US MILITARY

FAROOQUE CHOWDHURY—Ruling Bolivia since 2006, Morales has gained a reputation as a staunch defender of socialism, and rights of the exploited. He is an ardent critic of U.S. imperialist foreign policy. Evo was one of the closest allies of Cuba and Venenzuela.  The country’s highest court ruled in 2018 that he could run for the fourth time. With Evo at the helm, the country, one of the poorest in the region but rich with resources, made exemplary progress in the areas of health, education and health.

ANDREW KORYBKO—The visit of new Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Moscow from 5-7 November along with a 50-member military-technical business delegation will continue the trend of improving Russian-Indian defense ties after their comparative weakening over the past few years, though this must be balanced with improved Russian-Chinese connectivity through the Eurasian Union’s planned integration with the Belt & Road Initiative via the proposed vision of N-CPEC+ otherwise Beijing might understandably come to believe that improved Russian-Indian defense ties are aimed at countering its growing military capabilities and thus risk inadvertently triggering a security dilemma.

KULTURALIA—We thought this was an interesting topic, and the author does provide some persuasive answers. He may be focusing too much on “modern soldiers” typical of the “West”, especially those of Northern European extraction, Britan, Germany, etc., or US soldiers, who comprise a predominant mass of huge people, typical of the US population. That said, the comparison may be less apt when we talk about “modern soldiers” from the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Chile, El Salvador, Japan, etc., where average male body mass is certainly much smaller.

JIMMY DORE—They  make it so expensive to have an education and a life in America, that they have to join the miltary and go kill people in otehr places to have a chance at some decent life. How corrupt and insane is that? But it makes sense given the logic of the US empire, argues Jimmy Dore.

Russia has successfully tested its most advanced air-defense system, the S-500 Prometey, in Syria, according to the Russian daily Izvestia. Citing sources in the Russian Ministry of Defense, the outlet reported on October 2 that the test included the “ most important elements of the S-500.”