(2022-02-02). Central Asia becomes a Platform for Cooperation between Russia, India and China. journal-neo.org 
Central Asia (CA), due to its geostrategic location at the junction of Europe and Asia, its proximity to the leading international actors such as Russia and China, its wealth of natural resources and its yet-to-be fully exploited trade and economic opportunities, has recently attracted increasing interest from international actors. In order to create a stable …
(2022-02-02). Billionaire Macro Trader George Soros: China Is Facing An Economic Crisis. moguldom.com China's real estate industry has been hit by a series of defaulting developers and prices are falling on homes and land. The country is facing an economic crisis and its president may not be able to restore confidence in the troubled industry, says billionaire George Soros, a critic of Xi Jinping in recent years. Soros joined …
(2022-02-02). International Viewpoint supports war propaganda against Russia. wsws.org Under the misleading title "Time for International Anti-War Solidarity," unnamed "Ukrainian socialists" called on the "international left" to "condemn the imperialist policies of the Russian government."
(2022-02-02). America Is Reaping What It Sowed In Ukraine. popularresistance.org So what are Americans to believe about the rising tensions over Ukraine? The United States and Russia both claim their escalations are defensive, responding to threats and escalations by the other side, but the resulting spiral of escalation can only make war more likely. Ukrainian President Zelensky is warning that "panic" by U.S. and Western leaders is already causing economic destabilization in Ukraine. | U.S. allies do not all support the current U.S. policy. Germany is wisely refusing to funnel more weapons into Ukraine, in keeping with its long-standing policy of not sending weapons into conflict zones. Ral…
(2022-02-02). NATO absorbing Ukraine, all of Europe, into cyber warfare network. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com All of Europe excepting Belarus and Russia. See final sentence. (Odd that Ireland isn't included, as it's a member of the Partnership for Peace along with the four nations listed.) === Ukraine seeks closer ties with NATO on cyber defense Ukrainian government officials want closer collaboration with NATO's cyber center of excellence…. Ukraine has found …
(2022-02-02). Marketplace Radio Gives Us the Latest Bad News on the Economy: A Glut of Retail Goods. cepr.net In the old days, we might have thought that too many goods, with too few buyers, might have meant lower prices.
(2022-02-02). Historicizing Inflation and Price Controls with Andrew Elrod. mronline.org 
Andrew Elrod joins Money on the Left to discuss the political economy of inflation and price controls, past and present. Elrod holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is presently Research Specialist at United Teachers Los Angeles, a 36,000-member labor union. In our conversation, Elrod overturns one of the …
(2022-02-02). Heating costs double in Europe's biggest economy. rt.com 
Germany's household energy costs saw the greatest rise in 2021 | The cost of heating and electricity in Germany increased by 107% and 41% respectively over the past year, Der Spiegel reported, citing a spokesperson of the Check24 portal, which compares prices for goods and services in the country. | According to data, the average household in Germany had to pay €1,193 for gas and fuel oil in January 2021, with the cost rising to almost €2,472 last month. The main reason for that was the sharp rise in energy prices, the newspaper said, adding that high wholesale gas prices have affected end-user price…
(2022-02-02). Sabbagh: Western Coercive Measures Escalate Suffering of Millions of Syrians. orinocotribune.com Syria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations stressed that the US and EU illegitimate unilateral coercive measures escalated the suffering of millions of Syrians. | Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh made his remarks in a session of the Security Council on Friday on the humanitarian situation in Syria. | "The economic terrorism and the collective punishment policies represented by the illegitimate unilateral coercive measures imposed by the US and the EU have escalated the suffering of millions of Syrians who bear big burden to obtain their basic needs, in flagrant violation of all international legal standards…
(2022-02-02). Annihilating the Virus Enemy in Japan. dissidentvoice.org 
According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 18,515 people had lost their lives to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by 24 January 2022. Of those deaths, four were minors, i.e., 19 years of age or younger. At this point, nobody can say exactly why the Archipelago of Japan has emerged …
(2022-02-02). Bakery Workers Local 37 strike in L.A. enters third month with growing solidarity. peoplesworld.org 
LOS ANGELES—The three-month strike of predominantly female Latina workers at the Jon Donaire ice cream cake production plant in Santa Fe Springs, an industrial area of greater Los Angeles County, has generated an impressive amount of labor, community, and political solidarity. The strikers demand better pay, respect, and improvement of injurious job conditions that have …
(2022-02-02). The Antioch Police Attack On KPFA Journalist Frank Sterling. indybay.org KPFA journalist Frank Sterling was attacked and arrested by Antioch police on September 18, 2021. He continues to face charges and is fighting for the charges to be dropped.
(2022-02-02). As shift to electric vehicles accelerates, unions collaborate with automakers to slash jobs and labor costs. wsws.org General Motors has announced a major investment in electric vehicle production in Michigan, which will be predicated on low-wage, subcontract workers.
(2022-02-02). Desempleo impacta más en las mujeres en Latinoamérica, según la OIT. telesurtv.net América Latina ha tenido históricamente una situación laboral desfavorable, la cual es aún más difícil para las mujeres.
(2022-02-02). USW rejects Marathon's proposal, offers 24-hour rolling extensions of current oil agreements. fightbacknews.org Pittsburgh, PA – The United Steelworkers union (USW) announced today that it rejected Marathon Petroleum's most recent proposal for a pattern settlement on wages, benefits and working conditions for approximately 30,000 USW members in the oil and petrochemical industry. The union then offered rolling 24-hour extensions of the current labor agreements. | The USW has been in talks with Marathon, which represents industry as its lead negotiator, since January 13. The current national agreement expired at midnight on February 1. | "Our members remain strong and united in their commitment to reaching a deal that meets…
(2022-02-02). IMF says to Nepal Rastra Bank: "COVID-19 related support measures in the financial sector should however be gradually unwound, and the remaining ones should be targeted and time bound. mronline.org 
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed dissatisfaction over the role played by Nepal Rastra Bank to ensure stability of Nepal's banking sector.
(2022-02-02). Rent Inflation Is Up 40% In Some Cities, Forcing Millions To Relocate. moguldom.com Rent inflation is skyrocketing across the U.S. and it's forcing millions of people to relocate. Some have had to leave behind their native cities to find affordable housing for their families. Jonathan "JonKel" Kelly is one of them. A Miami native and poet who also works with youth at a nonprofit, Kelly said he ultimately …
(2022-02-02). U.S. national debt surpasses 30 trln USD as Fed prepares to raise rates. ecns.cn The U.S. national debt has surpassed 30 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time, raising concerns about future fiscal sustainability, as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates to tame inflation.
(2022-02-02). USW blocks strike, extends contract for 30,000 US oil workers. wsws.org Marathon, which is leading the negotiations for the massively profitable oil giants, has made a "final" offer of between 2 and 3 percent annual raises, a deep cut in real wages given the yearly inflation rate of 7 percent.
(2022-02-02). The Historic Opportunities for Racial Equity in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. cepr.net The IIJA has provided a historic opportunity for advancing racial equity in infrastructure investments. Only if state and local activists force their elected officials to take advantage of it will its full potential be realized.
(2022-02-02). BLM Finances And Leadership Are A Mystery: 5 Quotes From Experts In Nonprofit Industrial Complex. moguldom.com Black Lives Matter may have garnered worldwide attention during protests against police brutality including the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, but there remain questions about the organization's leadership and finances. For many, BLM is shrouded in mystery. The organization raked in $90 million in 2020 alone, yet many of the chapters …
(2022-02-02). Non-capitalist mixed economies: what makes a socialist? mronline.org 
In this paper I attempt to provide a short overview of the subject. Words like democracy, freedom, anarchist, Marxist, communist are used in so many different meanings that they become meaningless. One such word is "socialist." — László Tàºt≈ë…
(2022-02-02). Tallahassee: AFSCME at FAMU demands raises. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL – On February 1 from 8 to 11 a.m., around 20 people showed up to AFSCME 3343's informational picket line to demand Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) raise the wages of workers on campus. | Members of the AFSCME Local 3343, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Graduate Students United and City Commissioner Jack Porter all stood on the roundabout between FAMU and Wahnish Way, with signs insisting that FAMU's leadership come to the bargaining table ready to pay up. | "It's time that we start negotiating in black and white and take care of employees on campus," said Andre Cr…
(2022-02-02). Spanish translations of pamphlets / manifestos published by Daraja Press. mronline.org 
We are delighted to announce the online Spanish translations of pamphlets/ manifestos published by Daraja Press and Monthly Review Essays. These pamphlets are parts of the series, Moving Beyond Capitalism — Now! and Thinking Freedom.
(2022-02-02). Jim Lawrence, American autoworker and longtime Trotskyist, dies at age 83: A life dedicated to the fight for socialism. wsws.org Jim dedicated the greater part of his adult life to the fight for socialism. He was won to the program of Trotskyism in the early 1970s, and he played an important role in developing a base of support for the movement among a key section of industrial workers.
(2022-02-01). How US meddling split Sudan, creating an oil republic drowning in poverty and conflict. thegrayzone.com Following decades of US soft power aid interventions to exploit South Sudan's energy reserves and counter China's influence, the republic is trapped in humanitarian crisis. Like most countries, the Republic of South Sudan is a complex nation of shifting alliances and external influences. Recently, President Salva Kiir, who sports a Stetson hat gifted him by George W. Bush, signed a peace agreement with old enemies, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition. Around the same time, the so-called Embassy Troika consisting …
(2022-02-01). Bringing Degrowth And Commoning To Fashion. popularresistance.org On the latest episode of my Frontiers of Commoning podcast, I speak with Sara Arnold and Sandra Niessen, two leading activists who are boldly calling for "a radical defashion future" based on degrowth, commoning, and clothing cultures that escape consumerism. Through the organization Fashion Act Now, a growing band of dissident fashionistas want to make the clothing industry more ecologically responsible, relocalized, and culturally in sync with this moment in history, especially with respect to climate change, economic justice, and decolonialization. This means greatly reducing the industry's resource and energy…
(2022-02-01). Cuba And The World Demand Lifting Of US Blockade. popularresistance.org This Sunday, January 30, on the streets of Cuba and other parts of the world, the demand for lifting the illegal US blockade against Cuba prevailed. This came just days after the 60th anniversary of the officialization of this hostile policy against the Caribbean island. | According to the Twitter profile of the Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry, from the cities of Santa Clara in the center of the country, and Bayamo in the east, the family of the Antillean nation joined a caravan that demanded the end of the economic, commercial and financial siege. "Compatriots residing in Italy and friends of #Cuba build #Puentes…
(2022-02-01). Role of Workers' Productive Councils in Venezuela's Economic Recovery—Interview with Manuel Páez. orinocotribune.com 
On February 19, 2020, President Nicolás Maduro decreed an energy emergency and a state of exception in the country's hydrocarbon industry, which led to the creation of the General Staff of the Workers' Productive Councils (CPTT). Manuel Páez, who belongs to the presidential commission of the CPTT for the hydrocarbon sector, in an interview with àöltimas Noticias, explained that there are "71 colleagues who were assigned (by the president and the working class itself) the task of directing the transformation of the industry… presenting a new management model, which is basically collective management." | Páe…
(2022-02-01). Private Equity in Healthcare: Profits before Patients and Workers. cepr.net 
This was originally published in the magazine — Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA), Perspectives on Work. | On March 25, 2021, U.S Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), Chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Oversight, held hearings into the growing power of Wall Street firms in the healthcare industry. The hearings focused on recent research documenting higher than average death rates in private equity (PE) owned nursing homes. A rigorous study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), found that mortality rates in PE-owned nursing homes were 10 percen…
(2022-02-01). México reporta crecimiento económico de 5.0 % en 2021. telesurtv.net De acuerdo con los expertos, la economía mexicana descendió en 2020 por el cierre de actividades debido a la Covid-19.
(2022-02-01). Poverty in Germany: 2021 report exposes profit-before-lives policy. wsws.org 13.4 million Germans, or 16.1 percent of the population, lived in poverty in the first year of the pandemic, 200,000 more than in 2019.
(2022-02-01). Good green jobs require building ties between environment and labor. peoplesworld.org 
(2022-02-01). Group of Google workers seeks union recognition vote in Kansas City. peoplesworld.org 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (PAI)—When the nation thinks "Google," and its renamed parent firm, Alphabet, the location that comes to mind is Silicon Valley, not the U.S. heartland. But not for Communications Workers Local 1400, the 800-person-and-counting nationwide Alphabet Workers Union. Its first formal union recognition vote filing with the National Labor Relations Board occurred Jan. …
(2022-02-01). Australia Slow to Learn From the Lessons of History. journal-neo.org 
Australia will hold a general election no later than May of this year. According to the opinion polls, it should be a victory for the Labor Party. They have consistently held a lead over the governing coalition of Liberal and National party members for a considerable period of time, the last opinion poll published less …
(2022-02-01). Omicron disaster intensifies political instability in Australia. wsws.org With little popular support for the Labor Party, except in the negative sense of wanting to oust the Coalition, there are mounting fears in the ruling class that any election will result in an unstable, minority government.
(2022-02-01). New Gates Foundation Trustee Led Plot To Overthrow Zimbabwean Leader Alongside US Gov't. popularresistance.org In a shake-up of an institution named for one of the world's wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa was appointed to the Gates Foundation's board of trustees this January. He will be joined on the board by a seemingly diverse cast of corporate elites known for their embrace of technocratic and neoliberal policies. | Back in 2007, Masiryiwa helped orchestrate a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe alongside the US and the Zimbabwean opposition party it was backing, the Movement for Democratic Transition.
(2022-02-01). New Gates Foundation Trustee Led Plot To Overthrow Zimbabwean Leader. popularresistance.org n a shake-up of an institution named for one of the world's wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa was appointed to the Gates Foundation's board of trustees this January. He will be joined on the board by a seemingly diverse cast of corporate elites known for their embrace of technocratic and neoliberal policies. | Back in 2007, Masiryiwa helped orchestrate a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe alongside the US and the Zimbabwean opposition party it was backing, the Movement for Democratic Transition. | Both the Central Intell…
(2022-02-01). Inflation Policies Must Deal With Impact of Rising Food Prices on the Poor. truthout.org 
Consumer prices in 2021 rose 7 percent over the past year, making this the largest rise in consumer prices over a 12-month period since 1982. Why are prices rising, especially global food prices? Is the current inflationary episode related to the pandemic? Is aggressive monetary policy the main inflation culprit? And how does inflation affect the world, and the poor in particular? Can it be controlled? | Alastair Smith, an international expert on issues of global sustainable development, seeks…
(2022-02-01). Tallahassee: Starbucks workers organize union. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL- On January 12, Starbucks workers at 2264 North Monroe Street filed to unionize their store. Employees across the country have been filing to unionize at a remarkable rate, with locations in Oregon, Cleveland, Chicago and New Jersey having submitted petitions as well. | This wave of union activity is especially remarkable in a city like Tallahassee, which has low union density. Right to work laws make it difficult to organize. | While the struggle at North Monroe Street has just started, union organizers have suggested creating a strike fund to receive financial support from other organizations a…
(2022-02-01). Workers Struggles: The Americas. wsws.org Longshore workers are battling attacks on jobs, working conditions and pay, with inflation rampaging across South America.
(2022-02-01). The Government's Kill Switch for Your Car, Your Freedoms, and Your Life. dissidentvoice.org 
A psychotic world we live in. The madmen are in power. — Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle (1962) If we haven't learned by now, we should beware of anything the government insists is for our own good. Take the Biden Administration's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Given the deteriorating state of the nation's infrastructure (aging highways …
(2022-02-01). Marxist IQ: Black History Month. cpusa.org 
February is Black History Month. This month is of great importance, as the forces of racism and reaction, led by the Republican Party, are attempting to make Black history once more invisible in the history of the United States. Today we see in Republican-controlled states legislation banning the teaching of critical race theory in …
(2022-02-01). Another California Minimum Wage Earthquake? popularresistance.org California is the epicenter for a nationwide grassroots movement to raise the wage floor for American workers. On January 1st, the state set $15 an hour as the floor for large employers and $14 an hour for small ones (rising to $15 for all in 2023). Meanwhile, thirty-nine California cities and counties have established higher rates, with Emeryville the highest at $17.13 an hour and most well above $15. | The Fight for Fifteen movement has reshaped public opinion, pushing local and state officials around the country to approve a $15 per hour minimum wage. Eleven states and fifty-four cities and counties have $15 m…
(2022-02-01). Solidarity Forged from Slave Chains. dissidentvoice.org 
February is black history month and with conservatives challenging Critical Race Theory, there's one thing when studying history, we have to always remember and it is the victors that write the history. It is the duty, therefore, of every socialist to tell it like it was, and is, at every opportunity. In the battle of ideas that we wage against the ruling class, we must …
(2022-02-01). Antifascists Confront Neo-Nazis in Orlando; Police Offer Racists Protection. itsgoingdown.org Report back from Tequesta Black Star, about antifascists opposing recent neo-Nazi rally in so-called Orlando. Antifascists resisted the presence of the National Socialist Movement in two separate instances in the Orlando area, counter-protesting and redecorating the sites in which they rallied. On the 29th of January, 15-20 neo-Nazis representing the National Socialist Movement held a…
(2022-02-01). Socialist Green New Deal — Scottish style. greenleft.org.au Alex Miller reviews a new booklet from the Scottish Socialist Party that makes the case for a socialist green new deal.
(2022-02-01). Protests demanding affordable housing continue in the Netherlands. peoplesdispatch.org Progressive sections in the city of Amersfoort in the Netherlands organized a demonstration demanding affordable housing on Sunday, January 30. On the call of the housing rights coalition #Woonrevolte Amersfoort, activists from various youth/student groups, feminist groups, trade unions and political parties marched in the city. The Communist Youth Movement (CJB), FNV Vakbond, BIJ1 and the Socialist Party (SP) participated in the march to demand local and national authorities to immediately formulate policies to resolve the aggravating housing crisis in cities across the country. | Major cities in the Netherlands…
(2022-02-01). Socialist: 'Government neglect to blame for COVID-19 crisis in aged care'. greenleft.org.au Socialist Alliance candidate Sue Bull says the federal government hand-out to aged care workers won't solve the mounting pandemic death toll among the aged. Sarah Hathway reports.
(2022-02-01). The fight for Trotskyism and the political foundations of the World Socialist Web Site. wsws.org The World Socialist Web Site is publishing today the text of a report delivered by David North 25 years ago, on February 1, 1997, motivating a decision to end publication of the SEP's printed newspaper and replace it with an international website.