The New Communists
It’s 2017. Time to stop worrying about the questions of 1917.
485 Search Result(s) for: “russia”
It’s Always the Right Time to Call George W. Bush a War Criminal
If George W. Bush is not going to stand trial for war crimes, he should at the very least stop appearing in public to weigh in on unjustified wars, as he did this week when he accidentally referred to the “wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq.”
Putting Tariffs on Your Nose to Spite Your Face
Donald Trump’s erratic tariff rollout seems likely to deepen the world’s dependence on China and scare off investment in US reindustrialization, undermining his own administration’s stated goals. There’s no art to this incoherent, self-destructive deal.
No, Eastern Europe Isn’t Doomed to Right-Wing Rule
Six left-wing parties from central-eastern Europe have formed a new alliance. They’re united by opposition to right-wing populists and Russian imperialism — but they’re also challenging the center-left parties who led the region’s neoliberal turn.
Anora: A Refreshingly Class-Conscious Indie Film
In keeping with the harsh realities of working-class life in America, filmmaker Sean Baker doesn’t deal in facile happy endings — not in his latest, Anora, nor in his other recent films. Living to fight another day is triumph enough.
Emmanuel Macron Wants to Set Space on Fire
The 1960s space race prompted international treaties insisting that space travel should only be used for peaceful purposes. Today, Emmanuel Macron’s plans to put military hardware in space point to a dangerous new arms race.
How Joseph Stalin Became a Bolshevik
Ronald Suny’s Stalin: Passage to Revolution traces Joseph Stalin’s trajectory from his boyhood in Georgia to the Russian Revolution in 1917. In an interview, Suny explains the specificities of the Georgian socialist movement, Stalin’s role in the revolution, and why Stalinism was “bloody, ruthless,” and “the nadir of the Soviet experiment.”
The Revolt in the Trenches
One year after the Bolsheviks ended Russia’s participation in World War I, revolutionary soldiers in Bulgaria forced their government to do the same.
Yet Another Round of Clinton Smears
Two-time presidential loser Hillary Clinton has dusted off her time-worn excuses and leveled another round of attacks on the Left. Someone should remind her she’s in a glass house.
The State of Ukrainian Democracy Is Not Strong
One year after Russia’s invasion, Ukraine is backsliding away from democratic freedoms and liberal pluralism.
The Mueller Report Won’t Bring Down Trump
After months of frenzied speculation and breathless commentary, Robert Mueller has turned in his report. But the political landscape some said it would upend is basically unchanged.
The Orwellian Attacks on Critics of NATO Policy Must Stop
Rampant militarism in the wake of 9/11 did not tolerate dissent. A similar jingoistic fervor today insists that criticism of Western foreign policy and calls for diplomacy are tantamount to treason.
In the Caucasus, There Is a Peace Agreement but Not Peace
Last fall, Armenia was devastated by a six-week war with its neighbor Azerbaijan, ending in the deployment of Russian peacekeepers across the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet the "peace agreement" has done nothing to resolve the deeper reasons for the conflict, in the ethno-nationalist strife which has simmered since the fall of the USSR.
No, Bulgaria Doesn’t Need to Bury the Communist Past
Bulgarian authorities have begun dismantling the capital city's main memorial to the Red Army. Celebrated as a move to bury the Communist past, the obsession with symbolic score-settling in fact reflects an inability to talk about this history seriously.
Why Donald Trump Has Turned on Europe
For decades, European leaders fostered a willing dependence on the United States that has made the continent acutely vulnerable to the superpower’s whims. Donald Trump has sensed this weakness and is using it to advance his own narrow interests.
Wartime Red-Baiting and Repression Paved the Way for Canada’s Current Suppression of Antiwar Voices
The historical repression of antiwar voices in Canada, often twinned with red-baiting, is resurfacing amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. This resurgence marks a worrying return to stifling dissent and limiting freedom of expression.
We Should Have Listened to Bernie Sanders About Ukraine
In early February, Bernie Sanders advocated US involvement in peace talks to head off an “enormously destructive war” in Ukraine. We should have listened.
This Bastille Day, Narendra Modi Is Being Feted in Paris
Bastille Day is meant to be about freedom, equality, and brotherhood. But this July 14, Emmanuel Macron is rolling out the red carpet for India’s far-right premier — showing how little France’s military alliances conform to its supposed values.
No, Left-Wing Opponents of War Aren’t Isolationists
The Left’s opposition to wars allegedly fought for democracy or human rights isn’t tantamount to “isolationism.” Opposing war has always been at the heart of socialist internationalism.
Manners — Revolutionary and Bourgeois
It's easy to dismiss manners as simply markers of social hierarchy. But manners can perform an egalitarian, progressive function — and they're essential to any democratic organization.