The new cold war is making us poorer
Video of online meeting
(held on Wednesday 19 April)
Organised by No Cold War Britain
Speakers:
Kate Hudson, General Secretary CND
Roger McKenzie, Morning Star International Editor
Bob Oram, No Cold War Britain
Micaela Tracey-Ramos, UNISON activist
Michael Burke, Socialist Economic Bulletin
Co-chairs: Fiona Edwards and Sequoyah De Souza (No Cold War Britain)
Information from the organisers
The British government’s obedience to the foreign policy agenda of the United States is leading Britain to pursue an increasingly aggressive cold war policy that is totally against the interests of the British people. Britain’s hostility towards Russia and China, two nuclear armed states, is not only directly contributing to the huge cost of living crisis engulfing the country but is also destabilising the global situation at the expense of peace and prosperity worldwide.
Britain helped scupper the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022 – negotiations in which an interim settlement seemed possible.
Britain’s excessive military budget is the fourth largest in the entire world and was higher than Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Czech Republic combined in 2021.
Britain’s military budget stands at £48 billion – this is draining vital resources away from public services. The billions of pounds that Britain has spent in the past year sending weapons to prolong NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine could be financing fair pay rises to settle the many pay disputes in the public sector or creating new green jobs to tackle the climate crisis.
Britain’s opposition to peace negotiations and its support for the economic war on Russia are acts of self-harm. The sanctions on Russia have hit living standards in Britain as cheaper Russian energy is being replaced by more expensive US liquefied gas.
The cold war agenda is leading Britain to have poorer relations with China, the world’s most dynamic and fastest growing major economy, which inevitably damages the opportunities for win-win cooperation and comes at the expense of jobs, trade, investment and access to the best and cheapest technology.
This was the theme of No Cold War Britain’s online meeting on Wednesday 19 April.
This event was organised by No Cold War Britain:
Twitter: @NCWBritain
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