ANTIFASCISTS

STALKER ZONE— On September 8, the Riga District Court confirmed the decision of the Vidzeme District Court that human rights activist and scientist Aleksandr Gaponenko committed a criminal offence by spreading anti-fascist statements. For these “crimes”, the court punished the scientist with 10 months in prison. He was awarded a suspended sentence and two years of probation.

This is a landmark decision, since previously anti-fascists in Latvia were persecuted only by the secret police and they did it surreptitiously. The decision of the Riga Court of September 8 means that the state has resorted to institutional means of reprisals against anti-fascists. Indirectly, the court’s decision recognised that fascism is a key element of the state ideology, an element that cannot be criticised under the threat of criminal punishment.

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—“Stop saying the US is the worst government on earth! Others are way worse!” Name one. Name one that’s currently doing anything that rises to the level of murdering millions and displacing tens of millions in imperialist wars and working to destroy any nation which disobeys it.

You can’t. You can’t name a single government that’s anywhere near as destructive and tyrannical as Washington today. All you can do is talk about what other governments have done generations in the past or pretend domestic oppression is as bad as killing millions in unjust wars.

The US is the most tyrannical regime on earth. Indisputably. Yet because it has such an effective propaganda machine, few people let this indisputable fact inform their worldview and foreign policy perspectives to the extent that they should.

A.B. ABRAMS—North Korea’s two new tactical missiles are seen to largely compensate for its lack of a modern air force, the one glaring gap in its otherwise comprehensive military modernisation efforts – but also in some respects its strength given the very high cost of operating modern fighter aircraft and the arguably much greater cost effectiveness of developing state-of-the-art missiles domestically. These missiles were complemented by a very wide range of new rocket artillery systems, many of them never seen before, which provide a cheaper means of carrying out major strikes on military facilities and, if needed, against population centres, all across South Korea. North Korea’s KN-09 rocket artillery system previously set a world range record in 2013 at 200km, which was later eclipsed by the KN-25 unveiled in 2019 which holds the record today with a range of over 400km.

FRANK SCOTT—The spectacle of an alleged debate between the candidates of the capitalist party with two caucuses which would have made Beavis and Butthead blush may have convinced more people of the problems we face which cannot be dealt with by its creators. The fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans did not view the ugly farce is a credit to the consciousness of the truly silent majority, as a near deranged minority of fake left and phony right mobs follow the lead of their minority mind managers and shriek in horror about a fascist attack from white supremacists or a socialist marxist subversion into mass murder which is likely to result if one or the other lesser evil is not led, carried or wheeled into the oval office.

Leonov landed at a Japanese airfield near the Korean port of Wonsan with a force of 140 men, led by a higher-ranking officer. The airfield, supposedly lightly defended, was actually manned by 3,500 Japanese defenders. Horribly outnumbered, 10 Spetsnaz officers were forced to surrender. The commander of the Russian force asked to speak with the Japanese garrison commander. As the negotiations started, Leonov angrily interrupted, saying:  “We’ve been fighting in the West throughout the war and we have enough experience to assess our situation. We will not allow ourselves to be taken hostage! You will die like rats when we break out of here!”