Four members of a neo-Nazi terrorist cell have been arrested in Italy on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in the country. A police investigation revealed links between this organisation and fascist groups in Ukraine, including the notorious Azov battalion. This incident highlights the hypocrisy of western imperialism, which is funnelling cash and guns to armed groups in Ukraine with neo-Nazi and far-right roots, evidence of which are regularly dismissed as overblown or “Russian propaganda”.

When Russia's defence minister appeared on state media to report that he had ordered a withdrawal from the west bank of the Dnipro River, including from the city of Kherson situated on the east bank, the news was immediately hailed by the western media as a great victory for the Ukrainian army.

If you were to believe Western media and the statements of officials on both sides of the Atlantic, you would get the impression that Ukraine is winning the war against Russia and that it is only a matter of time before Putin is overthrown by his own people. In order to understand what is really happening, first we must tear through the fog of propaganda which surrounds this war.

The following statement – in solidarity with the revolutionary movement in Kazakhstan and against Russian military intervention – was originally published in Russian on 6 January and signed by a number of left-wing Russian organisations. Read the original here, as well as our most recent analysis, and a statement by our correspondent in Kazakhstan.

We publish the following translation of a statement, published today by the Russian comrades of the Marxist Tendency on the current situation in Kazakhstan. Read the original here, click here for marxist.com’s latest analysis of the situation, and here for an earlier report by our correspondent on the ground.

Yesterday, Kazakhstani army and security forces backed by Russian special forces moved in to forcibly put down what has become the biggest mass movement in Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Over two months since the beginning of the revolutionary uprising of Iranian youth, following an ebb under heavy repression, a new round of protests took place between 16-19 November, which show the whip of counter-revolution driving the movement forward. For final victory to be achieved, there must be mass, organised participation by the working class!

26 October marked 40 days since the murder of the Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, by the regime’s morality police. Being the final day of the traditional Shia mourning period, it was met with massive protests, becoming a new highpoint of the movement, with protests in nearly every major city. In many Kurdish towns, a general strike broke out; across the country, bazaari strikes were held in support of the movement; and in Tehran Metro conductors went on strike in support of the revolutionary youth.

It is over a month now since the outbreak of the youth uprising in Iran, sparked by the regime’s murder of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini. With near constant clashes between security forces and youth in every major city, in addition to waves of bazaar strikes and a series of industrial strikes, the situation has the potential of turning into a revolutionary mass movement. Since last week, a campaign for a general strike has been spreading, along with calls for the formation of revolutionary resistance committees.