Notes on the life of my brother: Andrew Robb, 1955-2022
When we were very young, my mother was in the habit of dressing my brother and me in identical clothes, which often led people to ask us if we were […]
Author Archives: James Robb
How not to conduct a scientific debate: Royal Society, university split over matauranga Maori and science
A long-running and tetchy argument over science education in New Zealand has polarised academics at Auckland University and shattered one of the central institutions of science, the Royal Society. International […]
Two wars over Ukraine
Pacifists and liberals are fond of repeating the old adage that ‘the first casualty of war is the truth.’ In fact, the exact contrary is far closer to the truth: […]
How a decayed workers state transformed into monopoly capitalism in China
Capitalist economic and social relations had been slowly developing and strengthening within the Chinese workers’ state as far back as the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward fiasco, when the […]
Why the Australian-New Zealand military adventure in the Solomon Islands is bound to fail
The New Zealand government announced 1 December that over the coming weeks it will be deploying a force of about 65 ‘peace-keeping’ troops and police to the Solomon Islands, at […]
How, why and when capitalism was restored in China
Part 8 of China in the age of American decrepitude The overthrow of capitalism in China in the early 1950s took place under very unfavourable circumstances. From nearby Korea, US […]
The long and torturous road to the Third Chinese Revolution
Part 7 of China in the age of American decrepitude When the sudden decline of US industry in the 1980s and 1990s opened the possibility, for the first time in […]
How the old imperialist powers still siphon off the wealth of the world
Part 6 of China in the age of American decrepitude For most of the twentieth century, the United States was the dominant world imperialist power. Its power was based on […]
The falling rate of profit and the decline of US industry
Part 5 of China in the age of American decrepitude Towards the end of the twentieth century United States capitalism was increasingly beset by a crisis of profitability. At the […]
The Empire’s new clothes: US capitalism in its twilight years
Part 4 of China in the age of American decrepitude I spent the year 2004 as a ‘supply teacher,’ filling gaps in the high schools of Nottingham, England. It was […]
A communist at large 