Articles
Friday, June 3, 2022
The news about Ukraine is selective, biased, emotive and rigorously censored. No alternative views are permitted not even the slightest criticism or questioning can be heard on the airwaves. The combination of the media onslaught, the lack of alternative views and being placed on the defensive by the unexpected Russian intervention has disarmed the left and the peace movement. There is a danger that, unchallenged, the West’s narrative on the Ukraine crisis becomes the template by which future such conflicts are understood, at least in the West. We need to keep our eye on the ball of what the US is up to as it tries to ensure its hegemony. The line it is pursuing, with China now explicitly in its sights, is highly destabilising and contains the seeds of future wars.
Thursday, June 2, 2022
The United States has shaped the world in which the conflict in Ukraine escalated and it calls the shots on the direction of the war and sanctions. The military encirclement of Russia progressed steadily since the end of the Soviet Union in defiance of commitments given to Soviet leaders that NATO would not expand eastwards. That build up over time and, more immediately, the increased shelling of Donetsk and Luhansk by Ukraine set the scene for the Russian reaction when it went into Ukraine. On the surface the United States is getting its way, forcing the EU, particularly Germany, into line but many tensions remain. What is perhaps most surprising in the current situation, however, is not that countries have capitulated to the US, but that so many have refused to join in with sanctions. This includes big swathes of the global south and important economies like India and Turkey.
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
The sanctions regime against Russia being imposed at the behest of the United States demonstrates its role in determining the direction of the war in Ukraine. It has expressed no interest in negotiations and wants to prolong the war to debilitate Russia as far as possible. The major loser, however, is unlikely to be Russia, which has alternative financial systems and markets to get round the effects of sanctions and is self-sufficient in food and energy. It will, rather, be US allies particularly in Europe who are dependent on Russian gas and oil supplies as well as essential metals used in high tech products and nuclear technology. The effects on the developing world will be even worse with a looming food crisis. The United States itself is relatively isolated from the impact of the sanctions it is imposing on the rest of the world. As it stokes war with Russia and threatens the same with China, it is also undermining European economies and further impoverishing the developing countries.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
There is extraordinary bias in the reporting of the war in Ukraine. Nothing which deviates in the slightest from the UK/US official positions is being reported and there is widespread censorship of information from the war zone. Dubious Ukrainian sources being uncritically reported. Sites are being closed down and users are prevented from accessing others, but there is alternative information out there.
Monday, May 30, 2022
While people at home face a horrendous cost of living crisis the UK government is pouring arms into Ukraine as well providing training to its armed forces. This includes British military personnel being present in Ukraine itself. This is not entirely new, however, and is an extension of long term collaboration between the two countries.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
The trend towards the militarisation of the EU has accelerated since the start of the war in Ukraine. This is dangerous and destabalising, but there are alternatives. We especially need a peace movement arguing for these alternatives and for a world free from conflict.
Friday, March 25, 2022
With Angela Merkel at the helm for 16 years, Germany became firmly established as the hegemon in the European Union. Her departure has implications for the balance of power within the EU and its ability to take on the many challenges facing it. the differences within it and with other countries are more likely to emerge.
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Although the United States has managed to pull other Western countries into line, prior to the war the developing crisis in Ukraine exposed the differences between them. Differences which have not gone away but which have been submerged for the time being. Western tensions have an economic as well as a geopolitical dimension. Of central importance was the Nord Stream 2 pipeline which would have brought natural gas from Russia to Germany. The US did not want to see this level of collaboration between the two countries and sought markets for its own gas. Part of the US strategy was to to provoke Russia into armed conflict, forcing European countries into line and killing off Nord Stream 2.