Part 1: NATO failed in Ukraine against Russia. Now it's targeting China (Youtube/Invidious)
Part 2: Anti-China hawks' drive to expand NATO into Asia may destroy Western military alliance (Youtube/Invidious)
Personally I found some of Escobar's comments in part 2, around @8:03 regarding DPRK to be pretty interesting. He talks about how although the Western media focuses on the military aspect of relations between Russia and DPRK, that recently, signs are showing of Russia's intention to help with getting DPRK re-integrated into international trade and especially his comments in regard to building a trans-Korean railway to link with the trans-Siberian railway and how this topic is likely to come up on the next Eastern Economic forum in September. (This railway concept isn't a new one, but I found his comments about recent events interesting) as well as potential inclusion in other trade deals/organizations, etc.
click to see a transcript of his comment on this
[Note: transcript is auto-generated and I didn't clean it up completely]
Escobar: I'd like to focus on something that happened these past few days, which is enormous, and I would say for most of the planet, quite unforeseen: which is Russia bringing back North Korea, the DPRK, to the rank of a very important Global south power with enormous reach...
So, we have Ministry of Defense Sergei shoigu, received like Mick Jagger in Pyongyang. he got a true rock star welcome. the whole thing, including a private audience with Kim Jong-un. and obviously the whole leadership of the dprk.
What leaked, of course, was the possibility of many military agreements and increasing their military collaboration what did not leak is the best part of them all because it's the geo-economic part.
What do the Russians really want to do with the Pyongyang? they want to integrate Pyongyang with South Korea, with Seoul, and of course this will mean Russia developing a sort of go-between diplomacy between both--and they have the possibility to do both because they are also respected in Seoul.
And something that has already been discussed at the Eastern economic Forum in Vladivostok--these discussions they started at least three or four years ago in Vladivostok--and what they're all about, basically, is to build a trans-Korean Railway which is going to connect with the Trans-Siberian and connect both koreas to the Russian Far East and then all the way across Eurasia.
So, imagine that you are a Samsung businessman in Seoul you look at that and said "wow, I'm gonna have--I don't need to to use a cargo tankers anymore, I can have direct access to the enormous developing Market in the Russian Far East, not to mention the whole of Eurasia via Russia just by building a Railway." very very simple.
Which, sooner or later, with--and I would say, with Chinese input, could become a high speed rail. Considering that the Chinese are already investing in a High-Speed Rail in Russia, and considering that if there is a a duplication of the Trans-Siberian into a Trans-Siberian high-speed rail is going to be built by the Chinese, this is a trans Korean Railway could also be built with Chinese input, technical input as well. And financed via a Chinese a Silk Road fund the brics Development Bank, Russian Banks--and it could be a a reorganization of Finance, East Eurasia style.
So, they were discussing that of course. and this is going to be rediscussed and they're going to get deeper into it at the next Eastern economic Forum in Vladivostok in early September. so, it's a around the corner. literally. so so the fact that this is happening now, it's very, very important because this is a sort of uh, preamble to what they're gonna get into at the next Eastern economic Forum.
So, everybody is happy with this Arrangement; North Korea because they are brought back to the Forefront of trade in the parts of, Eurasia, the possibility of having some sort of geo-economic deal between North Korea and South Korea, Russia developing the Far East and integrating the Far East with the koreas, and China, of course, because this also integrates this part of Eurasia this North in Eurasia uh, framework. and it's part of brics. it's part of the Shanghai Corporation organization.
And this opens, I would say, this leaves us with the possibility of North Korea, sooner or later, getting integrated into the Eurasia economic Union. and that's fantastic. because this I see that happening in uh at least two stages. the first stage, the EAEU strikes a free trade agreement with North Korea, just like the ones they have with Cuba, or with Vietnam in Southeast Asia. and they are also working with Indonesia, to have an EAEU free trade deal with Indonesia.
They could also do the same thing with North Korea and--fantastic--this bypasses U.S sanctions! because it's going to be EAEU basically, uh Russia is 80% of the Firepower of the EAEU. they can devise a settlement mechanism involving in North Korea that bypasses the US dollar completely. you have expansion of EaEu to North East Asia which is very important.
The Chinese are going to love it as well because they can also, um, even if they are not part of the EAEU, don't forget that Putin and Xi have already said,and the directives are already there, the Belt and Road initiative--BRI--and EAEU they have to converge. and this would be a perfect example of convergence between BRI and EAEU. so that's why the way I see this visit by shoigu as Mick Jagger, it's extrapolates it everywhere, geoconomically and geopolitically, and it's no wonder that it was not even mentioned, I would say, or barely mentioned in Western mainstream media.
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Anyway, just sharing these. They cover a lot of topics in this discussion.
Yes, the US is purposely starving the world.
Yep. I doubt you'll care to read the following but I'm putting it here for others to see.
The United States is the world leader in imposing economic sanctions and supports sanctions regimes affecting nearly 200 million people. ... Targeted countries experience economic contractions and, in many cases, are unable to import sufficient essential goods, including essential medicines, medical equipment, infrastructure necessary for clean water and for health care, and food. ... While on paper most sanctions have some humanitarian exemptions for food, necessary medicines and medical supplies, in practice these exemptions are not sufficient to ensure access to these goods within the targeted country. (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
It's well known that sanctions are ineffective for pressuring governments, but very effective at waging siege warfare by starving and killing ordinary citizens by disease and infrastructural failures. Continuing to use sanctions in this way and to this extent, when this is well known, is definitely "purposely starving the world". An independent expert appointed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in 2019 that US sanctions violate human rights and international code of conduct and can lead to starvation. Why does the US continue to be the world leader in imposing sanctions, increasing its use of sanctions by 933% over the last 20 years, when this is well known? It's because they know the effect, and they're doing it on purpose.
We can also look at some US internal memorandums from before it was more politically incorrect to talk about starving people in other countries. In 1960, U.S. officials wrote that creating "disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship" through denying money and supplies to Cuba would be a method they should pursue in order to "bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government" in Cuba.
In other countries, we see a pattern of US officials and US-backed institutions purposely denying aid and loans to governments they don't approve of, and then suddenly approving aid and opening up loans when a coup brings a leader they're happy with into power. When Ghana was requesting aid under an administration that the West's bourgeoisie didn't like, U.S. officials said this: "We and other Western countries (including France) have been helping to set up the situation by ignoring Nkrumah’s pleas for economic aid. The new OCAM (Francophone) group’s refusal to attend any OAU meeting in Accra (because of Nkrumah’s plotting) will further isolate him. All in all, looks good." The "situation" they were helping to set up was a coup they knew was going to happen. After a US-friendly coup took place, suddenly it was time to give the "almost pathetically pro-Western" government a gift of "few thousand tons of surplus wheat or rice", knowing that giving little gifts like this "whets their appetites" for further collaboration with the US. You will find the same song and dance in numerous other countries, Chile being a well-documented example, if you simply look for it.
The US imposes starvation and depravation of other countries on purpose, using it as an economic wrecking ball, then pats itself on the back for giving "aid" to the countries which have been hollowed out by such tactics.
The loans which magically become available to countries that meet the US approval standards are not so pretty either, as a former IMF senior economist said, he may only hope "to wash my hands of what in my mind's eye is the blood of millions of poor and starving peoples", there not being "enough soap in the world" to wash away what has been done to the global south through the calculated fraud of the IMF, whose tactics are designed to accomplish the same kind of goals as the sanctions are--to prevent the economic rise of any country but the US by wrecking its competitors economically, tearing apart their local manufacturing capacity and transforming them into mere resource extraction projects, redirecting their agricultural industries into exports to make sure they reach a level where they are more reliant on imports to feed themselves, and reliant on foreign aid which is ripped away whenever they do not do what the US approves of or make friends with who the US wants them to.
I refer to #3, why don’t they just do it then?
This is what secondary sanctions and the US's various protection rackets have always been designed to prevent, which has definitely been a powerful tool for them, but it seems with the rise of the new non-aligned movement and de-dollarization its becoming a less successful one and we can see countries "just doing" what they want more and more while the US leadership waves around, as usual, more sanctions and military threats in response.
This is another one that I haven't read before so I'm glad it's the next one we're covering. My weak point in understanding theory has also mainly been around the more detailed economic side. I often have some trouble understanding Marx's writing style, but I think the introduction by Engels helped me better understand some of the things that I've felt my understanding was lacking in.
In particular I found this passage helpful:
In the present state of production, human labour-power not only produces in a day a greater value than it itself possesses and costs; but with each new scientific discovery, with each new technical invention, there also rises the surplus of its daily production over its daily cost, while as a consequence there diminishes that part of the working-day in which the labourer produces the equivalent of his day’s wages, and, on the other hand, lengthens that part of the working-day in which he must present labour gratis to the capitalist.
In the next paragraph he states: "[the portion of value] which the capitalist class retains, and which it has to share, at most, only with the landlord class, is increasing with every new discovery and invention, while the share which falls to the working class (per capita) rises but little and very slowly, or not at all, and under certain conditions it may even fall".
Again, like one of the quotes that stuck out to me from our previous reading, I feel like it helped my understanding when the focus was put on the big picture. Sometimes the more detailed explanations about how value is generated get me thinking only about how this affects the worker in particular, and forgetting to think about how it affects the entire proletariat and bourgeoisie's development as classes. Of course the details are necessary to understand the whole larger concept, but I think these quotes helped keep my understanding on track.
I also appreciated these lines at the end of the introduction: "This condition becomes every day more absurd and more unnecessary. It must be gotten rid of; it can be gotten rid of. A new social order is possible [...] there will be the means of life, of the enjoyment of life, and of the development and activity of all bodily and mental faculties, through the systematic use and further development of the enormous productive powers of society, which exists with us even now".
I don't have more time today, so sorry if this post seems kind of disorganized, but those are my main thoughts. Looking forward to next week's thread.
Very good summary of the origin's of Korea's division and the Korean war.
Some extra information to add on:
A 1946 opinion poll appearing in Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper showed a majority of respondents favoring socialism as their preferred system, and less than 15% supporting capitalism. Together, socialism and communism received 77% support from survey respondents. (Source)
In 1950, when the Korean People's Army had taken control of Seoul, the CIA wrote that "over 50% of Seoul's students are actively aiding the Communist invaders, with many voluntarily enlisting in the Northern Army" and that among Seoul's population, "the working class generally supports the Northern Koreans" adding that the streets of Seoul were "crowded [...] especially with youths engaging in Communist demonstrations." (Source)
Meanwhile, here is the person backed by the US to run the southern regime:
Syngman Rhee who was the first president of the Republic of Korea, is responsible for the killing of 30,000 Jeju islanders between 1947 and 1954 (during the Jeju April 3rd Massacre). Secondly, he is responsible for the massacres of one million civilians during the Korean War (1950~1953), and finally, he illegally amended the Constitution in 1954, aiming for long-term seizure of power and initiated fraudulent election in 1960. ("Letter from 252 South Korean NGOs against Syngman Rhee Day")
A 1948 CIA report wrote regarding Rhee that "there is every prospect that Rhee's accession to power will be followed by intra-party cleavages and by the ruthless suppression of all non-Rhee Rightist, Moderate, and Leftist opposition," characterizing Rhee as an "imported expatriate politician" and "extreme rightist" and demagogue "bent on autocratic rule", who would be an "unpopular" figure who would play into communist propaganda due to his extreme rightist orientation, and stating that the U.S. throwing their full support behind him could potentially be "a source of future embarrassment to US policy in the Far East." (Source)
https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Hollywood
The U.S. Department of Defense has access to the scripts of thousands of Hollywood films and modifies them to make them more favorable to U.S. militarism.[5] The government and military have complete editorial control over many of these films.[3] The government often censors movies that suggest U.S. military incompetence, war crimes, or involvement in torture or coups. Many movies that are critical of U.S. imperialism are never released at all.[5] Pro-imperialist films are allowed to use authentic military equipment and vehicles that the producers would not be able to afford otherwise.[1] Popular U.S. movies that have been influenced by the Pentagon or CIA include Apollo 13, James Bond, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Transformers, and the Marvel movies. Pentagon contracts usually specify that the government's role in the film must not be disclosed.[5]
Kwame Nkrumah writing about this issue in 1965:
Even the cinema stories of fabulous Hollywood are loaded. One has only to listen to the cheers of an African audience as Hollywood’s heroes slaughter red Indians or Asiatics to understand the effectiveness of this weapon. For, in the developing continents, where the colonialist heritage has left a vast majority still illiterate, even the smallest child gets the message contained in the blood and thunder stories emanating from California. And along with murder and the Wild West goes an incessant barrage of anti-socialist propaganda, in which the trade union man, the revolutionary, or the man of dark skin is generally cast as the villain, while the policeman, the gum-shoe, the Federal agent — in a word, the CIA — type spy is ever the hero. Here, truly, is the ideological under-belly of those political murders which so often use local people as their instruments.
Sorry that I don't have much to add personally aside from these quotes.
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> In 1922, only one American in ten owned an automobile. (Everyone else used rail.) At that time Alfred P. Sloan (President, General Motors) said, 'Wait a minute, this is a great opportunity. We've got 90 percent of the market out there that we can somehow turn into automobile users. If we can eliminate the rail alternatives, we will create a new market for our cars. And if we don't, then General Motors' sales are just going to remain level.'
> Sloan wanted to get in very big in this field. What he bought was phenomenal: the largest bus-operating company in the country and the largest bus-production company. And using that as a foothold, GM moved into Manhattan. They acquired interests in the New York railways and between 1926 and '36 they methodically destroyed the rails.
> When they finally motorized New York, General Motors issued ads throughout the country [...] trying to show that motorization is the wave of the future. They issued these ads and they said, `The motorization of 4th and Madison is the most important event in the history of community transportation.'
> GM worked hard to create the impression of a nationwide trend away from rail. But there was no trend. Buses were a tough sell. They jolted. They smelled. They inched through traffic. City by city, it took the hidden hand of General Motors to replace streetcars with Yellow Coach buses.
> In 1936, a company was founded that would grow to dominate American city transportation. National City Lines had no visible connection to General Motors. In fact, the director of operations came from a GM subsidiary, Yellow Coach, and members of the Board of Directors came from Greyhound, which was founded and controlled by General Motors.
> Over the next few years, Standard Oil of California, Mack Truck, Phillips Petroleum and Firestone Tire would join GM in backing this venture.
> "They don't take the service out, they just cut it back. They'll take and cut it from 10 minutes to 12 minutes, from 12 to 15, from 15 to 20, from 20 to 30. So they reduce the service. And every time you reduce the service you make it less attractive. And the less attractive the fewer riders. And then they say, `Well see, we can't make any money.' So they abandon it."
> Narrator: Edwin Quinby was a rail buff with a talent for financial sleuthing. In 1946, he mailed a warning to influential people in hundreds of cities across the country. His 33-page broadside was filled with surprisingly detailed research. It brought to light what GM had worked hard to hide.
> Edwin Quinby (voice over): "The plan is to destroy public utilities, which you'll find impractical to replace after you discover your mistake. Who are the corporations behind this? Why are they permitted to destroy valuable electric railways?"
> Mass Transportation Magazine (voice over): "Queer Case of Quinby, by Ross Schram. Edwin J. Quinby took full advantage of the great American privilege of the free press to feed the lunatic fringe of radicals and crackpots springing up like weeds in the United States today."
> National City Lines, General Motors and the other defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to monopolize the local transportation field.
> "These companies, that had probably eliminated systems that in order to reconstitute today [1996] would require maybe $300 billion, these companies were individually fined $5,000."
> Narrator: The Justice Department would spend the next 25 years trying to limit GM's influence on transportation. It would begin three major investigations into monopoly practices: two were settled out of court; one was eventually dropped. An effective way to rein in GM was never found.
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/631698
> Korean laborers rally to condemn Yoon’s union-bashing, announce general strike for July > > > On Monday, the 133rd annual International Workers’ Day, Korean labor unions came together to criticize the “union bashing” by President Yoon Suk-yeol and his administration and announce plans for a general strike in July. > > > Workers gathered in Seoul, with organizers estimating 80,000 people at the event, while police estimated about 38,000. > > ... > > > The first large-scale May Day rally since the inauguration of the Yoon administration was marked by huge backlash against the prevailing pressure on unions. > > >“The Yoon administration has created a prosecutor’s republic and is practicing a politics of fear that is pushing democracy backwards,” said Yang Kyung-soo, chair of the KCTU, in a speech at the rally. “Raids have become routine, and there is a new story each day about construction workers being arrested.” > > >“Their aim is to dissolve democratic unions by attacking existing unions such as the KCTU by labeling them illegal, corrupt, violent, and accusing them of espionage,” he went on to say. > > ... > > > Holding signs that read “Out with Yoon Suk-yeol,” and “General strike now,” participants filled six lanes of traffic from in front of Donghwa Duty Free, where the podium was set up, to Seoul City Hall Station. > > > News of the attempted self-immolation by an executive member of the KCTU who had been under investigation on charges of intimidation for coercion added to the rage that radiated from the crowd. > > > “The Yoon administration's brutal crackdown on construction unions has led many workers to their deaths,” Yang said, adding, “Let us crush this regime that’s killing all us workers.” > > ... > > > The KCTU said 130,000 people attended International Workers’ Day rallies in 14 metropolitan cities across the country, including Seoul. > > Korean unionist self-immolates outside court on May Day > > > The Korean Construction Workers’ Union reported on Monday that the leader of a local union branch had self-immolated outside of a local court in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, that morning. > > > According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions-associated union, the unionist was rushed to the Gangneung Asan Hospital immediately after setting himself on fire outside of the Gangneung branch of the Chuncheon District Court, but had been in a state of cardiac arrest and had suffered full-body burns. > > ... > > > Writing that he planned to self-immolate that day, Yang said he had chosen to do so because he had “carried out union work justly and without wrongdoing,” but that prosecutors were charging him with “not a violation of the Assembly and Demonstration Act, but ‘interference and intimidation.’” > > > “My pride cannot abide this,” Yang wrote about the charges against him. > > > “I should have fought doggedly, struggled tenaciously to win. Perhaps I’m taking the easy way out,” the unionist wrote. > > > “I was glad to have been in this together with you,” Yang wrote. “I will stand at the side of my comrades eternally.” > > Related: > > * (January) S. Korea’s intelligence agency raids offices of major labor unions > > * (January) Red Star Over Asia podcast: Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Police Raid > > * KCTU calls for apology from president after unionist dies by self-immolation
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In a major escalation of the ongoing anti-trade union witch-hunt in South Korea, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) was raided by the National Intelligence Service on charges of violating a Cold War-era national security law
![Outrage mounts after Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is raided by intelligence and police : Peoples Dispatch](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/511485de-8340-49e1-9ddc-6ac9eb60928f.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/574435
> "The raid comes as the conservative right-wing government of President Yoon Suk-yeol is targeting leaders of progressive groups and labor movements in the country using unsubstantiated allegations of links to, and espionage for, North Korea." > > "Four people were the prime targets of the raid. These include a senior KCTU leader, one official each from its affiliates, the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union and the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, and a union organizer and anti-war activist from Jeju Island." > > ::: spoiler Click for article excerpt > > On Wednesday, January 18, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the largest workers’ organizations in South Korea, was raided by the intelligence and the police as the government escalated its persecution of trade unions and progressive groups in the country. Multiple raids were conducted at the offices of the KCTU and its affiliates by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) along with the National Police Agency. > > As per reports, the NIS procured a search and seizure warrant from the court against the KCTU based on alleged charges of violating the controversial National Security Act of 1948. NIS officials reportedly stated that the search came after years of “internal investigations into … alleged links to North Korea,” but refused to divulge any further information. > > Four people were the prime targets of the raid. These include a senior KCTU leader, one official each from its affiliates, the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union and the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, and a union organizer and anti-war activist from Jeju Island. > > Apart from the trade union’s headquarters in Seoul, raids were carried out at multiple locations including at the homes of the accused union leaders. At its Seoul headquarters, KCTU officials confronted the investigators, demanding that the search be conducted in the presence of a lawyer, but the NIS and the police investigators reportedly pushed their way into the office. > > The confrontation lasted more than three hours before the search could proceed. The KCTU live-streamed the confrontation and parts of the raids on YouTube showing investigators forcing their way into the office. KCTU officials also stated that IDs were taken along with photographs of the people present at the headquarters without their permission. > > In a press conference held in the afternoon, shortly after the raid started, Han Sang-jin, a spokesperson of the KCTU, stated that the raid appeared to be an attempt to forcibly link the ongoing persecution of trade unionists to an alleged North-Korean “spy ring.” > ___ > ::: > > (Full article) > > Note: This article is from January. > > August, last year: Thousands of South Korean unionists and their progressive supporters rallied in downtown Seoul to protest against joint US-South Korea war games planned for later this month. [...] A YouTube video of the Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which contains the activities of the Unification Vanguard, is also controversial. The 2-minute and 58-second video released by the Federation of Trade Unions includes a song called [Anti-U.S. Anti-War Song] by a folk song group called ‘[Our Country]’ as the background music. [...] The Unification Committee also held a camp called ‘Unification School’ and lectured on ‘The History of America’s World Aggression’ and ‘The Confrontational History of the DPRK-U.S.’. At a rally on the 13th, the KCTU read a solidarity message sent by the Korean Workers’ Union, a North Korean workers’ organization. > > Related: Activity video of the 23rd KCTU Central Unification Vanguard
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