Tag: news

Industrial Development and the Republican Bourgeoisie 9 13 2026   

~ nicholasjayboyes

Industrial Development and the Republican Bourgeoisie 9 13 2026   

With control of both houses of Congress and the presidency, we now see what Republicans bring.  Donald Trump, their leader, has promised to bring industry, make a profit from it, at the same time helping workers by creating jobs.

But in reality, we see the opposite.  The price of diesel has doubled due to his war efforts.  All petroleum has risen in price since Trump’s adventure in Persia began, and the Strait of Hormuz has been closed or partially closed.  

Compounding the petroleum difficulties created by the Republican bourgeoisie near Iran, now the  Houthi rebels in Yemen are at war with the Saudis again, are restricting passage through the  Bab el Mandeb Strait.

Combined with this has been destruction of production facilities in the region, due to Iranian retaliation for American bombing. 

What this has done is slow down and make more expensive industry.  Diesel powers locomotives and farm equipment, and with the price doubling everything is more expensive.

For a group of people who came to power promising lower inflation, instead we see a marked increase of all commodities in the markets, from autos, steel ,etc.  What Trump faulted Joe Biden for, inflation, has not changed with complete control of Congress and the presidency.   If anything it is worse now than it was under BIden.

Trump promised industry would come to America through tariffs. All his tariffs have done is provoke counter tariffs, further raising the price of commodities brought into the country.  The Supreme Court, in a remarkable ruling, took away some of Trump’s power to raise tariffs, but that did not stop him from tariffing Canada,  The Republican bourgeoisie has irritated  Canada with tariffs on steel, Aluminum, and other commodities, further restricting economic development.  

America is not winning the Middle East war started by Republicans.  Like Afghanistan, it looks like another long drawn out conflict,  and, like Afghanistan, could be a loss.  Trump has yet to send in ground soldiers,  instead using air war and a sea blockade of Iran’s ports to try to conquer the Persians.  But it is becoming more obvious every day that ground troops will have to be sent in to win the war there. 

Another promise broken; Trump came to power promising the end of wars in the Middle East.  He did the exact opposite when he took power, committing the country to an unpopular war, with no end in sight.

As the price of petroleum reached new highs, Trump quietly pushed for the petroleum industry.  He stopped construction of wind power generation on the East Coast.  The Trump administration has spent roughly $3.9 billion to cancel or buy back 12 major offshore wind leases across the U.S. East and West coasts through federal buyouts and settlements, redirecting corporate investments toward fossil fuels and natural gas projects.  All the while the price of petroleum kept rising.

“The Trump administration will pay the German energy firm RWE $1.22 billion to abandon plans to build wind farms off the coasts of New York, California and Louisiana, the company announced on Thursday.”

“It was the fifth such deal the government has reached this year to halt the development of offshore wind, a source of renewable energy that President Trump has derided for decades.”

“Under the agreement, RWE will voluntarily surrender three leases it owned for wind farms in federal waters. Those projects were in the early stages of development and had little chance of moving forward under the Trump administration, which has halted all federal permitting for offshore wind.”

New York Times 8 6 2026

June 17, 2026

“The Interior Department said on Wednesday that it would pay the energy developer Invenergy hundreds of millions of dollars to abandon plans to build wind farms in the Atlantic and Pacific, in the third such deal struck by the Trump administration to cancel offshore wind leases.”

“Under the agreement Invenergy will voluntarily surrender four leases in federal waters for wind farms that would have been located in the New York Bight, off the Central Coast of California and in the Gulf of Maine. All of those projects were in the early stages of development and had little chance of moving forward under the Trump administration, which has halted all federal permitting for offshore wind.”

“The government will then reimburse Invenergy $765 million, or somewhat less than what the company had paid for the leases under the Biden administration.”

New York Times 6 17 2026

“The U.S. government will pay a French energy firm nearly $1 billion to cancel its plans to build a pair of wind farms off the East Coast, the Trump administration announced Monday in its latest move to stymie offshore wind.” 

“The French firm TotalEnergies will forfeit its leases for projects off the coasts of New York and North Carolina, with the United States paying $928 million to reimburse what the company initially spent on the leases.”

“Under the deal, TotalEnergies will reinvest that money into oil and gas projects, including a liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas.” 

“President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to block the development of offshore wind projects, which many East Coast states have been counting on to meet their energy needs in the coming years. The projects canceled under the deal announced Monday would have provided power to more than 1 million homes. “

Stateline 3 24 2026

The Republicans also ended the subsidy on Electric Vehicles, which would have lowered reliance on petroleum, and brought EV industry to America.  Instead of EV”s cheaply made by China, the V8’s and Detroit trucks running on petroleum were given preference .  For the price of five Chinese EV’s you can buy one average American made car or truck.  

Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese goods like EV’s to protect  American exports of autos.  The tariffs affect the price of commodities, allowing for their autos, for instance, to be sold for more money than if there were no tariffs.  It’s like oil, even though America produces petroleum ,they do not set the price.  Higher priced petroleum affects everyone, not just  domestically. It’s like the autos, it affects the prices of commodities abroad too, making American exports more profitable. 

All in all, the Republicans had total control of the government, and have badly failed to develop the productive forces of industry. We have yet to hear talk of a metric conversion, even though America is the last country on Earth not to make one.  And not a peep about it by Trump. Instead he just keeps favoring coal and coking technology, the old nonmetric industry.  Detroit has yet to make a metric conversion, the autos all use the English system of measurement.

Clearly there has been little industrial progress, with the exception of computers, for instance artificial intelligence (AI). But China is already figuring out ways to more cheaply do AI  tasks, like collating envelopes, adding up receipts, etc. that require simple computer AI tech,without multibillion dollar AI systems.  The kind of things AI can  really help with, simple repetitive tasks done formerly by hand, that does not require massive computers to solve.

We will soon see on November 3 if suffrage keeps the Republicans in power.  The radical Democratic party may win, a failure for the Republican bourgeoisie.  If the Republicans lose, they only have themselves to blame.  Things will change if the  radical Democrats get power, but undoing the damage done by the last 2 years of complete control of Congress and the presidency by Republicans could take decades.  Nevertheless change could be coming, the Democrats are favored to get a majority in suffrage soon.  Time will tell what will transpire come November 3.

Nicholas Jay Boyes 

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

10 13 2026

Economic Conditions and Consequences of Iran War 9 16 2026  

~ nicholasjayboyes

Economic Conditions and Consequences of Iran War 9 16 2026  

As Donald Trump’s war on Iran escalates, the main straits moving Middle Eastern oil are currently blocked.  First Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, linking the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea.  Then, the Yemen rebels, who sided with Iran, shut the Bab al- Mandab, linking the Red Sea  to the Arabian Sea.

What this did, in combination with drone strikes cutting off the East West pipeline, was effectively shut down Saudi Arabia’s oil production. Stopping the flow of oil from the pipeline, which would have moved the oil north to the northern Red Sea, from there to the Mediterranean, was stopped by drone strikes from inside Iraq by rebels there.

Unable to move large ships through the Persian Gulf, and now the Red Sea, the price of oil is rising.  Diesel is already at $6.13 dollars a gallon, that’s $1.66 a liter.  The price is still rising too.  It just keeps rising as it gets harder and harder to produce.

We can thank Donald Trump and his Republican bourgeoisie  for this.  Iran was attacked by Israel and the  Americans February 28th 2026, in an aerial bombardment that killed the leadership of Iran.  They killed the Ayatollah, and several of his  ranking leaders.  

They thought Iran would capitulate due to aerial bombing.  It was a foolish gambit.  Israel was connected, using  American f35 planes, the new fighter aircraft to bomb Iran.  But Iran was capable of using anti aircraft weapons, and shot down several of them.  It is unknown if they took it down and any technology was left.

The Iranians also proved capable of aerial attacks, hitting more than 50 military aircraft, and dozens of military bases the Americans were using in their war effort.  These bases were in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and  the United Arab Emirates.  The question now is if it is even  worth rebuilding them, considering they  were vulnerable to attack.

I’m not going to give a body count, but people are dying. They really are fighting, and Donald Trump’s plans for a coup de tet in Iran installing American leadership seems to have failed.  Now the cost of Trump’s war is becoming clear, gasoline prices,and conversely, the price of everything else, as gasoline powered trucks, railroads, and ships move the commodities sold in the market. 

The inflation is  rising, making the price of money higher.  The central bank raised the interest rates, as money is becoming more expensive for investors to borrow.  Trump has repeatedly said the price of state money  should come down,  going so far as to remove and attempt to prosecute Jerome Powell, who refused to lower interest rates.  

But in reality  the central bank does not control the rate of interest.  That is governed by economic conditions, in this case inflation pressing against the interest rate. A rate of  interest, a measure of financial capital’s surplus value rate,  measured against inflation must be higher than inflation  or no one would invest in this financial capital.   Inflation interferes with the profit rate.  It makes it fall,  as the value of everything rises.  Thus the central bank has thus raised interest rates in response to a lowering of profit from financial capital, a direct result of Trump’s embarrassing failure to control Iran.  

The Republican bourgeoisie has done this to themselves.  In the process the rest of the country has come with, and it is costing  tens of billions of dollars.  It is likely the national debt will increase again, as this occurs when countries declare war.  It is that or raise taxes, which can also occur but for obvious reasons is unpopular.  The answer is to indebt the nation, then pay it back after victory.  

Trump thought Iran would give in, and  money would come from the imperialist effort to effectively colonize Persia.  It worked in Iraq, I guess they thought it would work again.  It didn’t work so well in Afghanistan, resulting in an expensive failure after 20 years of all out war.   Perhaps they thought this would help pay off the debt from this?

Well now that we see Trump’s failure, and his bourgeoisie,  elections are coming in November. Will suffrage treat Trump favorably?  It’s his fault Iran was attacked.  They did not bomb an Army base, or even kill an American over there.  They totally just attacked Iran because they could, and they looked weak.

It turned out they weren’t, will suffrage reward Trump’s party with seats in November?  The price tag is already  starting to form, with the price of gasoline one of  the first effects. They could ban the export of Diesel, but  that is not capitalism.  It is a subsidy to the companies producing oil; if they could sell it on the market it would cast more, which will hit profits.  The oil companies are the last people we should expect to lower prices out of the goodness of their hearts. I suppose they could be forced to sell diesel at below market prices, at a loss.  But more likely would be compensation paid to the companies, a state subsidized product of petroleum.

And after it is done with, the price of oil will fall, no longer requiring subsidies?  Another assumption which is difficult to make.  One thing that is clear is subsidizing the price of gasoline is not capitalism.  Tariffs also challenge market economies, free trade is usually something market economies strive for.  Trump could subsidize fuel, but again it has a price.  Given taxes would pay for it, everyone will pay eventually.  Indebting it only adds an interest rate to the money; it costs even more to pay for the debt than if you just raised that amount.

Come November we may see just how intelligent the proletariat is.  The opposition party, the radical democrats, could gain control of the House of people would not vote for Trump’s party the Republicans.  It would be a defeat of his economic program.  Recognition of the fact the price of gasoline and everything else is rising due to his economic and political activities as leader.

Or things could work out for Trump, Iran could give in, and Don could expropriate the oil for his imperialism needs.  

The latter looks unlikely, and the question becomes will the  Democrats who may inherit Don’s war will  continue it.  They already voted in Congress for it to end.  

A day of reckoning may be coming.  It depends on if suffrage can control the  reactionary bourgeoisie.  If it can, it will be a historic victory for the  American workers. 

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin 

American Democratic Republic

9 16 2026

Effects  of Technological Development on Universal Suffrage 8 30 2026

~ nicholasjayboyes

Effects  of Technological Development on Universal Suffrage 8 30 2026

The only answer to the big money in the media propaganda industry is to not play along with it.  Candidates, in particular the more capitalist ones,  keep spending more and more money to fill cable tv and radio with messages favorable to capitalism.  This year for the midterms it is adding up to something like a billion dollars, mostly for attack ads.

What can be done about this?  Well there are several options, including ad block technology, or simply disconnecting from cable tv and gong internet.  But the most radical is probably the easiest;  completely reject television and radio advertising.

When it is clear the only political message on TV is the Republican bourgeoisie, people will know what to expect when they turn on commercial television. A slick product engineered to make a profit for the producer of the Republican propaganda  if it brings in campaign contributions. The more sophisticated it gets the more chance of complete rejection of cable tv, ushering in the internet and streaming services.  That is where the ad block technology comes in.

The ads can be blocked on your apple computer.  It is not hard to download, and can be effective, although not completely.  

That is where a new idea comes in; paying for the internet services you use like youtube.  The latter charges 15$ a month for no ads.  It also pays for google, resulting in less pressure from google to defeat ad black technology.

The Washington Post and New York Times are also worth subscribing to, and with an adblocker are free of political advertising.  Again, selling space on the papers is replaced by direct payments by the consumer, resulting in less pressure to rely on propaganda ads for revenue. 

The idea the only television and radio political advertising is the republican bourgeoisie would be most powerful.  It would save tens of millions of dollars for the independent, or democratic socialists, running for office.  It was effective in Michigan, Abdul el Sayed  is running for Senate as a Democrat, and he used the political attack ads by his opponent in the primary she spent tens of millions of dollars on as an example of her questionable ideas about how to reach people, drawing a sharp contrast  to him in the primary.  In all he raised something like 7 million dollars  for his campaign, and defeated the big money democrat. 

It can work.  Francesca Hong got  close in Wisconsin, so close Republicans were attempting to fool people into thinking she was making ads, by running ads “for her”.  Really slimy….

We have gotten several people identifying themselves as socialists elected, like  Zohran Mamdani as Mayor of New York.  A socialist mayor in the big city was an accomplishment, it shows seats can be won in suffrage,  

But the unfortunate reality continually faced by the Democrats is the supposed need for the big money.  Well, the big money works for Republicans, who spend hundreds of millions of dollars every big election on television and radio advertising. Democrats have fewer large donors, yet there are some who pay into the party, which corrupts them.  They get convinced the only way to win is to counter the attack ads with their own.  

I don’t need to go into detail how ugly this becomes, everybody has seen it.  It worked for Donald Trump.

But a new path forward is gaining momentum, totally reliant upon technological progress.  The internet and artificial intelligence is changing everything, from applying for an absentee ballot online, to publishing articles on your website.  It is an example of a struggle for free speech, causing revolution.  

The old means of communication like FM radio, and cable television still have followers.  But it is going the same direction as AM radio; all Republican and nobody really listens to it.  

The Democrats need to make a choice of if they want Mamdani or Bloomberg.  The big money does not always win.   We saw this with Judge Janet, when the richest man in the world spent tens of millions of dollars to influence suffrage for our supreme court.

We sent him packing.  He’s not done with, he is spending hundreds of millions of  dollars to support the republican bourgeoisie, and it may not  be so openly but some of it no doubt comes here too.  But it showed the power of the workers to get  a seat in the court.  It also created momentum , and Justice Crawford was later elected to the court, also less bourgeois than her opponent.

One person, one vote.   It comes down to that, Trump knows it, and has to try to stop absentee ballots. He votes absentee in Florida. Apparently it is only the wealthy and powerful Trump believes should receive an absentee ballot. We have bad news for Trump, in most of the west, in states like California, everyone is sent a ballot. Trump attempts to stop the Post office from sending them out.  As if it is the Post Office’s responsibility to stop absentee voting. Trump is flailing, the harder  he pushes against absentee voting the more like a Hitler he looks like.

Complete rejection of television and radio advertising.  No more paying tens of millions of Chevron’s billions of dollars to the pipeline politician to drown out the voices of the workers. This can work, the technology is here, ad blockers and paying for the paper.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic  Republic 

8 30 2026

Futility of Nuclear Weapons.  Detente with the Iranians. 7 29 2026

~ nicholasjayboyes

Futility of Nuclear Weapons.  Detente with the Iranians. 6 29 2026 

As you may remember, on 6 15 2026, I  published an article about the war in Iran ending.  It looked then like Donald Trump was done trying to overthrow the Persians.  Things began to change then, and what looked like a defeat for Israel and the  Americans, was continued.

Well the war was not done with.  The grandiose ideas of putting  the Shaw’s son to  power, whose father  Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was overthrown by the Islamic revolution there in 1979, is still being taken seriously by some.

I’m not going into detail about what the son of the Shaw Reza Pavlani does, but he is politically motivated to rule Iran, and it looked like he had a live one with the American bourgeoisie.  According to Reuters he is pretty rough, there have been politically motivated murders attached to him, and hooliganism like attempting to have Iranian publican places fly the old Iranian flag.

Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have had to accept less lofty goals, as Iran refuses to give up.  The jet aircraft bombings have not removed the government there, and the Iranians have shown their drones and missiles have been able to hit the Army’s planes, about 50 so far have been destroyed.  

The manufacture of cheap drones, which require advanced anti missile defenses like Patriot missiles to knock down, are able to reach the other countries where the  Army takes off its planes from, like Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), etc.   They even have had some luck striking farther, but long range drones rarely work with missile defenses and modern capitalism warfare.

We can say though; each Patriot missile fired costs a million dollars.  Iran’s drones cost a fraction of that, probably very little or next to nothing without a bomb in it.  Every time they fire them it costs the Arabs millions of dollars in American weapons.

So things haven’t been so cost effective.  

“WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) – The cost of the United States’ war in Iran has risen to $37.5 billion ​so far, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday, as he faced skeptical lawmakers for the first time since heavy ‌bombings resumed to seek urgent funding for the unpopular conflict.”

“With just six months before midterm elections in which President Donald Trump’s Republicans may face an uphill battle to keep their House of Representatives and Senate majorities, Democrats are riding high in public opinion polls as they attempt to link the unpopular Iran war with affordability.”

“Hegseth told lawmakers at a ​hearing in Washington that the $37.5 billion included certain aspects of the war as well as anticipated costs through September 30. “ 

“It was unclear ​how the Pentagon arrived at the figure. A source told Reuters in March that Trump’s administration estimated the first six ⁠days of the war had cost at least $11.3 billion.”

“Trump asked Congress last month for nearly $90 billion in additional funding, most of it related to the Iran conflict, ​setting the stage for another fight with lawmakers frustrated with the war and facing the November midterms.”

Reuters July 21st 2026

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-war-iran-has-cost-375-billion-so-far-pentagon-says-2026-07-21

For someone who went into power promising to make government smaller, who with Elon Musk vowed to reign in excess spending, in particular the DOGE efforts, Trump has managed to tax another 90 billion dollars on the countries bill.  Is this supposed to somehow reduce the cost of government?  Is it getting any smaller in the pentagon?

Although there has been a smaller civilian government,  the Army just keeps costing more and more.  Trump has asked for 1 and a half trillion dollars for the military this year.  It’s the largest amount in history.  Yet we are supposed to believe government is shrinking not growing.

The first 6 days cost 11.3 billion dollars.  It has been off and on, but is now 37.5 billion dollars, and Trump wants 90 billion more.  

I was wrong to suggest the war was ending.  One thing I am certain about though, is how stupid the Iranians would be to build an atomic bomb. Clearly they have shown that  even without control of their skies they remain powerful, and able to send out drones and cause considerable damage ot petroleum facilities and US Army bases in Iraq and Kuwait.  

A nuclear bomb has not been needed.   Congress has already voted to end the war, Trump refuses to accept this even  though some of his own Republican bourgeoisie voted for it.  It is sort of in limbo; it passed without effect.  

Afghanistan was also lost without the Taliban having nuclear weapons.  If Iran was smart they would realize the futility of enriching uranium, and join the nonproliferation treaties. They should call Trump’s bluff, and give up enrichment and building a bomb.  It would remove one of Trump’s supposed reasons for why he is attempting to make private property again Iran’s petroleum.  That would be detente; Trump would be left with no spoils for his Persian adventure. Iran would lose nothing.  If anything they could  start really demoralizing the bourgeoisie by closing the Strait of Hormuz again, which also does not require atomic weapons. It make the ships voyages longer, and now Iran’s fiends the Houthis in Yemen  are cutting off the Red Sea, meaning Saudi oil has to flow through the Mediterranean.

You can see where this ship of fools is going.  A small spill in the Mediterranean would endanger the whole enterprise.  Iran doesn’t even have to bomb the ship, with the quantity moving through a spill is inevitable.  It is just a matter of when.

Trump is running out of options.  He needs more money, and the reason for what he is doing is he is claiming to be stopping Iran from building an atomic bomb. Which we have seen would be true folly by the Persians.  If it makes him happy to suggest he stopped Iran from getting the bomb, good for him.  In the meantime, capitalist warfare technology is catching up on the aircraft and carrier ships paradigm.  The hand of technological progress continues moving forward., even in Iran.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

MIlwaukee WIsconsin

American Democratic Republic

7 29 2026

Capitalism and the War Machine.  Technological Evolution of Warfare to Capitalism. 7 17 2026

~ nicholasjayboyes

Capitalism and the War Machine.  Technological Evolution of Warfare to Capitalism. 7 17 2026

If we look at the evolution of modern capitalist warfare, drone technology and missiles capable of shooting down missiles have totally changed society.  The one way drone aircraft, primarily developed by Iran, based on a design of a more sophisticated two way drone brought down a little more than a decade ago, has been used in Ukraine, where the most high tech weapons are being used in a fight between Russia and America’s proxies.

It has gotten to the point Germany has decided not to cooperate on a new generation of fighter jet aircraft with France.  They have not publicly cited a reason for this, but what should be obvious is jets are getting shot down by Russia.  They can hardly even fire a missile at Russia without it being shot down, no less a manned aircraft.

It is so impossible to use fighter jets there that drones are the main means of warfare, that is in the trenches.  But the camera on the drone, combined with satellite tracking systems, primarily the one built by Elon Musk, the star link internet connections, have proved, in combination with long range ballistic missiles fired by Ukraine, to hit targets in Russia often a thousand kilometers or more from  Russia’s borders to Kiev.  

But without Starlink, Ukraine has little hope of defeating Russia. The drones are totally reliant on it.   The missiles too are part of the machine.

It is remarkable though to see the failure of jet aircraft, which Russia also owns, to be of any help in a front line condition where any movement of individuals or small groups face drone attacks by both parties.

The Patriot missiles proved effective in stopping missiles fired at Kiev, but at a cost of a million dollars a missile has left Kiev unable to stop Russian missiles.  But the presence of these systems have made airplanes a failure in this new form of warfare. Ukraine now wants to produce their own, but Germany gave up on it as it was too costly and difficult to produce without American engineering. 

The peace movement was focused on American and the Soviet Union learning to live with each other.  Groups like Greenpeace showed ecological cooperation was required, but what did the bourgeoisie do?  Remove the socialists from power, now violently in Ukraine.   They can’t even get along with Vladimir Putin, a capitalist oligarch himself. Apparently he is too far left for the reactionary bourgeoisie in Germany. 

Donald Trump has had success with aircraft technology in the developing world, in Venezuela for instance. The coup de tet has given  America a new colony there. 

After Trump’s success in Venezuela  he felt he could handle Iran. But even in Iran the aircraft keep getting destroyed.  They have lost 50 or more, some in flight, others parked on the ground.  Given its close proximity to what was the Iron Curtain,  they have missile defenses.  They also have missile and drone technology capable of stopping Chevron and ExxonMobil from mining oil and shipping it in the region.

If anything Iran should prove that even with a sophisticated air bombing campaign, air power will not dislodge Iran’s leadership from power.  If anything it empowered them to fight  back, with missiles and drones.  

But what has really been strange is how easy it was to shut off the strait of Hormuz, where massive amounts of oil were flowing from Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.  It is shut again, Iran controls it.  The shipping companies cannot insure the ships,  it costs a lot of money to use ships in war zones, the companies usually avoid bad areas with ships worth tens of millions of dollars. 

Iran is limited though as they have not found a way to attack the nuclear powered aircraft carriers with drones.  Without a sophisticated Navy they have yet to sink a big ship.  But the aircraft get hit sometimes now that  the war has been going on, and large ships and drone technology seem to be on a collision course.  Ukraine is using missiles to destroy Russian grain shipments, it is proving to be easy to target large vessels, which could face the fate of war aircraft, if Iran can build the missiles to do it.

The Saudis are shipping oil through the Red Sea, but Iran’s friends the Houthi rebels are even making this harder, contesting control of the Red sea by the Saudis.  What drone warfare has shown is just how vulnerable petroleum production is to small explosives on drones.

Iran knew this, and was prepared to hit petroleum production in their region, striking Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain ,with missiles, crippling their now privately owned oil shipping and production.  They are cutting off access by the bourgeoisie to conquered territory in Iraq, where money was being made for the  home country after several wars that removed nationalized oil. But without stable shipping; with ground transport of Iraq’s oil basically impossible, oil must move through the strait of Hormuz. 

Thus the embargo on Iran’s ports by America, in a conflict that looked solved until Trump and Iran again started fighting.  One thing should be clear, America’s nuclear weapons have been of no assistance in Iran.  This should teach the Iranians that nuclear weapons are a crutch not an asset.  And reject building nuclear weapons.

Even with little or no drones or aircraft of any kind Afghanistan removed the American bourgeoisie.  It took 20 years, but America was conquered there.  No nuclear weapons were used, they were of no help. 

The only option is to stop producing jet fighter aircraft.  They are only effective in the developing world, where the primitive conditions do not include antimissile defenses.  Trump is living in a fantasy world if he thinks by air bombing Iran they are going to give in.  They are shooting down the F35’s, we saw the pictures at the beginning of the war there, the crashing down airplanes.  Short of a ground invasion, in a large new Middle Eastern war, Trump looks destined for failure in Iran.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

7 17 2026

Another Middle Eastern War.

~ nicholasjayboyes

In respect to the conflict between Donald Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu, and Iran, it remains to be seen what will come of it.  At this point it looks like a successful coup de tet, killing Ayatollah Khamenei, and many of his following who were in power.

But no territory was gained by Israel or America, indicating the lack of a clear victory. 

And there is yet to be talk about American capital flowing into Iran, to employ the conquered people, with the goal of making a profit for America.

So it is not a victory yet.  There is currently a cease fire agreement, but the American power is blockading Iran’s ports in the Strait of Hormuz, in retaliation for Iran stopping traffic there.

The strait carries massive quantities of oil to foreign markets, including all of Kuwait and Iraqi oil.  At best Trump bombed some industry there that was pumping oil in Iran, I  guess this looks  like victory?

Israel has yet to remove Hamas from Gaza, even with F35 aircraft the Americans gave them.  Hamas, with no air force, like Afghanistan, again shows the limitations of airplanes bombing cities.  It has been more than 2 years now, Israel has yet to declare victory.  

Yet Trump thought this same group was capable of easily conquering Iran, that  have  industry, and a population twice that of Iraq.

Clearly Trump picks winners.  The way we will know if he won if the oil becomes property of ExxonMobil, like it did in Iraq.  In which case, it brings home profit for the bourgeoisie, which says the adventure had a purpose rather than simple punishment with destruction of a developing world power.

It will be very difficult to secure the Strait of Hormuz if Iran decides to block it again,  as it recently did. You would almost have to remove Iran from the coast, where they could attack boats they didn’t want in the strait.  

And if the goal is simple destruction, it is too easy with a missile or grenade launcher to effectively stop the shipping companies from wasting their capital to traverse a dangerous strait when they can do business elsewhere without insurance needed for a trip through the passage,

OIl prices have almost doubled, and American industry is still building fossil fuel vehicles.  The non metric trucks from Detroit cost a small fortune to commute in.  They are feeling the pressure, as China continues to build electric cars, and the solar panels and wind power to recharge them.  By 2030 about a third of China’s energy will be produced by renewable energy.

I guess if they win they get the Standard Oil monopoly’s fields back. But that cannot stop climate change, driving the economy to renewable energy.  All the oil in the world cannot stop the fact that burning fossil fuels is damaging the ecology, causing the temperature to rise.  It causes freak storms, high temperatures for short periods up north.  It is a monster the likes of which no human has ever seen or had to live with. 

And there is no question that if Iran’s oil returns to the bourgeoisie they will  pump as much as possible, with little or no concern for ecology.  At best they  will create some surplus value for ExxonMobil, and it will  come home to America.

If it stops now it is hard to call it a victory.  They know that, and that is why more men are going there in the Army to fight.  Nothing has been gained financially from bombing Iran, if anything closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cost capitalists money; the shipping companies cannot sail the ships, oil has doubled in value, and rebuilding Iran will cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Trump looks like he has committed the young men to another endless war in the Middle East.  They just never stop.  Real estate there keeps motivating the bourgeoisie to attempt to conquer.  This is no different than Iraq or Afghanistan, and the latter should show us the limitations of this style or warfare they think will easily win with.

Nicholas Jay Boyes   

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic 

4 16 2026

Universal Suffrage. Fear of Milwaukee’s Workers. 4 5 2026

~ nicholasjayboyes

Universal Suffrage. Fear of Milwaukee’s Workers. 4 5 2026

If you want to talk about how much we are trusted, it should be obvious the conditions of what is called “democracy” should strike one immediately as an example of a bourgeoisie who distrusts its own citizens to make decisions regarding their own conditions.

The ownership structure of capitalism removes the worker from the chain of command, reducing his active output as a producer to that of a mere appendage of machinery he does not control.  The manager is chosen by the same forces that keep him subjugated, in wage labour producing surplus value for the capitalist.

Confronted with this he is supposed to take heart in a democratic government with fair suffrage.  In reality, he finds the Senate, president, and Supreme Court, all elected in ways that favor materially the bourgeoisie.

The Senate gets two votes a state or territory.  Alabama gets the same number of votes as Chicago, two for the state.  This mechanism easily allows for  large scale landowners to stay in power; they hold power in the less populated states, and rural areas that  comprise much of the country.

Who else but the bourgeoisie would settle on conquered land?  Naturally the settlers are in the pocket of the Republican bourgeoisie. So South Dakota, much of Wisconsin, Iowa, etc. all fairly recent settlements with rural populations have a different opinion of what reality is than the proletariat in the cities.

The proletariat is an urban phenomenon, comprised of workers producing commodities in industrial settings.  It is possible for the larger farms to have unions, but it is not there yet. Waiting for it to form on the large farms would prove to be something that could take generations. Compounding the problem is massive state subsidies of more than 50 billion dollars a year, divvied out by the state, controlled by the republican bourgeoisie.

When the  worker votes he is also confronted by the electoral college, that appoints presidents without a majority periodically.  His votes for a woman president are not heard, even if a majority in suffrage support her.  Instead he is supposed to be happy he got Donald Trump instead.

What does this show us but a small group of people in control scared of their own workers, with no intention of giving up power.

When our worker tries to go to legal means for emancipation, he gets Citizens United rulings.  The Supreme Court is appointed by the president, who does not have to control a majority to govern.  And to make it seem more legitimate, it is supported by the Senate, who rubber stamps the decision for Supreme Court Justices. 

Sometimes the more moderate liberal progressive bourgeoisie govern, but it is a miracle there is ever a Senate majority.  It favors the large landowners, who vote republican.

When you look at the demographics, clearly the cities all vote democrat.  The country votes republican; we see it every cycle of elections.  This is an indicator of the presence of large scale land ownership, and its dominance over the proletariat in the city. 

The answer is to nationalize the land. If large scale farming is so great, its benefits should be enjoyed by all of society, not a small group of families who control all the good land around the city.  Small farmers are a small part of modern farming already, at best they can inherit soil, which we should not tamper with. But make no mistake, small scale landowning in time will only produce the same results we have l already come to, dominance of capitalism and the demise of the small farmer. They will find a mechanism to retake their lands, and consolidate  ownership in no time without nationalization of large landownings.  Be it through inheritance, or other means, under capitalism there will always be an effort to concentrate ownership of land in a small aristocracy, who control the food production for the city.

This having been said, it is still imperative to take part in universal suffrage.  Local races in particular, such as the current struggle between Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor looks like landowners vs urban petty bourgeois; the latter more worldly, sometimes favoring the working class.  

Lazar is up against the Planned Parenthood woman.  She is against abortion, probably a Catholic.  And yes, a person’s religion can influence how they vote.

The proletariat has a duty to take part in all suffrage, regardless of how slanted toward management it becomes.  It is still one vote, one person, and numerically the proletariat outnumbers the owning class 10 to one.  It can happen.

As suffrage comes again for supreme court justice in Wisconsin, it is a real battle.  These small contests can attract the big money;  the last local elections brought Elon Musk and his big wealth here. This one no doubt will also bring big out of state money, due to fear of Milwaukee’s proletariat.  The election is in two days, a real test of equality.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

4 5 2026

Suffrage for Justices to the Supreme Court. 3 24 2026 

~ nicholasjayboyes

Suffrage for Justices to the Supreme Court. 3 24 2026 

As we again take the opportunity to engage in suffrage for the supreme court in Wisconsin, it is important to digress on this phenomenon.  To begin with, it should be noted the United States Supreme Court is not subject to universal suffrage,  Rather it is appointees of the president, rubber stamped by the upper house of Congress.

What this means is twofold:  One, the president is not always in control of a majority, yet was still appointed.  We have seen this repeatedly in the last 25 years; George II was appointed without a majority, then Donald Trump was appointed without a majority.  It seems to be the Republican bourgeoisie who do this, they call it the “electoral college” method of dictatorship.  They then appoint the  Supreme Court justices for life; then generally last decades. Trump did three this last time when he was appointed.  

Secondly, Congress goes along with this.  The Senate approves the candidates, giving their rubber stamp of approval in the upper house.   

The Senate is appointed by two senators a state, which gives massive amounts of power to the large scale landowners, who till much of the rural areas.  They benefit by states like South Dakota having the same power in the Senate as Illinois, home of Chicago.  The same is true for New York and LA.  The power structure is the same, the founders, Virginia plantation owners, did this for a reason; they feared British industry would force change in the slave owning aristocracy.  They chose equal power for large scale landowners to industry by having 2 votes per state in the upper house.

It is basically a miracle the big cities ever win control of Congress.  And the stakes are enormous, state assistance to large farmers in 2025 was 40.24 billion dollars according to google.  It is allocated by the acre, which  results in it being of little help to small farmers, who more intensively cultivate this land.

Nationalization of large farms would help greatly, but instead of just buying land with the 42 billion dollars, the  Republican bourgeoisie just gives away this money to large landowners, who all benefit from the subsidies.  Basically all large farmers get money; it is part of the land tenure arrangement.

The state is not going to buy land and give it to cooperatives. We would have seen attempts at this by now.  No, the state assistance is going to support the Republican bourgeoisie, the state does not purchase land for cooperatives.

If the land was going to be nationalized, there would be no price tag.  And it would not be the worst soils that the cooperatives would be farming on.

Anyhow, that is the picture generally.  What this has to do with Wisconsin is this:

Supreme Court justices are subject to universal suffrage every 10 years.  This may seem like a long time, but compared to the United States Supreme Court, it  is brief.  Wisconsin justices serve  as long as they command a majority, which differs from our appointed counterparts who serve without a majority. 

Short of having a politburo, there is no alternative to universal suffrage for the judges on the supreme court.  The levels of bold faced white collar crimes the supreme court is involved in, with rulings like Citizens United, should show us WIsconsin has the answer; the Wisconsin supreme court is not electing because they are small,  rather this is a movement that is logical, and able to be followed on a larger scale, like selecting United States Supreme Court justices for 10 year terms.

We saw last election for supreme court Elon Musk giving away the million dollar checks to his republican bourgeois supporters to vote against democrat Susan Crawford.  DC meddles in Wisconsin elections, even though it is only residents of the state that can vote. 

No matter, Citizens United and Musk feel no shame in involvement in Wisconsin’s more radical system of universal suffrage.  

Incidentally Musk and his Republicans lost the election.  Musk hardly even got a slap on the wrist for his million dollar checks, even after explaining they were vetted to be most likely to be Republicans.

The latest suffrage is between Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar are going at it.  Lazar was Scott Walker’s lawyer.  She is a Trumper, and will be a yes woman for Trump.  

Chris Taylor has“..a legislative voting record full of support for unions and public schools, and endorsements out of the gate from the four sitting liberal justices..

“She worked as the public policy director at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, and then spent nearly a decade in the state Assembly…”

WPR 3 24 2026

Lazar, on the other hand:

“During the administration of Governor Scott Walker, Lazar worked as an assistant attorney general in the Wisconsin Department of Justice where she handled litigation in support of Walker’s signature anti-labor law, 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, and then in defense of new security rules implemented to crack down on statewide protests against it. Lazar later took on the job of defending a Republican redistricting law that implemented one of the most aggressive gerrymanders in the country.”

Wikipedia Maria Lazar

The choice could; not be put in starker terms.  Ten years of Lazar would be a return to Scott Walker. 

“As an assistant attorney general, Lazar defended Republican-drawn legislative maps from gerrymandering claims along with laws on voter ID, abortion and Act 10, which restricted collective bargaining rights for most state employees.”

WPR 2 23 2026

So it should be interesting to see where this goes.

“Brad David Schimel (born February 18, 1965) is an American attorney, former judge, and Republican politician. He most-recently served as interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, from November 2025 until March 16, 2026, when his interim appointment was not extended by the district court judges. The Department of Justice, however, has announced their intention to appoint Schimel to a senior staff position in the U.S. attorney’s office, leaving him as the de facto head of the office. “

Wikipedia Brad Shimel

So here we see what Trump does when he loses an election.  Shimel was appointed leader in federal court even though he did not command a majority.  I guess Trump doesn’t mind losers as long as they are yes men.  Shimel is now appointed without suffrage, the power struggle between DC and Wisconsin could not be more pitched this election.  Clearly the republican bourgeoisie is doing DC’s bidding.  

The date suffrage will occur is April 7.  It is one to watch.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

3 24 2026

Supreme Court Decision Returns Power of the Purse to Congress. 2 23 2026

~ nicholasjayboyes

Supreme Court Decision Returns Power of the Purse to Congress

With a single court decision by the Supreme Court, Donald Trump and his constant threat of  tariffs was ended.  The decision was in a court that rarely rules in favor of the worker, where a number of judges were appointed by Trump, 3 in his first term when he assumed power without a majority.  It was a 6 to 3 decision.

That is what makes this ruling so remarkable.

“The blockbuster Supreme Court ruling that invalidated President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs ends one chapter of economic uncertainty….”

“Even as the nation’s high court determined Friday that the president had exceeded his authority by slapping tariffs on goods from just about every country in the world, Trump made clear at a White House news conference that he was determined to do so again, though this time within the bounds of the law.”

“The justices’ 6-3 ruling said the president did not have the authority under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose a vast array of import levies on goods from nearly all of the nation’s trading partners.”

Washington Post 2 22 2026

All the Supreme said was taxation was the responsibility of Congress; Congress holds the purse strings of government.  As tariffs are a form of taxes; taxes on imports, Congress  has to be where tariffs start and stop.

Immediately following the ruling Trump raised global taxes 15%.  It is like cutting off your nose to sprite your face. 

The next question is how to pay back the tariffs already taken in, 134 billion dollars, which will have to be paid back to the importers who paid tax in the first place.  Given they are all American based brokers, or American companies, they don’t have far to go.   

Trump has promised to use court to delay reimbursing the importers he tariffed, who are now all clamoring for their money back.

The tax man has been rebuked; his constant threats of tariffs now will take months to come in effect, instead of a social media post of a shout on an airplane to a reporter.

Congress is the responsible party when taxes rise. They never fall, even in periods of prosperity.  Nevertheless they are still in control, and reminded us they had the power to use the court to clip Don’s wings.  Without tax threats Don is a loud voice with no real clout behind him.

““The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope,” Roberts wrote. “In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.””

“Trump cannot, Roberts wrote.”

“Roberts pointed out IEEPA made no mention of tariffs and that he could find little in the law to authorize such massive levies, writing bluntly: “Those words cannot bear such weight.”

“He also said Trump’s move ran afoul of the “major questions doctrine,” a rule the court has enunciated in recent years that holds that any presidential action that has major economic or political ramifications must have explicit authorization by Congress.”

“The stakes of the ruling are enormous: The tariffs affect trillions of dollars in trade, and the government collected nearly $134 billion in levies through Dec. 14 under the authority challenged in the case.”

Washington Post ibid.

Perhaps they have been saving the 134 billion dollars, in case something like this happened?  Otherwise it means more taxes on top of what is paid the importer, considering the consumer paid the bulk of the taxes, the tariffs taxes on imports.

Expect export commodities value to fall, as the tariffs made their value higher than what they would have been without the tax.  BYD vs Ford is not here yet, but is getting closer.  

Without protectionism it is questionable how many nonmetric products will be competitive in the world market.  With the declining value of the dollar nominally more will have to be paid by the consumer for the same product, inflation.  Exports were balanced with heavy taxation on competitors’ products, to make American products more competitive.  

The global tax of 15% he has now levied for 150 days seems less personal than the normal tariff for Dons crotchets.  This one is not directed at a single competitor, rather the whole world market.  It sort of admits non metric production will  never be able to compete in the world market. 

Some of the tariffs were on Cuba, the other country adjacent to Mar a Lago, Trump’s palace.  He cut off their oil,will he return the tariff money now illegal?

How embarrassing.  The taxman, who raised everyone’s taxes by heavily taxing imports, now has to contend with Congress.  What happens if Don tries to use tariffs again?  Will the Supreme Court change their mind? Will they have too? They made it crystal clear taxes are Congress’s responsibility, and Trump is president, not congress. 

We will be in for an interesting spectacle when the 134 billion dollars have to be paid back.  They could devalue the currency further, another 10% next year as this makes the debt  normally worth less in real labor time.  This surplus value has already been paid for by the consumer in the form of higher prices.  Now another 134 billion on top of this?

It’s that or the capitalist is honest enough to lower the prices on his goods due to being repaid the tariff. This scenario looks unlikely.

In the end this exercise results in massive inflation, the price of everything has been going through the roof under Don.  The leverage of tariffs as punishment has limits.  Congress does own the purse strings of government, it has been that way since founding.  All this did was test the boundaries of what can happen if the Republican bourgeoisie have control of both houses of Congress and the president. Clearly it was chaos.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

2 23 2026

Starlink, Elon Musk, and Ukraine. Militarisation of Space. 

~ nicholasjayboyes

It is coming to light that the starlink satellite internet service run  by Elon Musk is a poor example for providing internet service, unless there are few users at a time.  Basically the conclusion is the more users on the service at a time, the slower it goes, or starts to malfunction.

“There’s an irony with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service beamed from space: The more popular it becomes, the worse its speeds and reliability tend to get.”

“Those limitations are known, but a new analysis estimates the tipping point at which Starlink connections could bog down: With as few as 419 Starlink customers in an area the size of Tacoma, Washington, service for all users in the area could become unusable.”

“They (internet expert Sascha Meinrath’s group) believe that within the geographic coverage area of a single Starlink satellite – an estimated 62.9 square miles or roughly the area of Tacoma – hitting 419 Starlink customers could become a problem. That’s an average 6.7 Starlink customers per square mile.

“At that level of usage, they estimated that internet speeds for Starlink customers in the area would fall below the government’s definition of modern, reliable internet service for sending data out from your device. Service could be unusable under some conditions, they said.”

Washington Post 7 18 2025

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/07/18/starlink-internet-satellite-speed-elon-musk/

Elon Musk knew this, but kept it secret, and just kept launching more and more rockets with the starlink satellites on board, regardless of pollution in near orbit, or later on how offensive the militarization of space is becoming.

“One wrinkle for Starlink and similar satellite technologies: When many people in one area use them, internet speeds tend to significantly slow.”

“All internet services experience those constraints, but internet experts say they’re more acute with Starlink, particularly for uses like sending images or video calls for which you send data out to the internet.”

Washington Post ibid.

“Ookla reports, based on user-initiated speed tests, were cited by the Federal Communications Commission last month when it rejected Starlink’s application to receive $885.51 million in broadband funding that had been tentatively awarded during then-Chairman Ajit Pai’s tenure. The FCC said it doubts whether Starlink can provide the grant’s required speeds of 100Mbps downloads and 20Mbps uploads.”

“”We observe that Ookla data reported as of July 31, 2022 indicate that Starlink’s speeds have been declining from the last quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022, including upload speeds that are falling well below 20Mbps,” the FCC said at the time. Ookla, a private company, operates a widely used speed testing service and boasts that its data is often used by government and regulatory bodies.”

Article continues

“Starlink has more than 3,000 satellites in orbit so far. The Internet provider has FCC permission to deploy nearly 12,000 satellites, including those already being operated, and is seeking authorization to launch tens of thousands eventually.”

From link: internet speeds start to significantly slow.  see above in Washington Post

See arstechnica here:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/ookla-starlinks-median-us-download-speed-fell-nearly-30mbps-in-q2-2022/

Which one has to wonder, what is the real purpose of this exercise?  Who benefits from using starlink?

“Wireline broadband is still the best. Overall, fixed broadband services in the US posted median download speeds of 150.1Mbps, uploads of 21.5Mbps, and 14 ms latency, the Q2 Ookla report said.”

“From the beginning, it was clear that Starlink is most appropriate for people who don’t have a solid cable or fiber connection in their homes. The recent data doesn’t change that overall conclusion, but Starlink users who are getting slower-than-expected speeds have good reason to be frustrated.”

Ibid, arstechnica

So clearly not the average person using starlink, at least not in a city, It costs 7 times more than cable internet, and it functions poorly compared to wire internet.

From here we go to Reuters, an article written yesterday about Elon Musk and the war in Ukraine, which his starlink internet service is providing access to for military purposes.  

“KYIV – During a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory from Russia in late September 2022, Elon Musk gave an order that disrupted the counteroffensive and dented Kyiv’s trust in Starlink, the satellite internet service the billionaire provided early in the war to help Ukraine’s military maintain battlefield connectivity.”

“According to three people familiar with the command, Musk told a senior engineer at the California offices of SpaceX, the Musk venture that controls Starlink, to cut coverage in areas including Kherson, a strategic region north of the Black Sea that Ukraine was trying to reclaim.”

““We have to do this,” Michael Nicolls, the Starlink engineer, told colleagues upon receiving the order, one of these people said. Staffers complied, the three people told Reuters, deactivating at least a hundred Starlink terminals, their hexagon-shaped cells going dark on an internal map of the company’s coverage. The move also affected other areas seized by Russia, including some of Donetsk province further east.”

“Upon Musk’s order, Ukrainian troops suddenly faced a communications blackout, according to a Ukrainian military official, an advisor to the armed forces, and two others who experienced Starlink failure near the front lines. Soldiers panicked, drones surveilling Russian forces went dark, and long-range artillery units, reliant on Starlink to aim their fire, struggled to hit targets.”

“As a result, the Ukrainian military official and the military advisor said, troops failed to surround a Russian position in the town of Beryslav, east of Kherson, the administrative center of the region of the same name. “The encirclement stalled entirely,” said the military official in an interview. “It failed.””

Reuters 7 25 2025

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/musk-ordered-shutdown-starlink-satellite-service-ukraine-retook-territory-russia-2025-07-25/

This is an example of  how connected Musk is to Ukraine, and its war with its now capitalist neighbor, Russia.  As soon as starlink stopped functioning, everything started to fail.

article continues

“Whatever the reason for Musk’s decision, the shutoff over Kherson and other regions surprised some involved with the Ukraine war – from troops on the ground to U.S. military and foreign policy officials, who after Russia’s full-scale invasion that February had worked to secure Starlink service for Ukrainian forces. Panicked calls by Ukrainian officials during the outage to seek information from Pentagon counterparts, five people familiar with the incident said, were met with few explanations for what could have caused it. “

“As of April 2025, according to Ukrainian government social media posts, Kyiv has received more than 50,000 Starlink terminals. Easily transported and deployed, the pizza-box-sized devices communicate with thousands of SpaceX satellites now circling the globe. An initial batch of terminals was provided to Ukraine by SpaceX itself. Further terminals have arrived from donors including Poland, the United States and Germany.”

“SpaceX is the first company to establish an extensive network of communication satellites in low-Earth orbit, a region of space that is closer to the planet than areas where such satellites historically reside. The proximity of satellites that now make up the company’s constellation allows Starlink to offer space-based wireless connectivity that is faster than any previously available. “

“With more than 7,900 satellites now in orbit, SpaceX has become the world’s largest satellite operator. Its devices, which relay signals among each other to create a network that communicates with the ground, account for about two-thirds of all active satellites in space, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian. “

“Compared to the geostationary satellites historically used for communications, the sheer number of SpaceX satellites helps make Starlink less vulnerable to jamming and attacks. Its far reach makes it valuable in remote and hostile terrain – from battlefields to airspace to high seas. In Ukraine, it has facilitated activities including communications, intelligence and drone piloting. “

Reuters ibid.

“Even before the conflict began, documents reviewed by Reuters show, SpaceX had already been in discussions with the U.S. government about providing Starlink in Ukraine. Rollout began after Russian troops crossed the border on February 24, 2022.”

“Two days later, Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister in Ukraine, requested Musk’s help. “We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations,” he wrote on Twitter.”

“Musk responded in 10 hours. “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine,” he tweeted. “More terminals en route.””

“Poland was also instrumental in the early days of the war, shipping thousands of terminals to Ukraine shortly after the invasion. Warsaw this year said it has purchased about 25,000 Starlink terminals for the effort – roughly half the total now in Ukraine – and that it is paying the subscription costs to keep them connected. So far, it has spent about $89 million on Starlink for Ukraine.”

“The equipment has made a critical difference for Ukraine.”

“Day-to-day bureaucracy has also benefited. Early in the conflict, Ukraine stored state data in the cloud and relied on Starlink to access it, helping keep some government operations running. “We wouldn’t be anywhere without Starlink,” said Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain until 2023. “The whole state was preserved.””

“On the battlefield, Ukraine quickly deployed Starlink to enable front-line troops to communicate with commanders. The service also allowed drone operators to transmit surveillance video streams and locate and attack Russian targets. Reuters couldn’t establish just when such attacks may have become a concern for Musk or SpaceX.”

“That month (September 2022), in a statement to the United Nations, Russia noted the use of “elements of civilian, including commercial, infrastructure in outer space for military purposes.” It warned that “quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation.””

“It isn’t clear whether Russia has tried to attack any Starlink facilities. Musk has said, however, that Moscow has repeatedly sought to block its connectivity. “SpaceX is spending significant resources combating Russian jamming efforts,” Musk wrote on X last year. “This is a tough problem.””

“Ukrainian drone specialists and Prystaiko, the former ambassador to Britain, said some attack devices, including maritime and bomber drones, now have Starlink antennas fitted to them. The antennas, in the case of sea drones, help operators guide the devices and view video feeds to classify targets, said Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at Royal United Services Institute, a London-based defense think tank.”

“Musk himself has boasted of Starlink’s importance to Kyiv. “My Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army,” he wrote on X in March. “Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.”” 

Reuters ibid.

So here we see what starlink was really designed for; internet service communications in war zones where many users, civilians, etc. along side military users would overload the system. It may hardly provide for civilian internet service, but it seems to work when NATO and their proxies are attacking a de populationed region. Clearly this militarization of outer space is exactly what Musk knew he was doing, when he launched all those satellites into near earth orbit.

There is still no way to return satellites to earth; they just break apart and make near earth orbit space stations vulnerable to space garbage, which damage for example fuel cells for returning to Earth.  It also precludes any carbon based life being able to get near the planet without shielding of some sort.  Fortunately we have been lucky enough not to have been visited by anything recently, up to this point this sounds like science fiction.

Musk’s system is  being used to guide drones and missiles into Russia, some of which are targeting Moscow.  It has allowed capitalists there to attempt to join NATO,  to leave behind the past attempt to rectify the contradiction between wage labour and bourgeois.  Ukraine preferred the material results of capitalism more than the quality of labor emancipated from production for surplus value.  In exchange for weapons, luxury items, and modest gains in wages, capitalism returned full force to Ukraine. 

Part of this was due to the failure of eastern communism to make the shift to ecological socialism. 

Nuclear energy remains an export from capitalist Russia.  The reactors built by GE and Hitachi in Japan, at Fukushima. melted down too.  Japan has had to release hundreds of millions of liters of tritium polluted water into the ocean.  Neighboring countries refuse to buy Japanese fish, or serve it in restaurants.  

In Ukraine the largest nuclear reactors in Europe,  the Zaporizhyzhia generation facilities, were never shut down, even after Chernobyl melted down.   They are now in a war zone, shut down,  for how long it is unknown.  Clearly the return to capitalism by Ukraine did not have ecological goals.

Musk’s starlink service is the main weapon in the war in Ukraine.  It is for communications and targeting of drones and missiles, designed to conquer Russia.  What Musk told us about starlink being practical as a service for areas with little internet service seems to only work if you keep your connection a secret to your neighbors.  The minute people start to use the starlink in numbers, it fails.  But in Ukraine, in a depopulated area where the army uses starlink, it works fine. It is just that it is not really for civilian usage, like it was promised by Musk when he began launching massive amounts of satellites into orbit.

The satellites are essentially military satellites,  it should be of no surprise Trump started a military wing called the “Space Force” when he was in office. Although he may not be getting along so well with Elon now, the fact remains he contributed about 275 million dollars to Trump’s campaign to get reelected. Space Force is really militarising space, and passing off starlink as a civilian organization.

Without Musk, no war in Ukraine. Unless you want to pay top dollar for crappy internet service somewhere in America without cable or telephone lines, starlink is not for you.  But give it to capitalists in a war zone, it is essential.  Musk even said before the war broke out he would deploy starlink for the military in Ukraine.  Well there it is, in full glory bombing Moscow from Ukraine.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

revised 9 18 2025