2021-01-07: News Headlines

_____ (2021-01-07). A New Book Analyzes The Impact Of COVID-19 On The US And China. popularresistance.org The COVID-19 pandemic has placed China and the United States on the opposite ends of human progress. In the U.S., massive casualties of the pandemic have been coupled with the worst capitalist crash since the Great Depression. The story is much different in China. China began re-opening its economy as early as April of 2020. Deaths due to COVID-19 are virtually non-existent, and economists now predict that China's economy will surpass the U.S. economy in GDP terms two years ahead of schedule. Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China and the U.S. is an anthology comprised of more than fifty cont…

Eds. (2021-01-07). Capitalism and catastrophe. mronline.org The 2020 crisis we've endured isn't an aberration of the system but, as Alex Callinicos argues, an aspect of its permanent crisis.

Eds. (2021-01-07). "Too late to be pessimist! Ecosocialism or collapse" mronline.org From the analysis of the struggle between the great powers for a lesser dependence on fossil fuels (which can shape their rivalries or push towards convergence between them), to the reminder of the need for every subject of oppression to develop its own ecological reflection. Daniel Tanuro gives us illuminating and pedagogical tools to confront …

Workers World Party (2021-01-07). Long live the DPRK! Long live socialism! workers.org Workers World Party sent the following message to the Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, taking place this month. Monument to the Workers' Party of Korea, Pyongyang January 1, 2021 Comrade Kim Jong Un Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of . . . |

Khaled Iskef (2021-01-07). "The Syrian File" and The "Biased" Policies of the Organization for the Chemical Prohibition Organization. globalresearch.ca Russia has commented on the work policies of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons regarding the Syrian file and the pressures that the organization is subjected to by some countries, criticizing the technical secretariat policies in them, saying …

Desmond Tutu (2021-01-07). Joe Biden Should End the US Pretence over Israel's 'Secret' Nuclear Weapons. globalresearch.ca Every recent US administration has performed a perverse ritual as it has come into office. All have agreed to undermine US law by signing

Binoy Kampmark (2021-01-06). Environmental Capitalism and Climate Change Wars: Australia in 2000. counterpunch.org The Australian was convinced. "Australia could have avoided two decades of climate change wars had the Howard government pushed ahead with its majority view of an emissions trading scheme (ETS), newly released documents reveal." Historian Chris Wallace is not as unequivocal in this assertion, but nonetheless observes in The Conversation that "a working consensus among

teleSUR (2021-01-06). Ecuador: Court Lifts Ex-President Bucaram's House Arrest. telesurenglish.net Guayas' Court on Tuesday lifted the house arrest imposed on ex-President Abdala Bucaram (1996-1997) who is accused of patrimonial object trafficking, illegal possession of weapons, among other criminal charges. | RELATED: | A habeas corpus petition was filed by Bucaram who was subject to an investigation in August 2020 due to his alleged involvement in the irregular sale of medical supplies and illegal possession of pat…

Eds. (2021-01-05). The environment movement we have, and the one we need. mronline.org The ecological crisis—the disasters of earth, water, air and fire that are afflicting the global environment and the human society that depends on it—is a crisis of capitalism's making. Karl Marx famously described capital as coming into the world "dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt".

_____ (2021-01-05). Polarization, Then A Crash: Michael Hudson On The Rentier Economy. popularresistance.org I'm delighted to have Michael Hudson join us today. He'll be discussing how under a neoliberal shift from industrial to finance capitalism, today's most pressing economic conflict is not simply between labor and employers. It's a conflict in which rentier interests have the upper hand over labor, industry and government together. This is the political economy in which the COVID-19 economic shock is playing out with dire consequences. Michael Hudson is a research professor of economics at the University of Missouri – Kansas City and a research associate at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. Michael Huds…

Rick Sterling (2021-01-05). Who to believe about Venezuela's election? Firsthand observation or PBS Newshour? dissidentvoice.org In early December I travelled to Venezuela to be an election observer at their national assembly election. I was part of a group of eight persons from Canada and US organized by CodePink. There were about two hundred international observers in total, including the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts. I have previously been an official …

Rick Sterling (2021-01-05). Who to Believe about Venezuela's Election? US Meddling. globalresearch.ca In early December I travelled to Venezuela to be an election observer at their national assembly election. I was part of a group of eight persons from Canada and US organized by CodePink. There were about two hundred international observers …

news.un (2021-01-05). Syria: 'Identified gaps, inconsistencies' raise questions over elimination of chemical weapons. news.un.org "Identified gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies" that remain unresolved, have brought into question the true extent of the elimination of chemical weapons during Syria's bloody conflict, the UN disarmament chief told the Security Council in her briefing on Tuesday.