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Russia
In regard to the charges about US President Donald Trump鈥檚 collusion with Russia to throw the election his way, it is worth mentioning that going through the list of all the nations that Washington has meddled in is far too long for one article. The US is, without any doubt, the world鈥檚 meddler in chief.
Even the list of countries where the US conspired to overthrow elected governments when electoral meddling failed is lengthy.
But one angle to the Russian controversy that is underreported is this: scratch the Russian connection and US-German relations pop up.
One hundred years ago, the Russia Revolution rocked the world, first with the overthrow of the Tsar in February and then with the Bolshevik-led taking of full power by the soviets (elected councils of workers, soldiers and peasants) in October.
Raqqa, the de facto ISIS capital in Syria, is on the verge of falling. The rapid advance of the left-wing Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since they entered the city on June 6 contrasts with the slower advance of forces of the Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdistan governments in Mosul, the ISIS capital in Iraq, which the pro-government forces entered in February.
However, the June 18 downing of a Syrian fighter jet by a US war plane, after the former attacked SDF positions near Raqqa, is just one indication that eliminating ISIS will not end the violent multi-sided war in Syria that spawned it.
The year 1917 offered an extraordinary course in political literacy for the people of Russia.
In the February anti-Tsarist revolution, which 鈥渄ispensed breakneck with a half millennium of autocratic rule鈥, and then in the October socialist revolution, eager workers and peasants stumbled over and then mastered a new way to speak of economic and political democracy, writes China Mieville in October, his narrative of the Russian Revolution.
Gay men in the Chechen Republic are being kidnapped and detained in torture camps as part of the government鈥檚 attempt to 鈥減urge鈥 the country of homosexuality.
Chechnya is currently ruled by the wealthy war criminal Ramzan Kadyrov, who has the backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Russia鈥檚 "gay propaganda laws", which criminalise the dissemination of information about LGBTQI issues, are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Chechnya鈥檚 deeply homophobic culture.聽
US President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey for one reason: he was not 100% loyal to Trump. The boldness of the move was to underscore Trump鈥檚 drive to establish an increasingly authoritarian presidency.
One hundred years ago, on May 7, 1917, the following declaration appeared on the front page of the Bolshevik newspaper聽Pravda聽under the title, 鈥淒raft of a mandate for use in electing delegates to the Soviet of Worker and Soldier Deputies鈥.聽
This 鈥渕andate鈥 marked the first appearance of the slogan 鈥淎ll power to the Soviets鈥 in an official party statement.
The Soviets emerged out of the February Revolution that year, which succeeded in overthrowing the Tsar. The Soviets were based on elected delegates of workers, soldiers and peasants.
During last year鈥檚 presidential election campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump favoured a more militarised foreign policy. They differed on the main target: Clinton aimed at Russia, while Trump singled out China.
Clinton wanted to continue the policy of both Republican and Democratic administrations since the collapse of the Soviet Union of steadily expanding NATO up to Russia鈥檚 borders in Europe. She also proposed challenging Russia in Syria.
In light of the latest extreme attacks on the LGBTIQ+ community in Chechnya, Russia, which United Nations human rights experts have , English group Left Unity released the on April 14.
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Caught In The Revolution: Petrograd 1917
Helen Rappaport
Windmill Books, 2017
430 pages
In 1916-17, millions of starving Russian workers queued for hours for scarce bread, perished on the eastern front or were left unemployed in a country where the living conditions were as atrocious as the record winter cold.
One hundred years ago, on March 27, 1917 the Petrograd Soviet issued the following appeal, 鈥淭o the Peoples of the World,鈥 calling for a restoration of workers鈥 unity in the cause of peace: "....We call upon you to throw off the yoke of your semi-autocratic order just as the Russian people shook off tsarist despotism. You should refuse to serve as a weapon of invasion and violence in the hands of kings, gentry landowners, and bankers.
"Together in friendship we will put a stop to the terrible slaughter, which disgraces humankind and casts a shadow over the great days of the birth of Russian freedom...."
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