Eurasia

Rentier Capitalism and Class Warfare in Kazakhstan

Blame ‘free’ market reforms that benefit the rich and powerful at the expense of the working class for the country’s recent protests. The recent protests in oil-rich Kazakhstan have highlighted the devastating effects of rent extraction. The country’s largest sellers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), including KazMunaiGas, Kazgermunai, CNPC-AktobeMunaiGas and …

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Ready for Another Game of Russian Roulette?

As the U.S. moves nuclear forces closer and closer to the border of Russia, and as our corporate media bang their war drums louder and louder, does anyone remember the Cuban missile crisis? In June of 1961, just three months after the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba was defeated, …

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Ukraine president asked Bennett to mediate with Russia, Putin said no

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett brought up the topic of Ukraine in his meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, offering to assist in averting a crisis between the countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected an offer from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to mediate between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky …

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US special operations presses on in Ukraine amid threat of Russian invasion

U.S. special operators are continuing with a mission to build up an elite fighting force in Ukraine, military officials said, even as Russia threatens invasion with its thousands of troops, tanks and artillery massed along their borders. “The bottom line is that our training mission in Ukraine is ongoing,” Lt. …

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The Peoples’ Money: Transitioning to a Steady State Economy

1. A significant cause of the unjust inequalities of wealth found in our society is a simple mechanism which keeps it all going: the state-chartered monopoly power held by private banks to create money as debt, and to profit from it through the interest charged on their loans. Their ability …

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Biden’s soft-power policy faces reality of Xi-Putin big-power world

President Joe Biden took office with what was, in many ways, a soft-power vision of foreign policy. But China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have been busy reminding the United States that today’s world is one of big-power competition. Regional experts say one key objective of Mr. Putin’s recent …

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Kremlin ‘Concerned’ by ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Prospect of Delivery of Stingers to Ukraine

British defence chief Ben Wallace announced Monday that London is supplying Kiev with weapons for “self-defence” and small numbers of trainers to teach the Ukrainian army how to use them. US officials and lawmakers, meanwhile, have warned that they would back a Ukrainian “insurgency” with anti-armour and anti-air weapons if …

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Blinken, Lavrov to Meet in Geneva Friday to Continue Diplomacy Over Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will urge Russia to “take immediate steps to de-escalate” tensions along its border with Ukraine in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva Friday. Blinken is heading to Ukraine this week for talks with the country’s president amid continued fears that …

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Germany Prepared to Pay ‘High Economic Price’ to Defend Ukraine

Germany has said it is prepared to pay “a high economic price” to defend its values, as NATO members engage in another week of intense diplomacy amid a Russian troop buildup close to the Ukrainian border. Western nations have threatened Russia with crippling sanctions if it invades Ukraine. Russian troops …

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Die Schwäche des Westens

Der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin erwischt den transatlantischen Westen auf dem denkbar schwächsten Fuß für eine Kraftprobe um die Zukunft der Ukraine. Und das hat für einmal nichts mit Corona zu tun. US-Präsident Joe Biden steht bereits nach seinem ersten Jahr vor den Trümmern seiner Amtszeit. Eigentlich muss der 79-Jährige …

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