Archive for the ‘Russia’ Category
Trade Unionists for Solidarity with Ukraine -Russian Troops Out of Ukraine Now – Irish Congress of Trade Unions Conference Official Fringe Meeting – Maginnes 3, Lyrath Hotel Kilkenny – Tuesday July 4 2023, 17:30
Trade Unionists for Solidarity with Ukraine –
Russian Troops Out of Ukraine Now
ICTU BDC Official Fringe Meeting
Maginnes 3, Lyrath Hotel, Kilkenny
Tuesday July 4 2023 17.30
Zoom Link : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82438977972?pwd=NlR1dVVra0VoNkRXTFFjYnY4SHZKdz09
Speakers :
Gregor Kerr – Irish National Teachers Organisation delegate to ICTU BDC, member of the ICTU Global Solidarity Committee (Personal Capacity)
Nataliya Levytska , Deputy Chair, KVPU (Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine)
Sergey Movchan, member of Solidarity Collectives Ukraine
Denys Pilash, political scientist and historian representing Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement Ukraine)
Chairperson : Nóirín Greene, Former ICTU Executive Member
We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and their defence against the illegal and brutal invasion of February 2022. We want an immediate stop to the bombardment of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure by the Russian Federation and to war crimes and human rights abuses in the occupied territories.
We are for the speediest possible end to the war, based on
- The immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces
- Self-determination for Ukraine and restoration of occupied territory
- Ukraine’s right to appeal for, and be provided with, the military equipment needed to defeat the invasion.
- Approval of any ‘peace deal’ by the people of Ukraine
We extend our solidarity to Ukrainian trade unionists and socialists who continue to promote
and defend workers’ rights. We oppose the introduction of new labour laws in Ukraine which
have undermined trade union and worker rights.
We support a socially progressive reconstruction of Ukraine, with trade unions and civil society
playing a central role. We therefore support the cancellation of Ukraine’s foreign debt and
seizure of Russian assets to help fund state and society-led reconstruction with fully state-
funded welfare state and a low carbon sustainable economy.
Read the rest of this entry »Britain: The Lecturers’ Union and the Betrayal of the Intellectuals – The anti-imperialism of amoral idiots
Many certainties about global politics were transformed on February 24 2022 when the Russian Federation began a genocidal imperialist invasion of Ukraine, a country in the heart of Europe with a population of 44 million people. The imperialist invaders have forced at least seven million people out of their homeland. This was a seismic shock to many parts of the existing international anti-war movement, which failed to see this catastrophe on the horizon. In itself, that is not a problem. The future cannot be foretold with perfect accuracy, we only have 20-20 vision about the past.
But, what to do?
Readers of this blog will be aware of activities sponsored by Irish Left With Ukraine (ILWU) and the heroic work of Ukrainian activist and academic Yuliya Yurchenko.
This is her take on the behaviour of the British “Stop the War Coalition”, which has parallels in Ireland and other parts of the globe :
Yuliya Yurchenko, a Ukrainian senior lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Greenwich, described the attitude of the ‘anti-war’ left, “who somehow manage to simultaneously recognise Russia’s right to ‘defend its interests’ while denying the right of Ukrainians to defend their very lives or assert their national self-determination”, summing this up memorably as “the anti-imperialism of amoral idiots”.
These issues have erupted inside a British trade union, the University and College Union (UCU) which has a reported membership of about 120,000 people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_and_College_Union . The report below makes for often ghastly reading. All the same, effective left-wing solidarity with Ukraine is essential – we urge readers to engage.
Article Source : https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article66925
Many academics in both Ukraine and the UK are horrified by the Putin-enabling posturing of far-left factions within the UCU
Read the rest of this entry »The Neutrality Policy of the Irish State – A rational defence strategy is required
The left campaign to defend the current Irish foreign policy of Neutrality should be supported – (more accurately the campaign should be styled Non-Alignment, in the sense of 100 per cent opposition to membership of NATO or any other imperialist military alliance).
Opponents of the Dublin government’s attempt to move closer to NATO got lucky.
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin set up a public “consultative” forum examining Irish foreign policy – which is designed to push the Irish state closer to NATO. President Michael D Higgins launched an effective public attack
Irish President Michael D Higgins Mocked a British Empire Dame from Waterford, Louise Richardson – Is this Expert a good choice to chair an Irish Public Forum on the Neutrality Foreign Policy?
Higgins forced the issue into the mainstream media. Otherwise, the Forum would have taken place with much less publicity. Opponents of the government cannot rely on a lucky break like that every time.
The Irish State has ignored its responsibility to police our skies and our seas. It allows other states – primarily Britain – to do that job. Today, in 2023, international global tensions have risen to an alarming degree, and a very serious imperialist and genocidal war is occurring in the heart of Europe, in Ukraine. Russian imperialism is threatening the Irish state’s balancing act. Putin’s regime has openly threatened military action against the Irish state. That should not be laughed off or ignored. That is the reason the Dublin government is under pressure to get involved with a military alliance.
Read the rest of this entry »Will Unite the Union stand with Ukraine?
This post comes from our comrades in the British Ukraine Solidarity Campaign. The author is Sacha Ismail. Source : https://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2023/06/25/will-unite-the-union-stand-with-ukraine/
Will Unite the Union stand with Ukraine?
By Sacha Ismail
If delegates to Unite the Union’s upcoming biennial policy conference (11-14 July, Brighton) want to support
• withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine
• Ukraine’s right to self-determination
• strong links with Ukrainian trade unions and socialists
• clear demands for strong rights for all refugees
they must support the text submitted by my branch, London and Eastern 524.
Delegates to the first Unite policy conference since Russia invaded Ukraine should vote to push for the UK’s largest private sector union, involved in many of the most successful industrial disputes of the last year, to stand in clear solidarity with Ukraine and its labour movement.
Only one motion on Ukraine has been submitted to the conference (from the Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Process and Textiles ‘Regional Industrial Sector Committee’/RISC for North East, Yorkshire and Humberside). It seems to me, at best, highly politically ambiguous. The substantial amendment submitted by London and Eastern 524 (Central London Voluntary Sector branch) seeks to ensure a strong pro-Ukraine stance. (You can read the text of both below; document with all motions and amendments here.)
Dramatic Coup – Putin Régime in Trouble, June 24 2023 – Cedar Lounge Revolution Site a great news source; Short Sharp Ukraine Message “abandon false neutrality’ to ‘put an end to evil’ of Putin’s regime”; Family of Belarus Dictator Lukashenko’s Fled to Turkey (Unconfirmed Report)
A consistent left-wing pro Ukraine solidarity ray of light in Ireland comes from the Cedar Lounge Revolution, who are well-known to the authors who write for this blog: Here is their take on the attempt by the Wagner Group of Prigozhin to overthrow the Putin regime : if you have useful credible information to add, feel free to chip in : https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2023/06/24/whats-that-they-say-about-rostov-on-don/
Here is a fascinating live report issued by the credible Irish war reporter Orla Guerin :
Orla Guerin tweeted a link to this article by Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies from King’s College London.
“This coup is being led by the boss of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin. At first the smart money was on his failure because the full weight of the Russian state is against him. Before he made his moves, he was declared a traitor, his offices were raided, and his bases shelled. But the Russian state is inept and decrepit. If the aim was to catch Prigozhin unawares and shut him up it failed, because he appears to have had some notice of what was being prepared for him and so took his own initiatives. If you are going to move against your opponents you need to be decisive. Prigozhin got away (like Zelensky in February 2022).”
https://samf.substack.com/p/prigozhins-mutiny
“Actually were Putin a US agent of influence he could hardly have done a better job” WorldbyStorm, the Cedar Lounge Revolution Blog.
John Meehan June 24 2023
Watchword :
Ukraine calls on international community to ‘abandon false neutrality’ to ‘put an end to evil’ of Putin’s regime
Ukraine’s foreign minister has called on the international community to “abandon false neutrality” and give his country the weapons it needs to “put an end to the evil” of Putin’s regime.
Posting on Twitter, Dmytro Kuleba said it was time to “give Ukraine all the needed weapons; forget about friendship or business with Russia”.
Those who said Russia was too strong to lose: look now. Time to abandon false neutrality and fear of escalation; give Ukraine all the needed weapons; forget about friendship or business with Russia. Time to put an end to the evil everyone despised but was too afraid to tear down.— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) June 24, 2023
Has Belarus Dictator Lukashenko, Putin’s Puppet, Fled to Russia?
Unconfirmed Report :
The plane, while over Russia, turned off the transponders, and turned them back on only over Kalmykia.
The plane of the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko landed in the Turkish city of Bodrum on the night of June 24 .
“The business jet of the family of the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko flew out of the country and is now in the sky over Turkey,” reports Radarbox .
The Bombardier Challenger 850 airliner with tail number EW-301pj took off from Minsk at 00:01 and landed in Bodrum, Turkey at 05:15. We add that the plane, while over Russia, turned off the transponders, and turned them back on only over Kalmykia.
Recall that hundreds of Belarusian citizens who left the country after the mass protests of 2020 are allegedly undergoing combat training in Poland in order to overthrow the Lukashenka regime.
Update : The private plane of the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, landed in Turkiye on the morning of June 24. It is worth noting that the day before, the Minsk dictator spoke on the phone with the Kremlin murderer Vladimir Putin.
The two dictators discussed the confrontation between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Wagner PMC.
This follows from statements by Russian media and the Telegram channel Belarusian Gayun.
The Lukashenko family plane landed in Turkiye at 5 a.m. on June 24. The government business jet EW-301PJ, which took off from Minsk at 00:01, landed in Bodrum, Turkiye, at 5:15 a.m.
The network notes that the plane flies there quite often. In addition to the dictator himself, the business jet is used by his family members.
However, the fact that on the eve of the flight to Turkiye, Lukashenko spoke with Putin on the phone is more revealing. Russian propagandists said that the Kremlin dictator informed Lukashenka about the situation in Russia, in particular about the confrontation between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Wagner PMC. https://ukranews.com/en/news/940720-after-talking-to-putin-lukashenko-sends-his-personal-plane-to-turkiye
Tomás Ó Flatharta 