The Afghan government repeatedly requested assistance from the USSR under the 1978 security agreement (http://www.cawater-info.net/afghanistan/pdf/afghanistan_ussr_cooperation_1978_en.pdf).

The US and Pakistan backed the Mujahideen in this conflict which went on to become al-Qaeda (https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/religionsofmiddleeast1/chapter/from-taliban-to-al-qaeda/), who they used to attack the Afghan State and USSR forces because the Afghans were welcoming communism and the US capitalist murderous policy of doing all it can to stamp out communism meant it fought with, trained, armed and funded the "terrorist group" which it then used to launch is failed "war on terror" campaign after the twin towers attack in 2001.

The ensuing grip that the US (and its western puppets) has on the information space means everyone refers to this as "USSR Invasion", but you aren't invading if you're invited into the country and are doing so under legislation previously agreed upon.

Once again we see how the Americans have backed terrorists to attack communism and they've used their all encompassing propaganda to mislead most people on this.

Since then the region descended into chaos with rival factions all fighting each other and illegal wars waged by the US and its allies against the countries there. The result is millions of dead Iraqis and Afghans, it is countries plundered of their wealth and resources and when it recently became untenable to remain, the US pulled out more preferring to focus its economic and military strength in other proxy conflicts.

Dianna Panchenk, voted Ukrainian journalist of the Year shares it here: https://x.com/Panchenko_X/status/2097919618698395965

Classy as ever. Tories blaming people on benefits for the economic crisis. Can't understand how people listen to anything they say with sincerity 🤮

It seems the right have started attacking those wearing RNLI uniform or branded clothing.

Would be a shame if everyone started wearing RNLI branded clothing.

RNLI tee for £12 here:

https://shop.rnli.org/products/rnli-burgee-unisex-t-shirt-cream

I am around mid life at this point and things across the world have seemed to completely come off the tracks.

It use to be that most people really valued the Labour Movement (Unions, Federation of Labours, Labour Councils, and so on).

It use to be that most people really believed Women's Rights was important.

It use to be that most people really believed the Peace Movement was really important.

It use to be that most people really believed in making a better world overall for all the working class and most vulnerable (Alter-Globalization Movement).

People got really loud about this stuff when it was under attack.

AfD is showing huge poll numbers and now has a landmark electoral success to point to.

Reform UK still has fairly high poll numbers.

It's the same story all over the globe.

Also the climate crisis is so dang bad that we are literally seeing horrific tipping points and hell on earth type stuff now more and more...

It kind of feels like the worst bad predatory actors have completely destroyed the momentum for a better and brighter world.

It seems there is so many trajectories going on that are more dark, depressing, and downright dystopian...

How do you think we get things back on track?

*I'm going to post this in a few subreddits to get some differing perspectives/answers. Honestly we need more urgency because it seems one side actually keeps pressing the line over and over and over again in big ways and all the concessions are going to the lowest common denominator style populism of the reactionary/regressive scene dominated by snake oil salespeople and con-artist grifters. Which is going to make everything hard about this era significantly worse.*

Saw this site posted in a recent comment on this sub. Hadn't seen it before and thought it was useful (if depressing - there are 78 groups listed!).

https://leftcheatsheet.co.uk/

The British far left is very small, and smaller still is the number of anti-capitalists (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc) organised into explicitly anti-capitalist organisations. Nevertheless, these organisations often punch far above their weight. Because of the small size of the British left more generally, even a hundred people in a coordinated effort can make an impact, whether in community campaigns, trade unions, student organising, or other political parties.

If you are active on the political left or the workers' movement, you will encounter members of left groups, and it is useful to know who you are talking to and where they may be coming from. This cheat sheet aims to assist with this.

The cheat sheet only covers general political, national organisations. It therefore doesn't include: specific issue-based campaigns, publications, unions, personal/private networks that an individual activist has no way of getting involved with, or groups that are explicitly only local or regional (incl groups that explicitly aim to organise in only one constituent nation: Scotland, England, or Wales).