CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Block Faces Consumer Protection Probes Over Cash App

Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg News

The Cash App on a mobile phone arranged in Dobbs Ferry, New York, U.S., on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. Deutsche Bank's Bryan Keane raised his price target on Square Inc. shares to a Street-high of $330 from $255, writing that while the stock was a recovery play in 2020, it offers an even bigger recovery story in 2021. Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Block Inc., the digital payments company run by Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey, is under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and multiple state Attorneys General in connection with its Cash App service. 

The company has received requests “from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), as well as from Attorneys General from multiple states, seeking the production of information related to, among other things, Cash App’s handling of customer complaints and disputes,” Block disclosed in a recent regulatory filing. Cash App allows users to send money to friends and family, or buy stocks and Bitcoin directly from their phone.

Block said it’s “cooperating” with the CFPB and the state AGs, adding that “it is not possible to reliably determine the potential liability” stemming from the investigations. 

“We are committed to investing in Cash App’s customer experience and expanding our customer support and operations infrastructure,” a Block spokesperson said Friday in a statement. “We will continue to respond to the CFPB’s requests.”

Russian Economy Staggers Into 1998 ‘Times Three’ With Foreign Exodus

Bloomberg News, Bloomberg News

BC-Russian-Economy-Staggers-Into-1998-‘Times-Three’-With-Foreign-Exodus , Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- The international isolating of Russia is leaving local businesses flailing as foreign firms head for the exits, helping to drive the economy deeper into recession.

Besieged by international sanctions over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the world’s 11th-largest economy is suffering a rash of departures by multinational companies in industries as varied as car manufacturing, sporting goods and consumer appliances.

For those firms’ erstwhile Russian partners, the only choice is to retool on the fly in the hope of staying in business. Ikea, Renault SA, Apple Inc., Nike Inc. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are among those to have pulled back. 

At risk of losing employment are nearly 3 million Russians who work either for companies based abroad or domestic companies in joint ventures with counterparts overseas. 

For billionaire Oleg Deripaska, himself under U.S. sanctions since 2018, the plight is already dire enough to recall Russia’s 1998 default -- only “three times” worse.

Gross domestic product contracted 5.3% in 1998 while unemployment exceeded 13% the following year. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. see a 7% shrinkage of 2022. Bloomberg Economics forecasts a fall of about 9% and say it could be as much as 14% if curbs on energy exports are imposed.

“The crisis will last a minimum of three years and be extremely harsh,” Deripaska said on Thursday at a forum in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. “An iron curtain has fallen.”

The grim truth is that although Russia wasted no time in seeking to contain the creeping financial meltdown with capital controls and other emergency measures that shuttered local markets, the devastation it inflicted upon its economy has no quick fix.

Ikea is pausing its local operations after a more than two-decade presence, a decision it expects will directly impact its 15,000 staff. Top carmaker Avtovaz, majority-owned by Renault SA and an employer of over 34,000, suspended assembly in two cities after running short of components. 

Retailers are meanwhile stocking up on staples like buckwheat and salt. VTB Group, Russia’s second-biggest bank that’s among lenders under international sanctions, said it lured more than half a million new savers and near $9 billion in cash in just three days by offering deposit rates as high as 21%.

Despite soaring oil prices, the war in Ukraine came at a precarious moment for the Russian economy, long starved of investment and highly dependent on imports in industries as varied as textiles and cosmetics.

Over the past four years, the share of foreign goods in the non-food retail market barely budged and reached 75% in 2020, according to a report last November by the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. For car parts as well as toys and games, their proportion was over 90%, the study found.

Even after a government push to sanction-proof Russia since Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the sudden decoupling from the world economy is paralyzing production and threatening to stunt growth for years to come. 

The ruble’s collapse of more than 30% so far this year will further ravage household finances while shortages and the uncertainty push up inflation. 

“No bleak scenario will be an exaggeration,” said Sofya Donets, chief economist at Renaissance Capital in Moscow. “Inside the country, payment settlement and logistics haven’t been disrupted, but prices have gone up and inventories will be depleted in a month or two.”

Without government support, unemployment could exceed 10%, according to Donets, reaching a level last seen when Putin won his first presidential term more than two decades ago. The jobless rate was 4.4% in January.

What Bloomberg Economics Says...

“The early signs suggest that the current crisis is at least as serious for Russia as the great financial crisis of 2008-9 or the debt default of 1998. The economic fall out will be commensurately large -- with the price for Vladimir Putin’s war almost certain to be a deep recession.”

-- Scott Johnson and Tom Orlik 

 

Besides trying to stabilize markets and arrest capital outflows, the government is crafting an anti-crisis program, with the first package of measures to help the economy adapt approved already this week. As part of an effort to pre-empt any shortages, health and industry ministers met with representatives of pharmaceuticals manufacturers and distributors to ensure supplies. 

The central bank is though tightening the screws further having already doubled borrowing costs. In the latest move, individuals looking to buy hard currency in the open market will have to pay a 12% commission to brokers. 

For all its reliance on foreign goods, Russia is more resilient after turning itself from one of the world’s major food importers to an exporter on a global scale. Restrictions enforced in response to the first round of sanctions eight years ago have also made its own food supply far less dependent on foreign produce. 

Still, the nation may never be the same in the view of Deripaska, the founder of Hong Kong-listed aluminum giant United Co. Rusal International PJSC. and the target of U.S. sanctions. 

Urging peace as the “first step” for an economy succumbing to crisis, he said Russia needs to pivot more decisively away from Europe and called for the country’s capital to be moved eastward to be nearer Asia.

“That’s our bullheaded focus on the West -- well, they don’t want us, we must forget them already,” he said.

Life After Ikea: A Running List of Retail Closures in Russia

Martine Paris, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- As the world continues to isolate Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, U.S. and European retailers have been rapidly shutting down operations across Russia. This has sent scores of Russians racing to buy imported consumer goods over fears of a plunging ruble and sanctions. 

Companies that haven’t yet joined the ban are drawing ire across social media, with hashtags #BoycottMcDonalds and #BoycottCocaCola trending on Twitter. Last year, McDonald’s Corp. generated about 9% of its revenue from Russia and Ukraine, and Coca-Cola Co.’s Swiss-based bottler, Coca-Cola HBC AG, got about 21% of its volume from Russia and Ukraine.

Here is a roundup of businesses that have paused products and closed up shop.

Apple

After Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted a letter to Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on Feb. 25, pleading with the tech giant to pull out of Russia, Apple  closed stores and paused product sales in the country. It hasn’t yet shut down its local App Store.

Asos

Fast-fashion retailer Asos Plc said that it was halting sales in Russia. In 2021, Russia and Ukraine accounted for around 4% of sales revenue. The company suspended sales in Ukraine following the invasion.

Boohoo

Swedish clothing chain Boohoo Group Plc has suspended operations in Russia.

Burberry

British fashion house Burberry Group Plc has halted shipments to Russia, but still has stores open in the country.

Electronic Arts

Video-game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. has announced it’s stopping the sales of games, content and virtual currency bundles in Russia and Belarus.

Hermes

French luxury brand Hermes International said it will temporarily close its stores in Russia and pause all commercial activities.

H&M 

Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB has temporarily paused sales in Russia, where the retailer has 155 stores. According to its 2020 year-end report, Russia is the company’s seventh-largest market. 

Ikea

On March 3, home-furnishing giant Ikea announced that it was pausing all Ikea-brand retail operations in Russia, export and import in and out of Russia and Belarus, and deliveries from sub-suppliers. For the 15,000 employees affected, it said it was seeking to provide “income stability” for the short term. A statement on the Ikea Russia website said it was suspending sales in stores and online immediately, and that only orders placed and paid for before March 3 will be fulfilled. The company added that its MEGA Family Shopping Centres, which are shopping malls with grocery stores and pharmacies, will be kept open. 

LVMH

French luxury group LVMH SE is temporarily closing its 124 stores in Russia, AFP reported. The company has 3,500 employees in Russia, according to WWD. 

Mango

Spanish fashion retailer Mango is closing its 55 company stores in Russia, suspending online sales and stopping deliveries to the country. Its 65 franchisees are being allowed to remain open subject to product availability. The company has 800 employees in Russia, according to Reuters.

Nike

Footwear giant Nike Inc. is temporarily closing company-owned and operated shops in Russia, but the company told Bloomberg it will continue to pay store employees during the closures. It is also halting e-commerce sales in the country.

Swatch

Swiss watch company Swatch Group AG told Bloomberg it will be closing its stores in Russia.

Under Armour

Sports apparel company Under Armour Inc. has stopped all shipments into sales channels in Russia.  

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE

Half of Insured Americans Owe Medical Debt, Boosted by Covid

Almost a quarter of Americans with medical debt owed more than $10,000 -- something unheard of in other developed countries.

Alex Tanzi, Bloomberg News

BC-Half-of-Insured-Americans-Owe-Medical-Debt-Boosted-by-Covid , Alex Tanzi

(Bloomberg) -- More than half of Americans have medical debt -- whether they have health insurance or not.

A recent survey of 1,250 U.S. adults found that 56% owe health-related debt and almost one in six people with medical bills aren’t currently paying it off. A large chunk of the debt came from Covid-19 treatment and testing, according to the poll conducted by Affordable Health Insurance.

Almost a quarter of Americans with medical debt owed more than $10,000 -- something unheard of in other developed countries.

One striking finding from the survey is that having insurance or not made little difference. In fact, 61% of respondents who have employer-provided insurance said they have medical debt. This is largely due to a confusing and patchy coverage system that includes copays, deductibles and out-of-network coinsurance -- often leading to denials of claims. 

The leading source of unpaid bills in the survey were emergency-room visits, followed by hospitalizations and Covid treatments. While the burden on families isn’t new in the U.S., the extra debt caused by the pandemic has led to financial hardship for millions.

Unpaid bills that pile up are spilling out into many other aspects of their lives -- including being unable to reimburse other debts, delaying buying a house or even starting a family.

Almost one third of people with medical debt said it’s unlikely or very unlikely that they will be able to pay off their medical bills in their lifetime, according to the report.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

History Suggests Oil Shock Raises Probability of U.S. Recession

Jessica Menton, Bloomberg News

Oil pumping jacks in an oil field at sunset in Russia. Photographer: Bloomberg Creative Photos/Bloomberg Creative Collection , Bloomberg Creative

(Bloomberg) -- Historically, a surge in crude-oil prices of this magnitude have ended U.S. economic expansions and tipped the U.S. economy into recession, according to Pictet Asset Management. 

In the past 50 years, every time oil prices, adjusted for inflation, rose 50% above trend, a recession followed, data from Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet, show. Brent, the international gauge for prices, topped $110 a barrel this week, crossing that threshold on worries about disruption to Russia’s exports after the country invaded Ukraine. Brent has rallied more than 45% this year to decade highs. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. gauge, has climbed nearly 50% in 2022.

Fear is already playing out in the stock market as the war rekindled inflation concerns and clouded the outlook for corporate profits. The S&P 500 Energy Sector has been one of the few bright spots, continuing its rein as the top performing group in the index, up 33% in 2022. Oil-and-gas companies like Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips have posted double-digit gains this year, benefitting from a rise in oil prices.

But investors question how long the strength in energy stocks will last, as the group is now the third-most shorted industry on the S&P 500, with short sellers betting that the oil boom will soon be over. 

“I don’t expect an economic disaster, but what we’re seeing in oil prices will have a significant impact on growth,” Paolini said. 

To be sure, oil-price shocks have ended economic expansions like those in the mid-1970s, early 1980s and early 1990s. But other downturns weren’t directly caused by a sharp rise in oil prices, like the 2001 recession and the global financial crisis.

Few economists say the U.S. is in danger of recession since the economy is underpinned by a strong labor market, solid consumer spending and better-than-expected corporate profits. But many expect growth to slow further if inflation continues to rise. The war in Ukraine has injected further volatility into markets just as the Federal Reserve enter a rate-hike cycle. 

“The best thing for markets is for the Fed to lift rates gently and adjust policy in case the war in Ukraine evolves in the wrong way,” Paolini said. “Waiting to raise rates would be the wrong thing to do because the economy could suffer significantly if inflation rises even further.” 

Read more: Powell Affirms Fed on Track for March Hike, Will Move With Care

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

PRELUDE TO BREAD RIOTS

Surging Wheat Prices to Spur Canada Farmers to Sow More Acres

Jen Skerritt, Bloomberg News

A farmer harvests winter wheat near Brunkild, Manitoba, Canada, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. Wheat production in Canada, excluding durum, may reach 31.9 million metric tons, up 16% from a year earlier and the biggest harvest ever, according to results of a crop tour of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta organized by Winnipeg, Manitoba-based FarmLink. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The historic surge in wheat prices is expected to spur Canadian farmers to sow more acres.

Acres of spring wheat in Canada, one of the world’s top exporters, could rise 2% to 3% in 2022 as soaring prices encourage growers to shift acres from oats, pulses and durum, said Neil Townsend, chief market analyst at FarmLink in Winnipeg, Manitoba. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is hindering shipments from one of the world’s vital breadbaskets, leaving grain importers scouring for supplies elsewhere.

“The spring wheat market is on a tear,” said Stephen Vandervalk, vice president of Alberta for the Western Canadian Wheat Growers. “There’s no doubt that this price increase that’s happening now will affect seeding.”

There’s Not Enough Extra Canadian Wheat to Fill Global Shortfall

The potential boost in wheat acreage comes amid lingering concerns about dry conditions in Canada. Drought zapped as much of 40% of Western Canada’s grain output last year and swaths of Alberta and Saskatchewan remain under extreme drought conditions, according to the Canadian Drought Monitor.

Stockpiles are insufficient to support additional wheat exports from Canada until growers harvest a new crop. While parts of major growing areas remain dry, spring wheat is able to handle drought better than other crops, Vandervalk said.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

‘Ludicrous’ Wheat Fuels Investor Frenzy and

Farmer Angst

Kim Chipman and Michael Hirtzer, Bloomberg 

BC-‘Ludicrous’-Wheat-Fuels-Investor-Frenzy-and-Farmer-Angst , Kim Chipman and Michael Hirtzer

(Bloomberg) -- Wheat’s biggest weekly surge ever is prompting investors to rush toward the amber grain while nervous U.S. farmers worry about missing out.

Wheat prices are diverging in some local markets, with the differential between cash prices and benchmark futures on the Chicago exchange plummeting as wheat buyers balk at the highest prices since 2008. That’s potentially sidelining farmers who are already contending with the worst farm cost inflation in years.

“This crazed cash market scenario we are seeing because of the war is hurting farmers’ ability right now to market their old and even new crop wheat,” said Mary Kennedy, an analyst at agriculture publisher DTN Progressive Farmer. Some growers say their bids have been pulled from grain elevators, she said.

Money managers reduced short positions by 11,017 contracts of futures and options in the week ended March 1, marking the least bearish position in almost three months, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.  

In a sign of how hot the wheat market is getting, the Teucrium Wheat Fund has gone from about $91 million in net assets early last week to $207 million Thursday, according to Teucrium.

Retail investors are piling in as benchmark wheat futures in Chicago have risen 50% in two weeks, with the market soaring higher after Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Wheat futures are in ludicrous mode, there is no other way to say it,” said Matt Campbell, a risk management consultant at StoneX. “Futures and cash are diverging sharply. This is a very scary marketplace right now.”

(Adds latest fund data in fourth paragraph; ETF flow in fifth.)

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

No to the War! Russian Troops Out of Ukraine! NATO Out of Eastern Europe! No to Imperialist Rearmament!

Below we are republishing the statement of the Trotskyist Fraction – Fourth International (FT-CI), the international organization behind the International Network of newspapers La Izquierda Diario, on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Trotskyist Fraction – Fourth International 

March 3, 2022



No to the war! Russian troops out of Ukraine! NATO out of Eastern Europe! No to imperialist rearmament! For the unity of the international working class! For an independent policy in Ukraine to confront the Russian occupation and imperialist domination.

1. The military occupation of Ukraine by Russia, which we repudiate completely, has significant implications for the international situation in the current conjuncture; almost 700,000 Ukrainian refugees are escaping to the bordering European countries, and militarism and rearmament among the world powers is on the rise. While Russia has deployed a force of 190,000 troops across Ukraine and is fortifying its siege of the country’s major cities (notably launching airstrikes against not only Ukrainian military installations but also seats of political power), the NATO powers have instated tough sanctions against Russia (such as cutting off Russian banks from SWIFT transactions and freezing the reserves of the Russian Central Bank), and they are sending arms and logistical support to the Ukrainian government. In turn, after being the sector most reluctant to implement sanctions, Germany and the European Union made a 180-degree turn and are now among the most enthusiastic in taking measures against Russia. Germany — under a coalition government led by the social-liberal SPD — has made a historic shift, approving the shipment of lethal weapons to countries in conflict and authorizing an additional 100 million euros to its military budget, which now makes up more than 2 percent of its GDP. It has also deployed troops to Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia. For its part, the European Parliament has voted to take steps to admit Ukraine into the European Union. As part of a policy of rearmament and greater imperialist military interventionism — Germany being the most relevant case — Sweden also announced the transfer of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine (Swedish regulations ordinarily do not allow the exportation of arms to countries at war), Switzerland announced that it will adopt the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia (breaking the neutrality it has maintained since 1815), and the EU has decided collectively to take the unprecedented step of financing the purchase and delivery of arms to Ukraine worth $500 million. Although for the moment the NATO powers wish to avoid entering into direct military confrontation with Russia, if the conflict continues, any unexpected event could spark an escalation and expansion of military operations.

2. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is clearly a reactionary maneuver, in which a power that has the third-most powerful army in the world and nuclear arms has launched a military invasion against a border state to impose its own demands and interests. The objective of the occupation seems to be to precipitate “regime change” in Ukraine, imposing a government more or less sympathetic to Putin, with or without annexing part of Ukraine in the process. At the very least, Russia seeks to ensure that its demands are met by a Ukrainian government that has been cowed by the military occupation. All leftists and anti-imperialists must openly and emphatically repudiate this occupation undertaken by the autocratic government of Putin and demand the immediate withdrawal of Russian military forces from all of Ukraine. At the same time, we must encourage the emergence of an independent position within the Ukrainian population facing the occupation, one that does not throw its lot in with the pro-imperialist government of Zelensky and reactionary nationalist forces that are subordinated to NATO. Among the anti-imperialist Left, we must include in our demands the right to self-determination for the Donetsk and Luhansk people, without which it is impossible to overcome the division of the population between leaders who would have them subordinated to Putin or to the Western imperialist powers. In the separatist republics of east Ukraine, it is also necessary to oppose the Russian occupation and reject Putin’s attempts to use the just demands of sectors of the population who are of Russian origin for his own political interests. In Russia itself, thousands are already mobilizing and organizing against the war and are being arrested en masse; meanwhile, the population is beginning to suffer firsthand the effect of the sanctions, namely the devaluation of the ruble and rising inflation. Different analysts maintain that Putin’s military operation could end up being a doomed enterprise to occupy a country three times the size of Great Britain with a population of 44 million people who are hostile to the occupation. Indeed, the move is unpopular in Russia itself, and it faces opposition from the United States and the European imperialist powers. Against all forms of reactionary nationalism and against imperialism, in defense of all oppressed people and their national rights, the development of international working-class unity is essential to offering a solution to this crisis in favor of the millions of people suffering its effects.

3. As Putin himself has been quick to clarify, this war has nothing to do with communism or with the Left, despite the ridiculous claims of those nostalgic for the days of the Cold War. On the contrary, he represents the sectors who promoted and benefited from the restoration of capitalism in the former Soviet Union. His policy toward neighboring countries is based on the national oppression enforced during the czarist era or that was carried out under Stalin. It is an expression of the worst reactionary Russian nationalism. Putin embodies an autocratic regime that persecutes and criminalizes political opposition, and which attacks the rights of minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ community. Over 6,000 people have been arrested in Russia during anti-war marches. Putin crushed, with blood and fire, the rights of the Chechen people. He intervened in Belarus and Kazakhstan to support reactionary governments against massive popular uprisings. At the international level, his intervention has been key to sustaining the bloodthirsty regime Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in a process that culminated in a reactionary war without progressive camps. Russia’s policy of denying national rights to the Ukrainian people is in clear opposition to the Bolshevism of Lenin and Trotsky, which defended the right to self-determination of Ukraine and all nations oppressed under the czarist regime. This was a right they considered essential to sustain in order to foster the unity of the working class.

4. For their part, the United States and the imperialist European powers, which control NATO, are collectively responsible for many invasions and occupations around the world (including those of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and the former states of Yugoslavia, among others). They have imposed strong economic sanctions that fall, first and foremost, on the civilian population. They have excluded several large Russian banks and commercial operations from SWIFT, and they have prohibited Russian planes from flying in their airspace. Meanwhile, they are sending military, financial, and logistical support to the Ukrainian government of Zelensky. The United States has expelled Russian diplomats, accusing them of espionage. The European Union has taken measures to censor Russian media outlets such as Russia Today and Sputnik, and it has restricted democratic freedoms as part of its onslaught against Russia. In this way, it seeks to establish a monopoly of the press, allowing only facts and narratives that support NATO’s agenda. In reality, they are doing in their states what Putin is doing in Russia. The imperialist nations have no interest in “independence and democracy” in Ukraine, as they cynically claim. Though they are not involving themselves in a direct military confrontation with Russian forces for now, they are using the occupation for their own ends, namely military rearmament. They are seeking to position themselves to advance in a process of semi-colonization of not only Ukraine (which, under the boot of the IMF and the Western imperialist powers, is one of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe), but also Russia itself if Putin’s political and military maneuvers fail. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO has doubled its members by expanding eastward, deploying troops and missiles aimed at Russia. This flew in the face of the promises that then secretary of state James Baker made to Mikhail Gorbachev: in return for German unification, the North Atlantic Alliance would not expand. These same powers promoted regime change in Ukraine to transfer power from pro-Russian oligarchs to Western pro-imperialists. The history of the “formal” independence of Ukraine, which has oscillated between being the vassal of Russia or that of the imperialist powers of NATO, shows the correctness of Trotsky’s statement in 1939 that Ukraine’s independence was inextricably linked to the struggle of workers for power, a conclusion that is reinforced today by Russia’s occupation. The fight for an independent workers’ and socialist Ukraine implies defending the Ukrainian people’s right to self-determination while emphasizing that real independence will be won neither by “pro-Western” Ukrainian nationalists nor by “pro-Russian” supporters — but only by a workers’ government.

5. As we have said, the imperialist powers of NATO are using the Russian occupation — which is openly opposed by the majority of the population in these countries — to justify renewed militarism. In the case of Germany, the imperialist power has made a “historic shift,” as Germany’s Social Democratic chancellor Olaf Scholz called it, toward military interventionism. The “progressive” government of the Spanish State has mobilized troops in Eastern Europe, and its vehemently pro-NATO rhetoric rivals that of its more conservative allies. In France, the press is enthusiastic about the existence of a united European imperialist policy; some analysts have suggested that the Russian occupation has promoted the unity of NATO, which was in crisis. However, though the greater influence of the European powers may not come into conflict with the U.S.’s policy toward the Russian occupation in the short term, this may change in the future. At the same time, the entire arms industry is reveling in the conflict and the rearmament of the imperialist states. For our part, we reject this reactionary policy and promote the construction of a movement to oppose imperialist militarism in these countries, taking up the best elements of the German workers’ movement before it betrayed the socialist movement and supported its own bourgeoisie in the First World War. “Not a man, not a penny for this system!” said Wilhelm Liebknecht. It is in that spirit that we say clearly: Down with NATO and all imperialist rearmament policies!

6. The rise of militarism and the arrival of war in the heart of Eastern Europe show the utter falsehood of the idea that neoliberal “globalization” and the end of the Cold War ushered in a new era in which state power had been liquidated and wars were a thing of the past. After the mirage of a capitalist world ruled by a single “hyperpower” faded, the decline of U.S. power became visible for all to see. Far from reducing inter-monopoly and inter-state competition, the greater integration of the world economy through “value chains” for industrial production and services, as well as the financial system and telecommunications, has only strengthened these tendencies. The dispute for portions of world power — most notably visible in the competition between the United States, China, and Russia, but also in the attempts of Germany and France to pursue a more independent imperialist policy, as well as in Japan’s attempts to gain a foothold in its sphere of influence — is making the whole international situation more unstable. The war in Ukraine is one expression of these tendencies, one that may eventually escalate into confrontations of greater proportions owing to the multitude of contradictions it encompasses. Just as two years ago the coronavirus pandemic upset the entire international situation, today the occupation of Ukraine could accelerate latent tendencies and the convulsive political situation, including revolutionary actions of the masses or counterrevolutionary wars on a larger scale. Lenin’s analysis that we live in an epoch of “crises, wars, and revolutions” is updated — we are experiencing crises that are economic, pandemic, and climatic; wars that now involve European countries; and class struggle and popular rebellions that build off these crises and wars, preparing the ground for the emergence of pre-revolutionary or revolutionary situations in different countries.

7. The revolutionary Left must encourage mobilizations throughout the world against the war, fighting for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine while also opposing the role of NATO and the rearmament of the Western imperialist powers. We have to fight so that the repudiation of the Russian occupation expressed by those who are mobilizing in the world against the war, especially in Europe, is not instrumentalized to pave the way for increased militarism and the rearmament of the imperialist powers. In Ukraine itself we propose that the resistance to the Russian occupation take a path independent of the subordination to NATO preached by Zelensky; in Russia the opposition to the war must be the starting point to put an end to Putin’s reactionary government with a revolutionary perspective (something that cannot come from the bourgeois opposition sector led by Alexei Navalny). A massive movement throughout the world against the current war with these characteristics would undoubtedly support the development of revolutionary processes that question the whole imperialist order. The international unity of the working class is more necessary than ever. But it can arise only out of interventions in the processes of struggle developing throughout the world today.


Trotskyist Fraction – Fourth International
The Fracción Trotskista—Cuarta Internacional (FT-CI) / Trotskyist Fraction—Fourth International (TF-FI) is an international tendency of revolutionary organizations.

Jezebel and Other Digital Media Workers Go on Strike, Demand Trans Rights

Roughly 100 unionized workers at websites under the G/O Media umbrella such as Jezebel and The Root went on strike Tuesday after the union’s contract expired. Among their central demands is trans-inclusive healthcare coverage for workers.

K.S. Mehta March 5, 2022

Image by Sarah Rense

About 100 unionized reporters, editors, artists, podcasters, social media specialists, and videographers at sites such as Jezebel, The Root, Lifehacker, Kotaku, Jalopnik and Gizmodo went on strike Tuesday after the Gizmodo Media Group (GMG) Union’s contract expired. The GMG Union is a shop of the Writers Guild of America, East, a labor union representing thousands of members who write content for motion pictures, television, news, and digital media. The union broke ground as the first digital media union when it was organized in 2015. It is also now the first digital media union to go on an open-ended strike for a fair contract, with 100 percent of members voting in favor of a strike of the 93 percent of members that voted.

The union’s contract expired Monday night and workers claim that G/O Media, a media conglomerate that comprises the aforementioned publications as well as The A.V. Club, The Takeout, The Onion, and The Inventory, has stalled its negotiations. These workers are fighting for trans-inclusive health care coverage, higher salaries in the wake of inflation and the pandemic, work-from-home flexibility, protection against forced relocations to NYC, additional parental leave, caps on health care costs, and increased efforts to hire diverse candidates. CEO of G/O Media Jim Spanfeller claimed that the terms offered to the GMG Union were equivalent to or even better than terms agreed to by The Onion Union (a sister union at G/O) and said that management is “struggling to understand why terms agreed to by half the editorial union members last year are not acceptable to the other half now.”

Murjani Rawls, a striking worker and writer at The Root, said:

We firmly believe that the things that we’re fighting for in this new contract would greatly improve every creator’s life that works at G/O Media. That includes better wages, better healthcare, which also is inclusionary to our trans- and nonbinary-identifying friends and staff, and also better work-from-home options. It’s 2022. Inflation is still high. The pandemic has changed the way we look at work.

According to the union’s website, G/O Media management insists on removing all guarantees that their current healthcare benefits and cost-sharing will continue and refuses to codify the widely accepted World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s standards of care. Amidst a pandemic that has affected the health status of large swaths of the working class and attacks on trans rights across the U.S., especially in Texas, it is absolutely abominable for management to attack workers’ rights to affordable health care and trans health care coverage. These workers are fighting explicitly for the rights of their trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive coworkers in their bargaining agreement — a struggle that all unions should be taking up. The working class is trans, queer, and of color, and this struggle is an excellent example of how we can take up the fight for specially oppressed workers from where we have the most power: our workplaces.

As the union’s website states, “Labor is entitled to all it creates.” Workers should get to decide the conditions of their labor and their workplaces. This struggle and its militancy should serve as an inspiration to all workers. When we use the power of our labor to strike, it fundamentally changes the terrain of struggle.


K.S. Mehta is a research assistant in New York City.

Video of a law-abiding cat wins hearts on Internet

A videograb shows the cat at a traffic signal.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

In times when not only motorists but even pedestrians also don’t bother to follow traffic rules, a video of a cat on a road waiting for the traffic signal to get green to cross the road is winning hearts of netizens.

The video, which was shot by a Sharjah resident on a highway, is doing the rounds on the social media.

In the video a cat along with few pedestrian can be seen patiently waiting for the traffic signal to turn green.

The moment it light turns green the feline walks across the zebra crossing gracefully.

Europe has not seen such a refugee crisis since WW2, says UNHCR’s Chris Melzer

Matt FreiEurope Editor and Presenter

 5 Mar 2022

Across Ukraine a significant refugee crisis is happening.

Today, the UN said 1.3 million people had fled Ukraine as a result of the conflict.

We spoke to the UNHCR’s Chris Melzer on his phone.

He’s on the Polish border – helping to coordinate the humanitarian response following the influx of refugees from Ukraine.

We asked him how this situation compared with the last major refugee crisis in 2015, when vast numbers of people escaped the conflict in Syria

Germany To Russia: We're 'Kinda Experts' On Nazism, And Russia Isn't Fighting It

"What Russia is doing in Ukraine is slaughtering innocent children, women and men for its own gain," the German Embassy in South Africa tweeted.

By Sebastian Murdock
03/05/2022 



Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said he wanted to “denazify” Ukraine, a pretext for his invasion. Russian forces later bombed the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Five people were killed.


While the U.S. and NATO allies have placed punishing sanctions on Russia, its forces continue to battle against Ukrainian defenders. More than 800 children have been wounded so far.