Archive for the ‘Ukraine : Women Raped by Russian Invaders’ Category
“Progressive parties and civil society groups should jointly campaign to force the Government to drop the annual St. Patrick Day’s visit to the White House” – No Irish grovelling in Washington DC on March 17 2026 – Michael Taft’s Call is Spot On
Michael Taft, a researcher employed by the SIPTU trade union makes a very good proposal.
The President of the USA is backing reactionary genocidal actors in many parts of the globe – Ukraine, Palestine – and threatening the people of Iran, Venezuela, and Greenland – the list is growing.
Notes on the Front
Commentary on Irish Political Economy by Michael Taft, researcher for SIPTU
Abandon Paddy’s Day
January 12, 2026
Progressive parties and civil society groups should jointly campaign to force the Government to drop the annual St. Patrick Day’s visit to the White House. There is almost nothing to gain from such a visit and it can only perpetuate what Eoin Burke-Kennedy describes as the ‘Fawning, sycophantic, obsequious [and] “strategic self-emasculation’ approach to the US Administration pursued by Europe and Ireland.
How do you deal with a Head of State who says:
“I don’t need international law . . . [the only limit to my power] is my morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.’
In the last year the US bombed Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, Syria and Nigeria. It has threatened to invade or annex Panama, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, Cuba and Greenland. It armed the Israeli government’s genocidal attacks on Gaza.
It has withdrawn from 66 international organisations (a full list is here), including vital climate change bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Trump Administration’s ‘2025 National Security Strategy’ made clear the current US government’s intention to interfere in European democracies. As the Brookings Institute put it:
‘The document points to the “patriotic European parties”—a reference to the hard right as represented by France’s National Rally, the United Kingdom’s Reform party, and the Alternative for Germany—as America’s real allies in Europe. Its stated goal of “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations” amounts to a policy of constitutional regime change . . . it is the language of tyranny.’
Indeed, Trump’s document directly references Ireland, stating:
‘America is, understandably, sentimentally attached to . . . Britain and Ireland. The character of these countries is also strategically important . . . we want to work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness.’
And it just so happens that Steven Bannon, an important Trump ally and MAGA organiser, is already in Ireland:
‘I’m spending a ton of time behind the scenes on the Irish situation to help form an Irish national party , , , [Ireland is] going to have an Irish Maga, and we’re going to have an Irish Trump. That’s all going to come together. That country is right on the edge thanks to mass migration.’
And it so happens that the US Ambassador attended a recent far-right conference in Meath.
Trashing international law, bombing countries and threatening others, pursuing ‘constitutional regime change’ throughout Europe and Ireland: does this deserve a bowl of shamrock?
Humiliation Redux
It’s not as if the Irish Government is ignorant of what could be in store for them on St. Patrick’s Day. Remember the humiliation it received last year. The Taoiseach received an invitation to the White House late in the day (only 12 days’ notice) and it wasn’t even for St. Patrick’s Day. Of course, the President might have been too busy to meet with the Taoiseach. But Trump and Elon Musk had time to meet Conor McGregor on the day, despite the fact that McGregor had been found guilty of rape by a High Court civil jury.
So why would Trump meet McGregor on St Patrick’s Day rather than the elected representative of the Irish people? According to The Times:
‘The Trump family have deepened their business connections with Conor McGregor with the promise of a $23 million investment in one of the form MMA fighter’s business ventures . . . MMA Inc., an American listed martial arts training company . . . Last September Donald Trump Jr. was announced as a “strategic advisor” to the company.’
The Irish Government will have to come up with something special to compete for the US President’s attention.
What’s the Point?
It is difficult to understand what can be achieved with a visit to the White House on St. Patrick’s Day – that’s if the Irish Government even gets an invitation. There is little political influence Ireland can exert given that Trump has scant regard for international opinion (especially European opinion), never mind international law. If anything, a shamrock-as-usual approach is likely to feed Trump’s belief he can act with little blowback. And it is highly unlikely the Taoiseach would sit down in the Oval Office with the US President and, in front of the cameras, lecture him about a rules-based world order.
There is the foreign investment angle; namely, that Ireland needs to maintain inward US investment and, therefore, refusing to meet the US President could stem the flow of US investment. This doesn’t stand up. Over the St. Patrick’s day holiday, Irish Ministers and representatives can continue to meet with American CEOs, as they have done in the past, based on the work of Irish civil servants in US consulates around the country.
Indeed, Ireland might even get some quiet kudos from American CEOs. Trump has made it his business to humiliate CEOs who are reduced to bringing gifts of gold to the White House. The IDA reports that US companies are so cowed by the Trump administration that they don’t release information on investments and job creation here for fear of retribution from Washington. Ireland provides something that Trump derides – consistency and stability. A bowl of shamrock will not impact this dynamic.
A Coalition to Stop the Visit
According to the Minister for Foreign Affairs:
“Where we see challenging behaviour, we have to call it out, and unfortunately there’s been a lot of that from the US . . . So we will always use our voice, however small it might seem”.
What’s the best way to call out ‘challenging behaviour’? Refusing to visit the White House over the St. Patrick’s Day period. This would be a clear statement that Ireland opposes Trump’s arbitrary, chaotic foreign policy; a clear statement of support for a rules-based international order; a rejection of Trump’s ethno-nationalist portrayal of Europe (‘civilisational erasure’); and a determination to stop American nativist ideologues interfering in Irish and European democracy.
The parties that made up the ‘Connolly coalition’ should come together, with civil society organisations, to campaign against a St. Patrick’s Day visit to the White House – putting forward the arguments, mobilising public opinion and showing the power of progressive cooperation on a key foreign affairs event.
However, it is unlikely the Irish Government will concede. So the opposition parties should plan out an alternative St. Patrick’s Day visit with the participation of opposition party leaders and representatives along with civil society activists. This could include solidarity visits to cities that are under siege: Minneapolis, Chicago and Portland. The party representatives could meet with social constituencies that are struggling under Trump’s rule – in particular, the US trade union movement.
Indeed, there could be an alternative ceremony complete with a bowl of shamrocks Why not hold it in New York City and give the bowl to the newly elected Mayor, Zohran Mamdami? The symbolism would be profound, popular and progressive.
And, without interfering in US electoral politics, if the opposition to a White House visit provokes those sections of Irish America who previously supported Trump to re-think their political support – then we will have done the world a service.
That is how you make even a small voice speak loudly.
Link :
Some Extra Context :
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: its origins and ramifications – A series of interesting talks
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: its origins and ramifications
Pacifist slogans about abolishing was are no longer relevant to politics. A serious discussion must start.
This is an interesting series of talks. Speakers do not agree on everything – it promises to be a useful exchange of views. One of the contributors is Jess Spear on the Irish left-wing organisation RISE, a network within People Before Profit (PBP). Congratulations to the organiser, Chris Zeller.
More Information :
Ukraine – Emancipatory Perspectives – Chris Zeller
WHEN: Tuesday, November 4th, 2025, 6 to 8 pm
WHERE: online via MS Teams
Hanna Perekohda is a PhD candidate in political science at the Institute of Political Studies (University of Lausanne). Her research focuses on Ukraine’s place in the Russian political imaginary. Her articles on Russian-Ukrainian Relations and the current war have appeared in various outlets. She is involved in networks of international solidarity.
This talk is part of the lecture online series Emancipatory Perspectives in a Multipolar World Full of Tensions organized by the University of Salzburg :
Tuesday, November 18th, 6-8pm
Imperialism and the Gulf Arab Monarchies at a time of Climate Collapse
Lecture with Adam Hanieh
Monday, November 24th, 11:15 -13:00, live at the University of Salzburg, HS 387, Rudolfskai 42
Dispelling the Multipolar Myth: Why BRICS do not offer an alternative
Lecture with Patrick Bond
Tuesday, December 16th, 6-8pm
Women in the Vanguard
Lecture with Jess Spear
Tuesday, January 13th, 2025, 6-8pm
Why Are Authoritarianism & Fascism Growing Globally?
Lecture with Frieda Afary
Political Nonsense Expressed by British MP Zarah Sultana of the new British left organisation “Your Party” – she attacks Volodymyr Zelensky to justify scabbing on the Ukrainian workers – Critics say : “it is perfectly possible to support a people’s struggle for national freedom while opposing the govt or political leadership currently at the head of that struggle”
The British Ukraine Solidarity Campaign is a growing force.
It recently won the support of the UNITE trade union, which also organises in Ireland.
UNITE the Union votes overwhelmingly for strong solidarity with Ukraine
But some parts of the British left offer policies which pretend to be anti-imperialist, but they stink.
It reminds this writer of bad old days in the 1960’s and 1970’s when many left organisations – from the Labour party to Official Sinn Féin and the Communist party – refused to practice solidarity with comrades in the six-county part of Ireland because they disagreed with the policies of Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the main republican organisations which had a mass following.
We can not do anything about political mistakes made in the past – but we can learn from them and do better in the future. One big positive example from those days was the formation of the National H-Block-Armagh.
Readers interested. who like to burrow into useful political history, are invited to read this book review :
Smashing H Block:The Rise and Fall of the Popular Campaign Against Criminalization
In the meantime, congratulations to the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign in Britain.
John Meehan October 28 2025
From Ukraine Solidarity Campaign
We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers’ rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left: www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ysjFKK
First up – yes, Zelensky is no friend of Ukraine’s working class in the sense that his government pursues right-wing, neoliberal, anti-worker economic policies.
Unlike Zarah Sultana, we actually know something about this, since we are connected to Ukraine’s unions and have been actively involved in helping them fight these policies.
Read the rest of this entry »1300 Days of Putin’s Terror and Tyranny – Protest, Russian Embassy, 186 Orwell Road, Tuesday September 16, 3.00pm
The diverse group that have been protesting outside the Russian embassy on Orwell Road since February 2022 will be holding an event outside the embassy on Tuesday,September 16 commencing at 3pm.
The event is to mark the passing of 1300 days since the start of Russia’s illegal full scale invasion of Ukraine.
It will comprise a number of invited speakers and some music and song. All are welcome to attend.
Poster advertising the event :
Readers are invited to circulate this blog post and poster to contacts and networks.
Once Upon A Time in the White House – Civilised People Wondered : Would timid European powers back the nauseating Trump-Putin “peace in our time” war crime plan and assist the carve-up of Ukraine?
Two fascist gun-slingers : convicted rapist President Donald Trump (USA) and indicted international war criminal Vladimir Putin (Russia), embraced in Alaska. The USA grabbed Alaska in the 19th Century through a deal with Russia, its imperialist partner-in-crime. Uncle Sam took over the vast icy territory through the ugly and brutal method of ethnic cleansing. Civilised people hoped this ugly feature of international capitalism was a thing of the past. Wishful thinking : it is returning with ominous force in the 21st Century – especially in Ukraine and Palestine.
Volodymyr Zelensky was a target of the Alaska fascist-fascist war-crime plan. The President of Ukraine was summoned to the White House (Washington DC). A charade was staged.
Leaders of the main imperialist powers in Western Europe saw a car-crash coming : On the one hand they were opposed to witnessing Zelensky crushed by the fascist-fascist Trump-Putin steamroller, and they did not want to be accomplices to an infamous surrender. Haunting memories : the pathetic 1938 British Imperialist leader Neville Chamberlain came back from a Munich summit with the Nazi warlord Adolf Hitler – “peace in our time” said Neville, as the people of Czechoslovakia and its leader Edvard Benes were sacrificed. One year later – “peaceful” Herr Hitler invaded Poland, World War Two began.
On the other hand Macron of France, Merz of Germany – and company – wanted to avoid a direct and open clash with the White House gangster, Putin’s ally Trump. Therefore, observers were offered a charade : One after another Zelensky, Macron, Merz, Von der Leyen, Meloni, Starmer, and Rutte smeared the vain gangster Trump with praise.
Read the rest of this entry »Trump-Putin Anti-Ukraine Summit in Anchorage Alaska – Large People-Power Protests
This report sets the scene :
Ukrainian refugees in Alaska have mixed feelings about US and Russian leaders’ meeting
Amy MacKinnon, Anchorage Alaska, Financial Times, August 15 2025
“On Thursday afternoon, hundreds of local residents rallied in support of Ukraine at an intersection of Anchorage’s East Northern Lights Boulevard, waving the country’s blue and yellow flag. A small brass band played Bella Ciao, the Italian folk song adopted by the anti-fascist resistance during the second world war. Passing cars honked their horns. “They are trying to make decisions, agreements, without Ukraine being involved,” said Anna Koraa, who moved to the US from Ukraine in 2019. Her mother, Olena Lazar, left Zaporizhzhia — one of the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claims, but does not fully occupy — and came to Alaska shortly after the war began. Lazar is deeply sceptical about Friday’s talks. “He won’t stop until he takes all of Ukraine,” she said of the Russian leader.”
A number of short reports are linked below :
Protesters Against Trump-Putin Ukraine Betrayal in Anchorage Alaska
Largest Ukraine Flag in the world on the way to Anchorage Alaska
Read the rest of this entry »EMERGENCY SOCIAL MEDIA STORM August 14, 19.00-20.00 Irish Time – PARTICIPATE!
PARTICIPATE!
EMERGENCY SOCIAL MEDIA STORM August 14, 2000-2100 Central European Time
2100-2200 Ukraine * 1900-2000 UK * 1500 Brazil * 1400 US/Canada East Coast * 1100 US/Canada West Coast * 2330 India * 0300 (Friday) Japan 0400 (Friday) Eastern Australia*
Suggested hashtags | Рекомендовані хештеги | Hashtags suggérés | Hashtags sugeridos
#NothingAboutUkraineWithoutUkraine #OccupationIsNotPeace #StopPutinStopTrump #SolidarityNotSurrender #StandWithUkraine
#НічогоПроУкраїнуБезУкраїни #ОкупаціяЦеНеМир #СтопПутінСтопТрамп #СолідарністьАНеКапітуляція #ПідтримайУкраїну
#RienSurL’UkraineSansL’Ukraine #L’OccupationN’EstPasLaPaix #StopPoutineStopTrump #SolidaritéPasCapitulation #SoutenezL’Ukraine
#NadaSobreUcraniaSinUcrania #LaOcupaciónNoEsPaz #StopPutinStopTrump #SolidaridadNoRendición #ApoyemosAUcrania
Please post on whatever social media platforms you’re on with statuses, photos, etc.
Statements and background
French Committee of the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine * Ukrainian World Congress * Ukrainian government peace proposal
MEDIA RELEASE
TRUMP AND PUTIN: HANDS OFF UKRAINE! NO PEACE WITHOUT UKRAINE! NO PEACE AGAINST UKRAINE!
August 10, 2025
Putin and Trump want to reach an agreement at a summit meeting without the main party concerned, Ukraine, in defiance of international law and the right of peoples to self-determination.
Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart in Alaska on August 15, without the Ukrainian president. The latter responded strongly and rightly: “Any decision that is made against us, any decision that is made without Ukraine, is a decision against peace.”
According to the US president, a settlement of the war will include territorial concessions.
“The Ukrainians will not give up their land to the occupiers,” Zelensky added, while Trump spoke of “exchanges of territory”.
Crimea and territories in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts that Putin has declared annexed are occupied by Russian troops in violation of international law.
Occupation is a crime, those who occupy are criminals, and those who support it are accomplices!
Trump is preparing to hand victory to the aggressor after claiming that he would issue an ultimatum to Putin.
No, the era of placing one country under the tutelage of another against its will by decision of the “great powers” is over.
Mobilisation against this imperialist banditry between Putin and Trump and in solidarity with Ukraine must be organised quickly.
French Committee of the European Network for Solidarity With Ukraine (ENSU)
Thomas Weyts, Ghent, Belgium :
Not only in Anchorage, Alaska, but also in Munich, Bavaria, there will be protests tomorrow against the gangster conclave between Trump and Putin. Not by chance at the place where the infamous agreements between Chamberlain and Hitler were signed in 1938, while Czechoslovak Prime Minister Benes was allowed to wait in the hallway…
Thomas Weyts, Ghent, Belgium :
Protest at the American Embassy in Prague, 13th of August. The Czechs know what they are talking about
Justice for Ukraine – Bring the Stolen Ukrainian Children Home June 1, 12.30pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street Dublin 1 – Endorsements : INTO; INTO Dublin North City Branch; Labour party; Social Democrats; Ivana Bacik TD plus many others
Justice for Ukraine – Bring the Stolen Ukrainian Children Home June 1, 12.30pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street Dublin 1
Part of a Day of Action on June 1 2025, International Day for Children
Assemble Sunday June 1, 12.30pm The Spire, O’Connell Street
Link :
INTO : Mark International Children’s Day (1 June) by protesting the forcible transfer of nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children to Russia.
Statement, Ivana Bacik TD, Dublin Bay South. Labour Party Leader
“‘Since 2014, it is known that Russia has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children. Protests against this barbaric war crime are occurring all over the world, and Russia’s criminal actions have been condemned in the European Parliament and across EU Member States. I commend all activists who are taking part in protests against Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukrainan children. I have raised this issue in Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) and have demanded that the Irish government takes appropriate action to express the strongest possible condemnation of Russian war crimes.’”
Statement, John Boyle, General Secretary, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
“ The INTO endorses the campaign to end the forceful transfer & deportation of Ukrainian children & return them all, ending the enforced Russification process & militarisation”
Statement. Cian O’Callaghan TD Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats (Spokesperson Foreign Affairs)
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine is unprecedented, unprovoked and perverse. Putin’s despotic behaviour and war crimes have irrevocably changed the geopolitical landscape and made us realise that we can no longer take peace in Europe for granted. One of the most sinister aspects of this invasion has been the thousands of Ukrainian children who have been taken from their homes and brought to Russia. I fully support the protest taking place on International Children’s Day calling for their safe return to their families and their homes.”
Statement, John Lyons, Independent Left, Dublin City Councillor
In the three years of death, destruction, hardship and misery endured by the people of Ukraine as a result of the Russian Federation’s illegal invasion of their country, one particularly reprehensible and disturbing aspect of Putin’s war of aggression and annexation is the forcible transfer of at least 20,000 children and young people from Ukraine into Russia or Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine.
The Yale School of Medicine has summarised the scale of the crime against humanity involved: “Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine includes a systematic campaign of forcibly moving children from Ukraine into Russia, fracturing their connection to Ukrainian language and heritage through ‘re-education’, and even disconnecting children from their Ukrainian identities through adoption. Children documented by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) range in age from four months to 17 years, and many have families looking for them in Ukraine.”
As an elected representative of Dublin City Council I endorse the overwhelmingly supported May 8 resolution of the European Parliament, demanding the return from the Russian Federation of Abducted Ukrainian children and give my full support to the June 1 International Day of Action in support of this urgent cause.
June 1st is International Children’s Day, a day when people across the world raise awareness of the importance of children’s well-being and the need to protect them from all forms of violence and discrimination. Sadly, millions of children in Gaza, South Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere are having their lives taken, their futures destroyed.
For the children of Ukraine abducted by Russian forces, we must demand their immediate safe return to their families, to their homes and homeland.
Supporters Include :
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
The Labour Party
The Social Democrats Party
Dublin North City Branch (INTO)
Ivana Bacik TD Dublin Bay South (Leader, Labour party)
Duncan Smith TD Dublin Fingal East (Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Labour party)
Marie Sherlock TD Dublin Central (Health Spokesperson Labour party)
Cian O’Callaghan TD Dublin Bay North (Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, the Social Democrats)
John Lyons Dublin City Councillor (Independent Left)
Lesley Byrne Dublin City Councillor (Social Democrats)
Tanya Vyhovsky State Senator, Vermont, USA
European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU)
Irish Left With Ukraine (ILWU)
Individual Personal Supporters Include :
Nóirín Greene (Senior Irish Trade Unionist)
Des Derwin, Vice Chair, SIPTU Dublin District Council
Tadhg Mac Pháidín, Teachers’ Club (Cumann na Múinteoirí) and INTO
Gregor Kerr Dublin North City INTO
Joanne Doyle, District 14 CEC Rep INTO
Máire English, District 4 CEC Rep INTO
Máire Lineen, District 15 CEC Rep INTO
Peter O’Toole, District 7 CEC Rep INTO
Seán Mullin, Chair INTO Lisburn Branch
Sinéad Dowling, Craobh Dhún Laoghaire INTO
Feargal Brougham, Dublin North East INTO
Joe Duffy, Blanchardstown Branch INTO
Caroline Farrell, Dublin Tolka INTO
Noelle Moran, ASTI Global Solidarity Committee
Kevin Doyle, Irish Writers Union
Conor Kostick, Executive member Irish Writers Union
James Kearney, Dún Laoghaire Labour Party
Spark Deeley, illustrator
Paddy Cole, Chairperson, Labour Party Trade Union Group
Tracie Tobin District 13 CEC Rep INTO
Kate Relihan, Blanchardstown Branch, INTO
Statement issued by the general secretary of British TUC Paul Nowak and other information :
International Actions for Ukraine’s Stolen Children, June 1 2025
Resources :
European Parliament Resolution, May 8 2025 : Return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia
Tomás Ó Flatharta 