Crimea, Victim of West Ukrainian Extremism
Lies as the Poison of Democracy
Squeezing Protestors
Global But Ignoble
Fading Fear of China
Snippets
Old World Civilisations Unite?
Diversity for Superior Persons?
Is Dyslexia a Woke Imaginary Illness?
What Actually Works?
US Pressure on India
Crimea, Victim of West Ukrainian Extremism
“Crimea is at the centre of one of the biggest geopolitical crises in Europe since the end of the Cold War, as Russia faces off with the west over Ukraine. Crimea is a hub for pro-Russian sentiment, owing to ties with the country which date back centuries. Crimea remains an important base for Russia, both strategically and ideologically, but not all Crimeans are sympathetic to their former ruler – including the historically anti-Russian Crimean Tatars.”[A]
That was The Guardian back in 2014, when their general dislike of everything Russian still had some connection with objective truth.
Nowadays, almost any Western source will make you believe it was like Czechoslovakia 1968. The crushing of the Prague Spring really was Moscow using its army to crush a population, and one that was anyway still socialist in its aims. 38% had voted Communist in the Western-style elections in 1946: they just wanted a relaxation.[B]
Had there been someone like Gorbachev in charge in Moscow in the late 1960s, the system might have evolved within a Leninist framework, as China did after Mao.[C] Evolved with modest changes.
There was nothing modest in what the Kiev regime was trying to do in 2014. A parliament influenced by a mob, and maybe also by US bribes.
In Ukraine 2014, the USA must have been offended that the rather useless President they got elected in 2004 was generally despised by 2010. That a majority decided to elect Yanukovych, the target of their first Orange Revolution. Who in 2014 offered a new Presidential election ahead of schedule, which might have kept the peace.[D]
The USA has always coached its foreign pupils to demand complete surrender rather than risk an unbiased election. That was true during the first protests in Syria in 2011, when Assad offered compromise. Likewise protests recently in both Serbia and Slovakia, where pro-Western politicians demand that governments surrender to them even though they were defeated in the most recent parliamentary and presidential elections.
Many years before, Cambodia was wrecked by their parliament unilaterally deposing Prince Sihanouk, an act which most ordinary Cambodians saw as unacceptable.[E] The global norm would have been a referendum, done in Italy in 1946 and Greece in 1973. So with normal politics abolished, a broad front was formed against the new regime, at a time when Cambodian communism was weak.[F] This US abuse of politics was the cause of all their later suffering.
The USA has always shown great stoicism about the suffering of its allies. Who each in turn are shocked to find themselves dumped.
Most modern US citizens are not so stoical when they do the suffering. They are still whining about being kicked out of Vietnam. Very seldom remembering the suffering of their discarded allies in South Vietnam and Cambodia. Unfortunates who would have fared much better had the USA offered aid to those war-shattered economies.
Kiev in 2014 could have stopped with verbal rejection of Crimea’s secession. They could have allowed the two elected governments of the Donbass to hold a referendum to see if a majority in Donetsk or Luhansk wanted autonomy. And they could then have followed their own agenda. Kept control of their considerable mineral wealth. Put up gold statues honouring Stepan Bandera, who began and ended World War Two in alliance with Hitler. Who independently massacred Poles and Jews between times. And they could have been open about their belief in their own virtue in that war, as Japan covertly does.
Japan at least has had the wisdom to treat the USA as about as trustworthy as a rattlesnake. No safer to befriend
Lies as the Poison of Democracy
Western liberals complain about Trump being untruthful. But they have been just as outrageous a bunch of liars.
US Democrats went along with the gross untruths that were used to destroy Saddam Hussein’s secular and Westernising Iraq. Just as forgetful of how they had saved Saddam from his failed war against Iran in 1987, when the Soviet Union was still there to keep them modest.[G]
Nor have Britons been honest or accurate about the past. The Guardian back in 2014 spoke of “historically anti-Russian Crimean Tatars”. But failed to mention that Crimean Tatars were an outpost of the Ottoman Empire, before Moscow conquered them. They were a base for decades of slave-taking raids into what is now Eastern Ukraine. Which had been depopulated by slave raids, and then resettled by a mix of Russians and Ukrainians.
All of them and even many left-wingers talk as if there were a reliable system of International Law. This illusion was encouraged by the Nuremberg Trials, in which various Nazi leaders got hung for things they mostly deserved to die for. But overlooked that Goering was definitely against the war that Hitler began, and probably not aware that Jews were being murdered rather than expelled to the east: yet was found guilty on both counts. If Goering were a criminal for bombing open cities, lots of British and US politicians and military should also have died with him
I once had a fantasy of giving him a reenacted trial in front of a jury of officers in the Israeli Air Force. But with what they have since done to Gaza, some other jury would definitely be needed.
There is no genuine International Law, because any sovereign nation can try defying such authorities as exist, and often succeed. That’s why it is irrelevant that the UN General Assembly refused to accept that the majority in Crimea had any right to vote themselves independent or to then choose to join Russia. A majority always vote against attempts at secession, though not all vote the same way on different matters.
They also normally do nothing more: Kashmir remains split on the ceasefire lines from a brief war in 1947/8. Absolutely nothing beyond non-recognition is done about Northern Cyprus, which was set up by the armed might of the Turkish Republic in 1976.
We have International Norms, not law. But even those have repeatedly been bent or broken by the West and in particular the USA.
Squeezing Protestors
A few years back, someone made a joke about an imaginary Chinese minister congratulating Western countries on their coming into line with the Chinese view of Human Rights.
Now it is revealed that there was only ever a difference in what they see as worth defending. Unimportant dissent can be ignored, as when Stalin told his people that Doctor Zhivago and its author were fine. But what we’ve got now is a defence of outrageous lying over Gaza.
Not that I needed that to be aware of the sham. I and others in the Bevin Society have been talking about it for years.[H] And mentioned things like ‘kettling’ – British police made this routine for ordinary peaceful protestors. And got it endorsed:
“The tactic has proved controversial, in part because it has resulted in the detention of ordinary bystanders as well as protesters. In March 2012 kettling was ruled lawful by the European Court of Human Rights following a legal challenge.”[I]
A lot of these were about inequality and privatisation. Which a majority of the voters are against, but somehow most of them vote for parties that support and extend such things. When the system slipped and Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, phony claims of anti-Semitism undermined him.
When in 2016 a discontented population might have given the Presidency to either Donald Trump or Bernie Saunders, the leaders of the US Democrats made sure it was not Bernie Saunders. They definitely saw Trump as the lesser evil, and have not yet changed their minds.
Global But Ignoble
Government of the 90%, by the 1%, broadly supported by the Next Nine. That’s the ignoble world that Reagan and Thatcher created.
The US idea of ‘free’ was a system grossly biased to selfish US interest – but till the 1990s, the prime selfish aim was to win the Cold War.
The replacement ideology from the 1990s was unlimited US hegemony. Continuing a process of rolling back concessions made by the rich when the Soviet Union was more of a rival. When it became clear that authentic neo-Nazis were a minor malignancy that the rich need not fear.
And that era is clearly ending. Even if a few members of the US Republican majority flipped and reversed everything Trump has done, the damage is permanent.
I also expect him not to be curbed. Trump and Musk are after a White-dominated political order, and might even be willing to see the USA break up to save it. It’s never been tested, but the US Congress and the other branches of government might give a state permission to secede. ‘I wish we now could lose California’ might be a popular sentiment: neighbouring states sometimes have signs saying Don’t Californicate Us.
The libertarian stuff gained power with Nixon and Reagan. Nixon was born in California, while Reagan made his career there, first acting then the film trade union and finally politics. Neither were as privately racists as I think Trump and Musk are. And Vance is happy with it: possible for a racist to have a nicely respectful non-white wife. The Far-Right lady in Germany also has one.
Nixon and Reagan were operating within what was still a White-dominated political order. That has faded, and population trends are against. Latinos are recovering lands that the USA took from Mexico, and redefining what US identity means. Trump and Musk are willing to risk a lot to end that.
Mend fences with Russia, the second-largest nation where the bulk of the population are acceptable for White Racists.
Fading Fear of China
How can any honest and well-informed individual defend the right of India to rule its chunk of Kashmir, but oppose Tibet remaining part of China? No one in modern times ever recognised Tibet as anything other than an outlying region of China’s multinational civilisation. And Western protests are even less honest over Xinjiang. ‘Supporters’ ignore the actual demand of Uighur militants, which is for independence. They pretend that Beijing just hates that culture.
The CPC followed the Soviet example of the central power allowing controlled expressions of regional identities. Which turned into wars of population when Moscow’s controlling hand was removed.
Other foes of China deny it is socialist, because Chinese after Mao allowed more inequality. But it was the one place where trickle-down actually worked
Worked mostly because the government never lost control. Growth – actually faster than the USA under Mao[J] – turned into the sort of Economic Miracle that West Germany and Japan enjoyed before the New Right talked them into damaging themselves.
If you get twice the income you had 10 years ago, you don’t mind if others get more. And from about the year 2000, China began curbing inequality.
Though wrong on many matters, the Guardian did at least see that China was not going to back down. Written before China announced its second retaliation, they said:
“China unlikely to blink first as Trump’s trade war enters uncharted new territory”
“One of the most helpful factors in Beijing’s favour is the fact that the US is far more dependent on Chinese imports than China is on the US.
“The main items that the US imports from China are consumer goods, such as smartphones, computers and toys. Last week, analysts at Rosenblatt Securities predicted that the cost of the cheapest iPhone available in the US could rise from $799 to $1,142 – and that was when Trump’s China tariffs were just 54%. ‘Trump cannot credibly deflect blame on to China for these economic hardships’…
“In contrast, the goods that China imports from the US are industrial and manufacturing supplies, such as soya beans, fossil fuels and jet engines. It is much easier for price increases in these commodities to be absorbed before a consumer gets their wallet – or in the case of China, their smartphone – out to pay.”[K]
Snippets
Old World Civilisations Unite?
Europe’s elite may be tiring of US behaviour, which didn’t start being immature and bullying with Trump. Some may even understand that the Chinese Communists have been regenerating the civilisation that invented most of what Europe later used to create global empires.
Global Times recently gave prominence to one of Xi’s efforts on those lines:
“Why Global Civilization Initiative matters to human progress…
“In the letter, Xi noted that over 2,000 years ago, China and Greece, two civilizations glittering at each end of the Eurasian continent, made groundbreaking contributions to the evolution of human civilization.
“Now, he pointed out, it is of profound historical and contemporary significance for them to work together to promote exchanges and mutual learning and enhance the development of all civilizations.”[L]
It is worth adding that China always tried to include those they ruled as part of their civilisation, but keeping their regional customs. It was the West that had a habit of treating the conquered as inferiors, and rooting out their distinctiveness. You can find one example by one of the heirs of Alexander in the Book of Maccabees.
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Diversity for Superior Persons?
Western liberals are appalled that racial prejudice has spread again. But ignored the main cause – their own neglect of an economy that ended the secure prosperity that kept the white working class content. Let an open but mostly-white elite grab it all:
“Robert F. Kennedy’s attempt to forge a cross-racial working-class coalition in the 1968 presidential election … Kennedy opposed even mild forms of racial preference in favor of economic programs that would benefit all working-class Americans…
“But the ugly secret of affirmative action .. is that most Black beneficiaries are middle-class, while many of the white or Asian applicants left out in the cold are working-class students who have done well in school despite significant disadvantages of their own. Are they less deserving?”[M]
Robert Kennedy Junior may have learned some of that. But much too little.
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Is Dyslexia a Woke Imaginary Illness?
No one has actually claimed that. But similar things are being said about autism. Or else that it must have some recent dangerous cause, with life-saving vaccinations suspected.
Autism and dyslexia were particular problems that got named and recognised from the 1960s. From an AI system attached to X, previously Twitter, I got:
«By the 1960s, organizations like the British Dyslexia Association (founded in 1972) were starting to form, but in the decade prior, dyslexia was often misdiagnosed as laziness, intellectual deficiency, or behavioral issues.»
Much the same for autism – just part of actual human diversity, which cuts across supposed racial differences. And are found but differently expressed across the genuine differences in human gender.
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What Actually Works?
“World Happiness Report: Finland named as happiest country for eighth year…
“The study also found strangers are about twice as kind as people think. It measured trust in strangers by deliberately losing wallets, seeing how many were returned and comparing that with how many people thought would be handed in.”[N]
That’s the real answer to crime. Not more punishment for bad people, but average people behaving better.
Much better in Finland than the USA. Voters for Trump were not wrong to be discontented:
«When it comes to decreasing happiness – or growing unhappiness – the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report also states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53 percent over the past two decades.»[O]
And given the chance, many would have voted for Bernie Saunders rather than Trump.
Note also that Finland can live with immigration:
“As of 2023, Statistics Finland produces statistics on foreign nationals in three different ways:
“ Origin and background country: 571,268 people or 10.2%, have a foreign background.
“Country of birth: 535,451 people, or 9.6%, were born in a foreign country.
“Language: 558,294 people, or 10.0%, have a first language other than Finnish, Swedish or Sámi.
“No official statistics exist on ethnicities.”[P]
That’s how things work if you see tax as normal, and state regulation as necessary.
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US Pressure on India
“Trump wants India to buy US corn – but here’s why it probably won’t
“For years, Washington has pushed for greater access to India’s farm sector, seeing it as a major untapped market. But India has fiercely protected it, citing food security, livelihoods and interests of millions of small farmers.
“To be sure, India’s transformation from a food-deficient nation to a food-surplus powerhouse is one of its biggest success stories.
“In the 1950s and ’60s, the country relied on food aid to feed its population, but a series of agricultural breakthroughs changed that. India became self-sufficient in staples, and became the world’s largest milk producer. Rapid growth in horticulture, poultry and aquaculture expanded its food basket.
“Today, India is not just feeding its 1.4 billion people but, as the world’s eighth-largest agri-produce exporter, also shipping grains, fruits and dairy worldwide.
“Yet, despite such major gains, Indian agriculture still lags in productivity, infrastructure and market access. Global price volatility and climate change add to the challenge. Crop yields lag far behind the global best. Small landholdings worsen the problem – Indian farmers work with less than a hectare on average, while their American counterparts had over 46 hectares in 2020.
“No surprise then that productivity remains low, even though farming remains India’s backbone, supporting over 700 million people, nearly half the country’s population. Agriculture employs nearly half of India’s workforce but accounts for just 15% of GDP. In comparison, less than 2% of the US population depends on farming. With limited manufacturing jobs, more people are stuck in low-paying farm work, an unusual trend for a developing country.
“This structural imbalance also shapes India’s trade policies. Despite its farm surplus, India keeps tariffs high to shield its farmers from cheap imports. It maintains moderate to high tariffs – ranging from zero to 150% – on farm imports.”[Q]
They want to let rural values dominate. And need to worry about food security. Climate change could hurt them a lot, and they definitely accept it as real. And resent being blamed, where their contribution per head is far less than the USA or Europe
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Old newsnotes at the magazine websites. I also write regular blogs – https://www.quora.com/q/mrgwydionmwilliams
[A] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/13/crimea-referendum-explainer-ukraine-russia
[B] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_Czechoslovak_parliamentary_election
[C] https://labouraffairsmagazine.com/very-old-issues-images/magazine-001-to-010/magazine-007-july-1988-2/the-1968-invasion-of-czechoslovakia-doomed-the-soviet-union/
[D] https://mrgwydionmwilliams.quora.com/Ukraine-Punished-For-Rejecting-US-Values-in-2010
[E] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Cambodian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat#Claimed_U.S._involvement
[F] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot#Against_Lon_Nol
[G] https://labouraffairsmagazine.com/very-old-issues-images/magazine-001-to-010/magazine-004-october-1987/why-the-west-saved-saddam-hussein-in-1987/
[H] https://labouraffairsmagazine.com/problems-magazine-past-issues/post-liberalism/why-all-freedom-includes-limits/
[I] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling
[J] https://labouraffairsmagazine.com/recent-issues/2019-11-magazine/2019-11/
[K] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/09/china-unlikely-to-blink-first-as-trumps-trade-war-enters-uncharted-new-territory
[L] https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202503/1330177.shtml
[M] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/books/review/james-traub-class-matters.html
[N] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr72xep44kdo
[O] https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250320-finland-happiness-rankings-us
[P] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Finland#Statistics_of_foreign_population
Labour Affairs 