The Western sanctions against Russia are widely being called an unprecedented move. But the major mechanism they use has been road-tested throughout a decade of eurozone crisis — and threatens economic devastation far beyond Russian elites alone.
Several tensions run deep in Russian society: Politics are decided by elections without democracy. A growing number of Russian billionaires have outlandish wealth but no political power. And Putin is a populist without the people.
Following the Vietnam War, global progressive movements sought to refashion the world in the interests of the majority. The failure of this project, and the subsequent triumph of liberal interventionism, explains the arrogance of the US foreign policy elite.
The Pentagon budget, now up to nearly $800 billion, is a monument to waste and profligacy. If we want to tackle the major crises of our times, like climate change and global inequality, we can’t afford to keep showering the military with money.
Vladimir Putin is presiding over Russia's economic crisis with an iron fist. Can the Left present a viable challenge?
Joe Biden has a history of shady dealings, from protecting the interests of corporate donors to the business in Ukraine. Running him against our corrupt president would be a catastrophe.
Behind the seeming chaos of Trump’s tariff policy, there’s a coherent plan to reboot what Peter Gowan dubbed the “Dollar–Wall Street Regime.” The goal is to strengthen US power around high-tech digital oligarchs, and it might yet succeed on its own terms.
What’s left of the Left in the post-socialist world?
In France, the left-wing parties have allied in a Nouveau Front Populaire, challenging both Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. France Insoumise MP Clémence Guetté told Jacobin about its potential path to victory.
This month, Poland’s liberal opposition mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to protest the ruling party’s attacks on the rule of law. But it’s less clear that it’s winning over the government’s supporters, who remain wedded to its social programs.
Europe’s partial ban on Russian oil is forcing states to look for alternative energy sources. But Berlin’s shifting positions show that Germany's concern is its own power on the world market — with green issues little more than a fig leaf.
It's six months since the fraudulent election in Belarus sparked mass protests against Alexander Lukashenko's authoritarian regime. The collapse of his statist model of capitalism has fed mass discontent with his rule — but the liberal opposition's own promises of change also drew skepticism among working-class Belarusians.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has opened the floodgates for an outpouring of nationalist hysteria and hatred against a supposed enemy Russian people. Even in countries far from the front line, the war is driving an ugly dehumanization.
A journalist in Edmonton is the most recent Canadian to be charged with vandalizing a Nazi monument. How Canada came to be home to so many monuments dedicated to Ukrainian Nazi collaborators is rooted in some dark chapters in the country’s history.
The Abraham Accords have cemented a counterrevolutionary bloc in the Middle East of Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. US intervention in the region is assuming a different form, but Washington’s support for authoritarian regimes is as brazen as ever.
Pablo Iglesias, cofounder of Spain’s leftist party Podemos, tells Jacobin that antidemocratic forces in the Spanish police and secret services plotted to stop his party from taking power.
The US admits that it continues to kill civilians in drone strikes across Africa and the Middle East. Yet despite US government promises, it routinely refuses to apologize or offer compensation to the families of its victims.
After pouring money into a lobbying campaign, Wall Street firms have won exemption from a law designed to curb money laundering.
Democratic voters increasingly view what Israel is doing in Gaza as genocide. Don’t be surprised if Joe Biden’s support for it tanks his reelection chances.
Russiagate hysteria is already being used to push Trump into an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. It's a disastrous result of a pointless delusion.