ROTTEN ESTABLISHMENT

WILLIAM H WARRICK—During the summer of 1894 Czar Alexander III began feeling “not well”. His symptoms continued and worsened into September and the Czarina had to write her family in Denmark to cancel a planned visit. The Czar then went to the Crimea to try and recuperate in the warmer climes there. His health then rapidly declined and he died on Oct 20, surrounded by family after reading 2 prayers, taking communion from Father Yanyshev and prayers by the priest from Kronstadt.

Pushback with Aaron Maté Stephen F. Cohen argues that cracks are emerging within the NATO-led consensus that has pushed Moscow from the West. Guest: Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and Princeton University, contributing editor at The Nation, and author of several “War with Russia: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate.”

JOHN LAUGHLAND—The dangers of using legislatures to write history are even greater when, as in this case, the purpose of the resolution is polemical. The general idea of the text is that Europeans must remember their dreadful past in order not to repeat it in the future: everyone knows that the European project was born in the ruins of the Second World War. But the goal of this resolution is to recalibrate the usual memory of the Nazis and the Holocaust to put the memory of Communist totalitarianism on an equal footing with Nazism. Communism, the resolution says, was Nazism’s ideological twin, and the USSR shares equal guilt with Germany for starting the war.

MoA—The air defenses surrounding Abqaiq proved to be ineffective. That may have been because they were shut off. But it is doubtful that the systems, even if they had been on alert, would have made any difference. The U.S. made Patriot system in question was built as an air defense system against fighter jets. It was later upgraded to give it some capability against ballistic missiles. But even its latest iteration is not capable of defeating smaller drones or low flying cruise missiles.

The Saudis were hoping this threat would serve to rally the international ruling class behind them against Iran. But they risk the opposite. Seeing the weakness and instability of Saudi Arabia, it is more likely that the western ruling classes will hedge their bets by increasingly supporting other powers, such as Iran and Turkey, as forces of stability in the region. Thus, whatever happens, in one way or another, every social, military or political earthquake in the region will only serve to bring forth the contradictions that have been maturing underneath the surface – amongst which is the terminal crisis facing Saudi Arabia.