The idea of creating an English-language issue of Commons journal has been discussed for a long time, and it became especially acute in connection with the Russian full-scale invasion and the emerging significant interest in Ukraine among foreign audiences.
Ukraine
Chris Slee — Dave Holmes argues “Russia is most decidedly defending itself from an existential threat from the US-NATO bloc” while approvingly quoting Scott Ritter’s assertions that “NATO is a paper tiger”. So which is it?
Karen Yamanaka — Putin has recently taken hostile military actions against neighbouring countries in the Far East and has strengthened military ties with North Korea. China, on the other hand, has watched the recent Russian-North Korean rapprochement with mixed feelings.
Renfrey Clarke — Few questions of international politics have seen the Western left as sharply divided as the war in Ukraine. But there is no good reason why Marxists, with the writings of Vladimir Lenin at their disposal, should lack clarity on how to analyse the war.
Paul Le Blanc — Consistent partisans of actual democracy insist that people have the right to shape their own future. This includes the right to struggle for self-determination.
Murray Smith — Throughout history, solidarity has helped achieve the only possible acceptable peace — one guaranteeing defeat of the aggressor and the victim to live free of the threat of renewed assault. That must be the goal of the European Left in relation to Ukraine.
Dave Holmes — Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, NATO has been calling the shots, fighting a proxy war against Russia on Ukrainian territory, using NATO arms, training, intelligence, “volunteers” and advisers, with Ukrainians as expendable cannon fodder on the ground.
Akira Kato discusses rising US-China tensions in the Asia-Pacific, Japan’s attempts to transform itself into a regional military power, the conflicts over Ukraine and Taiwan and building mass anti-war struggles today.
Ammar Ali Jan discusses global politics, growing tensions between the United States and China, the impacts of this on Pakistan and implications for anti-imperialism in the Global South today.
Rafael Bernabe — We reject NATO imperialism, but not to support the expansionism of the Russian Federation headed by Putin. We do not reject one imperialism to support another. We are anti-imperialists, not alter-imperialists.
Gavin Gatenby — In the months before his assassination by a Stalinist agent, Leon Trotsky wrote three important articles on the issue of Ukraine. So resolutely did Trotsky support Ukraine’s right to independence that these articles probably gave an added impetus to Josef Stalin’s determination to murder his old rival.
Jerry Harris — Independence and self-determination have been a guiding socialist principle for more than 100 years. Understanding these long-held principles is essential in the discussion regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.