2022-02-04: News Headlines

Jason Ditz (2022-02-04). Saudi Airstrikes Kill Seven Houthis in Yemen's Taiz. news.antiwar.com Saudi forces carried out a series of airstrikes in Taiz Province in SW Yemen on Thursday, The attacks hit western Taiz, reportedly striking a weapons cache belonging to the Houthis, and setting off a substantial explosion. | Exactly why Taiz came under attack is unclear. The city has been contested for the entire seven years of the Yemen War. The Saudi invasion force was never able to take the city, one of the fi…

Jake Johnson (2022-02-04). Warren warns 'corporate vultures' are circling Medicare on Biden's watch. nationofchange.org Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday joined physicians and dozens of her House Democratic colleagues in urging the Biden administration to immediately halt Medicare Direct Contracting, a Trump-era pilot that could result in complete privatization of the cherished public healthcare program by decade's end. "It is completely baffling to me that the Biden administration wants to …

Chris Hedges (2022-02-04). Hedges: Heeding James Joyce's 'Ulysses'. nationofchange.org A century after its publication, the timeless novel warns us about the poisons of nationalism and idolatry and the commonality of our sojourns between birth and death.

William D. Hartung (2022-02-04). What a Waste, and You're Paying for it: $778 Billion for the Pentagon and Still Counting. juancole.com ( Tomdispatch.com) — 2021 was another banner year for the military-industrial complex, as Congress signed off on a near-record $778 billion in spending for the Pentagon and related work on nuclear warheads at the Department of Energy. That was $25 billion more than the Pentagon had even asked for. It can't be emphasized enough just …

Party for Socialism & Liberation (2022-02-04). Friday 2/4: Capitalism shows its true colors: Money for war, but not for people's needs. indybay.org Virtual event. Register at bit.ly/stop-nato-war

ecns.cn (2022-02-04). Herd immunity through natural infection to fight COVID-19 'foolish idea': WHO chief scientist. ecns.cn Chief scientist at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Soumya Swaminathan Thursday warned against the idea of attaining herd immunity through natural infection to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it "foolish" as there are huge costs to be paid.

Nauman Sadiq (2022-02-04). How Erdogan Scapegoated ISIS Caliph to Appease Biden? dissidentvoice.org Whilst Turkish President Erdogan was in Kiev on Thursday, ostensibly brokering a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine to defuse escalating tensions following the Russian troop build-up along Ukraine's borders and the deployment of 3,000 US forces in Poland and Romania, Biden announced that the Islamic State leader had been killed in a special-ops raid …

Cynthia Papermaster (2022-02-04). Saturday 2/5: No War With Russia; Yes to Diplomacy and Peace. indybay.org Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, MLK Jr. Way @ Allston Way, Berkeley.

TASS (2022-02-04). US ready to support 'serious return to negotiations' on Ukraine – diplomat. tass.com US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland agreed that the peace process would require Kiev's efforts as well…

_____ (2022-02-04). Some Consequences of the Latest hate Speech Incident in India. journal-neo.org On January 10 the Supreme Court of India agreed to urgently consider a petition on "hate speech" against the country's Moslem communities, with reference to specific incidents, most notoriously an incident in December 2021 in Haridwar — a city venerated in the Himalayan foothills on the banks of the River Ganges. Both the city and …

Marie Kelly (2022-02-04). Pandemic exposes U.S. health care crisis. workers.org In the book "The Great Influenza: The Deadliest Pandemic in History" by John Barry, written in 2005 about the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918, we learn that pandemic actually started in the U.S. The army barracks in the Midwest were the breeding ground for the deadly virus. World War I . . . |

WSWS (2022-02-04). Poorer countries facing sovereign debt crisis. wsws.org One of the most vulnerable countries is Sri Lanka. Rating agency S&P Global warned last month the country faced a possible default this year as it downgraded its sovereign bonds.

Swaran Singh (2022-02-04). Biden administration must rejig its North Korea strategy. asiatimes.com The UN Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting this Friday to discuss North Korea's seven missile tests in the past four weeks. The meeting was requested by the United States, along with Britain and France, and agreed by Russia, which holds the presidency of UNSC for the month of February. However, given the …

WSWS (2022-02-04). Johnson government to end daily reporting of UK COVID deaths. wsws.org Ending daily reporting is the first step towards ending all reporting. According to the logic of the social murderers in the government, there will no longer be a pandemic to report.

WSWS (2022-02-04). Ford Saarlouis and Valencia plants: The blackmail continues. wsws.org Ford in Europe has announced electrification plans for plants in Cologne (Germany), Kocaeli (Turkey) and Craiova (Romania). However, the plants at Almussafes and Saarlouis must compete against each other in an internal "bidding war" for the commitment to produce an electric model.

imperial.ac.uk (2022-02-04). I-X award and compost health risk: News from the College. imperial.ac.uk Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial.

Cascadia Survivalist (2022-02-04). Readings on Martial Law and Citizens in a Revolution. indybay.org Governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations all have vested interests in criminalizing, disrupting and suppressing survivalist and activist groups of all persuasions. Security is needed to ensure our continued success. We also have a basic right to protect your privacy and anonymity from unwarranted intrusion…

Staff (2022-02-04). President Maduro: Chávez's 4F Rebellion was a Cry Against Colonization. orinocotribune.com The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, asserted earlier today that the rebellion of February 4, 1992, known in Venezuela as 4F/1992, led by Commander Hugo Chávez, represented an outcry against the colonization that the neoliberal government of Carlos Andrés Pérez intended to impose on the country. | The comments were made as part of President Maduro's address during commemorative events for the 30th anniversary of 4F. The head of state hosted the inauguration of the Plaza de la Rebelión Anti-imperialista [Anti-Imperialist Rebellion Square], located in the environs of the San Carlos barracks, in Caracas, wher…

_____ (2022-02-03). How US Meddling Split Sudan. popularresistance.org Like most countries, the Republic of South Sudan is a complex nation of shifting alliances and external influences. | Recently, President Salva Kiir, who sports a Stetson hat gifted him by George W. Bush, signed a peace agreement with old enemies, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition. Around the same time, the so-called Embassy Troika consisting of the US, Britain, and Norway facilitated International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs for South Sudan. | When China proposes investment schemes, US politicians call it "debt-trap diplomacy." As has been seen in South Sudan, when Western corporations seek to pl…

Staff (2022-02-03). "We Need Peace": War in Ukraine Would Be Humanitarian Catastrophe for Millions in the Region. democracynow.org As tensions grow between Russia and NATO over a potential invasion of Ukraine, up to 2 million people in eastern Ukraine are at risk of massive displacement and violence if the conflict escalates. We speak with the Norwegian Refugee Council's Jan Egeland, who is on the ground in Ukraine and says a war could roll back nearly a decade of humanitarian progress made in the Ukrainian region. "We need reconciliation, we need peace," says Egeland on the messages he is hearing from Ukrainians.

Editor (2022-02-03). Solidarity forged from slave chains. mronline.org When the American Civil War ended, Lincoln and his successor Andrew Johnson gave the defeated Confederacy generous peace terms. Vengeance upon the slaveocracy was to be no part of the reconciliation process. It was to be amnesty for Southern slave-owners but new chains for the former slaves.

Peoples Dispatch (2022-02-03). Filipino ex-militant and peace consultant's killing raises many questions. peoplesdispatch.org The banned Communist Party of the Philippines has questioned the military's narrative surrounding the death of Pedro Codaste and alleged that he was kidnapped and tortured before being killed…

Amy Goodman (2022-02-03). War in Ukraine Could Be Humanitarian Catastrophe for Millions in the Region. truthout.org Image Credit: Norwegian Refugee Council | As tensions grow between Russia and NATO over a potential invasion of Ukraine, up to 2 million people in eastern Ukraine are at risk of massive displacement and violence if the conflict escalates. We speak with the Norwegian Refugee Council's Jan Egeland, who is on the ground in Ukraine and says a war could roll back nearly a decade of humanitarian progress made in the Ukrainian region. "We need reconciliation, we need peace," says Egeland on the messages…

_____ (2022-02-03). Rail Unions Are Bargaining Over A Good Job Made Miserable. popularresistance.org Contract negotiations covering 115,000 rail workers in the U.S. are expected to heat up in 2022. | Workers are seething over the impact of extreme cost-cutting measures. Rail unions are escalating through the slow steps of negotiations under the Railway Labor Act—toward a resolution, a strike, or a lockout. | Rail remains one of the most heavily unionized industries in the country, and rail workers maintain the arteries of the economic system. | In 2018, U.S. railroads moved 1.73 trillion ton-miles of freight, while trucks moved 2.03 trillion. (One ton-mile is one ton of freight moved one mile.) A slim majo…

_____ (2022-02-03). Russia Accuses US And NATO Of Provoking War In Ukraine. popularresistance.org On Monday, January 31, at a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting called to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the Russian envoy to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, accused the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of whipping up war hysteria in eastern Europe. | Nebenzya was responding to the US permanent representative at the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield, who reiterated her country's claims of an imminent threat of Russian invasion of Ukraine. She called on the UN to take urgent steps to prevent the war, saying that failure to do so will lead to "horrible consequences." She claimed that deployment at the Russ…

Ben Chacko, John Wojcik (2022-02-03). Neo-Nazis active in Ukraine as White House adds 3,000 troops. peoplesworld.org There's an increasingly surreal air regarding the war scare over Ukraine. The original roles in the drama seem to be reversed. Back in December, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Oleksii Reznikov was warning that "not provoking Russia—that strategy does not and will not work," claiming that Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 because NATO hadn't let it join. …

Granma (2022-02-03). Cuba's answer to 60 years of the U.S. economic blockade. peoplesworld.org Editor's note: Feb. 3, 2022 marks 60 years since the United States initiated its economic blockade against the people of Cuba. On this date in 1962, President John F. Kennedy placed what was called an "embargo" on all trade between Cuba and the U.S. That act began a policy of economic warfare that continues to …

Kevin Mwanza (2022-02-03). Don't Send Out The Crypto: How To Stay Safe From Crypto Airdrop Scam Giveaways. moguldom.com The crypto airdrop — a marketing strategy followed by blockchain based services that helps crypto startups to stand out from the crowd — has become a way for scammers to lure people into a clicking frenzy with the goal of separating them from their assets. The aim of crypto airdrops is to spread awareness about …

Staff (2022-02-03). Jorge Rodríguez: Deputies Failing to Fulfill their Oath Will be Jailed. orinocotribune.com This Tuesday, February 2, the president of Venezuela's National Assembly (AN) Jorge Rodríguez, warned that deputies who fail to comply with their oath will go to prison. This was said after referring to the case of PSUV parliamentarian, Taina González Rubio, who was arrested in Falcón for her alleged involvement in a drug trafficking network. | "Jail will be the destination for any deputy failing to fulfill their oath, thus becoming a despicable traitor. Everyone who deviates from the right path will be sent to jail," he asserted during his speech at the session this Tuesday, in which the parliamentary immunity o…

Staff (2022-02-03). Headlines for February 3, 2022. democracynow.org U.S. to Deploy 3,000 Additional Troops to Eastern Europe Amid Tensions over Ukraine, Witnesses Say U.S. Raid That Killed ISIS Leader in Syria Left Civilians Dead, Pentagon Sends Warship and Planes to UAE; Saudi Arabia and Israel Hold Joint Naval Exercises, Militia Attacks DRC Camp for Displaced People, Killing 60, Pfizer Asks FDA to Approve COVID Vaccine for Young Kids Despite Mixed Clinical Trial Results, Ecuadorian Court Rejects Oil Drilling on Indigenous Lands in Amazon Rainforest, Biden Renominates Former Chevron Lawyer First Tapped by Trump to Become Federal Judge, Senate Forges Ahead with Judicial Confirmat…

Rick Rozoff (2022-02-03). NATO bulwark Turkey pushes to mediate between Russia, Ukraine. Putin to visit Ankara. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com -As High Level Strategic Council (presidents of both countries) and joint ministerial meetings have been held in Kiev. -Ankara continually confirms its demand that Crimea and the Donetsk and Lugansk republics be returned to Ukraine, which means Russia being expelled from Crimea. -Constantly condemns Russia for alleged persecution of its "ethnic (read racial) kin," the …

Vy Tranh Diem (2022-02-03). Food for thought: going beyond 'survival' in Vietnam. asiatimes.com My first restaurant opened in Hoi An, then an old trading village, three decades ago. At the time, Vietnam was cut off from the Western world because of a trade embargo designed to invert the result of what we called the American War. But we persevered, and shortly after I served my first meals, a …

WSWS (2022-02-03). Warmongering against Russia in the name of Auschwitz. wsws.org The more the USA and NATO intensify their war drive against Russia, the more aggressively the ruling class in Germany behaves.

Tom Engelhardt (2022-02-03). Tomgram: William Hartung, Mission (Im)possible — and You're Paying for It. warisacrime.org This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. Whatever the U.S. military may be considered, it isn't usually thought of as a scam operation. Maybe it's time to change that way of thinking, though. After all, we're talking about a crew with a larger "defense" budget …

Fight Back (2022-02-03). Read Mao's article on battle of Stalingrad. fightbacknews.org Feb. 2 marks the 79th anniversary of victory over fascism at Stalingrad | | To mark the victory of the Soviet Union at Stalingrad, Fight Back News Service is reprinting the following article by Mao Zedong, that was first published October 12, 1942, in Liberation Daily. | | The Turning point in World War 2 | | The Battle of Stalingrad has been compared by the British and American press to the Battle of Verdun, and the "Red Verdun" is now famous all over the world. This comparison is not altogether appropriate. The Battle of Stalingrad is different in nature from the Battle of Verdun in World War I. But they…

Anonymous103 (2022-02-03). Military Situation In Syria On February 3, 2022 (Map Update). southfront.org Click to see full-size image | On February 3, the Russian Ministry of Defence recorded no hostilities and ceasefire violations in Idlib region in the past 24 hours; | On February 3, the US special forces backed by several attack helicopters, combat drones and warplanes attacked Atmah town in Idlib province. 13 people were reportedly killed in the attack; | On February 3, the SDF security operation aimed to arrest ISIS members continue in the city of Hasakah; | On February 3, the US killed Abu Ibr…

Plus News (2022-02-03). Patriotism is NRM ideology. plusnews.ug By Emmanuel Lumala Dombo Until recently, many thought that the position of PM belonged to the Banyakigezi, given the two former Prime Ministers of Uganda. Being a political appointment, there could have been sufficient reason at a particular time that warranted that to happen and that even enabled some people to begin imagining that after …

Staff (2022-02-03). Russian Historian: We Need Both the U.S. & Russia to Deescalate Crisis over Ukraine. democracynow.org Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin continuing to deny accusations of a planned invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration ordered the deployment of 3,000 additional troops to Eastern Europe on Wednesday to supposedly protect Ukraine. Moscow-based historian and political writer Ilya Budraitskis says both Russia and the U.S. are gaining more from the threat of conflict than an actual war, and says Russia has no real strategic gain from a potential invasion.

_____ (2022-02-03). US Exacts Revenge on Afghanistan for its Defiance. journal-neo.org Ever since the Taliban (an organization deemed terrorist and banned in Russia) took control of Afghanistan last August amid a shameful and chaotic US withdrawal, the country, ravaged by war and occupation for 20 years, has plunged deeper and deeper into disaster, causing new waves of displacement, further impoverishing it and raising the specter of …

_____ (2022-02-03). Blackwater Is In The Donbas With The Azov Battalion. popularresistance.org The phone call between President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelensky "did not go well", CNN headlines: while "Biden warned that the Russian invasion in February is practically certain when the frozen ground makes it possible for tanks to pass through", Zelensky " asked Biden to tone down, arguing that the Russian threat is still ambiguous". While the Ukrainian president himself takes a more cautious stance, the Ukrainian armed forces are massing in Donbas close to the Donetsk and Lugansk area inhabited by Russian populations. According to reports from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, units of th…

Michael Berkowitz (2022-02-03). 'Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy': Rediscovering the wheel. peoplesworld.org The films of Japanese film director and screenwriter Ryusuke Hamaguchi lodge in your brain and heart like small incendiary devices, ticking from his self-awareness toward yours. What did the character mean by that? How does that change her life? Where are we going with this anyway? They are the slowly digestible complexities of people discovering …

Nikola Mikovic (2022-02-03). Despite the U.S. Hype about an "imminent" Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is not Ready to Risk War. juancole.com Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) — Russia seems to be giving up on the "ultimatum" it issued to the United States in December. After Washington and its allies said no to Moscow's security demands, the Kremlin started to soften its rhetoric regarding a potential NATO expansion eastward. Western media, however, keep spreading rumors of an …

News Release (2022-02-03). Coalition to Prevent War with Russia. indybay.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — TUESDAY, FEB. 1, 2022…

Rick Rozoff (2022-02-03). DM: Ukraine, Turkey sign agreement to produce Turkish combat drones for war in Donbass. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Reznikov Announces Signing Of Framework Agreement With Turkey On Construction Of Bayraktar Drone Plant In Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced the signing of a framework agreement with Turkey on the construction of a Bayraktar drone plant in Ukraine. *** Reznikov said that a delegation of the Republic of Turkey would be visiting Ukraine today. …

Anonymous103 (2022-02-03). Military Situation In Yemen On February 3, 2022 (Map Update). southfront.org Click to see full-size image | The Liaison and Coordination Officers' Operations Room (loyal to Ansar Allah) reported 130 ceasefire violations in al-Hudaydah in the past 24 hours; | On February 2, warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition conducted 4 airstrikes on the Haradh district; | On February 2, warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition conducted 3 airstrikes on the Sanaa province; | On February 2, warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition conducted 4 airstrikes on the Jubah district; | On February 2, warplanes…

Staff (2022-02-03). Russia reveals plans in case of cut-off from US dollar. rt.com The Kremlin has urged calm in the face of massive US sanctions | Moscow is prepared for the possibility that harsh US sanctions could restrict its banks' access to dollar transactions, the Kremlin has said, admitting that the potentially unprecedented measures have officials worried. | Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday that Moscow is well aware of the threat of massive sanctions coming from the American side amid an ongoing row over Ukraine. "Certainly, the Kremlin is concerned, because the sanctions behavior of the US is absolutely unpredictable," he said. | The spokesman wen…

Staff (2022-02-03). Jan Egeland on Afghanistan Facing Famine, a Massacre in DR Congo & Civilian Casualties in Syria. democracynow.org The United Nations warns Afghanistan is "hanging by a thread" as millions in the country suffer from hunger and are at risk of freezing to death during the winter as U.S. sanctions have devastated the economy. We get an update on what is now the world's largest humanitarian crisis from Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. He also discusses how the NRC has condemned the deadly attack on a camp for displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the organization's humanitarian concerns after the U.S. raid in Syria targeting an ISIS leader that reportedly killed at least 13, inc…

Jake Johnson (2022-02-03). Warren Calls on Biden to End Trump-Era Plan Aimed at Privatizing Medicare. truthout.org Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday joined "It is completely baffling to me that the Biden administratio…

Rick Rozoff (2022-02-03). "Just meeting our commitments with NATO": French, U.S. military integration in Romania. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday said that the announced French military presence in Romania cannot be seen as a "challenge" by Russia since France doesn't do anything else but honouring its commitments. "France is a nation-state, and its participation in NATO's enhanced forward presence in Romania is in …

Peoples Dispatch (2022-02-03). US to deploy advanced fighter jets and warships in UAE amid escalation in Yemen war. peoplesdispatch.org A year ago, the Joe Biden administration had announced the end of US' role in the Saudi Arabia and UAE-led war in Yemen which has killed hundreds of thousands and caused the world's largest humanitarian crisis…

2022-02-04 16:40 | 10:40 EST | jz | 52 | 0 | 32 | 19 | 0