China, Taiwan, and the Next Ukraine?

 Concerned? The US has recently called China the major threat to the US and is building up military alliances in the Pacific region to counter this "threat''. Taiwan is recognized, even by the US, as part of China.'' The 1979 U.S.–P.R.C. Joint Communiqué switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In the Joint Communiqué, the United States recognized the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, acknowledging the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.''(Wikipedia) Yet Biden says he will use military force if China tries to assert its authority over Taiwan. This is a Ukraine situation. The US sells weapons to Taiwan, has its fleets sailing around the waters about Taiwan and China, treats China as a de facto enemy, and then says it is concerned the Chinese might react negatively. The Constitution gives the conduct of foreign affairs to the president not to Pelosi so all this talk about trying to get Pelosi not to make this provocative trip is all hokum to befool the American people. Does anyone believe the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives would defy the wishes of president Biden if he really didn't want her to go to Taiwan. The US wants to provoke China, as it did Russia, to justify more American military spending and presence in the Pacific theatre. It's bad enough the American masses fall for this ruling class propaganda, it's tragic that Left wing groups and political leaders also do so.

NYTIMES.COM

U.S. Officials Grow More Concerned About Potential Action by China on Taiwan

The Biden administration is watching for any moves by China to close off the Taiwan Strait, and they would prefer that Nancy Pelosi cancel her planned trip.

Reflections on a "Man-Made" Disaster

 Let’s reflect on this disaster: The NYT reports “It is an increasingly common path for a world confronting the deadly consequences of extreme weather brought on by man-made, and irreversible, climate change.”

Yes— man-made but by man operating under the rules and laws of the capitalist economic system. Every added oz. of CO2 and related gases brings us closer to the camel’s back. Here are three recent headlines on man’s response:

Shell sees refining profits nearly tripling, adding $1 billion to its bottom line.

Biden opens the possibility of more offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

President Biden Looks to Boost Oil Production - Bloomberg.com

It’s not Biden per se but our system. A Republican president would do the same— and that’s the rub, at least for Marxists. We all know what is at issue in the coming elections and we don’t want Republicans to take over— but Democrats are taking us down the same road, only slower.

Does Marxism have the correct understanding of the solutions to capitalist crises — i.e., socialism. Our movement is not strong enough to have any real influence in the outcome of the duel for supremacy between the Democrats and Republicans- if the Democrats and their allies can’t defeat the Republicans our widow’s mite won’t change a thing. Instead of making fools of ourselves chasing after Biden’s tail and supporting the monopoly capitalist oligarchs he works for against those who support the Republicans (often the same ones) we should be using the election time opportunities to propagate a proper understanding among the working class of their real position under the capitalist system and why socialism is their movement to embrace.

That means, simply, forget about the Biden vs whatever Republican dog and pony show of the ruling class and concentrate all our efforts on local organizing and local political struggle to begin building a real working class political base necessary for any Marxist movement. Let’s not hide our unique worldview under a bushel but live up to our vanguard role and proclaim it from the house tops (‘that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops’). This doesn’t mean not working with others, or insisting that others have to adopt all our views, it only means we work with others but also keep our own flags flying.

A recent example of this was the Poor Peoples demonstration in Washington a couple of weeks ago. Marxist groups participated in this popular front activity fully supporting its message and goals and at the same time displayed their own colors and symbols of Marxism. What better way to show that Marxism and Marxist-Leninist groups can work together with other popular progressive movements and the interchange of ideas can only help the Marxist movement as its move advanced ideology will gradually take root. The vanguard role must be earned not simply proclaimed — out of the ears of the closet and on to the roof!

NYTIMES.COM

Glacier Tragedy Shows Reach of Europe’s New Heat

A collapse at the top of one of Italy’s tallest peaks offered the latest evidence of the deadly threat posed by rising temperatures.

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Ukraine: Not Enough Soldiers!

 It's pretty obvious from this article that Ukraine does not have enough soldiers to defeat the Russians in the Donbass and the US objective of prolonging this war until the Russians are driven back to Russia proper is foolish and will only increase the suffering and destruction in Ukraine. The only way to stop this war is by negotiations and a ceasefire. Like it or not Ukraine is not going back to the status quo ante and will have to compromise territorially with regard to the Russian speaking cultural areas in the Donbass. The Russians want secure borders and the end to NATO encroachments, There will only be peace in Europe if the EU and Russia can workout a modus vivendi. NATO's recent virtual declaration of a new cold war against Russia and China threatens the entire planet with the possibility of this becoming a hot war with all sides armed with nuclear weapons. No one can think this is a desirable situation. The US, more than any other country, is responsible for this existential crisis. The Left must build a movement that educates the American people to the fact that both the Democrats and Republicans collaborate in these warlike policies. The electorate must be offered progressive Democrats a la the Squad and independent Green, peace and socialist oriented candidates to challenge the status quo -- if we fail, humanity could fail as well. The Right has gained power and influence because it has a along range incremental plan. The Left has simply repeated the same short range plan over and over every election cycle. We also need a long range incremental plan as well.

NYTIMES.COM

Ill Prepared for Combat, Volunteers Die in Battles Far From Home

Many of the fighters for Ukraine’s western territorial defense units were assigned benign tasks away from the fighting when they first joined. Then they were called to the front to fight.

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Biden and the Future of US Foreign Policy

 "Speaking at a news conference at the close of a NATO summit in Madrid, Mr. Biden said that Americans and the rest of the world would have to pay more for gasoline and energy as a price of containing Russian aggression. How long? “As long as it takes, so Russia cannot in fact defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine,” he said."

How crazy is this? Nevermind the rightness or wrongness of the war-- this depends on different worldviews -- the war is a given and the task is to end it as soon as possible. There is no going back to the status quo ante. NATO is not going to destroy Russia, nor vice versa regarding Russia and Ukraine. The ultimate cause of this war was the friction produced by the hostile actions of NATO encroaching year by year on Russia and its borders and there is no reason to think that there is any "beyond Ukraine" unless NATO keeps up more and more friction with Russia -- which it evidently intends to do.

Ukraine will be defeated -- it will never get the Crimea back and the Russian speaking Don Bass will either become a separate state (unrecognized by the West) or annexed by Russia (as Israel has done with the Golan Heights and is doing on the West Bank). Ukraine will remain an independent state and become a member of the EU. The US, whose social system and economy cannot function without wars and foreign conflict to feed its military industrial complex and foreign exploitation of surplus value will become increasingly right-wing and authoritarian to contain popular discontent and will shift its major imperialist thrusts to the Chinese theatre of operations (which has become intercontinental due to the road and belt project) after the Ukraine crisis has finally cooled down.

Biden's "as long as it takes" means as long as US imperialism lasts whose end can only come about with the final systemic collapse of capitalism when the contradictions of the world market finally become irreconcilable and the general crisis of capitalism comes to fruition. The left, internationally, must decide it it is going to oppose U.S. imperialism by seriously building a revolutionary working class democratic alternative a la Lenin, or continue to play by the rules of capitalist bourgeois democracy a la Bernstein. Hic Rhodus, hic salta!

NYTIMES.COM

Biden Vows to Back Ukraine ‘as Long as It Takes’ Despite Economic Toll

NATO leaders concluded a summit with new commitments to a united front against Russian aggression, but they face the challenge of persuading their own people that it’s worth the cost.