If you do one thing this week, read this article debunking the lies being told by politicians and the corporate media about the war in #Ukraine.

I've included some extracts in this thread, but the full article is well worth reading.

1/18

covertactionmagazine.com/2022/05/18/the… We're led to believe that #Ukraine is a democracy, but it most certainly isn't. President Zelenskyy has banned all opposition parties, closed media outlets he doesn't like and banned the use of Russian as a second state language.

2/18

THREAD

Just heard Ken Clarke on @BBCr4today trotting out hackneyed lines about tax & spend, govt borrowing and making dire predictions about inflation. This analysis is demonstrably wrong. Public spending doesn't cause inflation when there's spare capacity in the economy...
1/3 ...and govt borrowing" is a misnomer. Britain has its own sovereign currency. The Bank of England (ie the govt) issues the currency so can never run out of money. Tax is needed to address inequality, drive behaviour change, tackle inflationary pressures when they arise...
2/3

Here's @johnpilger's latest tour de force.

"In the midst of the greatest health emergency in modern times, with more than 4m surgical procedures delayed by the NHS, Johnson's announced a record increase of £16.5bn in so-called defence spending."

1/9

consortiumnews.com/2020/12/14/joh… "But these billions are not for defence. Britain has no enemies other than those within who betray the trust of its ordinary people, its nurses and doctors, its carers, elderly, homeless and youth, as successive neo-liberal governments have done, Conservative and Labour."

2/9

Congratulations to the #Coup53 documentary film-makers - a genuine tour de force, revealing the leading role played by the UK’s security services in the 1953 coup to overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iran’s democratically elected PM - a dirty tricks operation signed off by Churchill! The 1953 coup in Iran has been a blueprint for subsequent coups that have been repeatedly used against democratic govts.

#Coup53 has chilling echoes of the dirty tricks used against Corbyn and his allies, which would have undoubtedly intensified had he actually got into power.

THREAD

The Tory manifesto pledges to protect the counter-extremism industry, but the counter-extremism industry is snake oil for racists.
1/11 Just like phrenology in the 19th century and Robert Wilson Shufeldt’s racist quack science of the 20th century was used against black and Indigenous peoples, ‘counter-extremism’ is a pseudoscience that exists to demonise and belittle Muslims.
2/11

Article 4 of the Extradition Treaty between the UK and the USA states that: "Extradition shall not be granted if the offense for which extradition is requested is a political offense."

So why the hell is #JulianAssange behind bars pending extradition to the US? 1/5 The British govt's treatment of Julian Assange is a grotesque abuse of state power.

The circumstances of his incarceration are tantamount to torture.

The Extradition Treaty clearly doesn't apply in his case because his 'offence' was political, i.e. he exposed US war crimes. 2/5

The battle is won. The war rages on.

The High Court has today judged that the Labour Party acted unlawfully in re-suspending me on 28 June, and "that there was no proper reason" for doing so.

I'm glad the 're-suspension' has been quashed. However, I'm currently suspended. 1/8 It’s clear that my 're-suspension' was motivated by media hysteria. The judge said: “it is not … difficult to infer that the true reason for the decision in this case was that [NEC] members … were influenced by the ferocity of the outcry following the June decision.” 2/8

THREAD: The disaster happening in the Amazon rainforest is propelling us closer towards climate catastrophe. But this didn't happen out of nowhere. We must begin by looking at the fascist Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his crusade against environmental regulations. 1/5

https://twitter.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1164241972678266880

The destruction of the rainforest is largely related to an explosion in cattle ranching. These fires are not part of some random tragedy. This situation is highly political, and tackling it will require radical political action. The ramifications of inaction will be immense. 2/5

Labour MPs are only elected because of the hard work of grassroots members, who knock on doors, phone-bank, deliver leaflets and so much more. That's why it's so unfortunate that many in the PLP club disrespect our members by treating the party like their personal fiefdom. 1/4

https://twitter.com/margarethodge/status/1153285794259329024

I've been an anti-racist all my life. As a young bricklayer in the 1970s, I risked my well-being by regularly confronting the casual racism that was prevalent on building sites at that time. I nearly got my head kicked in, on more than a few occasions, as a consequence. 2/4

What the hell is going on?
I tabled a parliamentary question recently and discovered the Foreign Office has given £2m of public money to a shady organisation that's indulging in black propaganda against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.
theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018… These Tories are using public money to subvert democracy.
dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…