Jeff Jackson

🚨BREAKING NEWS: London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, blocks £50million Met police deal with Palantir This is a massive win for our campaigning - over 1,000 PSC supporters in London emailed the Mayor to demand he intervene in the lead up to this decision. Now, we demand Keir Starmer cancels all contracts with Palantir - take action now! palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/cancelpalantir…

Michelle Mone has once again signed herself off from the Lords rather than resigning. Every day she keeps her peerage is an insult to loved ones who died amid PPE shortages. The Government promised powers to remove peerages. She must be first in line. c.org/gbc654vJtx

Labour lost nearly four times as many voters to the Greens as Reform. Yet all you hear about is Reform's threat to Labour. Why? Because a) the left aren't treated as legitimate political actors b) Labour's masters prefer bashing migrants to challenging wealth and power

Iran’s revolution was not destined to end in clerical rule Hossam el-Hamalawy revisits Iran’s revolution through the social forces that drove it, explaining its outcome was not historically inevitable newarab.com/opinion/irans-…

This is Netanyahu’s nightmare scenario: an agreement that pushes back any strike on Iran’s civilian infrastructure and might even end the war. Israel will oppose any deal with the current regime, a regime Jerusalem ultimately hopes to see replaced. The problem for Netanyahu, however, is that the growing tension between him and Trump highlights a fundamental reality: he has very limited ability to influence the American policy regarding Iran right now. Trump, or at least key figures within his circle, appears increasingly interested in ending the conflict and exploring a negotiated outcome. There is always a price when entering a campaign alongside the United States. You may influence how a confrontation begins, but not necessarily how it unfolds, and certainly not how it ends. To be clear, the gaps between the sides remain significant. Yet despite Netanyahu’s objections, Trump still seems determined to seriously test the diplomatic option as his preferred path for bringing the war to a close. Netanyahu likely still believes he can shape the president’s thinking. But if diplomacy ultimately prevails, it would represent a deeply problematic development for him politically and strategically, because his tools for countering such a move by Trump are extremely limited. More broadly, it is important to remember that this war is actually the exception rather than the rule in the history of U.S.-Israeli policy toward Iran. Until the current administration, successive American governments largely preferred using economic pressure as leverage to push Tehran toward a diplomatic agreement that would block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon. The war demonstrated that attitudes in Washington may have shifted to some extent. But once the Iranian regime survived the initial shock, the fundamental gap between Israel and the United States regarding Iran’s future quickly reemerged as a central point of tension. For Israel, the issue is not only Iran’s nuclear program but also the nature of the regime itself. For the United States, however, the priority has historically been preventing nuclearization, even if that means reaching an accommodation with the existing regime. That strategic difference is now returning to the forefront. #IranWar‌

At long last, The Prophet is back. Isaac Deutscher's classic three-part biography of Leon Trotsky is available again in both the US and UK. To celebrate, we've made all of Isaac Deutscher's books 30% off until Tuesday, May 26th. versobooks.com/blogs/news/the…

Police in Bolivia fired tear gas at protesters in La Paz as miners and unions marched on the presidential palace, demanding that President Rodrigo Paz step down over a worsening fuel shortage and economic crisis.

Bolivia's government has ordered the arrest of all the main leaders of the indigenous movements and mineworkers unions. They're being charged for Terrorism for having organised the general strike against hunger. Strike continues regardless, now in day 7.

Israel has kidnapped the sister of the president of Ireland.

***EXCLUSIVE*** Andy Burnham fully rules out changing Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules if he becomes PM At the weekend his team had left it open whether he might change them in future But tonight his spokesperson tells Bloomberg he is explicitly ruling out any changes to the existing fiscal rules AND crucially Burnham is now also ruling out exempting defence spending from the fiscal rules to spend more on the military He had floated that idea in a Bloomberg interview a few weeks ago but his spokesperson tonight says he won’t pursue it This is a big attempt by Burnham’s campaign team to reassure markets who were spooked on Friday by his potential premiership But it may risk disappointing some on the left who had hoped for a more radical fiscal policy It may also mean tax rises are the likely main revenue raiser in the event Burnham wants to increase spending

¿Desde cuándo el gobierno de Israel se cree con autoridad para opinar sobre Bolivia y sobre las decisiones soberanas de nuestro pueblo? Y sobre todo, ¿con qué autoridad moral luego del genocidio y el exterminio contra el pueblo palestino que desprecian el derecho internacional? Ratificamos nuestro compromiso con el pueblo boliviano, con los sectores movilizados y con la causa del pueblo palestino, porque siempre defenderemos la vida, la dignidad y el derecho de los pueblos a existir libres de ocupación, violencia e injusticia.

The reality is beginning to set in that the only viable way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is through an agreement with Iran on the terms for reopening it, first and foremost, acknowledgment of Iran’s sovereignty claims and security interests in the area. Military options do exist, but as recent events have demonstrated, any American attempt to force the strait open militarily would almost certainly trigger an Iranian response and a broader escalation, neither of which would guarantee freedom of navigation. Even a risky ground operation or expanded military campaign would not prevent Iran from continuing to launch missiles or drones at commercial tankers. Geography is extremely difficult to overcome, and this is precisely the kind of strategic dilemma that did not exist before the war began. The Strait of Hormuz has become the clearest illustration of the flawed strategic assumptions that preceded the campaign, the limitations of military power during it, and ultimately Washington’s inability to translate military pressure into a sustainable political agreement afterward. Israel is increasingly concerned that the administration’s growing focus on reopening the Strait of Hormuz could come at the expense of the broader objectives of the war, particularly the nuclear issue. There is a real risk that the urgency of restoring global energy flows and stabilizing markets will gradually overshadow the original strategic goals of the campaign. As a result, the ball is now largely in Washington’s court. The United States can choose to move toward an arrangement with Iran over Hormuz, but doing so would inevitably raise difficult questions about the overall effectiveness and strategic outcome of the military operation. Alternatively, Washington could return to a military option, yet recent experience suggests that military escalation alone would not necessarily succeed in reopening the strait or achieving the broader objectives of the campaign. Trump can afford to wait, but he likely also understands that Iran is unlikely to capitulate simply because the pressure campaign and maritime blockade continue. Tehran has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to absorb prolonged economic and military pressure when it views the stakes as existential, particularly on issues tied to regime survival, sovereignty, and deterrence. There are no good options here. The key question is whether there is any kinetic option the administration has not yet used in this campaign that could actually change the strategic reality vis-à-vis Iran. In other words, whether additional military pressure would produce a fundamentally different outcome, or merely deepen the escalation without resolving the core political and strategic dilemmas. #IranWar‌

The Mideast is once again teetering on the brink as Trump appears poised to reignite war with Iran. While Trump's threats of war may be theatre designed to force Tehran into submission, Tehran expects the US to attack it within the next 48 hours. We should recognize that restarting the war amounts to an admission that Trump’s previous escalatory gambit — the blockade of the blockade — has failed. That, in turn, was itself an admission that the war had failed. Which was an admission that the threats of war in January had failed. As I have argued before, this relentless search for an escalatory silver bullet capable of bringing Iran to its knees is not unique to Trump; it has become a defining pathology of American Iran policy for decades. And as Washington has come to realize that the blockade is backfiring, a new and dangerous dynamic has emerged: both sides now believe another round of fighting will strengthen their hand in the negotiations that follow. As I argued in January, Trump dramatically underestimated Iran’s strength, while hard-liners in Tehran believed war would strengthen Iran’s leverage by exposing the illusion of Iranian weakness. In their view, the outcome of the conflict vindicated that assessment, leaving them increasingly confident — even emboldened — about what a second round of war could yield. Moreover, just as Tehran believes Trump intends to prosecute the next war with far greater ferocity, Iranian planners are preparing a far more expansive and punishing retaliatory campaign, complete with new strategic objectives and targets. First, they see it as an opportunity to inflict maximum strategic damage on the UAE, citing Abu Dhabi’s active role in the previous conflict and its role in urging Trump to resume hostilities. Tehran is likely to target American data centers in the UAE, a move that serves multiple purposes. Iran sees these firms as participants in the conflict. At the same time, Tehran sees an opportunity to cripple the UAE’s ambitions to become a global artificial intelligence hub — and, in doing so, potentially undermine Washington’s AI competition with China. Read the rest of the analysis on my Substack: tritaparsi.substack.com/p/is-trump-poi…

Walking with the Women Against the Far Right bloc marching in protest at Tommy Robinson’s ironically named ‘Unite The Kingdom Rally’. One of the chants: Unemployment and inflation are not caused by immigration!” #TommyRobinson @thenerve_news #StandUpToRacism

⌛️ Still time to get down to South Kensington to march against the far right & commemorate the Nakba. 📢 Join us!

Following the conclusion of the two-day ministerial BRICS summit, Iran’s FM Araghchi held a press briefing where he explicitly blamed the UAE for the failure of BRICS to issue a joint ministerial statement. He described the Emirates as a member state that used its "special relationship with Israel" to block text that intended to condemn U.S. and Israeli actions.

Today… Oppose fascist Tommy Robinson & the far right. Let’s show our unity. ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’

This is what @adam_louis52328 would call an "indigenous rights rally" or "indigenous lifestyle."

It’s been interesting watching the Murdoch press spin Zack Polanski’s precariat life as a have not • Yes he worked from job to job through agency work where the details of the role were often conveyed verbally • Yes he lived in insecure housing including slum dwellings That’s the normal experience for many millions of ordinary people. He’s an ordinary person who experienced an empty bank account like millions of others. The elite can’t seem to comprehend that someone like that is now the leader of a political party.

Join the antifascists this Saturday 16 May… Oppose fascist Tommy Robinson!