1. Donald Trump, in ordering the assassination of Qassem Soleimani along with other Iranian and Iraqi military leaders, has committed an act of war that could set the Middle East on fire.

2. The killings no doubt were motivated by short-term political calculations on Trump’s part, but they belong to the latest phase in the crisis of US domination of the region.

3. This crisis can be traced back to the US and British Invasion of Iraq in 2003. The removal of Saddam Hussein and the defeat of the occupation created a power vacuum that both states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates – and outside powers, above all Russia, have sought to exploit. Their rivalries have provoked a series of dangerous and bloody conflicts – in Syria, Yemen, and Libya. The US-backed pipeline deal between ...

The workers of Turkey, Greece and Cyprus have nothing to gain by the latest escalation of the dispute in the Mediterranean over Exclusive Economic Zones. On the contrary, we all have much to lose if this becomes a military confrontation.

The promises of our ruling classes that exploration for oil and natural gas in the sea will bring prosperity are false. It only brings super profits for the energy multinationals like Exxon, Total and ENI, it worsens the contribution of fossil fuels to climate change and it exacerbates the rivalries between imperialist and local powers in the area.

These rivalries are reactionary on all sides. The attempts by our governments to present their actions as “defense of the homeland” are not true and this is shown very clearly by the fact that the Erdogan and Mitsotakis governments are supporting different forces fighting in Libya. Bengazi is not part of a ...

Joint statement of International Socialist Tendency organisations in Africa:

1. International Socialists across the African continent categorically condemn the wave of xenophobic violence which rocked South Africa over the last week. These attacks against fellow poor working people and accompanied retaliatory action in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Zambia and other countries are unjustified and senseless.

Xenophobia and racism have grown over the last decade of a global economic crisis. Rightwing politicians and interests have tapped into the frustration and anger of millions of people who have been thrown into the abyss of hopelessness and frustration.

2. Nationalism, racism, ethnicism and all forms of anti-foreigner politics are aimed at dividing the working-class, our communities and the unemployed. The enemies of poor South African working masses are not poor people from other countries.

They are the rich local capitalists and their foreign imperialist partners.
They jointly run the big corporations, which make billions ...

1. Die Tagung des Europäischen Rates am 28. Juni 2018 markierte einen potenziell äußerst gefährlichen Wendepunkt in der rassistischen Offensive gegen Migranten. Nach der Wahl von Donald Trump im November 2016 präsentierte sich die Europäische Union (EU) als Bollwerk des Liberalismus und der Toleranz gegen den Rassismus und Sexismus des neuen US-Präsidenten. Aber im letzten Gipfel hat die EU Trumps Agenda gegen Migranten übernommen.

2. Trump sorgte für Empörung, als er die Kinder von Einwanderern ohne Papieren getrennt von ihren Eltern einsperren ließ. Aber die EU hat den Bau von Internierungslagern – sogenannte „Anlandeplattformen“ – für ganze Familien entlang ihrer Grenzen beschlossen. Libyen – ein Land, kontrolliert von verfeindeten Milizen, die bereits jetzt Migranten handeln, entführen, foltern und vergewaltigen – soll dabei eine besondere Rolle spielen. Der Gipfel übertrug der libyschen Küstenwache die alleinige Aufgabe, Flüchtlingsboote im Mittelmeer „zu retten“.

3. Diese Entscheidungen sind die Folge einer Achse, gebildet zwischen Trump und ...