Christopher Owens ๐Ÿ”– When modern problems have been addressed in modern literature, the results haven't been favourable.


Be it the youth, urban professionals, social media moderators and universities, the humble novel has certainly tried to examine and embrace the online/real life brain rot that has slowly engulfed us all for the past 15 years but very few writers have been able to depict it so succinctly.

With discussions around how the internet has rewired the dating/sex/relationship landscape, it makes sense for a writer like Tony Tulathimutte to tackle such issues. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.

Beginning life as an acclaimed short story called ‘The Feminist’ (immediately you can see where this is going), the first chapter is about a right on male feminist whose lack of success with women leads him down the obligatory “red pill” path. So far, so predictable.

But Christopher, I hear you say, surely the writing would allow for a subtle and nuanced look at such a character?

Here’s a segment from page 2:

The women he tries to date offer him friendship instead, so once again, most of his friends are women. This is fine: it's their prerogative, and anyway, lots of relationships begin platonically—especially for guys with narrow shoulders. But soon a pattern emerges. The first time, as he is leaving his friend's dorm room, he surprises himself by saying: Hey, this might be super random, and she can totally say no, but he's attracted to her, so did she want to go on a "date" date, sometime? In a casual and normal voice. And she says, "Oh," and filibusters—she had no idea he felt that way, and she doesn't want to risk spoiling the good thing they have by making it a thing, she thinks it'll be best if they just stay . . .  and he rushes to assure her that it's valid, no, totally valid, he knows friendship isn't a downgrade, sorry for being weird. Ugh!

Yes, that is an excerpt. I know, it reads like a third-rate Reddit parody.

Hang on, it gets worse.

Dragging his virginity like a body bag into his midtwenties, he watches a certain amount of dom-oriented porn, probably due to internalized sexism, but he’s read that porn is a safe, healthy venue to explore kink, that sexuality is neither a choice nor shameful, especially if the studios follow good labor and aftercare practices. His female friends agree, though he does not mention that he seeks out actresses that look like them, which he deems acceptable as long as he consumes it critically, demarcating fantasy from reality. He’s more worried about physical desensitization: he doesn’t use lubrication, because his roommates would overhear it. He comes to prefer the intensity of this “dry” method, but feels the friction is somehow eroding his psyche, and possibly dulling his penis nerves. He resolves to masturbate with a condom to wean himself. He wonders in what other ways touch, or the lack of it, has warped him. He’s read about that study of baby monkeys who were denied soft physical contact and grew up disturbed and sickly. It’s hard for him to believe chastity was ever associated with purity, when it feels like putrescence, his blood browning and saliva clouding with pus, each passing day rendering him more leprously foul to the senses. What about those venerable virgo intacta like Kant, Dickinson, Newton? Their virginity was a matter of will. They believed God loved them for it.

The voice of frustrated youth, eh?

As the novel progresses, we are introduced to the following stereotypes who (alongside the male feminist) are linked through various interactions:

๐Ÿ•ฎ A lonely young woman

๐Ÿ•ฎ A deeply repressed gay man

๐Ÿ•ฎ A self-obsessed work bro

๐Ÿ•ฎ An agender internet troll

Fascinating stuff


Unsurprisingly, at its core, the book is an earnest read. Rip away the faux detachment, the humour, the sexual masochism and what you see is a writer trying to negotiate what it means to be a confused and sexually frustrated misfit in 21st century America. While that’s an admirable ambition, Tulathimutte’s writing simply does not allow any chance for nuance or piercing insights into his characters. They are merely two-dimensional types who believe being repressed is their identity.

On top of that, the two main heterosexual male characters (the male feminist and an Andrew Tate/Elon Musk hybrid) are even worse: one is a snivelling wretch, and the other is a bland sociopath. It’s clear that Tulathimutte has no empathy or sympathy for them but does for the other non-straight white male characters. While it’s not necessary to have sympathetic villains, the fact that they are so over the top in their depiction negates the more sympathetic portrayals of the other characters.

Discussing 2022’s Fuccboi, Ann Manov’s description of it fits Rejection: A Novel like a glove in that it

 …accurately represent the cretinous depravity of the Millennial generation, as well as the self-aggrandising cult of martyrdom — increasingly by self-diagnosed mental or physical illness — with which my generation shirks the responsibilities historically incumbent upon the civilised mind…They are averse to or incapable of subjectivity and depth. What little allowance is made for human feeling is exclusively of pharmaceutical origin. These are not works of art; they are simply unremarkable descriptions of unremarkable lives. In the glib generational determinism so popular today, one excuses this shallowness of character and failure to depict any interpersonal conflict as a “real” and “relatable” mirror of the “autism” of the young generation…However, these writers, and the thinly disguised stand-ins that populate their autofiction, are not autistic. They are merely permanent adolescents, incapable of empathising with any experience outside of their own and comfortably withdrawn into a profound egotism.

Just say no to Rejection: A Novel.

Tony Tulathimutte, 2025, Rejection: A Novel. 4th Estate. ISBN-13: 978-0008759414


⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Rejection ๐Ÿ“š A Novel

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Eight Hundred And Thirty Seven

 

A Morning Thought @ 2902

 

A Morning Thought @ 2901

Anthony McIntyre  ๐Ÿ˜ผ Left presidential candidate Catherine Connolly is being pilloried in conservative circles because she offered a job as an administrative support worker to a former republican prisoner in 2018.

It is hard to see much in the way of sincerity in this criticism. It is, as Eamon O'Cuiv suggested, a puff of smoke, indeed a smoke signal conveying  a touch of alarm in the wake of the first televised presidential debate. Of the three candidates in the race Catherine Connolly was the most presidential. Jim Gavin was a wooden one, fielding questions like a boring Brussels bureaucrat with a key in his back. Heather Humphreys' standout moment of the night was solely down to her attire. I facetiously commented to my son while we watched the debate that her sash was a different colour from what some of her detractors anticipated.

Gardai, who might be responsible for leaking the information, are reported to have blocked the person sought by Connolly for the position. A specialist in the field of the Irish language - an area neither of Connolly's rivals for the presidency seem to know much about - Ursula Nรญ Shionnรกin is clearly capable: notched up in her CV are a Trinity primary degree, a Galway Masters and a PhD. She would have brought a lot of erudition to the post. That she has a conviction for republican activity should not have excluded her from either applying or being considered for the job. She hardly posed a threat to anyone in Leinster House. There have been enough former IRA members who have sat in the Dail chamber in the presence of Micheal Martin and Simon Harris. Gerry Adams, Martin Ferris, Dessie Ellis all had long careers in the Provisional IRA, the first two at senior leadership levels. 

While, standard fare for the electioneering season, there is an element of chutzpah to Micheal Martin in his criticisms of Connolly. He claimed she displayed a “serious lack of judgement”. I guess we are supposed to take from such an observation that he and Simon Harris displayed better judgement by allowing Michael Lowry a kingmaker role in the makeup of the current government. It is understandable that the Fianna Fail leader might prefer people in the Dail if they support the peace process. But it seems he is just as embracive of those who support the fleece process. 

Moreover, it was a deputy leader of Fianna Fail and former government minister who strongly recommended Ms Nรญ Shionnรกin to Catherine Connolly. Eamon O'Cuiv also vented his surprise that Micheal Martin did not speak to him first before making his statement given that he had frequently visited imprisoned republicans.

Catherine Connolly has stated her own abhorrence of violence and there is no reason to doubt her. Her credentials showing that she speaks for the marginalised in society would have been called into question had she decided to marginalise former prisoners even further than they already are. It is not as if Ursula Nรญ Shionnรกin is a convicted paedophile applying for a job in a school. She wanted to work in an environment which already houses former republican prisoners serving as legislators.

There just might be fewer voters upset by Catherine Connolly's pick than there are by that of Micheal Martin and Simon Harris, feeling that Lowry much less than Nรญ Shionnรกin should be gracing the corridors of Leinster House.

Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

The Appointment

Caoimhin O’Muraile  ☭ In 2029, assuming the incumbent government last, the electorate of Britain will be due to go to the polls to elect a new government in a general election. 

At the moment the incumbent Labour administration appear not to be riding too high in the polls. The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is at an all-time low in the popularity stakes and all in all things are not looking too good for the administration despite winning the 2024 general election by a landslide. 

One of the problems perhaps being this Labour Party is not the organisation I and most of my generation we were brought up with. Their policies have little if anything in common with the party of James Keir Hardie, Clement Attlee, Aneurin Bevan, and Harold Wilson. On the contrary the modern variant is trying to govern the affairs of British capitalism while maintaining the faรงade of being of the old Clause IV school. 

That said, the party riding high in the polls are the far-right Reform UK led by Nigel Farage. This party are a neo-fascist far-right organisation and should not in any way be trusted. Their leader Farage was in the Conservative and Unionist Party under Margaret Thatcher, herself holding many far-right views, and he supported her anti-trade union political position. Reform UK are in a position it would appear to be calling the shots whether in government or not. Already the Labour government have been forced into proposing some of the fascists' policies themselves in order to appease the electorate into not voting in 2029 for Farage and his gang. The main opposition party, the Conservative and Unionist Party, led by Kemi Badenoch, are also bending over themselves to wear the clothing of the fascist Reform UK. Reform UK advocate, if they get into power, the use of MOD property to use as camps to lock up all immigrants, legal or otherwise, using troops as guards. The government of Starmer have been quick to ape such policies. These camps will be akin to the Nazi concentration camps in the early years of the Third Reich. The frightening thing is; Farage could get his way whether he is in Number Ten or not simply by dragging the parliamentary political axis to the right thus forcing some of his policies through by the ‘back door’! The British Labour Party supports, against many of its left-wing MPs views, the deportation of illegal immigrants but this does not include the vast majority of migrants in Britain lawfully.

On Sunday 28th September I watched the BBC Programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, which was in Liverpool for the Labour Party Annual Conference. The chief guest on the programme was Keir Starmer who for once gave a credible account of his vision. Again, not in the old Labour Party way but, nevertheless, by comparisons with some of his interviews he was credible. He concentrated on the achievements his government had succeeded during their fourteen months of office. That is, at present, one month for every year of the Tory misrule which lasted fourteen years. He emphasised the achievements in the National Health Service (NHS) creating “five million new places for patients” and his success in securing “fifteen years shipbuilding on Clydeside” along with their nationalisation of the remaining British Steel Industry. That in such a period is not too bad and compared with the alternatives, Reform UK and/or the Conservative and Unionist Party, for these days is progressive. He described Reform UK's policies of expelling all immigrants, legal or otherwise, as “racist and immoral” and that such policies would “tear Britain apart”. 

The Prime Minister pointed out that many immigrants have lived and worked in Britain for generations and to start deporting these people would “destroy” the NHS. That would not bother Nigel Farage and Reform UK as they are not supporters of the NHS and never have been. In fact they would in all probability privatise the service and they may see mass deportations of migrant Doctors and Nurses as killing two birds with one stone. Could that be their aim? Despite these gains made by the Labour administration they are still way behind Reform UK in the polls. If an election was called tomorrow, they are estimated to achieve upwards of 350 seats which is more than enough to form a government. Thereby hangs the question; could that be the last election Britain sees for some time?

Nigel Farage by his own tongue has stated; “we lack experience in government which is our only setback”. But that would not bother Farage because him and his party intend running Britain like a business, certainly on business lines, and not a political entity in its liberal democratic sense at all. This form of governance often called ‘corporatism’ and is a major component factor of fascism. It was the way Mussolini governed Italy, Franco Spain, and Hitler Germany. Trade unions and workers right to strike along with the right to negotiate will possibly be things of the past and with most people dancing in the streets like demented chimps over the mass deportations all these factors will go unnoticed, for a period! By the time people have caught themselves on it could be far too late to do anything about the new ‘corporate’ fascist state. Many of Reform UK's supporters have been interviewed on television and all showed a desire to leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Do these people not realise, are they too fucking stupid, that by leaving the ECHR it may well pave the way to deport people easier but it also could lead to denying every citizen the rights they presently enjoy! Is this really what people want? I agree with Keir Starmer; the policies of reform are “racist and immoral”. The Prime Minister did stop short of calling Reform UK ‘fascist’ which in my view is what they are.

The leader of the British opposition Ms Kemi Badenoch is what could be described as a black Margaret Thatcher. She has jumped on the right-wing populist bandwagon aften aping some of Nigel Farage’s policies. Perhaps what Kemi Badenoch should consider if Reform UK win the 2029 election, and I hope they do not, where could that leave her? Her family would be of immigrant stock and assuming Farage would not need her to prop up his administration could she herself be deported or worse? The election of 2029 could well be a date with destiny as since Colin Jordan and his fringe party of Nazis tried to make an impact an openly fascist party are possibly on the verge of taking power. Jordan’s National Socialist Movement (NSM) of the early nineteen-sixties were a fringe organisation with little support, and not until the early nineteen-eighties did the British National Party (BNP) make some minor gains in local authority elections. Farage is now mainstream, not fringe, and should - unlike his predecessors - be taken seriously! If he should win the 2029 election such victory will have repercussions for Ireland as renegotiating (or ripping up) the Good Friday Agreement is high on Reform UKs agenda! And that may just be the beginning!
 
Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

British Election 2029 ๐Ÿชถ A Date with Destiny?

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Eight Hundred And Thirty Eight

 

A Morning Thought @ 2900

 

A Morning Thought @ 2899

Jim Duffy ✍ The trouble often with world wars is that often people don't know if they are in one until after the event. 

Historians still debate whether World War I really started in 1914. Many argue that it started in 1912 when the Balkan League declared war on, and defeated, the Ottoman Empire in the first of two Balkan wars between 1912 and 1914, with those wars setting the scene for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

The idea that it started in 1914 is very much a western European and American perspective as they weren't in any conflict before 1914 or later in the case of the US.
 


 
Similarly with World War II, did it start in September 1939, March 1939 or in 1938? Some even say earlier. Some date it to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia. Some date it to the annexation of Austria. Western Europe dates it to September 1939 and Nazi-Russian invasion of Poland, as that is what involved the west in a war.
 
If one asked many people even in August 1914 were they in a world war they would say "no. Of course not!" Then again, was World War I even the first world war? Arguably there were wars earlier that could be called world wars as they involved people on multiple continents through European empires.
There is general though reluctant agreement that Putin is determined to start a full war, and that his hybrid war is a form of war just marginally below the legal threshold but which at any time could step over that threshold. Had the attempt by Russia to cause the plane of the President of the European Commission to crash in Bulgaria succeeded we would be in a full war now. That would legally be a casus belli.
 
The hybrid war is targeting every country in Europe, neutrals and NATO alike. Ireland has been targeted at least once, while Russian spy ships have been gathering data on underwater cables and interconnectors on critical infrastructure Ireland depends on and which could cause chaos in Ireland (causing long-term power-cuts, shutting down businesses and banks, etc). Try running Ireland when it loses 50%+ of its electricity generation ability at a time when it can barely generate enough electricity!!!
 
Every neutral bar tiny geographically irrelevant Malta has been targeted in hybrid attacks. Ireland has. Switzerland has. Austria has. Cyprus has. Add to that Russia's attempts to plant incendiaries on planes flying from Europe to North America, with quick timers which suggest they wanted the planes to crash either in the Benelux Countries, Britain or Ireland. They were timed to ignite while over land, not the Atlantic. Russian state-run TV gloated over a piece on it by a long-time Putin mouthpiece on Ukraine threatening to let off a nuclear bomb off the coast of Donegal to destroy Ireland.
 
The Taoiseach said that the Irish population was "blissfully unaware" of the threat to Ireland, and drunk on neutrality delusions. It is. So are some of his ministers. Thankfully the Minister for Defence isn't.
Most countries now believe Putin is so intent on causing a war that it is unavoidable, just as Hitler was so intent on causing one that it was unavoidable though Chamberlain desperately tried to avoid it until he realised it was impossible to. Denmark, hardly a warlike nation, predicts a war within three to five years. Germany predicts possibly as soon as eighteen months. Putin's behaviour is so explicit and aggressive that it seems he is determined to cause one, though it is the last thing other countries want.
France and Germany have both ordered major upgrading of their health service to be ready to deal with thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of injured people. It is the last thing they want, but given Putin's behaviour (including massing large numbers of troops on the Finnish border) they realised it would be reckless not to prepare their health services.
 
They hope it doesn't happen, but suspect it is going to, and as history shows, no matter how much a country tries to avoid a war, it becomes unavoidable if a bad actor is intent on causing one that engulfs them. You can say all you want that you don't want one, but it becomes unavoidable when your state is attacked directly or indirectly or you know it is about to be.
 
Ukraine signed the Bucharest Memorandum to avoid war, giving its nuclear weapons to Russia and agreeing to put neutrality in its constitution. Putin broke it and every other deal. They quickly realised neutrality means nothing to Putin except that he considers you an easy target. He invaded Ukraine, forcing it to try to join NATO for protection. When Merkel blocked it that left Ukraine a sitting duck for Putin and he invaded a second time in 2022 and has to fight to preserve its independence.
 
So, no matter how much you don't want war, a bad actor determined to cause one will, and drag you in. Putin has made explicit threats to Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Moldova and a host of other countries. When he questioned Finland's right to be independent after a century of independence, Finland, like Sweden, once they see him attack Ukraine a second time concluded neutrality is dead and they needed to join NATO. Cyprus also wants to join NATO, but its enemy Turkey is blocking it.
 
The likelihood, tragically, is that a war is highly likely. As in the past, often countries may not know they are in a major war, or even a world war, until it has started and they are in it. Historians will then look to see could the attack on Ukraine in 2022 be regarded as the beginning of the war.
 
The best advice on how to avoid war remains the 4th or 5th century AD 'Si vis pacem, para bellum' by Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius. It means "If you want peace, prepare for war." In other words, be sufficiently well armed and protected that your enemy will not dare attack you. In modern parlance it is 'peace through strength'. That is why NATO members and neutrals are all significantly increasing defence spending - as a deterrent. Austria has raised its defence spend to 1% of GDP. Switzerland will reach that in 2030. Cyprus is at 1.8%. Ireland, naturally is at 0.24% of GDP, or 0.4% of GNI.
 
Either number is damning. It is also damning that after a century of independence Ireland still has to rely on Britain to do its basic air and sea defences for it. A core duty of every state is to be able to protect its air, sea and land. Yet independent Ireland has flunked it.

⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.

Hybrid War

Labour Heartlands ☭ Written by Paul Knaggs.

This is not socialism, it’s liberalism in a red dress. Sultana’s Purity Politics…

Zarah Sultana’s recent interview revealed a troubling authoritarian streak beneath her carefully burnished image of grassroots democracy. Before Your Party has held a single meeting or drafted a single policy, she has already drawn rigid ideological boundaries. “There is no room for socially conservative views in a socialist left-wing party. Period,” she declared, before Nish Kumar sneered that those who disagree should “join the Conservative Party and watch a Ricky Gervais Netflix special.” So much for the democratic part of democratic socialism.

But what she really said was there’s no room for anyone that’s not Pro-Trans…

The sleight of hand here is plain. The dividing line for entry into her “movement” is not opposition to austerity, nor resistance to monopoly capitalism, nor any of the material struggles that once defined socialism. It is conformity to a liberal position on transgender ideology. Class war has been quietly displaced by culture war.

And listen to the language she uses to enforce it:

I’ve always stood with the trans community, and I always will. The same forces targeting migrants and Muslims are attacking LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people. Our safety is in solidarity. None of us are free until all of us are free. That’s the new party we’re building. Bigotry has no place in it.

Stirring words, until you notice the sleight of tongue. In one sweeping gesture, racism, Islamophobia, and legitimate concerns about sex-based rights are folded into the same toxic category of “bigotry.” Women raising questions about safe spaces, fairness in sport, or the Orwellian erasure of language itself are dismissed as indistinguishable from far-right cranks.

Socialism Or Liberalism? The Trans Ideology Litmus Test Dividing The Left

Merrion Press ๐Ÿ”– has just published a new book by Nigel Motyer.



Coming Soon


BENEATH IRISH SEAS
The Hidden Wonders of Ireland's Amazing Marine Life

Nigel Motyer






A stunning photographic showcase of the beauty and biodiversity of Ireland’s colourful and captivating coastal waters.

Beneath the crashing waves and jagged cliffs of Ireland’s coastline lies a world few have ever seen, teeming with kaleidoscopic colour and untold beauty. Through the lens of internationally acclaimed underwater photographer Nigel Motyer – whose work has graced the pages of National Geographic – this stunning visual journey reveals the vibrancy of Irish waters, alive with astonishing biodiversity and compelling natural drama.

Motyer, diving and photographing Irish waters since the 1980s, shares an unmatched portfolio built over decades. Beneath Irish Seas explores Ireland’s coastal waters and the habitats that make them unique, unveiling the extraordinary marine life that thrives around our shores. From swirling shoals off the Skelligs to rare encounters with basking sharks in the Atlantic depths, this is the first book to comprehensively document Ireland’s underwater wildlife through powerful, vibrant imagery.

Eye-opening and accessible, Beneath Irish Seas challenges the idea that marine wonder belongs only to tropical reefs. The magic is here – just off Ireland’s shores, waiting to be discovered.

Hardback • €27.99|£24.99 • 224 pages • 220mm x 230mm • 9781785375705


On sale October 23
Preview
Preorder

 

About The Author

Award-winning photographer Nigel Motyer has been diving and photographing Irish seas since the 1980s and has an unmatched portfolio of Irish underwater imagery. His photography has featured in many publications worldwide, including National Geographic.

Coming Soon ๐Ÿ“š Nigel Motyer

A Digest of News ✊ from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 8-September-2025.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤  Occupied territories human rights report.
⬤ Ukrainian socialists to Gaza flotilla.
⬤ Scotland arms decision.
⬤  Ukraine-Palestine comment.
⬤  Weaponisation of language.
⬤ Evidence of Russian torture, mock executions, threats to kill relatives.
⬤ Religious persecution and other war crimes.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Children of war gave birth to children — about poetry in front-line Kharkiv (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 6th)

Open war against Crimean Tatars began long before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 5th)

New ban on Internet searches and attempts to bypass Russia’s information blockade in occupied Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 5th)

The face of resistance: Crimean activist Enver Ametov (Crimea Platform, 5 September)

Report: discrimination and stigmatisation of Ukrainians in occupied territories (Crimea Human Rights Group, 4 September)

Turning water into war: Russia created a humanitarian crisis in Donbas (The Insider, September 4th)

“Travesty of justice” condemned as second Melitopol journalist gets 15-year sentence for reporting the truth about Russian occupation (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 4th)

Russia plans new detention centres in Crimea (Crimea Platform, 3 September)

Melitopol journalist abducted, tortured and sentenced to 16 years for pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 3rd)

41 days in the dark (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 2nd)

Russians force young Ukrainian to surrender by holding a gun to his mother’s head (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 2nd)

First criminal charges and imprisonment for studying the Bible in Russian-occupied Donbas (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 1st)

News from Ukraine

A new threat to freedom? (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, September 7th)

Another victory for a democratic mobilisation in Ukraine: the government backs down in the face of protests (Ukraine Solidarity- EU, September 6th)

Return from Ukraine. Interview with Bjarke Friborg from the Danish Red-Green Alliance (Europe Solidaire, August 27th)

News from the front

Russia systematically using chemical weapons in Ukraine (The Insider, 5 September)

Russian attack on All-Ukrainian Free Trade Union of Humanitarian Deminers in Chernihiv (Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, 5 September)

Anarcha-feminist Kafa’s story (Solidarity Collectives, 3 September)

War-related news from Russia

Russian army seeks recruits with HIV and hepatitis (iStories, 5 September)

Eyewitnesses to a war crime: 20,000 kidnapped Ukrainian children (Meduza, 3 September)

If it’s not all hot air: a Russia-China gas breakthrough (Meduza, 2 September)

Analysis and comment

How hopes for a peace summit rose and then fizzled (Meduza, 5 September)

Empire’s wings: Ukraine and Kurdistan compared (Posle.Media, 3 September)

The anti-militarism of fools (Freedom, September 2nd)

Russia’s graveyard peace, from Grozny to Mariupol (Ukrainer, 2 September)

The fight against genocide in Ukraine and in Gaza is central to the global anti-fascist struggle (Greater Surbiton, August 30th)

The role of citizens in war (Centre for Civil Liberties, August 29th)

Research of human rights abuses

The war crimes of Russia (Zmina, September 5th)

Russia confirms torture is state policy through withdrawal from vital European Convention (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 1st)

A deafening silence: Ukrainians held incommunicado and forcibly disappeared (Amnesty International, 2025)

International solidarity

Support for defence companies involved in Israel halted – while arms supply for Ukraine continues (Scottish Government, September 3rd)

Message of Social Movement to Freedom Flotilla ((Ukraine Solidarity- EU, August 31st)

Forthcoming events

30 September in London: political prisoners of the Kremlin, past and present (Ukrainian Institute London)

During September: Ukrainian film festival 2025 (Ukrainian Institute London)
๐Ÿ”ดThis bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.


We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.

The bulletin is also stored on line here.

To receive the bulletin regularly, send your email to:
2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.

News From Ukraine ๐Ÿ’ฃ Bulletin 161