Trump’s escalation against Venezuela is about more than oil, it is about regaining control over the ‘natural’ zone of influence of the United States at a moment where its hegemony is slipping, argues VIJAY PRASHAD
German tanks against Russia? A historic mistake
Public pressure is growing to supply German tanks to Ukraine. The US wants that... but it’s not in our interests, argues Bundestag member SEVIM DAGDELEN
A Bundeswehr Leopard II tank on exercises in Germany last year
Evidence suggests Lammy’s proposals would come at a high cost: reduced fairness, diminished trust and greater racial inequality in the criminal justice system, argue TARA LAI QUINLAN and KATHARINA KARCHER
From the workhouses of the 1840s to today’s market capitalism, A Christmas Carol remains a sharp critique of charity rationed by class, says KEITH FLETT
The argument for a “significant expansion” of nuclear power will deliver soaring electricity prices that condemn underserved communities to unending hardship and poverty, argues LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The new plan sets out an uncompromising bid for global dominance, casting even allies as obstacles to be subdued, writes DIANE ABBOTT
As we approach the half-anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, the community gathers to remember loved ones while grappling with mixed emotions surrounding the ongoing deconstruction of the tower and the hopeful plans for a memorial, writes EMMA DENT COAD
THE debate about supplying Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine is gaining a dangerous amount of traction in Germany. Those advocating such deliveries are hoping in all seriousness for a Ukrainian victory in the war against Russia. They give little thought to the effect that sending German tanks would have in Russia.
Hardly any time in this debate is spent considering German history.
And yet you do not have to be a prophet to foresee what reactions the deployment of German tanks against Russia would elicit from the public there. Even though Ukraine will paint over the iron crosses on the German battle tanks, many Russians, especially those who lost loved ones in the war of extermination and colonisation waged by the Wehrmacht, will see in these weapons a renewed German military campaign against their country.
In short, those pushing for German tanks to be supplied will reap a massive mobilisation of Russian public opinion in favour of the war against Ukraine.
Similar stories
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is pouring €11.5bn into the Kiev swamp, blocking Trump’s peace plan, and pushing Nato right up to Russia’s borders – no matter if it costs hundreds of thousands of lives, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN
In the first half of a two-part article, PETER MERTENS looks at how Nato’s €800 billion ‘Readiness 2030’ plan serves Washington’s pivot to the Pacific, forcing Europeans to dismantle social security and slash pensions to fund it
Ben Chacko talks to Bundestag member for the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, SEVIM DAGDELEN, about the continuing war in Ukraine, the economic crisis, controversies over immigration, the failings of Germany’s liberalised prostitution policy, and the importance of free speech
With federal elections coming up in Germany in February, NICK WRIGHT takes a look at the class forces shaping the policies of the main parties, and sees little hope of a breakthrough for the left