Last month, the Ukrainian military penetrated Russia’s Kursk region. Bourgeois media has baselessly asserted that this advance has exposed glaring weaknesses in Russia’s military and will force Russia to consider negotiations.
The situation in Kursk, as of the making of this video, has manifested itself as a pyrrhic victory more than anything else. Not only has the front line completely stalled near the villages of Borki, Malaya Loknya, Kazachya Loknya, and Korenevo, but the advance into Kursk has also been incredibly costly for the Ukrainian fascists. 10,400 soldiers were killed and wounded, and 81 tanks, 41 infantry fighting vehicles, 74 armored personnel carriers, and nearly 600 other armored vehicles were destroyed. The Ukrainian forces have also lost 24 multiple rocket launchers, including seven US-made HIMARS and five M270 MLRS systems.
In the Donbas, after a period of stagnation, Russia’s Special Military Operation has surged forward. The frontline in the Donetsk People’s Republic has advanced to the northwest of the town of Ocheretino, once an important logistics hub for Ukrainian forces. Recently, Russian troops continued to push westwards and southwestwards from the city, liberating multiple villages in the area, namely Ptychye, Skuchnoye, Karlovka, Zavetnoye, and Zhuravka.
In Israel, the Histadrut Labor Federation called for a general strike in response to outrage over the discovery of the bodies of six Israeli hostages who were captured during the October 7th uprising. These hostages could have been safely released if the Israeli government had accepted a ceasefire proposal by the armed factions in Palestine earlier this year. Tel Aviv’s labor court ordered the strikers back to work, forcing the reopening of government offices, clinics, banks, public transportation, and other services.
Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David asserted that the general strike had accurately represented the interests of Israel’s working class regardless of political affiliation. Israeli government representatives such as Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Knesset Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf claimed that the strike was in the interests of Hamas and violated Israel’s national security.
In France, the Government of Emmanuel Macron has obstructed the efforts of the new National Popular Front to appoint a Prime Minister of their choice. The National Popular Front is a coalition that recently won a plurality of seats in France’s National Assembly. The Front, a coalition of left-wing parties such as La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) and the Communist Party of France had picked the civil servant Lucie Castets as their recommendation for Prime Minister.
Macron, in collaboration with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally Party, has instead appointed the career politician Michel Barnier, whose most recent job in politics was as Brexit negotiator for the European Union back in 2020. The General Confederation of Labor, France’s biggest trade union center, has blamed the interests of the capitalist class for Barnier’s appointment.
French Communist Party Senator Ian Brossat, who represents Paris, questioned why “The Right governs… When the Left wins the elections.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of France Unbowed, declared at a recent demonstration in Paris: “The French people are in rebellion. They have entered into a revolution. There will be no pause, no truce. I call you to a long-term battle.”