The speed with which large swathes of Iraqi territory have fallen to a relatively small force of armed militias begs the question as to how this was possible. The Iraqi armed forces were numerically much superior to the groups who took over towns such as Mosul in the north. The army actually melted away. This cannot be explained simply by referring to armed Islamic groups. Something deeper is going on.

Ever since the reactionary and bloody partition of the South Asian subcontinent in 1947, the drums of blame immediately start beating when any major incident that divides the South Asian subcontinent occurs, with fingers pointing across the other side of the border. Lal Khan examines the historical roots of the divisions between Pakistan and India, and looks at the political tensions between these countries today.

Earlier this month, the Solidarity with the Antifascist Resistance in Ukraine (SARU) campaign was launched. This Sunday (22nd June), Jorge Martin from the SARU campaign will be speaking about the struggle against fascism in the Ukraine, as part of the International Marxist School 2014. We publish here a brief overview of the past few months’ events in Ukraine by Tomasz Pierscionek.