Monthly Archives: May 2021

2021-05-04: News Headlines

Susan Price (2021-05-05). Australia gives drones to Sri Lankan police. greenleft.org.au The Tamil Refugee Council (TRC) has condemned the Australian government for supplying five drones to the Sri Lankan police, reports Chris Slee.

Ahmed Abdulkareem (2021-05-04). Houthi Advances and Secret Saudi-Iranian Talks Prompt New Conciliatory Tone from Saudis. mintpressnews.com Bin Salman's half-hearted appeal for peace, which allegedly included demands that the Houthis drop their alliance with Iran and abandon support for the Palestinian cause, did little to convince Ansar Allah's leadership to ease the pressure on the Kingdom.

Ralph Nader (2021-05-04). Ralph Nader: Tim Cook, Apple And Runaway Limitless Corporate Greed — OpEd. eurasiareview.com David Gelles, the New York Times reporter, likes to report about corporate plutocrats raking it in while stifling or endangering their workers. We've all seen those large advertisements by big companies praising the sacrifices of their brave workers during this Covid-19 pandemic. When workers ask for living wages, most of these bosses say "No" but take plenty of dough for themselves. | Gelles reports that Boeing, after its criminal negligence brought down two 737 MAX planes and killed 346 people, went into a corporate tailspin. The company laid off 30,000 workers and its sales and stocks plummeted as it report…

Lawrence Wittner (2021-05-04). The Fateful Choice. zcomm.org Nuclear Arms Race or Nuclear Weapons-Free World…

Bruce Lerro (2021-05-04). Socialist Rhetorical and Dialectical Communication: Overcoming Brainwashing, Propaganda, Entertainment. dissidentvoice.org Orientation How effective is the socialist left at winning over people in public meetings who are not already socialists? I would think that being socialists would make the people practicing socialism very good at being social. How true is this? There are two purposes in this article. One is to identify the similarities and differences …

Richard Falk, David Krieger (2021-05-04). Biden's Foreign Policy and Nuclear Weapons: a Dialogue. counterpunch.org Ricard Falk: The humane and competently handled responses that the Biden presidency has pursued with respect to the COVID challenge, mitigating economic burdens on the poor, empathy for abuses of persons of color, and moves toward proposing a massive infrastructure program are uplifting changes in policy and leadership of the country, especially welcomed after enduring

Éric Toussaint (2021-05-04). Developing countries in the stranglehold of debt. Part 3. mronline.org The coronavirus pandemic and other aspects of the multidimensional crisis of global capitalism are enough to fully justify suspending debt repayment. Indeed priority must be given to protecting people against ecological, economic and public health disasters. | May 4, 2021…

Eds. (2021-05-04). Intellectual monopoly capitalism and its effects on development. mronline.org What is new with contemporary (global) leading corporations? If gigantic monopolies are a repeated phenomenon in capitalism's history, why all the fuss we see every day regarding high concentration? | May 4, 2021…

Joe Yerardi, Alexia Fernández Campbell (2021-05-04). Companies are stealing billions from workers—and getting away with it. peoplesworld.org Already battered by long shifts and high infection rates, essential workers struggling through the pandemic face another hazard of hard times: employers who steal their wages. When a recession hits, U.S. companies are more likely to stiff their lowest-wage workers. These businesses often pay less than the minimum wage, make employees work off the clock, …

Editorial Team (2021-05-04). Birmingham in crisis: a city ravaged by austerity-driven unemployment. challenge-magazine.org Japhy Barrera, is a member of the YCL's Birmingham branch | During the COVID-19 pandemic, Birmingham has attained the highest rate of unemployment that the city has seen since the 1980s. 33,000 people have lost their jobs in Birmingham since last February, leaving a whopping 15% of the population without work, more than treble the national average (4.9%). A further 55,000 locals remain on the furlough scheme, an arrangement set to end in September of this year. These numbers are disproportionately worse than what we have seen elsewhere in the country and have exposed the targeted nature of Tory austerity. | Al…

Medea Benjamin, Marcy Winograd (2021-05-04). Squad & Co: Unite as a Block to Downsize Biden's Military Budget. dissidentvoice.org Photo credit: ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) Imagine this scenario: A month before the vote on the federal budget, progressives in Congress declared, "We've studied President Biden's proposed $753 billion military budget, an increase of $13 billion from Trump's already inflated budget, and we can't, in good conscience, support this." Now that would …

Global Research News (2021-05-04). Selected Articles: India, COVID and the Need for Scientific Integrity Not Sensationalism. globalresearch.ca By In his report, Tengra offers scientific evidence that strongly indicates asymptomatic transmission is not significant. He asserts that as these cases comprise most …

Geopolitical Monitor (2021-05-04). Canadian Foreign Policy Can't Simultaneously Support Territorial Integrity And Separatism — OpEd. eurasiareview.com By Taras Kuzio* | North America ganged up on fellow NATO member Turkey in April. US President Joe Biden's decision to recognize the 1915 massacres of Armenians as a 'genocide' came only two weeks after Canada banned the sale of military technology to Turkey which it had used in drones it sold to Azerbaijan. The US decision was all the more difficult to comprehend because Biden had come to power promising to rebuild Trans-Atlantic relations and re-energize US leadership of NATO. | With US-Turkish relations set to be in the doldrums for the remainder of Biden's four-year presidency, his rush to recognize the gen…

Medea Benjamin, Marcy Winograd (2021-05-04). Squad & Co: Unite as a block to downsize Biden's military budget. nationofchange.org This is the moment to demand a substantial cut in military spending that defunds new nuclear weapons.

Medea Benjamin (2021-05-04). Squad & Co: Unite as a Block to Downsize Biden's Military Budget. zcomm.org This is the moment to demand a substantial cut in military spending that defunds new nuclear weapons…

Susan Price (2021-05-04). Carbon dioxide levels now at highest level in 3.6 million years. greenleft.org.au Despite pandemic shutdowns, atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane levels surged last year, reports Climate and Capitalism.

Rick Rozoff (2021-05-04). Top-level Turkish civilian-military delegation visits Libya. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Top-level Turkish civilian-military delegation visits LibyaRick Rozoff While the world has been in lockdown because of the Covid epidemic, a new military power has appeared on the world stage: Turkey. One which has shot down Syrian, Russian and Armenian military aircraft and faced no consequences. One which has obtained Russian S-400 anti-aircraft weapons but whose …

Rick Rozoff (2021-05-04). Top-Level Turkish Civilian-Military Delegation Visits Libya. news.antiwar.com While the world has been in lockdown because of the COVID epidemic, a new military power has appeared on the world stage: Turkey. One which has shot down Syrian, Russian and Armenian military aircraft and faced no consequences. One which has obtained Russian S-400 anti-aircraft weapons but whose standing as NATO's second largest and most …

MISES (2021-05-04). How Trillions In Newly Printed Money Created A Labor Shortgage — OpEd. eurasiareview.com By Ryan McMaken* | If you're tired of binge-watching Netflix, there are likely a few restaurants in your neighborhood who would love to hire you. A job might help relieve the boredom. | On the other hand, why work when one can just be one of the more than

Dr. Al Hakam Dandy (2021-05-04). "Syria Has Been a Victim of the Terrorists' Use of Chemical Weapons" globalresearch.ca On April 16, the

Michael T. Hertz (2021-05-04). Ending gun violence in the US. nationofchange.org We can have guns on a limited basis — to provide societal and individual protection, but in a way that will prevent people from using the weapons for illegal or violent purposes.

Alyssa Battistoni (2021-05-04). Can Capitalism Be Fixed? thenation.com Can Capitalism Be Fixed?

Strike Debt Bay Area (2021-05-04). Saturday 5/29: Strike Debt Bay Area Book Group: Mission Economy — A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. indybay.org We still meet via Zoom. | Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com for the invite.

Don Fitz (2021-05-03). What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like? counterpunch.org The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades. It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change. But the last of these hits a stumbling block.

Vijay Prashad (2021-05-03). Move underway to rescue East Germany from anti-communist historians. peoplesworld.org A full generation has elapsed since the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) collapsed in late 1991. Two years earlier, in 1989, the socialist countries states of Eastern Europe gave way to a capitalism that forced its way in—the first salvo came when Hungary opened its border with Austria. Three months later, on June 15, …

Susan Price (2021-05-03). Weapons in the battle for socialist ideas. greenleft.org.au To persuade people to join a political movement, write Alex Salmon and Dirk Kelly, leftists need to learn how to use logic to make better arguments.

Fight Back (2021-05-03). FRSO funding drive surpasses $40K as of May Day! fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — Freedom Road Socialist Organization's Spring fundraising drive has brought in more than $40,000 as of May 1, International Workers Day. Given the rapid increase in FRSO membership, plans are being made to establish a national office with full-time staff. | FRSO Organizational Secretary Tom Burke states, "Revolutionaries are called on to make many contributions to advance the struggle. We give our time, energy, and yes – money – to do what we need to do to achieve liberation and socialism. Now is time for all of us to do what we can to help FRSO make a leap forward." | A major online fundra…

C.J. Hopkins (2021-05-03). The Criminalization of Dissent. dissidentvoice.org One of the hallmarks of totalitarian systems is the criminalization of dissent. Not just the stigmatization of dissent or the demonization of dissent, but the formal criminalization of dissent, and any other type of opposition to the official ideology of the totalitarian system. Global capitalism has been inching its way toward this step for quite …

Paul Haeder (2021-05-03). Daily Deluge: Billionaires Rule, The People Lose. dissidentvoice.org In Remembrance- Leni Riefenstahl It would take 1,000 me's and 1,000 hours in a week for a thousand me's to keep up with just some of the infamy and horror that is global capitalism. Capitalism's putrid fuel: pollution and many millions of collateral damaged souls. War profiteering, mercenary economic war, banking billions while communities retract, …

Fight Back (2021-05-03). West Michigan labor unions rally for International Workers Day. fightbacknews.org Grand Rapids, MI – West Michigan labor unions joined by community and social justice groups celebrated International Workers Day on May 1 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. | This year May Day for workers focused on safe working conditions during the COVID pandemic, unemployment for stage hands and gig workers who are out of jobs, and building a stronger union movement through the PRO Act. Other speakers from community and social justice groups talked about immigrant rights for workers, criminal justice reform needed in the wake of George Floyd's death, and the Equality Act in Congress. | "During this health crisis where…

Stefan Hockertz, Marco Schott & Susan Bonath (2021-05-03). Stolen childhood and The Language of Violence. indybay.org To make the hospitals fit for the "pandemic of the century", the government did nothing… the population that will suffer in every respect – with one lockdown after another, inadequate health care, increasing impoverishment and lack of prospects, and presumably with endless depression.

Staff (2021-05-03). Yemeni missiles, drones target depth of Saudi Arabia. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 03 (MNA) — According to the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, military positions of the Saudi-led coalition at Najran Airport and the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait were targeted by Yemeni forces.

CJ Polychroniou (2021-05-03). May Day And The United States Of Amnesia. zcomm.org The struggle against neoliberal capitalism requires a well-organized working-class movement that hasn't succumbed to the form of historical amnesia imposed by the powers that be…

Strike Debt Bay Area (2021-05-03). Saturday 5/29: Strike Debt Bay Area Book Group: Mission Economy — A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. indybay.org We still meet via Zoom. | Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com for the invite.

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2021-05-03: News Headlines

Don Fitz (2021-05-03). What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like? counterpunch.org The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades. It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change. But the last of these hits a stumbling block.

Vijay Prashad (2021-05-03). Move underway to rescue East Germany from anti-communist historians. peoplesworld.org A full generation has elapsed since the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) collapsed in late 1991. Two years earlier, in 1989, the socialist countries states of Eastern Europe gave way to a capitalism that forced its way in—the first salvo came when Hungary opened its border with Austria. Three months later, on June 15, …

Fight Back (2021-05-03). FRSO funding drive surpasses $40K as of May Day! fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — Freedom Road Socialist Organization's Spring fundraising drive has brought in more than $40,000 as of May 1, International Workers Day. Given the rapid increase in FRSO membership, plans are being made to establish a national office with full-time staff. | FRSO Organizational Secretary Tom Burke states, "Revolutionaries are called on to make many contributions to advance the struggle. We give our time, energy, and yes – money – to do what we need to do to achieve liberation and socialism. Now is time for all of us to do what we can to help FRSO make a leap forward." | A major online fundra…

Susan Price (2021-05-03). Weapons in the battle for socialist ideas. greenleft.org.au To persuade people to join a political movement, write Alex Salmon and Dirk Kelly, leftists need to learn how to use logic to make better arguments.

C.J. Hopkins (2021-05-03). The Criminalization of Dissent. dissidentvoice.org One of the hallmarks of totalitarian systems is the criminalization of dissent. Not just the stigmatization of dissent or the demonization of dissent, but the formal criminalization of dissent, and any other type of opposition to the official ideology of the totalitarian system. Global capitalism has been inching its way toward this step for quite …

Paul Haeder (2021-05-03). Daily Deluge: Billionaires Rule, The People Lose. dissidentvoice.org In Remembrance- Leni Riefenstahl It would take 1,000 me's and 1,000 hours in a week for a thousand me's to keep up with just some of the infamy and horror that is global capitalism. Capitalism's putrid fuel: pollution and many millions of collateral damaged souls. War profiteering, mercenary economic war, banking billions while communities retract, …

Fight Back (2021-05-03). West Michigan labor unions rally for International Workers Day. fightbacknews.org Grand Rapids, MI – West Michigan labor unions joined by community and social justice groups celebrated International Workers Day on May 1 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. | This year May Day for workers focused on safe working conditions during the COVID pandemic, unemployment for stage hands and gig workers who are out of jobs, and building a stronger union movement through the PRO Act. Other speakers from community and social justice groups talked about immigrant rights for workers, criminal justice reform needed in the wake of George Floyd's death, and the Equality Act in Congress. | "During this health crisis where…

Stefan Hockertz, Marco Schott & Susan Bonath (2021-05-03). Stolen childhood and The Language of Violence. indybay.org To make the hospitals fit for the "pandemic of the century", the government did nothing… the population that will suffer in every respect – with one lockdown after another, inadequate health care, increasing impoverishment and lack of prospects, and presumably with endless depression.

Staff (2021-05-03). Yemeni missiles, drones target depth of Saudi Arabia. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 03 (MNA) — According to the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, military positions of the Saudi-led coalition at Najran Airport and the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait were targeted by Yemeni forces.

CJ Polychroniou (2021-05-03). May Day And The United States Of Amnesia. zcomm.org The struggle against neoliberal capitalism requires a well-organized working-class movement that hasn't succumbed to the form of historical amnesia imposed by the powers that be…

Strike Debt Bay Area (2021-05-03). Saturday 5/29: Strike Debt Bay Area Book Group: Mission Economy — A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. indybay.org We still meet via Zoom. | Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com for the invite.

_____ (2021-05-02). What Would A Deep Green New Deal Look Like? popularresistance.org The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades. It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change. | But the last of these hits a stumbling block. Creation of all forms of energy contributes to the destruction of nature and human life. It is possible to increase the global quality of life at the same time as we reduce the use of fossil fuels and other sources of energy. Therefore, a "deep" GND would focus on energy reduction, otherwise known…

Don Fitz (2021-05-02). What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like? dissidentvoice.org The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades. It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change. But the last of these hits a stumbling block. Creation of all forms of energy contributes to the …

David Swanson (2021-05-02). Ground the Drones. warisacrime.org By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, May 2, 2021 There are a number of hurdles to clear before you can get people to support banning armed drones or surveillance drones. One is the existence of good drones. It seems silly, but it is the number one cause of failures to pass local resolutions against drones. …

Staff (2021-05-02). Access to Mental Health Services Decreased as Need for Care Soared During COVID. truthout.org Therapists and other behavioral health care providers cut hours, reduced staffs and turned away patients during the pandemic as more Americans experienced depression symptoms and drug overdoses, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. | The report on patient access to behavioral health care during the covid-19 crisis also casts doubt on whether insurers are abiding by federal law requiring parity in insurance coverage, which forbids health plans from passing al…

Staff (2021-05-02). Capitalism and Racism Are Enemies of an Effective Vaccine Plan. truthout.org Pandemics don't spread evenly. The spread depends on environmental conditions such as temperature and airflow, population density and size, and, as it turns out, privilege. Brutal capitalism has driven the disproportionate impact of COVID on marginalized communities, and it is now driving inequities in vaccine distribution. | Not surprisingly, the contours of COVID's impacts have reflected pre-existing societal disparities — which are often shaped along gender, race and class lines. These disparities…

Anonymous103 (2021-05-02). In Video: Russian Frigate 'Marshal Shaposhnikov' Failed To Launch Kalibr Cruise Missile. southfront.org Screenshot | The Russian frigate reportedly tried to launch the Kalibr cruise missile, but almost immediately after the launch, the missile went into an uncontrolled flight and crashed next to the ship itself. The incident allegedly took place aboard the Russian guided missile frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov and involved a Kalibr-type cruise missile, an anti-ship and land-attack weapon powered by turbojet engines. The video emerged online in late April. | Previously, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Feder…

_____ (2021-05-02). Covid-19-Policy Contest Between Libertarianism v. Socialism: The Latest Results. strategic-culture.org A great deal remains that is important to know but that is currently unknown about Covid-19, Eric Zuesse writes. | Early in the "coronavirus-19" — subsequently called "Covid-19" — pandemic, Denmark and Sweden were often being compared with one-another because both are Scandinavian countries, but on 13 March 2020, Denmark had started a lockdown and imposed strict recommendations for businesses and personal behavior, whereas Sweden did nothing of the sort, and so the two countries were considered to be especially suitable to serve as being an almost controlled experiment in what the results would be of…

Lawrence Wittner (2021-05-02). The Fateful Choice: Nuclear Arms Race or Nuclear-Free World. zcomm.org The recent announcement by the British government that it plans a 40 percent increase in the number of nuclear weapons it possesses highlights the escalation of the exceptionally dangerous and costly nuclear arms race. After decades of progress in reducing nuclear arsenals through arms control and disarmament agreements, all the nuclear powers are once again

Lawrence Wittner (2021-05-02). The Fateful Choice: Nuclear Arms Race or Nuclear Weapons-Free World. warisacrime.org The recent announcement by the British government that it plans a 40 percent increase in the number of nuclear weapons it possesses highlights the escalation of the exceptionally dangerous and costly nuclear arms race. After decades of progress in reducing nuclear arsenals through arms control and disarmament agreements, all the nuclear powers are once again …

Stefan Hockertz, Marco Schott & Susan Bonath (2021-05-02). Stolen childhood and The Language of Violence. indybay.org To make the hospitals fit for the "pandemic of the century", the government did nothing… the population that will suffer in every respect – with one lockdown after another, inadequate health care, increasing impoverishment and lack of prospects, and presumably with endless depression.

Shabbir H. Kazmi (2021-05-02). Saudis And Israelis Don't Approve Of JCPOA Talks — OpEd. eurasiareview.com According to media reports, with Iran and world powers resumed nuclear talks, Saudi Arabia and Israel also have intensified consultations. Washington and Tel Aviv on the one hand and Washington and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council on the other hand are having extensive talks. | Both, Israel and Saudi Arabia want to influence any US move to return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which they have publicly opposed right from the beginning. | As the Iranian negotiating team head to the Austrian capital of Vienna, a senior Israeli delegation comprising of Mossad Chief Yosef Cohen, Head of Military Intelligence Ta…

Fidel Castro Ruz (2021-05-02). Nuclear War and the Future of Humanity. Conversations with Fidel Castro. globalresearch.ca "In a nuclear war the collateral damage would be the life of humankind. Let us have the courage to proclaim that all nuclear or conventional weapons, everything that is used to make war, must disappear!" "It is about demanding that the world is not led into a nuclear catastrophe, it is to preserve life." (Fidel Castro, 15 October 2010)…

Fight Back (2021-05-02). Revolution advances in Cuba and Venezuela. fightbacknews.org "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. I will continue serving as one more revolutionary fighter, ready to make my modest contribution until the end of my life." | With these stirring words on April 17, Raúl Castro retired. A revolutionary life that began as a guerrilla commander alongside his brother Fidel and Che Guevara, the younger Castro most recently served as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, a role which he took up in 2011 after the retirement of Fidel. He had previ…

Jim Miles (2021-05-02). The Crash of Flight 3804 — A Lost Spy, A Daughter's Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil. globalresearch.ca Titles can be deceptive — "The Crash of Flight 3804" meant …

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