WITH the West standing aside and preferring to be a virtual bystander as the carnage in Syria goes on unabated and the refugee crisis intensifying, Moscow has decided to step into the void to find a solution. Russian political support and military aid have been crucial for the government in Damascus as it withstood the military onslaught that was financed by the West and its allies. In the last two years, the situation on the ground has changed with American trained Syrian militias either surrendering or decamping with their weaponry to the Islamic State (IS) or the Jabhat al Nusra.

THE financial package announced by the prime minister of India and details given by the chief minister of J&K reveal that this package has nothing substantial to offer to the flood hit people and traders and the hype given to the paltry amount meant for flood relief is a cruel joke with the devastated families and the business establishment.

TIPU Sultan’s place in history has to be judged primarily in terms of the prolonged contest between Mysore and the East India Company (EIC). The Company had to engage in four large-scale wars (the four Anglo-Mysore wars) for over thirty years, from 1766 to 1799, to subjugate Mysore. Throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century, Mysore was the main obstacle to British expansion and consolidation in India.

THE AIKS strongly opposes the decision of the Narendra Modi government to allow 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment in 15 sectors of the economy including agriculture, animal husbandry and plantations. In a statement issued on November 12, it said that this move in the long run will harm the sovereign rights of the country and make it subservient to world imperialism.

THREE class organisations in Maharashtra – CITU, AIKS, AIAWU – came together to hold their first-ever statewide joint struggle convention at Parbhani in the drought-stricken backward region of Marathwada on October 31, 2015. The aim was to launch massive statewide struggles of the working people on their burning problems which are getting aggravated with the neo-liberal policies of the BJP-led central and state governments; and to defend the unity of the toiling sections against the onslaught of the reactionary and divisive forces of communalism and casteism.