Tories take on UKIP’s policies to win UKIP voters. Vote Labour!

8th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

By Ian Richardson

The run up to the local elections on 4 May saw a clarification in Theresa May’s election strategy – or more accurately Lynton Crosby’s strategy: a pitch to mop up the UKIP vote by rebranding the Tories as the anti-European, ‘hard Brexit’ and anti-immigration party. Her ‘strong and stable’ mantra is of course chiefly inflected against the alleged ‘dangers’ presented by a Labour-led coalition government, but it also works as a banner for a reinvented hard right Tory party that promises to drive through a full and thorough Brexit.

Is Trump losing South Korea?

8th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

The following article by Jude Woodward, about South Korea’s election on 9 May, was originally published by New Cold War.org.

A significant initial impact of the crisis that Trump has whipped up over North Korea was to push security issues up the agenda in South Korean politics, aiding the US in speeding up the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) and boosting the poll ratings of the more pro-US candidate in the Presidential elections due on May. But Trump’s more recent statements about this key US Northeast Asian ally have been so casually insulting that they have led to an upsurge in anti-US sentiment as the elections draw closer.

Notes from the front – of 4/5/2017

4th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

Oppose Israel’s attacks on Syria

On 27 April Israel launched missile strikes against an alleged Hezbollah arms hub near Damascus airport in Syria. Since 2011, Israel has launched multiple strikes inside Syria, mostly against Hezbollah. In March this year it launched several strikes near Palmyra.

China is the real target for Trump’s menaces on North Korea

28th April 2017 Socialist Action 0

The following article by Jude Woodward, about the crisis the US  has whipped up about North Korea, was originally published by New Cold War.org.

Trump’s dramatic escalation of sabre-rattling over North Korea from mid-April was not triggered by any new provocative action by North Korea nor any notable advance in its nuclear or missile programme, although in the din of overwrought rhetoric emanating from Mar-a-lago it appeared that the US and North Korea’s neighbours faced an imminent threat. But this crisis was conveniently timed to influence the outcome of the South Korean presidential elections due on 9th May.

Vote Labour! Defend Corbyn! For the many, not the few! Stop the Tory Hard Brexit!

25th April 2017 Socialist Action 0

By Ian Richardson

The General Election on 8 June is a classic ‘cut-and-run’ election, called on the back of mounting evidence of the economic squeeze that is already beginning to result from Brexit and the fact that the false promises about Brexit are unravelling, including that Britain could dictate the terms it chose for a Brexit deal. This means the Tories are at a high water mark, which will now recede. Theresa May knows this and has gone for a snap election before things start to run downhill.

What China achieving ‘moderate prosperity’ means for China and the world

19th April 2017 Socialist Action 0

The following article by John Ross, setting out that China has produced the greatest economic achievement in human history, was previously published by Socialist Economic Bulletin.

China’s recently concluded “two sessions,” the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, reaffirmed China’s strategic medium term goal to create a “moderately prosperous society in all respects” by 2020. But “moderately prosperous” is a specifically Chinese term. To give a clearer idea internationally of what achieving this would mean, it is enlightening to give a global comparison for China’s goal of “moderate prosperity.”