FRANCE

J MATSON HEININGER—Just imagine if the American workers were less fearful? They could join together, as the French are doing, and shut the USA down… Until the minimum wage is 20 bucks an hour, until there is universal healthcare, and free education for all Americans… Until, until, etc. And an end to Biden’s Warmongering. And a Federal reserve pledged to care about the working Man and not big bucks oligopoly, and bailing out zombie corporations… “But unlike previous strikes, major confederations of French trade unions – including the CFDT and CGT – have announced ‘’grèves reconductibles’’ meaning workers will vote at the end of each strike day on whether to continue industrial action.

Unions have called for a nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations and hope to repeat the large turnout seen on the first major protest on Jan. 19, when more than a million people marched against the reform. Strikes that day also halted trains, blocked refineries and curbed power generation. A second nationwide strike on Tuesday will disrupt French public transport amid protests across the country, in a backlash against the government’s plans to make people work longer before retirement.

ANDREI RAEVSKY—What makes this book so fascinating is that the author is a Marxist, but a special kind of Marxist, one which does not hesitate to be extremely critical of other Marxists, which makes for a very refreshing, unpredictable and truly riveting read!  Ramin’s analysis is informed by Marxism, but it is truly original and his conclusions are often surprising and unpredictable.

BIG SERGE—W
ho is the greatest general in history?

The question, while fun to contemplate, is indeed a thorny one, as it presumes that the figure of the “general” takes a consistent form that can be compared fairly across the ages. Upon reflection, this is not immediately obvious. One can hardly imagine Konstantin Rokossovskiĭ or Erich Manstein personally leading the charge of the Macedonian cavalry the way Alexander the Great did – but it is equally difficult to imagine Alexander sitting dutifully in a command post, pouring over situation maps and directing the movements of dozens of divisions from afar. The commander traded his lance and sword for maps, pencils, and telephones.

BATKO MILACIC—There is no doubt that thanks to the Russian special operation in Ukraine and the fact that Russia launched a preventive strike, it was NATO that was surprised but also scared by the Russian determination to defend its interests. It is precisely this fact that is responsible for why there was not and will not be conflict between Russia and NATO, that is, the Third World War was prevented only thanks to the Russian special operation in Ukraine.