Many of the topics you will be discussing relate to the most important international issue today, and that is the U.S. war against Russia.

Having provoked the war through careful planning and action going back to 2014, Biden and U.S. imperialism leading NATO are ready to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood in order, as U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said, to weaken Russia to the point where it cannot play any independent role in international politics.

There is a danger that, with U.S. sanctions failing, and with the countries of the third world refusing to line up behind Biden’s war, that U.S. aggression against Russia could intensify to “win” its war. As Noam Chomsky has said, the danger of a nuclear war is at its highest since the Cuban “missile crisis”.

Red Ant is to be congratulated for standing up to most of the “socialists” in the imperialist countries who have adopted a social patriotic position and capitulated to the onslaught of their own government’s and corporate media promoting this war!

You are also discussing the context, and how Lenin’s views are updated to explain how the rich countries exploit and dominate the majority of humanity. In this regard I want to praise Sam King’s book, Imperialism and the Development Myth, which opened my eyes, and which is sorely needed. I am ready to help publish this book, or a more popular version of it, for a wider audience.

Your conference is a step forward for you and will help your current to grow.
In comradeship and solidarity,

Barry Sheppard,
In the belly of the beast.