Ending the war

Back in the “good old days” the rich lived in palatial mansions surrounded by armies of servants while kids crawled up chimneys and millions of workers lived in hovels. The British Empire spanned the globe. Britain and the other European powers carved up Africa and most of Asia to loot and plunder and anyone who dared to oppose them was inevitably dubbed insane. There was the “Mad Mahdi” who held the red-coats at bay for a few years in the Sudan, the “Mad Mullah” who led the Somali resistance to British and Italian colonialism and the endless “Mad Fenians” who, like all the rest, were clearly “mad” to think they could take on the might of the British imperialism and win.
    It still goes on today. Saddam Hussein was “mad”, So was Muammar Gaddafi and now we’re told the same about Vladimir Putin. Even the self-styled papers of record that hardly anyone reads these days repeat these childish jibes which, if it were true, would make any future negotiations with the Russian leader pointless. But in the end there will have to be talks and these talks, whether the imperialists like it or not, will have to accept that the only way to end the fighting is to agree to a neutralised Ukraine and Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation along with recognition of the independence of the Donbas republics.

Free the Kononovich brothers

Two leaders of a Ukrainian communist youth movement have been arrested on trumped up charges of spying for Russia and Belarus. Alexander and Mikhail Kononovich were arrested in Kiev on Sunday 6th March. Mikhail Kononovich is the first secretary of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine.
    The Kononovich brothers are known anti-fascist campaigners. Both have long been targeted by the fascist gangs and the secret police. No one has seen them since, This constitutes a flagrant violation of their human and political rights – a reality that, sadly is nothing new in Ukraine. It's been happening since the fascist coup of 2014, which was supported by Anglo-American and Franco-German imperialism.
    The Leninist Youth is the youth wing of the still semi-legal Communist Party of Ukraine but the party’s website and email channels were blocked by the regime at the start of the Russian intervention.
    The World Federation of Democratic Youth has called for a global campaign to put pressure on the Kiev regime to free the brothers. Demand their immediate release. Express my concern about the state of their health. Make it clear that any harm to the lives of Alexander Kononovich and Mikhail Kononovich will be the responsibility of the Government of Ukraine.
    This demand should be raised with local MPs as well as the Ukrainian embassy in London.