Latest articles
by Peter Koenig / October 27th, 2020
Brussels (EU and European NATO Headquarters) – On 21 October 2020, the German Press Agency (dpa) reports that Germany pledges NATO soldiers for possible Covid-19 operations:
German soldiers could be sent on crisis missions to other NATO and partner countries during the second wave of the Corona pandemic. As a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense confirmed, the German government has promised NATO support for its “Allied Hand” emergency plan. According to this plan, medical personnel, pioneers and experts from the force would be made available for foreign missions to counter nuclear, biological or chemical hazards as required. The contingency plan …
by Margaret Flowers / October 27th, 2020
Are you or do you know an emerging activist who needs support? Popular Resistance and the Kevin Zeese family are launching the Kevin Zeese Emerging Activists Fund with an online celebration on his birthday, this Wednesday, October 28, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm Eastern. Learn more and buy tickets here. We will begin accepting applications after October 28.
Last week, I wrote about what is needed in this moment and urged people to look more deeply, beyond the Biden-Trump spectacle, to understand where we are as a …
by James O'Neill / October 27th, 2020
There are many definitions of stupid, but acting against one’s interests, on either a personal or national level, must rank as among the more significant. It is certainly among the most of contemporary relevance. It is no better personified than in the current extraordinary anti-China campaign being waged by politicians of all the major parties and their adherents in the media. One hesitates to call them “analysts” because the contemporary examples of Australian journalism are anything but analytical. This applies with particular force in contemporary commentary, both political and journalistic, on China.
A brief view of history provides some perspective. China …
We pay from our wallets only for our future to be stolen from us
by Jonathan Cook / October 26th, 2020
Here is a word that risks deterring you from reading on much further, even though it may hold the key to understanding why we are in such a terrible political, economic and social mess. That word is “externalities”.
It sounds like a piece of economic jargon. It is a piece of economic jargon. But it is also the foundation stone on which the west’s current economic and ideological system has been built. Focusing on how externalities work and how they have come to dominate every sphere of our lives is to understand how we are destroying our planet – and offer …
by Kim Petersen / October 26th, 2020
There is a piece of news on an important anniversary missing from western state and corporate news. This year, 2020, is the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) army entering the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help in, what the Chinese call, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
It is described by the People’s Daily thus:
The war, which happened 70 years ago, was forced upon the Chinese people by invading imperialism. After the U.S. repeatedly ignored the warning …
by Hiroyuki Hamada / October 26th, 2020
It’s hard to talk about the myriad issues piled in our society in a cohesive way, and when we try, we often get the same response: “What is your solution?” People get frustrated and demand an instant solution to the structural problem they are very much a part of. The very insistence on a single, cure-for-all-answer betrays their unwillingness to see the structural and systematic nature of the problem. Meanwhile they allow themselves “solutions” which are concocted by those who have created the problems. Those “solutions” are bound to be strictly incremental and reformist, otherwise the self-serving nature of the overall …
by Paul Haeder / October 25th, 2020
Barbara Lee: I’m very terrified with regard to what we see taking place. And the signs are there. When you talk about shutting down the media, putting out their alternative facts, banning dissent and opposition, criticizing people who are exercising their First Amendment rights; trying to get people to believe, really, the distortions that they’re putting out there. That, to me, is very scary. It’s very dangerous. And you see also the corporate and military consolidation of the public sector. You see efforts to privatize schools. When you just look at the nominees, you see very few people with …
by Edward Curtin / October 25th, 2020
When the New York Times and CNN recently referred to the staged town hall spectacles of Biden and Trump as dueling events, they inadvertently revealed the truth that U.S. presidential elections are America’s favorite movie and that the corporate media is in the entertainment business.
While it is ludicrous to imagine these tottering actors crossing swords in tights, their skirmishes in suits and ties are good for a few laughs, if you have the stomach to watch them. Only people who still believe in professional wrestling would think these clowns …
A review of This Land: The Story of a Movement by Owen Jones
by Media Lens / October 23rd, 2020
In his latest book, This Land: The Story of a Movement, ((Penguin, ebook version, 2020)) the Guardian’s Owen Jones charts the rise and fall of Jeremy Corbyn.
Jones depicts Corbyn as a ‘scruffy,’ (p. 8), ‘unkempt’ (p. 50), thoroughly shambolic backbench MP, ‘the most unlikely’ (p. 50) of contenders for the Labour leadership. In May 2015, Corbyn reluctantly dipped his toe in the water of the leadership contest, saying: ‘You better make fucking sure I don’t get elected’ (p. 54), only to be swept away on …
by Beau Peters / October 22nd, 2020
November 3rd, Election Day in America, is rapidly approaching. However, early in-person voting has started in several states across the country and there are some concerning issues already coming to light this election year.
Videos by voters have been circulating on social media sites such as Twitter, showing extremely long lines and long waiting periods. The state of Georgia in particular had several videos circulating around with people claiming it took 11 hours to cast their vote. While big voter turnout numbers alone are not necessarily a bad sign, …
by Jason Holland / October 22nd, 2020
You could say I lost my faith in science and progress…
I never saw no miracle of science,
That didn’t go from a blessing to a curse
— Sting, “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” (Recorded in 1992, Released in 1993)
I do this real moron thing, and it’s called thinking.
And apparently I’m not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions.
— George Carlin, On American Foreign Policy — Bombing Brown People, YouTube 2:20
Everybody’s on the take
Tell me, are you on the take too?
— The Strokes, “Eternal Summer”, The New Abnormal, 2020
Everyone is sick of talking …
How the Democratic Party Enables Trump and Fascism
by Erin McCarley and Birrion Sondahl / October 22nd, 2020
As Amy Coney Barrett is expected to be confirmed today as the next Justice to the Supreme Court, one might expect to see more news coverage of the multiple ways Congressional Democrats have tried to block her confirmation. Given the massive groundswell of anguish and fury over her nomination to replace the legendary Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the corporate media and top Democrats, themselves, have seemed strangely silent, as if early on, they had already surrendered to the inevitable. Why this silence and why a lack of options, when progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have called for using “every tool at our …
by Yves Engler / October 22nd, 2020
Canadian law makes it illegal to recruit soldiers for a foreign state. But, the line between enticing impressionable young people to oppress Palestinians and formal recruitment is unclear.
Today an open letter signed by Noam Chomsky, Roger Waters, filmmaker Ken Loach, author Yann Martel, former MP Jim Manly, poet El Jones and more than 150 others was delivered to Justice Minister David Lametti calling on the federal government to apply charges under the Foreign Enlistment Act against those recruiting Canadians for the IDF. The formal legal complaint names …
by Press TV / October 21st, 2020
Transcript of an Interview with Press TV
Background
The fourth batch of Yemeni detainees has arrived in Sana’a as part of the largest prisoner swap between the country’s warring sides. The residents in the capital received 112 prisoners after their plane landed in the Sana’a international airport. 1,081 men will be released in two days.
A two-day prisoner swap between Yemen’s warring sides is underway. The move is part of a deal reached last month in Switzerland. Here is a report:
Yemen’s warring sides are exchanging detainees in the largest prisoner swap between the Ansarullah movement and the Saudi-backed former regime. One-thousand eighty-one men …
by Ramzy Baroud / October 21st, 2020
In theory, Europe and the United States stand on completely opposite sides when it comes to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. While the US government has fully embraced the tragic status quo created by 53 years of Israeli military occupation, the EU continues to advocate a negotiated settlement that is predicated on respect for international law.
In practice, however, despite the seeming rift between Washington and Brussels, the outcome is, essentially, the same. The US and Europe are Israel’s largest trade partners, weapon suppliers and political advocates.
One of the …
by Jonathan Cook / October 21st, 2020
WISE Up, a solidarity group for Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, is due to stage a demonstration outside the Guardian offices on October 22 to protest the paper’s failure to support Assange as the US seeks his extradition in an unprecedented assault on press freedom.
The date chosen for the protest marks the tenth anniversary of the Guardian’s publication of the Iraq war logs, leaked by Manning to Assange and which lie at the heart of the US case to reclassify journalism exposing crimes against humanity as “espionage”.
Here is my full statement, part of which is due to be …
by Roger D. Harris / October 20th, 2020
With the seemingly interminable US presidential campaign season mercifully drawing to a close, the buzz is about a possible coup. That would make the US one of the few countries in recent history to experience regime change not masterminded by a US embassy, because there is no US embassy in Washington.
There are other reasons why a coup is unlikely. Namely, most of the politically active public believe that they live in an exceptional democracy. This conviction is held despite the abysmal candidate choices they are given and the obscene mountains of money backing them. Surely, the ruling …
by Robert Hunziker / October 20th, 2020
Ice is seen here under permafrost soil in Spitzbergen, the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. (SeppFriedhuber/Getty Images)
Twenty-five percent (25%) of the Northern Hemisphere is permafrost. By all appearances, it is melting well beyond natural background rates, in fact, substantially!
Making matters much, much worse, new research has identified past warming events of large-scale permafrost thaw in the Arctic that may be analogous to today, thus spotting a parallel problem of large-scale thawing accompanied by massively excessive carbon emissions spewing into the …
by Kim Petersen / October 20th, 2020
Wherever we lift one soul from a life of poverty, we are defending human rights. And whenever we fail in this mission, we are failing human rights.
— Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General
Among other items “proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “… human beings shall enjoy freedom … from want.”
The UDHR preamble goes on to state that “fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person … have [been] determined to promote social progress and better standards of …
by Margaret Flowers / October 20th, 2020
Are you or do you know an emerging activist who needs support? Popular Resistance and the Kevin Zeese family are launching the Kevin Zeese Emerging Activists Fund with an online celebration on his birthday, October 28, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm Eastern. Learn more and buy tickets here. We will begin accepting applications after October 28.
The United States’ elections will occur in a few weeks and many people are concerned about what will happen. Will they be able to vote? Will their votes be …
by Dan Corjescu / October 19th, 2020
The great Italian writer, Ignazio Silone, often described himself as a “Socialist without a party, a Christian without a church”.
With this, he expressed his belief in commitment outside of authority and all forms of hierarchy.
Because Silone, as a historical witness of both Stalinism and Fascism, knew the dangers inherent in organized belief. Group think, in the extreme, can lead to mass executions and, even, genocide.
To believe sincerely is to stand apart from the crowd. To believe rightly is not to compel but to express. To welcome debate. To be ready to stand alone without recourse to power, influence, or money….
by Todd Smith / October 19th, 2020
What, precisely, is QAnon? The Second Coming of, I don’t know — Jesus Christ? No, no, no! Try Jerry Springer, or Jimmy Swaggart, even. QAnon appears to be more of a likeness than an actual thing; provisionally, we could describe it as a peculiar conspiracy theory that aggregates all the other conspiracy theories…
Now, looking back to the official beginning of the current pandemic in America, the irrational run on Toilet Paper stands out as a critical signpost marking the Consumer-Citizenry’s awakening to the drastic nature of the crisis. Somehow, this product in particular, and its conspicuous absence, reflected both a …
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies / October 19th, 2020
Toward the end of Joe Biden’s October 15 town hall session, a Trump supporter asked Biden the only foreign policy question of the night. “So peace is breaking out all over the world,” the questioner claimed. “Our troops are coming home. Serbia is talking to Kosovo. And the Arabs and Israelis are talking peace, which I believe is a modern-day miracle, what’s going on. Does President Trump’s foreign policy deserve some credit?”
This question encapsulated all the smoke and mirrors that Trump has used to confuse the public and …
by Binoy Kampmark / October 19th, 2020
It was highly probable. Given the howls of concern that social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook nurse and nurture a bias (every choice on content entails one), a gift was made to critics to show just that. Last Wednesday, Twitter prevented users from posting links to a New York Post story. The story, claimed Twitter, was “potentially unsafe,” replete with “hacked materials”. Those attempting to post links to the article faced a terse message. “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful.” Facebook followed suit …
by Bill Vernon / October 18th, 2020
For our flu shots, my wife and I drive eight familiar miles, basically the route to a school where she taught, and the placid, ordinary neighborhoods and business locales we’ve passed through a thousand times are no longer friendly. The habit of isolation colors what we see. It dims the glare of familiarity and reveals dangers. Isolation is something like hiding.
We’re in a mood, you might say, going to expose ourselves to what a busy Pharmacy encloses, its air, its merchandise, and its people. It will be the first building we enter besides our house and our grandchildren’s home in …
by John V. Walsh / October 18th, 2020
A sun-drenched day finds two lone figures strolling along a deserted beach, 10 feet apart and wearing masks, Brilliantina and her friend, Progresso.
Progresso: Have you voted yet, Brilliantina?
Brilliantina: No, I have not yet decided what to do. It needs a bit more thought.
Progresso: I was slow to decide at first, Brilliantina, but I decided on Biden — reluctantly since I disagree with most all of his positions.
Brilliantina: That is strange logic, Progresso.
Progresso: Well, I know that, and I don’t feel entirely comfortable with it. But you know the argument – nothing is more important than ejecting Trump. The clincher for me came …
by Ted Glick / October 18th, 2020
[She led a campaign] demanding that the National Student Association pay reparations to an affiliated student group, the National Association of Black Students. Although this and other accounts from those ‘Black Power’ years are informative, even riveting, in the end the central story line is Gwen herself through the life she exercises with dedication, principle, and an unbending devotion to justice, equality, and the well-being of all people.
— Bob Moses, Forward to My Race for Freedom
Gwendolyn Patton was a long-distance runner for the freedom of Black people and all …
by Yves Engler / October 18th, 2020
Should antiwar forces challenge power or praise government officials in the hopes of getting some crumbs for their pet issue?
Douglas Roche’s recent Hill Times column suggests the latter. In an article extolling Canada’s new ambassador to the UN Roche writes: “When Canada lost its bid for a seat on the UN Security Council the second successive time last June, I thought a foreign policy review from top to bottom was the solution to get Canada back on track internationally. But I’ve changed my mind for two reasons: the …
by Binoy Kampmark / October 17th, 2020
It was praised by Michael Clarke, former Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute, as “clear and entire laudable” – at least up to a point. The UK Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill would “give [British] troops serving overseas much-needed extra protection against fraudulent or frivolous claims against them of criminal behaviour.” It was also part of a commitment made by the Conservatives that British personnel would be padded with more legal protection against the nasty designs of future litigants.
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer had his lines in order, and they were not particularly convincing. “This …
by Max Parry / October 17th, 2020
With the 2020 U.S. presidential election less than a month away, there is widespread speculation concerning Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s mental and physical fitness at 77 years of age if he were to defeat incumbent Donald Trump on November 3rd. The former Vice President and Senator from Delaware would surpass his opponent as the oldest to ever hold the office of the presidency if victorious, while his generally acknowledged cognitive decline has led many to question whether he is even capable of serving a single term. Given the concerns …
