(2021-12-09). India and the 'Summit for Democracy': Behind the Silent Acceptance. moderndiplomacy.eu US president Joe Biden's 'Summit for Democracy' has raised questions over the legitimacy of the American leadership in global geopolitics. The summit is planned for 9-10 December and will be attended by a 'confusing' list of 110 countries. Among the invitees are EU (sans Hungary), Ukraine, Philippines, Pakistan, and India. Some major exclusions are Russia, …
(2021-12-09). Biden's Empty Warning Over Putin's Straw Man "Invasion" dissidentvoice.org 
© Sputnik / Sergey Guneev As we enter the Christmas season that's just pantomime on Pennsylvania Avenue. The private video call which lasted two hours on Tuesday was eagerly anticipated around the world amid mounting tensions and fears of a military confrontation over Ukraine. The next day headlines in Western media outlets were laden with …
(2021-12-09). China Winter Olympics: US Boycott. dissidentvoice.org 
President Biden, in full mood of marking "red lines" against Russia and Ukraine in a virtual meeting with Vladimir Putin, does not forget the importance of boycotting China's Winter Olympic Games. It's a diplomatic boycott only, so says Madame Jen Psaki, White House press secretary. Nevertheless, she and Biden are wishing the US sport-participants best …
(2021-12-09). Biden-Putin Teleconference: Putin Rejects Biden's Demand That U.S. Take Control Over Negotiations Between Ukraine and Its Former Donbass Region. covertactionmagazine.com The two-hour December 7th Biden-Putin conversation (via video-conference) focused mainly on the conflict between Ukraine and its breakaway former Donbass …
(2021-12-09). Biden's Hypocritical Democracy Summit. strategic-culture.org 
With his "Summit for Democracy," Joe Biden enthrones himself on the collapsed stage of American exceptionalism, writes Scott Ritter. | By Scott RITTER | Some campaign promises, it turns out, should not be kept. In
(2021-12-09). Jamaal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA's long record of military support for Israel. wsws.org Since its founding, the DSA has functioned as a faction of the American foreign policy establishment, promoting "democratic" and "humanitarian" imperialism.
(2021-12-09). "We Are Chun Tae-il!": the South Korean workers struggle continues. peoplesdispatch.org It is a cloudy afternoon on November 13. | A young man steps out into the streets of Seoul, holding a copy of the South Korean labor laws. Gasoline fire consumes his body with every step. With labor movements suffocated by the regime, this is his last declaration against inhuman exploitation. | "We are not machines," he cries through the flames. "Do not let my death be in vain!" | His name is Chun Tae-il. | Fifty-one years later, clouds once again fill the sky on November 13. | The shrill sound of whistles pierce the air. The police have already cordoned off the site of Chun's immolation to prevent the workers fr…
(2021-12-09). A Christmas Tale: The Downing Street Party, Laughter And Bigger State Crimes. dissidentvoice.org 
Huge media coverage has been devoted to allegations, and now serious evidence, that a Christmas party was held at 10 Downing Street on 18 December 2020. London was then in a strict lockdown with social events banned, including parties. In leaked footage obtained by ITV News, senior Downing Street staff are shown four days later, …
(2021-12-09). Laos' Railway Opens: The West Kicks and Screams as China and Laos Move Forward Together. newatlas.report December 9, 2021 (Brian Berletic — NEO) — The China-Laos railway, connecting the landlocked Southeast Asian nation of Laos with China, has finally begun operations. This historic moment marked a new chapter for Laos which remains one of the poorest nations in the region. Besides the devastation wrought by US war with neighboring Vietnam last …
(2021-12-09). Demythologizing the Russification of Bulgarian Media's Attitude Towards Civil Society. moderndiplomacy.eu Despite 30 years of post-socialist transformation, many CSOs in the country are unable to counter the denigrating rhetoric that some media outlets use against them. Challenging the presumption of Russia's widespread influence in this area, there are many differences in key aspects of the Russian and Bulgarian media's treatment of civil society. So even if …
(2021-12-09). Terrorism: The Sahel-5 are turning to Russia. moderndiplomacy.eu With renewed interest to uproot French domination, Russia has ultimately began its inroads into the Sahel region, an elongated landlocked territory located between north Africa (Maghreb) and west Africa region, and also stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. While it remains largely underdeveloped and greater part of the population impoverished, terrorist organizations …
(2021-12-09). Reason, Science and Empathy: Interrelated Foundations of American Survival. moderndiplomacy.eu "Science, by which I mean the entire body of knowledge about things, whether corporeal or spiritual, is as much a work of imagination as it is of observation….-Jose Ortega y'Gasset, Man and Crisis (1958) Reason, anti-Reason and Mortality The distracting whispers must be rejected. To survive long-term, especially during times of growing biological peril, Americans …
(2021-12-09). Fifty Years OF India-Bangladesh Ties: Sky's The Limit. moderndiplomacy.eu Bangladesh and India are two neighboring countries of South Asia and these two countries have historically had very close relations. After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, present day Bangladesh was part of the Republic of Pakistan as East Pakistan. The people of Bengal will never forget the assistance rendered by the late …
(2021-12-09). USA-South Korean Military Cooperation and the Sino-US Standoff. journal-neo.org 
As the year 2021 comes to a close, the global Sino-American conflict continues, which could radically change our attitude as to how we see the world today. Media reports on the current events do not often mention one of its important world players, the Republic of Korea (or South Korea). After all, most people associate …
(2021-12-09). For Want Of A Dental Plan, Erie Strayer Strike Grinds On. popularresistance.org Many people who work hard in full time jobs take a dental plan for granted. Many people who work hard in full-time jobs assume they will get more than a 25-cent-per-hour raise each year. But a group of workers at a cement plant in Erie, Pennsylvania have spent two months on strike trying to win those basic things‚Äâ—‚Äâand their fight is far from over. | About 40 workers at the Erie Strayer cement factory are members of Ironworkers Local 851. The company is family-owned, and has been unionized since the 1940s. The union contract expired on April 1. The union spent months at…
(2021-12-09). Students Rally To Support Prison Moratorium. popularresistance.org Massachusetts – Smith College students marched through the streets of downtown Northampton backed by a chorus of honking cars as they chanted, "We don't want a prison nation, stop mass incarceration!" on Saturday, Dec. 4. | This march was in support of a moratorium on prison and jail construction within Massachusetts that was introduced in the Massachusetts state legislature. The bill was written by Families for Justice and Healing and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, who, along with Massachusetts Peace Action, sponsored the walk. Smith students and volunteers from…
(2021-12-09). Talking 'Peace' US Arms Saudis For Latest Attack On Yemen. popularresistance.org Hodeidah, Yemen – Inside the ruins of a modest Yemeni home where human and animal remains were strewn together, local rescuers struggled to evacuate a pregnant mother and other potential survivors from the rubble as warplanes circled above. There, they found the body of a toddler covered in ashes beside the remains of a humble dining table. The chaotic cries of rescuers covered in blood filled the scene as they examined his remains, exposing what appeared to be an umbilical cord. Near the boy, they found his young mother covered in rubble, barely groaning in a muffled voice of pain. | Just two days after World Ch…
(2021-12-09). White Supremacy, Nazism And Fascism R U.S. popularresistance.org Writing these words during the Thanksgiving "celebration" is sadly ironic as it illustrates the contradictions of a culture that has yet to reconcile itself with its colonial and white supremacist ideologies, past and present. Despite many criticisms, white supremacy remains not only well and strong, but is also recognized and hailed by the United States on the world stage as an acceptable and legitimate ideology. | Recently, Ben Norton , journalist at the Grayzone, reported, as others have occasionally done since 2004, on the refusal of the United States to vote to approve a UN resolution against the glorificati…
(2021-12-09). OTF — The "independent" internet freedom organization that makes all your favorite privacy apps—is staffed full of spies. mronline.org 
While the OTF presents itself as independent internet freedom activists, their funding, staff, history and choice of targets all point to the conclusion that they are a digital weapon being used against Washington's enemies.
(2021-12-09). Climate change: Adapt for the future, not the past. mronline.org 
Funding for developing countries to address global warming is grossly inadequate. Very little finance is for adaptation to climate change, the urgent need of countries most adversely affected. Also, adaptation needs to be forward-looking rather than only addressing accumulated problems.
(2021-12-09). Tenants Demand Tecton Corporation Make Repairs and Provide Habitable Conditions. itsgoingdown.org 
Report from Puget Sound Tenant Union about campaign to demand that Tecton Corporation make basic repairs in the city of Burien, Washington in the Pacific Northwest. This summer, we made contact and started organizing with tenants at two apartment buildings in Burien managed by Tecton Corporation. Tecton is a large, shady property management company that…
(2021-12-09). Ineffectual Boycotts: The Beijing Winter Olympics. dissidentvoice.org Making moral statements in the blood and gristle of international relations can often come across as feeble. In doing so, the maker serves the worst of all worlds: to reveal a false sense of assurance that something was done while serving no actual purpose other than to provoke. Anger, and impotence, follow. The Biden administration …
(2021-12-09). China Plays a Crucial Role Supporting Progress and Sovereignty in Latin America. orinocotribune.com By Carlos Martinez — Dec 6, 2021 | In the last two decades, economic links between Latin America and the People's Republic of China have been expanding at a dizzying rate. | Bilateral trade in 2000 was just $12 billion (1 per cent of Latin American's total trade); now it stands at $315bn. In the same time period, China's foreign direct investment in Latin America has increased by a factor of five. | Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, 19 of the 33 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region have signed up to the China-led global infrastructure development strategy. | Infrastruc…
(2021-12-09). Are the Candidacies of Jorge Arreaza and Claudio Fermín Legal? orinocotribune.com As the January 9 elections in the state of Barinas approach, the temperature of the political debate in Venezuela is heating up between the four opposition candidates and the candidate for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)/Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), Jorge Arreaza. | Within both the right-wing groups and the Chavistas, a debate was opened regarding the various options that are on the table. This political landscape was formed after the inconclusive elections of November 21 in Barinas, and the National Electoral Council's (CNE) announcement of a re-election process. | The present candidates now includ…
(2021-12-09). Report-back from a Rail Blockade in Saint-Lambert. itsgoingdown.org Report on recent blockade in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders. Originally posted to Montreal Counter-Info. On Saturday, more than sixty people acting in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders blocked the CN main line in Saint-Lambert south of Montreal for over six hours. It was the longest rail blockade in Quebec since the winter of 2020,…
(2021-12-09). UN and AU endorse Sudan's coup government, the streets do not. peoplesdispatch.org Protesters are not convinced by the UN and AU's position that democracy can be won by accepting a government where the real levers of power are held by the military while a cabinet of technocrats is paraded before the international community to maintain the facade of 'joint military-civilian rule'
(2021-12-09). 'People's Lawyer' Sudha Bharadwaj released after three years in jail. peoplesdispatch.org The activist-lawyer was granted default bail on December 1 following more than three years of her incarceration without trial in the Bhima Koregaon case in which a number of other activists were also implicated…
(2021-12-09). On "Gassing the Arabs" and Other Diseases: Is Israel a "Sick Society"? dissidentvoice.org 
For whatever reason, some mistakenly perceive the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, as liberal, progressive and even 'pro-Palestinian'. Of course, none of this is true. This misconstrued depiction of an essentially Zionist and anti-Palestinian newspaper tells of a much bigger story of how confusing Israeli politics is, and how equally confused many of us are in understanding …
(2021-12-09). Bolton Admits that 'Unity' of Venezuela's Opposition Depends on US Position. orinocotribune.com Former White House national security adviser and one of the main promoters of the maximum pressure policy against Venezuela, John Bolton, assured that the absence of "a solid position" from the United States puts the "unity of the opposition" at risk, in terms of the so-called "interim government," "Without stronger American support, how long could the opposition hold together?" asked Bolton, as quo…
(2021-12-09). Does the Deepening Crisis in Turkey Manifest an End to the Erdogan Era? journal-neo.org 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is experiencing his worst moments as head of state today. Social and political tensions in the country are becoming increasingly evident. The economy is collapsing, the value of the national currency is relentlessly falling, and the number of poor people is skyrocketing. According to recently published data, the nation's citizens …
(2021-12-09). How Portland's Activists Are Bringing Mutual Aid to the Homeless. zcomm.org Mutual aid offers a route to directly help people living outside, and potentially save lives through the winter months…
(2021-12-09). Justice Department launches lawsuit against Texas gerrymandering for violation of Voting Rights Act. wsws.org Texas redistricting alleged to have "discriminatory purpose," disenfranchising minority voters.
(2021-12-09). CFPE online meeting this Saturday: COVID-19 spreads through Australian schools—Lives before profit! Stop the pandemic! wsws.org Register in advance and promote the meeting among educators, students, colleagues and friends!
(2021-12-09). Striking Columbia Student Workers Demand Living Wage. zcomm.org In the largest strike happening right now in the United States, 3,000 student workers at New York City's Columbia University are on their fifth week of strike…
(2021-12-09). In bid to blow up nuclear talks, US imposes sanctions, steals Iranian oil. wsws.org Washington's provocations have been accompanied by increasingly bellicose threats and actions by Israel.
(2021-12-09). After a Year-Long Strike, Indian Farmers Score a Big Win. zcomm.org The country's prime minister has agreed to roll back laws that threatened to corporatize agriculture, jeopardizing the food security of more than 800 million people and further enriching the ultra-rich…
(2021-12-09). Benton Harbor, Michigan water crisis: More of the same toxic politics. wsws.org Unlike the notorious case of the Flint water crisis—where a criminal switch to untreated water corroded pipes—the catastrophe in Benton Harbor is the advanced expression of deteriorating infrastructure on its last legs.
(2021-12-09). New Omicron alarm: Significant drop in protection for doubly vaccinated individuals. wsws.org Many preliminary studies demonstrate that immunity after vaccines drops considerably with the Omicron variant.
(2021-12-09). Most workers support vaccine and mask mandates for the workplace. moderndiplomacy.eu According to a new survey, there is widespread support among workers across the world for workplace COVID-control mandates. On average, about three in four employed adults agree that everyone in their workplace should be fully vaccinated (78%), undergo frequent testing if unvaccinated (74%), and wear a mask in common areas (81%). A majority of workers …
(2021-12-09). Join 1 Crown Office Row for an evening discussing Pupillage Application Tips and Life at the Bar. ukhumanrightsblog.com 
For all the aspiring barristers interested in Clinical Negligence, Public Law, Professional Discipline, Inquests, Public Inquiries, Environment, Tax and more, 1 Crown Office Row are holding an online talk with their barristers. They will give tips for pupillage applications, life as both a pupil and junior tenant as well as talk more about practice areas …
(2021-12-09). UK: Johnson moves to Plan B measures over Omicron variant amid escalating government crisis. wsws.org Having ruled out any more lockdowns months ago in order to protect the profits of the corporations, the Plan B measures are extremely limited, inadequate, and, as always, way behind the times.
(2021-12-09). Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr.'s Heroic Resistance to the CIA's Continuing Covid Coup D'état. dissidentvoice.org 
A Meditation With his extraordinary new book, The Real Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, RFK, Jr. has made it very clear that he will not allow Orwell's 1984 totalitarian boot to stamp on his face. His is a very rare moral courage, and he is asking …
(2021-12-09). Betrayal of Cádiz metal strike exposes Spanish Morenoite Izquierda Diario. wsws.org La Izquierda Diario, the online publication of the Revolutionary Workers Current, is hailing factions of the Podemos party, which worked to crush and sell out the strike.
(2021-12-09). Hard Bargaining in Las Vegas Hospitals. zcomm.org The story of big open bargaining and revitalizing the nurses union in Las Vegas…
(2021-12-09). Sally Rooney: Anyone who has Visited Palestine Could Not Fail to Support her Decision. orinocotribune.com 
By Alexandra Pringle — Dec 3, 2021 | Experiencing what Palestinians endure daily changes you forever. That's why many writers who've been to the Palestine Festival of Literature backed her refusal to publish in Israel | Irish author Sally Rooney recently
(2021-12-09). Social Democrat Chancellor Scholz takes power in Germany at head of "traffic light" coalition. wsws.org The coalition of the Social Democrats, Free Democrats and Greens (Red, Yellow and Green in their party colours) will aggressively pursue a right-wing foreign and domestic policy, including enforcing mass infection in the pandemic.
(2021-12-09). UK teacher with Long COVID welcomes Global Workers Inquest into the pandemic. wsws.org "I absolutely support a global workers inquest. It's the only way to get out of this mess without causing more death and more comorbidities in the working class and children in state schools."
(2021-12-09). 60th anniversary of the birth of the Papuan state: Betrayal and resurrection. greenleft.org.au December 1, 2021, marks 60 years since the state of West Papua came into being. But Papuans are still struggling to achieve their independence, writes Yamin Kogoya.
(2021-12-09). US: No money for COVID tests, blank check for the military. wsws.org As the White House rejects sending free COVID-19 tests to Americans because it would "cost" too much, the US House of Representatives has made it clear there will be no limits on military spending.
(2021-12-09). Backing horses: Australia's Solomon Islands intervention. greenleft.org.au The history of "humanitarian" or policing missions is one of taking sides, argues Binoy Kampmark.