This week, the global business elites are congregating in Davos, a Swiss ski resort, to discuss the state of the global economy at the annual World Economic Forum. Coinciding with this gathering of the Establishment, Oxfam have released their latest figures on the eye-watering inequality on a world scale.

The recapture of Aleppo by loyalist forces in December, represents a decisive milestone in the Syrian civil war, as well as for the crisis in the whole region. But, as Hamid Alizadeh discusses, it also has wide ranging consequences for world relations in the coming period.

Twenty-five years ago after the fall of the Soviet Union the defenders of capitalism were euphoric. They spoke of the death of socialism and even the end of history. But, as Alan Woods explains, today not one stone upon another is left of those confident predictions. History has returned with a vengeance.