French Prime Minister bypassed parliament to add €6.7 billion to military spending.
Details. France has passed its delayed military spending bill, granting an additional €6.7 billion to the Defence Ministry, citing Russia, cyberattacks, and terrorism as potential urgent threats.
► Prime Minister Lecornu invoked special constitutional powers (Article 49.3) to pass the bill without a parliamentary vote, breaking his prior public promise not to use these powers. Under the Constitution, this forced passage automatically allows parliament to table a no-confidence motion.
► Lecornu’s minority government survived two no-confidence votes, with the centre-left “Socialist Party” abstaining in exchange for concessions, such as €1 lunches for university students, breaking from their former allies in the opportunist “New Popular Front.”
Context. This move occurred amid severe political instability in France. The government has nearly collapsed six times in the past two years, with the latest prime minister briefly attempting to resign before being persuaded to remain in office.
► Each cabinet has attempted unpopular austerity measures, such as a planned €44 billion in public spending cuts, which resulted in massive strikes and the former PM’s resignation. The far-right has been emboldened by the government's instability, calling for new elections.
► The EU has been rapidly militarising as inter-imperialist contradictions intensify and the United States becomes increasingly unreliable. Throughout 2025, EU governments promoted war hysteria and pursued large military budget increases and spending cuts. France has been a particularly extreme example, introducing a “voluntary” conscription program for men aged 18–25.
Senior Starmer ally calls for his resignation, reflecting weakening capitalist “democratic” rule in Europe.
Details. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called (www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/09/scottish-…) for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign. Formerly a major backer, Sarwar now denounces the Labour government’s “too many mistakes” and demands a change in leadership.
► Within days, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, his communications director, and his cabinet secretary all tendered their resignations (www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/09/top-civil…) due to their involvement.
UK government plans a £115 million expansion in mass-surveillance and policing, preparing the grounds for the increased exploitation of labour.
Details. The UK Home Secretary announced (www.biometricupdate.com/202601/uk-announces-larges…) that British police forces will massively expand the use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR), such as through the acquisition of 40 new LFR vans, bringing the total to 50.
► These are all part of the Home Secretary’s blueprint (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp37lryxq4eo) for a slew of new police reforms. Other developments include the creation (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15496013/New-nati…) of a new National Policing Service – dubbed “British FBI” – with the official intention of countering terrorism, criminal gangs, fraud and other cross-border crime, as well as the merger (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwnn10rgk4o) of Britain’s 43 separate police forces, likely into 12 "mega forces".
Context. The Online Safety Act marked a major expansion (us.politsturm.com/european-nations-expand-digital-…) of internet surveillance by requiring age verification on certain websites via selfies or government-issued ID, nominally to protect children from harmful content. VPNs remain one of the only practical ways to bypass this system.
“The owners of capital, the owners of the land and the owners of the factories in all capitalist countries constituted and still constitute an insignificant minority of the population who have complete command of the labour of the whole people, and, consequently, command, oppress and exploit the whole mass of labourers, the majority of whom are proletarians, wage-workers, who procure their livelihood in the process of production only by the sale of their own worker’s hands, their labour-power.” – Vladimir Lenin, A Lecture Delivered at the Sverdlov University
► In contrast to these ICE protests, the first economic actions after George Floyd’s death in May 2020 were mainly symbolic, occurring two months (www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-rac…) after his killing and limited to boycotts and an 8-minute (www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-rac…) work stoppage. Although the Minnesota strike was also voluntary and dependent on small business closures, the speed at which economic methods were put forward shows progression from the George Floyd protests.
► Lenin, in “On Strikes (www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/dec/stri…, highlighted their progressive role, noting that they “teach the workers to unite” and encourage them to “think of the struggle of the whole working class against the whole class of factory owners and against the arbitrary, police government.” At the same time, he warned it is a “mistaken idea” to believe the working class can achieve considerable improvements or emancipation through strikes alone.
"Private property based on the labour of the small proprietor, free competition, democracy, all the catchwords with which the capitalists and their press deceive the workers and the peasants are things of the distant past." – Vladimir Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
“By speeding up the supplanting of workers by machinery and by creating wealth at one extreme and poverty at the other, the accumulation of capital also gives rise to what is called the “reserve army of labor”, to the “relative surplus” of workers, or “capitalist overpopulation”, which assumes the most diverse forms and enables capital to expand production extremely rapidly. In conjunction with credit facilities and the accumulation of capital in the form of means of production, this incidentally is the key to an understanding of the crises of overproduction which occur periodically in capitalist countries….” – Vladimir Lenin, “Karl Marx”
Stalin on Trump: "Raising tariff barriers only adds fuel to the flames. Capitalism is becoming cramped in the framework of the present markets and spheres of influence. ... The only ‘way out’ left open for capitalism is a new redivision of colonies and of spheres of influence by force, by means of armed collisions, by means of new imperialist wars." – Joseph Stalin, "The Fifteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.)".
"We have never been, and never will be, afraid of openly criticising ourselves and our mistakes before the whole Party. The strength of Bolshevism is precisely that it is not afraid of criticism and that, in criticising its defects, it acquires the energy for making further progress." – Joseph Stalin, “The Fifteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.)”.
Politsturm International
French Prime Minister bypassed parliament to add €6.7 billion to military spending.
Details. France has passed its delayed military spending bill, granting an additional €6.7 billion to the Defence Ministry, citing Russia, cyberattacks, and terrorism as potential urgent threats.
► Prime Minister Lecornu invoked special constitutional powers (Article 49.3) to pass the bill without a parliamentary vote, breaking his prior public promise not to use these powers. Under the Constitution, this forced passage automatically allows parliament to table a no-confidence motion.
► Lecornu’s minority government survived two no-confidence votes, with the centre-left “Socialist Party” abstaining in exchange for concessions, such as €1 lunches for university students, breaking from their former allies in the opportunist “New Popular Front.”
Context. This move occurred amid severe political instability in France. The government has nearly collapsed six times in the past two years, with the latest prime minister briefly attempting to resign before being persuaded to remain in office.
► Each cabinet has attempted unpopular austerity measures, such as a planned €44 billion in public spending cuts, which resulted in massive strikes and the former PM’s resignation. The far-right has been emboldened by the government's instability, calling for new elections.
► The EU has been rapidly militarising as inter-imperialist contradictions intensify and the United States becomes increasingly unreliable. Throughout 2025, EU governments promoted war hysteria and pursued large military budget increases and spending cuts. France has been a particularly extreme example, introducing a “voluntary” conscription program for men aged 18–25.
3 hours ago | [YT] | 26
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Politsturm International
Senior Starmer ally calls for his resignation, reflecting weakening capitalist “democratic” rule in Europe.
Details. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called (www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/09/scottish-…) for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign. Formerly a major backer, Sarwar now denounces the Labour government’s “too many mistakes” and demands a change in leadership.
► Labour-affiliated yellow unions, the right-wing opposition Reform UK (www.lbc.co.uk/article/reform-general-election-fara…) and the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats (www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/09/keir…, and the “left-wing” opposition Greens (www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-pol…) have also called for Starmer’s resignation.
► The Prime Minister responded (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20j65ldg9zo) that he will “never walk away.” Despite mounting attacks, the cabinet and most senior Labour politicians rallied to his defence. This included major internal rivals (www.lbc.co.uk/article/who-challenge-starmer-rayner…, who chose not to challenge Starmer for leadership yet (www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/10/streeting…) – but the government’s position remains fragile.
Context. This UK political crisis was sparked by a scandal. The British ambassador to the US was revealed, through newly released (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqxynz2l0g2o) FBI files, to have been a long-standing collaborator (www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/europe/ties-peter…) of American paedophile capitalist Jeffrey Epstein (us.politsturm.com/anti-communist-intellectuals-lin…. Starmer knew (www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/02/10/starmer-wa…) of this when he appointed him.
► Within days, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, his communications director, and his cabinet secretary all tendered their resignations (www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/09/top-civil…) due to their involvement.
► This follows another scandal (www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/28/angela-ray…, in which Starmer’s Deputy Prime Minister resigned after an investigation for tax fraud. Starmer is massively disliked (www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/01/07/labour-mor…) with the British public – now reported as the most unpopular (edition.cnn.com/2025/09/30/uk/keir-starmer-labour-…) Prime Minister on record. Speculation (www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-lab…) about his resignation was already high in November, even before the Epstein revelations.
► Starmer’s government has overseen continued declines (www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/10/poor-famil…) in living standards, expanded policing (us.politsturm.com/uk-will-spend-millions-on-mass-s…) and surveillance, and renewed attempts to maintain or deepen austerity (us.politsturm.com/starmer-under-fire), before facing pushback (www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/01/welfare-b…) from both the public and his own party.
► The previously ruling Conservative Party faced a similar crisis (www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/24/world/europ…, rotating through multiple deeply unpopular Prime Ministers within months. This parliamentary crisis is not unique to Britain. France has seen its sixth government collapse (us.politsturm.com/french-government-collapses-agai…) in just two years, driven by Macron’s lack of a majority and repeated calls for snap elections (us.politsturm.com/french-far-right-calls-for-snap-…. In Germany, the ruling liberal coalition abruptly shattered (us.politsturm.com/conservatives-win-far-right-surg…) last year, triggering an election. In all three countries, far-right parties have recently topped the polls (www.nbcnews.com/world/europe/far-right-populists-t….
10 hours ago | [YT] | 46
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Politsturm International
USA abandons the Kurds in Rojava after their utility has “largely expired.”
Details. The Syrian Transitional Government (us.politsturm.com/new-syrian-government-produced-n…) launched an offensive (edition.cnn.com/2026/01/17/middleeast/syrian-force…) against Kurdish autonomous zones in the eastern third of the country. After negotiations to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stalled (www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/01/08…, the Syrian Army seized (www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9311l0d40qo) most of the territory by force, including key oil fields (www.newarab.com/news/eastern-syria-fighting-reshap…. Fighting has now ended (www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/30/syria-govern…, with a fragile ceasefire (www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gwk37ewvwo).
► SDF forces were quickly overwhelmed; Damascus-aligned sources count hundreds (www.syriaweekly.com/p/syria-data-update-january-13…) killed in the 2 weeks of combat. Government troops allegedly (www.syriahr.com/en/376731/) executed and abused Kurdish POWs. Civilians were cut off (press.un.org/en/2026/db260119.doc.htm) from services (www.syriahr.com/en/376752/) and infrastructure due to the fighting, with over 134,000 (www.lorientlejour.com/article/1492456/quelque-1340…) refugees fleeing the warzone.
► Syrian President al-Sharaa declared (www.pbs.org/newshour/world/syrian-government-agree…) victory and compelled the SDF to sign an integration agreement (sana.sy/en/syria/2291194/) on his terms. He issued a decree (sana.sy/en/politics/2290787/) granting Syrian citizenship to Kurdish inhabitants (www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syria-moves-to-grant-…) and, on paper, recognising their national and language rights.
► US officials warned (www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-syrias-shara…) that further Syrian Army advances could result in mass violence against Kurdish civilians, similar to previous sectarian killings (us.politsturm.com/syria-massacres-and-agreements). Despite this, the United States limited its response to brokering a ceasefire and ruled out military intervention, effectively abandoning (www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/20/us-envoy-says-sdf…) its long-standing Kurdish proxies – stating that their utility had “largely expired.”
► The dissolving Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) pledged (www.newarab.com/news/turkey-warning-pkk-vows-wont-…) support for the Syrian Kurds and called for mobilisation to defend Rojava. Kurdish militias in neighbouring countries claimed (x.com/diyarkurda/status/2013428503018930380?s=46) Syria deployments to reinforce the SDF, but retreated amidst failed (www.turkiyetoday.com/region/turkiye-alerts-iran-to…) Kurdish border-crossing attempts.
Context. Historically, US imperialism used Kurdish insurgents as proxy forces. Exploiting chauvinistic oppression (www.cfr.org/timelines/kurds-long-struggle-stateles…) of Kurds by rival capitalists, the US promised support for Kurdistan’s autonomy and armed nationalist groups. Kurdish auxiliaries were deployed (www.newarab.com/analysis/iraqi-kurds-recall-broken…) in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and the Kurdish-led SDF served as a US proxy (www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-cia-pentago…) in the Syrian Civil War (us.politsturm.com/capitalism-and-war-pt1#the-war-i…) (2011–2024).
► Last year, the US began withdrawing support (www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/09/kurdish-offi…) for Kurdish groups, reducing (thearabweekly.com/us-accelerates-troop-withdrawal-…) military cooperation. After Assad’s fall, Trump reoriented (us.politsturm.com/new-syrian-government-produced-n…) US policy to favour NATO ally Turkey and its new Syrian dependency. In 2025, the leading Kurdish militia PKK, announced its surrender (us.politsturm.com/pkk-disarms-and-dissolves) to Turkey, beginning with a disarmament process.
1 day ago | [YT] | 100
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Politsturm International
UK government plans a £115 million expansion in mass-surveillance and policing, preparing the grounds for the increased exploitation of labour.
Details. The UK Home Secretary announced (www.biometricupdate.com/202601/uk-announces-larges…) that British police forces will massively expand the use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR), such as through the acquisition of 40 new LFR vans, bringing the total to 50.
► Alongside this, £115 million (US$157.3 million) will be invested (dig.watch/updates/uk-policing-ai-facial-recognitio…) over the next three years into a National Centre for AI in Policing, known as Police.AI. The Israeli-based Corsight AI – implicated (www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/28/uk-police-to-use-…) for using AI for surveillance in Gaza and leading to the wrongful detention of hundreds of Palestinians – will be subcontracted (www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/28/uk-police-to-use-…) to help provide this service.
► These are all part of the Home Secretary’s blueprint (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp37lryxq4eo) for a slew of new police reforms. Other developments include the creation (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15496013/New-nati…) of a new National Policing Service – dubbed “British FBI” – with the official intention of countering terrorism, criminal gangs, fraud and other cross-border crime, as well as the merger (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwnn10rgk4o) of Britain’s 43 separate police forces, likely into 12 "mega forces".
► In parallel, the House of Lords amended (www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/01/house-of-lor…) the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (bills.parliament.uk/bills/3909) to ban VPN access for under-18s, mandating provider identity verification and further eroding online anonymity. A recent amendment (www.gov.uk/government/news/stronger-laws-for-tech-…) to the UK’s 2025 Online Safety Act (www.whitecase.com/insight-alert/uk-online-safety-a…) will require social media and dating apps to take “proactive steps” – including pre-scannin (reclaimthenet.org/uk-expands-online-safety-act-to-… private messages – to curb unsolicited nude images and other harmful content.
Context. The Online Safety Act marked a major expansion (us.politsturm.com/european-nations-expand-digital-…) of internet surveillance by requiring age verification on certain websites via selfies or government-issued ID, nominally to protect children from harmful content. VPNs remain one of the only practical ways to bypass this system.
► The UK has been using LFR at a limited scale since 2015, gradually expanding (leapwiseadvisory.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/LF…) it over the years. Alongside this, this Labour government tried to roll out a digital ID (www.gov.uk/government/news/new-digital-id-scheme-t…, which will be on peoples’ phones, containing their name, date of birth, nationality or residency status, and a photo. The measure was rolled back (apnews.com/article/britain-digital-id-cards-retrea…) after public backlash.
► As Britain ramps up militarisation (us.politsturm.com/uk-increase-military-spending-13…) ahead of wider imperialist confrontation (us.politsturm.com/2026-starts-with-war-hysteria), these measures function to police the social consequences – suppressing protest, tracking workers, undermining (www.spycops.co.uk/the-story/) working-class organisation, and enforcing austerity as public funds are diverted from social spending into war and repression.
2 days ago | [YT] | 114
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Politsturm International
“The owners of capital, the owners of the land and the owners of the factories in all capitalist countries constituted and still constitute an insignificant minority of the population who have complete command of the labour of the whole people, and, consequently, command, oppress and exploit the whole mass of labourers, the majority of whom are proletarians, wage-workers, who procure their livelihood in the process of production only by the sale of their own worker’s hands, their labour-power.” – Vladimir Lenin, A Lecture Delivered at the Sverdlov University
3 days ago | [YT] | 230
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Politsturm International
Minneapolis saw the first US “general strike in 80 years” after actions were called in reaction to ICE repression and killing.
Details. Between (inthesetimes.com/article/minneapolis-minnesota-gen…) 50,000 and 100,000 people in Minnesota participated in a one-day “general strike (www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-out-rally-minneap… two weeks after the death of Renee Good (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jepdjy256o), a US citizen shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, prompting demands for accountability and the removal of ICE from the state.
► Despite frostbite temperatures, protestors mobilised in the streets, some stopping work (inthesetimes.com/article/labor-general-strike-minn…, with explicitly political demands for accountability and the removal of ICE from Minnesota. Trade unions and community organisations endorsed strike action (inthesetimes.com/article/minneapolis-renee-good-ic…, but participation remained voluntary, and much of the shutdown took the form of small business closures (museumofprotest.org/news/how-minneapolis-labor-uni…) rather than coordinated workplace strike action.
► Protests escalated after the killing of Alex Pretti (abcnews.go.com/Politics/minute-minute-timeline-fat…, shot while peacefully intervening (abcnews.go.com/Politics/minute-minute-timeline-fat…) in a confrontation with ICE agents. Organisers tied this to the earlier Minnesota action and called a voluntary “national shutdown (nationalshutdown.org/)” for January 30 under the slogan “no work, no school, no shopping,” demanding justice and an end to ICE funding. However, fewer (www.startribune.com/second-general-strike-jan-30-f…) formal labour bodies backed the Jan 30 call than on Jan 23, and business closures were less widespread and less comprehensive than during the earlier Minnesota action.
► The government initially doubled down (edition.cnn.com/2026/01/25/politics/trump-official…, with Trump calling Pretti a “domestic terrorist (www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/us/trump-alex-pretti-ag…. But as protests intensified and more information was released, the rhetoric shifted – the shooting was described (abcnews.go.com/Politics/2nd-amendment-backlash-por…) as “a very unfortunate incident,” and officials distanced (www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/politics/trump-officials-sh…) themselves from repeating earlier claims. Operation commander Greg Bovino was replaced by “border czar” Tom Homan (edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/minneapolis-ice-trump…, who alleges a more “targeted” approach with ICE.
Context. Previous state violence has also sparked mass reaction from the American people after George Floyd was killed (us.politsturm.com/federal-judge-permits-u-s-agents…. Massive protests (www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-f…) took place, and some escalated into riots (www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/31/americans-ki…, prompting fierce unorganised clashes between protestors and state forces.
► In contrast to these ICE protests, the first economic actions after George Floyd’s death in May 2020 were mainly symbolic, occurring two months (www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-rac…) after his killing and limited to boycotts and an 8-minute (www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-rac…) work stoppage. Although the Minnesota strike was also voluntary and dependent on small business closures, the speed at which economic methods were put forward shows progression from the George Floyd protests.
► Lenin, in “On Strikes (www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/dec/stri…, highlighted their progressive role, noting that they “teach the workers to unite” and encourage them to “think of the struggle of the whole working class against the whole class of factory owners and against the arbitrary, police government.” At the same time, he warned it is a “mistaken idea” to believe the working class can achieve considerable improvements or emancipation through strikes alone.
4 days ago | [YT] | 173
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Politsturm International
"Private property based on the labour of the small proprietor, free competition, democracy, all the catchwords with which the capitalists and their press deceive the workers and the peasants are things of the distant past." – Vladimir Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
5 days ago | [YT] | 202
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Politsturm International
“By speeding up the supplanting of workers by machinery and by creating wealth at one extreme and poverty at the other, the accumulation of capital also gives rise to what is called the “reserve army of labor”, to the “relative surplus” of workers, or “capitalist overpopulation”, which assumes the most diverse forms and enables capital to expand production extremely rapidly. In conjunction with credit facilities and the accumulation of capital in the form of means of production, this incidentally is the key to an understanding of the crises of overproduction which occur periodically in capitalist countries….” – Vladimir Lenin, “Karl Marx”
6 days ago | [YT] | 174
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Politsturm International
Stalin on Trump: "Raising tariff barriers only adds fuel to the flames. Capitalism is becoming cramped in the framework of the present markets and spheres of influence. ... The only ‘way out’ left open for capitalism is a new redivision of colonies and of spheres of influence by force, by means of armed collisions, by means of new imperialist wars." – Joseph Stalin, "The Fifteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.)".
1 week ago | [YT] | 275
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Politsturm International
"We have never been, and never will be, afraid of openly criticising ourselves and our mistakes before the whole Party. The strength of Bolshevism is precisely that it is not afraid of criticism and that, in criticising its defects, it acquires the energy for making further progress." – Joseph Stalin, “The Fifteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.)”.
1 week ago | [YT] | 296
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