May 7, 2014 at 4:37pm

Ukraine may burn to the ground any time now. Up to 8 million Russians and other national minorities may be “cleansed” from the country, dead or alive. Two camps are rapidly forming throughout the world: Those who want to appease the new Kiev regime and those who believe the source of the danger is the rise of extreme nationalist, fascist forces in Ukraine, backed by the country’s ruling oligarchy.

Unless progressive, anti-war diplomacy prevails, Ukraine’s crisis may cause a confrontation more serious than the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

In Canada, the deception in the corporate media about Ukraine is at a dangerous level. The stories we are expected to believe are preposterous – that the regime in Kiev is legitimate and moderate, or that Russia is the main source of Ukraine’s internal conflict.

Ask “Who benefits?” and one will instantly see Russia would lose if it is drawn into war with Ukraine and the NATO military alliance. It is Russia that wants to continue having extensive economic ties with Ukraine. No other explanation exists why Russia gave the country up to $300 billion in gas subsidies since 1992.

It is US and European corporations that would benefit if Ukraine cuts ties with Russia, which was a condition of the European Union’s trade offer last fall. It is Ukraine’s oligarchs and fascists who would use oppression and war to cut ties with Russia, and who have no idea where they will buy gas if there is a war with Russia.

The Conservative government’s solution is to support military confrontation – to send warplanes, ships and troops as part of NATO’s build-up of forces in Eastern Europe.

The problem is that adding NATO forces will embolden the Banderite regime in Kiev. It will do nothing to encourage a peaceful, political solution that involves the respect and equality of all national groups in Ukraine. NATO’s focus is on military confrontation, and possibly a war of the most serious kind. It would be a war involving up to four nuclear armed countries – Russia, the U.S., France and Britain.

Parliament and the need for action on the streets

Yet we can expect no challenge to NATO’s dangerous role from Canada’s parliament. Thus the task of the day is to build opposition outside parliament to Canada’s policy on Ukraine – a policy to blame Russia for Ukraine’s internal crisis, send the military to Eastern Europe and appease the fascists in Kiev.

The reality is that only the Green Party in parliament opposes the deployment of warplanes, ships and troops to Eastern Europe. Like the discussion in parliament days after the coup in Ukraine, another debate would merely show parliamentarians bragging they have the brain of one.

Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, in parliament we would hear nothing except that Putin is causing all the trouble and his tanks may end up – figuratively – in Washington. NATO is using the finger of blame to deflect attention from its own intentions.

In fact, the main parliamentary parties have similar views on other crucial foreign policy issues. For example, the NDP was asked to comment on the Conservative government’s decision to send a warship to the Mediterranean for possible use against Syria. The NDP foreign affairs critic said “I don’t have a strong opinion about that” and urged “tougher pressure” on the Syrian government (Toronto Sun, November 21, 2011).

As we now know, two cruise missiles were in fact launched against Syria in September, 2013, but their source is not known. They could have come from US warships or Israel, which has been called imperialism’s regional aircraft carrier. It is highly unlikely the missiles came from the Chinese or Russian warships in the area at the time.

The main parties agree on Ukraine, Syria, Libya and free trade. But right now, the build-up of NATO forces in Eastern Europe is fraught with risk.

If there was a time for renewal of the peace movement, it is now. Relatively inactive since the Liberals agreed to keep Canada out of US Missile Defense in 2004, the peace movement needs to come out of hibernation.

The NDP and Ukraine

You can’t escape the corporate media’s unrelenting propaganda campaign about Ukraine on behalf of the Conservative government. Less known is that the main opposition parties are in lockstep with the Conservatives, so here is a quote from the Feb. 26 debate in parliament by the NDP:

‘As for Yanukovich, we put up with him, as we would a monkey that we think we can eventually train. After all, we are now free to say out loud what we were whispering at the time…. In November 2013, the Yanukovich administration refused to sign the agreement to join the European Union that had been in progress for years. In one fell swoop, it was as if the country’s heart had been ripped out…

“If the question is whether the Russian government is involved in everything that has happened, the answer is yes, of course. As are Europe and the United States. We need to stop being surprised that the Russian government is doing everything it can to keep a grip on the former Soviet republics. Who can they turn to?…

“I am calling on the Government of Canada to follow the example of the European Union and the United States, support the new transitional government and reaffirm its unwavering support for Ukraine and its democratic aspirations.” – Ms. Alexandrine Latendresse, Deputy Critic for Democratic Reform.

An offer Ukraine could not refuse
The real story is that the European Union Free Traders made Yanukovich an offer he could not refuse. The price of thinking about it was his overthrow at the behest of the oligarchs behind the pro-West protests. But to say that the working class of Ukraine – the majority of people, rose up to defend free trade with Europe is to tell a cockamamy fairy tale.

The NDP’s defence of free trade between Ukraine and the EU could not be firmer. Free trade means a “country’s heart.” The speech is remarkable coming from a party that once opposed the very notion of free trade. The NDP forgets the massive loss of jobs caused by free trade in North America. It would be the same with Ukraine and the European Union.

The NDP, free trade and fascism
The pandering to Canada’s economic elite, who mainly support free trade, has yet to make the NDP the preferred party of big business in Canada. Harper continues to have that sewed up very well still.

Calling Ukraine’s last elected president a trainable monkey is a notable example of dominant nation chauvinism, of aggressive imperialism, of speaking down to another nation.

Free trade, appeasing fascism and helping spark a war here or in Ukraine is not in the interest of working people. It is time to act in solidarity with the working people of Ukraine, whether they are Ukrainian or a national minority. We can’t count on parliament to do so.

* * * * *
It is worth adding here that the NDP’s platform in 2011 had not a hint of criticism of free trade. The NDP is working hard to prove it can serve Canada’s petro-state capitalists. They do not care to admit increasing similarities Canada has with Russia and other petro-states, such as restrictions on civil rights. They are not prepared or inclined to deal with a deindustrialized, resource economy.

On every issue of economic and foreign importance, the NDP is aligned with the big business parties.

The NDP’s support for NATO’s confrontation with Russia over Ukraine and its praise for free trade shows how much dense philistine opportunism has accumulated in the NDP.

– from Zoltan Zigedy is available at:
http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

In a country where sports stars are offered as role models and actors aspire to political office, celebrity intellectuals are a rarity. Thus, the meteoric rise of economist Thomas Piketty to celebrity status comes as a surprise. The English language edition of his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, sold out swiftly while reaching best-seller stature, a unique achievement for a book originating from an academic press. Possessing charm, wit, and youthful good-looks, Piketty toured the US, generating demand from myriad talk-show hosts and magazine interviewers.
A month before its release, sensing that Piketty had something fresh to offer, I wrote:

Piketty’s argument is a welcome antidote to the paucity of explanatory theory presented by the liberal and social democratic punditry. The controversy stirred by Piketty’s argument well before its English-language availability is a sure sign that he offers something beyond the conventional… Closer examination of Piketty’s interesting thesis must await publication of the book. (ZZ’s Blog, Tuesday, February 11, 2014)

Little did I suspect that Piketty-mania would spawn a sustained discussion penetrating the highest reaches of the mass media. Piketty’s argument has shattered the navel-gazing of academic economists, while demonstrating an intuitively obvious fact in a way that even the most thick-headed pundit can understand: capitalism produces and reproduces inequality. Unfortunately, Piketty timidly hesitates to draw an equally compelling conclusion: the only way to eliminate unjust inequality is by eliminating capitalism. It’s as though a researcher has discovered the cause of cancer, but is reluctant to endorse its cure.

My own thoughts on Piketty’s provocative, stimulating book are posted on Philosophers for Change.

The Piketty phenomenon overshadows what may well be an even more provocative, suggestive study by two US professors, Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page. Their paper, Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens (forthcoming in Perspectives on Politics), offers results that could shake the complacency of political theory in much the way that Piketty’s book rocked bourgeois economics…. To read the rest of the article, go to: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Here are links to an excellent video about the proceedings in London regarding the injustice that the Cuban 5 have suffered for more than 15 years.

http://youtu.be/akAgdSnf1BY or

By James Thompson

The government of the USA and the propaganda mill of the mainstream media shamelessly extol the virtues of being a “Christian nation.” Although portrayed as a heretic by religious zealots, even President Obama frequently quotes Christian Scriptures. President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize soon after he took office.

Of course, those who study the reality of the political situation in the United States notice that the actions of the US government fly in the face of the main teachings of Christianity.

This paper will first present some well-known quotes from the Bible and then apply them to the stance of the United States government towards one of its closest neighbors, Cuba, and then to the sons of Cuba, the Cuban 5. The Cuban 5 are terrorist fighting heroes who have been persecuted by the US government since 1998 and three of them are still languishing in prison.

First, the quotes from the Bible:

Leviticus 19:18
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 19:19
honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.'”

Romans 13:8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:10
Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Galatians 5:14
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 12:17
…Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved…

US foreign policy towards Cuba and the persecution of the Cuban 5

It is clear that the US foreign policy towards Cuba in general and towards the Cuban 5 specifically violates these main biblical teachings. The first quote commands Christians to never seek revenge or bear grudges. Instead, it instructs Christians to “love your neighbor as yourself.” “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a repeating theme throughout all of the quotes above. The US government imposed a vicious embargo, including a travel ban, after the revolution of 1959. The embargo prevents Cubans from obtaining many commodities from the United States. It also prevents the US from obtaining many commodities from Cuba. The embargo is definitely not an expression of “love thy neighbor” but instead is an ugly, hateful policy that hurts both Cuba and the United States. Hate is always destructive. Love is always constructive.

The persecution of the Cuban 5 is similar to the persecution of Jesus Christ, himself. The Cuban 5
were intelligence experts who gathered information on right wing organizations in Miami who plotted and carried out terroristic acts against the working people of Cuba. Many people were killed in Cuba and a great deal of public property was destroyed in the attacks of the right wing counterrevolutionaries. The work of the Cuban 5 thwarted the destructiveness of these deadly attacks. For their noble efforts, the US government threw the Cuban 5 in prison under inhumane conditions and three of them have been there since 1998. Three have been recently released since they completed their terms.

Of course, the persecution of the Cuban 5 by the US government violates all of the Christian teachings cited above. The US government has been condemned around the world for this injustice and human rights violation. The US government has similarly been condemned around the world for its unjust and vengeful embargo and travel ban against Cuba.

What can be done about this awful situation which is an ugly stain on the reputation of the United States of America?

There are two steps that should be taken by the US government in response to the demands of the people of the United States. An overwhelming majority of the US population favors lifting the embargo and travel ban against Cuba. People of conscience overwhelmingly favor returning all of the Cuban 5 to their homes and families.

The government of Cuba has a CIA operative in prison for conspiratorial acts against Cuba. There has been a great deal of talk of swapping this individual, Alan Gross, for the remaining Cuban 5. The people of the United States of America should demand that this move forward so that Mr. Gross can return home immediately. The US people could also demand that other US citizens imprisoned in Cuba be part of the trade. Many US tourists have been arrested for drug activity and other crimes and are in prison in Cuba. It is time for people to demand that the US government negotiate in good faith with the Cuban government for the release of these individuals. Their records should be examined and if returned to the United States, they should be punished for their crimes here, rather than in Cuba.

Medical cooperation between Cuba and the USA

The Cuban government has offered in the past to provide emergency medical care following the devastation of hurricanes in the United States. Cuban doctors are experts in providing this kind of care under very adverse conditions. President Bush declined the humanitarian offer of the Cuban government to provide this kind of assistance following Hurricane Katrina. Instead, people on the Gulf Coast died as a result of a lack of medical care. The people of the United States should demand that in exchange for the return of the Cuban 5 to Cuba, that the US government accept without condition any offers of medical assistance from Cuba following natural disasters.

The Cuban health care system is noted by experts around the world to be one of the most advanced. Cuba has a cooperative relationship with many countries, most notably Venezuela. Cuban doctors work in Venezuela providing health care in underserved areas and train Venezuelan doctors to provide similar care. This is done on contract and Cuba and its doctors are paid by the Venezuelan government to provide this care.

The people of the United States should demand that in exchange for the Cuban 5, the Cuban government enter into a cooperative relationship so that similar services could be provided to underserved populations in the United States. For example, recently there has been a scandal in the VA system. It has come to light that many veterans are dying while waiting for an appointment at the VA. Cuban doctors could help shorten the wait and provide the medical care that US veterans desperately need.

Part of the recently implemented ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, was an expansion of Medicaid to working people with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid and too low to afford to purchase private insurance. Many states, including Texas, declined to cooperate with the expansion of Medicaid. Cuban doctors could be contracted to provide care to this segment of the population that now has no medical coverage.

Cuba has developed many innovative drugs which are not available in this country. These include a drug to fight and prevent cancer, a drug that lowers cholesterol and raises libido, and a drug that treats diabetic ulcers which frequently result in amputations. These drugs could improve the quality of life of many people in the United States.

Let us beat our swords into plowshares, bury the hatchet and make love a major component of US foreign policy, especially towards our close neighbor, Cuba. Let us not cut off our nose to spite our face. What would Jesus do?

PHill1917@comcast.net

http://mltoday.com/an-open-letter-to-the-participants-in-the-socialist-economics-listserv?utm

A few days ago, from a friend, I learned of a comment attributed to John Case on his moderated listserv “Socialist Economics.”

I would be happy to discover that the attribution was unfounded, since it is such a scurrilous attack on comrades associated with our website, Marxism-Leninism Today, <>.

Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny are the authors of Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union, a book on the causes of the dismantling of Soviet socialism. The book was first published by International Publishers in 2004, then in numerous languages, most recently in a Spanish translation in socialist Cuba. That Cuban edition has a laudatory foreword by Ramon Labanino, one of the Cuban Five, who is still imprisoned in the US. The book is studied by Marxists throughout the world.

Recently, when one listserv participant referred to this book, Case allegedly responded:

The clutch of absurd and ridiculous fools like Keeran and Kenny, and their various cousins in farce and mockery, on the vocabulary of “Marxism-Leninism” and “communism”, is the second reason, after the endless barking of my neighbor’s stupid and paranoid dog, that I do not own a gun. No KK [sic] or MLToday on this site please.

Such name-calling by Case, reportedly a member of the CPUSA National Committee, is vile and certainly worthy of condemnation, but the reference to shooting his political adversaries goes beyond ugly, beyond vitriol.

Perhaps Case means such a remark to be witty. And perhaps from the mouth of a rebellious teenager this comment might be excusable. But this is not language permissible among Communists.

The current CPUSA chair, Sam Webb, later picked up the thread of listserv discussion, without mentioning the over-the-top slur/threat. Apparently Webb didn’t find it remarkable.

I can’t speak for John Case. I don’t know even if he considers himself a Communist or a Marxist. But for those who still do identify with that tradition and continue to be associated with Case as part of his “Socialist Economics” discussion group, I think they owe an explanation.

Either such associates deny the accuracy of the quote or they repudiate the comment. Failing to condemn such a remark is simply an example of blatant moral cowardice unbecoming a Communist.

They certainly are not welcome in my world.

Zoltan Zigedy (Greg Godels)

April 27, 2014