World news headlines on A Socialist In Canada, September and October 2019

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.

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World news headlines on A Socialist In Canada, October 2019

By protecting Syria’s Idlib, U.S. created a safe haven for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and ISIS, by Dan Cohen, Consortium News, Oct 30, 2019 In claiming to have killed self-proclaimed ISIS ‘caliph’ Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, U.S. officials have blown apart their own regime-change propaganda about Idlib

Russia isn’t getting the recognition it deserves on Syria, commentary by Scott Ritter, published in Truthdig, Oct 30, 2019

The arrest and detention of Max Blumenthal exposes the hypocrisy of Western Media and ‘human rights’ NGOs, by Joe Emersberger, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), Oct 30, 2019 and read: ‘This charge is 100% false’: The Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal arrested months after reporting on Venezuelan opposition violence, by Ben Norton, The Grayzone, Oct 28, 2019 ‘The Grayzone’ editor Max Blumenthal was arrested on October 25 on false charges after reporting earlier in 2019 on Venezuelan opposition violence outside Venezuela’s embassy in Washington. He describes the manufactured case as part of a wider campaign of political persecution. He was subsequently held in jail for two days on a five months-old arrest warrant of which he knew nothing.

Germany announces plans to combat far-right extremism and online hate speech, Deutsche Welle, Oct 30, 2019 After the deadly attack on a synagogue and the killing in June 2019 of pro-refugee regional official Walter Lübcke, the German government has set out its new measures to tackle far-right extremist violence. Opposition politicians say the plans are long overdue. [But it’s all hypocrisy and for show. The German government and its NATO allies have been staunch supporters of the ultra-conservative government of Ukraine and its neo-Nazi paramilitary legions. They are also closely allied with Turkey, which has provided arms and money to the extremist paramilitaries (‘jihadists’) seeking the violent overthrow of the government of Syria.]

U.S. troops being deployed deeper into Syria will strike at any force challenging their seizure of oil fields, says U.S. secretary of defense, RT, Oct 28, 2019

Related:
* U.S. threatens ‘military force’ against ‘any group’ challenging its occupation of Syria oil fields, Press TV, Oct 29, 2019 Asked whether the U.S. military incursion includes keeping oil fields out of Syrian or Russian control, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper replied, “The short answer is, yes, it presently does.”
* Trump’s stated plan to loot Syria’s oil reserves ‘would be a war crime’, critics say, Common Dreams, Oct 28, 2019
* Syria’s key energy statistics, by International Energy Agency Syria ranks #30 and #40, respectively, in world ranking of proven oil reserves and proven natural gas reserves

As death toll tops 220, Iraqi protesters stay in streets calling for end to corrupt government, interview with Yanar Mohammed (Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq), broadcast on Democracy Now!, Oct 29, 2019

Protests in Chile were sparked by a subway fare hike but come after ’30 years of a social crisis’, interview with Pablo Abufom (Solidarity Movement, an anti-capitalist and feminist organization in Chile), broadcast on Democracy Now!, Oct 29, 2019
Related: One million take to streets of Chile in the largest mobilizations since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship’, interview with Alondra Carrillo Vidal (Coordinadora Feminista) and Professor Macarena Gomez-Barris (Pratt Institute, NYC), broadcast on Democracy Now!, Oct 28, 2019

Argentina’s governing austerity regime swept from power in presidential election by left-Peronist party and its vice-president nominee Christina Kirchner, report by Reuters, Oct 27, 2019

Germany’s Left Party tops Thuringia state election, far-right AfD surges to second, Deutsche Welle, Oct 27, 2019

A post-mortem of Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria (‘Operation Peace Spring’), by Metin Gurcan, Al-Monitor, Oct 25, 2019 …In the north, Turkey and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army control the Tell Abyad, Ras al-Ain and M4 pocket, that is, 20% of the border. Some 80% of the border will be under the control of forces backed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad’s forces will take control of the Turkish border from the YPG for the first time in eight years. It’s still a mystery how the YPG and Assad will transfer power and how Assad’s forces will ensure border security after the YPG withdrawal. The U.S. Air Force has still not withdrawn…
Related: UN envoy on Syria to meet Turkey, Iran and Russia foreign ministers in Geneva prior to constitutional talks opening Oct 30, Reuters, Monday, Oct 28, 2019 United Nations special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen says he will meet foreign ministers from Turkey, Iran and Russia in Geneva on Tuesday, one day ahead of the first meeting of Syria’s Constitutional Committee.

Trump’s glorifies the violence of ISIS leader’s death at the hands of U.S. military, Common Dreams, Oct 27, 2019 [Western media is giving Trump center stage in his foul celebration of the killing of a U.S. enemy.]

The revolution isn’t being televised, by Alan MacLeod, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), Oct 25, 2019 Social explosions against austerity and government corruption and unaccountability are erupting workdwide, but the actions that have by far received the most attention in corporate media are those in Hong Kong.
… Eighteen people have died during the ongoing protests in Haiti, 19 (and rising) in Chile, while in Ecuador, protesters themselves captured over 50 soldiers who had been sent in as President Moreno effectively declared martial law. In contrast, no one has been killed in Hong Kong, nor has the army been called in, with Beijing expressing full confidence in local authorities to handle proceedings. The Chilean government announced it had arrested over 5,400 people in only a week of protests, a figure more than double the number arrested in months of Hong Kong demonstrations (Bloomberg, 10/4/19). Furthermore, social media have been awash with images and videos of the suppression of the protests worldwide… One way of understanding why the media is fixated on Hong Kong and less interested in the others is to look at who is protesting, and why…

Syrian Kurdish forces say they are leaving Turkish border area, Damascus welcomes move, Reuters, Oct 27, 2019
Latest Syria news and analysis:
* U.S. military moves deeper into eastern Syria to protect [sic] Syrian oil, Russia calls it ‘banditry’, Associated Press, Oct 26, 2019
* Videos by Turkey-backed militias in northern Syria show war crimes committed against Kurdish fighters, including against women fighters, report in the pro-regime change Guardian daily, Oct 26, 2019
* U.S.-armed ‘moderate rebels’ slaughter Kurds in Syria, interview with Max Blumenthal, broadcast on ‘Pushback’ (host Aaron Maté) on The Grayzone, Oct 25, 2019 (20-minute interview) Amid outrage over Turkey’s atrocities against Kurdish civilians northern Syria, Max Blumenthal discusses how some of the Syrian militias committing the crimes are composed of the same “moderate rebels” that the U.S., Turkey and Gulf states armed, trained, and supported during the multi-year, regime-change war against the Syrian people.

Did this travesty of justice against Julian Assange happen in Britain, the home of the Magna Carta?, by John Pilger, Consortium News, Oct 25, 2019
Previously reported:
* Julian Assange in court, by Craig Murray, published on his website, Oct 22, 2019 …Until yesterday, I had always been quietly sceptical of those who claimed that Julian’s treatment amounted to torture – even of Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture – and sceptical of those who suggested he may be subject to debilitating drug treatments. But having attended the trials in Uzbekistan of several victims of extreme torture, and having worked with survivors from Sierra Leone and elsewhere, I can tell you that yesterday changed my mind entirely. Julian exhibited exactly the symptoms of a torture victim brought blinking into the light, particularly in terms of disorientation, confusion, and the real struggle to assert free will through the fog of learned helplessness…
* Judge denies Julian Assange an extension of his Feb 2020 hearing on extradition to U.S., by Joe Lauria, Consortium News, Oct 21, 2019
* Julian Assange appears disoriented in court appearance as judge rejects delay for extradition proceedings, The Independent, Oct 21, 2019 …The U.S. government is seeking to extradite the 48-year-old to prosecute him over the leak of hundreds of thousands of classified documents. He faces 18 charges, including conspiracy to hack government computers and violation of espionage law, and could spend decades in prison if convicted… District judge Vanessa Baraitser refused to grant defence lawyers more time to gather evidence. She told Assange his next case management hearing would take place on 19 December and the full hearing would proceed as planned in February 2020…

Report commissioned by Pentagon on global warming warns of dire future of chaos and collapse, by Nafeez Ahmed, VICE News, Oct 24, 2019 According to a new U.S. Army report [report here, 52 pages], Americans could face a horrifically grim future from climate change involving blackouts, disease, thirst, starvation and war. The study found that the US military itself might also collapse. This could all happen over the next two decades, the report notes…

General strike in Chile against austerity and state violence sees historic protest march of one million in capital city Santiago, huge protests elesewhere in the country, report in Al Jazeera, Oct 25, 2019
Related:
* Corporate media whitewashing of the repression by austerity regimes in Chile and Ecuador, by Lucas Koerner, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), Oct 23, 2019
* Class struggle in Chile: President Piñera at war with his own people, by Euan Gibb (Brazilian writer), published in The Bullet, Oct 24, 2019

Russian military faces tall order following Putin-Erdogan agreement halting Turkey’s all-out war plans against Kurds in northern Syria, analysis by Maxim A. Suchkov, Al-Monitor, Oct 23, 2019
Related:
* Head of Syrian Democratic Forces thanks Russia for saving Syria Kurds from ‘scourge’ of war by NATO member Turkey, report by Al Arabiya, Oct 23, 2019 and read: report in RT, Oct 23, 2019

Trump administration scrambles to salvage U.S. troop presence in Syria, by Jack Detsch, Al-Monitor, Oct 23, 2019
Related:
* U.S. troops staying in Syria to ‘keep the oil’ have already killed hundreds, by Ben Norton, Consortium News, Oct 24, 2019
* Trump’s threat to ‘take the oil’ of Syria is a crime, commentary on RT, Oct 24, 2019 [In this informaed comment, the RT writer nevertheless cannot resist repeating the naive and frequently-voiced view on RT that the Donald Trump regime ‘really wants’ peace in the Middle East. The writer says, “…The sudden talk [by Trump] about Syrian oil fields, however, suggests that someone from the “swamp” managed to persuade the president to keep one foot in the endless foreign wars he has pledged to end…”

Alternative media outlets in U.S. peddle the myths of a U.S. military withdrawal from Syria and a U.S. president (Trump) seeking less militarism. Reports by Democracy Now!, Oct 24, 2019, and report in Consortium News, Oct 23, 2019
Excerpt from story introduction by Democracy Now!: …President Trump has announced sanctions will be lifted on Turkey [what sanctions?] as a ceasefire [joint U.S.-Turkey declaration of occupation of northern Syria] remains in place in northern Syria, where Turkey invaded earlier this month after Trump withdrew U.S. troops… [what withdrawal from Syria?] Excerpts from interview with program guest Andrew Bacevich:
“…members of the foreign policy establishment in both parties are concerned about what an effort to end endless wars would mean for the larger architecture of U.S. national security policy, which has been based on keeping U.S. troops in hundreds of bases around the world, maintaining the huge military budget, a pattern of interventionism. Trump seems to think [sic] that that has been a mistake, particularly in the Middle East…”
and, “…In his bumbling way, he seems to have a wish to extricate the United States from this mess [Middle East wars], although, as I said previously, he actually has no idea how to do that in a meaningful way…”
and, “…We entered Afghanistan [18 years ago] with some coalition partners, intent on creating a stable, modern, democratic state that would recognize human rights…”
Excerpts from Consortium News report:
“…When Trump began criticizing the media and the intelligence agencies, he did not, due to his political inexperience in Washington, realize that they can be more powerful than a U.S. president in setting the agenda for world media. ..”
and, “… Trump is facing a revolt from his military-intelligence apparatus and from the foreign policy establishment over his attempt to fulfill campaign promises to end U.S. wars started by his predecessors…”

The U.S. has backed 21 of the 28 ‘crazy’ militias spearheading Turkey’s brutal invasion of northern Syria, by Max Blumenthal, fournding editor and publisher, The Grayzone, Oct 16, 2019

New York Times continues to pump out the lies about the war by Ukraine, acting s NATO proxy, against political autonomy for Donbass. Feature report, with photos, by Andrrew Kramer, New York Times, Oct 23, 2019 Excerpts:
“As President Trump froze military aid to Ukraine and urged it to investigate his rivals, the country was struggling in a bare-bones fight against Russian-backed separatists.”
“Fought in muddy trenches cut through hundreds of miles of farmland, the war in Ukraine has killed 13,000 people, put a large part of the country under Russia’s control and dragged on for five years…”
“While the [U.S. military] aid was restored in time to prevent any military setbacks, it took a heavy psychological toll, they said, striking at their confidence that their backers in Washington stood solidly behind their fight to keep Russia at bay.”
“The war began in 2014, after street protesters deposed Ukraine’s kleptocratic, pro-Kremlin president. Russia responded by helping stir up rebellions in two eastern provinces…”
“To revive settlement talks, Mr. Zelensky has already ordered his troops to pull back at some locations on the front line, a move that earned derision from his domestic critics, who called it a capitulation to Russia. Tens of thousands of people in Kiev, the capital, protested the decision this month in Independence Square, the site of the demonstrations that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin president five years ago…”
[The thousands of ‘people’ who protested in Kyiv on October 6 were mobilized by the extreme-right and neo-Nazi forces in Ukraine, an ‘inconvenient fact’ which the entirety of Western media dutifully covered up. Furthermore, with the encouragement of the NATO powers, the Ukrainian governing regime has all along sabotaged the ‘Minsk 2’ ceasefire and peace settlement of February 2015. The regime’s supposed interest in ‘reviving’ peace talks is an effort to kill off Minsk 2 once and for all. The pro-autonomy movement in Donbass understandably has rejected this further effort at sabotaging Minsk 2.
[The New York Times is able to lie with impunity over Ukraine because it voices the unanimous, anti-Russia viewpoint of Western governments. It also benefits from the fact that its viewpoint on Ukraine is shared by much of the political ‘left’ in the Western (imperialist) countries!]

‘Russia’ accusations against Tulsi Gabbard are a distraction from her actual, troubling ties to the far-right in India, by Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), Oct 24, 2019
Related:
* Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard fires back at Hillary Clinton’s smear she is ‘Russia’s pawn’, Associated Press, Oct 18, 2019 and read: Tulsi Gabbard calls Hillary Clinton the ‘personification of the rot’ that permeates the Democratic Party, Reuters, Oct 18, 2019
* Tulsi Gabbard’s comment on Twitter, Oct 18, 2019: Thank you @HillaryClinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain. From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose. It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly.
* U.S. Democrats cultivated the barbarism of ISIS, by Jonathan Cook, published on his website blog, Oct 18, 2019
* India: A long and undeclared emergency, by Pankaj Mishra, New York Reviw of Books, July 18, 2019 issue

Citing ‘progress’ in a Haiti still shatterd by the 2010 earthquake, Trump regime battles U.S. court that ruled against lifting the ‘temporary protected status’ of Haitian refugees, by Isabel MacDonald, The Intercept, Oct 22, 2019
Related:
* As Haiti unravels, the last UN peacekeepers exit after 15 years, by Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, Oct 15, 2019 [In March 2014, the UN Security Council endorsed an invasion and occupation of Haiti by the U.S., France and Canada. The aim was to prop up the violent coup d’etat of Feb 29, 2014 against the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The 15-year foreign occupation regime has been a dismal failure except in one sphere: it has successfully blocked the rebellious Haitian people from retaking their country’s democracy and sovereignty. In this article, The Miami Herald writer describes the purpose of the coup and the invasion as “to restore order in an unruly Haiti”. And so it goes. The purported “exit” of UN police and soldiers from Haiti is bogus: in reality, the UN forces are ceding their place to the local police force they have armed and trained. If that police force cannot control the Haitian people, then the continued foreign occupation regime will be strengthened militarily in one form or another.] * The movement to oust Haitian President Jovenel Moïse shows no signs of weakening, by Kim Ives, Haiti Liberté (print weekly in French and Kreyol, with one English page per issue), Oct 9, 2019 (Part two of a two-part analysis: Part one is here.)

Are Kurds under-represented in the new Syrian constitutional committee?, by Shivan Ibrahim, Al-Monitor, Oct 17, 2019
Related: Why Russia isn’t bothered by US-Turkey agreement on Syria, by Maxim A. Suchkov, Al-Monitor, Oct 18, 2019 …The {Iranian and Russian foreign ministers] ministers “expressed a common view on the necessity of attaining a secure and lasting stabilization on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River based on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic by starting a dialogue between Damascus and Ankara as well as between the Syrian authorities and the local Kurds. The parties emphasized that both Russia and Iran are prepared to assist in such meetings,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said…

Some U.S. forces to remain in northeastern Syria, SDF sources say, by Amberin Zaman, Al-Monitor, Oct 15, 2019 Residual U.S. forces will remain inside Syria despite President Donald Trump’s announcement on October 14 that an estimated 1,000 US service members would be withdrawn from the Kurdish-controlled zone, Kurdish sources have told Al-Monitor.
Related: Russia reports that 12 prisons holding ISIS and other right-wing paramilitaries in Syria were left unguarded due to Turkish invasion, Reuters, Oct 21, 2019
Previously reported:
U.S. troops pulling out of Syria are sent to Iraq, Reuters, Oct 19, 2019 …It is unclear whether the U.S. troops moving to Iraq will use it as a base to launch ground raids into Syria. The additional U.S. troops would add to the more than 5,000 American troops already based in the country… Iraq is in the midst of a political crisis, as mass protests have led to more than 100 deaths and 6,000 injuries during the week starting Oct. 1…
[In the dark world of the Donald Trump regime and loyal-to-the-empire Western media, a Turkish invasion of northern Syria, backed by the NATO powers and threatening an ethnic cleansing of the local population, is labelled a ‘ceasefire’, while stationing of additional U.S. troops in Iraq is loosely labelled a ‘withdrawal’ by the U.S. from the Middle East war theatre which the U.S. and its allies have themselves created.]

Britain’s Parliament votes for PM Johnson’s Brexit plant but refuse the early, Oct 31 date for implementation, The Independent, Oct 22, 2019
Previously reported:
* Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan defeated in UK Parliament, triggering law requiring three-month extension of negotiations with EU, The Independent, Oct 19, 2019
* Brexit show goes on… and on, with unionist hardliners in the north of Ireland defying Johnson, by Finian Cunningham, columnist, RT, Oct 19, 2019
* The unfinished business of St Peter’s Field, speech by Brendan O’Neill, editor of Spiked Magazine, delivered to a pro-Brexit rally in Manchester, England on October 19, 2019 commemorating the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Peterloo Massacre of 1819, in Wikipedia ‘The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter’s Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England on Monday 16 August 1819 when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 who had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation…’ The 2018 film ‘Peterloo’ by director Mike Leigh is based on the events at Peterlooin 1819. The film is reviewed here in Rolling Stone.

Spain’s Socialist Party government rejects talks over Catalonia self-determination, stands by federal judge’s convictions and jailings for ‘treason’ of 19 independence leaders. Report by Deutsche Welle, Oct 20, 2019

Iran’s nuclear power industry is 100 per cent indigenized, reports Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Press TV, Oct 20, 2019

BP and Shell quietly plan for catastrophic 5°C global warming while publicly backing Paris climate agreement, by Ben Chapman, The Independent, Oct 27, 2017

Turkish invasion must stop, all foreign troops must leave Syria: Assad, Press TV, Oct 18, 2019 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has demanded a complete halt to Turkey’s operation against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, and a full withdrawal of foreign forces illegally present in Syrian territories. During a meeting with a Russian delegation headed by the Kremlin’s special envoy on Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, in Damascus on October 18, Assad said efforts must be directed at ending Turkey’s ‘Operation Peace Spring’ and the pullout of all illegal forces from Syrian territories, including Turkish and American soldiers, since they are considered occupying forces under international conventions…
Related:
* Clashes and confusion mar attempt at ceasefire [sic] in Syria, New York Times, Oct 18, 2019
* Chancellor Merkel told lies when she announced in mid-October a halt in sales by German arms manufacturers to Turkey. Report by Deutsche Welle, Oct 19, 2019 German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week vowed to halt weapons exports to Turkey due to its offensive against Syrian Kurds in northern Syria. But the Economics Ministry now says the ban isn’t so far-reaching.

Western media alarmed by imaginary U.S. pullout from Syria, by Gregory Shupak, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Oct 18, 2019
Related: Trump’s ‘withdrawal’ from forever war in the Middle East is just another con job, by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies, Truthdig, Oct 18, 2019 …Trump’s latest promises to “bring the troops home” were immediately exposed as empty rhetoric by a Pentagon press release on October 11, announcing that the Trump administration has actually increased its deployments of troops to the greater Middle East by 14,000 since May. There were already 60,000 troops stationed or deployed in the region, which the Congressional Research Service described in September as a long-term “baseline,” so the new deployments appear to have raised the total number of U.S. troops in the region to about 74,000…
[A naive, alternative view to the above is provided by writer Pepe Escobar in Consortium News. He praises the Trump regime’s “face saving withdrawal” from Syria. He writes further, “The ultimate American aim was to consistently keep the north [?] of the Euphrates River under U.S. power, via their proxies, the SDF and the Kurdish PYD/YPG. That American dream is now over, lamented by imperial Democrats and Republicans alike. The CIA will be after Trump’s scalp till Kingdom Come.”
[More misleading naiveté, even more explicit, may be found in this article in CounterPunch on Oct 18, 2019. The writer argues: …”Trump, for all his deranged, erratic and racist politics, campaigned on ending the U.S. wars in the Middle East and he has intermittently and haltingly promoted this policy. For this he was roundly condemned by establishment opinion…”]

The right-wing paramilitary extremists serving as proxies in Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria. Report in Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 17, 2019 …Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions for land in northern Syria – a 30-kilometre strip of the country at the border supposed to act as a buffer against what they believe are Kurdish terrorists – are being enacted by what the Kurds claim are almost 30 different militias claiming the mantle of the ‘Syrian National Army’. Their fighters are paid and supported by Turkey but have been accused of multiple war crimes – murders, executions, kidnappings – where they have previously held sway in the regions of Afrin and Ghouta…
[Many Western leftists have upheld the ‘Syrian National Army’, and its earlier variants, as being the umbrella military force of a supposed ‘Syrian revolution’ aiming to overthrow the Syrian government of President Bashar Al-Assad. The support (or coy silence over) ‘regime change’ in Syria by leftists in the West, including Trotskyists and anarchists, is thus more than mere playing onto the hands of imperialism. It is also a measure of the slide by ‘leftists’ into the same political space as the extreme right. Further evidence of this slide was the leftists’ support to the ‘Maidan’ counter-revolution in Ukraine in 2014. That ‘revolution’ was spearheaded by extreme-right paramilitaries similar to those in Syria.]

The Bolivian economy has been the fastest-growing in South America while following heterodox policies, press release by the Cener for Economic Policy Research (Washington), Oct 17, 2019 A new research report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) analyzes Bolivia’s economic changes since 2006 in the context of the Bolivian government’s main policy decisions. It finds that policy choices, not merely a “commodities boom”, have been the driving force in Bolivia’s surge to be the fastest-growing economy in South America over the past five years. Strong economic growth has allowed Bolivia to reduce poverty by 42 per cent and extreme poverty by 60 pe rcent since President Evo Morales took office in 2006…
Previously reported: Socialism doesn’t work? An emerging middle class of Bolivians would beg to differ, by Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, Oct 17, 2019 [This is a very favorable report on Bolivia’s social and political transformation since the first election of Evo Morales as president in December 2005. But it fails to mention the world-leading role of Morales and the Bolivian government in condemning the global warming emergency and the central responsibility of the growth imperative of the capitalist system in causing the emergency.]

Barcelona mayhem: Clashes with police as ‘half a million’ pro-independence supporters rally during general strike, RT, Oct 18, 2019 A huge crowd with Catalan flags has paralyzed central Barcelona as people from all across the region protested the harsh prison sentences for pro-independence leaders by the Spanish court and called for parting ways with Madrid. The police estimated that at least 525,000 turned up in the center of Barcelona. “Independence”, “The streets will be ours” and “Freedom to political prisoners” were among the chants heard at the massive gathering…

Venezuela beats back effort by U.S., Israel and other Western governments and Western NGOs and ‘human rights’ organizations to block its election to the UN Human Rights Council, Venezuela Analysis, Oct 18, 2019 The Bolivarian Republic won 105 of 195 votes at the UN General Assembly. Also elected to the council, for three year terms, were Libya, Mauritania, Sudan, Namibia, Japan, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, South Korea, Armenia, Poland, Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands.

Turkey continues attacks against Syrian border city of Ras al Ain despite the ‘ceasefire’ (occupation of Syrian territory) declared one day earlier by NATO allies U.S. and Turkey. Report by Reuters, Oct 18, 2019 and read: report in New York Times, Oct 18, 2019
Related:
* Trump downplays Turkey’s attacks against Kurds in northern Syria as Amnesty Int’l details Turkish war crimes and ‘utterly callous disregard for civilian life’, Common Dreams, Oct 18, 2019
* UN chemical weapons agency investigating alleged use of white phosphorus weapons by Turkey in Syria, The Guardian, Oct 18, 2019 UN chemical weapons inspectors have announced they are gathering information following accusations that burning white phosphorus was used by Turkish forces against children in Syria earlier this week. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Friday morning that “it was aware of the situation and is collecting information with regard to possible use of chemical weapons”…
* Update on situation in northeastern Syria by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, two reports, by Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova and by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Oct 17, 2019 Read the reports in this pdf attachment: Russian foreign ministry on situation in Syria, Oct 17, 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

NATO allies Turkey and U.S. declare Turkish occupation zone 30 km wide across a section of northern Syria, calling it a ‘ceasefire’ arrangement; outgunned Kurdish forces concede. Report by Associated Press, Oct 17, 2019
* From a report in The Guardian, Oct 17, 2019: General Mazloum Kobane of the SDF confirmed the ceasefire deal in comments to local television on Thursday night, but said it only applied to the area between the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, both of which have seen heavy fighting.
* According to a report in Middle East Eye, the U.S.-Turkey declaration, called an ‘agreement’ by its perpetrators as relayed by Western media, stipulates that Kurdish militants, including the People’s Protection Units (YPG), would have their heavy weapons collected and their fortifications and fighting positions disabled.
Related: German arms exports to Turkey at highest level since 2005, Deutsche Welle, Oct 17, 2019

Putin goes for broke to negotiate Turkey ceasefire, by Maxim A. Suchkov, Al-Monitor, Oct 16, 2019
Related: Turkey’s military operation in northern Syria turning into a diplomatic war, by Metin Gurcan, Al-Monitor, Oct 17, 2019

General strike shuts down Catalonia as ‘freedom marchers’ converge on Barcelona, report by The Local (Spain), Oct 18, 2019 and read: report by Reuters, Oct 18, 2019

Syrian army troops take full control of Manbij in north-central Syria, Press TV, Oct 15, 2019
Related: Russian military patrols prevent conflict between Turkish, Syrian armies in Manbij region of Syria, Press TV, Oct 16, 2019 …Russia has made no secret of its outright opposition to Turkey’s military incursion into Syria, calling it “unacceptable.” Talking to reporters in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Russian envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, urged Ankara to stick to the terms of the 1988 Adana Agreement signed by Ankara and Damascus authorizing Turkey to temporarily push up to a maximum of 10 kilometers into Syria to conduct counter-terrorism operations. Lavrentiev insisted that Turkish troops do not have the right to remain on Syrian territory permanently…

Turkey’s Syria invasion rapidly backfiring for Ankara amid unexpected international condemnation, by Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, Oct 15, 2019 [Patrick Cockburn’s claim of ‘international condemnation’ of NATO-member Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria is overstated. As concerns NATO member countries, their ‘condemnations’ and claims to be halting arms sales to Turkey (which maybe will apply to future arms sales contracts but not to existing ones!) are so much theatrics. Turkey is a key NATO country. It hosts the vital U.S. air force base Incirlic, a vital link in the worldwide U.S. nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, Cockburn’s analysis says not a word of the politics underlying the Syrian government’s outreach, backed by Russia, to cooperate with the Kurdish-led autonomous government under direct attack by Turkey and the rest of NATO.]

Why has the U.S. turned against the Kurds and towards its fellow NATO member Turkey? Excerpt from the column by Patrick Lawrence in Consortium News, Oct 15, 2019:
…That U.S. air base in Turkey
The Pentagon, the national security apparatus, and the intelligence agencies have valued Turkey as a sometimes difficult but always essential ally since the Cold War decades. The air base at Incirlik, which the U.S. military built in the 1950s, now hosts roughly 5,000 Air Force personnel and stores its tactical nuclear weapons. Beginning in mid–2015, U.S. planes used Incirlik to fly sorties over Syria. This is the other side of the Washington story.
What happened last week is easier to understand against this background. While press reports suggest Trump acted spontaneously and alone when he telephoned Erdogan, it is highly improbable, if not beyond imagining, that Trump made his decision to green-light Erdogan in isolation. It is far more likely, if it is not certain, that the defense and national security establishments had made a choice by the time Trump picked up the telephone the Sunday evening before last: Long term, Turkey will prove a far more effective check on the government of President Bashar al–Assad, the Iranians and ultimately the Russians than Kurdish militias could ever be. Better to betray the Kurds (for the eighth time in nearly a century) than risk another kerfuffle with the erratic and irascible Erdogan…
[Note: Patrick Lawrence consistently voices the inaccurate view that Donald Trump advocates “an end to America’s wars of adventure and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from places they have no business deploying”. In his rather odd view, “Trump has a few good ideas on the foreign-policy side, but he is a dreadful statesman.”]

Updates on day seven of Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria, Press TV, Oct 15, 2019
Related:
* Russian troops patrol between Turkish and Syrian forces on border, report in anti-Russia Guardian, Oct 15, 2019
* Police block People’s Democratic Party from holding press conference condemning Turkey’s intervention into Syria, Turkish Minute, Oct 14, 2019
* Turkey’s NATO allies stage Trump-style theatrics in saying they are halting arms sales to Turkey, reported in all major Western news outlets. [The moves by Turkey’s NATO allies to temporarily block arms sales is a mimicking of Trump theatrics, intended to occupy media space and confuse world opinion. We are to believe that the NATO arms peddlers who sell arms to Turkey are upset that the arms they sold are to be used against the Kurdish people by NATO member Turkey. Why, the #1 arms peddler by far, the U.S., is concerned that the arms it sold are being used against Kurds! It is a mock, Alice-In-Wonderland world that the Western media happily digests and regurgitates, all in order to avoid analyzing the decline of U.S. and other imperialist power and its meaning.]

Syrian army to deploy along Turkish border in agreement reached with Kurdish-led forces, Reuters, Oct 13, 2019 [The Washington Post reports on October 13 that the Syria-Kurd agreement resulted from three days of talks brokered by Russia. It also reports that Syrian army reinforcements have flown into the border town of Al Qamishli in northeastern Syria. The New York Times reports on the same date that the Syrian army has secured the towns of Ain Issa and Tel Tamer].

Related:
* Kurds strike deal with Damascus for gov’t force entry of north Syria towns, Rudaw news service, Oct 13, 2019
* Syria’s Kurds look to Syrian army and government for protection after U.S. pullout followed by Turkish invasion. Report by Associated Press, Oct 13, 2019 [RT reports the following on Oct 13: The Syrian Army entered the city of Manbij in the northern province of Aleppo late on October 13, Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen reported. They are said to be planning to reach Kobani, some 60 kilometers away on the Syria-Turkey border, within 48 hours. RT’s sources in the region have confirmed the report.]

Aaron Maté and Ben Norton discuss Syria war, U.S. withdrawal, Turkish invasion, video broadcast on ‘Pushback With Aaron Mate’, The Grayzone, Oct 14, 2019 [This highly informative exchange unfortunately begins with Ben Norton stating, “Trump is actually, I think, committed to withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria.” But the theatrics of the Trump regime in northern Syria are a sideshow. U.S. foreign policy is in disarray due to the ongoing decline of U.S. power. Russia and its diplomacy are not in disarray and are not sitting idle. The historic agreement by the Syrian government with Kurdish self-defense forces, with Russia playing a vital role as facilitator and guarantor, opens a path to peace for Syria and its people, including Syria’s Kurdish national minority. This path was opened several years ago when Russia began proposing a political solution that would strengthen the hands of the Syrian people against the imperialist aggressors, namely a constitutional reform process that would achieve a federal constitution to replace the existing one. Western media censored this story and continues to do so. Much of the Western left–social democrats, Trotskyists, anarchists–also censored the story, as part of their role in promoting anti-Russia prejudice and a criminal and reckless overthrow of the Syrian government. This Western left’s actions are shaped by its privileged status in the global imperialist order. That order is being deeply shaken by the decline of U.S. power and the general economic and political disarray of today’s imperialist countries.]

In interview on Democracy Now!, U.S. professor of Kurdish origin voices bitterness that U.S. betrayed promise to defend Syrian Kurds against Turkey, broadcast on Democracy Now!, Oct 14, 2019 [The anti-Russia news outlet Democracy Now! has long favored Western-style ‘regime change’ for Syria. In an interview on October 14 with Ozlem Goner (City University of New York), the professor of Kurdish origin voiced her bitterness towards Donald Trump for disrupting the U.S.-Kurdish alliance and ‘obliging’ the Kurds to turn to Syria and Russia for protection. The professor voiced utter contempt towards the Syrian government and its Russian ally. That would be hard listening for Syrian soldiers now risking their lives to undo the disaster which the Kurdish leaders created through their reckless, will-‘o-the-wisp military alliance with U.S. imperialism. Many figures in the state and political apparatus of the United States reportedly disagree with Trump’s decision to greenlight Turkey’s military intervention into Syria. But these disagreements are a sideshow to the main show, which is the declining political and military influence of the United States in the Middle East. Overall, the U.S. moves in northern Syria shows just how little free reign the U.S. and other imperialists are prepared to give to autonomy movements which they do not entirely control, be they the peoples of Kurdistan, Catalonia, Scotland or Quebec.]

Tens of thousands protest, block airport, in Barcelona, Catalonia following convictions of pro-independence political leaders by Spain’s supreme court, The Local (Spain), Oct 14, 2019
and read: Long jail terms for Catalonia leaders spark fears of renewed chaos, by Kim Sengupta, The Independent, Oct 14, 2019
Related: Catalans face off with police near Spanish govt building in Barcelona, RT, Oct 15, 2019

The age of radical evil, by Chris Hedges, weekly column in Truthdig (liberal, online publication), Oct 14, 2019 (Chris Hedges is an ordained Presbyterian minister. He delivered this sermon on October 13, 2019 at the Claremont Presbyterian Church in Claremont, California.)

Syria must be free of foreign military presence, Russia should also leave if Damascus no longer needs its help – Putin, RT, Oct 12, 2019
Related: Interview by Vladimir Putin with Al Arabiya, Sky News Arabia and RT Arabic, video with English voiceover and English transcript on website of the President of Russia, Oct 13, 2019 (40-minute interview) …The very first step along this path [negotiated settlement of Syria’s internal conflict] is to work on the country’s Constitution, whether by amending the existing Constitution or drafting a new one. In either case, it must protect the interests of all the ethnic and religious groups. People need to know that they live in their own country and that it protects them by law…

Syrian Kurdish-led authority reports nearly 200,000 people displaced by Turkey’s attack, Reuters, Oct 12, 2019
Related:
* In Germany, tens of thousands protest Turkish operation in Syria, Deutsche Welle, Oct 12, 2019
* Finland, Norway, Netherlands halt arms sales to Turkey due to Syria incursion, Turkish Minute, Oct 12, 2019
* Divided UN Security Council fails to agree on Turkey’s Syria offensive, Deutsche Welle, Oct 12, 2019 Western nations slammed Turkey’s Syria incursion at the UN, but the Security Council failed to agree on a statement. Russia says it wants the “illegal military presence” of other nations to be addressed in any document.

Trump boosts the U.S. military intervention in Saudi Arabia by 1,800 troops, Common Dreams, Oct 11, 2019

Turmoil spreads in Kurdish-held Syria as Turkish invasion enters third day, New York Times, Oct 11, 2019
And read:
* Turkey presses Syrian assault as thousands flee the fighting, Associated Press, Oct 11, 2019
* UN agency says 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee Turkey’s assault against northern Syria, Russian president denies Trump claim that Turkey will prevent escapes by detained ISIS paramilitaries, Deutsche Welle, Oct 11, 2019
* Comment by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the developments in north-eastern Syria, published on the ministry’s website, Oct 11, 2019 …We believe that peace and stability in that part of Syria [northern Syria, east of the Euphrates River] can only be ensured through a constructive dialogue based on respect between the government and the Kurds, who are an integral part of Syrian society. Moscow confirms its readiness to assist this dialogue, as well as any moves to normalise relations between the regional countries…

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Syria says Turkish president Erdogan is ‘detached from reality’ when he presents himself as a defender of the Syrian people, Rudaw news service (Iraqui Kurdistan), Oct 10, 2019 …Damascus says “Kurdish groups” are responsible for Turkey’s invasion [of northern Syria] for having believed the U.S. would support them…
Related: Russia to push for SDF-Damascus talks as Turkish operation looms: Russian foreign minister Lavrov, Rudaw, Oct 9, 2019

Officials in Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq call on Russia to protect Kurds in northern Syria, Rudaw, Oct 8, 2019
Related:
* Syrian Kurdish official eyes possible talks with Damascus, Reuters, Oct 8, 2019
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions on Russia’s policy in the Middle East, published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Oct 3, 2019 …As for the eastern bank of the Euphrates, I would like to remind you that we have long called the attention of our American partners and the international community as a whole to the fact that the United States and the US-led coalition are playing an extremely dangerous game in that region, where they are trying to use the Kurdish factor for their own geopolitical goals. The goal is to separate the eastern bank of the Euphrates from the rest of Syria. This is obvious despite Washington’s statements to the effect that it respects and will continue to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity…

Two dead in attack targeting German synagogue on holy day of Yom Kippur, Associated Press, Oct 9, 2019 [Germany is a staunch supporter of the extreme-right government in Ukraine and its paramilitary, neo-Nazi legions. The government and some of its NATO allies feign concern over the rise of the extreme-right in Germany itself.]

U.S. announces largest European war games since Cold War, Press TV, Oct 8, 2019 …the U.S. army will deploy a division headquarters, three tank brigades and thousands of other troops to the major event, which will be held across ten European countries – mainly Germany and Poland…

Urgent call by Turkey’s People’s Democratic Party (HDP) opposing Ankara’s threatened incursion into northern Syria, statement by the Central Executive Board of the HDP, published on the party’s English-language website, Oct 7, 2019

The domino effect of Trump’s Syria withdrawal, by Vijay Prashad, published in Truthdig, Oct 7, 2019 [In December 2018, Donald Trump announced a U.S. military ‘withdrawal’ from Syria. Analysts on the political left and right went into overtime in writing about the meaning of it all. The pro-imperialist Guardian daily led its story with the headline ‘Trump shocks allies and advisers with plan to pull U.S. troops out of Syria‘. The antiwar ‘Popular Resistance’ network in the U.S. published an article on December 23, 2018 claiming, “Trump’s removal of U.S. troops from Syria challenges the foreign policy establishment…” The article listed a string of antiwar voices in the U.S. welcoming Trump’s supposed ‘withdrawal’. Lost amidst all the confusion and disarray sown by the wily Trump was the simple fact that the U.S. and its NATO allies had no intention of abandoning their ultimate goal of crippling if not overthrowing the sovereign government of Syria. Indeed, the ‘withdrawal’ never took place and Trump formally acknowledged that fact several months later. Today, it’s déja vu all over as another ‘withdrawal from Syria’ is announced by Trump, though this time said by the liar-in-chief to incluide only northern Syria. Analysts on the left and right are scrambling and wondering, ‘What does it all mean?’.

U.S. to step aside for Turkish assault against Kurds in northern Syria, Associated Press, Oct 7, 2019 …The announcement follows a call between President Donald Trump and Erdogan, the White House said… [For several years, leaders of Kurdish forces in northern Syria have boasted of their ‘alliance’ with the U.S. military, said to protect Syrian Kurds from the threatened ravages of NATO-member Turkey. Along with naive journalists in global alternative media, they have acted as though the U.S.-Turkish alliance embodied in the NATO military alliance (‘a threat to one is a threat to all’) was a thing of the past and that past U.S. betrayals of the Kurdish people would not be repeated. Their hostility was directed against the government of Syria (termed a’regime’), including downplaying if not outright rejecting discussions towards peace and for constitutional change and rejecting Russia’s efforts to facilitate this.]

Related:
* ‘Kurds will now have to figure the situation out’, says Trump, defending U.S. betrayal of Kurdish forces in northern Syria, report in Rudaw, Oct 7, 2019 [The Trump regime couches its betrayal of the Kurds in a bogus claim that the U.S. seeks to end participation in ‘endless wars’ in the Middle East. Judging by the reactions to the escalations of U.S. militarism during the past three years, Trump is a master at confusing and disarming political analysts and opponents across the spectrum. Western media happily plays along because whatever its degree of discomfort with the ugly Trump regime, its loyalty to the U.S. empire comes before all else.].
* Confusion reigns as Trump authorizes troop withdrawal from Turkish-Syrian border towns, by Amberin Zaman, Al-Monitor, Oct 7, 2019
* Syrian Kurdish official eyes possible talks with Damascus, Reuters, Oct 8, 2019
* The Syrian ‘rebels’ backed by governments and regime-change leftists in the West welcome the plans by Turkey and the U.S. to occupy territory in Kurdish region of northeast Syria, report in New York Times, Oct 8, 2019 Turkey’s plans to create a safe zone [sic] in northern Syria will increase the standing of its Syrian allies, who still dream of revolution
* Trump’s withdrawal decision [sic] in northern Syria leaves Britain’s military presence in northern Syria in disarray, Press TV, Oct 8, 2019 [Who knew that Britain has hundreds of ‘special forces’ stationed in the Kurdish region of northern Syria? Certainly, Western media is not telling. In any event, it is naive and reckless for Press TV to report that the British military is not working closely with the Trump regime’s overall designs for violence and regime change in Syria.] * The U.S. ‘Shakespearean act of betrayal of Kurds in northern Syria, while Iraq is racked with protest: Interview with journalist Patrick Cockburn, broadcast on Democracy Now!, Oct 7, 2019 (14-minute interview)

Ecuador protests: Government moves out of capital city of Quito as anti-austerity demonstrations escalate, by Zamira Rahim, The Independent, Oct 8, 2019 and read: report in Common Dreams, Oct 8, 2019
Related: Too hungry for power, too inept to rule: President Lenin Moreno and his austerity program are behind Ecuador’s turmoil, says ex-president Rafael Correa, RT, Oct 8, 2019

The Iraqi people are in revolt, pushing the U.S.-dominated, post-2003 war order to the brink of collapse, by Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, Oct 5, 2019

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is getting away with tyranny in Egypt thanks to his friends and allies in the UK and U.S. governments, by Bel Trew, The Independent, Oct 7, 2019 …Protesters, prominent activists, journalists and politicians are among more than 3,000 people who have been detained since small rallies against Sisi, repression, corruption and Egypt’s myriad economic woes first kicked off on 20 September… [But the news of Egypt is censored by Western media in favour of anti-China news reports of protests in Hong Kong turning increasingly violent.]

Thousands of rightists rally in Kiev to protest autonomy plan for eastern Ukraine, Reuters, Oct 6, 2019 [Mainstream media such as this report by Reuters is accepting as good coin the claim by the extreme-right government in Ukraine that it is willing to accept an autonomy status for the Donbass region between Russia and Ukraine. The two partners refer to the peoples republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as ‘seperatist’ entities even though their struggle was born in a fight for ‘autonomy’ from the new, extreme-right Ukraine that came into existence following a NATO/Western-backed coup by extreme-right forces in February 2014. But even vague talks of autonomy for Donbass is enough to stir into protest the neo-Nazi forces in Ukraine upon whom the governing regime and its partners among the NATO countries depend for their dirty work of waging war in Donbass and repressing democratic rights.]

Previously reported:
* Joint statement of Donetsk Peoples Republic and Lugansk Peoples Republic on ‘Steinmeier’ formula for ceasefire and peace in Donbass, Donestsk New Agency, Oct 2, 2019 …We call on the president Vladimir Zelensky not to dictate terms to us. When he says we are going to hold elections only after Ukraine regains control over the border he does not understand that he is not the one to decide when we are having elections. We decide…
* Kyiv must carry out constitutional reform to implement Steinmeier formula, says Donetsk Peoples Republic foreign ministry, Donestsk New Agency, Oct 2, 2019
* Ukraine signs key agreement with pro-Russia separatists [sic], Deutsche Welle, Oct 1, 2019 [In this news report, Deutsche Welle relays the presumptuous statements of the far-right, NATO-supported governing regime in Ukraine claiming that the regime can decide the timing and conditions of elections in the autonomous republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (Donbass). The German news agency also ‘conveniently’ neglects to mention the vital ‘Minsk 2’ ceasefire agreement of February 2015 (endorsed at the time by no less than the UN Security Council!) which the Kyiv regime and its NATO backers have consistently flouted and violated.].
* Ukrainian forces fire 142 rounds at Donetsk People’s Republic over past 24 hours, using 122mm artillery and inflicting damage, reports the DPR’s Joint Centre for Control and Coordination, Donetsk News Agency, Oct 3, 2019
* Steinmeier mania, by Professor Paul Robinson (University of Ottawa), published on his webiste Irrussianality, Oct 2, 2019
* Text of the Minsk-2 Ceasefire Agreement, signed in Minsk, Belarus on February 12, 2015 and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council on Feb. 17, 2015. Text here

China, North Korea vow to strengthen ties hours after U.S. nuclear talks in Stockholm collapse, South China Morning Post, Oct 6, 2019
Related: North Korea decries breakdown of denuclearizaiton talks in Stockholm that U.S. says were ‘good’, Associated Press, Oct 6, 2019

Book review: ‘Putin v. the People’, reviewed by Professor Paul Robinson (U of Ottawa), published on Irrussianality, Oct 5, 2019

 

 

 

 

 

Civilian deaths in U.S. wars are skyrocketing under Trump. It may not be impeachable, but it’s a crime, by Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept, Oct 2, 2019 …Since taking office, Trump has presided over skyrocketing rates of civilian casualties in America’s many foreign conflicts. Beneath the hue and cry of the Trump impeachment announcement, more people are dying in wars that are being waged as Trump promised, with more brutality than ever… [For months on end, Western media is awash in stories about protests in Hong Kong where no one has died. Meanwhile, silence prevails over deadly U.S. wars being waged or incited abroad, while some alternative media continue to promote the naive fiction of Trump as desirous of ‘peace’.]

Russia’s future in Iran looking brighter as Europe, U.S. fade, by Alireza Noori, Al-Monitor, Sep 30, 2019
Previously reported:
* China updates 2016 agreement with Iran to invest $400 billion over next 25 years, Press TV, Sep 4, 2019
* Russia ready to invest $10bn in Iran oil industry, reports Iran’s minister of energy, Press TV, Sep 4, 2019

Fearful of Lula’s exoneration, his once-fanatical prosecutors in Brazil request his release from prison. But Lula refuses, by Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, Oct 4, 2019

South Korea National Assembly approves resolution by Democratic Party lawmaker opposing presence of Japan’s ‘Rising Sun’ national flag at 2020 Tokyo Olympics, The Hankyoreh, Oct 2, 2019

Right-wing calls for impeaching South Korean president grow, Press TV, Oct 3, 2019
Related: The unexpected turnout of the ‘candlelight’ rally for prosecutorial reform, news analysis by The Hankyoreh, Sep 30, 2019

Crumbling blue line: Overworked, demoralized French police stretched to breaking point, RT, Oct 3, 2019

Move On’s phony, new campaign for ‘protecting whistleblowers’, by Norman Solomon, published in Common Dreams, Sep 30, 2019

Elite UK military unit secretly trained by leftist regime-change advocate Gilbert Achcar and other academics, by Ben Norton, The Grayzone, Oct 3, 2019

Reports on China ‘organ harvesting’ derive from front groups of far-right cult Falun Gong, by Ben Norton, The Grayzone, Sep 30, 2019

Boeing rejected 737 MAX safety upgrades before fatal crashes, whistleblower says, Seattle Times, Oct. 2, 2019

Bolivia’s remarkable socialist success story, by Zeeshan Aleem, The Nation, Oct 1, 2019

To impeach or not to impeach? Chris Hedges and John Bonifaz debate what Congress should do next, panel discussion broadcast on Democracy Now!, Sep 30, 2019 (30 minutes)

Iran president refused to take part in a phone exchange with Trump arranged by Macron at annual UN General Assembly meeting, Press TV, Oct 1, 2019 …Iran has repeatedly rejected Trump’s offer of talks, saying it would not engage in such negotiations unless the US returns to the 2015 agreement over nuclear energy and lifts its unilateral sanctions. Tehran says negotiations with Washington would be possible within the framework of the P5+1, comprising the US, France, Britain, Russia, China plus Germany, which successfully negotiated the d2015 deal with Iran. The Trump regime walked away from the agreement in May 2018…

Russian alcohol consumption plunges 40 per cent, reports World Health Organization, Deutsche Welle, Oct 1, 2019 The decrease has been linked to a raft of alcohol control measures introduced by President Vladimir Putin and the promotion of healthier lifestyles. The trend is also attributed to an increase in Russian life expectancy.

 

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World news headlines on A Socialist In Canada, September 2019

The Ukraine scandal might be a bad gambit for Democrats, by Aaron Maté, The Nation, Sep 29, 2019 and read contrarian view in support of a Democratic Party impeachment of Donald Trump: Donald Trump is finished, by Bill Blum, published in Truthdig, Sep 30, 2019

Following exposé by The Grayzone, top Venezuelan coup official Ricardo Hausmann is forced to resign, by Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief, The Grayzone, Sep 27, 2019 After an exposé of Guaidó appointee Ricardo Hausmann’s opaque and hypocritical financial practices was published by Anya Parampil in The Grayzone, he was forced to resign from the Inter-American Development Bank. It’s the latest blow to the failing U.S.-led coup attempt in Venezuela.
Related:
* Washington gives its coup puppet Juan Guaido $52M in funding while slapping Venezuela with new sanctions, Venezuela Analysis, Sep 25, 2019 The new funding package to U.S. coup figurehead Guaido dovetails with fresh sanctions targeting Venezuela-Cuba oil shipping.
* Venezuela’s thermoelectric power plants and the ruin of the national energy sector, by Alejandro Lopez-Gonzalez (Venezuelan Observatory of Political Economy), Venezuela Analysis, Sep 23, 2019 Alejandro Lopez-Gonzalez argues in favour of a sustainable electrical generation model based on wind power.

With nearly seven million people worldwide, the Sep 20-27 climate strikes are the largest coordinated global uprising since Iraq war protests in 2003, Common Dreams, Sep 28, 2019

Three Saudi brigades destroyed, scores of mercenaries captured in southen Saudi Arabia province of Najran, reports Houthi-led Yemen armed forces, Press TV, Sep 28, 2019 and read: Houthi rebel gov’t claim to capture equipment and thousands of Saudi Arabia troops in major border offensive, The Independent, Sep 29, 2019
Related:
* Yemeni army releases footage of ‘Victory from God Almighty’ military offensive against Saudi forces, Press TV, Sep 29, 2019
* Fire engulfs new multi-billion dollar high-speed rail station in coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Welle, Sep 29, 2019

A government of national unity in Britain would be a government of national betrayal, commentary by Brendan O’Neill, editor, Spiked magazine, Sep 29, 2019
Related:
* Thoughts on Wales and Brexit, by Dan Evans, published in Leave, Fight, Transform, Sep 24, 2019
* Powers to the peoples! by John Foster and Vince Mills, published in Leave, Fight, Transform, Sep 18, 2019
* It’s Remoaners who are nostalgic for empire, by Fraser Myers, staff writer, Spiked magazine, Sep 16, 2019

Turkey’s occupation project against Kurds in northern Syria relies on Trump, by Fehim Tastekin, Al-Monitor, Sep 27, 2019
Related: Erdogan regime in NATO-member Turkey steps up repression and political pressure against left-wing HDP party, by Metin Gurcan, Al-Monitor, Sep 25, 2019

South Korean Defense Ministry rejects redress petition from survivors of masscres by South Korean troops in Vietnam during the American War, The Hankyoreh, Sep 28, 2019

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales at UN: ‘The root of the world’s problem is the capitalist system’, Telesur, Sep 24, 2019 The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, told the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly on September 24 that the multiple problems afflicting the planet have their roots in the capitalist system, which favors the unequal distribution of wealth and the senseless accumulation of goods and money by a few people. “Let’s say it very clearly: the root of the problem is in capitalism.” He explained, “The underlying problem is in the model of production and consumerism, in the ownership of natural resources and in the unequal distribution of wealth”…
Watch the entire speech of Evo Morales to the UN General Assembly, delivered on Sep 24, 2019 here.

UN Climate Action Summit 2019 missed a key ingredient: climate action, by Nicholas Beuret, published in The Conversation, Sep 24, 2019

Teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg honored with stunning street art mural in Bristol, England, story by Lee Moran, HuffPost, Sep 26, 2019 In Bristol, England, Jody Thomas has painted a 15-meter-high tribute to the campaigning Swedish schoolgirl

What isn’t mentioned about the Trump-Ukraine ‘scandal’: The routine corruption of U.S. foreign policy, by Joe Lauria, special to Consortium News, Sep 26, 2019 … Joseph Biden should indeed be investigated in both Ukraine and in the United States. We know from the leaked, early 2014 telephone conversation between Victoria Nuland, then assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, and Geoffrey Pyatt, then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, that then Vice President Biden played a role in “midwifing” the U.S.-backed overthrow of an elected Ukrainian government soon after that conversation. That’s the biggest crime in this story that isn’t being told: the illegal overthrow of a sovereign government…
Related:
* The problem with impeachment of Trump, by Chris Hedges, columnist, Truthdig, Sep 26, 2019
* Authors of the U.S. constitution: Removal from office is not the only purpose of impeachment, by Clark Cunningham, Georgia State U, published in The Conversation, Sep 26, 2019

Over 2,000 arrested in Egypt in growing protests against Sisi, Trump’s ‘favorite dictator’, interview with Sharif Abdel Kouddous, broadcast on Democracy Now!, Sep 27, 2019 (17 minute interview)

European countries have committed to U.S. bans, should no longer be trusted, says Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Press TV, Sep 26, 2019 Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei says Iran should no longer put its trust in the Europeans as they fulfilled none of their 11 commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran following Washington’s withdrawal. ‘Europeans appear as mediators and engage in long negotiations, but all they say is empty words.’
Related:
* Iranian leaders call Europe untrustworthy and the U.S. abhorrent, Deutsche Welle, Sep 26, 2019
* Returning from visit to UN meeting in New York, Iranian President Rouhani says European leaders told him they ‘don’t know’ who attacked Saudi oil refineries, Press TV, Sep 27, 2019
* Iran expands uranium enrichment in new breach of nuclear deal, Deutsche Welle, Sep 26, 2019 Iran has been accumulating, or has been prepared to accumulate, enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a new report …The international deal signed by Tehran and world powers in 2015 called for Iran to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions against the country. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement last year and reimposed sanctions. European governments have attempted to salvage the accord [sic] but those efforts have so far proved insufficient…
Previously reported:
* In statement at UN General Assembly gathering, obedient France, Germany and UK fall into line in support of Trump regime’s claim that Iran is responsible for Sep 14 attacks against Saudi Arabia oil installations. Report by Vox.com, Sep 23, 2019 [Some political analysts in the West and many analysts sympathetic to Russia and China have been hoping against hope that the large, U.S.-allied NATO powers in Europe are uncomfortable or even ‘opposed’ to the rising threats against Iranian government and people by the Trump regime in Washington. Those naive hopes have now been put to paid by the leaders of France, Germany and the UK. The hopes over Iran echo the naive idea going back to the 2016 presidential election in the U.S. that Trump and his regime seek a less confrontational and threatening role in the world.] * Iran president Rouhani slams UK/France/Germany statement blaming Iran for attacks on Saudi oil facilities, Press TV, Sep 24, 2019
* In speech to UN General Assemly (his third) on Sep 24, Trump threatens to tighten U.S. sanctions against Iran, Press TV, Sep 24, 2019

The real divide in Israeli politics is between religious and secular ultra-nationalism, by Jonathan Cook, in Mondoweiss, Sep 25, 2019
Related: Israel votes for occupation, no matter who prevails, interview with Diana Buttu, attorney and former legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority, on ‘Pushback with Aaron Maté’ broadcast on The Grayzone, Sep 26, 2019

Feature interview from Moscow with Edward Snowden, broadcast on Democracy Now!, Sep 26, 2019 (One-hour interview. A second interview will be broadcast on DN in the coming days.)
Previously reported:
* Why I decided not to delete my old internet posts, by Edward Snowden, excerpt from his newly published book Permanent Record, published in The Intercept, Sep 21, 2019
* In memoir to be published September 17, Edward Snowden’s ‘Permanent Record’ tells life story and why he leaked documents revealing U.S. gov’t crimes, by Eric Tucker, Associated Press, Sep 13, 2019
* Edward Snowden: Germany is a ‘primary example’ of willing cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency, Deutsche Welle, Sep 17, 2019

The Brexit double face of Jeremy Corbyn, by Tom Slater, deputy editor, Spiked magazine (UK), Sep 25, 2019
Previously reported:
* The Labour Party’s Brexit slide, by Martin Hall, published in Leave, Fight, Transform, Sep 10, 2019
* David Cameron: The man who broke Britain, lengthy essay by Martin Fletcher, The New Statesman, Sep 11, 2019
* The left case for Leave, by Martin Hall and Phil Katz, published in Leave, Fight, Transform, Aug 22, 2019

Impeaching Donald Trump would only make matters worse, op-ed commentary by Professor Clifford Orwin (University of Toronto), in Globe and Mail, Sep 25, 2019

Cuba presents report to United Nations on impact of U.S. blockade this past year, report published in Granma (Cuban daily), Sept 20, 2019
Previously reported:
* Amid crippling sanctions, Cuba deploys oxen, wood-fired ovens to overcome fuel crisis, Reuters, Sep 20, 2019
* U.S. sanctions Cuba’s former president as part of its regime change against Venezuela, RT, Sep 26, 2019
* U.S. sanctions against Cuba causing fuel shortage, Xinhua, Sep 17, 2019

The Syria you won’t see: Max Blumenthal on visiting Damascus after the proxy war, interview with Max Blumenthal, senior editor of The Grayzone, broadcast on ‘Pushback with Aaron Maté’, on The Grayzone, September 24, 2019 (16 minutes)

Europe’s right-wing extremists try recruiting from police, army, Deutsche Welle, Sep 24, 2019 [The right-wing extremists of Europe have much to learn from the European country of Ukraine, where since 2014, neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists have successfully taken control of the government, armed forces and police. Western media keeps a studied silence. And so does much of the Western ‘left’.]

UK Labour Party conference debates a Green New Deal and new buzzwords ‘net zero emissions’, by Patrick Maguire, New Statesman, Sep 24, 2019

Frustration marks UN’s ‘Climate Action Summit 2019‘, report by Associated Press, Sep 23, 2019 and read: report in Vox.com, Sep 24, 2019

French President Emmanuel Macron says Greta Thunberg will ‘antagonize societies’ after she joins lawsuit against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey, accusing them of inaction on global warming and therefore infronging int’l convention of protecting children, Business Insider, Sep 24, 2019 …The United States and China are the biggest culprits among the world’s top greenhouse-gas emitters but haven’t signed the section of the Convention on the Rights of the Child allowing children to seek justice for infringements. As a result, the two countries were not included in the complaint…
Related: Conservatives are melting down faster than our planet over Greta and the climate teens, by Katherine Krueger, Splinter, Sep 23, 2019 On Friday, September 20, students around the world and concerned citizens from all walks of life took to the streets to demand specific policies in hopes of averting climate disaster. Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg arrived in New York City for the strike and was still in town on Monday to absolutely destroy complacent world leaders with her stirring testimony at the United Nations. And so, right on time, conservatives absolutely lost what was left of their minds…

Greta Thunberg’s impassioned speech to the UN’s ‘Climate Action Summit 2019’

Speech delivered on Sep 23, 2019 (five minutes), broadcast on the YouTube channel of PBS News Hour. Read a news report on Thunberg’s speech here on VOX.com. The full text of the speech is contained in this pdf attachment: Greta Thunberg’s speech to UN’s ‘Climate Action Summit 2019’.
On September 23, 2019, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg delivered an impassioned, five-minute speech to the ‘Climate Action Summit 2019’ of the United Nations. The summit meeting is a one-day event that is one of many summit meetings taking place during the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, September 23 to 27.
Related: UN Climate Action Summit 2019 press release, Sep 23, 2019 (five-page document) In the face of worsening climate crisis, UN Summit delivers new pathways and practical actions to shift global response into higher gear

UN report: Climate change causes and impacts are increasing, news report published on Axios, Sep 23, 2019 Referencing:
‘United In Science: High-level synthesis report of latest climate science information’, 28-page report issued on Sep 22, 2019 by the Science Advisory Group of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019
From the report introduction: This report, 28 pages, has been compiled by the World Meteorological Organization under the auspices of the Science Advisory Group of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019, to bring together the latest climate science related updates from a group of key global partner organizations: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), UN Environment (UNEP), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Global Carbon Project, Future Earth, Earth League and the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). The content of each chapter of this report is attributable to published information from the respective organizations. Overall content compilation of this material has been carried out by the World Meteorological Organization. This report is available electronically, together with more extended background reports and additional supporting material here…

Busting the myth that WikiLeaks never published damaging material on Russia, by Patrick Lawrence, columnist, Consortium News, Sep 23, 2019 This is the fifth article in a series that is looking back on the major works of the publication, Wikileaks, that has altered the world since its founding in 2006. The series is an effort to counter mainstream media coverage which is ignoring WikiLeaks’ work and is instead focusing on Julian Assange’s personality.

From Russia with love: Shattered stereotypes and jet-lagged gratitude, by Tim Easton, published in No Depression (U.S. folk music magazine), Sept 11, 2019

What to expect at five-day, annual UN General Assembly meeting beginning September 23, report in New York Times, Sep 21, 2019 September 23 will see the United Nations Climate Action Summit. No-shows or otherwise absent from the speakers’ podium will be the United States, Brazil and Japan. At the current pace, global temperatures are set to rise beyond 3 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels by the end of the century even if every country on Earth meets its goals under the 2015 Paris pact.
Related: UN Climate Action Summit taking place on September 23, 2019 during the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly. Report by ‘UN Climate Action Summit 2019’

Iran to present ‘Hormuz Peace Initiative’ at UN General Assembly meeting, The National, Sep 22, 2019
Related: U.S. to send more troops and air and missile defense to tyrannical regime in Saudi Arabia, report by CNN, Sept 22, 2019

Largest global warming protest in history draws four million worldwide, campaign enters entire week of more action, Common Dreams, Sep 21, 2019

Millions strike and protest for government action to respond to the global warming emergency, end the class war against humans and nature, report in Common Dreams, Sep 20, 2019 CBC radio news in Canada reports: “The students marching in the climate strike today have three key demands: end the dependence on fossil fuels; protect vulnerable communities on the front lines of climate change; punish the polluters
Related: UN climate summit on Sep 23 to test world’s resolve to halt warming, Reuters, Sep 20, 2019

Egyptian police, anti-Sisi protesters clash for second night in Suez, Press TV, Sep 22, 2019
Related: Videos alleging corruption open public debate on Egyptian military’s economic empire, by Shahira Amin, Al-Monitor, Sep 20, 2019

Campaign against U.S. imperialism garners 13 million signatures in Venezuela, Press TV, Sep 22, 2019
Related: President Maduro delivers number 2.8 million in ‘the Great Housing Mission Venezuela’ program, Telesur, Sep 11, 2019 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has delivered house number 2,800,000 in the Great Housing Mission Venezuela (GMVV) program to a family of the town of Araure, located in the central western part of the country. The GMVV was created in 2011 by late President Hugo Chavez. It continues to guarantee dignified housing for all Venezuelans, aiming to build three million houses in the short term and five million eventually…

What we know about Justin Trudeau’s blackface photos, and what happens next, CBC News, Sep 20, 2019 [The only way to achieve accountablity from Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party for Trudeau’s past racist conduct is for the man to resign. Yet all parties in the Canadian Parliament are declining to make such a call. Why? Because they are deeply troubled that the whole edifice of Canada’s imperialist democracy and its claim to be a model of ‘multiculturalism’ and tolerance stand exposed by Trudeau’s conduct–including Trudeau’s ultimately attempt to hide his past conduct from the Canadian piblic and his explanation that his conduct stems from a ‘lifetime of privilege’. A resignation by Trudeau would underline all this and compromise the standing of whichever party wins the election. So the parties wring their hands and move on to the next subject. In the current election, all the parties in Parliament hope and assume that Canada’s racist conduct on the world stage will continue to avoid scrutiny: its ongoing subjugation of the Haitian people, its support to the foreign policy of the racist United States, its unconditional support to the racist government of Israel, its efforts to overthrow the elected president and government of the brown-and-black people of Venezuela, and on and on.]

Notable insights into the Justin Trudeau racist debacle:
* Is Justin Trudeau a racist? No. He is a sanctimonious fraud, by Andrew Coyne, columnist, National Post, Sep 20, 2019 [There have been three prime minister who have waged Canada’s racist war of subjugation against the people of Haiti–Paul Martin, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau. yet according to this National Post columnist, these leaders, their political parties and their machinery of state are not racist.] * NDP leader Jagmeet Singh shines with note-perfect response to Trudeau’s blackface debacle, by Chris Selley, columnist, National Post, Sep 20, 2019 [But how is it that according to the National Post columnist, Jagmeet Singh ‘shines’ in his response to the Trudeau debacle while refusing to call for the man to resign?] * ‘Being ignorant is dangerous’: Interview with Cheryl Thomson, assistant professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, published in the National Post, Sep 20, 2019

UK worsens Julian Assange’s persecution as U.S. seeks extradition: Interview with Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, broadcast on ‘Pushback with Aaron Maté’ (on The Grayzone), Sept 19, 2019 (13-minute interview)

Trump to ‘substantially increase’ sanctions on Iran, amid calls for war, RT, Sep 18, 2019 …Further sanctions are far from the ‘thaw’ some cautiously expected after Trump sacked hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton and declared his willingness to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani…
Related: Warning against ‘another endless war,’ Representative Ilhan Omar says Congress must act to stop trump from attacking Iran, Common Dreams, Sep 17, 2019 and read: Sanders warns Trump against illegal Iran strike, by Bryant Harris, Al-Monitor, Sep 16, 2019

Israelis have given their verdict: Benjamin Netanyahu could be on his way out, by Jonathan Cook, published in The National (UAE), Sep 17, 2019 (also published on his website) and read: The crumbled throne in Israel: Analysis of the September 2019 legislative election, by Yossi Gurvitz, in Mondoweiss, Sep 18, 2019 …In the inconclusive election in April 2018 which led to this re-run, Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party tied with its main opponent in the Blue and White party led by retired general Benny Gantz, with 35 seats each. This time, both parties fared worse than they did in April. But much more significantly, Mr Netanyahu appears to have fallen short of the 61-seat majority he needs to form yet another far-right government comprising settler and religious parties…

The United Kingdom is fighting at least seven covert wars largely outside parliamentary or democratic oversight, by Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, Daily Maverick (South Africa), Sep 11, 2019

How the UK’s security services neutralized the country’s leading liberal newspaper The Guardian, by Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, Daily Maverick (South Africa), Sep 11, 2019

Outcomes of latest Astana process talks on Syria between Turkey, Russia, Iran, by Maxim A. Suchkov, Al-Monitor, Sep 16, 2019

Trump says U.S. is ‘locked and loaded’ to attack Iran, Associated Press, Sep 16, 2019
Related:
* Iran slams U.S. ‘lies’ as Pompeo, without proof, blames Iran for drone attacks against Saudi Arabia oil complexes, Common Dreams, Sep 15, 2019
* Iran rejects Pompeo’s ‘lies’ about Yemeni drone raids on Saudi Arabia oil sites, Press TV, Sep 15, 2019
* Yemen’s military warns foreigners to leave Saudi oil plants, Press TV, Sep 16, 2019
* Saudis race to restore oil output after attacks against Aramco facilities, Bloomberg News, Sep 15, 2019
* Yemen starts cholera vaccination campaign in capital Sana’a, Press TV, Sep 16, 2019

Fires from drone attacks engulf two Saudi Arabia oil complexes, including world’s largest refinery, Press TV, Sep 14, 2019 and read: Coordinated drone strike by Houthis hits Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery, Associated Press, Sep 13, 2019 [The Abqaiq and Khurais oil complexes are located approximately 200 km apart; Khurais is approximately 125 km east of the Saudi capital of Riyadh.] Related:
* Drone strikes knock out half of Saudi oil capacity, 5 million barrels a day, CNN, Sep 14, 2019
* Pompeo blames Iran for drone attack on Saudi oil facilities, Senator Graham urges U.S. to bomb Iranian refineries, RT, Sep 14, 2019
* Heavy damage to Saudi oil refinery complex raises prospect of relaxing U.S. oil export sanctions against Iran, Press TV, Sep 14, 2019
* Saudi Arabia must end attacks on Yemen or face consequences, interview with political analyst Hussein al-Bukhaiti, in Yemen, on Press TV, Sep 13, 2019

Lawyers for Selahattin Demirtas, imprisoned leader of People’s Democratic Party (HDP), urge Turkish court to free him, by Ayla Jean Yackley, Al-Monitor, Sep 16, 2019 …Demirtas has been behind bars since November 2016 on terrorism-related charges all stemming from political statements he made as chairman of the leftist Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), whose base is overwhelmingly Kurdish. His case has drawn the ire of the European Union and rights groups alike for harming democratic pluralism in Turkey. A Turkish appeals court approved Demirtas’ release last week, seemingly reversing the judiciary’s stance that has rejected 70 previous motions to set him free…

Maker of deadly OxyContin, Purdue Pharma (Sackler family), files for bankruptcy to wipe out 2,000 lawsuits, by Jef Feeley and Steven Church, Bloomberg News, Sep 15, 2019 …A host of other opioid makers, such as Johnson & Johnson, and drug distributors like McKesson Corp. will face claims they created a public nuisance across the U.S. with their mishandling of the medicines. States and municipalities contend drugmakers, distributors and pharmacy chains conducted illegal marketing campaigns pushing the painkillers, failed to adequately oversee orders and ignored red flags about unusually frequent retail sales…

Russia has ‘oligarchs’, the U.S. has ‘businessmen’: In 150 New York Times, CNN and Fox articles, ‘oligarch’ seems reserved for Slavic billionaires, by Alan MacLeod,Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), Sep 14, 2019

French officials issued no warnings of extreme dangers of lead poisoning of school children, cleanup workers for months following Notre Dame Cathedral fire in April 2019, special report in New York Times, Sep 14, 2019

$900 billion of U.S. military spending later, Afghan Taliban stronger than ever, by Eltaf Najafizada, Bloomberg News, Sept 12, 2019 and read: Taliban delegation travels to Russia after talks with U.S. collapse, Press TV, Sep 14, 2019
Previously reported:
* Trump vows to hit Taliban ‘harder than ever’, Agence France presse, Sep 11, 2019
* Afghans fear Trump’s Taliban move means more civilians die, by Cara Anna and Ahmand Seir, Associated Press, Sep 11, 2019
* Trump leaves Afghanistan and Pakistan at his mercy, by Zubeida Mustafa, contributor, Truthdig, Sep 11, 2019

Interview with Marjorie Cohn on Afghanistan’s unending war, broadcast on ‘Counterspin’, weekly radio interview program of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), with host Janine Jackson, Sept 13, 2019
Related: Candidates must commit to immediate U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, by Marjorie Cohn, Truthout.org, Aug 15, 2019 …Of the Democratic presidential candidates, only Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg have committed to withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan during their first year in office…

Trump administration puts tough new asylum rule into effect, Associated Press, Sep 12, 2019 …The new U.S. policy effectively denies asylum to nearly all migrants arriving at the southern border who aren’t from Mexico. It disallows anyone who passes through another country without first seeking and failing to obtain asylum there. The rule will fall most heavily on Central Americans, mainly Hondurans and Guatemalans, because they account for most people arrested or stopped at the border…

The warmaking Trump regime gets a positive shine from progressive journalists, Sep 13, 2019.

[The stage-managed ‘firing’ of John Bolton by the Donald Trump regime is prompting renewal of naive belief that the warmaker-in-chief seeks a less aggressive U.S. foreign policy but is being blocked by a U.S. ‘deep state’. RT columnist John Wight, for example, writes on Sept 12: “Trump’s appointment of John Bolton in March 2018 came as damning evidence of the President’s abject surrender (emphasis added) to the neocon and liberal interventionist lobby in Washington… Trump was besieged on the very day he entered the Oval Office by a Washington establishment that considered his election to have been an act of heresy in the first place. The objective of his liberal interventionist enemies was to box him in and prevent him from being able to act on his foreign policy instincts… The small fact that those instincts were eminently sound (emphasis added) given the calamitous record of countries and societies that had been reduced to rubble at the behest of his predecessors, this mattered not…”

[Or how about Patrick Lawrence, who wrote in Consortium News on Sept 9: “Are Western democracies, the U.S. and France in the lead, rethinking the hostility toward Russia they conjured out of nothing since Moscow responded to the coup Washington cultivated in Ukraine five years ago? Will Trump eventually succeed (emphasis added) in putting ties with Russia on a more productive path — triumphing over the hawks hovering around him? Have the Europeans at last grown weary of following the U.S. lead on Russia even as it is against their interests to do so?… In desultory fashion over the past month or so, we have had indications that the policy cliques in Washington are indeed reconsidering the Cold War II they set in motion during the Obama administration’s final years. And President Donald Trump, persistent in his effort to reconstruct relations with Russia [!], now finds an unlikely ally in Emmanuel Macron. This suggests a nascent momentum in a new direction…

[As per the Trumpian cat-and-mouse script, the following news report shows one side of how Trump is playing his hand: After firing chief hawk, Trump hints at lifting sanctions on Tehran, RT, Sep 11, 2019. Meanwhile, these two reports show the other hand, the real one:
* U.S. pursuing maximum pressure against Iran despite Bolton removal, Press TV, Sep 13, 2019
* U.S. preparing to send 150 troops to join fellow NATO member Turkey in ‘patrolling’ northeast Syria. Report in Press TV, Sep 13, 2019

[The Trump regime has a word for journalists such as John Wight, Patrick Lawrence and the editors who publish them: ‘suckers!’. The Trump regime is composed of despicable racists and warmongering imperialists. Liberal journalists that seek something ‘positive’ in its foreign policy have lost their minds and their moral compasses.]

North and South Korea oppose Japan’s plan to release radioactive Fukushima water into the ocean, Deutsche Welle, Sep 12, 2019

Kremlin says alleged CIA mole Smolenkov was a minor official with no access to Putin, RT, Sep 10, 2019

John Bolton, welcome to #Resistance? Media and Democrats lament Trump’s firing national security hawk, RT, Sep 10, 2019

What does Bolton’s ouster mean for victims of U.S. imperial aggression?, by Glen Ford, executive editor, Black Agenda Report, Sep 12, 2019

Hollywood propaganda attack on Venezuela, by Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist, Black Agenda Report, Sep 11, 2019
Related: ‘Shameful heritage of neocolonialism’: Venezuela slams U.S. invoking military aid treaty, RT, Sep 11, 2019

Jordan Valley annexation: Netanyahu’s desperate last card in Israel election, by Akiva Eldar, Al Monitor, Sep 11, 2019
Related: Opposing Netanyahu and his threat to annex West Bank, liberal Zionist group in U.S. says: ‘Say yes to separation’ of Palestinians and Jews, by Philip Weiss , Mondoweiss, Sep 11, 2019

Hurricane Dorian left ‘apocalyptic devastation’ in its wake, says Bahamas health minister, interview with Dr. Duane Sands, broadcast on CBC Radio One‘s ‘As It Happens’, Sep 11, 2019
Previously reported:
* Bahamas storm damage is ‘as though a nuclear bomb was dropped’ says head of U.S. Aid, by Aristos Georgiou, Newsweek, Sept 9, 2019
* In Bahamas, battered residents ask: Where is our government?, by Kirk Semple, Frances Robles, Rachel Knowles and Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times, Sep 7, 2019 [The tiny island nation of 400,000 residents has been overwhelmed by the catastrophic Hurricane Dorian. Its residents are losing patience with their government’s response. The death toll as of September 12 is 50, with 1,300 listed as missing.].
* Bahamians lash out at government over disaster response, CBS News, Sept 6, 2019 [In January 2010, the imperialist governments in the West along with their aid/charity nexus promised to ‘build back better’ in Haiti following the devastating earthquake on January 12 of that year that killed some 40,000 to 70,000 people (not the ‘250,000’ or ‘300,000’ numbers thrown around by Western governments and media, aid agencies and even United Nations agencies in order to garner more money for their work). Since 2010, the people of Puerto Rico and now The Bahamas are learning cruel lessons that proper disaster preparation and response in a warming world is ephemeral and reserved for those with money or influence.]

Western media portrays Hong Kong hooligans as heroes. But are they?, eyewitness report from Hong Kong by Andre Vltchek, in RT, Sep 10, 2019
Related: Hong Kong’s protest movement ignores migrant workers, report published in Open Democracy.net (pro-imperialist online publicatoin), Aug 23, 2019 [In this commentary, a supporter of Hong Kong’s protest movement laments that the movement voices no concern or demands over the conditions of exploited and marginalized foreign workers.]

Joshua Wong meets German foreign minister, issues appeal for ‘world leaders’ to ‘safeguard Hong Kong’s political and economic freedom’, report in Deutsche Welle, Sep 10, 2019 Wong tells an event organized by the tabloid daily Bild, ‘If we are in a new Cold War, Hong Kong is the new Berlin.’
Related:
* Beijing lashes out at Berlin after German foreign minister meets with Hong Kong protest activist, RT, Sep 10, 2019
* Hong Kong was once passionate about China, now it’s indifferent or contemptuous, commentary by Andrew Higgins, New York Times, Sep 9, 2019
* The awful face of 21st century Trotskyism revealed: ‘In the conflict between the U.S. and China, we should not support either side’, commentary in Australian Green Left Weekly, Sep 5, 2019 [The Green Left writer calls China a ‘rising imperial power’, whatever that means. The same writer has termed Russia an ‘imperialist power’, but no facts nor evidence has been provided. Still less is anything explained as to why the imperialist countries choose to target Russia with threats, economic sanctions and a new, nuclear arms race. The entire world is threatened by imperialism’s new cold war against Russia and China, but Green Left Weekly and its writers do not even acknowledge the existence of such a war, much less oppose it.] * Four points on the Hong Kong protests, commentary by Kevin Lin, Jacobin, Sep 4, 2019 [Imperialism is embarked on a deadly, new cold war against Russia and China, complete with its launching of a new, nuclear arms race. Meanwhile, the world is threatened with a global warming disaster created by rapacious capitalism. None of this seems to faze the leaders of the protest movement in Hong Kong nor this analyst writing in Jacobin.]

The capitalists are afraid. They fear their reigning ideology no longer has credibility, weekly column by Chris Hedges, in Truthdig, Sep 9, 2019

Trump calls off peace talks with Taliban, interviews with Matthew Hoh, Ali Latifi, Kathy Kelly and Hakim Young, broadcast on Democracy Now!, Sep 9, 2019
Related: How Trump’s plan to secretly meet with the Taliban came together and fell apart, by Peter Baker, Mujib Mashal and Michael Crowley, New York Times, Sep 8, 2019

Consortium News and columnist Patrick Lawrence revive the wishful and dangerous thinking that Donald Trump and his governing regime seek peace and good relations with Russia, column in Consortium News, Sep 10, 2019 [It was a widely-held view during and following the election of Donald Trump in 2016 that the new president sought to curb if not end the interventionist and warmaking policies of the U.S. government, only to be frustrated by the U.S. ‘deep state’. This view was based on a few purposely misleading speeches and Twitter musings by Trump during the election campaign. Publications and news outlets such as RT and Consortium News frequently and naively echoed such musings, even after facts showed otherwise. Unfortunately, with the approach of the 2020 presidential election and a new round of purposely misleading musings by Trump and his advisors, expect the naive and wishful thinking to surge anew.]

Tens of thousands march in Hong Kong with U.S. flags, singing ‘Star Spangled Banner’, asking Trump to ‘liberate us’, report by Reuters, Sep 8, 2019 and read: report by CNN, Sep 8, 2019 More clashes with police mark this latest protest, on September 8
Related: Lawyers for Hong Kong protest leader Joshua Wong apologize to court for misunderstanding his bail and travel conditions. The 22-year old is cleared for travel to U.S. and Germany for planned meetings with imperialist politicians, report in South China Morning Post, Sep 9, 2019 [Western media reported prominently the detention of Joshua Wong at the Hong Kong airport on the morning of September 8. But it is not reporting one day later that his lawyers caused the misunderstanding leading to the detention. He he is now cleared for his planned travel to the U.S. and Germany where he will meet with imperialist politicians and appeal to ‘liberate’ the Chinese territory of Hong Kong…]

China’s trade with U.S. shrinks in August as tariff war deepens, Press TV, Sep 9, 2019 Imports of American goods to China tumbled 22 per cent in August from one year earlier to $10.3 billion, while exports to the United States, China’s biggest market, sank 16 per cent to $44.4 billion.

In Brazil’s rainforests, ongoing deforestation means the worst fires are likely still to come, by Robert Walker, The Conversation, Sep 9, 2019 The number of fires this year in the Amazon is the highest since 2010, reaching more than 90,000 active fires. Farmers and ranchers routinely use fires to clear the forest. But this year’s number reflects a worrisome uptick in the rate of deforestation, which had started to drop around 2005 before rebounding earlier this decade. Many people blame the Brazilian government and its pro-agriculture policies for the current crisis. But as an environmental researcher who has worked in the Amazon for the past 25 years, I can say the seeds were planted before the election of President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018…

While the Amazon and the rest of the world burns, Cuba is increasing its forested area, Telesur, Sep 5, 2019 The socialist island is a rare example of large scale reforestation, whereas the rest of the world moves in the opposite direction … The report published in the Cuban daily Granma points to figures from the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture showing an increase of over 22,000 hectares of forested area in the last year, a small increase of 0.26 percent. Forest now makes up almost one third of the country’s surface area, just over 31 per cent. This is in stark contrast to 1959, prior to the revolution, when just 13 per cent of Cuba was covered by forest…

Bolivia’s president Evo Morales providing leadership in the face of fires burning the Amazon region, Granma (Cuba daily), Sep 5, 2019
Related: Green-smearing – from Nicaragua to Bolivia, by Stephen Sefton, published on his website Tortilla con Sal, Sept 4, 2019

Turkey announces start of joint patrols with U.S. military in Syria ‘safe zone’, Press TV, Sep 8, 2019
Previously reported:
* British gov’t reps visit Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syra, say they back the U.S. and French govt’s political intervention pressuring for rapprochement between competing Kurdish forces, report by Shivan Ibrahim, in Al Monitor, Sep 5, 2019 …“It [the visit] could be in response to US pressure on the UK to engage in the east of the Euphrates issue,” after the UK and France agreed to increase the number of their troops in Syria from 10% to 15%. France and Britain are the only two countries in the international coalition against the Islamic State with ground troops in Syria; these additional troops will serve as a substitute to the US forces if they were to withdraw…
* Syrian pistachio farmers watch crops wither as Turks fire on border region, by Lamar Erkendi, Al Monitor, Sep 6, 2019

Prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine completed, RT, Sep 7, 2019 [According to University of Ottawa researcher Ivan Katchanovski, a large majority of the prisoners released by both sides are Ukrainian citizens. Those released by Ukraine have chosen life in Russia, for the time being, over prison in Ukraine. Katchanovski also reports more broadly on Facebook: “My analysis of government and media reports shows that the overwhelming majority of more than 1,000 people who have been exchanged or listed for exchange by the central government of Ukraine with Russia and the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk between 2014 and 2019 are Ukrainian citizens. About 15 of them were identified as regular Russian military members and about 40 were identified as other Russian citizens, some of whom also had Ukrainian citizenship.”]

Glasgow tense as two marches in support of Irish unity to take place on Sept 7, Press TV, Sep 7, 2019

Pamela Anderson condemns U.S. war crimes and persecution of Julian Assange on ABC’s daytime hit program ‘The View’, Common Dreams, Sep 6, 2019 Anderson leaves program co-host Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Senator John McCain, sputtering

Ukraine’s neo-Nazis: Who are they, why are they so influential, and why is Western media failing to report on them?, RT, Sep 5, 2019

Rabbi in Ukraine helps dedicate memorial to Ukrainian group that collaborated with Nazis, The Times of Israel, Aug 27, 2019 Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich says ceremony for WWII-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army at a Jewish cemetery in Sambir, western Ukraine was a compromise meant to remove crosses erected at the cemetery by locals
Related: Canada accused of promoting Holocaust revisionism with memorial in Ukraine honoring WW2 Nazi collaborators, report by Levon Sevunts, Radio Canada International, Sep 3, 2019

Ukraine’s war against Donbass: An interview with filmmaker Maxim Fadeev, by Eva Bartlett, published on her website In Gaza and beyond, late August 2019 [The beginning section of the interview discusses events in mid to late 2014. Ukraine’s war against the people of Donbass (the former Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Lugansk) commenced in May 2014 and was initially centered in a battle for control of the city of Slavyansk. The city had a population at the time of some 110,000 people and is located app. 100 kilometers north of the city of Donetsk. Slavyansk today lies on the Ukraine side of the territorial divide (partition) imposed by Ukraine on Donetsk and Lugansk. In response to the partition, the two regions voted in referendums in May 2014 to form the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics.

[The pro-autonomy rebel movement in Donetsk and Lugansk were heavily out-gunned in May 2014 by the new, right-wing Ukraine army-in-formation. Three months later, the Ukrainian army and its extreme-right paramilitary legions suffered a heavy defeat in the east of Donetsk region. This led to the first ‘Minsk’ peace agreement, named after the capital city of Belarus where talks were held. In February 2015, the army and paramilitaries suffered a catastrophic defeat in and around the small city of Debaltseve. This time, a comprehensive peace agreement, known as Minsk 2 (text here), was signed by the Ukrainian government and pro-autonomy rebels on February 14. The agreement was also signed by Russia, Germany and France acting as guarantors, and it was endorsed by the UN Security Council, on February 17. But the Ukrainian side has never been serious about implementing Minsk 2. Its failure to implement the accord has been quietly encouraged by its Western, NATO sponsors.]

City of San Francisco labels Trump-backed National Rifle Association a ‘domestic terrorist organization’, Press TV, Sep 5, 2019 and read: report by Drew Costley, SFGate, Sep 4, 2019

China’s Belt and Road Initiative could drive warming to 2.7 degrees, in ‘360 Digest’, Yale Environment 360, Sep 4, 2019

Kamala Harris is the face of the Democratic Party’s protest campaign against Bernie Sanders, by Danny Haiphong, contributor, Black Agenda Report, Sep 4, 2019

Hong Kong’s leader to withdraw extradition bill entirely, but protesters demand more, RT, Sep 4, 2019

Japan-South Korea dispute shows no signs of abating, Deutsche Welle, Sep 4, 2019
Related:
* South Korea’s withdrawal from the opens the door to a new peace paradigm in East Asia, by Jeremiah Kim, Zoom In Korea, Sep 3, 2019 For nearly a century, Japan posed the greatest threat to the security of Korea and most of Asia through its agenda of aggressive militarism and Western-style imperialism; today, that distinction belongs primarily to the United States. Yet the casual newsreader wouldn’t know this from the unanimous outcry that has poured out from the military-intelligence establishment in South Korea, Japan, and the United States over the Moon administration’s recent decision to withdraw from its intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan, GSOMIA…
* It’s Japan’s duty to investigate threatening letter sent to South Korean embassy in Tokyo, editorial, The Hankyoreh (S. Korea daily), Sep.4,2019 The South Korean Embassy in Tokyo has disclosed that it recently received a threatening letter with a bullet enclosed. The writer of the anonymous letter claimed to have “several rifles” and to be “hunting Koreans”, while demanding that “Koreans get out” of Japan…
* The rise of anti-Korean media in Japan, by Kim Young-hee, editorial writer, The Hankyoreh, Sep.4, 2019
* Ending the ‘1965 Regime’ between South Korea and Japan, commentary by Nam Ki-jeong, associate professor at the Institute for Japanese Studies at Seoul National University, published in The Hankyoreh, Aug.18, 2019

China updates 2016 agreement with Iran to invest $400 billion over next 25 years, Press TV, Sep 4, 2019
Related: Russia ready to invest $10bn in Iran oil industry, reports Iran’s minister of energy, Press TV, Sep 4, 2019

The best movie ever made about the truth behind the 2003 Iraq war is ‘Official Secrets’, by Jon Schwarz, The Intercept, Aug 31, 2019
Previously reported:
New film ‘Official Secrets’ tells the story of Katherine Gun, the functionary in Britain’s spy agency who tried to warn the world of the the U.S./NATO/’Five Eyes’ war criminals peddling lies to sell the 2003 Iraq War, essay by Sam Husseini, published in Consortium News, Aug 28, 2019 …Many who supported the 2003 invasion now try to distance themselves from it, including Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. But the repercussions of that illegal act are enormous: It led directly or indirectly to the rise of ISIS, the civil war in Iraq and the war in Syria. Journalists who pushed for the Iraq invasion are prosperous and atop major news organizations, such as Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt. At The Observer [The Guardian], the editor who argued most strongly against publication of the NSA document, Kamal Ahmed, is now editorial director of BBC News…

In talks with Iran, France proposes $15B line of credit from oil sales to patch up 2015 nuclear energy agreement, seeks U.S. acceptance, Reuters, Sep 3, 2019
Related: Iran, France hold intensive talks on ways to save 2015 nuclear energy agreement, Press TV, Sep 3, 2019

How Russia and Iran are drawing closer on Gulf of Hormuz, Syria, by Maxim A. Suchkov, Al-Monitor, Sep 3, 2019

Argentina returns to currency controls as debt crisis spirals, Reuters, Sep 2, 2019 read also: report in New York Times, Sep 2, 2019
Background: Argentina and the next global financial crisis, by Jack Rasmus, published on his website, Aug 14, 2019

Surveying the views of the protest movement in Hong Kong, by Samson Yuen (Assistant Professor of Political Science, Lingnan University in Hong Kong), published in The Conversation, Sept 1, 2019

Ottawa travels to Havana to talk Venezuela, returns empty-handed, by Nino Pagliccia, published by One World, Sept 2, 2019 also published in Resumen, Sep 2, 2019

Statement in solidarity with Cuba by the Democratic Socialists of America, published on the website of the DSA, Aug 27, 2019

Three Irish unity marches scheduled in Glasgow this week following violent attack by rightist ‘loyalists’ against Aug 31 march, Press TV, Sep 3, 2019

China lodges case against U.S. tariffs at World Trade Organization, Reuters, Sep 2, 2019 …The lawsuit is the third Beijing has brought to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump’s China-specific tariffs at the WTO, the international organization that limits the tariffs each country is allowed to charge…

Massacre in Yemen as more than 100 killed by Saudi Arabia air strikes, Middle East Eye, Sept 1, 2019 and read: Red Cross says more than 100 killed in Saudi Arabia air strike against Yemen prison, Reuters, Sept 1, 2019

Anti-immigrant, global warming-denying AfD party wins second place in two state elections in Germany, Reuters, Sept 2, 2019 [The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) made gains in Saxony, with 27.5 per cent, and in Brandenburg with 22.5 per cent, up from 10 and 12 per cent, respectively, in 2014.] Related: Berlin reacts to far-right surge in elections in two states in east of country, Deutsche Welle, Sep 2, 2019