2020-09-21: News Headlines

Morning Star (2020-09-21). Maduro claims CIA spy arrested with explosives near oil refinery. peoplesworld.org Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday that authorities had detained a former United States Marine and CIA operative after he was caught spying on two oil refineries. Speaking on national television, the Bolivarian leader said: "He was captured with heavy weapons, specialty weapons. He was captured with a great amount of cash in dollars …

Ralph Nader (2020-09-21). Why Do Americans Give Away So Much Control to Corporations? counterpunch.org We own our personal information. Yet, we give it totally free to the likes of Facebook, Google, Instagram, and YouTube, etc. so they can make trillions of dollars selling data on what we buy, what we like, what we think, and what we're addicted to in the marketplace. The advertisers then pester us 24/7 and even betray our trust. Imagine Alexa eavesdropping in our homes and businesses. High-tech companies should not be privy to our personal information.

Thomas Newdick (2020-09-21). Did the US Draw up a Plan to Drop 80 Nuclear Weapons on North Korea? globalresearch.ca Current nuclear war plans are among any nuclear-armed military's most closely guarded secrets. Details of one such attack plan recently became available, however, revealing that the United States envisaged using 80 nuclear weapons in case of war with North Korea. …

Andrew Freeman (2020-09-20). Putting profit first killed Boeing MAX 737 passengers, says Congressional report. liberationnews.org Boeing management consistently placed the company's profitability and stock price ahead of all other concerns, including passenger safety.

RT (2020-09-20). US envoy says Russia must agree to arms control deal with no NATO scaleback, or else it's 'happy to modernize nukes without START'. rt.com The US has made Russia an offer it hopes she won't refuse: accept a new arms control deal including no limits on NATO weapons in Europe, or deal with a modernized American nuclear arsenal on its doorstep. | Following the US' unilateral withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty last year, the 2011 New START treaty remains the only arms control deal in force between Moscow and Washington. However, it's due to expire in February, and negotiations to replace it remain deadlocked. | Now the US says it wants to extend New START by less than five years, and only by a memorandum of intent, rat…

teleSUR (2020-09-20). Secret Files Show How Criminals Use Big-Name Banks to Move Money. telesurenglish.net A global investigation Sunday revealed for the first time secret documents that show how the giants of Western big-name Banks move trillions of dollars in suspicious transactions as they expose the ineffective anti-money laundering efforts led by the U.S. | RELATED: | The Secret U.S. government files prove how Banks are enriching themselves and their shareholders as they facilitate the work of terrorists, kleptocrat…

_____ (2020-09-20). Sinophobia Inc: Understanding The Anti-China Industrial Complex. popularresistance.org The United States' alliance is barreling towards conflict with China. In recent months, the U.S. government has taken unprecedented steps to upend normal relations with China: sanctioning Communist Party of China officials, banning Chinese tech companies like TikTok and Huawei, interrogating and surveilling Chinese students and scientists, and even forcing the Houston Chinese consulate to close. | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls it an end to "blind engagement" with a Chinese state he labels an existential threat to the "free world."

sputniknews (2020-09-20). Iran Could Have Nuclear Weapons by End of Year Through Cooperation With North Korea, Reports Claim. sputniknews.com On Saturday, the US Department of State announced it was bringing back all previously scrapped UN sanctions against Tehran, including the arms embargo and restrictions concerning the nuclear energy sector.

_____ (2020-09-19). Venezuela Foils CIA Terror Plot; Pompeo On Regime Change Tour. popularresistance.org Venezuela's government has announced it has foiled a potential terror attack, arresting a former CIA operative while he was on a stakeout near the country's largest oil refining facility. | Matthew John Heath was arrested with three other Venezuelans outside the Amuay and Cardon refineries in Falcon state in the west of the country, reportedly carrying a submachine gun, a grenade launcher, four blocks of C4 explosives, a satellite phone, and stacks of U.S. dollars. He has been charged with terrorism and weapons trafficking.

sputniknews (2020-09-19). Qantas 'Flight to Nowhere' Tickets Sell Out Within 10 Minutes – Reports. sputniknews.com The company has promised passengers that they will enjoy special onboard entertainment and that a surprise celebrity host will be flying with them on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight.

Staff (2020-09-19). 2020 Election Could Decide Whether US Pursues Nuclear Escalation or Arms Control. truthout.org In these final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign, U.S. voters' attention is being consumed by a maelstrom of crises — a merciless pandemic, a battered economy, a society ruptured by racist police violence and deadly structural inequalities, climate chaos and a fragile democracy. | Who has time to worry about nuclear war? | But just as warnings of a climate crisis and pandemics have been borne out, experts have long sounded the alarm about nuclear weapons, whether their use is…

John Laforge (2020-09-18). Germany: US Nuclear Weapons Shamed in Nationwide Debate. counterpunch.org We need a broad public debate … about the sense and nonsense of nuclear deterrence. —Rolf Mutzenich, German Social Democratic Party Leader Public criticism of the US nuclear weapons deployed in Germany bloomed into a vigorous nationwide debate this past spring and summer focused on the controversial scheme known diplomatically as "nuclear sharing" or "nuclear

WSWS (2020-09-18). Military research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. wsws.org As Germany again takes up aggressive great power politics, German universities are once more serving the needs of war and dictatorship, just as they did before the First and Second World Wars. A major centre of German weapons research is the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

_____ (2020-09-18). U.S. Weighs Into Mediterranean Tensions With Weapons and Hypocrisy. strategic-culture.org Twice in the past week, the United States has clumsily weighed into mounting tensions in the East Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey. | First, Washington

Mehr News Agency (2020-09-18). Israel regime's nuclear weapons threat to world's security. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Sep. 18 (MNA) — Iran's Ambassador to the Vienna-based international organizations Kazem Gharibabadi said that the Zionist regime's acquisition of nuclear weapons is a serious threat to the security and stability of the region and the world.

sputniknews (2020-09-18). US Congress Prepares to Approve Second-Largest Taiwan Arms Sale Valued at $7 Billion. sputniknews.com US lawmakers are expected to soon approve a massive, new weapons sale to Taiwan. The deal would provide the autonomous island not just with defensive weapons, but also with offensive capabilities in the form of long-range strike missiles and combat drones.

Staff (2020-09-17). A Crisis Made in America: Yemen on Brink of Famine After U.S. Cuts Aid While Fueling War. democracynow.org The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is deepening amid the pandemic and cuts to international aid from the United States and its allies, leaving millions of Yemenis facing famine after years of a brutal U.S.-backed, Saudi-led bombing campaign that has devastated the country. CNN's senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir says what is happening in Yemen is not a natural disaster but a "man-made catastrophe" directly tied to U.S. policies. Elbagir says, "Not only is the U.S. profiting from the war by selling weapons to the UAE and Saudi Arabia," but it is also ignoring the impact on civilians. We also feature he…

Medea Benjamin (2020-09-17). Gorgon Stare: A "persistent eye in the sky" may be coming to a City near you. mronline.org The military and the drone manufacturers, principally General Atomics, are arguing that the technology has advanced far enough that flying 79-ft. wingspan, six-ton drones over populated areas and alongside commercial air traffic is safe.

Miko Peled (2020-09-17). Why Arab Leaders Are Suddenly Groveling at the Chance to Normalize Ties with Israel. mintpressnews.com Arab leaders understand that relations with Israel provide access to US Empire and all that comes with it, including much desired US-made weapons and other perks such as security and economic cooperation.

_____ (2020-09-17). Occupation Of UK Factory Involved In Israeli Drone Manufacture. popularresistance.org Direct action protests against Israel's largest weapons company have escalated in the UK, with an occupation of a factory building engines for drones used by Israel's army entering its third day on Wednesday. | Protests were also held outside Elbit System UK's London headquarters and at its landlord's main offices, as new solidarity group Palestine Action escalated its campaign to shut down the company's operation in the UK. | Elbit Systems UK is part of the high-tech weapons group that supplies more than 80 percent of the Israeli army's military drones, including the Hermes 900 and Hermes 450…