MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
The shifting sands of war
The possibility of a renewed diplomatic solution in Ukraine could be opening up – but will a hawkish Labour front bench get the message, wonders NICK WRIGHT
WAR MACHINE: Ukrainian soldiers prepare a self-propelled artillery vehicle Gvozdika to fire towards the Russian positions on the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukraine
President Maduro mobilises the 4.5 million-strong Bolivarian National Militia in response to US ‘threats’, vowing to defend the country’s sovereignty and independence, DEVIN B MARTINEZ reports
Washington plays innocent bystander while pouring weapons and intelligence into Ukraine, just as it enables the Gaza genocide — but every US escalation leaves Ukraine weaker than the neutrality deal rejected in 2022, argue MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICOLAS JS DAVIES
For those in the West, hunger is often just the familiar feeling of a growling stomach between meals — in Gaza, it has become a strategic weapon of slow, systematic and deadly destruction, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
After almost two decades of rule by the Movement Toward Socialism, once led by Evo Morales, right-wing parties have emerged in the lead after the first round of elections on August 17 and are now in control of the legislature, reports PABLO MERIGUET
DAVID MATTHEWS looks at what a collective future for welfare might have in store for us
ANY illusions that the European Union is a force for peace in the world, or even on its own doorstep, vanished on the final day of the Munich Security Conference.
Convened in great luxury in the Bayerische Hof Hotel, dozens of new cold warriors heard Estonian premier Kaja Kallas propose that the EU collectively buy artillery munitions for Ukraine and, in lockstep, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gave it the imprimatur of the EU hierarchy.
The significance of this stand lies not in the talk about ramping up production — which is presently insufficient to meet Ukraine’s demands and the delivery of which is further threatened by the collapsing US consensus about supply — but in the fuller integration of the EU into the Nato war-fighting strategy.
More from this author
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT
Deep disillusionment with the Westminster cross-party consensus means rupture with the status quo is on the cards – bringing not only opportunities but also dangers, says NICK WRIGHT
Holding office in local government is a poisoned chalice for a party that bases its electoral appeal around issues where it has no power whatsoever, argues NICK WRIGHT
From Gaza complicity to welfare cuts chaos, Starmer’s baggage accumulates, and voters will indeed find ‘somewhere else’ to go — to the Greens, nationalists, Lib Dems, Reform UK or a new, working-class left party, writes NICK WRIGHT
