French government falls, Syrian Civil war reignites, Biden pardons corrupt son, and Korean President gambles on martial law

This week has been full of sharp and sudden turns. The Syrian civil war has suddenly reignited due to the shock advance of a Turkey-backed rebel group. The French president was forced to resign after trying to force through an austerity budget. Joe Biden has used his last few weeks in power to pardon his corrupt son. And, to top things off, the president of South Korea declared martial law, only to be quickly defeated by opposition from the whole of parliament and mass mobilisations.  Everywhere we see increasing instability, war and political turmoil. All of these are symptoms of the profound economic and social crisis, a product of the complete impasse of the capitalist system. Such developments can be incredibly disorienting. So in order to break them down, link them together, and draw out the general processes driving them forwards, Hamid and Jorge from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sat down for another episode of Against the Stream. If you’re hungry for more communist analysis of an increasingly unstable world situation, tune in to Against the Stream every week on Thursday at 3pm GMT.