Daily Archives: April 23, 2021

2021-04-23: News Headlines

Brenda Norrell (2021-04-23). 'Financing Border Wars' Corporations violating human rights on Arizona border. indybay.org The new report, "Financing Border Wars," details the push for border walls, drones and biometrics — including iris scans and finger prints — which violate the international human rights of migrants and refugees. The abuse includes tracking surveillance on phones and social media.

Rob Urie (2021-04-23). Capitalism as a Suicide Cult. counterpunch.org From the launch of the U.S. war against Iraq to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic there were over four million 'excess deaths' in the U.S., deaths over and above the rates experienced in other rich nations. Given the class distribution of longevity— the rich live a full decade longer than the poor on average, these excess deaths were overwhelmingly concentrated amongst those cast aside by neoliberal economic policies.

Murray Smith, Jonah Butovsky, Josh Watterton (2021-04-23). Capitalist Morbidity and The Global Crisis. counterpunch.org Authors' note: The following is adapted from the first chapter of our Twilight Capitalism: Karl Marx and the Decay of the Profit System (Fernwood Publishing, 2021) The social upheaval of 2020-21 may well mark a major turning point in world history. The global Covid-19 public health emergency and the associated economic slump have produced hugely

Carlos Arellán (2021-04-23). Venezuela Advances in Clearing Landmines Laid by Colombian Narco-Terrorists in Apure. orinocotribune.com The demining operations of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) in Apure state have achieved the neutralization of at least 100 of the illegal explosives. | General Commander of the Army, General Domingo Hernández Lárez, confirmed that this challenge prompted the military to make special adaptations to its weapons and minesweeper systems to clear the territory of one of the deadly consequences of the internal Colombian conflict, that some are trying to export to Venezuela. | These explosive devices, illegal under international law, were planted by narco-terrorist gangs of Colombia in their attempt to instal…

Richard D. Wolff (2021-04-23). Increasing Desperation as the U.S. Capitalist System Declines. counterpunch.org Like all previous economic systems in recorded history, capitalism is on track to repeat the same three-step trip: birth, evolution, and death. The timing and other specifics of each system's trip differ. Births and evolutions are commonly experienced as positive, celebrated for their progress and promise. The declines and deaths, however, are often denied and

Anonymous669 (2021-04-23). Houthi Drones Targeted Aramco Facility, King Khalid Air Base In Saudi Arabia. southfront.org Illustrative image, source: the Houthis media wing | Early on April 23, the Houthis (as Ansar Allah is known) carried out a drone attack on targets in the southern Saudi provinces of Jizan and 'Asir. | The Yemeni group targeted a facility of Saudi oil giant Aramco in an unspecified part of Jizan with a Samad-3 suicide drone. At the same time, the group targeted King Khalid Air Base in 'Asir with two Qasef-2K drones. | Later in the morning, a third Qasef-2K drones was launched by the Houthis at a "military installation"

Anonymous007 (2021-04-23). DARPA'S Aerial Dragnet Hunts Drones With Drones. southfront.org Click to see full-size image | The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing the Aerial Dragnet. | It is a system that provides a wide-area surveillance capability that uses sensors mounted on drones to detect, classify and track small drones in dense urban environments. | DARPA's Aerial Dragnet program aims to achieve the technically difficult goal of detecting and tracking small UAS in urban terrain. The program seeks innovative technologies to provide persistent, wide-area survei…

A Guest Author (2021-04-23). Raúl Castro honored. workers.org The excerpts below are from the Cuban daily newspaper, Granma, April 17. "Let no one doubt that as long as I live, I will be ready, with a foot in the stirrup, to defend the homeland, the Revolution and socialism," stated Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the . . . |

Anonymous007 (2021-04-23). Bursting Pantsirs, Falling Bayraktars: Turkish-Russian Virtual War. southfront.org Click to see full-size image | On April 22nd, Turkish defense company Roketsan released a video hyping up its Akƒ±ncƒ± UAV. | The video shows the drone use a MAM-T smart bomb, which hits a Russian Pantsir-S1 in a desert setting and destroys it. | Apparently, this is a kind of response to a video report on Russian TV, in which Russian "Lancets" destroy Turkish drones. | On April 18th, The Turkish media drew attention to the fact that in a report on military developments aired on the stat…

WSWS (2021-04-23). Biden climate summit offers empty spectacle. wsws.org The two-day event that began Thursday underscored the reality that there is no solution to global warming and climate change within the framework of capitalism.

Ullrich Mies (2021-04-23). Saving the planet by disempowering the elites. indybay.org Humanity is at the final crossroads of becoming aware of the drama of the ecological and peace crisis in which it finds itself. The book "The Eco-Catastrophe" is a wake-up call to take note of the seriousness of the situation, to accept the Herculean tasks ahead, to understand the growth ideology of global capitalism and its structural lack of peace as a cancerous evil.

Arab News (2021-04-23). Government To Blame For Iran's Deepening Recession — OpEd. eurasiareview.com By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh* | When the Iranian authorities boast about Iran's "resistance economy," they are attempting to hide the fact that the government's economic problems have deepened to a dangerous level. | Iran's official reserves dropped to a record low of $4 billion last year, down from $122.5 billion just two years earlier. This has partially contributed to the devaluation of the currency. Iran's currency was trading at about 30,000 rials to the US dollar in 2018, compared to approximately 240,000 now. | In the last two years, many companies have gone bankrupt as the government continues to increase it…

Staff (2021-04-23). Two lose lives in Plane Crash in Russia's Irkutsk Region. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 23 (MNA) — Two people were killed when a light aircraft crashed in the Cheremkhovsky district of Irkutsk region.

Staff (2021-04-22). Decolonization or Extinction: Indigenous Red Deal Lays Out Plan to Save the Earth. democracynow.org On Earth Day, we speak with two of the more than two dozen Indigenous authors of a new book that looks at the history of resistance against colonialism and capitalism and lays out a vision for the future to address the climate crisis. "The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth" details the centuries of Indigenous resistance that created the movement at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access pipeline and what movements centering justice for Indigenous people must look like. The book offers a "people's program to prevent extinction," says Melanie Yazzie, assistant professor of Native American studies and A…

The Socialist Program (2021-04-22). Capitalism in Crisis: Addiction as a Business Model — Capitalism Kills! liberationnews.org Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss how the tobacco industry built an extremely profitable business model based on addiction, and what they're doing to try to keep it going.

The Tricontinental (2021-04-22). Risen from the Ruins: The Economic History of Socialism in the German Democratic Republic. mronline.org The German Democratic Republic (DDR) was a socialist state founded in 1949 as a democratic, antifascist reaction to the Second World War. It redistributed land, socialised the means of production, and collectivised the agricultural system. | April 21, 2021 | Commentary…

Domenica Ghanem (2021-04-22). Jeopardy category is: Reparations for victims of U.S. capitalism. peoplesworld.org A House bill to study reparations for slavery, H.R. 40, resurfaced in committee this April and is dusting up old debates about how much is owed, to whom, and who should pay. The issue can be divisive. But as a supporter of reparations, a recent Jeopardy clue (of all things) left me feeling strangely optimistic. A few …

Anonymous007 (2021-04-22). New F-35 Program Contract Excludes Turkey. southfront.org Click to see full-size image | On April 21st, Turkey's Anadolu Agency reported that the US and eight other countries have abolished the 2006 deal regarding the F-35 program and signed a new agreement that has excluded Turkey. | The state outlet cited an unnamed Pentagon official. | Washington removed Turkey from the F-35 Lightning II jet program in 2019, arguing that S-400 air missile systems acquired by Turkey could be used by Russia to covertly obtain classified details on the Lockheed Martin F-35 jets and is incompatible…

Anonymous669 (2021-04-22). Iranian Revolutionary Guards Release Close Drone Footage Of US Aircraft Carrier. southfront.org Screen grab from the IRGC footage. | On April 21, the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) released close drone footage of a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. | According to Iranian media, the IRGC shared the footage to demonstrate its state-of-the-art advancements in the field of drone technology. The footage was captured by a four-strong drone squadron. The exact type of the drones was not disclosed. | The footage shows the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) aircraft carrier, sailing alongside the USNS Choctaw…

Rick Rozoff (2021-04-22). Senate committee clears $300 million more in military assistance for Ukraine, including lethal weapons. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Senate committee clears $300 million more in military assistance for Ukraine, including lethal weaponsRick Rozoff Yesterday the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously advanced a bill to add $300 million more in military aid to Ukraine through 2026. The Ukraine Security Partnership Act will go to the Senate and the House for a vote where …

Dr. Ingvild Bode (2021-04-22). Worried About the Autonomous Weapons of the Future? Look at What's Already Gone Wrong. globalresearch.ca To the casual observer, the words "military AI" have a certain …

Augusto Lapp Murga (2021-04-22). El Gran Reinicio: øUna transformácion global u otro reciclaje del capitalismo? globalizacion.ca Lejos de una transformación global, lo que nos están vendiendo es otro reciclaje histórico del capitalismo. | 1. El origen de la Propuesta: el Foro Económico Mundial | Como ya ha acontecido en algunos momentos en la historia de la humanidad, hoy…

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