After a year vacant, Donald Trump has filled his science advisory council with top capitalists – deepening the direct integration of monopolies and the state.
Details. Trump has announced (www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/03/president-trum…) the first members of his administration’s President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which advises the White House on technological policy, innovation, and the integration of science into state strategy.
► The council is formally tasked (aimagazine.com/news/tech-leaders-join-trump-ai-adv…) with shaping policy on AI, defence technology, industrial development, and scientific research, giving it a direct role in aligning technological development with state priorities and long-term geopolitical strategy.
► The composition of the council reflects a clear class character, as 12 of its 13 new members are major capitalists and top corporate executives, including (www.politico.com/news/2026/03/25/ellison-zuckerber…) figures such as Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell and Jensen Huang, who lead major technology firms – Meta, Dell and Nvidia, respectively.
Context. Throughout 2025, tech executives were increasingly integrated (us.politsturm.com/tech-executives-commissioned-int…) into state structures, including involvement in military planning and formal roles within defence institutions. At the same time, the US government has sought massive investment (us.politsturm.com/us-military-requests-massive-wal…) from financial capital into military infrastructure.
► This aligns with earlier anti-science actions (us.politsturm.com/trump-administration-attacks-on-…) by the Trump administration, including the public condemnation of established medicines, funding cuts, dismissals of scientists, suppression of research, and direct political interference in federal scientific institutions.
► As Karl Marx explained (www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch13.h…) in Capital vol 1, “it is not because he is a leader of industry that a man is a capitalist; on the contrary, he is a leader of industry because he is a capitalist. The leadership of industry is an attribute of capital, just as in feudal times the functions of general and judge were attributes of landed property.”
Trump administration to request $200 billion in additional military funding for Iran conflict, ensuring maximum profits for monopolies while considering healthcare cuts.
The Pentagon fired the US Army’s Chief of Staff, its most senior officer. This happened immediately after Trump declared "victory" in the conflict with Iran.
Details. Following the first month of the US–Iran conflict, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth removed (www.reuters.com/world/us/hegseth-has-asked-us-army…) the Army Chief of Staff, Randy George, and two other senior generals.
► On 2 April, Hegseth requested the retirement of Army Chief of Staff Randy George, a four-star general and the highest-ranking officer in the US Army, removing him effective immediately despite more than a year remaining in his term, with no (www.reuters.com/world/us/hegseth-has-asked-us-army…) official reason provided.
► General Christopher LaNeve has taken over as Army Chief of Staff. Unlike Randy George, who was confirmed under the Biden administration (executivegov.com/2023/04/gen-randy-george-nominate…, LaNeve is a Trump appointee, promoted to vice-chief of staff in February 2026. Hegseth described (www.bbc.com/news/articles/clye2e85dwjo#:~:text=He%…) him as “a generational leader” who would “help ensure the Army revives the warrior ethos, rebuilds for the modern battlefield, and deters our enemies around the world.”
Once again, the Soviet Union is implied as naturally aggressive by the EU foreign policy chief in an attempt to refocus international attention on Russia’s SMO.
Details. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas recently delivered a speech in Zürich, where she repeated (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2tua...) her claim that “Russia has attacked at least 19 countries. I'm not counting those in Africa. [...] Some as many as three or four times. And none of these countries have ever attacked Russia.”
► She went on to say that Russia has a “very clear negotiating tactic: [...] First, you demand something that has never been yours, [...] then you present ultimatums and use force. And then there will always be people in the West who offer you something you didn’t have before.”
Context. As we have previously (us.politsturm.com/eu-claims-the-soviet-union-was-n…) explained, this narrative deliberately conflates the USSR with modern capitalist Russia, presenting both as historically “aggressive” to erase their fundamentally different class character. In reality, the USSR, as the first workers’ state, adopted a defensive foreign policy shaped by repeated invasions, capitalist and fascist encirclement, and sustained counter-revolutionary intervention.
► The EU is reaffirming where its main imperialist interests lie and that it is unwilling to offer any major concessions in peace negotiations with Russia. As the US reconsiders (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79je4vldq5o) its NATO membership, a rapidly remilitarising (us.politsturm.com/eu-militarisation-accelerated-th…) Europe is attempting to consolidate its position and send a “hardline” message to the Kremlin.
Take, for example, the bourgeois states. Naive people might think that exceptionally good relations exist between them as states of the same type. But only naive people can think like that. In actual fact, far from neighborly relations exist between them. It has been proved as surely as two times two is four that the bourgeois states send to each other's rear [ask] spies, wreckers, diversionists, and sometimes also killers, who are given the task of penetrating into the institutions and enterprises of these states, of setting up their agencies and "in case of necessity," of disrupting their rear in order to weaken them and to undermine their might. So is the case at the present time. So also was the case in the past. – Joseph Stalin, Report to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RKP(b), March 3, 1937.
Under capitalism, labour bears a private and personal character. You have produced more - well, then, receive more, and live as best you can. Nobody knows you or wants to know you. You work for the capitalists, you enrich them? Well, what do you expect? That is why they hired you, so that you should enrich the exploiters. If you do not agree with that, join the ranks of the unemployed, and get along as best you can - "we shall find others who are more tractable." That is why people's labour is not valued very highly under capitalism. – Joseph Stalin, Speech at the First All-Union Conference of Stakhanovites, 17 November 1935.
In the old days, in the time of capitalism, the leaders of the economy, the diverse directors, administrators, heads, foremen and supervisors were considered guard dogs of the owners and capitalists. The people detested them and saw them as enemies, knowing that they directed the economy according to the interests of the owners, and to the profit of the capitalists. Conversely, in our Soviet regime, the directors of the economy have every reason to rejoice in the confidence and love of the people, because they direct the economy not for the profit of a handful of capitalists, but in the interests of the whole people. ... The leaders come and go, but the people remain. Only the people are immortal, everything else is ephemeral. That is why it is necessary to appreciate the full value of the confidence of the people. – Joseph Stalin. Address to the Reception of Directors and Stakhanovites of the Metal Industry and the Coal Mining Industry, 29 October 1937.
“The historical movement which changes the producers into wage-workers, appears, on the one hand, as their emancipation from serfdom and from the fetters of the guilds, and this side alone exists for our bourgeois historians. But, on the other hand, these new freedmen became sellers of themselves only after they had been robbed of all their own means of production, and of all the guarantees of existence afforded by the old feudal arrangements.” – Karl Marx, Capital Vol. 1
“Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a man is not haunted by the fear of being tomorrow deprived of work, of home and of bread. Only in such a society is real, and not paper, personal and every other liberty possible." – Joseph Stalin, Interview Between J. Stalin and Roy Howard
US sanctions relief for Belarus exposes an attempt by the US to pull Minsk – and indirectly Russia – away from China.
Details. The United States and Belarus reached a deal under which Belarus released (www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/03/belarus-wel…) 250 political prisoners in exchange (theins.ru/en/news/290473) for limited sanctions relief. The measures eased restrictions on major state-owned financial institutions, potash exports, and travel permits for selected officials.
► Talks began earlier in 2026. US officials presented (apnews.com/article/belarus-us-lukashenko-trump-san…) the deal as a limited step tied to prisoner releases, while Belarusian President Lukashenko framed the agreement as a victory for his policy, stating, “we have defended our sovereignty and national dignity, forcing the West to recognize our interests without compromising our independence.”
► The European Union disagreed. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas stated (euneighbourseast.eu/news/latest-news/eu-welcomes-r…) that “while the release of 250 individuals is a long-awaited humanitarian relief, it does not signal systemic change,” explaining that their “restrictive measures will remain in place until all political prisoners are freed and democratic rights are restored.”
Context. A smaller release of 123 prisoners in late 2025 had already signaled possible negotiations, but without major changes in sanctions policy.
► After mass protests in 2020 against the government, which were met with violent repression, Belarus was forced (www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/russia-tomo…) to rely on Russia for political and security support, limiting its previous ability to balance between blocs.
Politsturm International
After a year vacant, Donald Trump has filled his science advisory council with top capitalists – deepening the direct integration of monopolies and the state.
Details. Trump has announced (www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/03/president-trum…) the first members of his administration’s President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which advises the White House on technological policy, innovation, and the integration of science into state strategy.
► The council is formally tasked (aimagazine.com/news/tech-leaders-join-trump-ai-adv…) with shaping policy on AI, defence technology, industrial development, and scientific research, giving it a direct role in aligning technological development with state priorities and long-term geopolitical strategy.
► The composition of the council reflects a clear class character, as 12 of its 13 new members are major capitalists and top corporate executives, including (www.politico.com/news/2026/03/25/ellison-zuckerber…) figures such as Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell and Jensen Huang, who lead major technology firms – Meta, Dell and Nvidia, respectively.
Context. Throughout 2025, tech executives were increasingly integrated (us.politsturm.com/tech-executives-commissioned-int…) into state structures, including involvement in military planning and formal roles within defence institutions. At the same time, the US government has sought massive investment (us.politsturm.com/us-military-requests-massive-wal…) from financial capital into military infrastructure.
► This aligns with earlier anti-science actions (us.politsturm.com/trump-administration-attacks-on-…) by the Trump administration, including the public condemnation of established medicines, funding cuts, dismissals of scientists, suppression of research, and direct political interference in federal scientific institutions.
► As Karl Marx explained (www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch13.h…) in Capital vol 1, “it is not because he is a leader of industry that a man is a capitalist; on the contrary, he is a leader of industry because he is a capitalist. The leadership of industry is an attribute of capital, just as in feudal times the functions of general and judge were attributes of landed property.”
8 hours ago | [YT] | 66
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Politsturm International
Trump administration to request $200 billion in additional military funding for Iran conflict, ensuring maximum profits for monopolies while considering healthcare cuts.
Details. The Pentagon has shifted to a “wartime footing (www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/pentago… proposing a record-breaking $1.5 trillion (www.wypr.org/2026-04-03/trump-budget-seeks-1-5-tri…) military budget for 2027, alongside an immediate $200 billion (www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/world/middleeast/pentag…) request for the Iran offensive (on top of the annual military budget of roughly $1 trillion (www.politico.com/news/2025/04/07/hegseth-trump-1-t…, with Republicans considering (www.huffpost.com/entry/ludicrous-politics-republic…) healthcare cuts to fund this. By April 1, the offensive is estimated to have cost the US $16.2-23.4 billion (www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/epic-fury-a….
► The US military currently depends on small quantities of extremely (www.businessinsider.com/army-secretary-us-cant-mak…) expensive systems that can now be countered cheaply: The F-35 program cost around $2 trillion (www.gao.gov/blog/f-35-will-now-exceed-2-trillion-m…) to develop, yet Iran has reportedly shot down (www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/03/us-fighter-j…) or damaged (edition.cnn.com/2026/03/19/politics/f-35-damage-ir… US aircraft. $4 million (www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12297) Patriot interceptor missiles are being used to destroy drones costing as little as $20,000 (www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/business/iran-shahed-dr…. Iran has also destroyed (www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyd07m7e1xo) a US command aircraft – costing roughly $700 million (www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-middle-east-news…) to replace – using one such low-cost drone.
► These pressures are already forcing adjustments (us.politsturm.com/pentagon-demands-control-war-ai). Washington has ordered the military-industrial complex to quadruple (breakingdefense.com/2026/03/defense-companies-to-q…) production and build new (www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-says-lockheed-ma…) factories, warning that existing high-tech stockpiles are insufficient for a prolonged conflict.
Context. Iran’s cheap drones force the US to deploy costly countermeasures. In response, the US is attempting to replicate (www.foxnews.com/opinion/brett-velicovich-iran-buil…) such designs while introducing cheaper alternatives, such as the AGR-20 (aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/f15e-laser-guided-roc…) rocket, to replace far more expensive missile systems.
► These pressures were already driving a broader restructuring (us.politsturm.com/us-restructures-military) of the US military. Globally, reliance (us.politsturm.com/eu-rearmament-hits-400-billion-2…) on small numbers of highly specialised, expensive systems is giving way to mass production of cheaper, more flexible weapons, necessary for sustaining long-term conflict. This trend is already evident in the widespread use of low-cost drones (us.politsturm.com/ukraine-drone-attack-reveals-new…) in Russia’s “Special Military Operation.”
► Alongside this shift, the US federal government is deepening direct integration (us.politsturm.com/tech-executives-commissioned-int…) with defence monopolies (us.politsturm.com/lockheed-martin-himars-profit-fr…, streamlining production and ensuring continuous investment (us.politsturm.com/us-military-requests-massive-wal…) into the military-industrial complex, with firms such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, and Northrop Grumman securing maximum profits (us.politsturm.com/eu-leaders-statements-boost-defe…) from continued rapid militarisation and conflict.
► Military budgets have steadily risen under both the Trump and Biden administrations, reflecting a broader international (us.politsturm.com/eu-rearmament-hits-400-billion-2…) trend toward rearmament and preparation for large-scale imperialist conflict, financed at the expense (www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-unveils-federal-bud…) of social spending.
1 day ago | [YT] | 68
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Politsturm International
The Pentagon fired the US Army’s Chief of Staff, its most senior officer. This happened immediately after Trump declared "victory" in the conflict with Iran.
Details. Following the first month of the US–Iran conflict, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth removed (www.reuters.com/world/us/hegseth-has-asked-us-army…) the Army Chief of Staff, Randy George, and two other senior generals.
► On 2 April, Hegseth requested the retirement of Army Chief of Staff Randy George, a four-star general and the highest-ranking officer in the US Army, removing him effective immediately despite more than a year remaining in his term, with no (www.reuters.com/world/us/hegseth-has-asked-us-army…) official reason provided.
► General Christopher LaNeve has taken over as Army Chief of Staff. Unlike Randy George, who was confirmed under the Biden administration (executivegov.com/2023/04/gen-randy-george-nominate…, LaNeve is a Trump appointee, promoted to vice-chief of staff in February 2026. Hegseth described (www.bbc.com/news/articles/clye2e85dwjo#:~:text=He%…) him as “a generational leader” who would “help ensure the Army revives the warrior ethos, rebuilds for the modern battlefield, and deters our enemies around the world.”
Context. Over the first month of the conflict, Trump has declared (www.enmnews.com/2026/04/04/trump-says-iran-war-nea…) victory in some form at least 12 times.
► Just one day before the high-profile firing, Trump delivered a prime-time address declaring (apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transcript-address…, “our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive victories on the battlefield,” and (apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transcript-address…) that the US was “on track to complete all of America’s military objectives very shortly.” Despite these claims, he simultaneously extended (apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transcript-address…) the conflict’s one-month deadline by another two to three weeks.
► Recent polls show Donald Trump’s approval has dropped (www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-approval-hits-new-…) to 36 % amid the Iran conflict. A majority (www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-tru…) of Americans disapprove of the war, oppose large-scale ground troop deployment, and expect the conflict to be prolonged (www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/americans-believ…, while confidence (responsiblestatecraft.org/polls-trump-iran-war/#:~…) in the administration’s planning remains low.
For a deeper analysis of the US-Iran conflict, see the Marxist position on this subject: The Middle East: Architecture of War (us.politsturm.com/the-middle-east-architecture-of-….
2 days ago | [YT] | 95
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Politsturm International
Once again, the Soviet Union is implied as naturally aggressive by the EU foreign policy chief in an attempt to refocus international attention on Russia’s SMO.
Details. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas recently delivered a speech in Zürich, where she repeated (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2tua...) her claim that “Russia has attacked at least 19 countries. I'm not counting those in Africa. [...] Some as many as three or four times. And none of these countries have ever attacked Russia.”
► The first part of this quote was stated (us.politsturm.com/eu-claims-the-soviet-union-was-n…) almost verbatim during Trump’s attempt to negotiate a 20-point peace plan (www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/12/02/8010003/) last year, which included a number of concessions to Russia that went against the EU’s own imperialist interests.
► She went on to say that Russia has a “very clear negotiating tactic: [...] First, you demand something that has never been yours, [...] then you present ultimatums and use force. And then there will always be people in the West who offer you something you didn’t have before.”
Context. As we have previously (us.politsturm.com/eu-claims-the-soviet-union-was-n…) explained, this narrative deliberately conflates the USSR with modern capitalist Russia, presenting both as historically “aggressive” to erase their fundamentally different class character. In reality, the USSR, as the first workers’ state, adopted a defensive foreign policy shaped by repeated invasions, capitalist and fascist encirclement, and sustained counter-revolutionary intervention.
► International attention has shifted towards the US-Iran conflict (us.politsturm.com/the-middle-east-architecture-of-…. Both imperialist powers have clashed (www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/17/trump-us-pre…) over diverging interests, with the US retracting increasing levels of support from Ukraine and the EU resisting (us.politsturm.com/europe-increasing-its-participat…) giving full backing to the campaign against Iran.
► The EU is reaffirming where its main imperialist interests lie and that it is unwilling to offer any major concessions in peace negotiations with Russia. As the US reconsiders (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79je4vldq5o) its NATO membership, a rapidly remilitarising (us.politsturm.com/eu-militarisation-accelerated-th…) Europe is attempting to consolidate its position and send a “hardline” message to the Kremlin.
2 days ago | [YT] | 114
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Politsturm International
Take, for example, the bourgeois states. Naive people might think that exceptionally good relations exist between them as states of the same type. But only naive people can think like that. In actual fact, far from neighborly relations exist between them. It has been proved as surely as two times two is four that the bourgeois states send to each other's rear [ask] spies, wreckers, diversionists, and sometimes also killers, who are given the task of penetrating into the institutions and enterprises of these states, of setting up their agencies and "in case of necessity," of disrupting their rear in order to weaken them and to undermine their might. So is the case at the present time. So also was the case in the past. – Joseph Stalin, Report to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RKP(b), March 3, 1937.
3 days ago | [YT] | 173
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Politsturm International
Under capitalism, labour bears a private and personal character. You have produced more - well, then, receive more, and live as best you can. Nobody knows you or wants to know you. You work for the capitalists, you enrich them? Well, what do you expect? That is why they hired you, so that you should enrich the exploiters. If you do not agree with that, join the ranks of the unemployed, and get along as best you can - "we shall find others who are more tractable." That is why people's labour is not valued very highly under capitalism. – Joseph Stalin, Speech at the First All-Union Conference of Stakhanovites, 17 November 1935.
4 days ago | [YT] | 210
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Politsturm International
In the old days, in the time of capitalism, the leaders of the economy, the diverse directors, administrators, heads, foremen and supervisors were considered guard dogs of the owners and capitalists. The people detested them and saw them as enemies, knowing that they directed the economy according to the interests of the owners, and to the profit of the capitalists. Conversely, in our Soviet regime, the directors of the economy have every reason to rejoice in the confidence and love of the people, because they direct the economy not for the profit of a handful of capitalists, but in the interests of the whole people. ... The leaders come and go, but the people remain. Only the people are immortal, everything else is ephemeral. That is why it is necessary to appreciate the full value of the confidence of the people. – Joseph Stalin. Address to the Reception of Directors and Stakhanovites of the Metal Industry and the Coal Mining Industry, 29 October 1937.
5 days ago | [YT] | 193
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Politsturm International
“The historical movement which changes the producers into wage-workers, appears, on the one hand, as their emancipation from serfdom and from the fetters of the guilds, and this side alone exists for our bourgeois historians. But, on the other hand, these new freedmen became sellers of themselves only after they had been robbed of all their own means of production, and of all the guarantees of existence afforded by the old feudal arrangements.” – Karl Marx, Capital Vol. 1
6 days ago | [YT] | 194
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Politsturm International
“Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a man is not haunted by the fear of being tomorrow deprived of work, of home and of bread. Only in such a society is real, and not paper, personal and every other liberty possible." – Joseph Stalin, Interview Between J. Stalin and Roy Howard
1 week ago | [YT] | 254
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Politsturm International
US sanctions relief for Belarus exposes an attempt by the US to pull Minsk – and indirectly Russia – away from China.
Details. The United States and Belarus reached a deal under which Belarus released (www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/03/belarus-wel…) 250 political prisoners in exchange (theins.ru/en/news/290473) for limited sanctions relief. The measures eased restrictions on major state-owned financial institutions, potash exports, and travel permits for selected officials.
► Talks began earlier in 2026. US officials presented (apnews.com/article/belarus-us-lukashenko-trump-san…) the deal as a limited step tied to prisoner releases, while Belarusian President Lukashenko framed the agreement as a victory for his policy, stating, “we have defended our sovereignty and national dignity, forcing the West to recognize our interests without compromising our independence.”
► The European Union disagreed. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas stated (euneighbourseast.eu/news/latest-news/eu-welcomes-r…) that “while the release of 250 individuals is a long-awaited humanitarian relief, it does not signal systemic change,” explaining that their “restrictive measures will remain in place until all political prisoners are freed and democratic rights are restored.”
Context. A smaller release of 123 prisoners in late 2025 had already signaled possible negotiations, but without major changes in sanctions policy.
► After mass protests in 2020 against the government, which were met with violent repression, Belarus was forced (www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/russia-tomo…) to rely on Russia for political and security support, limiting its previous ability to balance between blocs.
► This deal gives Minsk some room to maneuver between blocs again. At the same time, Belarus remains tied to the China–Russia camp, relying (chinaobservers.eu/china-as-belaruss-strategic-hedg…) on China, Russia (isans.org/energy-sector/belarus-stops-work-on-ener…, and particularly Iran (www.iranintl.com/en/202512103248) for trade, energy, and investment.
► This deal reflects the broader US–China (us.politsturm.com/china-usa-will-there-be-war) inter-imperialist rivalry, serving as a test (kyivindependent.com/russia-uneasy-as-trumps-envoy-…) case for easing sanctions on Russia after Donald Trump’s failed (us.politsturm.com/trump-sets-50-day-ultimatum-for-…) attempts (us.politsturm.com/russia-us-open-to-cooperation) to reset relations with Vladimir Putin. By weakening Russia’s alignment with China, the US aims to reduce the number of fronts it must confront.
1 week ago | [YT] | 106
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