Portside

As the world churns... news and analysis from all over

Military mobilization has finally buried the “Putin social contract,” which assumed the political passivity of the people. How will people act when suddenly and unwillingly awakened to politics and civic activity?

In just five days after Putin's speech calling up 300,000 reservists, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, citing government sources, reported that 261,000 Russian men had fled the country.

News and analyses from and about social movements, political parties and unifying activists

A precise answer requires precise questions

The musician and activist has escaped her homeland – but its repression still torments her. She talks about being beaten and jailed, nuclear threats and the dangerous power of women

Only a decisive defeat of Putinism — with its toxic mix of despotism, corruption, right-wing nationalism, and devil-may-care extractivism — would offer the world some sliver of hope when it comes to restoring some measure of planetary balance.

LGBTQ in Africa, Ecuador ablaze, and talk of stalemate in Myanmar

But if the war does not end soon, its dangers will increase. Negotiations need to begin... “To make concessions to Russia would be submitting to aggression,”... “To make none would be submitting to insanity.”

Opposition to U.S. adventurism is principled. But this is Putin’s adventurism, and the left must stand firmly against it....Supporting the defense of Ukraine is the right thing for the global left to do. Even if our own government is doing it.