Asia

After three and a half years of US occupation, peace, stability, and freedom are restricted in the presidential enclave behind huge concrete blocks in Kabul. Here is where Mr. Karzai resides. American mercenaries guard him, advised or dictated to, whatever you may call it, by American diplomats and instructed by the State Department in Washington.

Recent nationalist, anti-Japanese demonstrations have brought to the surface many contradictions within Chinese society and also between China and its main rivals. The authorities have tolerated these demonstrations, as they do not threaten the regime as such. It shows how far the so-called Chinese Communist Party has degenerated in its ever-growing embrace of capitalism and all the monstrosities that go with it.

The arrest, and subsequent release, of comrade Manzoor, the Marxist MP in Pakistan, together with other MPs and thousands of PPP workers and activists was covered by the main TV channels and newspapers in the country. The masses will not forget who the real opponents of the regime are.

The arrest, and subsequent release, of comrade Manzoor, the Marxist MP in Pakistan, together with other MPs and thousands of PPP workers and activists was covered by the main TV channels and newspapers in the country. The masses will not forget who the real opponents of the regime are.

The coverage of last week’s events in Kyrgyzstan in the western media is, as one might expect, superficial and misleading. There is no attempt to lay bare what interests are involved, and what the role of the big powers is. Suddenly, without any explanation, Kyrgyzstan’s “tulip revolution” joins Georgia’s “rose revolution” and Ukraine’s orange one. The reader is invited to take solace from the bare assertion that democracy always triumphs in the end, Good defeats Bad, Light over Darkness and so on. In other words, we have no serious explanation of what is happening.

On February 1, the king of Nepal assumed full powers, sacking his prime minister and carrying out a royalist coup. The imperialists have shown some concern at this turn of events. They are worried that instead of stabilising the country it could play into the hands of the Maoist guerrillas.

Sri Lanka was one of the countries worst affected by the tsunami disaster. The government is now trying to exploit the situation to its advantage, but the huge wave that struck the country has brought out many contradictions and prepared to further destabilise an already very unstable regime.

China’s drive to the “socialist market” has fostered a booming economy, but concealed behind this is a mass of contradictions. In spite of the growth a crisis is inevitable. A terrible price is being paid by the working class for the drive to a market economy. Heiko Khoo looks at the real face of China.

The Armeniana people were once proud of what they achieved after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, in spite of the later Stalinist deformations. But since the demise of the former Soviet Union capitalism has been introduced and the effect has been a total collapse of what was once a developing and cultured country.

This article was written in September shortly after the August blockade organised by the Maoist guerrillas. Although with a little delay, we are publishing it now as it is relevant to the general situation and the impasse the country is facing. The Maoists have a strong position but because of their view that the revolution will be bourgeois-democratic – and not socialist at this “stage” – the situation is one of stalemate and growing instability with no clear way out. This article tries to give another perspective to the Nepalese Communist movement.

With a deep sense of sadness we learned of the death of Della Clyne following a short struggle with cancer. Although she was not known to many comrades, Della was a very remarkable woman with a passionate nature and an open and inquiring mind. She was not young in years but she seemed to be eternally young in spirit and possessed a tremendous and infectious enthusiasm that communicated itself to everyone near her.