This is an archived newsroll page on A Socialist In Canada, consisting of headlines and weblinks, with occasional news summary and brief analysis, for the indicated month and year. See the current, ‘World news’ website page here. To find past stories on this and other news pages on this website, use the ‘find’ (word search) function on your web browser. Headlines in red denote items published on the main news page of A Socialist In Canada, mostly authored by Roger Annis.
World news headlines on A Socialist In Canada, August 2022
UN inspectors leave Kiev heading to Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, RT, Aug 31, 2022 …IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told reporters that the inspectors intend to spend “a few days” at the plant and will report back afterwards. But local authorities said on August 30 that the IAEA mission in Energodar – the city where the ZNPP is located and which is in the part of Zaporozhye region controlled by Russian forces – is expected to last only one day…
[According to RIA Novosti, citing Ukrainian sources, the IAEA delegation arrived in the city of Zaporozhye on Augusut 31. The city is located some 60 km north and east of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant on the opposite side of the Dniepier (Dnipro) River reservoir.
[The Kiev regime and Western media have widely broadcast a claim of a ‘Ukrainian counteroffensive’ newly launched in the Kherson region along the Black Sea coastline. That announcement coincided with news of the IAEA mission to the ZNPP. Ukraine and its Western patrons have for months opposed such an inspection delegation.]
The majority of Ukrainian refugees are fleeing to Russia, by Deborah Armstrong, published on her website page on Medium.com, Aug 25, 2022 It may come as a shock to those following mainstream news in the West to learn that the majority of Ukrainians leaving the country are fleeing to Russia. On top of that, many Ukrainian prisoners of war do not want to be returned to their home country. This would be shocking to the masses who rely on corporate-run junk news and are therefore unaware. Yet it is exactly what is happening, and the United Nations has even puplilshes the numbers to prove it…
Also by Deborah Armstrong: Roger Waters added to Ukrainian hit list, by Deborah Armstrong, published on her website page on Medium.com, Aug 22, 2022
Days after approving another $3 billion for Ukraine war, U.S. says no more money for free Covid tests, Common Dreams, Aug 29, 2022
Related: The missing ‘peace’ in $13.5 billion of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, by Marcy Winograd (Democrats of America), published in Common Dreams, Aug 31, 2022 (Marcy Winograd is the director of CodePink Congress.) …We cannot call for peace in Ukraine while simultaneously supplying that country with advanced rocket systems and missiles that could lead to a direct war between the US and Russia, the world’s most heavily armed nuclear nations… [As signalled by the news article and commentary above, the liberal Common Dreams continues to walk back its support to NATO’s proxy war against Russia. There are no rote condemnations of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in the two items, just serious analysis of how peace may come about in Ukraine].
Previously reported: The West’s dangerously simple-minded narrative about Russia and China, commentary by Jeffrey Sachs, published in Common Dreams, Aug 23, 2022 [This commentary blames the U.S. government for policies that have sparked Russia’s defensive military intervention in Ukraine. Of note is that the commentary is published in Common Dreams, a ‘NATO socialist’ outlet that accuses Russia of acting illegally and immorally in its intervention to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. Are the editors of Common Dreams now rethinking their pro-NATO stand? On August 23, Common Dreams published an article condemning the world’s four largest grain marketing companies–three in the U.S., one in France–for worsening the food and hunger crisis in the world. Here is another departure from the Western media and governments ‘blame Russia’ narrative. Note that world food prices as measured by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations declined in July 2022 for the fourth month in a row.]
Marx was right, the crisis of capitalism is now upon us and there are no palliative measures to make the situation bearable. Essay by Craig Murray (former UK diplomat), published on his website, Aug 30, 2022 (re-published in Consortium News, Aug 31, 2022)
The U.S. West Point military academy still has a plaque honoring the Ku Klux Klan, among many paintings and statues honoring those who waged war to preserve slavery. Report in New York Times, Aug 30, 2022
Related: A Southerner who abandoned the Lost Cause, book review by John Reeves, in Washington Post, Feb 5, 2021 Reviewing: Robert E Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause, by Ty Seidule, St. Martin’s Press, Jan 2021
IAEA support and assistance mission sets out to Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, media release by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Aug 29, 2022
[This IEAE media release continues the practice by the agency in its media releases of exclusively relaying the views of the governing regime in Kiev, even though the safety of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant has been provided by Russian armed forces together with existing plant staff for more than six months now. The Ukraine regime has no role in the operation of the plant, except to endanger its safety with reckless and criminal shelling. This practice of relaying Kiev’s viewpoint on the ZNPP has been de rigeur in corporate and state media in Western countries for the past six months. The Washington Post adds a new twist to the already outlandish claim that Russia is shelling the plant and the nearby city of Energodar. The Post relays on August 29 Ukraine’s false claim that it has been shelling in the area of the nuclear plant because Russia is conducting its shelling from there. As though this is not only a true story but even acceptable conduct under the circumstances!]
U.S. media ignored major anti-U.S. military protest in South Korea, by Tim Shorrock, published in Responsible Statecraft, Aug 23, 2022 Fake news about Kim Jong-Un gets wall-to-wall coverage in U.S. media , but when thousands of Korean citizens marched in Seoul on August 14 to oppose a reckless military exercise with the U.S., this goes largely unnoticed. Amazingly, not a word about the protest appeared in the U.S. media.
A genocidal warmongering nation disguised as a democracy?, by Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, Aug 26, 2022 From its inception to the present, the U.S. rarely distinguishes between diplomacy and war. Today, it has ambassadors working in one-third of the world’s countries, but has special force operators active in three quarters of them. Read the column here in pdf format: A genocidal warmongering nation disguised as a democracy
James Webb Space Telescope is already challenging what astronomers thought they knew, Washington Post, Aug 28, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: James Webb Space Telescope
Facebook and Twitter dismantle U.S. and British based influence campaigns promoting Ukraine, Washington Post, Aug 24, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Facebook and Twitter dismantle pro-Ukraine accounts
Related: Revelations of pro-Western covert campaigns on social media are no surprise, by Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, Aug 28, 2022 read the column here in pdf format: Covert, pro-Western campaigns on social media
Reference: Unheard Voice: Evaluating five years of pro-Western covert influence operations, report by media analytics firm Graphika and Stanford University Internet Observatory, Aug 24, 2022 (57-page report)
The ‘double genocide’ theory equating the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany is the new and official form of genocide denial, by Dovid Katz, A Socialist In Canada, Aug 28, 2022 (first published in Jewish Currents, issue of autumn 2017)
Brief introduction by A Socialist In Canada: This essay was first published in 2017, nearly five years ago. But the subject matter could not be more current as the governments in Ukraine and in the NATO-member Baltic republics continue to rewrite their own countries’ respective histories with foul, anti-Russia and anti-Soviet themes. These favour those who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War Two in waging the Holocaust against European Jews. The NATO governments in western Europe and North America have quietly participated for a long time in the rewriting of this part of the history of the Holocaust. They have whitewashed and otherwise distorted the history of those who collaborated with Nazi Germany. They protect those who continue to spew revisionist versions of the history of Nazi and neo-Nazi ideology. Further below, see two related readings.]
Statement of the IAEA director general on the situation in Ukraine: Update #95, Aug 26, 2022 …“I remain engaged in active and intense consultations with all parties to organize and lead an IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant very soon, hopefully in the next few days,” said the director general of the Int’l Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi…
[This news release by the IEAE extensively cites the president of Ukraine, whose governing regime not only has no control over the operation of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, it has been carrying out criminally negligent shellings against it. The statement includes no information from Russia, which has controlled the plant during the past six months, in cooperation with its existing engineers and operators.]
Sanctions and the decline of the U.S. dollar, by Prabhat Patnaik, published in People’s Democracy (India), Aug 21, 2022
Western countries backpedal blustery promises on climate change; U.S. poisons global cooperation by politicizing the issue, analysis in Global Times, Aug 26, 2022 [Read recent headline news on the heat waves and stresses on energy supply in China and Europe here on the ‘Ecology news’ page of A Socialist In Canada.]
Anatomy of Western media lies over the situation at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Read here a report by the Washington Post, dated August 25, with explanatory notes by A Socialist In Canada: Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant is cut off energy grid
Related reports:
* Armed Forces of Ukraine interrupt the last power transmission line to Ukraine from the from Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, report in RIA Novosti, Aug 26, 2022 (translated to English by A Socialist In Canada, read the translation here: Power transmission from nuclear plant interrupted)
* Inspectors are heading to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant: What threatens Ukraine and the West, by David Narmania, columnist, RIA Novosti, Aug 26, 2022 (translated to English by A Socialist In Canada, read the translation here: Inspectors are heading to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant)
Global deaths from Covid-19 in 2022 surpass one million. Report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (U. of Minnesota), Aug 25, 2022
Biden’s bifurcated student debt cancellation plan, by Jack Rasmus, published on his website, Aug 25, 2022
NATO and the origins of the Ukraine war, by Graeme Gill, published in Pearls and Irritations, Aug 25, 2022 (Graeme Gill is Professor Emeritus, Government and International Relations, The University of Sydney.)
After Supreme Court ruling on abortion, teens in U.S. are teaching themselves sex ed, because the adults won’t, Washington Post, Aug 23, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Teens in U.S. are teaching themselves sex education …Research by Laura Lindberg, a public health professor at Rutgers University who has studied sex education in the United States for three decades, shows that less than half of U.S. teens receive instruction on where to get birth control before having sex for the first time. She notes that the teen birthrate in the United States — 16.7 births per 1,000 females in 2019 — is consistently among the highest in the developed world, though it has been declining in recent years…
Russia accuses Ukraine’s secret police of Aug 20 car bombing in Moscow that killed Darya Dugina. Report in RT, Aug 22, 2022 Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has made public a video of Ukrainian national Natalya Vovk, identified as the prime suspect in the car bombing on August 20 that killed journalist Darya Dugina in Moscow… A photo ID of Vovk in the uniform of Ukraine’s National Guard was published in April 2022 on the Russian internet, as part of a dox of neo-Nazi Azov regiment members…
Related:
* Washington Post mocks Russian journalists’ concerns over terrorist acts by Ukraine’s extreme-right government. Report in Washington Post, Aug 22, 2022 [The Post report is titled, ‘Car-bomb killing sows unease among cheerleaders [sic] of Putin’s war’. The sub-headline in its print edition reads, ‘Russian propagandists [sic] grapple with heightened fear for their own safety’. The celebratory Post report smears the entire Russian population in writing, “The bombing undercuts the Kremlin’s implicit contract with Russia’s largely passive population [sic] during Putin’s long tenure in office: that only he can maintain security, peace and economic stability. All three are now in question.”].
* Western media’s favorite Russian philosopher: Who is Aleksandr Dugin, whose daughter was killed in a terrorist car bombing in Moscow?, RT, Aug 21. 2022
One in three American women have already lost abortion access. More restrictive laws are coming, Washington Post, Aug 22, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: One in three American women have lost abortion services
China forgives 23 loans for 17 African countries, expands ‘win-win’ trade and infrastructure projects, by Ben Norton founding editor, published in Multipolarista, Aug 20, 2022
One year after earthquake that killed several thousands, many in Haiti still seeking food, shelter, Associated Press, Aug 21, 2022
Related:
* One year after deadly earthquake, Haitians feel ‘abandoned’, Washington Post, Aug 21, 2022 …The earthquake that struck southwest Haiti on Aug 14, 2021 was stronger than the temblor that killed more than 220,000 here in 2010, but it caused less damage because its epicenter was farther from Port-au-Prince, the densely populated capital. Still, it struck many remote and hard-to-access towns and the Caribbean nation’s breadbasket…
* Pig farmers in Haiti ruined by return of deadly swine flu virus, by Anne Myriam Bolivar, Global Press Journal, Aug 17, 2022 African swine fever has returned to Haiti after 40 years. But violence and attrition are keeping the veterinarians away.
World-class ballerina and 12-year-old protégé among those murdered by Ukraine in its shellings of Donbas civilians, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, Covert Action Magazine, Aug 21, 2022 On August 4, Ukrainian army rockets struck the drama theater of Donetsk and a neighboring area, killing famed ballerina and teacher, Galina Vasilyevna Volodina, and one of her protégés, Katya Kutubaeva, 12, a rising young star with a brilliant future ahead of her…
Authorities in Russian-controlled Zaporozhye prevent a new provocation by Ukraine at the nuclear power plant, news report in RIA Novosti, Aug 20, 2022 read the report here in pdf format: New provocations against nuclear plant prevented
Related: On the proposed visit of the IEAE to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, by Ivan Nechayev, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, Aug 19, 2022 [This report is part of the weekly briefing by the Russian Foreign Ministry. The text of the report is here: Proposed visit of the IEAE to Zaporozhye. The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant continues to be the target of highly dangerous provocations by Ukraine and its NATO backers. This, in turn, serves a propaganda campaign being waged by Western media and governments calling on Russia to give up its control and securization of the plant and surrounding region. The propaganda drive is illustrated by a lurid, front-page article in the Washington Post on August 20 titled, ‘Fears of a nuclear disaster grow’. The headline of the online edition of the article is ‘Warnings of attack on Ukraine nuclear plant set the world on edge’.]
Don’t believe the grim forecast. China’s economy is just fine, commentary by Anjani Trivedi, Bloomberg News, Aug 17, 2022 read the commentary here in pdf format: Don’t believe the grim China forecasts
Related: China’s power cuts put spotlight on manufacturing risk in drought stricken, hydropower-reliant southwest, South China Morning Post, Aug 19, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Drought and power cuts in southwest China
Control of semiconductor manufacturing is now at the heart of U.S.-China power struggle, South China Morning Post, Aug 18, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Control over semiconductor manufacturing
Vladimir Putin’s address to the tenth Moscow Conference on International Security, text of address published on the website of the President of Russia, Aug 16, 2022 read the address here in pdf format: V. Putin’s address to global security conference
Greek port of Alexandroupolis becomes key U.S. arms hub as Ukraine war reshapes region, New York Times, May 18, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Alexandroupolis becomes key U.S. arms hub
Related: Alexandroupolis is a ‘key port’ for U.S. military presence in Greece, report in Greek Reporter, May 10, 2022
Poland’s deputy culture minister says Ukraine must admit genocide at Volhyna Massacre of 1943, RT, Aug 16, 2022 The mass murder of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during WW2 meets the definition of genocide and the government in Kiev will have to recognize this sooner or later, Poland’s Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage Jaroslaw Sellin said on August 16… Polish historians say between 100,000-130,000 ethnic Poles were massacred by Stepan Bandera’s Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)…
Keeping track of U.S. arms transfers to Ukraine, the largest in U.S. history, by Connor Echols, published in Responsible Statecraft, Aug 18, 2022 Washington has given billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine. Here is a timeline of what and when, and the price tag, since the start of the war.
Amnesty International finishes discrediting itself by calling for an audit of its report on Ukrainian war crimes, by Christelle Néant, publisher, Donbass Insider, Aug 15, 2022
Dossier: The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, worsened by cruel Western sanctions, published in A Socialist In Canada, Aug 17, 2022 [The lead item in this dossier is a column appearing in the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, translated by A Socialist In Canada. Additional reporting is in the form of news headlines with weblinks.]
Venezuela and Colombia appoint ambassadors in effort to reestablish diplomatic relations, by Ricardo Vaz, Venezuela Analysis, Aug 15, 2022
Related: New president of Colombia reactivates peace talks with ELN, Kawsachun News, Aug 20, 2022
Why is there more media talk about using nuclear weapons than about banning them?, by Karl Grossman, published in FAIR.org, Aug 5, 2022 (Karl Grossman is a professor of journalism at the State University of New York.)
Interview with Sacheen Littlefeather, 75, on the Oscars, Marlon Brando and a legacy of activism, published in A.Frame, Aug 15, 2022 In 1973, Sacheen Littlefeather stepped onto the stage at the 45th Academy Awards and declined Marlon Brando’s Best Actor Oscar on his behalf. The actress and Native American rights activist became the first person to make a political statement at the ceremony, sharing that Brando’s refusal of the award was in protest of Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans and to draw attention to the standoff that was taking place between activists and the government at Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota…
Related: Academy Awards issues formal apology to Sacheen Littlefeather for threats and abuse at 1973 Oscar awards ceremony, report by Rolling Stone, Aug 15, 2022
How the Washington Post crafts its lying reports on the threats to the nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye, Ukraine
[In its latest ‘news’ report on August 15 responding to Ukraine’s provocative attacks against the Zaporozhye NPP, the Washington Post writers and editors describe the plant as “the nuclear facility that Russia has used as a shield for its attacks in recent weeks”. This version of events is more palatable to unknowing consumers of its product compared to the earlier, absurd claims that Russia was attacking the facility (whose very security it has controlled since March) outright. But many embers of the earlier wave of lies are still very much smouldering–we also read, “Russia is laying the groundwork for a ‘false flag’ attack [against the ZNPP] which it will blame on Ukrainian forces.” The Post choice of language ‘normalizes’ lies and absurd claims, such as this sentence: “In terms of Russia’s immediate ground offensive, there appears to be little strategic advantage to its bombardment from the nuclear plant, other than spreading fear by dragging the plant into the conflict.” Do you see, reader, how the false claim of Russia ‘bombarding’ the ZNPP becomes ‘normalized’ into fact through the use of sly language? Here is another such example among many in the Post report: “It was a month ago, on July 16, that the first volley of artillery from Russian troops based in Enerhodar rained down on Nikopol, across the water.” Enerhodar is the town site adjacent to the ZNPP where plant staff live.
[The goal of Western media propaganda over the ZNPP is to create a clamour for ‘international’ military intervention to wrest control of the ZNPP from Russia. The Post article sub-headline intends to strike fear as it turns reality on its head: ‘Russian occupation of Ukrainian nuclear plant raises fear of a catastrophe’. But the propaganda has failed miserably to generate momentum for such intervention. The lying doesn’t entirely pass the test of credibility.]
Washington Post report inadvertently reveals absurdity of claims of ‘Ukraine counteroffensive’ against Kherson. Reference: On the Kherson front lines, little sign of a Ukrainian offensive, Washington Post, Aug 14, 2022 read the report here in pdf format: Kherson, Ukraine, according to the Wash. Post [This absurd report is written by no less than four of the ‘crack’ writers at the Washington Post. Note how the report blandly treats Ukraine’s blockade of water supply to Crimea beginning in 2014. That outrageous human rights violation against the population of Crimea was ended in March 2022 when Russian forces blew up the concrete barrier blockading the North Crimea Canal erected by right-wing Ukraine. The canal is 420 km long and was built by the Soviet Union during the 1960s.]
How the polio virus has seemingly returned from the dead, analysis by Dr. Syra Madad (infectious disease epidemiologist), published in CNN, Aug 15, 2022
Nicaragua’s remarks to Reparations International Conference held in Barbados Aug 4 to 6, 2022, published in Kawsachun News (Bolivia), Aug 4, 2022
Related: The privilege of free health care in Nicaragua, by Becca Mohally Renk, published on the website of Casa Benjamin Linder, Aug 10, 2022 (This article was re-published in Multipolarista, Aug 11, 2022)
RT mourns the end of the Russian Empire’s decrepit Tsarist monarchy 100 years ago, decries ‘communist murder’ of the last of the Tsars. Reference: The last Tsar: How Russia commemorates the brutal communist murder of Emperor Nikolai II’s family, published in RT, Aug 14, 2022 [RT reports news of Russia, unlike the Western media outlets that serve up 100% propaganda. But at the heart of RT sits a right-wing editorial policy and world outlook. The publication welcomed the election of Donald Trump in 2016, falsely presenting him as a critic of the NATO military alliance. It continues to favorably treat Marine Le Pen, the far-right, anti-immigrant leader in France.]
Sri Lanka collapsed first, but it won’t be the last, commentary by Indrajit Samarajiva, in New York Times, Aug 15, 2022 read the commentary here in pdf format: Sri Lanka won’t be the last to collapse
Related: Sri Lanka’s crisis is a chronicle foretold, interview with Balasingham Skanthakumar (South Asia network of Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (Belgium), Aug 9, 2022
How a records dispute led the FBI to search Trump home at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Washington Post, Aug 13, 2022
Related:
* FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say, Washington Post, Aug 12, 2022
* The nuclear documents, podcast by Washington Post, Aug 12, 2022 (19 minutes)
Russia announces capture of strategic settlement of Pisky, located some 10 km from Donetsk city center and 2 km from its airport, RT, Aug 13, 2022
Related:
* Ukrainian prisoners of war are reluctant to be exchanged, reports Russian military, RT, Aug 13, 2022
* Nuclear site at Zaporozhye, Ukraine facing dire threats, RT, Aug 13, 2022
Replacing the corrupt elite is not enough, essay and book review by Peter Korotayev (Ukrainian resesarcher living abroad), published in Commons journal, Aug 8, 2022 Reviewing: Towards a Political Economy of Ukraine, selected essays by Marko Bojcun (paperback edition Sept 2020)
Related analysis: Ukraine’s war economy is being choked by neoliberal dogmas, essay by Peter Korotaev, published in Jacobin, July 14, 2022
The ‘Zelensky Line’ has been a very hard defensive line in Donbass to crack, analysis by Russian blogger ‘Aearnur’, published on his Substack media outlet, Aug 12, 2022 [The theme of the website blog ‘Aearnur’ is ‘The world in an era of western liberal totalitarianism’.]
Ukraine’s rampant corruption means the Western supply of weapons is likely to eventually backfire, commentary in RT, Aug 12, 2022 U.S. elites have thrown the country into a proxy conflict without properly evaluating the consequences
Polio is back on the radar of health officials in Western countries. Here’s why, Toronto Star, Aug 12, 2022 Polio, an infectious disease that was eradicated in many countries nearly three decades ago, has re-emerged in some Western nations despite widely available and effective vaccines against the illness…
Ukraine and its Western backers should be held accountable for the ‘suicidal’ attack on Europe’s largest nuclear powerplant, by Scott Ritter, RT, Aug 12, 2022 U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken hoped to make Russia look like a ‘nuclear terrorist’. Instead, he implicated himself.
Eyewitness report from Donbass: Russians welcomed as liberators in many eastern Ukrainian cities, contrary to Western media depictions, by Sonja Van den Ende, Covert Action Magazine, Aug 11, 2022
The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned ‘butterfly’ mines, by Eva Barlett, published in RT, Aug 7, 2022
Also by Eva Bartlett: Today, Ukraine bombed a Donetsk hotel full of journalists – here’s what it felt like to be there, by Eva Barlett, published in RT, Aug 4, 2022
Update on the danger to the nuclear power complex at Zaporozhye, Ukraine, news compilation on A Socialist In Canada, Aug 10, 2022 This website posting consists of four items: A news report from Russian media on Aug 9, translated by A Socialist In Canada (with a headline news update); a report published by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also on Aug 9; weblink to the analysis by Scott Ritter published on Aug 12 (the weblink to Scott Ritter’s analysis is also immediately above on this page).
China issues new policy paper on Taiwan, charting a reunification process, South China Morning Post, Aug 10, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: China issues new policy paper on Taiwan
Related:
* How Nancy Pelosi changed the Taiwan Strait status quo in Beijing’s favour, commentary by Zhou Bo, in South China Morning Post, Aug 11, 2022 (Senior Colonel Zhou Bo (retired) is a senior fellow of the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University. He was director of Centre for Security Cooperation of the Office for International Military Cooperation of the Ministry of National Defence of China.) read the commentary here in pdf format: How Nancy Pelosi changed the Taiwan Strait status quo
* Nancy Pelosi, white supremacy, and China, by Margaret Kimberley, executive editor and senior columnist, Black Agenda Report, Aug 10, 2022
New York polio case is the ‘tip of the iceberg’ as records show very low vaccination rates, CNBC, Aug 8, 2022 …“Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” New York state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett warned. “The department is treating this single case of polio as just the tip of the iceberg of much greater potential spread.”… Rockland County (New York City region) has a polio vaccination rate of 60%, while Orange County (north of NYC) has a vaccination rate of 58%. The statewide vaccination rate for polio is nearly 79%…
Related: Children in London offered Polio vaccine booster as more evidence of virus is found in sewage, New York Times, Aug 11, 2022 The virus is turning up more frequently in samples, but no cases have so far been reported. Samples have indicated that the virus has spread beyond a close network of a few individuals. …Recent figures in London suggest a broader immunization coverage of 86.6 percent, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which should generally be sufficient to prevent widespread transmission of the virus…
‘Everybody is armed’: Shootings soar in Philadelphia, awash in guns, New York Times, Aug 11, 2022 Philadelphia is on track for a record year of gun violence with more than 1,400 people shot so far this year, hundreds of them fatally. That’s a higher toll than in much larger New York or Los Angeles. The city is often called the country’s poorest big city.
‘Chaos and confusion’ in states where abortion is on again, off again, New York Times, Aug. 11, 2022 (with charts)
The new Labor Party gov’t in Australia and the persecution of Julian Assange, by Kellie Tranter, Declassified Australia, Aug 8, 2022 The Australian government is straining credibility in insisting the Assange case is not a political prosecution.
The bombshell in the U.S. jobs report for July, whose numbers confirm recession, by Jack Rasmus, published on his website, Aug 8, 2022
Dossier: Ukraine’s crazed attacks against the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, and the ‘monstrous lies’ by supporters of the Kyiv regime. Published in A Socialist In Canada, Aug 9, 2022
The published dossier consists of:
1. Introduction by A Socialist In Canada
2. Text of statement by Russia’s representative to the Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty taking place in New York, Aug 8, 2022
3. Text of comment by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Aug 8, 2022
4. Typical Western media treatment of the subject of the ZNPP, Toronto Star, Aug 8, 2022
5. Further background
New $1 billion weapons package to Ukraine from U.S. gov’t is the largest yet, media release by the U.S. Dept’t of Defense, Aug 8, 2022
Russia suspends U.S. inspections of its nuclear military sites, RT, Aug 8, 2022 Moscow has informed Washington of a “temporary withdrawal” from the inspection regime under the START nuclear disarmament treaty. The foreign ministry claims Western sanctions have prevented its inspectors from performing their duties, thus giving their U.S. counterparts an unfair advantage. Once the principle of parity and equality is restored, the previous arrangements will resume…
High-level Ukrainian intelligence official admits U.S. deeply involved in Ukraine conflict, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, managing editor, Covert Action Magazine, Aug 8, 2022
Ukraine renews strikes on key Antonovsky Bridge that crosses Dnieper River in Kherson, RT, Aug 7, 2022 …The latest overnight attack hit equipment brought to the bridge to repair damage from previous artillery strikes. Kirill Stremousov, a Kherson administration deputy head, said the incident was “nothing terrible,” but would likely delay the planned reopening of the bridge for traffic, which was scheduled for August 10. Following the previous attack two weeks ago, a ferry service under the bridge has been operating…
More news of Ukraine:
* Only some 30 per cent of Western weapons sent to Ukraine reach the front lines, special documentary report by CBS News, Aug 7, 2022 and read: report in RT, Aug 7, 2022 [Note: CBS has withdrawn the video section of its documentary report for ‘updating’. You can watch a copy of the video here: https://vk.com/video-121811658_456262378.].
* Zaporozhye region head announces referendum vote to join Rusian Federation, RT, Aug 8, 2022 Kherson city and region (pop. 1.1 million) have already announced referendum plans for September
* Ukrainian army continue its campaign of terror against Donetsk city, bombing hospital, train station and bus that kills four, injures 19, Donbass Insider, Aug 6, 2022
The Covid-19 variant BA.5 is spreading fast, showing the pandemic is far from under control, feature essay by Wendy Leung, health reporter, Globe and Mail, Aug 2, 2022 (with interactive charts at original weblink) The seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing experts to rethink what a victory over the virus will look like, the measures needed to get there and the things that will save vulnerable people along the way
Related readings:
* America should have been able to handle monkeypox, by Katherine J. Wu, staff writer, The Atlantic, July 29, 2022 Has Covid taught us nothing?
* The wave of BA.5 variant is what Covid normal looks like, by Katherine J. Wu, staff writer, The Atlantic, July 14, 2022 The endless churn of variants may not stop anytime soon, unless we do something about it.
* Researchers at MIT create test to predict Covid immunity, while scientists at Harvard U. develop test for both virus and antibodies, by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, Aug 8, 2022
* Clear results elusive in studies of long COVID, report in Axios, Aug 10, 2022
* Hundreds are still dying each day in the U.S. from Covid, ABC News, Aug 11, 2022
Senate Democrats finally get their massive climate, health care, and tax bill done, report by ‘The Intelligencer’ bulletin in New York Magazine, Aug 7, 2022
Popularity of ‘baby boxes’ for giving up unwanted newborns is spreading in the U.S. among anti-abortion zealots. Report in New York Times, Aug 6, 2022 read the report here in pdf format: Popularity of ‘baby boxes’ spreading in anti-abortion U.S.
Related:
* Indiana becomes first state to pass anti-abortion law following fall of Roe vs. Wade, Washington Post, Aug 6, 2022 …Indiana is the first state to ban abortion by legislature since the Supreme Court decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade. Other states enacted “trigger laws” that went into effect with the fall of Roe. Abortion rights advocates estimate that abortion could be severely restricted or banned in as many as half of the 50 states…
* Several U.S. states may revive abortion laws dating from the era of slavery and when women couldn’t vote, Washington Post, Aug 6, 2022
Update on Ukraine, by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Aug. 2, 2022, excerpts published in A Socialist In Canada, Aug 7, 2022 [The re-published text consists of five excerpts:
1. Introduction to update on Ukraine;
2. The July 30 shelling by Ukraine against the prisoner of war detention center in Yelenkova, Donetsk;
3. Continued shellings of civilians by Ukraine;
4. U.S. weapons supply and direction to Ukraine;
5. Preparations for the mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.]
The Webb telescope is astonishing. And the universe is even more so, Washington Post, Aug 5, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: The Webb telescope is astonishing
Nancy Pelosi risked global security with Taiwan visit, all in a feeble attempt to shore up Democrat voter base, commentary by Sameed Basha, South China Morning Post, Aug 6, 2022 read the commenetary here in pdf format: Nancy Pelosi risked global security with Taiwan visit
Related: The real reason Pelosi is visiting Taiwan, and the U.S.’s strategic ambition, interview with Taiwanese American Zhong Xiangyu and geopolitical analyst Brian Berletic, broadcast on YouTube page of Li Jinjing, Aug 5, 2022 (70-minute interview)
China to welcome Turkiyish delegation to Xinjiang, two months after visit of UN human rights chief, South China Morning Post, Aug 6, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: China to welcome Turkish delegation to Xinjiang
Joint press statement by Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following four-hour meeting in Sochi, Russia, Aug 5, 2022
Related:
* What the Russian and Turkiyish presidents agreed upon at Aug 5 meeting in Sochi, RT, Aug 6, 2022
* Russia turns to Turkey and other trading partners to blunt sanctions’ impact, Washington Post, Friday, Aug 5, 2022 read the report here in pdf format: Russia turns to Turkey for trade
Native Americans fight for items looted from bodies at Wounded Knee massacre in 1890 and displayed eve since in Massachusetts museum, Washington Post, July 17, 2022 …American Indians were struggling to survive in the years leading up to Wounded Knee. The huge herds of buffalo on which they depended were gone. They had been forced off their lands and onto reservations. They had suffered devastating losses in battle and betrayals when the United States broke treaties it had signed with them… Some historians put the number of Indians slain closer to 400, rather than the 250 cited by other sources…
Police assault and arrests of Omali and Ona Zené Yeshitel in St. Louis: Has the Ukraine conflict driven U.S. police and gov’t officials crazy?, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, editor, Covert Action Magazine, Aug 5, 2022
Related:
* Feds raid activist’s home in St. Louis as part of Russian influence investigation, St Louis Dispatch, July 29, 2022
* The Black Alliance for Peace condemns FBI attack against the African People’s Socialist Party in St. Louis on July 29, statement by Black Alliance For Peace, Aug 3, 2022
Ukraine artillery strikes Donetsk city on Aug. 4 – here’s what it felt like to be there, by Eva Bartlett, in Donetsk city, report published in RT, Aug 4, 2022
Boycott! Obfuscate! Western media responds to Amnesty International report condemning Ukraine for using schools and hospitals as bases for military operations. [Most Western media has simply boycotted the Amnesty Int’l report, issued on August 4, 2022 (see headline news story immediately below). A rare exception is in the anti-Russia Guardian, but its ‘unique’ approach to the Amnesty report is a ‘news’ story co-authored by the notorious propagandist Luke Harding that is filled with denials by Ukrainian officials. In a credibility contest between Amnesty International and the far-right governing and military officials in Kyiv, The Guardian easily and comfortably chooses the latter. Associated Press is another example of a Western media outlet whose report simply echoes the denials of the Kyiv regime and its Western backers.]
Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians, investigative report by Amnesty International, published on the website of Amnesty International, Aug 4, 2022 [The report details a widespread practice by the Ukrainian military of conducting military operations inside of, or adjacent to, schools, hospitals and residential areas, in “clear violation of international humanitarian law”. The report also states: “The Ukrainian military’s practice of locating military objectives within populated areas does not in any way justify indiscriminate Russian attacks. All parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects and take all feasible precautions, including in choice of weapons, to minimize civilian harm.” The Ukraine government and military have declined a request by Amnesty Int’l. to respond to its report.].
Related: Ukraine violates war laws, endangers civilians says Amnesty International in new report, Newsweek magazine, Aug 3, 2022 Amnesty International has accused Ukraine of war crimes during its ongoing military conflict with invading Russian forces. The humanitarian organization said in a release on Wednesday that the Ukrainian military’s tactics “violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians” by operating weapons out of bases established in residential areas while civilians are present…
What the U.S. government and the New York Times have quietly agreed not to tell you about Ukraine, by Evan Reif, Covert Action Magazine, July 29, 2022 [This is part three of a series by writer Evan Reif examining the history of the far-right and neo-Nazi movement in Ukraine and how Western governments and media choose silence over its history and current role in the country. Find the full series at the weblink.]
Most of the ‘fact-checking’ organizations Facebook uses in Ukraine are directly funded by Washington, feature essay by Alan MacLeod, in Mint Press News, Aug 2, 2022
China set to begin effective Taiwan blockade hours after Nancy Pelosi concludes visit, South China Morning Post, Aug 4, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: China reacts to Pelosi visit to Taiwan
Related:
* ‘China was wise not to attack Pelosi’s plane’, analysis by Nury Vittachi, editor, Friday Everyday (Hong Kong), Aug 3, 2022
* China’s economic sanctions on Taiwan over Pelosi visit are ‘symbolic’ but could hit billions if tensions escalate, South China Morning Post, Aug 4, 2022 Taiwan’s exports to mainland China and Hong Kong reached US$190 billion in 2021, an all time high thanks to demands for the island’s semiconductors
* A Democrat more dangerous than Nancy Pelosi, by Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, Aug 4, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: A Democrat more dangerous than Nancy Pelosi
* How to fight for democracy – at home, by Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, Aug 4, 2022 read the column here in pdf format: How to fight for democracy – at home In a unipolar world, the hegemon and its allies must denigrate ‘non-interference’ as a diplomatic doctrine so as to be free to impose its interests and values on others as universally applicable. In a multipolar system, countries will have to learn to refrain from interfering in each other’s affairs to avoid conflicts and keep the peace [Readers can judge for themselves this columnist’s view of the Russian intervention in Ukraine as being “brutal” and “criminal”, and his claim that Russia and China constitute “authoritarian” states. His column is otherwise informative.].
* Japan once led the world in microchips, now it is racing to catch up, New York Times, Aug 3, 2022 …In a break with its past economic nationalism, Japan is seeking to form a coalition with allies like the United States and the European Union to build a semiconductor supply chain that is less geographically concentrated and so better insulated from disasters and geopolitical instability… Last week, the U.S. Congress passed a huge industrial policy bill that includes $52 billion in subsidies and incentives to revitalize the U.S. microchip industry…
Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China on the visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, published on the ministry website, Aug 2, 2022
Related: China condemns Pelosi visit to Taiwan, countermeasures won’t be one-off, editorial, Global Times, Aug 3, 2022
The provocative visit by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan could get us all killed, by Norman Solomon, Common Dreams, Aug 2, 2022 and read: news report in Common Dreams, Aug 2, 2022
[Norman Solomon is a liberal, antiwar writer at the liberal, ‘antiwar’ (and anti-Russia) Common Dreams. In this otherwise informative essay, Solomon warns that China may unleash nuclear weapons against Western countries threatening it. He writes, “China has several hundred nuclear weapons ready to use, while the United States has several thousand.” But China, like the Russian government, has sworn off the use of nuclear weapons unless directly threatened. (see Note below) So who is ‘ready’ to use the weapons, exactly? The U.S., too, says it would never carry out a nuclear attack. But that will be news to the people of Japan, who were attacked twice in 1945 by the United States. And to the people of Korea, who were threatened with nuclear weapons during the quasi-genocidal America War in Korea from 1950 to 1953. President Richard Nixon carefully considered the use of nuclear weapons against the people of Vietnam during the American War against that country. Today, the United States and its allies in NATO and the Pacific region have steadfastly refused the demand of the international movement for nuclear weapons disarmament to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The treaty was approved by the UN General Assembly in July 2017 with 122 States in favour, one against and one abstention (opponents of the treaty boycotted the General Assembly meeting). The treaty entered into force in January 2021 with 86 signatories (support the treaty and willing to continue engagement with the treaty process) and 60 states parties (signed, and consent to be bound by the treaty).]
Note: Alexander Trofimov, Russia’s envoy to the UN nonproliferation review conference underway in New York, speaking on Tuesday, August 2, as reported in RT:
“We would also like to strongly reject the utterly unfounded, detached from reality and unacceptable speculations that Russia allegedly threatens to use nuclear weapons, particularly in Ukraine,” Trofimov said on Tuesday, using the right of reply to address the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference in New York.
Russia’s nuclear doctrine is “explicitly clear,” envisioning their use only to attacks involving weapons of mass destruction or a conventional aggression endangering the state’s existence, Trofimov said. “Neither of these two hypothetical scenarios is relevant to the situation in Ukraine.”
The Russian diplomat condemned “unscrupulous interpretations” of Moscow’s decision to put its nuclear deterrent on alert earlier this year, saying the grounds for it were “confrontational actions and provocative statements by representatives of Western nuclear powers about the possibility of NATO interference in military actions in Ukraine against Russia.”…
Related:
* U.S. Navy using ‘China threat’ theory to justify its vast expansion plans, South China Morning Post, July 31, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: U.S. Navy’s vast expansion plans
* Nancy Pelosi’s threatened Taiwan visit: Region ‘tense’ as Chinese navy watches U.S. warships and holds drills in South China Sea, South China Morning Post, July 29, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Nancy Pelosi’s threatened Taiwan visit
Canada was looking to sell liquefied natural gas in Europe months before Russian invasion, by John Woodside, The National Observer, Aug 4, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Canada has long wanted to develop LNG to sell to Europe Canada has been quietly trying to muscle in on Europe’s gas market long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, documents obtained by Canada’s National Observer reveal [See the ‘Canada news‘ page of A Socialist In Canada website for more background.]
Voters in the state of Kansas resoundingly defeat proposed anti-abortion law, Common Dreams, Aug 3, 2022 and read: report in Washington Post, Aug 3, 2022 (read the report here in pdf format: Kansas referendum upholds abortion rights)
Related: Kansas result suggests four out of five states would back abortion rights in similar vote, New York Times, Aug 4, 2022 …The Kansas vote implies that around 65 percent of voters nationwide would reject a similar initiative to roll back abortion rights, including in more than 40 of the 50 states (a few states on each side are very close to 50-50)…
Sri Lanka’s political and economic crisis, by Kenneth Surin (Duke University), published in CounterPunch, Aug 3, 2022
The West prepares to plunder post-war Ukraine with neoliberal shock therapy: privatization, deregulation, slashing worker protections, feature essay by Jake Kallio and Benjamin Norton, published in Multipolarista, July 28, 2022 [This is a lengthy essay by Jake Kallio and Ben Norton detailing the ongoing plunder of Ukraine by Western corporations, governments and international financial institutions.]
Case study in Western media denial of role of far-right in Ukraine, by Roger Annis, A Socialist In Canada, Aug 2, 2022
With the following related reading: Who killed the POWs at Yelenovka? All signs on the ground point to a Ukrainian attack, eyewitness report by Eva Bartlett, in Donetsk, published in RT, Aug 2, 2022
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales calls for a global campaign to eliminate NATO, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, editor, Covert Action Magazine, Aug 1, 2022
‘NATO socialists’ in Australia blame ‘both sides’ for war in Ukraine, by Roger Annis, A Socialist In Canada, Aug 1, 2022
Teetering on a tightrope in Australia: Labor, the Teals, and governing tactics, by Peter Christoff, Pearls And Irritations, Aug 2, 2022 [Explanatory note: The ‘Teals’ are a loosely-aligned group of candidates that ran against Liberal Party members of Parliament in the 2022 Australian federal election, advocating increased action to deal with climate change. Results of the election were: Labour Party, 77 seats (33% of vote); Coalition (Liberal and National parties), 58 seats (36%); Green Party, 4 (12%); ‘Teal’ independents 10, (5 %).].
Related: On the deep differences between ‘teals’ and the Green Party, analysis by The Fifth Estate, Apr 28, 2022
Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons opens in New York on Aug 1. Information by the UN News Service, Aug 1, 2022
