Straws In The Wind: October Edition

New Zealand: Compradors Win

With the failure of the bourgeois progressive Labour Party to maintain the living standards of working people, the result of the New Zealand elections is that the right-wing Nationalist Party will take power in coalition with an extremist libertarian capitalist party; displaying the small width of allowable official political options in the country between neoliberal progressivism and neoliberal conservatism. The new government’s policies will be predictable,

myriad tax cuts, including cutting a regional fuel tax [changing] the Reserve Bank’s mandate to focus [only] on inflation, [removing]  red tape for businesses … [cracking down] on crime … [rolling back]  a raft of policies implemented by Labour over the past six years [such as] free dental care to under 30s, removing the goods and services tax from fruit and vegetables, teaching financial literacy in schools and expanding free early education, and extending financial support to working families.

The classic case of the population voting against their own interests because the Labour Party had become bourgeois progressive and focused on identitarian policies that did not match with the cultural beliefs of the majority. We can assume a much more anti-China, pro-US, foreign policy from New Zealand. The Anglo-Saxon elite dominated Five Eyes nations (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) are now back in full alignment.

Poland: Compradors Win

In Poland the choice was between the in-power socially conservative but somewhat social-welfare supporting Law and Justice Party and the bourgeois progressive Civic Coalition. The former won the most seats, but the latter will most probably be able to form a coalition with other parties to take power. The result will be a Poland much more aligned with neoliberalism and highly supportive of the EU (the Civic Coalition leader used to be head of the European Council) and its Russia-hating foreign policy, in addition to the continued foreign ownership of much of Poland’s corporations; a fully comprador leadership.

Ecuador: Compradors Win

The presidential election was between the son of the richest man in Ecuador and the latest representative of the Correa-coalition that had done so much for the working people of the nation from 2007 to 2017. After the treachery of Correa’s VP, who did a 180 into neoliberalism after being elected as Correa’s successor, the later treachery of the main indigenous leader (Yaku Perez who directed the indigenous to submit spoiled ballots rather than vote for the Correa coalition candidate) delivered the next election to an oligarch. The corrupt oligarch president (Guillermo Lasso, one of Ecuador’s richest citizens) had to call snap elections to stop his own indictment, elections in which he did not stand. The result of two right-wing presidents, one an oligarch-tool and the other a fully paid up member of the oligarchy, has been a descent into the hell of a narco-state for Ecuador with massively rising levels of crime and murders (from 5.8 per 100,000 in 2016 to 40 per 100,000 now); six years of hell. It is stunning how quickly the oligarchic hooligans can destroy a decade’s worth of progress.

And … the billionaire brat won, so we can look forward to about 17 months of neoliberal narco-oligarchic hell, stoked with a “get tough” on crime agenda which will impact the general populace but not impede the narco-oligarchy. Like electing the son of a fox to look after the hen house. The difference between the two candidates was only 4%, so once again the main indigenous leader may have delivered the election to an oligarch, directly against the interests of the indigenous peoples (who would have tended to vote for the Correa coalition if not submitting spoiled ballots). Perez’s personal vendetta against Corriesmo is a gift to the oligarchs and a huge betrayal of the interests of those he is supposed to represent; he appears to be much more a bourgeois progressive than a socialist. The winner only gets to serve out the remainder of Lasso’s term, so there will be a chance to make things right again in 2025.

Argentina: Draw and November Rematch

The choice is between a milk-toast progressive left candidate, a right-wing candidate and an oligarch-tool anarcho-capitalist lunatic who wants to give up Argentinian sovereignty by dollarizing while defunding and selling off (cheap to the oligarchs of course) any part of the state that does not benefit the landed elite and the financiers. A rerun of the 1990s Menem government that ended in depression, hyperinflation and foreign debt default?

After the 2002 collapse, driven by extensive corruption, extreme neoliberalism and an attempt to dollarise the economy the moderate left came into power and aided by the commodity boom spent 15 years putting the country back in shape. Then in 2015 the electorate made the huge mistake of electing a representative who represented the oligarchs, Macri, who set about getting the nation once again massively in debt while protecting the exchange rate to facilitate rich capital flight; the classic oligarch-puppet destroyer of all advances of the working class role. He quickly set about rewarding the agricultural oligarchs who have held back the development of the economy for a century, together with the financiers and foreign capital.

He was thrown out but not before hanging a US$50 billion IMF loan around the necks of the population. As the loan was not for the benefit of the people, but for the capital flight of the rich (who will return their funds later to buy cheap when the exchange rate has collapsed), and was against the IMF’s own rules the best thing would have been to repudiate it. As was done with the none payable foreign debt in 2002; Argentina has a history of being controlled through the collusion of domestic oligarchs and foreign creditors. But no, instead of repudiating the debt taken on to fund capital flight, the new soft progressive left government struggled in a vain attempt to square an economic circle.

And the winner is … well actually the milk-toast progressive actually got the most votes but not enough to win outright. The oligarch-tool anarcho-capitalist lunatic will be his opponent in a November run-off. Hopefully Milei scares enough of the older people to allow the milk-toast progressive to win.

And a little extra – Georgia and the Caucasus

The French-born, raised and educated neo-colonial plant and comprador president of Georgia (she was even previously the French ambassador to Georgia!), Salome Zourabichvili, has been found to have breached the constitution by making unauthorized trips to Europe to meet with her handlers EU leaders. The comprador opposition parties will make sure that the impeachment vote will not reach the requisite 100 out of 150 votes unfortunately. This was the woman who was in the US and openly stated that she was directly at odds with the parliament who were trying to increase Georgian sovereignty against foreign-funded (e.g. EU and NED funded) NGOs. At least a positive step forward on Russia’s doorstep that will open the Georgian majority’s eyes.

On a related note the Armenian prime minister Pashinyan has been playing “fuck around and find out” as he tilted toward the West and away from a Russia that has protected it for so many years. Hey presto, Nagorno-Karabakh is gone! Next stage, a full-blown Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia? The level of utter ignorance/corruption/stupidity of the leaders of these ethnic minorities, as with the Kurds as well, is unbelievable. They simply need to look at a map and realize that they need to form an alliance with a nearby power that can actually help them, and most definitely not a West that has again and again overthrown them or left them out to dry when the going gets tough. The presidents of Belarus and Kazakhstan had to learn this lesson the hard way, the leaders of the Armenians and the Kurds have even thicker skulls it seems. As did Saakashvili in 2008 when he attacked the Russian army. Watching him chew his tie in fear does not get old.

It did not end well for him:

This is how “celebrated friends of the West”, i.e. traitors, should end up.