(2021-10-23). Gravy train: Corporate profiteering on national defense. zcomm.org War in the Middle East since 1990 has cost the US roughly $7 trillion. Yet the United States evidently can't afford a $3.5 trillion bill for the well-being of all its citizens—a real national security bill…
(2021-10-23). Biden threatens to deploy National Guard to move cargo containers at Southern California ports. wsws.org A deployment would be a direct state attack on longshoremen, truck drivers and warehouse workers, with soldiers serving essentially as scabs on behalf of the logistics companies and major retailers.
(2021-10-23). Humanitarian cost of post-9/11/01 U.S. and NATO wars tops 4 million dead. workers.org 
U.S. post-9/11 wars left Libya in ruins, and killed millions worldwide. The author is an anti-imperialist German analyst of the U.S./NATO wars in Central and West Asia. Translation: by John Catalinotto. According to the latest report from the Costs of War Project at Brown University in Rhode Island, the wars . . . |
(2021-10-23). Russia and Bolivia Call for the End of Illegal Sanctions Against Venezuela and Cuba. orinocotribune.com 
Senior diplomatic officials of Russia and Bolivia denounced US interference in Latin America and advocated for the end of the US blockade against Venezuela and Cuba. | On Friday, October 22, at a joint press conference held in Moscow, the Russian capital, Bolivian Foreign Affairs Minister Rogelio Mayta and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, denounced the interventionist actions of the US and its allies in the sovereign countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and demanded the lifting of the blockades imposed on Venezuela and Cuba. | Both diplomats stressed that the US is resorting to unilateral coercive…
(2021-10-23). Manufacturing Ignorance: Keeping The Public Away From Power. dissidentvoice.org 
In their classic book on the news media, Manufacturing Consent, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky presented a 'propaganda model' of how the major broadcasters and newspapers operate. Whereas the 'mainstream' media declare that their aim is to educate, inform and entertain the public, their actual societal purpose 'on matters that are of significance for established …
(2021-10-23). Russia Will Allow Israel to Attack Syria With Impunity. news.antiwar.com Israel likes to attack Syria, and while officials will mostly claim it's about Iran, such strikes continue with alarming regularity, the only pause being when Israel is unsure if Russia is still comfortable with them. | This summer Russia suggested they wanted to slow down Israel's attacks, but today Details are not…
(2021-10-23). Snowden tells The Belmarsh Tribunal: If you love truth, you're as much of a criminal as Assange and risk sharing his fate. rt.com 
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is a political prisoner and the process against him is a crime against journalism, said a group of academics, politicians, journalists and advocates convened ahead of his extradition hearing. | "What we're witnessing is a murder," NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden told the 'Belmarsh Tribunal' in London on Friday, appearing via video link. | "Everywhere we look, from Afghanistan to economics, from pandemic to pervasive surveillance, the obvious has been made unspeakable," he added, because speaking up would put one in the same category as Assange, a "political criminal" charged…
(2021-10-23). US 'Justice' Now After Former Minister of Foreign Trade José Vielma Mora — the Goal is to Starve Venezuelans. orinocotribune.com On Thursday, October 21, the Department of Justice of the United States government reported about a formal accusation issued at a US court against five persons allegedly linked to a corruption plot through the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) program of Venezuela. One of those five is Venezuela's National Assembly deputy, José Vielma Mora. | A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida issued a formal indictment, which was filed on October 7, nine days before the kidnapping of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab from Cape Verde, against three Colombian citizens and two Venezuelans, for their alleged…
(2021-10-23). Thursday 11/11: Bay Area COP26 Rebellion: March & Rally to Demand Climate Emergency Action Now! indybay.org San Francisco Ferry Building, 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA 94111; Peaceful protest | Wear a Mask. Please follow current COVID guidelines: covid19.ca.gov/safely-reopening/…
(2021-10-23). Biden says US will go to war with China to defend Taiwan. wsws.org Biden's statement is another provocative step that undermines the basis of US-China diplomatic relations and intensifies the already acute tensions between the two countries.
(2021-10-23). Do wage increases impact the unemployed? workers.org 
Why has David Card been co-awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences? Card, who teaches at UC Berkeley, did his research in the 1990s. The Committee obviously feels his research had major policy implications. (The research of the two other winners is more technical.) Hundreds of newspapers, web sites . . . |
(2021-10-23). [Editorial] Abortion bans in the USA harm health equity. thelancet.com On Sept 1, the state of Texas enacted Senate Bill 8S (SB8S), banning all abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected—at as early as 6 weeks of gestation and before most women know they are pregnant—effectively making abortion illegal in the state. In response, the US Justice Department filed a brief with the US Supreme Court against SB8S, stating that the ban unconstitutionally violates citizens' rights and wrongly deputises citizens across the USA to notify authorities of anyone aiding or abetting such abortions, thereby rewarding vigilantism (and providing a US$10‚Äà000 cash award…
(2021-10-23). Friday 10/29: SF March & Street Mural: Defund Climate Chaos & Fossil Fuels Global Day of Action. indybay.org Outside of BlackRock HQ, 400 Howard St., San Francisco, CA | Wear a Mask. Please follow current COVID guidelines: covid19.ca.gov/safely-reopening/…
(2021-10-23). Amazon and Google: Partners in Israeli Apartheid. dissidentvoice.org The best-selling Irish novelist Sally Rooney is openly shunning Israel after recent reports from human rights groups warned that Israel practices apartheid, systematically oppressing Palestinians under its rule. But while Israel risks becoming a pariah among some cultural producers, it is being aggressively embraced by globe-spanning corporations like Amazon and Google — among the wealthiest …
(2021-10-23). UN Expert Releases Full Report on Impact of US-led Sanctions Against Venezuela. zcomm.org UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan reiterated her call for sanctions relief, stating they undermine Venezuelans' human rights…
(2021-10-22). Do You Want a New Cold War? globalresearch.ca
(2021-10-22). Europe should avoid being drawn into the US' cold war on China. peoplesdispatch.org 
The US attempts to broaden its international front to participate in a cold war with China. The dispute for Europe and the military offensive.
(2021-10-22). Do You Want a New Cold War? The AUKUS Alliance Takes the World to the Brink. counterpunch.org Before it's too late, we need to ask ourselves a crucial question: Do we really — I mean truly — want a new Cold War with China? Because that's just where the Biden administration is clearly taking us. If you need proof, check out last month's announcement of an "AUKUS" (Australia, United Kingdom, U.S.) military
(2021-10-22). NATO, Not Russia, Perpetuates Cold War Logic… It is a Relic Best Ignored. strategic-culture.org NATO is a relic of Cold War hostility that belongs in a war museum not in a modern forum for diplomacy. | It was the end of an era this week when Russia announced that it was severing diplomatic links with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For the past 30 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation has engaged with the US-led military bloc in a bid to establish partnership and secure peace. | The incipient detente culminated in the NATO-Russia Founding Act in 1997 which demarcated certain boundaries for peaceful coexistence. Those boundaries were subsequently flouted as NATO dou…
(2021-10-22). Kidnapped Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab speaks in court. workers.org 
Saab made the following statement in U.S. Federal Court in Miami on Oct. 16. The statement is lightly edited. My name is Alex Nain Saab Moran, with Venezuelan diplomatic passport number 045778720. I am a special envoy with diplomatic immunity to the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran . . . |
(2021-10-22). Biden kidnaps Venezuelan Diplomat: #FreeAlexSaab now! orinocotribune.com By Greg Butterfield — Oct 19, 2021 | The Biden administration on Oct. 16 kidnapped Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab from the West African country of Cape Verde, in blatant violation of international law. Under U.S. pressure, Saab had already been imprisoned and tortured in Cape Verde for 16 months. | "On a flight chartered by the [U.S.] Department of Justice, in which the Cape Verdean authorities had no control that could guarantee the safety of the Venezuelan diplomat, because they do not have a bilateral extradition treaty with the North American nation, Alex Saab arrived Saturday night and was transferred to…
(2021-10-22). U.S. illegally extradites Venezuelan diplomat from Cabo Verde. workers.org 
The Free Alex Saab Committee issued the following news release Oct. 18. For more see afgj.org/free-alex-saab. The Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab was renditioned and kidnapped to the U.S. on Oct. 16 without waiting for a final extradition decision. The action was taken in secret, without notifying his defense team and without . . . |
(2021-10-22). Five People Were Killed In Recent Turkish Drone Strike On Syria's Kobane: Monitoring Group. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image, by the Hawar News Agency. | Five people were killed in the The drone strike targeted several cars which were parked in front of the Social Justice Committee building in the center…
(2021-10-22). King George Was More Democratic Than American Revolutionaries. warisacrime.org 
By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 22, 2021 According to the Smithsonian Magazine — brought to you by the folks with museums up and down the National Mall in Washington D.C. — King George III was the democrat and humanitarian in 1776. I'd hate for this to really feel like a bite in the …
(2021-10-22). What is the Peace Dividend strategy? nationofchange.org Tell the truth about our endless wars and bloated DOD budgets!
(2021-10-22). Howard University Sit-in: A Struggle For Democracy At An HBCU. popularresistance.org On late Tuesday, Oct. 12, Howard University students began staging a sit-in demonstration at the Blackburn building in front of the historic Yard. Students brought sleeping bags and food and began demonstrating and making demands that the university protect their health on campus. | In the past month, as students returned to the school after more than a year under COVID conditions, a Twitter video went viral showing a puddle of water filling the floor of a kitchen in a dorm room. Later reports confirmed pooling water in students' closets and bedrooms as well. | The university responded to the apparent lack of mai…
(2021-10-22). Israel declares war on Palestinian rights groups. electronicintifada.net Extreme move aimed at shutting down organizations working with ICC.
(2021-10-22). Woodward and Costa's book 'Peril' shows Trump as Mussolini-in-waiting. peoplesworld.org 
Trump & Co. had a five-point plan to undo the presidential election and overthrow the government. They sought to: Discredit and challenge state results (particularly in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona). Recruit the Department of Justice. Draft Mike Pence. Subvert the January 6th vote count. Toss the election to the House of Representatives. The mob that …
(2021-10-22). Film Review: Radical Alternatives Left Out of 'The Prison Within'. towardfreedom.org Although "The Prison Within" makes a few fleeting mentions of expanding treatment and mitigation programs to keep traumatized people from going to prison in the first place, restorative justice is presented inside the narrow construct of reforming prisons to make them "better." That all makes sense when the discussion is not intended to be about replacing prisons with humane and truly restorative systems.
(2021-10-22). The Noose is Tightening, the Clock is Ticking: Justin Trudeau's "Covid Mandate" against Canadians, Both "Unvaccinated" and "Vaccinated" globalresearch.ca ***…
(2021-10-22). Why America's Health Care Workers Are Escalating Their Fight for Fair Treatment and Patient Safety. independentmediainstitute.org So many people with COVID-19 sought treatment at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in recent months that the hospital triaged patients in a tent outside the facility and set up a makeshift ward in the main lobby. Many workers put in 14- and 16-hour shifts to keep the Southern California facility operating during the crisis, …
(2021-10-22). Audit of Voting Notebooks for 21N Regional Elections Ready. orinocotribune.com On Wednesday, October 21, the audit of the voting notebooks, which will be used in the upcoming regional and municipal elections scheduled for November 21, concluded. | The audit took place in the warehouse of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Guarenas, Miranda state, with witnesses from political parties together with technical personnel from the electoral body. As stated in a press release on CNE's Twitter, the audit certified that the data in the statistical sample of the audit was found to be consistent with the voting desk (number of voting centers and desks) and with the electoral roll database. |
(2021-10-22). Horas Al-Din Commander Killed In US Drone Strike On Syria's Raqqa (18+ Photos). southfront.org 
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson. | On October 22, a commander of al-Qaeda-affiliated Horas al-Din was killed in US drone strike on the outskirts of the town of Suluk in the northern countryside of Syria's Raqqa. | The commander, Abdul Hamid Al-Matar, was targeted with an AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missile, possibly of the RX9 variant which is armed with a kinetic warhead with pop-out blades instead of explosives. The area where the commander was targeted is controlled by the Turkish militar…
(2021-10-22). Reuters: NATO develops master plan for war, including nuclear war, with Russia. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Regarding the statement "as Russia develops advanced weapons systems and sends troops and equipment closer to the borders of allies," in fact Russian deployments, to the extent they occur, are exclusively to its own borders and within its own territory as NATO steadily encroaches on and surrounds Russia with troops, armor, ground- and ship-based anti-ballistic …
(2021-10-22). Russian Foreign Ministry forced to acknowledge massive NATO military, including strategic, buildup on Russia's borders. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Moscow aware of NATO deploying weapons near Russian borders, diplomat says Moscow is aware of the ongoing process of the deployment of armaments by NATO countries near Russia's borders, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV Channel on Friday. *** NATO has decided to expel eight Russian …
(2021-10-22). The Kunming Declaration & Biodiversity Fund Set a Path Toward a More Just Global Biodiversity Framework. counterpunch.org In August 2019, in the middle of heavy monsoon rain and floods, my sister Sudakshina Sen (an avid wildlife photographer) and I arrived at the Western Ghats in southwest India, a global biodiversity hotspot. One day, we got stuck on the sinuous state highway SH-78, due to fallen trees on the road from the storm.
(2021-10-22). NATO trains space cadre to enhance war in all domains. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Allied Space Cadre Enhanced During Steadfast Jupiter 21 "Enhancing NATO's coordination in the space domain will be game-changing for Allied Commanders in air, sea and land domains, as well as for Joint Commanders. Development of a well-trained and increasingly experienced space cadre is fundamental to ensuring NATO can make the best use of the increased …
(2021-10-22). More than 10,000 children killed or injured in war torn Yemen. peoplesdispatch.org Latest UN figures state that a total of 3,455 children were killed and more than 6,600 wounded in the fighting in Yemen between March 2015 and September 2021.
(2021-10-22). SOVEREIGNTY AND SOIL: NAUSICAàÑ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND. peoplesforum.org OCTOBER SCREENING SERIES: SOVEREIGNTY AND SOIL | Join us every month this fall for one weekend of films! The theme for October's films is Soil and Sovereignty, where we examine and revive how we imagine our relationships with the land. The films will be covering culture, land struggles, and agroecology projects from around the world, starting Thursday night, October 21st, with 4 short films. On Friday, October 22nd, evening, we will be watching an earlier work from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki, that advocates against war for the protection of our planet. Finally, on Saturday afternoon, October 23r…
(2021-10-22). Pope Francis Asks the G20 For a Creative Solution to the Crisis. telesurenglish.net Pope Francis asked the G20 leaders to find solutions to the global economic crisis by considering the asymmetries between countries. | RELATED: | "The end of the pandemic must be creative. One does not come out of a crisis the same. One comes out better or worse. The end of the pandemic has to point towards something better. Otherwise, we will go backwards," he said in an interview with Telam published on Friday.
(2021-10-22). State water official fired over Flint, Michigan water crisis awarded full back pay. wsws.org Liane Shekter Smith, the disgraced director of the Michigan Office of Drinking Water, was compensated $199,880 as a result of a grievance filed over wrongful firing.
(2021-10-22). Colin Powell: Establishment Warrior. counterpunch.org History is strewn with the broken branches of twisted irony. An individual who found himself entangled in it was the late Colin Powell, who, as a military man, gave a doctrine his name only to forgo it as a diplomat. The Powell Doctrine was one of certitude and caution: do not engage in conflict except
(2021-10-22). Can We Avoid a Catastrophic War With China? counterpunch.org When he was running for office in 2008, Barack Obama wanted to put an end to the war in Iraq in order to focus U.S. troops and resources on the conflict in Afghanistan. This August, the Biden administration finally withdrew the remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan. It's hard not to get the sense that it
(2021-10-22). EU Threatens Poland With Retaliations For Its "Direct Challenges" Against The Bloc's Unity. southfront.org 
Illustrative ImagePolish PM Morawiecki says he will not be "intimidated" by the EU | Written by Paul Antonopoulos, independent geopolitical analyst | Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was repeatedly criticised on Tuesday during a tense session in the European Parliament in Brussels, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warning Warsaw that its "direct challenges" against the unity of the bloc would not go unpunished. | "Your arguments are not getting better. You're just escaping the debate," von der Leyen said after four hours of frustrating debate with Morawiecki. She added that a ruling…
(2021-10-22). Erdogan blasts world media over "the Karabakh war, our countries, the Turkic world" and "fictional 'genocide'" antibellum679354512.wordpress.com In 44-day war in Karabakh, we witnessed two-faced behavior of int'l media — Erdogan "This is not the first and nor the last example of media sanctions against the realities associated with the Karabakh war, our countries, the Turkic world. We are faced with a similar attitude on many issues related to our history, national …
(2021-10-22). Azerbaijani defense chief reviews combat troops in conquered Nagorno-Karabakh. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Azerbaijan's MoD inspects combat positions in liberated Kalbajar, Lachin districts The [defense] ministry's leadership visited a number of Azerbaijani combat positions in the Kalbajar and Lachin districts [liberated from Armenian occupation as a result of the 2020 second Karabakh war]…. Zakir Hasanov, head of the ministry, was informed that all the necessary needs of personnel …
(2021-10-22). Colin Powell, Iraq and the "Good War" counterpunch.org Some commentators are pointing out that former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who recently passed away, played an instrumental role in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Attempting to bolster President George W. Bush's and the Pentagon's plan to invade Iraq and effect regime change there, Powell went
(2021-10-22). The Rightwing Horror That Won't Go Away. counterpunch.org Trump may belong to that select club of presidents whose arrogance matches that of our generals. Early in his presidency, he horrified some official by asking why we had H-bombs if we couldn't use them? While it's true he didn't start any new wars, don't try telling that to Chinese leadership. They clearly believed he was a nut ready to nuke them. After all, at a certain point you have to take the most powerful man on the planet at his word, and if he's babbling about China being a threat, enemy number one and a country that deliberately concocted and released a global plague killing millions of people, because,…
(2021-10-22). Putin Speaks Of Taliban, Ukraine, Values And Energy At The Valdai Club. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image | On October 21st, Russian President Vladimir Putin held discussions with members of the Valdai club, after giving an address. | Notably, Putin said that the world was moving towards recognizing the Taliban movement and that Washington and Moscow were on the right track following the Geneva summit. | He also thanked Europe for the sanctions."A thank you goes to the Europeans for sanctions in the field of agriculture." They triggered retaliatory steps and encouraged investment in import subst…
(2021-10-22). Crisis management: Critical lessons from Covid 19. nationofchange.org Crisis Management is truly the difficult art and practice of Thinking the Unthinkable and then doing everything in our power to thwart it.