Thought this bit was interesting.Good article in the lrb:
James Meek · Two Armies in One: What now for Ukraine?
The intermittence of Western arms money is not the Ukrainian military’s only problem as it organises to do three...www.lrb.co.uk
And at the end
www.newsweek.com
Back to that permanent war economy. Deal with the capitalist problem of overproduction, that drags everything down in the end, by just blowing the shit up.interesting article...lots in it but a couple of bits that stand out: "Russia has at least a three-to-one superiority in artillery fire, and often even more", but perhaps most interestingly the war economy is creating a wider boom of sorts‘A lot higher than we expected’: Russian arms production worries Europe’s war planners
Moscow has massively ramped up its industry, giving it advantages in Ukraine and leading to a redistribution of wealthwww.theguardian.com
“The war has led to an unprecedented redistribution of wealth, with the poorer classes profiting from government spending on the military-industrial complex,” said Denis Volkov, the director of the Levada Center, a polling and sociological research firm in Moscow. “Workers at military factories and families of soldiers fighting in Ukraine suddenly have much more money to spend. Their income has increased dramatically.”
Levada’s polling showed that 5-6% of those who “previously did not have enough money to buy consumer goods like a fridge now have moved upwards towards the middle classes”.
---arms production extra fuelled by forced labour and compulsory overtime
... a war economy will be hard to wean off, every chance of more war for economic reasons
interesting article...lots in it but a couple of bits that stand out: "Russia has at least a three-to-one superiority in artillery fire, and often even more", but perhaps most interestingly the war economy is creating a wider boom of sorts‘A lot higher than we expected’: Russian arms production worries Europe’s war planners
Moscow has massively ramped up its industry, giving it advantages in Ukraine and leading to a redistribution of wealth
“The war has led to an unprecedented redistribution of wealth, with the poorer classes profiting from government spending on the military-industrial complex,” said Denis Volkov, the director of the Levada Center, a polling and sociological research firm in Moscow. “Workers at military factories and families of soldiers fighting in Ukraine suddenly have much more money to spend. Their income has increased dramatically.”
Levada’s polling showed that 5-6% of those who “previously did not have enough money to buy consumer goods like a fridge now have moved upwards towards the middle classes”.
---arms production extra fuelled by forced labour and compulsory overtime
... a war economy will be hard to wean off, every chance of more war for economic reasons
interesting article...lots in it but a couple of bits that stand out: "Russia has at least a three-to-one superiority in artillery fire, and often even more", but perhaps most interestingly the war economy is creating a wider boom of sorts‘A lot higher than we expected’: Russian arms production worries Europe’s war planners
Moscow has massively ramped up its industry, giving it advantages in Ukraine and leading to a redistribution of wealth
“The war has led to an unprecedented redistribution of wealth, with the poorer classes profiting from government spending on the military-industrial complex,” said Denis Volkov, the director of the Levada Center, a polling and sociological research firm in Moscow. “Workers at military factories and families of soldiers fighting in Ukraine suddenly have much more money to spend. Their income has increased dramatically.”
Levada’s polling showed that 5-6% of those who “previously did not have enough money to buy consumer goods like a fridge now have moved upwards towards the middle classes”.
---arms production extra fuelled by forced labour and compulsory overtime
... a war economy will be hard to wean off, every chance of more war for economic reasons
Not noticed Ishchenko before, but that Al Jazeera is particularly good. Possibly the best succinct analysis I've seen in a mainstream media outlet.There have been a few articles over the last year that have pushed this military Keynesian theory, Volodymyr Ishchenko , a Ukrainian sociologist one of the first and it followed on from his initial articles of who in Russia benefits from the war.
He also has a book out end of this month 'Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War'
Russia’s military Keynesianism
The Kremlin’s strategy to redistribute wealth through the war effort may boost its legitimacy.www.aljazeera.com
probably thinking that as they use skoolkids to assemble drones, that's what ukraine will be doing, so in that example striking the school would be a win-win for them.
I'm guessing he didn't fall out of a window
I'm reading it that he "collapsed after exercise" ...
shot a cockroach or shot a muslim?
www.politico.eu
I posted an obituary on the main Navalny dead thread which I think is more comprehensive and balanced and attempts to explain his popularity and base.Cheers for the pointer
Has Alexey Navalny moved on from his nationalist past?
The Kremlin critic stopped attending far-right rallies many years ago, but he still supports anti-migrant measures.www.google.com
bsky.app
www.forbes.com
As it drags on, the war is increasingly resembling the horrors of World War 1. That, for me, is the 'wood'. Troops dug into trenches, thousands upon thousands of men dying as they grimly fight over a few square kilometres of territory. Failed offensives in which much stall had been set, various 'wins' and 'defeats' for both sides along the way, and two years in no real prospect of either side gaining a telling advantage. Reliable figures are hard to come by, but probably 200,000+ dead men and counting. Following a wave of enthusiasm at the start, young men in Ukraine are increasingly reluctant to be called up and thrown into the meat grinder.Avdiivka: Ukraine troops leave embattled eastern town
Russia's defence ministry says it has taken "full control" of the town, which had been besieged for months.www.bbc.com
Ukrainian troops withdraw from Avdiivka.
Seems to relate to the above discussion of Russia's war economy.
It is also worth noting that Russia is receiving a great deal of equipment from China:
China secretly sends enough gear to Russia to equip an army
Shipments of military-capable hardware expose a China-sized loophole in Western sanctions.
It is odd how the apologists for Putin swing wildly between saying his victory is inevitable so we should stop helping Ukraine, to saying how Russia is too weak to threaten anywhere else. Clearly, a Russian economy dedicated towards military production backed by massive Chinese industrial capacity is a serious threat to Europe beyond Ukraine, especially given their alt-right disinformation networks and possible alliance with MAGA - also why it is missing the wood for the trees to focus on Ukraine's far right. The weakness of Russia is real but is also why it is a threat in the short to medium term - both Russia and China face long term relative decline due to their demographic issues, which is why there is a determination to reshape the world order to lock in some form of hegemony while they still can. This isn't something that will blow over anytime soon.
It isn't really mirroring what led up to ww1. There are not a group of powers in the middle of Europe lining up against powers in the west and east. There's not the arms race that preceded the first world war. There really isn't. Where's the drones league to mirror the extraparliamentary bodies in Britain and Germany campaigning for stronger navies? The similarities between 2024 and 1914 are far fewer than you suppose, although there's some industrial strife in the UK now as there was 110 years ago. The next war will make ww1 and ww2 look like a cakewalk. And afterwards the slaughter of 14-18 will be relegated as was the slaughter of the French revolutionary and napoleonic wars.
Not all those fighting are men.
All those conscripted on both sides are.
