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(s) 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 archive on A Socialist In Canada, May 2022
The rise of NATO in Africa, by Vijay Prashad, published in CounterPunch, May 27, 2022
Former Labour Party official condemns New Zealand government’s entry into NATO’s war against Russia. Report by Radio New Zealand, May 26, 2022 A former senior Labour Party member says New Zealand has effectively gone to war without consulting the public by joining NATO’s efforts to defeat Russia’s military objectives in Ukraine…
Previously reported: Sleepwalking to war: New Zealand places itself back under the Western nuclear umbrella, by Matt Robson, originally published in Stuff.co.nz, April 12, 2022 (Matt Robson is an Auckland barrister and a former minister of disarmament and arms control and associate foreign minister in the Labour Party/Alliance Party government of New Zealand of 1999-2002. He is a member of the Labour Party, the governing party in New Zealand since 2017.)
Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet following official visit to China, published on the website of the Office of the High Commissionioner for Humn Rights, May 28, 2022 Here are excerpts in pdf format from the Michelle Bachelet’s statement: Excerpts Micelle Bachelet May 28, 2022
‘More guns equals more gun deaths–that’s really it’, interview with Igor Volsky, broadcast on ‘Counterspin’ (interview program on Fairness And Accuracy in Reporting, June 1, 2022 (Igor Volsky is a member of the advocacy group ‘Guns Down America’ and author of Guns Down: How to Defeat the NRA and Build a Safer Future With Fewer Guns (New Press, 2019).
Related:
* Gun in the Texas murders of schoolchildren is made by company known for pushing advertising and promotion boundaries, New York Times, May 28, 2022 …The Texas shooting has put a national spotlight on Daniel Defense, a family-owned business in Georgia that has emerged as a trailblazer in an aggressive, boundary-pushing style of weapons marketing and sales. The company is at the forefront of an industry that has grown increasingly aggressive in recent years as it tries to expand beyond its aging, mostly white customer base and resists the calls for stronger regulation that seem to intensify after every mass shooting…
* Inside the decades-long effort by Senate leader Mitch McConnell to block gun control, Washington Post, May 28, 2022 The Senate Republican leader has spent his career working to delay, obstruct or prevent most major firearms restrictions from being approved by Congress Read the article here in pdf format: Mitch McConnell and gun control
* Why do we let children in the U.S. buy firearms?, commentary in Washington Post, May 28, 2022
Anti-Russia socialists in UK warn of ‘global famine’ caused by Russian military in Ukraine, but the world’s food agency says grain production will rise in 2022.
Two references:
1. While Ukraine burns: why is the West prolonging the war?, article by Chris Nineham, published by Counterfire (UK), May 27, 2022 First paragraph of article: The war in Ukraine is already causing horrific suffering for the people of Ukraine. As last week’s UN food conference warned, it is now threatening to spark famine in Ukraine itself and across whole swathes of the globe…
2. World food situation in May 2022, monthly report by the Food and Agricultural Organization (United Nations), May 6, 2022 …The forecast for world wheat production in 2022 has been scaled back moderately since the previous month, but standing at 782 million tonnes, FAO still predicts global wheat production to grow this year… The forecast for global wheat trade in 2021/22 (July/June) is now pegged at 191 million tonnes, 1.0 percent above the 2020/21 level. While blocked ports continued to hinder wheat exports from Ukraine, this month’s upward revision mainly reflects higher-than-expected exports from the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey… Regarding coarse grains, harvesting of the 2022 crops has started in the southern hemisphere, and prospects continue to point to above-average outputs in leading producer countries…
[For good measure, the Counterfire writer adds: “Before the war [in Ukraine] started, Russia was the biggest supplier of oil and gas to Europe and was developing a threatening alliance with the Chinese. (emphasis added) ]
UN official distorts world grain situation, sowing anti-Russia prejudice Reference: Report on the May 19 meeting of the UN Security Council, published on the website of the United Nations …David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme stated: “When a nation that is the breadbasket of the world becomes a nation with the longest bread line of the world, we know we have a problem.” … [It is a wild distortion to call Ukraine ‘the breadbasket of the world’. See the accompanying charts].
Sweden appears poised to join NATO as part of Western mobilization against Russia, by Andi Olluri, Covert Action Magazine, May 28, 2022
China and Russia veto new UN sanctions against North Korea, CBS News, May 27, 2022
The conflict in Ukraine, the Non-Aligned movement of countries and the struggle for the salvation of humanity, commentary by Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, published in A Socialist In Canada, May 27, 2022 (This commentary was originally published by the Valdai Discussion Club, May 26, 2022.)
The Ukraine Aid Bill is a massive windfall for U.S. military contractors, by Stephen Semler, Jacobin Magazine, May 26, 2022
‘March for Our Lives’ announces mass protest against gun violence in Washington DC on June 11, The Washingtonian, May 26, 2022 March for Our Lives—the student-led movement that led a massive gun control rally in Washington DC in 2018—will host a nationwide march in the wake of the mass shooting that happened Tuesday at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school…
Related:
* Students walk out of schools across U.S. in protest of gun violence, ABC News, May 26, 2022
* 27 school shootings have taken place so far this year in the U.S., NPR, May 25, 2022
* Police in schools didn’t stop the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas and they won’t stop the next, by Akela Lacy, The Intercept, May 25, 2022
One-China principle is the bedrock of peace across the Taiwan Strait, commentary by Qin Gang (China’s ambassador to the United States), in South China Morning Post, May 26, 2022 The U.S. government has been hollowing out its one-China policy, all the while claiming the policy has not changed. Its actions only embolden separatists.
Update on Ukraine by Russia’s foreign ministry, by Maria Zakharova (spokewoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation), published on the Ministry’s website, May 26, 2022 (This weekly briefing by Maria Zakharova includes an ‘Update on Ukraine’; read that here in pdf format: Update on Ukraine, May 26, 2022)
Related news: Russia clears mines in Sea of Azov, opening the port of Mariupol to traffic, RT, May 26, 2022
As the U.S. boosts military aid to Ukraine, a critique of the West’s militarized approach, by Ryan Swan (Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, in Germany), published in Covert Action Magazine, May 24, 2022
Related:
* In the wake of Russian victory in Mariupol, by MK Bhadrakumar, Indian Punchline, May 21, 2022 [One cautionary note about this otherwise informative article is its unproven claim that “divergences over allied war aims are emerging” between the U.S., on the one hand, and the governments of France and Germany, on the other. This is an old refrain that has floated around in various forms since the 2014 coup in Kyiv, which was supported by the NATO powers including France and Germany.].
* Europe accepts Putin’s demands on gas payments to avoid more shut-offs, Washington Post, May 24, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Europe’s payments for Russian gas
Sixty years after her death, new evidence suggests Marilyn Monroe was murdered by Robert Kennedy and the LA Police Dept covered it up, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, editor, Covert Action Magazine, May 25, 2022 [Jeremy Kuzmarov’s article summarizes a new book alleging that Robert Kennedy administered the barbiturates that killed Marilyn Munroe in 1962. She died amidst a violent confrontation by Robert Kennedy against her at her home on August 4, 1962. The article is a sad read, recounting how the brilliant thinker and acting talent Marilyn Munroe became ensnared in ultimately deadly personal relations with the Kennedy brothers John and Robert and in the presidential administration they ran.].
Related: How the book ‘Bombshell’ revisiting the death of Marilyn Munroe came to be written, by Barbara Eeles, Suffolk News, July 18, 2021
How Russia beat America to the hypersonic missile, Popular Mechanics, Apr 15, 2022
Dan Kovalik explains his forthcoming book on Nicaragua, essay by Dan Kovalik, in the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Apr 7, 2022
Reference: Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance, by Dan Kovalik, Clarity Press, 332 pages, Jan 2023
Armed hypocrisy. Essay by William Hartung, published in multiple alt media outlets, including The Nation and LA Progressive, May 24, 2022 [Readers may garner the impression from the title and first few paragraphs of this article that the writer and his editors oppose the NATO offensive against Russia. Alas, no. Here is a key excerpt from the article: “It’s true that Ukraine does indeed need weapons to defend itself. In the context of a policy in Washington designed, as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently put it all too bluntly, to “weaken Russia” rather than simply end the war, there is, however, a danger in sending too much, too fast.”]
Latest Washington Post column by the editor of The Nation misrepresents how the conflict in Ukraine erupted. By Katrina vanden Heuvel, May 24, 2022 [The column is titled ‘We need a real debate about Ukraine’. It opens, “As Russia’s illegal and brutal assault enters its fourth month, the impact on Europe, the Global South and the world is already profound…” It writes further, “Those who speak of history and offer context about the West’s precipitating role in the Ukraine tragedy are not excusing Russia’s criminal attack.” She proposes, “an effective cease-fire and a negotiated resolution, one designed to ensure that Ukraine emerges as a sovereign, independent, reconstructed and prosperous country.” Yes, and this was called the ‘Minsk 2’ ceasefire and peace agreement. It was sabotaged by the governing regime in Ukraine, encouraged by the NATO powers. How can the Russian government negotiate with such adversaries as the U.S., other NATO governments and the governing regime in Kyiv when they routinely ignore or tear up negotiated agreements it reaches with them? Ms. vanden Heuvel’s column does not mention that dilemma and has no answer to it.]
The White House keeps walking back Biden’s foreign policy remarks, Washington Post, MAy 24, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Biden’s foreign policy remarks
China’s push to loosen U.S. dollar dominance takes on new urgency after Western sanctions on Russia, by Frank Tang, South China Morning Post, May 24, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: China’s push to loosen U.S. dollar dominance Some Chinese advisers are urging the government to overhaul the exchange rate regime and turn the yuan into an anchor currency, especially for the Asia region. Worries are mounting that China could be kicked out of the Swift financial messaging system or cut off from its foreign assets if relations with the U.S. worsen.
Western media teams up with the notorious ‘researcher’ Adrian Zenz to release ‘Xinjiang Police Files’ accusations as UN human rights chief begins visit to China. Report by ASEAN Post, May 24, 2022
Background: U.S. State Department accusations of China ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang Autonomous Republic rely on data abuse and baseless claims by far-right ideologue Adrian Wenz, investigative report by Gareth Porter and Max Blumenthal, The Grayzone, Feb 18, 2021 The Trump and Biden administrations have relied on the work of a right-wing religious extremist, Adrian Zenz, for their ‘genocide’ accusation against China. A close review of Zenz’s research reveals flagrant data abuse and outright falsehoods.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet in Guangzhou at the outset of her six-day visit to the country, Global Times, May 24, 2022
Where death rates rose the most during the pandemic, New York Times, May 23, 2022 The United States had more deaths above normal levels during the pandemic than most other wealthy countries, according to data released by the World Health Organization this month. U.S. deaths were 15 percent above normal — a number surpassed by only four other large countries in the same income group: Chile, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania…
Previously reported: New calculations by World Health Organization show nearly 15 million deaths from Covid-19, but a definitive report is delayed by India and others claiming much lower numbers. Report in New York Times, Apr 15, 2022
New York Times editorial repudiates the drive for ‘decisive military victory’ in Ukraine, cites the need for peace negotiations, by John Walsh, LA Progressive, May 23, 2022
Washington Post inadvertently details the far-right, ultra-nationlist drive in Ukraine to purge Russian and Soviet history from the country. Report in Washington Post, May 23, 2022
[The Post article cites several Ukrainian neo-Nazis bragging about destroying historical monuments and memory in Ukraine. The article cites the ‘Ukrainian Institute of National Memory’, one of the far-right state institutions in Ukraine implementing the 2015 ‘decommunizaiton’ laws aiming to erase the history of Soviet Ukraine and elevate WW2-era Nazi collaborators as national heros.
New Zealand to train Ukrainian troops to use artillery provided by Britain, RT, May 23, 2022 The New Zealand government announced on May 23 that a small number of its soldiers will be flying to the UK to train Ukrainian artillery crews, thereby also serving to confirm the rumor that London is preparing to send Kiev its own L119 light howitzers…
Statement on Ukraine by ‘Fourth International’ groups in Europe. [The ‘Fourth International’ groups in Europe which publish International Viewpoint issued a statement on May 24 titled, ‘War in Ukraine: Solidarity with Ukrainian resistance, against all imperialisms‘. The statement reads, “Putin’s invasion is a war of aggression, aiming to submit Ukrainian territory to Russian control, as part of the return of a Great Russian imperialist project.” There is no explanation of what is meant by the word ‘imperialism’, and there is no explanation of the named ‘Great Russian imperialist project’. There is no mention in the statement of the anti-Russia coup in Ukraine in 2014 nor the war against the people of Donbas launched by the Ukraine coup regime in 2014 and continuing ever since. This lacune is common to many of the statements and analysis made by Trotskyist groups internationally. The statement echoes Western media in saying that Russian armed forces have suffered “a serious defeat in the region of Kiev” and “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian civilians have died. On the latter claim, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports on May 24 that nearly 4,000 civilians have died on all sides of the conflict to date. The statement calls Ukrainian national identity “historically progressive” while quietly noting that Ukrainian nationalism has “taken the color of anti-communism”.]
Ukraine follows NATO urgings to reject ceasefire and talks with Russia, Irish Independent, May 23, 2022 …”Worrying voices have appeared, saying that Ukraine should give in to president Vladimir Putin’s demands,” said Mr Duda, the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament in person since Russia’s February 24 invasion. “Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future.” … [Nearly all Western media reports on this story are useless because they are devoid of facts and loaded up with anti-Russia tropes, notably claiming that Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine is failing. We read, for example, that Russia ‘failed’ to capture the capital city of Kyiv weeks ago, but Russia never intended such a thing in the first place.]
The make-believe ‘imperial ambitions’ of Russia according to Foreign Policy in Focus and CounterPunch. Commentary by John Feffer (editor), Foreign Policy in Focus, May 18, 2022, re-printed in CounterPunch on May 23 [This analysis penned by John Feffer of Foreign Policy In Focus posits a global conspiracy in which Vladimir Putin and the Russian government are manipulating the non-NATO world. In Feffer’s scenario, NATO aggression and expansion during the past 30+ years aimed at weakening Russia has entirely ‘disappeared’. Also ‘disappeared’ by Feffer is the ascendance of extreme-right, anti-Russia nationalism in Ukraine and the disastrous failure of Ukraine’s economic ‘association’ with Europe forged amidst the 2014 anti-Russia coup.]
In Japan, Biden says U.S. is ready to fight China over Taiwan, RT, May 22, 2022 and read: report in New York Times, May 23, 2022 excerpt from the Times’ report: …“You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons,” a reporter said to Mr. Biden. “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” “Yes,” Mr. Biden answered flatly. “You are?” the reporter followed up.“That’s the commitment we made,” he said. The president’s declaration, offered without caveat or clarification, surprised some members of his own administration watching in the room, who did not expect him to promise such unvarnished resolve…
Related news of Biden regime’s Asia tour:
* Biden regime rolls out shabby ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework’ to rival China’s cooperation agreements in Asia, Africa and latin America. Report in New York Times, May 22, 2022 …In addition to the United States, India, Japan and South Korea, the 13 members of the framework will include Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam…
* Biden begins visit to South Korea and Japan with conflict with China at center, commentary in Vox, May 20, 2022 [This commentary is informative but repeats the familiar, Western anti-China tropes, as per: “China’s government is an autocratic one that has cracked down on Muslims in Xinjiang, disregarded human rights in Hong Kong, militarized the South China Sea and pursued adventurism in the Himalayas. The recent harsh Covid-19 lockdowns display China’s robust surveillance state.”].
* Indian PM Modi to attend meeting of ‘Quad’ countries in Tokyo, hold bilateral talks with President Biden, Economic Times (India), May 19, 2022
* The U.S. is priming Asia-Pacific for war, by Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, May 20, 2022 read the column here in pdf format: The U.S. is priming Asia-Pacific for war
Biden is finally moving toward engagement with Cuba, by Peter Kornbluh, The Nation, May 20, 2022 read the article hee in pdf format: Biden engagement with Cuba
The root of Haiti’s misery: Reparations paid as ransom to Hait’s former enslavers, part one of a special series in New York Times, with photos and interactive features, May 21, 2022 …In what leading historians say is a first, we tabulated how much money Haitians paid to the families of their former masters and to the French banks and investors who held that first loan to Haiti, not just in official government payments on the double debt but also in interest and late fees, year after year, for decades. We found that Haitians paid about $560 million in today’s dollars. But that doesn’t nearly capture the true loss…
Part two: Demanding reparations for France’s odious independence debt and ending up in exile, part two of a special feature in the New York Times, May 21, 2022 The firebrand Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide tried to hold France to account for its years of exploitation. He soon found himself ousted from power in a coup …In interviews, a dozen French and Haitian political figures recounted how a worried France worked quickly and doggedly to stifle Mr. Aristide’s call for reparations before siding with his opponents and collaborating with the United States to remove him from power…
Part three: The Ransom: How the French Bank Crédit Industriel et Commercial captured Haiti, New York Times, May 20, 2022 …During the latter 19th century, French elites controlled Haiti’s national bank from the French capital. Their ledgers show no investments in Haitian businesses, much less the kinds of ambitious projects that modernized Europe. Instead, original records uncovered by The New York Times show that Crédit Industriel siphoned tens of millions of dollars out of Haiti and into the pockets of French investors…
Part four: Invade Haiti, Wall Street urged in 1914. The U.S. government of the day obliged, beginning a brutal, 20-year occupation, New York Times, May 23, 2022
Supplement: How we calculated the value of Haiti’s ‘indeoendence debt’ payments to France [from a fragmented and previously undocumenteed history]. New York Times, May 24, 2022
Black Americans fear more racist attacks after Buffalo shooting, Washington Post, May 21, 2022 Three-quarters of Black Americans are worried that they or someone they love will be attacked because of their race, according to a nationwide Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted after a gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket. According to the poll, nearly 8 in 10 Black Americans say there has been little or no improvement in how police treat Black people…
Acquittal of a white police officer in Aboriginal town stirs ghosts of Australia’s 1928 massacre of Aboriginal people at Coniston, Washington Post, May 11, 2022
Background: Coniston: The massacre of dozens of Aboriginals by Australian police in 1928, book review by Rebecca Wu, in Glam Adelaide, Apr 21, 2020 The Coniston Massacre of 1928 has never before been fully researched and recorded. Uncomfortably, it is just one story of many that exist within Australia’s genocidal past. Reviewing: Coniston, by Michael Bradley, UWA Publishing, November 2019
Joining the West: The NATO-ization of Sweden and Finland, essay by Lily Lynch, published in Sidecar (blog at New Left Review), May 20, 2022 [Sweden and Finland’s claimed neutrality is much exaggerated. The significance of their decisions to join NATO is being exaggerated by Western governments and media. Sweden is a major producer and peddler of armaments, and both countries participated in the U.S.-led neo-colonial war in Afghanistan. The militaries of both countries have trained to be ‘inter-operable’ with NATO militaries.]
Washington and its allies are growing impatient over Haiti’s ‘transition’, by Catherine Charlemagne, Haiti Liberté, May 11, 2022 (Haiti Liberté is a print weekly in French, Kreyol and English, distributed across Haiti and the Haitian diaspora in the U.S., French-speaking Europe and Canada.)
By the same writer: How the U.S. lost the Ukraine war, by Ted Rall, published on his website, May 9, 2022
How the Washington Post twisted a report about Donbass refugees in Russia to fit its anti-Russia narrative, analysis by By Stepan Kostetskiy, published in RT, May 20, 2022 …One of the people quoted in the Washington Post article is Danil Makhnitsky from ‘Society. Future.’, a political organization in Russia that coordinates volunteers who help refugees. When the article was published, Makhnitsky found out that most of what he had said didn’t make the cut. The only quote the newspaper used was taken out of context. RT spoke with Danil about his work with refugees from Donbass and the interview he gave the newspaper…
U.S. Senate approves Biden regime’s $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Associated Press, May 19, 2022 Last week, the house of Representatives approved the $40 billion package in a 368-57 vote …Around $24 billion in the measure is for arming and equipping Ukrainian forces, helping them finance weapons purchases, replacing U.S. equipment dispatched to the theater and paying for American troops deployed in nearby countries. There is also $9 billion to keep Ukraine’s government afloat and $5 billion to feed countries around the globe reliant on Ukraine’s now diminished crop yields. The U.S. State Department says that to date, it has shipped close to $4 billion in armaments to Ukraine…
Australia’s national election on May 21: Turning for the worse, by Michael Roberts, published on his website, May 20, 2022 …What lies behind the slowdown in real GDP and investment growth in Australia? It’s the same cause that applies to all the major capitalist economies in the last two decades: falling profitability of capital…
Related: Laden with ‘world-beating’ debt, Australian households are at increased risk as rates rise, expert says, The Guardian, May 5, 2022 Australian households are among the most indebted in the world and the start of interest rate increases by the Reserve Bank will generate “a big potential problem” for many people and the wider economy, a University of New South Wales researcher predicts…
How big is the latest coronavirus wave in the U.S.? No one really knows, Washington Post, May 18, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Latest coronavirus wave in U.S. [According to Worldometer, the seven-day average of daily Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. was 255 on May 18, down from 2,200 two months earlier. The accompanying chart shows daily deaths from Covid-19, per million population, 7-day average, selected countries (Our World In Data).]
Letter to editors of FAIR.org on ‘annexationists’ and ‘secessionists’ in Crimea and Donbass, by Roger Annis, re-published in A Socialist In Canada, May 19, 2022
Donbass Diaries: In south central Ukraine, we visit the coastal city of Berdyansk (pop. 120,000, on the Sea of Azov) and the nuclear power complex to the north in Zaporizhzhia. Report by Mehmet Perincek, published in United World International, May 16, 2022 (Part three of an ongoing series. Mehmet Perinçek is a Turkish historian and political scientist living in Russia.)
Read parts one and two of this series here:
Part one, May 12, 2022
Part two, May 13, 2022
Additional 771 Ukraine military personnel surrendered in Mariupol in past 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,730. Report in RT, May 19, 2022
Related: Surrender of Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in Azovstal as the sound of artillery and gunfire ceases, report by Christelle Néant (with video), published in Donbass Insider, May 18, 2022
How a century of political violence in Ukraine is linked to the atrocities of today, by Olga Sukharevskaya, published in RT, May 11, 2022 (Olga Sukharevskaya is a former Ukraine diplomat, jurist, and resident of Moscow.)
By the same writer:
* Under the Wolfsangel: The uncomfortable truth about radical ideologies in Ukraine, by Olga Sukharevskaya, RT, Mar 15, 2022
* How Ukraine’s ‘Revolution of Dignity’ led to war, poverty and the rise of the far right, by Olga Sukharevskaya, RT, Feb 22, 2022
The rebuilding of the city of Mariupol in Donetsk republic
[Gazeta.ru Russian newspaper reports on May 18 the initial plans for the rebuilding of the port city of Mariupol in the Donetsk republic. The report says that some 60 per cent of the housing stock in the city requires rebuilding, while there is debate over the future of the Azovstal steelmaking complex, whose initial construction dates back to the 1930s. Many city residents want the complex demolished due to the massive pollution it emits. There were citizen protests against the plant’s pollution in 2018 and 2019. The other large steelmaking complex in the city is the Ilyich Steel and Iron Works, founded in 1896.It is smaller than Azovstal.]
[A report by National Geographic on November 30, 2021 detailed the environmental concerns of city residents. It wrote: “Mariupol is one of the most polluted cities in a nation whose air is among the dirtiest in Europe. Mired in war with its mighty neighbour, beset by corruption and dominated by a small number of super-rich oligarchs who wield outsize political influence, Ukraine has allowed its antiquated factories to pump out toxic pollution at levels far greater than permitted elsewhere on the continent.”
[The report writes further: “While Mariupol’s pollution is among the worst, Ukraine’s other big industrial cities—Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia—also have severe air quality problems. Dirty air, which is strongly linked to heart disease, cancer, dementia, and many other illnesses, cuts short an estimated 46,000 Ukrainians’ lives annually, according to the 2020 State of Global Air report.]
Ukraine orders Azovstal fighters trapped in Mariupol to surrender, RT, May 16, 2022 …The first stage of the surrender was completed on May 16 when 264 soldiers left the Azovstal steel plant. There are now 53 wounded servicemen in a hospital in Novoazovsk and 211 soldiers detained in Yelenovka, both of which are part of the Donetsk People’s Republic…
Related: Nearly 700 Ukraine military personnel surrender in Mariupol in past 24 hours. [Gazeta.ru newspaper in Russia reports on May 18 that 694 Ukraine military personnel in the city of Mariupol surrendered during the preceding 24 hours. RT reports on the same date that a total of 959 have surrendered to date. Its report includes a one-minute video of the surrender procedure.]
[Western media is relaying the propaganda line of the governing regime in Kyiv that calls the liberation of the city of Mariupol by Donetsk and Russian forces and the ongoing surrender of Ukrainian military and paramilitary forces surrounded inside the Azovstal steel complex a ‘victory’ for Kyiv forces. The headline by Associated Press on May 16 reads: ‘Defenders of steel mill [?] declare mission accomplished’. A Reuters news story reads, “The Mariupol garrison has fulfilled its mission, the General Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said in a statement.” In the real world, the captured Ukrainian soldiers will eventually be exchanged for Russian military prisoners, while the captured mercenaries face criminal charges before the judicial system in Donetsk republic.]
Russia is ‘kidnapping Ukrainian children’, resembling the U.S. genocidal residential school practices, claims the ever-eclectic CounterPunch. Report in CounterPunch (re-printed from The Conversation), May 18, 2022 [The sole source cited in the Conversation/CounterPunch claim of child abductions by Russia is an article in the U.S. corporate media outlet The Hill. And the Hill‘s sole source? You guessed it–a press conference by the governing regime in Kyiv! Ninety five per cent of the original article in The Conversation is an outline history of the genocidal, residential school practices of the United States. Surely this marks the bottom of the absurdist, anti-Russia stories by corporate and ‘alternative’ media in the West? Alas, don’t hold your breath expecting that.]
Buffalo shooting leaves neighborhood without a grocery store, Associated Press, May 18, 2022
Related: ‘That’s not the devil. That’s America’: Black residents of Buffalo’s East Side see mass shooting as exclamation point on racism they face every day, Washington Post, May 17, 2022
Shanghai Covid cases remain at zero outside quarantine zones for fourth day, putting city on path towards normalcy, report by South China Morning Post, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 Shanghai has succeded in protecting its societal zero-Covid policy Read the article here in pdf format: Shanghai has kept its societal zero-Covid goals
Three examples of how Western corporate media engages in a war on truth over Ukraine, by Russell Bentley, in Donetsk, published in Covert Action Magazine, May 16, 2022
New York Times shifts its pro-war narrative and documents the failings of U.S. war policy in Ukraine, by John V. Walsh, published in LA Progressive, May 14, 2022
‘Hate moves to the center’
[That’s the headline of an editorial in the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, on May 17. At first glance, the headline appears as an accurate description of the foreign policies of Canada, the United States and Europe towards Russia. That’s close, but the editorial actually describes the United States government following the latest mass shooting and murders in the U.S., this time in Buffalo, New York on May 13. It smears all of humanity with the foul stain of the U.S. government in concluding: “There is so much that needs to change… For now, we grieve with Buffalo, with loves ones of the victims, and for our hate-blighted humanity.” (emphasis added)
[The Star‘s crack political columnist, Rosie DiManno, the most rabid of the newspaper’s anti-Russia writers (who happens to double as a sports reporter for the news paper) tars every U.S. citizen with the brush of racism. Her column on May 17 concludes, “In the 181-page manifesto police believe Gendron wrote before the assault, he described himself as a fascist, a white supremacist and a racist. A son of America.”]
2022 ‘Summit of the Americas’: U.S. policy of exclusion undermines its own hegemonic aspirations, by Frederick Mills and William Camacaro, published by COHA (Council on Hemispheric Affairs (Washington), May 17, 2022 The United States will host the Ninth Summit of the Americas June 6-10 in Los Angeles, California with the theme of ‘Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future’ for the Western hemisphere. This Summit comes at a time of growing disenchantment in Latin America and the Caribbean with an inter-American system rigged to advance U.S. corporate interests, attack left and left leaning governments, and once again plunge the region into U.S.-NATO cold war politics…
Related:
* The Summit of the Americas could be Biden’s next foreign policy embarrassment, by John Perry, published in Consortium News, May 16, 2022
* Why Latin America needs a new world order, by Marco Fernandes, published in People’s Dispatch, May 10, 2022
New York Times wins international Pulitzer for series on U.S. airstrikes killing civilians in Iraq and Syria, Poynter news service, May 9, 2022 The New York Times has won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for a series that compared what the Pentagon reported about civilian casualties from airstrikes to what residents on the ground said… The Times’ reporting concluded that the number of civilian deaths in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria was “drastically” higher than the official number of 1,417. Few of the incidents resulted in disciplinary action by U.S. officials. “Taken together, the 5,400 pages of records point to an institutional acceptance of civilian casualties,” the Times wrote in the series…
Related: 2021 book ‘The Afghanistan Papers’ leaves a critical question unanswered, by Patterson Deppen, published in Towards Freedom, May 13, 2022 (Patterson Deppen is a writer and member of the Black Alliance for Peace in the U.S.)
The dollar system in a multipolar world, by James K. Galbraith, published by the Institute for New Economic Thinking (New York), May 5, 2022 The multipolar financial world is here. The United States can survive it – but only with major political and economic changes at home. It’s time to start thinking about what those need to be. You can also read the essay here in pdf format: The dollar system in a multi-polar world
Live-action role play by Western mercenaries in Ukraine, by Scott Ritter, Consortium News, May 13, 2022
Sri Lanka’s prime minister has resigned, the people want his brother president to go, too. Is this the end of the road for the Rajapaksa military family dynasty?, First Post (India), May 10, 2022
Related:
* Sri Lanka’s dual crisis: Ethnic conflict and the debt economy, by Nalika Gajaweera, published in Jamhoor (Sri Lanka), May 4, 2022 Reimagining a pluralist Sri Lanka in the wake of the ‘Gota Go Home’ movement
* Reflections on the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, by Prabhat Patnaik, originally published in Global South Colloquy, Apr 30, 2022
Politicians in Britain and the U.S. love throwing stones in glass houses, by Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, May 13, 2022 American and British politicians have been busy enacting and enforcing their own security laws while decrying those of Hong Kong Read the column here in pdf format: Throwing stones in glass houses
Related: Just imagine if Julian Assange was Chinese, by Alex Lo, columnist, South China Morning Post, Dec 12, 2021 As pointed out by at least one British pundit, the founder of WikiLeaks would have been celebrated and hailed as a hero by the West, instead of facing extradition to the U.S. Unfortunately for him, he exposed Western crimes, especially American ones.
The alleged Russian atrocity at Bucha, Ukraine looks like another false U.S. pretext for war, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, A Socialist In Canada, May 13, 2022 (Originally published in Covert Action Magazine, May 12, 2022, with extensive photos. Jeremy Kuzmarov is the editor of Covert Action Magazine.)
The army of secret propagandists in Ukraine funded by the U.S. to win Western hearts and minds for NATO policies, by Evan Reif, special to Covert Action Magazine, May 12, 2022
The economic prospects for Western capitalism, and the Russian intervention in Ukraine. Essay by Sam Williams (U.S. writer) published on his website A Critique of Crisis Theory, May 9, 2022 Three factors shape the current global economic conjuncture. The first is the sluggish but long rise in the capitalist global industrial cycle following the world economic crisis of 2007-09… The second factor is the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic that shut down large parts of the global economy and world trade in 2020… The third factor is the global economic and financial war launched by the U.S. world empire against Russia…
[This is an extremely valuable and insightful essay. Its length is that of a small book. Here in pdf format is the conclusion to the essay, in 13 points. Of the 13 points, numbers one, ten, eleven and thirteen address the situation in Ukraine. The economic prospects for capitalism]
What do the citizens of Western countries really think about the Ukrainian conflict?, RT, May 13, 2022 [The ever-eclectic RT, which frequently voices right-wing viewpoints, has published a commentary on May 13 welcoming the threatened overturn of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that legalized women’s right to abortion access. That decision was ‘unconstitutional’ says the RT writer.]
The U.S. Air Force deployment in Britain is its third largest deployment in the world, by Matt Kennard, Declassified UK, May 10, 2022 Only Japan and Germany, countries occupied by the U.S. military after World War 2, host more U.S. air force pilots than Britain. Nuclear-capable American B-52 bombers were recently deployed in Gloucestershire amid Ukraine tensions.
‘Only the complete military defeat of Ukraine can resolve the crisis’, interview with Roman Kononenko of the Russian Communist Party, published in Beyond Freedom, Apr 21, 2022 …All of the Communist Parties in Europe have denounced what they call a ‘Russian invasion’ of Ukraine. All of them are saying that it’s an ‘imperialist war’… [As reported on the ‘Canada news‘ page of A Socialist In Canada website, the Communist Parties in the U.S. and in Canada each condemn the Russian intervention in Ukraine and call for a ‘Russian withdrawal’.]
In interview, hapless, anti-Russia Democracy Now! presents as authority a right-wing Ukrainian writer. Interview with writer Andrey Kurkov, broadcast on May 12, 2022 (15 minutes) Two excerpts from the interview:
1. “Ukraine is a multicultural society which was always tolerant towards Russian-language literature.” [Note the writer’s inadvertent use of the past tense, ‘was always tolerant’. Begging the question: ‘Always tolerant until when?’]
2. “There are wonderful books to read, wonderful nonfiction books, like one by Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands; Anne Applebaum’s Red Hunger; and a book by Canadian professor and writer Serhii Plokhy, The Gates of Europe.” [The first two named books are extreme-right, anti-Russia interpretations of history. The author of the third book, Serhii Plokhy, is a Ukrainian academic and professor (not ‘Canadian’). Since 2013, he has been the director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. He holds the novel view that the U.S. government of the day opposed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and it was events in Ukraine that were crucial to it. Plokhy argues that the conflict that broke out in Ukraine in 2014 (the right-wing coup in February of that year) was actually caused by ‘Russian colonialism’. He calls the Soviet Union ‘the Russian Empire’.]
Remarks by WHO director-generall criticizing China’s zero-Covid are ‘irresponsible’, commentary in Global Times, May 11, 2022 …One day before Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made his remarks, a peer-reviewed study, published by the journal Nature Medicine, said that China risks a “tsunami” of coronavirus infections resulting in 1.55 million deaths if the government abandons its long-held Covid Zero policy and allows the highly-infectious Omicron variant to spread unchecked…
Reference: Modeling transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in China, research report published in Nature Medicine, May 10, 2022
Pandemic gets tougher to track as COVID testing plunges globally, Associated Press, May 10, 2022
The who’s who of the coronavirus pandemic, as of May 11, 2022: (seven-day averages)
Daily new cases, per million pop.: Daily deaths, per million pop.:
[For two years, liberals and media in the West have vaunted certain countries of the world in combatting Covid-19, notably Taiwan, South Korea and New Zealand, while consciously refusing to report China’s successes. Today, Taiwan’s rate of death (per capita) from Covid-19 is 40 times or more higher than China’s; South Korea’s rate is more than 110 times, while New Zealand’s rate is more than 230 times higher than China’s! (source: Our World In Data)]
U.S. surpasses record 100,000 overdose deaths in 2021, Washington Post, May 11, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Record drug overdose deaths in U.S. in 2021 [Some 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses (drug poisonings) in 2021, a record year that is up 15 percent from 2020, according to an estimate released by the National Center for Health Statistics. More than 80,000 of those drug poisoning deaths came from opioids, including prescription pain pills and fentanyl. The total figure amounts to 293 deaths per day in the country in 2021.]
Obama and Democratic Party liberals killed abortion rights, by Margaret Kimberley, executive editor and senior columnist, Black Agenda Report, May 11, 2022
Joe Biden and the Democrats have nothing to offer organized labor, the Amazon Labor Union included, by Danny Haiphong, contributing editor, Black Agenda Report, May 11, 2022
Armenia and Azerbaijan have exchanged proposals for a negotiated peace, by Heydar Isayev and Ani Mejlumyan, Eurasia.net, May 10, 2022
Background: The ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, brokered by Russia, should be welcomed by defenders of Armenia, by Roger Annis, A Socialist In Canada, Nov 15, 2020 (with postscripts up to July 2021)
UK Labour party leader is warned that expelling NATO-sceptic MPs could spark ‘civil war’ within the party, by Sophie Wingate, The Independent, May 3, 2022 (paywalled) read the article here in pdf format:
Related: Jeremy Corbyn interview: NATO, arming Ukraine and the future of the Labour Party, broadcast on Times Radio, Apr 20, 2022 ‘I have totally condemned the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, but I also think there has to be real pressure for a ceasefire… Our media are quite rightly concentrating, reporting very heavily, on Ukraine and I support that… Yes, there are some far-right forces in Donbass, but to call the government of Ukraine and the society of Ukraine ‘nazified’ is absurd…’
Background: Jeremy Corbyn’s pacifist call for ‘Russian withdrawal’ from Ukraine won’t stop NATO imperialist aggression, by Roger Annis, A Socialist In Canada, May 1, 2022
Speech by Vladimir Putin, President of Russia and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, to the Victory Day Parade on Red Square, May 9, 2022, text in English published on the website of the President of Russia, May 9, 2022 Read the text of Vladimir Putin’s speech here in pdf format: Victory Day 2022 speech by Vladimir Putin View a photo gallery of Victory Day commemorations in Moscow here on CNBC. [Throughout the Russian Federation and in some former Soviet republics, May 9 commemorations include marches of the ‘Immortal Regiment’, in which people carry the portraits of their parents or other relatives who fought in the Great Patriotic War.]
Related news: Greetings by Vladimir Putin to leaders and citizens of foreign states on 77th anniversary of Victory in Great Patriotic War, brief report published on the website of the President of Russia, May 8, 2022
Joy, sorrow, denial: How Russia’s neighbors will celebrate Victory Day, May 9, report by Mikhail Katkov, in RIA Novosti, May 8, 2022 (translated to English by A Socialist In Canada, original in Russian here) read the article here in pdf format: How Russia’s neighbors are celebrating Victory Day
An open letter to the American people as Russia celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War, by Scott Ritter (former U.S. Marine and UN weapons inspector), published in RT, May 9, 2022
Russian envoy to UN details Western media manipulation in its news coverage of Ukraine, report by Al Mayadeen, May 2, 2022
Related:
* Top Western media outlet Der Spiegel deletes Reuters video of Mariupol resident detailing her captivity by Ukraine paramilitaries in Azovstal steel plant, RT, May 6, 2022
* Two-minute excerpt from the deleted Reuters interview with Natalia Usmanova, broadcast on YouTube, May 6, 2022
* Half truths on Mariupol in German media, report in Junge Welt (‘Young World’, German left-wing daily), May 6, 2022 read a translation into English of the brief news report here: Half truths on Mariupol in German media
[Western media has done far more than censor the above-referenced interview by Reuters with Mariupol steelworker Natalia Usmanova. It is broadcasting a false, parallel reality of Mariupol to the consumers of its product around the world. For days, Western media has reported endlessly about the evacuation of a handful of civilians in Mariupol by UN and Ukrainian Red Cross agencies. It fails to report that these evacuations were made possible by the cooperation of Russian and Donetsk Forces and it fails to report that Russian and Donetsk forces have carried out, by far, the largest number of humanitarian evacuations from Mariupol. Furthermore, these same forces are offering surrender to the last of the besieged, extremist paramilitaries surrounded inside the Azovstal steelmaking complex. Western media has also failed to report the ceasefire in Mariupol declared unilaterally by Russian and Donetsk forces on May 6. That ceasefire is holding.]
14.9 million excess deaths associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, news release by World Health Organization, May 5, 2022 New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the Covid-19 pandemic (described as “excess mortality”) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million)…
Related:
* 15 million people have died in the pandemic, WHO says, report in Nature Magazine, May 5, 2022 The World Health Organization’s long-awaited estimate of ‘excess deaths’ during the two-plus years of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic is in line with other studies.
* Coronavirus infections in autumn 2022 could infect 100 million in U.S., Biden administration warns, report in Washington Post, May 6, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: New surge in Covid-19 infections in autumn 2022 …Other experts agree that a major wave this fall and winter is possible given waning immunity from vaccines and infections, loosened restrictions, and the rise of Covid-19 variants better able to escape immune protections… The seven-day, national average of new Covid-19 infections in the U.S. has more than doubled–from 29,312 on March 30 to nearly 71,000 on May 6, a little more than five weeks later…
[The military threats and provocations being waged against Russia by the NATO military alliance and by allied governing regimes in Asia and Australasia are instigated, precisely, in order to divert attention from their criminal inaction on the global warming emergency, their criminally negligent responses to the coronavirus pandemic, and the rising social and economic inequities in their countries.]
‘In America: Remember’. This is a composite photograph in October 2021 by Stephen Wilkes of National Geographic, showing the art installation by Suzanne Firstenberg on the National Mall in Washington, DC that month. Each white flag represented an American life lost to Covid-19, which at the time totalled 670,000. By May 2022, the death toll has surpassed one million. The story and a higher resolution photograph are here on NPR, Oct 5, 2021.
Profit-seeking price hikes, not wage rises, are driving the current inflation spiral. Analysis by Michael Roberts, published on his website, May 8, 2022
Abortion rights are good health and good science, editorial, Scientific American, May 5, 2022 The leaked Supreme Court draft opinion goes against science, safety and human dignity, and portends a dangerous post-Roe future
Related:
* The legal reasoning behind the Supreme Court draft overturning Roe v. Wade, by Sean Fine, legal writer, Globe and Mail, May 6, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: The legal reasoning [Including, the writer compares the status of the right to abortion in Canada to that in the United States.]
* Half of U.S. women risk losing abortion access without Roe, New York Times, May 7, 2022 Around 64 million women and girls of reproductive age live in the United States, and more than half of them live in states that could seek to ban or further restrict access to abortion if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade…
* Most Americans have nuanced views on abortion, Pew Center report shows, Washington Post, May 6, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: Pew Center research on attitudes to abortion rights in U.S.
* Texas’ restrictive abortion law previews a post-Roe America, by Eleanor Klibanoff, Texas Tribune, May 3, 2022
* Abortion pills by mail pose challenge for officials in anti-abortion states, Washington Post, May 4, 2022 …In December 2021, the FDA mde permanent a Covid-era policy allowing abortion pills to be prescribed via telehealth and distributed by mail in states that permit it. Abortions induced by pills rose to more than 54 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights…
Fear in Brussels over the new Left Alliance in France, commentary by Raphael Schmeller, published in Junge Welt (left-wing daily in Germany), May 7, 2022 (translation to English by A Socialist In Canada, original in German here) read the commentary here in pdf format: Fear in Brussels over Left Alliance in France
Related:
* Nouvelle Union Populaire écologiste et sociale, Wikipedia
* Four parties of French left form coalition to challenge Macron in June 12/19 legislative election, Common Dreams, May 5, 2022 and read: report by France 24, May 5, 2022 If approved by the respective parties, the electoral agreement would see leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) as the left candidate for prime minister of France.
Berlin gov’t bans showing of Soviet Union flag and other Soviet symbols at events commemorating defeat of Nazi Germany, report in Junge Welt (‘Young World’, German left-wing daily), May 6, 2022 (translation by A Socialist In Canada, original in German here) read the translated article here: Berlin gov’t bans Soviet symbols at Victory Day commemorations
In contrast to Western media demonization, a Swiss businessman who worked in North Korea for seven years found much to like in the country, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, Covert Action Magazine, May 5, 2022
Eyewitness recalls the 2014 Odessa massacre, calls for ‘awakening’ of Russian and Soviet identities, interview with Dr. Vladimir Grubnik, A Socialist In Canada, May 5, 2022 (Vladimir Grubnik, Ph.D. in Medicine, participated in the months-long, pro-democracy protests in Odessa following the coup in Kyiv, Ukraine in February 2014. He is an eyewitness to the massacre of anti-coup protesters on May 2, 2014. He spent more than four years in a Ukrainian prison for his political views. Journalist Dmitry Plotnikov interviews him, originally published in RT.)
PayPal confirms it has banned Consortium News and Mint Press News, by Joe Lauria, editor, Consortium News, May 6, 2022
Background:
* Online censorship of Ukraine dissent by tech giants is becoming the new norm, by Alan MacLeod, staff writer, Mint Press News, Apr 25, 2022
* PayPal has begun quietly shuttering left-wing media accounts, by Branko Marcetic, Jacobin, May 3, 2022 PayPal has canceled without explanation the accounts of Consortium News and Mint Press News, two prominent independent news outlets. It escaped notice by the mainstream press, which spent the weekend congratulating itself over the freedom to criticize the powerful.
CNN+ was a failed attempt by ‘legacy’ cable news outlets to remain relevant as its viewership turns to alternative media outlets for reliable news, by Nolan Higdon (California State U.), published in The Conversation, May 3, 2022
Will Western sanctions change the global financial system?, commentary by Howard Davies, published by Project Syndicate, Apr 28, 2022
Related:
* Dollarization of the Eurozone?, by John Grahl, published in New Left Review, edition of Sep/Oct 2020
* China meets banks to discuss protecting assets from U.S. sanctions, Financial Times, May 1, 2022 read the article here in pdf format: China discusses threat of U.S. financial sanctions
[From an online commentary: The use of Chinese currency will no doubt increase, but there are two caveats. First, the dollar can remain dominant even if other currencies catch up somewhat, as past decades have shown. For example, 60% of global foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars and 20% now in euros, but the increased use of the euro is not threatening the dollar; in fact it has stabilized global currencies while remaining anchored to the dollar. John Grahl has argued in New Left Review that the euro has itself become more tied to the dollar and essentially become dollarized. China’s renminbi accounts for only 3% of global reserves in spite of recent growth in value, about half that of each of the British pound and Japanese yen). Second – and this is key – lowering transaction costs is not enough. To become global, a currency demands confidence that it be liquid and there be no concerns about the currency’s national authorities imposing themselves on financial markets or challenging private property rights in financial assets. The Chinese government hesitates to take full ‘liberalization’ of its currency because this would undermine its overall direction of the economy.]
How the massacre of anti-coup protesters in Odessa on May 2, 2014 became a turning point for Ukraine, historical essay by Evgeniy Norin, re-published in A Socialist In Canada, May 3, 2022
The brazenly political U.S. Supreme Court shows it will strike down abortion rights, commentary by Erwin Chemerinsky, in LA Times, May 2, 2022 read the commentary here in pdf format: U.S. Supreme Court on abortion rights (Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. His most recent book is Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights (Penguin Random House, Aug 2012).
Related:
* More than half of U.S. states expected to ban or restrict abortion if ‘Roe v. Wade’ falls, by Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News, May 4, 2022
* The latest action on abortion legislation across U.S. states, in-depth report in Washington Post, Apr 30, 2022 [The Washington Post report includes the following charts: four states where 15-week bans are enacted or threatened; 13 states where Texas-style bans are enacted or proposed; seven states where trigger bans are enacted or proposed (complete bans on abortion to be ‘triggered’ should the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court be overturned; and eight states where bills to ban abortion are initiated. There are 18 states where laws to protect the right to abortion are enacted or proposed.].
Background:
* How Roe v. Wade changed the lives of American women, by Constance Shehan (U. of Florida), published in The Conversation, July 5, 2018
* Study shows an abortion ban may lead to a 21% increase in pregnancy-related deaths, by Amanda Jean Stevenson (U. of Colorado), published in The Conversation, Sep 22, 2021 A new Texas law bans nearly all abortions, and other states have indicated that they likely will follow suit. But the research is clear that people who want abortions but are unable to get them can suffer a slew of negative consequences for their health and well-being…
Interview by Italian television network with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, interview transcript published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, May 1, 2022 read the interview transcript here in pdf format: Interview Sergey Lavrov with Italian television
Ukraine hunts down ‘traitors’ helping Russia’, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, editor, Covert Action Magazine, May 2, 2022 Ukrainian citizens are being criminalized for expressing anger at Ukrainian army practices …A previous CAM exposé pointed to the ominous parallels between the SBU operations in Ukraine and the Phoenix program in Vietnam, which resulted in the killing, imprisonment and torture of thousands of South Vietnamese, including civilian officials accused of being loyal to the left-wing, anti-imperialist National Liberation Front (NLF)…
Following one-week break, video journalist Patrick Lancaster visits Mariupol then speaks to residents of Donbass village of Yelinivka, video report, May 1, 2022 (13 minutes)
U.S. media are lying about Russian atrocities in Mariupol, says embedded Dutch journalist at Ground Zero, by Sonja Van den Ende, published in Covert Action Magazine, Apr 23, 2022
Jeremy Corbyn’s pacifist call for ‘Russian withdrawal’ from Ukraine won’t stop NATO imperialist aggression, by Roger Annis, A Socialist In Canada, May 1, 2022 …The leaders of NATO do not care about the language of peace. They do everything in their power to trample peace into the ground. That leaves the people of Russia with two choices: surrender, or meet force with force as the only means to achieve a negotiated peace for Ukraine and its neighbours…
Ukraine is winning the battle on Twitter, but in the real world Kiev is losing the fight for the Donbass, analysis by Scott Ritter, former U.S. marine and UN arms inspector, published in RT, May 1, 2022
