25 February 2009

In address to Congress
Obama pledges bigger Wall Street bailout

By Patrick Martin, 25 February 2009

In his first presidential address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama defended the ongoing federal bailout of the banks and pledged that even greater sums would be funneled from the US Treasury to support Wall Street.

HRW report exposes Sri Lankan government’s war crimes

By Sampath Perera, 25 February 2009

A report released last Friday by the US-based Human Rights Watch has provided a glimpse into the criminal character of the Sri Lankan government’s war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Latvian government resigns as crisis deepens in Eastern Europe

By Markus Salzmann, 25 February 2009

Latvia’s centre-right government resigned last Friday, against the background of a worsening economic crisis.

Iraqi elections underscore fragility of US occupation

By James Cogan, 25 February 2009

The January 31 Iraqi provincial elections strengthened the position of Prime Minister Maliki, but the outcome is not the product of popular enthusiasm for the election or Maliki’s party.

White House weighs bankruptcy in attack on GM, Chrysler workers

By Jerry White, 25 February 2009

The White House is reviewing several scenarios, including a government supervised bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, to carry out an unprecedented attack on autoworkers’ jobs, wages and pensions.

Canada: CAW vows to match UAW concessions to automakers

By Carl Bronski, 25 February 2009

Following in the footsteps of the US government, Canada’s Conservative government is making any aid to the automakers conditional on the companies reducing their labour costs to those of the non-union Asian transplants operating in the US South.

Swedish automaker Saab seeks bankruptcy protection

By Jordan Shilton, 25 February 2009

The automaker Saab is to be given temporary bankruptcy protection to enable it to carry out a “restructuring” programme.

Australian prime minister toasts retail king while denouncing “extreme capitalism”

By Alex Messenger, 25 February 2009

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd’s panegyric to global shopping mall baron Frank Lowy at the 2009 Australian American Association (AAA) benefit dinner early this month was by no means a first for a Labor leader. Public showings of affection for the ultra-rich have become almost commonplace in ALP circles.

Australia: Few attend Rudd’s much-hyped “National Day of Mourning”

By Peter Byrne, 25 February 2009

A “National Day of Mourning”, held on Sunday in the wake of the recent Victorian bushfires, which claimed more than 200 lives and destroyed 2,000 homes, was an exercise in cynical political manipulation, aimed at dulling critical thought and preventing any examination of what led to the disaster.

New in German

Obamas Truppenaufbau in Afghanistan bereitet neue Kriege vor

Von Keith Jones, 25. Februar 2009

Der Truppenaufbau der Obama-Regierung in Afghanistan verschärft sowohl die alten, geopolitischen Rivalitäten zwischen Indien und Pakistan als auch den Kampf der Großmächte um Einfluss auf das ölreiche Zentralasien. Damit drohen neue, noch verheerendere Kriege.

Lettlands Regierung zurückgetreten

Von Markus Salzmann, 25. Februar 2009

Vor dem Hintergrund der schweren Wirtschaftskrise ist die Mitte-Rechts-Regierung Lettlands zurückgetreten. Damit ist bereits die zweite europäische Regierung an den Folgen der internationalen Wirtschaftskrise zerbrochen.

New in French

Le syndicat allemand cherche à diviser les travailleurs d’Europe de ceux d’Amérique du Nord
La politique réactionnaire du nationalisme économiqu

Par Ulrich Rippert, 25 février 2009

General Motors (GM) a annoncé mardi un plan de réduction rien qu’en Europe de 26 000 salariés de ses effectifs mondiaux de 47 000 salariés.

New in Portuguese

Uma homenagem à campanha eleitoral do SEP - Sri Lanka

Por Peter Symonds, 25 de fevereiro de 2009

O Site Socialista de Interligação Mundial (wsws.org) presta uma homenagem à campanha, corajosa e principista, que o Socialist Equality Party (Partido da Igualdade Socialista) acabou de realizar nas eleições para província no Sri Lanka, sob condições de uma guerra civil, repressão do Estado e comunalismo.

Perspective

The debate over the nationalization of the banks

25 February 2009

In the face of a mounting banking crisis, official public debate has increasingly focused on the possibility that some major banks could end up under government ownership. The threat of “nationalization” has become headline news.

Earlier Perspectives »

History

Leon TrotskyThe Revolution Betrayed and the fate of the Soviet Union
Part one

By Peter Daniels,
25 February 2009

An understanding of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet state—their rise and subsequent degeneration—is critical in politically arming the working class by learning the lessons of the twentieth century in order to prepare for the struggles of the twenty-first.

Workers Struggles

Ireland: Buyout by KPS would be a defeat for Waterford occupation

By Steve James, 25 February 2009

Receivers for the failed Waterford Wedgewood company are reportedly on the brink of a deal with venture capitalists KPS Capital. Acceptance of the KPS take-over would represent defeat for this brave and determined initiative and should be opposed.

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