Can unions and the left help shape post-Starmer Labour?KEIR STARMER shows no capacity to respond to the ongoing fallout over Peter Mandelson’s appointment to Washington — which has engulfed the whole Labour Together faction key to his own rise to power. Nor to the demand, put more forcefully than before by a group of affiliated unions (including the biggest of all, Unison and Unite) as well as most of the party’s remaining socialist MPs, that Labour abandon the faction fights and start to act democratically as the political wing of organised labour. Nor even to world-changing shifts in the global order. His call to raise military spending faster doubles down on existing policy. We cannot expect a meaningful assessment from this government of Marco Rubio’s chilling demand for a new era of colonial expansion and what new conflicts it may embroil us in. It will continue to shuffle along shackled to the United States, mumbling the hypocrisies of the past while obeying the diktats of unrepentant gangsters.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/can-unions-and-left-help-shape-post-starmer-labourMarcos Jr. Sells Out PH Patrimony, Feeds the US War Machine in Critical Minerals Deal With TrumpThe US push for a critical minerals deal with the Philippines is not geared toward building lasting national industries in the country. To date, there are no binding commitments to establish full local processing capacity or ensuring technology transfer. Instead, this critical minerals pact with the Marcos Jr. regime is focused on integrating the Philippines’ substantial reserves of copper, nickel, and cobalt into a US-controlled supply chain. This pattern of resource predation extends beyond the Philippines. In Venezuela, the US escalated military aggression, abducted President Nicolás Maduro, and now exerts control over the country’s oil outputs, boosting Venezuelan oil exports to the US while displacing Chinese offtake. In January 2026, under US control, Venezuelan oil exports climbed to about 800,000 barrels per day, with approximately 284,000 barrels per day going to the US, as Chinese imports fell. This shift serves US imperialist interests, recompenses major US oil companies such as Chevron, and entrenches Trump’s grip on Venezuelan natural wealth at the e
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