitation of Gorbachev, he moved to Moscow and was his deputy in the party. Until 2016, he worked in leadership positions in a number of parties. He was an assistant to a State Duma deputy. In 2013, he defended his doctoral dissertation in political science. In 2016, he moved to work at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 2021, he has also been working at the Institute of Social and Political Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Author of 300 articles. FIND BORIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook ================================SUPPORT & CONNECT:Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/denofrichTwitter: https://twitter.com/denofrichFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.develman/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/denofrichInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_of_rich/Hashtag: #denofrich© Copyright 2023 Den of Rich. All rights reserved.
On this week's episode of the Unnatural Selection Podcast, we discuss: More than 70 university law professors say Voice 'not constitutionally risky' in letter to Australian public. Referendum question and constitutional amendment. How a soap opera star pushed a conspiracy theory linking the Voice to Parliament to a UN takeover. Lidia Thorpe calls the Voice referendum an 'act of genocide' after receiving threats from far-right extremists. Voice polls show support lower than that of failed republic referendum. CPSU and George Brandis say Michael Pezzullo's position is ‘untenable'. Kevin McCarthy is the first house speaker in US history to be ousted. Here's why Republicans turned on him. Big Oil's Using Fortnite, TikTok, And Twitch In Effort To Convince Kids Fossil Fuels Are Cool. The Unnatural Selection podcast is produced by Jorge Tsipos, Adam Direen and Tom Heath. Visit the Unnatural Selection website at www.UnnaturalShow.com for stuff and things. The views expressed are those of the hosts and their guests and do not reflect those of any other entities. Unnatural Selection is a show made for comedic purposes and should not be taken seriously by anyone. Twitter: @JorgeTsipos @TomDHeath @UnnaturalShow Instagram: @JorgeTsipos @Tom.Heath @UnnaturalShow
When is a vote not a vote? Apparently when it disagrees with the union bosses and they don't get the result they want. This week The Hoot looks at the CPSU vote that wasn't, the value of cost-benefit analyses and drones on Australia Day. Surely we can find better things to do with $450,000. Join Claire Fenwicke (filling in for Genevieve Jacobs) and David Murtagh as they dissect the week's most interesting stories. Hoot, hoot Canberra!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Australian Federal Police is losing dozens of officers every month – and the police union says it's because pay is on a downward spiral. Find out more about The Front podcast here and read about this story and more on The Australian's website or search for The Australian in your app store. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Kristen Amiet, and edited by Jasper Leak. Our regular host is Claire Harvey. The multimedia editor is Lia Tsamoglou, and original music composed by Jasper Leak.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by National Secretary for the CPSU, Melissa Donnelly.Mel joins the show for the first time to chat about her journey into the union movement, the challenges public sector workers faced under the previous federal government, lessons learned, how COVID reset the idea of “workplace”, and where the CPSU is seeking to make improvements with the new federal Labor government.The presenting sponsor of the Socially Democratic podcast is Dunn Street. For more information on how Dunn Street can help you organise to build winning campaigns in your community, business or organisation, and make the world a better place, look us up at: dunnstreet.com.au
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by political director at the CPSU, Rosie Ryan for our final installment in our NSW Election series - the post election day recap. Rosie returns to unpack Labor's historic election victory on Saturday night. She recaps the results from election day, where the swings occurred, the key takeaways to come out of Saturday night, and reflects on what a new labor government looks like and what type of internal hell awaits the Liberal Party. The presenting sponsor of the Socially Democratic podcast is Dunn Street. For more information on how Dunn Street can help you organise to build winning campaigns in your community, business or organisation, and make the world a better place, look us up at: dunnstreet.com.au
Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by McKell Institute CEO, Michael Buckland, and political director at the CPSU (community public sector union), Rosie Ryan for our NSW Election Night Battleground Seats Guide.In the lead up to Saturday's election, Michael and Rosie break down the key seats Labor needs to win to form a majority government and provide seat by seat analysis. This is the election night form guide for you and the whole family.Make an impact this election day. Find out how you can volunteer at nswlabor.org.au/volunteer_nswThe presenting sponsor of the Socially Democratic podcast is Dunn Street. For more information on how Dunn Street can help you organise to build winning campaigns in your community, business or organisation, and make the world a better place, look us up at: dunnstreet.com.au
Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by McKell Institute CEO, Michael Buckland, and political director at the CPSU (community public sector union), Rosie Ryan, for week 2 of our NSW state election weekly recap series. Michael and Roise break down the Liberal's campaign launch, along with the controversial policy announcements, namely the Future Fund, the privatisation of Sydney Water, and the noticeable absentees from the event. They also discuss the shift in media coverage, review the TV campaign creatives from both campaigns, analyse current polling, what to expect from optional preferential voting and how it will determine seats and the potential impact of the TEALs on e-day. Volunteers are the backbone of every successful grassroot movement and campaign. Find out how you can make a difference this election at nswlabor.org.au/volunteer_nswThe presenting sponsor of the Socially Democratic podcast is Dunn Street. For more information on how Dunn Street can help you organise to build winning campaigns in your community, business or organisation, and make the world a better place, look us up at: dunnstreet.com.au
At the end of 2022 WRAW Women's Rights at Work Conference gave centre stage to some very interesting discussions around what could be called industrial issues. Giving an insight into how far ranging and inclusive the broader Union movement sees its role when it comes to organising. Hyeseon Jeong from the Migrant Workers Centre makes it plain that Migration policy is an industrial issue while Jamad Hersi, from the Women of Colour Network and a CPSU member, talks about how women of colour have been changing the culture at the Victorian Public Service.
A woman has tragically died after her ambulance was 'ramped' for two hours at the Royal Hobart Hospital. This comes just months after another patient awaiting hospital admission passed away in Launceston. Listen as Woody and Tubes speak with Robbie Moore from the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), about what needs to be done to prevent this from happening again. "What's it going to take for this Premier to actually take this seriously?" Robbie says. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In Episode 240, Emma Scott and Sharlini Jayadeva discuss the implementation of the Dental Therapists, Dental Hygienists & Oral Health Therapists' (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2022-2023 following bargaining under the Secondary Pathway and the approval of the agreement, VHIA on behalf of Employers and the CPSU on behalf of Employees with the assistance of the Department of Health and Human Services. Click here to view the video version of the podcast. Click here to sign up to the VHIA Yammer Network. For more information, visit the VHIA website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What is beauty and is it truly in the eye of the beholder? In this solo episode Ashleigh investigates the consumerism of beauty in late stage capitalism and why “inclusive beauty” is a myth. Inspired by content creator and academic @ayandastood. Ashleigh explores whether we can truly attain beauty and debates whether this is the inherent flaw to the whole concept.If you enjoyed this episode (or any of our episodes!), please leave us a written review! We would love to hear your thoughts and see how these episodes are resonating with you:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cocoanut-grove/id1597656025Mentions:@ayandastood@malathebrandResources:Shae, T (1997) The politics of beauty in late capitalism. University of Alberta.Chen, M. The Racializing of Beauty: The Rise of Western Beauty Norms and Self-Esteem Among Asian Women. No 12 (2021): Antiracism and Justice; Northeastern University· Apr 21, 2021Indermill, K. (2015) The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty: What's Next for Inclusivity? CPSU, San Luis Obispo, CABaek, E. et.al. (2022) Understanding East Asian consumers' responses to inclusive beauty products in advertising. Taylor & Francis OnlineChilds, K. (2022) “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry. Sage Journals.https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/02/06/685506578/is-beauty-in-the-eyes-of-the-colonizerFOLLOW US!TCGPAshleighKatieIf you enjoyed this Podcast, please share, rate, and review! As a small podcast, we rely on the support of our listeners to help us grow and welcome cool and interesting guests. For questions, comments, or inquiries please reach out to cocoanutgrovepod@gmail.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
PSA/CPSU NSW Women's Conference 2022 Chair Leanne Smith talks about some of the issues currently faced by women in the workplace.
Whoever wins Saturday's federal election will face months of rising interest rates and growing household cost of living pressures, with the Reserve Bank of Australia making clear more rate rises are on the way Goldman Sachs chairman warns risk of US recession is 'very, very high' Coalition costings: $3.3bn in public service cuts to fund election pledges worth $2.3bn. The CPSU estimates this will cost 5,500 jobs. Industry Super slams Morrison's super/housing scheme. Says additional money Australians take out of super via the scheme will be gobbled up through housing price surges. Analysis shows it could hike the nation's five major capital city median property prices by between 8-16%, EV sales in Australia are soaring — led by the almost-ubiquitous Tesla Model 3 — and more brands and models are arriving in the market.Follow my socials on: https://twitter.com/leongettlerhttps://www.instagram.com/leongettler/https://www.linkedin.com/in/leongettler/https://www.facebook.com/talkingbusinesspodcasthttps://business.google.com/dashboard/l/17460167277811417147?hl=en&gmbsrc=au-en-z-z-z-gmb-s-119-u~mhp-ns_hom_8-u&omec=EI_z6RYYASIBATIBATotZ21ic3JjPWF1LWVuLXotei16LWdtYi1zLTExOS11fm1ocC1uc19ob21fOC11QAFKEwjq4cCIj5D3AhXNnWMKHUB5Cqg%3Dhttps://www.youtube.com/c/LeonGettler/discussion?app=desktop See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Please enjoy the first episode covering the 1961 Soviet text "Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism." This episode covers the significance of the Marxist-Leninist Party in relation to the working-class struggle. We hope you learn something new! Connect with PSMLS: https://linktr.ee/PSMLS Literature Used In This Class: https://bannedthought.net/MLM-Theory/... Recommended Literature: Foundations of Leninism by J.V. Stalin (1924) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jv-st... The Communist Party A Manual on Organization by J. Peters (1935) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/j-pet... History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) by the C.C. of the CPSU (1939) https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar... Stalin's Speeches to the CPUSA by J.V. Stalin (1929) https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar... PSMLS Website: http://peoplesschool.org/contact/ Party of Communists USA Website: https://partyofcommunistsusa.org/about/ Timecode Key: (Q&A) = Question & Answer / Response
A flagship scheme of the Digital India campaign, the ambitious BharatNet project launched to connect India's gram panchayats with high-speed broadband has long been marred by delays. It was started in 2011 as the National Optical Fibre Network and was later renamed in 2014 as BharatNet when the Narendra Modi government came to power. And in 2012, Bharat Broadband Network Limited or BBNL -- a special purpose vehicle -- was set up to implement the project. But, over the years, it has earned a dubious reputation for missing several deadlines set by the government. In the first phase, BharatNet was to connect 1 lakh village councils by 2013. The target was instead achieved four years later, in December 2017. The government aimed to connect the remaining Gram Panchayats by March 2019 in the second phase using a mix of state-led, CPSU-led and private-led models. But the deadline was again pushed. Now, the government has set a revised target to connect all the 6.4 lakh villages spread in 2.6 lakh gram panchayats across the country by 2025 with a minimum broadband speed of 100Mbps. The government recently informed Rajya Sabha that it had connected just 27% of the villages till March this year. Of the 33 states/union territories for which data is available, 15 had a connectivity rate of less than 20%. Only Chandigarh and Punjab had achieved over 90% coverage. And just eight states/UT had been able to make over 60% of their villages service ready. The cost of laying the optic fibre has also been escalating. In 2020-21, the government spent Rs 6.9 lakh to lay one kilometre of optic fibre cable which increased to Rs 13.6 lakh in 2021-22. The total approved outlay for the BharatNet project is now Rs 61,109 crore. The government last month cancelled a Rs 19,000 crore tender to lay cables for the project in 16 states under the Public Private Partnership model after it failed to attract any private bidder. Over 50 companies showed interest, but none came forward eventually. After the failed tender, the government decided to merge BBNL with the loss-making state-run telecom company BSNL. In the past, the performance of BSNL in implementing BharatNet projects under the CPSU-led model had been poor because of its financial condition. BSNL CMD PK Purwar, when asked about the probability of meeting the 2025 rural broadband deadline, sought government hand-holding while emphasizing that it's not a commercial venture. BharatNet is funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which gets part of private telcos' money in a revenue-sharing arrangement. BSNL, as the custodian of the USO Fund corpus of over Rs 58,000 crore, said it would ensure that all such assets are made available to all service providers on arm's-length principle. Another industry expert told Business Standard on the condition of anonymity that realistic plans and budgets may improve im
Michael Tull, Assistant Secretary of the CPSU (Community and Public Sector Union) and Deb Smith discuss the effects of privatisation, consultancies and labour hire on the workers in the Public Service and the adverse flow on effects to Australian citizens - cuts to services, lower standards of service and policy development which prioritises profit over community benefit. This episode was recorded via Zoom on 17/2/2022 and first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 18/2/2022. Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts. Apply to be a guest on our show here. Join BMUC. Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online. Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rightsrortsandrants/message
Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched an illegal, unjustified war against Ukraine and Putin himself is the only person who can stop the war immediately. In this episode, we seek to understand why President Putin has launched this horrific war in order to judge our country's ability to bring the war to a quicker end. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD244: Keeping Ukraine CD186: National Endowment for Democracy CD168: Nuclear Desperation Ukraine Civil War Alan MacLeod. Feb 22, 2022. “Documents Reveal US Spent $22 Million Promoting Anti-Russia Narrative in Ukraine & Abroad.” The Washington Standard. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Oct 8, 2021. “Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine.” United Nations. Andrew Higgins and Peter Baker. Feb 6, 2014. “Russia Claims U.S. Is Meddling Over Ukraine.” The New York Times. NATO Expansion Becky Sullivan. Updated Feb 24, 2022. “How NATO's expansion helped drive Putin to invade Ukraine.” NPR. Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov. Dec 17, 2021. “Russia Demands NATO Pullback in Security Talks With U.S.” Bloomberg. Joe Dyke. Mar 20, 2021. “NATO Killed Civilians in Libya. It's Time to Admit It.” Foreign Policy. NATO. Updated May 5, 2020. “Enlargement.” NATO. 2020. “The Secretary General's Annual Report.” National Security Archive. December 12, 2017. “NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard.” Arms Control Association. “The Debate Over NATO Expansion: A Critique of the Clinton Administration's Responses to Key Questions.” “Record of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow. (Excerpts.)” February 9, 1990. National Security Archive. “Ukraine: The Orange Revolution and the Yushchenko Presidency.” In The Encyclopedia Britannica. NATO in Ukraine Xinhua. Nov 14, 2021. “Ukraine, NATO countries hold naval drills in Black Sea.” News.cn Chad Menegay and Aimee Valles. Sept 22, 2021. “US, NATO, Ukraine enhance interoperability with Rapid Trident exercise.” NationalGuard.mil Reuters. April 3, 2021. “Ukraine and Britain to Hold Joint Military Drills.” U.S. News and World Report. NATO Allied Maritime Command. Mar 17, 2021. “NATO forces train with the Ukrainian Navy.” European Deterrence Initiative Paul Belkin and Hibbah Kaileh. Updated July 1, 2021. “The European Deterrence Initiative: A Budgetary Overview” [IF10946.] Congressional Research Service. Weapons Treaties TASS. Feb 21, 2022. “Europe won't understand Kiev talking of regaining nuclear weapons — Russian diplomat.” Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation. Updated March 2021. “Fact Sheet: Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.” Arms Control Association. Last reviewed August 2019. “The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at a Glance.” General Dynamics General Dynamics. “Corporate Governance: Board of Directors.” Russia-China Alliance Chen Aizhu. Feb 4, 2022. “Russia, China agree 30-year gas deal via new pipeline, to settle in euros.” Reuters. Robin Brant. Feb 4, 2022. “China joins Russia in opposing Nato expansion.” BBC News. Sanctions Matina Stevis-Gridneff. Feb 25, 2022. “European Leaders Agree to a Second Wave of Russia Sanctions.” The New York Times. Congressional Response Joe Gould. Feb 22, 2022. “Emergency funding proposal for Ukraine gets bipartisan backing in Congress.” Defense News. Reuters. Feb 25, 2022. “U.S. providing $600 mln for Ukraine defensive weapons -House Speaker Pelosi.” Reuters. Images State Property Fund of Ukraine USAID Partnership Audio Sources House Speaker Weekly Briefing February 23, 2022 YouTube Version Overview: At her weekly briefing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), along with several of her Democratic colleagues, talked about the situation in Ukraine and President Biden's sanctions after Russia recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region. Clips 10:25 Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA): Putin is terrified by the prospect of a democracy at his border. A democracy, giving an example to the Russian people of the kind of life and economy they might enjoy if they cast aside their own autocrat. This is, I think, one of the preeminent motivations of Vladimir Putin. 15:32 Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): I chair the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign operations, which oversees many of the resources to assist the Ukrainian people through this crisis. This includes our economic assistance to Ukraine, including loan guarantees. Economic assistance would come through the economic support accounts for Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia, those of the accounts that would come through. Without getting in too many of the weeds, I wanted to just mention that because it's an effort that we're looking at now in terms of our funding. It also includes humanitarian plans, including funding for refugees, God forbid, and for those internally displaced by conflict. The administration has committed to us that in the event of conflict, there is a need over the next 12 months of at least $1 billion for humanitarian needs. So I support the efforts of the administration also to bolster Ukraine's economy, including the proposed $1 billion in loan guarantees to continue with Ukraine's economic reforms. 22:08 Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): I will just close by saying this: I had the privilege of going with President Clinton, who invited four members of Congress House and Senate, Democrat and Republican, the Senate Democrat was Senator Joe Biden. And we went to the expansion of NATO meeting in Paris. And it was all the heads of state of the then NATO countries who spoke and it was so beautiful because they all spoke in such a positive way about NATO. We thought like we were NATO and they were also NATO, they had ownership and agency in possession of the NATO possibilities. The representative of Russia who was there was Boris Yeltsin. And he was very ebullient, but he was welcoming to what was called was the expansion we had supported in our own country, the Baltic States, Poland, others countries becoming what was called the Partnership for Peace and it included many countries. Now Putin is saying push it back to pre-1997. Don't ever try to add another country and remove weapons out of Eastern Europe. That's what he wanted. No, that was not going to happen. 33:35 Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): What is this about? The people of Hung -- many of us have visited Ukraine and have seen that they love democracy. They do not want to live under Vladimir Putin. He does not want the Russian people to see what democracy looks like. And therefore he wants to bring them under his domain. 35:15 Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): When we talk about the president, he's doing the sanctions. He has a full picture of all this. As I said, he was present there the day of the expansion of NATO. I saw the respect he commanded then, and that was 1997, by the heads of state of all those countries, and of course, that has only grown over time, by his leadership, but also the expansion of NATO. I think we're very well served, I respect his judgement. And again, it's not just about when you do the sanctions, or how you support the people. It's about how the world views what Putin is doing. This is a very evil move on the part of Vladimir Putin. President Biden Remarks on Russia and Ukraine February 22, 2022 YouTube Version Transcript Overview: During an address, President Biden announced new sanctions against Russia in response to President Vladimir Putin sending Russian troops into separatist regions of Ukraine. Clips 1:57 President Biden So, today, I'm announcing the first tranche of sanctions to impose costs on Russia in response to their actions yesterday. These have been closely coordinated with our Allies and partners, and we'll continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates. We're implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions: V.E.B. and their military bank. We're implementing comprehensive sanctions on Russian sovereign debt. That means we've cut off Russia's government from Western financing. It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either. Starting tomorrow [today] and continuing in the days ahead, we will also impose sanctions on Russia's elites and their family members. They share in the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well. And because of Russia's actions, we've worked with Germany to ensure Nord Stream 2 will not — as I promised — will not move forward. 3:23 President Biden: Today, in response to Russia's admission that it will not withdraw its forces from Belarus, I have authorized additional movements of U.S. forces and equipment already stationed in Europe to strengthen our Baltic Allies — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Let me be clear: These are totally defensive moves on our part. We have no intention of fighting Russia. We want to send an unmistakable message, though, that the United States, together with our Allies, will defend every inch of NATO territory and abide by the commitments we made to NATO. 4:22 President Biden: Russian forces remain positioned in Belarus to attack Ukraine from the north, including war planes and offensive missile systems. Russia has moved troops closer to Ukraine's border with Russia. Russia's naval vessels are maneuvering in the Black Sea to Ukraine's south, including amphibious assault ships, missile cruisers, and submarines. Russia has moved supplies of blood and medical equipment into position on their border. You don't need blood unless you plan on starting a war. 6:25 President Biden: I'm going to take robust action and make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at the Russian economy, not ours. We are closely monitoring energy supplies for any disruption. We're executing a plan in coordination with major oil-producing consumers and producers toward a collective investment to secure stability and global energy supplies. This will be — this will blunt gas prices. I want to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gas pump. This is critical to me. 7:37 President Biden: Yesterday, the world heard clearly the full extent of Vladimir Putin's twisted rewrite of history, going back more than a century, as he waxed eloquently, noting that — well, I'm not going to go into it, but nothing in Putin's lengthy remarks indicated any interest in pursuing real dialogue on European security in the year 2022. 8:04 President Biden: He directly attacked Ukraine's right to exist. He indirectly threatened territory formerly held by Russia, including nations that today are thriving democracies and members of NATO. He explicitly threatened war unless his extreme demands were met. And there is no question that Russia is the aggressor. Russian President Putin Statement on Ukraine February 21, 2022 YouTube Version Transcript Overview: Russian President Vladimir Putin announced after a Security Council meeting that Russia would recognize the independence of the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine's Donbas region. Clips 00:15 President Putin: I would like to emphasise again that Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space. These are our comrades, those dearest to us – not only colleagues, friends and people who once served together, but also relatives, people bound by blood, by family ties. 1:22 President Putin: I would like to start by saying that the modern Ukraine was completely created by Russia. To be more exact, Bolshevist, partially communist Russia. This process started almost immediately after the 1917 revolutions, leading and planning and his group of supporters did it in a rough way. If we talk about Russia, they were alienating parts of historical territories of Russia. And millions of people who live there, obviously no one asked anything. Then before the Great Patriotic War, Stalin added to the USSR and handed over some lands that belonged to Poland and Hungary, and as a compensation gave some ancient German lands to Poland. And the 1960s crucial decision to take Crimea away from Russia and also gave it to Ukraine. That's how the territory of Soviet Ukraine was formed. 3:05 President Putin: We cannot help but react to this real threat, especially since I would like to reiterate that Western backers they can help Ukraine with getting this weapon to create yet another threat for our country because we can see how consistently they are pumping Ukraine with weapons. The United States alone starting from 2014 transferred billions of dollars including the arm supply training personnel. In recent months, Western weapons are sent to Ukraine given ceaselessly in front of the eyes of the entire world 7:05 President Putin: Actually, as I have already said, Soviet Ukraine is the result of the Bolsheviks' policy and can be rightfully called “Vladimir Lenin's Ukraine.” He was its creator and architect. This is fully and comprehensively corroborated by archival documents, including Lenin's harsh instructions regarding Donbass, which was actually shoved into Ukraine. And today the “grateful progeny” has overturned monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. They call it decommunization. You want decommunization? Very well, this suits us just fine. But why stop halfway? We are ready to show what real decommunizations would mean for Ukraine. 9:31 President Putin: Everything seemed to be working well in conditions of the totalitarian regime, and outwardly it looked wonderful, attractive and even super-democratic. And yet, it is a great pity that the fundamental and formally legal foundations of our state were not promptly cleansed of the odious and utopian fantasies inspired by the revolution, which are absolutely destructive for any normal state. 10:05 President Putin: It seems that the Communist Party leaders were convinced that they had created a solid system of government and that their policies had settled the ethnic issue for good. But falsification, misconception, and tampering with public opinion have a high cost. The virus of nationalist ambitions is still with us, and the mine laid at the initial stage to destroy state immunity to the disease of nationalism was ticking. As I have already said, the mine was the right of secession from the Soviet Union. 13:55 President Putin: Even two years before the collapse of the USSR, its fate was actually predetermined. It is now that radicals and nationalists, including and primarily those in Ukraine, are taking credit for having gained independence. As we can see, this is absolutely wrong. The disintegration of our united country was brought about by the historic, strategic mistakes on the part of the Bolshevik leaders and the CPSU leadership, mistakes committed at different times in state-building and in economic and ethnic policies. The collapse of the historical Russia known as the USSR is on their conscience. 14:39 President Putin: It was our people who accepted the new geopolitical reality that took shape after the dissolution of the USSR, and recognised the new independent states. Not only did Russia recognise these countries, but helped its CIS partners, even though it faced a very dire situation itself. This included our Ukrainian colleagues, who turned to us for financial support many times from the very moment they declared independence. Our country provided this assistance while respecting Ukraine's dignity and sovereignty. According to expert assessments, confirmed by a simple calculation of our energy prices, the subsidised loans Russia provided to Ukraine along with economic and trade preferences, the overall benefit for the Ukrainian budget in the period from 1991 to 2013 amounted to $250 billion. 21:24 President Putin: A stable statehood has never developed in Ukraine; its electoral and other political procedures just serve as a cover, a screen for the redistribution of power and property between various oligarchic clans. Corruption, which is certainly a challenge and a problem for many countries, including Russia, has gone beyond the usual scope in Ukraine. It has literally permeated and corroded Ukrainian statehood, the entire system, and all branches of power. Radical nationalists took advantage of the justified public discontent and saddled the Maidan protest, escalating it to a coup d'état in 2014. They also had direct assistance from foreign states. According to reports, the US Embassy provided $1 million a day to support the so-called protest camp on Independence Square in Kiev. In addition, large amounts were impudently transferred directly to the opposition leaders' bank accounts, tens of millions of dollars. 23:37 President Putin: Maidan did not bring Ukraine any closer to democracy and progress. Having accomplished a coup d'état, the nationalists and those political forces that supported them eventually led Ukraine into an impasse, pushed the country into the abyss of civil war. 26:30 President Putin: In fact, it all came down to the fact that the collapse of the Ukrainian economy was accompanied by outright robbery of the citizens of the country, and Ukraine itself was simply driven under external control. It is carried out not only at the behest of Western capitals, but also, as they say, directly on the spot through a whole network of foreign advisers, NGOs and other institutions deployed in Ukraine. They have a direct impact on all the most important personnel decisions, on all branches and levels of government: from the central and even to the municipal, on the main state-owned companies and corporations, including Naftogaz, Ukrenergo, Ukrainian Railways, Ukroboronprom, Ukrposhta , Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine. There is simply no independent court in Ukraine. At the request of the West, the Kiev authorities gave representatives of international organizations the pre-emptive right to select members of the highest judicial bodies - the Council of Justice and the Qualification Commission of Judges. In addition, the US Embassy directly controls the National Corruption Prevention Agency, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, and the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court. All this is done under a plausible pretext to increase the effectiveness of the fight against corruption. Okay, but where are the results? Corruption has blossomed as luxuriantly, and blooms, more than ever. Are the Ukrainians themselves aware of all these managerial methods? Do they understand that their country is not even under a political and economic protectorate, but reduced to the level of a colony with a puppet regime? The privatization of the state has led to the fact that the government, which calls itself the "power of patriots", has lost its national character and is consistently leading the matter towards the complete desovereignization of the country. 31:04 President Putin: In March 2021, a new Military Strategy was adopted in Ukraine. This document is almost entirely dedicated to confrontation with Russia and sets the goal of involving foreign states in a conflict with our country. The strategy stipulates the organisation of what can be described as a terrorist underground movement in Russia's Crimea and in Donbass. It also sets out the contours of a potential war, which should end, according to the Kiev strategists, “with the assistance of the international community on favourable terms for Ukraine.” 32:05 President Putin: As we know, it has already been stated today that Ukraine intends to create its own nuclear weapons, and this is not just bragging. Ukraine has the nuclear technologies created back in the Soviet times and delivery vehicles for such weapons, including aircraft, as well as the Soviet-designed Tochka-U precision tactical missiles with a range of over 100 kilometres. But they can do more; it is only a matter of time. They have had the groundwork for this since the Soviet era. In other words, acquiring tactical nuclear weapons will be much easier for Ukraine than for some other states I am not going to mention here, which are conducting such research, especially if Kiev receives foreign technological support. 33:47 President Putin: Foreign advisors supervise the activities of Ukraine's armed forces and special services and we are well aware of this. Over the past few years, military contingents of NATO countries have been almost constantly present on Ukrainian territory under the pretext of exercises. The Ukrainian troop control system has already been integrated into NATO. This means that NATO headquarters can issue direct commands to the Ukrainian armed forces, even to their separate units and squads. The United States and NATO have started an impudent development of Ukrainian territory as a theatre of potential military operations. Their regular joint exercises are obviously anti-Russian. Last year alone, over 23,000 troops and more than a thousand units of hardware were involved. A law has already been adopted that allows foreign troops to come to Ukraine in 2022 to take part in multinational drills. Understandably, these are primarily NATO troops. This year, at least ten of these joint drills are planned. Obviously, such undertakings are designed to be a cover-up for a rapid buildup of the NATO military group on Ukrainian territory. This is all the more so since the network of airfields upgraded with US help in Borispol, Ivano-Frankovsk, Chuguyev and Odessa, to name a few, is capable of transferring army units in a very short time. Ukraine's airspace is open to flights by US strategic and reconnaissance aircraft and drones that conduct surveillance over Russian territory. I will add that the US-built Maritime Operations Centre in Ochakov makes it possible to support activity by NATO warships, including the use of precision weapons, against the Russian Black Sea Fleet and our infrastructure on the entire Black Sea Coast. 36:54 President Putin: Article 17 of the Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that deploying foreign military bases on its territory is illegal. However, as it turns out, this is just a conventionality that can be easily circumvented. Ukraine is home to NATO training missions which are, in fact, foreign military bases. They just called a base a mission and were done with it. 37:16 President Putin: Kiev has long proclaimed a strategic course on joining NATO. Indeed, each country is entitled to pick its own security system and enter into military alliances. There would be no problem with that, if it were not for one “but.” International documents expressly stipulate the principle of equal and indivisible security, which includes obligations not to strengthen one's own security at the expense of the security of other states. This is stated in the 1999 OSCE Charter for European Security adopted in Istanbul and the 2010 OSCE Astana Declaration. In other words, the choice of pathways towards ensuring security should not pose a threat to other states, whereas Ukraine joining NATO is a direct threat to Russia's security 38:10 President Putin: Let me remind you that at the Bucharest NATO summit held in April 2008, the United States pushed through a decision to the effect that Ukraine and, by the way, Georgia would become NATO members. Many European allies of the United States were well aware of the risks associated with this prospect already then, but were forced to put up with the will of their senior partner. The Americans simply used them to carry out a clearly anti-Russian policy. 38:41 President Putin: A number of NATO member states are still very sceptical about Ukraine joining NATO. We are getting signals from some European capitals telling us not to worry since it will not happen literally overnight. In fact, our US partners are saying the same thing as well. “All right, then” we respond, “if it does not happen tomorrow, then it will happen the day after tomorrow. What does it change from the historical perspective? Nothing at all.” Furthermore, we are aware of the US leadership's position and words that active hostilities in eastern Ukraine do not rule out the possibility of that country joining NATO if it meets NATO criteria and overcomes corruption. All the while, they are trying to convince us over and over again that NATO is a peace-loving and purely defensive alliance that poses no threat to Russia. Again, they want us to take their word for it. But we are well aware of the real value of these words. In 1990, when German unification was discussed, the United States promised the Soviet leadership that NATO jurisdiction or military presence will not expand one inch to the east and that the unification of Germany will not lead to the spread of NATO's military organisation to the east. This is a quote. They issued lots of verbal assurances, all of which turned out to be empty phrases. Later, they began to assure us that the accession to NATO by Central and Eastern European countries would only improve relations with Moscow, relieve these countries of the fears steeped in their bitter historical legacy, and even create a belt of countries that are friendly towards Russia. However, the exact opposite happened. The governments of certain Eastern European countries, speculating on Russophobia, brought their complexes and stereotypes about the Russian threat to the Alliance and insisted on building up the collective defence potentials and deploying them primarily against Russia. Worse still, that happened in the 1990s and the early 2000s when, thanks to our openness and goodwill, relations between Russia and the West had reached a high level. Russia has fulfilled all of its obligations, including the pullout from Germany, from Central and Eastern Europe, making an immense contribution to overcoming the legacy of the Cold War. We have consistently proposed various cooperation options, including in the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE formats. Moreover, I will say something I have never said publicly, I will say it now for the first time. When then outgoing US President Bill Clinton visited Moscow in 2000, I asked him how America would feel about admitting Russia to NATO. I will not reveal all the details of that conversation, but the reaction to my question was, let us say, quite restrained, and the Americans' true attitude to that possibility can actually be seen from their subsequent steps with regard to our country. I am referring to the overt support for terrorists in the North Caucasus, the disregard for our security demands and concerns, NATO's continued expansion, withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, and so on. 43:05 President Putin: Today, one glance at the map is enough to see to what extent Western countries have kept their promise to refrain from NATO's eastward expansion. They just cheated. We have seen five waves of NATO expansion, one after another – Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary were admitted in 1999; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in 2004; Albania and Croatia in 2009; Montenegro in 2017; and North Macedonia in 2020. As a result, the Alliance, its military infrastructure has reached Russia's borders. This is one of the key causes of the European security crisis; it has had the most negative impact on the entire system of international relations and led to the loss of mutual trust. The situation continues to deteriorate, including in the strategic area. Thus, positioning areas for interceptor missiles are being established in Romania and Poland as part of the US project to create a global missile defence system. It is common knowledge that the launchers deployed there can be used for Tomahawk cruise missiles – offensive strike systems. In addition, the United States is developing its all-purpose Standard Missile-6, which can provide air and missile defence, as well as strike ground and surface targets. In other words, the allegedly defensive US missile defence system is developing and expanding its new offensive capabilities. The information we have gives us good reason to believe that Ukraine's accession to NATO and the subsequent deployment of NATO facilities has already been decided and is only a matter of time. We clearly understand that given this scenario, the level of military threats to Russia will increase dramatically, several times over. 45:07 President Putin: I will explain that American strategic planning documents confirm the possibility of a so-called preemptive strike at enemy missile systems. We also know the main adversary of the United States and NATO. It is Russia. NATO documents officially declare our country to be the main threat to Euro-Atlantic security. Ukraine will serve as an advanced bridgehead for such a strike. 46:00 President Putin: Many Ukrainian airfields are located not far from our borders. NATO's tactical aviation deployed there, including precision weapon carriers, will be capable of striking at our territory to the depth of the Volgograd-Kazan-Samara-Astrakhan line. The deployment of reconnaissance radars on Ukrainian territory will allow NATO to tightly control Russia's airspace up to the Urals. Finally, after the US destroyed the INF Treaty, the Pentagon has been openly developing many land-based attack weapons, including ballistic missiles that are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 5,500 km. If deployed in Ukraine, such systems will be able to hit targets in Russia's entire European part. The flying time of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Moscow will be less than 35 minutes; ballistic missiles from Kharkov will take seven to eight minutes; and hypersonic assault weapons, four to five minutes. It is like a knife to the throat. I have no doubt that they hope to carry out these plans, as they did many times in the past, expanding NATO eastward, moving their military infrastructure to Russian borders and fully ignoring our concerns, protests and warnings. Excuse me, but they simply did not care at all about such things and did whatever they deemed necessary. Of course, they are going to behave in the same way in the future. 47:46 President Putin: Russia has always advocated the resolution of the most complicated problems by political and diplomatic means, at the negotiating table. We are well aware of our enormous responsibility when it comes to regional and global stability. Back in 2008, Russia put forth an initiative to conclude a European Security Treaty under which not a single Euro-Atlantic state or international organisation could strengthen their security at the expense of the security of others. However, our proposal was rejected right off the bat on the pretext that Russia should not be allowed to put limits on NATO activities. Furthermore, it was made explicitly clear to us that only NATO members can have legally binding security guarantees. 48:35 President Putin: Last December, we handed over to our Western partners a draft treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on security guarantees, as well as a draft agreement on measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation and NATO member states. The United States and NATO responded with general statements. There were kernels of rationality in them as well, but they concerned matters of secondary importance and it all looked like an attempt to drag the issue out and to lead the discussion astray. We responded to this accordingly and pointed out that we were ready to follow the path of negotiations, provided, however, that all issues are considered as a package that includes Russia's core proposals which contain three key points. First, to prevent further NATO expansion. Second, to have the Alliance refrain from deploying assault weapon systems on Russian borders. And finally, rolling back the bloc's military capability and infrastructure in Europe to where they were in 1997, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed. These principled proposals of ours have been ignored. 50:21 President Putin: They are again trying to blackmail us and are threatening us with sanctions, which, by the way, they will introduce no matter what as Russia continues to strengthen its sovereignty and its Armed Forces. To be sure, they will never think twice before coming up with or just fabricating a pretext for yet another sanction attack regardless of the developments in Ukraine. Their one and only goal is to hold back the development of Russia. 51:06 President Putin: I would like to be clear and straightforward: in the current circumstances, when our proposals for an equal dialogue on fundamental issues have actually remained unanswered by the United States and NATO, when the level of threats to our country has increased significantly, Russia has every right to respond in order to ensure its security. That is exactly what we will do. 51:33 President Putin: With regard to the state of affairs in Donbass, we see that the ruling Kiev elites never stop publicly making clear their unwillingness to comply with the Minsk Package of Measures to settle the conflict and are not interested in a peaceful settlement. On the contrary, they are trying to orchestrate a blitzkrieg in Donbass as was the case in 2014 and 2015. We all know how these reckless schemes ended. Not a single day goes by without Donbass communities coming under shelling attacks. The recently formed large military force makes use of attack drones, heavy equipment, missiles, artillery and multiple rocket launchers. The killing of civilians, the blockade, the abuse of people, including children, women and the elderly, continues unabated. As we say, there is no end in sight to this. Meanwhile, the so-called civilised world, which our Western colleagues proclaimed themselves the only representatives of, prefers not to see this, as if this horror and genocide, which almost 4 million people are facing, do not exist. But they do exist and only because these people did not agree with the West-supported coup in Ukraine in 2014 and opposed the transition towards the Neanderthal and aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism which have been elevated in Ukraine to the rank of national policy. They are fighting for their elementary right to live on their own land, to speak their own language, and to preserve their culture and traditions. How long can this tragedy continue? How much longer can one put up with this? Russia has done everything to preserve Ukraine's territorial integrity. All these years, it has persistently and patiently pushed for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2202 of February 17, 2015, which consolidated the Minsk Package of Measures of February 12, 2015, to settle the situation in Donbass. Everything was in vain. Presidents and Rada deputies come and go, but deep down the aggressive and nationalistic regime that seized power in Kiev remains unchanged. It is entirely a product of the 2014 coup, and those who then embarked on the path of violence, bloodshed and lawlessness did not recognise then and do not recognise now any solution to the Donbass issue other than a military one. In this regard, I consider it necessary to take a long overdue decision and to immediately recognise the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic. I would like to ask the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to support this decision and then ratify the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance with both republics. These two documents will be prepared and signed shortly. 54:52 President Putin: We want those who seized and continue to hold power in Kiev to immediately stop hostilities. Otherwise, the responsibility for the possible continuation of the bloodshed will lie entirely on the conscience of Ukraine's ruling regime. Ukraine is 'longing for peace' says Zelensky at Munich Security Conference February 19, 2022 Transcript Overview: Western powers should drop their policy of "appeasement" toward Moscow, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky told a security forum Saturday, as fears mount of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Clips 13:37 Vladimir Zelensky: Ukraine has received security guarantees for abandoning the world's third nuclear capability. We don't have that weapon. We also have no security. 14:37 Vladimir Zelensky: Since 2014, Ukraine has tried three times to convene consultations with the guarantor states of the Budapest Memorandum. Three times without success. Today Ukraine will do it for the fourth time. I, as President, will do this for the first time. But both Ukraine and I are doing this for the last time. I am initiating consultations in the framework of the Budapest Memorandum. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was commissioned to convene them. If they do not happen again or their results do not guarantee security for our country, Ukraine will have every right to believe that the Budapest Memorandum is not working and all the package decisions of 1994 are in doubt. President Biden Remarks on Russia-Ukraine Situation February 18, 2022 YouTube Version Transcript Overview: Following talks with NATO allies, President Biden provided an update on Russia-Ukraine tensions and international efforts to resolve the crisis. Clips 3:04 President Biden: You know, look, we have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week — in the coming days. We believe that they will target Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.War posturing - Biden US provided record security assistance to Ukraine 4:00 President Biden: This past year, the United States provided a record amount of security assistance to Ukraine to bolster its defensive — $650 million, from Javelin missiles to ammunition. And we also previously provided $500 million in Ukrai- — in humanitarian aid and economic support for Ukraine. And earlier this week, we also announced an additional sovereign loan guarantee of up to $1 billion to strengthen Ukraine's economic resilience. 7:24 President Biden: Well, I don't think he is remotely contemplating nuclear — using nuclear weapons. But I do think it's — I think he is focused on trying to convince the world that he has the ability to change the dynamics in Europe in a way that he cannot. President Biden Remarks on Russia and Ukraine February 15, 2022 YouTube Version Transcript Overview: President Biden gave an update on tensions between Russia and Ukraine, calling for diplomacy to resolve tensions. Clips 1:47 President Biden: The United States has put on the table concrete ideas to establish a security environment in Europe. We're proposing new arms control measures, new transparency measures, new strategic stability measures. These measures would apply to all parties — NATO and Russia alike. 2:14 President Biden: We will not sacrifice basic principles, though. Nations have a right to sovereignty and territorial integrity. They have the freedom to set their own course and choose with whom they will associate. 3:17 President Biden: And the fact remains: Right now, Russia has more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine in Belarus and along Ukraine's border. An invasion remains distinctly possible. That's why I've asked several times that all Americans in Ukraine leave now before it's too late to leave safely. It is why we have temporarily relocated our embassy from Kyiv to Lviv in western Ukraine, approaching the Polish border. 4:12 President Biden: The United States and NATO are not a threat to Russia. Ukraine is not threatening Russia. Neither the U.S. nor NATO have missiles in Ukraine. We do not — do not have plans to put them there as well. 4:26 President Biden: To the citizens of Russia: You are not our enemy. And I do not believe you want a bloody, destructive war against Ukraine — a country and a people with whom you share such deep ties of family, history, and culture. 5:52 President Biden: Today, our NATO Allies and the Alliance is as unified and determined as it has ever been. And the source of our unbreakable strength continues to be the power, resilience, and universal appeal of our shared democratic values. Because this is about more than just Russia and Ukraine. It's about standing for what we believe in, for the future we want for our world. 7:25 President Biden: And when it comes to Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that would bring natural gas from Russia to Germany, if Russia further invades Ukraine, it will not happen. 7:35 President Biden: While I will not send American servicemen to fight Russia in Ukraine, we have supplied the Ukrainian military with equipment to help them defend themselves. We have provided training and advice and intelligence for the same purpose. 7:50 President Biden: And make no mistake: The United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power. An attack against one NATO country is an attack against all of us. And the United States commitment to Article 5 is sacrosanct. Already, in response to Russia's build-up of troops, I have sent additional U.S. forces to bolster NATO's eastern flank. Several of our Allies have also announced they'll add forces and capabilities to ensure deterrence and defense along NATO's eastern flank. We will also continue to conduct military exercises with our Allies and partners to enhance defensive readiness. And if Russia invades, we will take further steps to reinforce our presence in NATO, reassure our Allies, and deter further aggression. 9:12 President Biden: I will not pretend this will be painless. There could be impact on our energy prices, so we are taking active steps to alleviate the pressure on our own energy markets and offset rising prices. We're coordinating with major enersy [sic] — energy consumers and producers. We're prepared to deploy all the tools and authority at our disposal to provide relief at the gas pump. And I will work with Congress on additional measures to help protect consumers and address the impact of prices at the pump. Hearing on U.S. Policy Toward Russia Senate Committee on Foreign Relations December 7, 2021 Overview: Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, testified at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on U.S. policy toward Russia. She addressed President Biden's earlier call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said that Russia would suffer severe consequences if it attacked Ukraine. Other topics included the use of sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine, the cooperation of NATO and U.S. allies, Russia's use of energy during conflict, and the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Clips 10:42 Victoria Nuland: Since 2014 The United States has provided Ukraine with $2.4 billion in security assistance including $450 million this year alone. 30:55 Sen. Todd Young (R-IN): President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov have repeatedly indicated that they seek to deny any potential path to NATO membership for Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Does the administration view this demand is a valid issue for negotiation? Victoria Nuland: No we do not and President Biden made that point crystal clear to President Putin today that the issue of who joins NATO is an issue for NATO to decide it's an issue for applicant countries to decide that no other outside power will or may have a veto or a vote in those decisions. Foreign Affairs Issue Launch with Former Vice President Joe Biden January 23, 2018 Clips 24:30 Former Vice President Biden: I'll give you one concrete example. I was—not I, but it just happened to be that was the assignment I got. I got all the good ones. And so I got Ukraine. And I remember going over, convincing our team, our leaders to—convincing that we should be providing for loan guarantees. And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to Kiev. And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn't. So they said they had—they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I'm not going to—or, we're not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You're not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I'm telling you, you're not getting the billion dollars. I said, you're not getting the billion. I'm going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)
If you do the right thing, you're a sucker. The system is geared for people who just grab. But why wouldn't they? It's your money they're taking, and there's plenty more where that came from, right?
The People's School for Marxist-Leninist Studies presents a reading from the first publication of "The Communist," put out by the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the Party of Communists (PCUSA). This is a continuation of the ideological publication released by the CPUSA when it was also titled "The Communist." This article is a reprint of a 2014 article by comrades V.A. Tyulkin and M.V. Popov that goes over several fundamental theoretical and practical errors made by the CPSU that would ultimately set the foundation for Gorbachev's "Perestroika" and the counter-revolutionary events of 1991. Connect with PSMLS: https://linktr.ee/PSMLS Literature Used: Leninism and Revisionism by V.A. Tyulkin and M.V. Popov (2014) https://redpat.org/2021/11/the-commun... Recommended Literature: Readers' Guide to Marxist Classics by Maurice Cornforth (1954) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/mauri... Dialectical and Historical Materialism by J.V. Stalin (1938) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/j-sta... Foundations of Leninism by J.V. Stalin (1924) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jv-st... Communists and the Liberation of Europe by Maxine Levi (1945) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/maxin... PSMLS Website: http://peoplesschool.org Party of Communists USA Website https://partyofcommunistsusa.org/about/
Nicola chats with Denise Richards from The CPSU following an online conference focused on creating safer cultures in sport and activity.The conference took place over two mornings on 19 and 20 January 2022.From Learning Lessons to Taking Action, the conference challenged attendees to create a safer place for all children and adults in your organisation, whatever their role.The conference explored:How you ensure that your organisation is operating a safer culture for participants of all ages, abilities, race, cultures, sexuality, sex, and genderProtecting and safeguarding the wellbeing of those taking partHow you ensure that everyone feels able to share any concerns at an early stageHow you ensure that everyone feels confident to interrupt or question poor practice or behaviour.The keynote presentations and workshops addressed:The learning from recent reviews about safeguarding and welfare concerns in sport and other settingsNew strategies from government and sports councilsInitiatives to embed best practice in safeguardingThe response to the voices of those with lived experience within sport and physical activityHow we can develop safer cultures in our organisationsIn this podcast, Nicola and Denise reflect on the conference's themes. They also discuss some of the key messages from the presentations and workshops.
Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese announced Federal Labor's plan, should it win government to fund 465,000 TAFE course places. A shot in the arm for a system of education that has been brutalised by years of job cuts, outsourcing and campus sell-offs. However, there are still some concerns regarding resourcing.
Please enjoy the fourth and final part of a four-part series on the basic tenets of a Leninist Party (i.e. a Party of a New Type). This episode goes into the current manifestation of the only Leninist Party currently within the United States, the PCUSA (Party of Communists USA). We hope you learn something new! Interested in attending a class? Email info@psmls.org for more information Literature Used In This Class: N/A Recommended Literature: Revisionism, Opportunism, Poly-Marxism by Gaspar Jorge Garcia Gallo (1974). Republished by the S.I.M.S.G. (Staten Island Marxist Study Group) in 1989 under the Educational Department of the Staten Island Club of the Communist Party U.S.A. https://ourcloud.usvanguard.net/s/4pe... Foundations of Leninism by J.V. Stalin (1924) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jv-st... The Communist Party A Manual on Organization by J. Peters (1935) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/j-pet... History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) by the C.C. of the CPSU (1939) https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar... History of the Three Internationals by William Z. Foster (1955) https://www.marxists.org/archive/brow... Stalin's Speeches on the CPUSA by J.V. Stalin (1929) https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar... PSMLS Website: http://peoplesschool.org/contact/ Party of Communists USA Website: https://partyofcommunistsusa.org/about/ Timecode Key: (Q&A) = Question & Answer / Response 0:00 Introduction 0:08 Lecture 1 6:56 Internationales? (Q&A) 7:41 Hugo Chavez? (Q&A) 10:07 Old CPUSA issues 11:23 Cuba, Stalin, & Chavez 12:39 AES democratic centralism? (Q&A) 13:14 More Internationales? (Q&A) 16:36 Old CPUSA 19:48 Pre-Party Formation? (Q&A) 20:47 Perestroika support? (Q&A) 23:18 Jarvis Tyner story 24:20 Dem-cent & Perestroika? (Q&A) 30:39 Lecture 2 38:02 Haywood clarification 38:28 PLP 39:29 Other US Parties? (Q&A) 41:15 Splitting over tactics? (Q&A) 43:32 Ideological splits? (Q&A) 49:30 Stalin & H.G. Wells 49:52 YCL radicalization? (Q&A) 50:54 PSMLS vs. public universities 51:23 Previous CPUSA experiences 52:22 DSA & Dem-Cent? (Q&A) 53:30 Marxism & Revisionism 54:26 Sam Webb's Blog 57:49 Reading Recommendations 58:28 Importance of PCUSA History 59:42 Hoxhaism 1:01:42 Contemporary Splits 1:02:22 Communist Bloodline 1:03:24 More on Hoxhaism? (Q&A) 1:05:26 WWP Experiences 1:06:33 Democratic Centralism 1:07:56 CIA Chicanery? (Q&A) 1:09:03 Bolsheviks & Pre-Party Formation? (Q&A) 1:10:58 Stalin Destroys Liberalism 1:12:21 Other Party Experiences 1:12:55 J. Peters' Book 1:13:37 Market socialism? (Q&A) 1:15:39 CPUSA Revisionism? (Q&A) 1:16:54 Changing Global Framework 1:18:21 Concluding Remarks
Join Mike Taber, Eric Blanc, Lars Lih, and Anne McShane for a book launch celebrating the release of Under the Socialist Banner: Resolutions of the Second International, 1889–1912, edited by Taber. Recent years have seen a massive growth of interest in socialism, particularly among young people. But few are fully aware of socialism's revolutionary history. For this reason, an appreciation of the Second International—often called the “Socialist International”—during its Marxist years is particularly relevant. What is the record of the Second International in its Marxist years? What is its legacy, and what lessons does it offer for today? These and other questions will be discussed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Order a Copy of Under the Socialist Banner: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1649-under-the-socialist-banner --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eric Blanc is the author of Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics and Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire, 1882-1917. Lars T. Lih is an independent scholar who lives in Montreal. He is the author of Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914-1921, co-author of Stalin's Letters to Molotov , author of Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context , and co-editor, with Ben Lewis, of Zinoviev and Martov: Head to Head in Halle . He has also authored a short biography entitled Lenin . At present, he is working on a study of the 1917 revolution that brings out the overlooked role of consensus and continuity in the Bolshevik outlook. Mike Taber is the editor of Under the Socialist Banner: Resolutions of the Second International, 1889–1912. He has edited and prepared a number of other books related to the history of revolutionary and working-class movements—from collections of documents of the Communist International under Lenin to works by figures such as Leon Trotsky, Malcolm X, and Che Guevara. Anne McShane has been involved in Marxist politics for over 30 years. She has a particular interest in the struggle for women's emancipation within socialist projects and has completed a PhD on the role of the Zhenotdel (Women's Department of the CPSU) in Soviet Central Asia. She works as a human rights lawyer in Ireland. This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books and Verso Books. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/wcdUfdo2C_w Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Please enjoy the third part of a four-part series on the basic tenets of a Leninist Party (i.e. a Party of a New Type). This episode discusses an article by Gaspar Jorge Garcia Gallo of the Communist Party of Cuba, which discusses the themes of revisionism and opportunism. We hope you learn something new! Interested in attending a class? Email info@psmls.org for more information Literature Used In This Class: Revisionism, Opportunism, Poly-Marxism by Gaspar Jorge Garcia Gallo (1974). Republished by the S.I.M.S.G. (Staten Island Marxist Study Group) in 1989 under the Educational Department of the Staten Island Club of the Communist Party U.S.A. https://ourcloud.usvanguard.net/s/4pe... Recommended Literature: Foundations of Leninism by J.V. Stalin (1924) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jv-st... The Communist Party A Manual on Organization by J. Peters (1935) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/j-pet... History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) by the C.C. of the CPSU (1939) https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar... History of the Three Internationals by William Z. Foster (1955) https://www.marxists.org/archive/brow... Stalin's Speeches on the CPUSA by J.V. Stalin (1929) https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar... PSMLS Website: http://peoplesschool.org/contact/ Party of Communists USA Website: https://partyofcommunistsusa.org/about/ Timecode Key: (Q&A) = Question & Answer / Response 0:00 Lecture 1 7:49 Leninism vs. Maoism? (Q&A) 8:47 Opportunist examples? (Q&A) 9:54 Litmus test? (Q&A) 11:44 Disagreements on definitions? (Q&A) 12:47 "Revisionism"? (Q&A) 16:05 Staying dialectical? (Q&A) 18:40 "Class reductionism" (Q&A) 21:32 DSA deception 22:02 What constitutes revisionism? (Q&A) 23:58 Lecture 2 30:28 Poly-Marxism rejects Leninism 33:19 Contemporary Poly-Marxists? (Q&A) 34:00 Sino-Soviet split 35:24 Opportunist DSA 36:21 CPUSA decay? (Q&A) 39:24 Stalin on Revisionism 40:59 "Individual" Marxism 41:55 Bourgeois baggage 42:23 Poly-Marxism has failed 45:53 When reality changes the truth changes? (Q&A) 48:28 More reading recommendations 48:49 CPUSA's "Reflections on Socialism" 51:43 Even more reading recommendations 52:11 Anarchists: not our allies 55:06 And even more reading recommendations 55:56 "Social Fascism?" (Q&A) 57:39 PSMLS combats these trends 58:22 DSA experience 58:55 Communist "center"? (Q&A) 1:01:26 Market socialism? (Q&A) 1:05:34 Poly-Marxism rejects vanguardism 1:06:00 Molotov Remembers 1:07:09 Ideology, strategy & tactics 1:08:16 Breadtube breeding reactionary ideology 1:08:52 Venom of liberalism 1:10:18 Another Stalin quote 1:11:37 Online "Marxism" 1:12:29 Final reading recommendations 1:13:17 Concluding remarks
Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week's stories are: 1. New NT COVID plan to see mandatory vaccine for most workers, ‘freedom pass' touted 2. Gunner Government's COVID-19 stimulus spending program raised concerns: Auditor General 3. NT Government's Howard Springs quarantine takeover contributed to RDH crisis: Nurses union 4. NT public servants reject four year pay freeze offer: CPSU 5. Labor wins Daly by-election in historic NT political victory 6. Darwin school evacuated over ‘threat', staff and students safe --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/territorystory/message
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Present Age podcast. I’m your host Parker Molloy.Joining me on today’s show is the man behind what I’ve long referred to as “the only good government Twitter account.” His name is Joe Galbo, and he’s the social media specialist at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.Parker Molloy: Joining me today is Joe Galbo. Joe, what is it that you do?Joe Galbo: Sure. Well, I make memes for the government. No, so yeah, I am the Social Media Specialist at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. We're a small, federal agency, about 500 employees, with a budget of about $137 million dollars, and we regulate consumer products, so everything from ATVs to toaster ovens, to children's clothing, basically thousands and thousands of things people use every single day, and we're the agency that makes sure those things are safe.It's not just product updates. It's not just recall updates, it's a lot of awesome memes. That is what drew me to the account, not my love of product recall.Sure. You have a bunch of characters in these memes. Can you tell me a little bit about how that got started? How did you pitch the idea of creating Quinn the Quarantine Fox, and your various other ...Handsome Ron.Handsome Ron, yeah.Copernicus Jackson, yeah sure. Right from when I interviewed at the agency, back in, it was June 2016, which is basically a lifetime ago for everyone at this point. I explained to my supervisors at the time, "Hey, I want to join the agency. I want to do public education campaigns, but it's not going to look necessarily the way you all have been doing things." They were cool with that, to their credit. Right from the get go, there was an understanding that, "Hey, we're going to do something and it's going to look a little bit different."I don't think they anticipated so many talking animals at the time, and to be fair, I don't think I anticipated that either, but as I explored the agency's messaging and the types of things we were trying to educate people about, it became very clear to me that our guidance to people, how people could live a little bit safer, all came across very standard, and a little bit boring, so again, wear a bike helmet, when your message is wear a bike helmet, or don't plug your space heater into a power strip, that's good advice, but it's not necessarily the most exciting advice.When you're out there on the Internet, and you're up against celebrities and influencers, and every brand is trying to be funny, if you just go out there and start telling people to make sure they clean their dryer vent lint, the lint out of their dryer vent, you're not going to be very successful. I think the strategy really came out of looking at what our messaging was, and then again, seeing how simplistic it was, and saying, "Okay, if this has any chance at all of making it out there online, we're going to have to go big and bold, and we're going to have to do things in a super fun way."Now, as far as pitching characters individually, it's one of these situations where if I have a good idea for a new character, I'll go try to find a stock photo that supports that. With Copernicus Jackson, who's one of our cat characters, I knew I wanted a great cat character, and it really was just a matter of finding a good stock photo that represented a cat, that looked excited and interested in something, but not terrified of something. That was a lot of time searching through a stock site to find it, and then once I did, coming up with the name, again it's, a lot of times it's about, "Hey, have I heard this character name out there before," and if the answer is no, then okay, can we try it. It's a lot of Googling to make sure I'm not reusing character names that exist anywhere else.Yeah, it is a little bit, I want to say ad hoc, because there's definitely strategy there, but it's very organic. Again, I'll try to leverage training topics a lot, so if there's an animal trending or something, I'll try to come up with a character in that moment. Yeah, it's a little bit a mix of method and then all over the place madness for sure.One of the reasons that I really just love the account, generally, and this is a big part of what I'm trying to do with this newsletter, and this podcast. I'm really focused on the way that we communicate, and yours is one of the most interesting communication strategies I've seen, especially when it comes to something that comes from the government. You really expect, when you think government Twitter account, you think it's sterile, straightforward, just telling you what you need to know. Meanwhile, it's, "Hey, here's an ATV and a T Rex." All of that stuff that really just, it gets people drawn in, the response to your Tweets is just phenomenal.It's always funny seeing people who are encountering it for the first time, going, "Did you get hacked?" Oh no.We do get that one a lot, yeah. I think things have changed. Communication has changed, and I don't want to sound like a cliché, but the past decade, forget about it. Everything's different, and even the past five years it feels, to me, it feels like things are very different. The government, just the way it operates, where everything has to be by the book and by the law. By its nature, it is slower than the private sector. A functional government will be mostly slower than the private sector moves, and in communication, again where things move twice as fast in every other industry, yeah it can feel like, again, a lifetime. I think one thing that we really struggle within government, and I've had a chance to speak to a lot of people in government at this point, who do communication, there is that constant tug of war between, "Hey, we have to be an authoritative voice, and people have to trust us, and we have to get the message out there in a really clear way." What you were just speaking to, which is it's also very boring when you just do that, straightforward. The Internet is not designed for boring content, which I guess is not a thing that people meditate on very often, but I think part of it too is at a small agency like CPSC, where our budget is, again, only about $137 million, which in government money is not a lot at all, compared to the FDA or the CDC, where you're talking billion-dollar budgets and more. You just can't do it the boring way online, you just can't.I do think government helps itself when it’s very relatable to people, and I think that's one thing that we hear a lot about this strategy is that it's not preachy. It's not coming at you in a way where, from a place of high authority. Again, it is advising you on a better way to live your life a little more safely, but it's not doing it from a pulpit. It's not going it from an ivory tower. It's down here with the regular people, where regular people like talking dogs, and regular people like robots that go on picnics with their friends. Again, I don't know, at least those are the things I think regular people like.Like you said, it seems to be working so far, and we're just very grateful for that, honestly.Yeah, of course. I'd say for about a year or two I'd see your Tweets and just be like, "What is going on inside this person's head?" It's great to actually talk to you, and to be like, "Oh look, this is a human being, who seems to share the same sense of humor as me," and other people seem to be into it as well.Yeah. I guess one thing about me, I love working in communication. Back in the day, I wanted to be a journalist, but I graduated from college in 2008, where being a journalist would have been very difficult at the time. I fell into this government communication thing through advertising. In my heart, I always fantasize about being a TV showrunner, like on an animated series. That, to me, is the most fun you could probably have in a job. In some ways, what people are seeing here is the Joe Galbo version of what a TV show might look like.Right.A lot of these memes could easily be turned into PSAs or video products, and that's not an accident. My passion lies in visual storytelling, and I do try to inject a lot of narrative into these things, to a point where sometimes it's like my supervisors are like, "I don't know, is this one maybe too complicated for people?" I'm always like, "No, trust the audience, they're going to get it." More often than not, they let me go that route.Again, it is a delicate balance, and I think one of the things I like about the, I guess you could call it a template we use now, is that at the top there, where we have the narrative or the crazy visual, you can almost do whatever you want at this point, and then as long as at the bottom you're delivering that safety message that's going to help save lives.Yeah.That's one thing that's been super fun, and now it's really just trying to push us in new and exciting ways. We just started doing LGBTQ graphics a short time ago, and that's been very exciting. It's one of these things where, again, not that we've pushed the envelope in government communication, how do we keep pushing it, and how to we keep making sure we're getting these messages in front of people, on an Internet that is constantly more fractured by the year.Yeah, and everything is constantly changing, and what works today might not work next year, next month, or next week. I don't know, have you watched the Netflix show, I Think You Should Leave?No, not yet. I haven't yet.Okay, you should watch that, because it's like the TV show version of what you do, just weird, out there. What you do is a combination of that show and Portlandia, which I mean as a compliment.Thank you. No, you're actually ... One of my very best friends told me to start watching that show, so you are totally in line there. Now I'm going to definitely have to watch it.Yeah, I think you'll like it. I think it will be right up your alley.That's awesome, thank you. I think, again, it is that fine line of being referential to things that are going on in pop culture, because you always, and this is just something everybody's online trying to do, you always want to see you're on top of what's going on. You want to see, again, of the world that people actually live in, and that in itself is a new idea for government.I think a lot of government agencies are just, "Hey, we're important and here's our stuff, and you shall appreciate it because it's coming from us." That's not my, our approach at all. In a lot of ways, it's the exact opposite, where I very much feel like every day we have to prove our worth, and prove our value to the public, so every day people are going to get the best of what we got from a creative perspective.Then yeah, again getting back to how different things are, just trying to keep up with it all. Looking out, I know we should be on TikToc right now.Oh yeah.I know we're going to need a really great video strategy like yesterday, but on a small team it's like, "Okay, what do we do?" There's one person at CPSU who's responsible for producing the social media, and we do have a video production specialist, thank God. They're going to, hopefully, play a big role in what our short-form video strategy is someday. Yeah, it's just, again, thinking about how government tends to move just a little bit slower than the private sector, keeping up is just a constant battle.Well yeah, and with government generally, there's always this sort of worry that you're not getting through to people, that you come off as sterile. Totally.That you come off as preachy and telling people how they should live their life, what they should do, with the exception of, "Hey, maybe you shouldn't have this dresser that's not anchored to the wall," that's fair.Yeah, exactly. Especially at a regulatory agency like us, so we are very similar to the EPA or the FDA, or the CDC in that there are things that we are responsible for making safe. Some agencies don't have that, like NASA doesn't regulate anything. The Interior Department and the National Park System, they don't regulate anything. When you look at the history of interesting government social media accounts, the grandfather of it all was the TSA account, who was run by ... TSA Instagram account, that was run by a gentleman by the name of Bob Burns, who has sadly passed away.I remember reading Bob's captions on the TSA Instagram photos back in 2013, 2014, and at the time it was super innovative for government, because it was super fun and super ... Again, it was for people.Oh yeah.It wasn't a government agency being on social media because it was the thing to do. They were really trying to do something different there. I remember distinctly sitting, I was at the Liberty Stein Center in Jersey City, New Jersey at the time, doing social media there. I remember very distinctly sitting there and reading an article about their Instagram, and thinking, "Oh wow, you can do interesting work in government." Funny enough, just a few years later, I'd be at CPSC, walking into a room, pitching a unicorn, talking about fire alarm safety. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.There's a lot of other great government social happening now. I do hope, I see it sometimes where people will find our account, and then they'll say like, "Oh well this looks like the IRS Instagram," or "This kind of looks like ..." There's a lot of great local government, social media happening. You could do a whole podcast just on that.Oh yeah.Yeah.Well that was one thing I wanted to ask, was what other agencies are doing social media in a good way, I guess?There's interesting stuff happening all the time. You have agencies like NASA, where they are comparable to any of the giant brands you see out there. Their reach and their social media power is just as good as any ... Name any Fortune 500 company and NASA's right up there. Their stuff is very good, obviously. They have a ton of resources. They have a ton of great people who work there. I think the IRS, some of the lesser-known ones, so the IRS has a really fun Instagram account. Another lesser-known one, there's a COVID-19 response committee that was set up to make sure that money being spent through the COVID programs that the government is putting together is being spent wisely and legally. They have a very fun Twitter account, and I'll try to remember the name of that, or I'll send it to you, and maybe you can put it in the newsletter somewhere.Oh yeah.The Interior Department's been doing fun stuff for a long time. They do Fat Bear Week, which is like, again, some of the most fun you can have with government social, where they just have people rate very large grizzly bears. There's other great stuff out there. I think no one's really as absurdest as we are, and I think that's the thing that we brought. Again, when we talk about how we've moved things forward, a lot of people say this is like just a total, they call it a vaporwave, or shitposting, or that type of thing. I guess it does feel like that to people sometimes. Talking about, just to go back to something you were talking about earlier, I'm a big proponent of doing what works, because things do change so quickly, so what I say to people all the time is, "We're doing this strategy now because it works now, but the day it stops working, we will just do something else," because that's how you stay effective in communication. Again, I do think that's the only way to approach it, because things change so quickly.Yeah, absolutely. I have two final questions for you that I wanted to jam into one super question.Sure.That is one, if you could take over any government Twitter account, and implement your own kind of strategy, what would it be, and two, which of the characters that you've created is your favorite, if you have one?Sure, so I'll start with the second question first. Favorite character is tough, because I love all of them, which is a weird thing to say. I think over time, the Pets United for Human Safety, which includes Potato the Dog and Copernicus Jackson, and I think Handsome Ron, over time those three have really emerged as my go-tos, and I guess my most, our most reliable partners in this communication strategy.Some of our older characters, Barks McWoofins was a character we used a few years ago, that retired officially to Hawaii, and I'll always have a special place for Barks McWoofin. Quinn the Quarantine Fox, who again was really not meant to be around this long, but is about to have a rebirth, or have to come back in a bigger way, because of just what's going on these days with the Delta Variant, so yeah. I think those three, Copernicus Jackson, Potato the Dog, and Handsome Ron. If I had to pick three that I'd want on a team at all times, it would be them.Yeah, it's a good choice.Yeah, and then to your first question, CPSC has played a role in the pandemic in making sure consumers are aware of the issues and the things that could hurt them in their home, and obviously with people spending more time at home, that became a very important thing for us to focus on, and we're still very much focused on it. Again, nothing has really changed for us, as far as the pandemic goes. We're still operating in a pandemic first sort of mentality.I think if I could pick any other account, it would be a government account and I probably would pick either the HHS account or some of the CDC accounts. I would like to see what this meme strategy could do with pandemic messaging in a more broader sense. I think that would be, that would be an interesting experiment to me. Again, the people over there are doing amazing work, and I know some of them. I've met a bunch of them at this point, and I have so much respect for everything they've done to date, and I think they're doing an incredible job, so again, it's not, that wouldn't be coming from a sense of like, "Well what they're doing hasn't been effective." I think it's been incredibly effective, but again, I would love to see, if we had some more talking animals around here, with the pandemic, would we win the conversation war in a more resounding way? I think that would be something I'd love to try.“Quinn the Quarantine Fox is very disappointed in you for not getting vaccinated yet.”Exactly, or hey, here's the wild animals united for human safety to tell you about how the vaccine is safe.Yeah.I think that's something that, again, I haven't even seen it at local health departments, but some of that old-fashioned stuff, some of that like, "Hey, here's a friendly animal spokesperson that's going to calmly ..."Yeah, like Smokey the Bear and stuff.Yeah, I think there's still a place for that, and it's funny because so many of our characters almost came out of me wanting to poke a little bit of fun at those traditional characters, like Smokey the Bear, who again is still around. The content they're creating is still very good, if you ever engage with it, but I do think people still have a soft spot for that, and they still like it on some level. I guess it just goes to show you, the more things change, the more they stay the same sometimes. Yeah, so ...Well yeah, I mean in the case of Smokey the Bear, for instance, you have this ... Smokey the Bear, that stands out. That has burned itself into all of our collective memories, everyone knows Smokey. I wonder if 10, 15 years from now people are going to be like, "Man, remember Handsome Ron?" Yeah, oh man I could only hope so. It's one of those things, we have this collaboration with the Library of Congress now, where I send them our memes and the memes get archived in the Library of Congress with descriptions that I've written, that get into the strategy behind them. I do hope, and every creative person hopes that their work has longevity, past their lifetime, and obviously if that were to happen for these characters, that would be incredible. I don't expect that, just to be clear, but I do think when you look, again, Smokey the Bear, that was a campaign created with the Ad Council, one of the best advertising groups in the world, all these years of funding, and especially with climate change affecting things. Smokey the Bear is prime to become much more important in the future than they ever were in the past, which is crazy to think about.Yeah.That's what government can do. It's the longevity of your characters. It's the longevity of commitment of an issue where government can really shine. I do hope that we have some of that. I do hope that, at some point, my time at CPSC will come to an end, and I do hope that people, at least appreciate these characters and keep learning from them after I'm no longer here.Yeah, that's a ... I think that's probably a good way to wrap it up. Is there anything else that you'd like to add to this?Oh, I guess I would just encourage everyone, if you haven't, to subscribe to get recall emails. You can do it right on our website. It's free. It's very easy. Again, if you're not following us on social media, please consider following us on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. We do have an Instagram account where we don't repost things as much. One of the complaints about our Twitter account is I don't constantly repost things. It's just because I'm one person folks. It's not because ... It's not laziness, it's just the ability of one person to come up with stuff on a daily basis.I would definitely encourage you to follow us on Instagram, or Twitter, or Facebook, and again, just hope everyone ... One thing we talk about all the time is that we do a very serious thing at CPSC, and on social media it's presented in a very fun way. I do hope folks just take a minute to think about their safety in their own lives. These are small things that you can do that could really, really be lifesaving. Having a fire extinguisher in your kitchen, making sure your carbon monoxide batteries are changed regularly. There's a lot of common sense stuff here that, when you're busy or you're stressed, which we all have been over the past year, if you just take an extra second to think about it, it could save your life down the road. I just really encourage everyone to take those things seriously, and revisit our messaging as much as you need.Yeah, I'm going to be sure to ... I really want to encourage anyone who's listening to this, to go and check out the transcript that I'm going to have in the newsletter itself, because I'm going to be sure to include all sorts of links, all sorts of embedded Tweets in everything, just because this is really one of those things you have to see to understand what on earth we've been talking about today.Yeah, that's a good way to put it. Parker, I do want to thank you for your support over the years. You've been, again, even in my darkest moments, I always thought, "Oh, well at least Parker's out there re Tweeting our stuff sometimes.”Of course, it's always fun. I tried to make a habit of quote tweeting and just being like, "Only good government Twitter account," even though it's not the only good one.Which I very much appreciate. Yeah, thank you, truly. Truly, thank you. Really, we're just so grateful, so thank you.Yeah, thanks so much for joining me today, Joe. Get full access to The Present Age at www.readthepresentage.com/subscribe
This week our guest on our podcast is Sofiya Yurievna Ivanova. Sofiya is a human rights activist in Ryazan, where she grew up and graduated from the Lomonosov Pedagogical Institute. Sofiya leads the work of the Ryazan School of Human Rights and was a long-time organizer of youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial and the International Youth Legal Camp “Citizen of the World.” Since 2009 Sofiya has been the coordinator of the Ryazan branch of Golos, the indepdent election monitor. Sofiya Yurievna is a laureate (2016) of the Moscow Helsinki Group award for her contribution to human rights education.The podcast discusses the following issues: membership in the Komsomol and the CPSU; the Ryazan School of Human Rights and youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial, including the “Citizen of the World” youth camps; teaching human rights courses at a number of educational institutions in Ryazan; working as a coordinator of Golos in Ryazan; development of the human rights movement in Ryazan and its current state; the difference between the work of a human rights defender in Moscow and in the regions; the law on foreign agents and its impact; the future of human rights in Ryazan and in Russia.This podcast is in the Russian language. You can listen to it here:You can also listen to the podcast on Rights in Russia, SoundCloud, Spotify or iTunes. The music, from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera.Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: About ten years ago I travelled to Ryazan to discuss with Sofia Ivanova the matter of cooperation with Amnesty International in the field of human rights education. We talked about what training would be worthwhile and where – the conversation was in a deserted cafe. Literally five minutes after the start of our conversation, a young lady came in and for some reason chose a table next to ours in the deserted room. She even sat down with her back to the nearest side of her table, opened her laptop and leaned back on the chair. I don't remember if she drank coffee or tea, but her ear, big as a radar, was turned towards us. A familiar story, Sofia Yurievna and I thought, and left the disappointed eavesdropper for another cafe. Such nervousness among people with large ears is not surprising. After all, Sofia Yurievna Ivanova, in their opinion, is a dangerous person. The head of the Ryazan School of Human Rights, head of youth programmes at Ryazan Memorial, a long-time organizer of the International Youth Legal Camp ‘Citizen of the World', she is someone who tells her compatriots about human rights – and what can be scarier than that for local officials. In addition to this, Sofia Ivanova heads the Ryazan regional branch of Golos, the election monitor. She was our interlocutor in this, our latest podcast with Simon Cosgrove. It's fascinating to hear about the life of a human rights defenders in a regional centre such as Ryazan.Simon Cosgrove adds: If you want to listen to this podcast on the podcasts.com website and it doesn't seem to play, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
