International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

• Denmark

  Enhedslisten: Support for more defence - but which defence?

  27 June, by John Jessen

  “The new defence and security policy adopted at the annual meeting does not indicate that initiatives to organize protests against military armament will come from this direction - at least not from the party leadership. Time will tell if others take up the task.”

  read article...
• Mexico

  A mixed success for the President in Mexico

  26 June, by Fabrice Thomas

  On 1 June 2025, judges at all levels of the judiciary were elected by direct suffrage throughout Mexico. From local judges to members of the Federal Supreme Court, all positions were subject to a popular vote.

  read article...
• USA

  State of the Resistance

  25 June, by Against the Current Editors

  A BIG, BEAUTIFUL popular resistance is trickling up to some of the sites of political power, including the federal courts — although not fast or far enough, by a long shot. That’s been the important takeaway from the first 100-plus days of the Trump administration. But we’re barely at the beginning of what will be a long battle with ups and downs.

  read article...
• Argentina

  Cristina Kirchner condemned and banned from election

  24 June, by M. N.

  The Argentine political field is (again) in turmoil. A few months before the mid-term legislative elections, and only a few days after the announcement of her candidacy as a regional deputy, the Supreme Court has just confirmed former president Cristina Kirchner’s conviction for corruption: 6 years in prison and lifetime ineligibility.

  read article...
• USA

  The United States at War in the Middle East —Again

  23 June, by Dan La Botz

  The United States has joined Israel in its war on Iran, increasing the chances for a wider regional war, one that could become a forever-war quagmire as the Iraq War did. President Donald Trump sent B-2 bombers to drop bunker-buster bombs on nuclear facilities in Fordo and Natanz while a submarine launched Tomahawk missiles at another facility in Istfahan.

  read article...

...and the rest of the current issue

• Russia

  Support the Russian-Ukrainian resistance against accelerating fascism worldwide

• Spanish state

  Miguel Urbán: "There are still set-ups like the one I suffered. There are police infiltrating social movements."

• Libya

  Under the yoke of the militias in Libya

• Palestine

  Down with imperialist wars, no to the Paris Air Show!

• USA/Ukraine

  Ukrainian union leader comments on U.S. left

Recently posted Features

• Series : Bretton Woods, the World Bank and the IMF: 70th anniversary (Part 4)

  SUNFED versus World Bank

  6 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  From 1950 to 1960, having no Marshall Plan to promote their growth, the developing countries proposed that a new UN body be created, based on a “one country, one vote” system designed to facilitate loans to their industries: SUNFED (Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development). The industrialized countries were fiercely opposed to this move, and successfully imposed a counter-proposal, the International Development Association (IDA), a branch of the World Bank, thus effectively putting an end to SUNFED. [1]

  read article...
• Series : Bretton Woods, the World Bank and the IMF: 70th anniversary (Part 3)

  Early conflicts between the UN and the World Bank/IMF tandem

  6 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  The World Bank and the IMF are specialized institutions of the UN, comparable in theory to the International Labour Organization (ILA) or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). As such, they are supposed to cooperate closely with the various UN bodies and the other specialized institutions to achieve the objectives set out in the Charter and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

  read article...
• Series : 70 years since Bretton Woods, the World Bank and the IMF (Part 2)

  The World Bank assists the powerful witch-hunters

  28 July 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  Contrary to common belief, the mission of the World Bank is not to reduce poverty in developing countries. The Bank’s mission, as originally conceived by the victors of the Second World War, the United States and Great Britain in particular, was to help rebuild Europe, and secondarily to promote the economic growth of the countries in the South, many of which were still under colonial rule. It was this second mission that went by the name of “development” and which constantly increased in scope. The World Bank lent money first of all to the colonial powers (Great Britain, France, Belgium) to help them more effectively exploit their colonies. Then, when these colonies became independent, the Bank made them liable for the debt that had only been contracted by their former metropolis in order to better exploit their natural resources and their population.

  read article...
• Series : 70 years since Bretton Woods, the World Bank and the IMF (Part 1)

  Concerning the founding of the Bretton Woods’ Institutions

  28 July 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  70 years ago, July 22 1944, the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, better known as the Bretton Woods [2] Conference, that had lasted for three weeks, reached a conclusion.}} It was attended by representatives from 44 countries [3].

  In order to prevent a recurrence of economic crises like the crash of 1929, but also to ensure world leadership in the post-war era, the United States government began to plan for the creation of international financial institutions as early as 1941. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund saw the light of day at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Initially, the Roosevelt administration was in favour of creating strong institutions capable of imposing rules on the private financial sector, including Wall Street. But noticing the hostility of the banking world Roosevelt backed down. Indeed, the distribution of votes within the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund clearly illustrates the will of certain major powers to exert domination over the rest of the world.

  read article...

• 1
• …
• 125
• 126
• 127
• 128
• 129
• 130
• 131
• 132
• 133
• …
• 171