Alex Callinicos

The three phases of Biden’s presidency

Six months into Joe Biden’s presidency, I would say attitudes towards him have gone through three phases—relief, surprise, and increasingly, disappointment.

Virus has created potential for boom—and bust

Are we heading, as some commentators claim, for another “Roaring Twenties”, like the economic boom that followed the terrible flu pandemic of 1918-19?

Good riddance to Donald Rumsfeld

“Donald Rumsfeld never loses.” James Mann in his book about George W Bush’s war cabinet, The Rise of the Vulcans, calls this “an old bit of folk wisdom that has been quietly passed around among Republicans for decades”.

China’s champions of state capitalism

Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, recently tweeted a picture of him visiting Karl Marx’s grave in Highgate, London.

Covid has stirred up the labour market

The general agitation about inflation continues among the bosses

Tories bank on Brexit divides in Ireland

Why did the Northern Ireland protocol to the Brexit agreement between Britain and the European Union figure so large at the G7 summit in Cornwall?

Huge anger at the Tories lies just beneath the surface

"The Banality of evil” is a phrase coined by the philosopher Hannah Arendt when she was covering the trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

What is behind the fears about inflation?

One issue is dominating discussion of the major economies—inflation. This has to do with both reality and fear.

Israel’s strategy fuels resistance

There was never any doubt that the giant Israeli military machine could inflict terrible death and devastation on Gaza.

Neoliberalism is alive and useful to rulers

Is neoliberalism over? This is what many of its defenders are beginning to fear. Chris Giles, the economics editor of the Financial Times, recently lamented, “The left is winning the economic battle of ideas.”

Dark web of Tory sleaze unravelled

The most interesting thing about the Tory sleaze scandal is not the Boris Johnson vs Dominic Cummings grudge match, enjoyable though that is. Everyone knows these are two thoroughly unscrupulous and unpleasant individuals.

Biden’s economic shift boosts bosses

JOE BIDEN, a veteran Democratic Party politician, was generally seen as the continuity candidate when he ran successfully for the presidency of the United States. “Continuity” here means with the previous Democratic administrations of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Repression is rulers’ response to crisis

The Tory government’s Police and Crime Bill is a very nasty attack on civil liberties. But it’s not an aberration.

The real link between racism and class

The Report of the Sewell Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities may look a mess. But it’s a calculated political hit. It aims to erase the concept of institutional racism.

Suez crisis driven by pursuit of profit

The Ever Given container ship was refloated on Monday. But the temporary closure of the Suez Canal showed a lot about world trade.

EU risks lives to cut the risk of losing money

The European Commission exploits every crisis to increase its own powers. It seized control of the vaccine procurement programme but bungled it.

Lula returns as crisis deepens in Brazil

Brazil suffers from a double affliction. With 270,000 Covid‑19 deaths it is second only to the US—although per head mortality is higher in Britain and other European countries.

Debt is rising but the rich won’t be paying

Everyone is talking about debt. This is mainly because of the enormous amounts governments are borrowing to cover extra spending in responding to the pandemic.

Is the City losing its financial domination?

Is world history going into reverse? The great historian Fernand Braudel argued that the modern capitalist world economy always has had a city at its centre, starting in the later Middle Ages with Venice.

Myanmar is fought over by imperialists

The neoliberal imperialists who have returned to office in Washington with Joe Biden are finding the world has become more complicated since they left with Barack Obama four years ago.