(2021-12-12). The Assange Case Is the U.S. Defending Its Right to Lie. strategic-culture.org By Caitlin JOHNSTONE | * * * | Q: What's the difference between how the US deals with journalists it hates and how Saudi Arabia deals with journalists it hates? | A: Speed. | * * * | The US is
(2021-12-12). Solidarity Action Rebukes Navy Over Toxic Water Pollution. popularresistance.org Activists with CodePink, in solidarity with Hawaii-based water protectors, on Friday projected images on a submarine tower outside the Navy museum in Washington, D.C., calling for a shutdown of a military fuel storage facility associated with contamination of Oahu drinking water. | Messages displayed on the USS Balao Conning Tower included "Shut down Red Hill tanks," "Demilitarize Hawaii," and "Navy is poison."
(2021-12-12). Saudi Arabia Arms Sale Is One of Biden's Many Militaristic Actions in First Year. truthout.org 
Given the brutish approach of his predecessor, many expected President Joe Biden to shift away from the worst practices in U.S. foreign policy and at the border in the previous four years. Indeed, in the first weeks of his presidency, the Biden administration signaled changes. In Secretary of State Antony Blinken's first press briefing, the State Department announced that it was reviewing weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — which have led the catastroph…
(2021-12-12). November Elections in Latin America Panel: A South to North Perspective. orinocotribune.com Caracas, December 4, 2021 (OrinocoTribune.com)—On November 29, Orinoco Tribune, within the framework of its third anniversary celebration, organized a panel with experts about the very busy electoral schedule in Latin America during the month of November. These included presidential and parliamentary elections held in Nicaragua on November 7, followed by parliamentary elections in Argentina seven days later, and then regional and municipal elections in Venezuela and presidential elections in Chile one week after that, and presidential and regional elections in Honduras on November 28. We added Mexico to the…
(2021-12-12). Calderon Berti: G4 Cannot Have Monopoly on Power. orinocotribune.com Humberto Calderon Berti, former Venezuelan "ambassador" to Colombia illegally appointed by Juan Guaidó, have made some new and controversial statements in a recent interview, calling for an end to the G4 monopoly, which reveals, among other things, the internal contradictions within the hard right opposition platform. G4 is the group of hard core extreme right political parties of Venezuela that have supported the failed US "Guaido project," and comprises the parties Popular Will, Democratic Action, Un Nuevo Tiempo, and Justice First. | Berti is known for making public the theft of "humanitarian aid" money in 201…
(2021-12-11). The Fierce Determination Of Ordinary People To Build An Extraordinary World. popularresistance.org United States President Joe Biden has suborned 111 countries to attend his Summit for Democracy on December 9—10, ending on Human Rights Day. 'We welcome all countries, organizations, and individuals to support the goals of the Summit', the US State Department wrote. However, there are 82 countries that have not been invited, including two large countries that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (the People's Republic of China and Russia) and two small countries from the Caribbean (Cuba and Haiti). In the name of democracy, the US government is pushing its own agenda to consolidate…
(2021-12-11). India's community health workers' struggle for recognition. roarmag.org 
Asha worker marking the finger of a baby girl after administering a polio vaccine in Delhi, India. June 28, 2021. Photo: PradeepGaurs / Shutterstock.com | This essay is published in collaboration with Public Services International | | Over the last year-and-a-half, one of the most visible groups of workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in India have been the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), a cadre of community health workers appointed by the National Health Mission (NHM). These hitherto invisible women were seen not only going hou…
(2021-12-11). Biden administration is 'rubber stamping' Oil and gas permits on public land, activists say. nationofchange.org "Congress and the Biden administration must resist that pressure and push aggressively to move the nation—and the world—away from planet-destroying fossil fuels."
(2021-12-11). Ten Contradictions That Plague Biden's Democracy Summit. zcomm.org The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it's not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed—or even infuriated.
(2021-12-11). Iran Warns Against 'Dangerous' Acts of Piracy Targeting its Oil at Sea. orinocotribune.com An Iranian envoy to the United Nations has issued a stern warning against acts of piracy targeting tankers carrying Iran's oil cargos at sea, urging the international community to condemn such illegal measures that endanger freedom of navigation. | Zahra Ershadi, deputy permanent representative of Iran to the UN, made the remarks on Wednesday in an address to the UN General Assembly's meeting on oceans and the law of the sea. | She complained that the coronavirus pandemic and the US imposition of sanctions under the so-called maximum pressure campaign had disrupted freedom of movement for Iranian vessels and affe…
(2021-12-11). Israel's Hard-Line Position Is Sabotaging US-Iran Negotiations. truthout.org 
After a five-month hiatus, indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran resumed last week in Vienna in an attempt to revise the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). The outlook isn't good. | Less than a week into negotiations, Britain, France, and Germany
(2021-12-11). Saudi Arabia targets banned ultra-conservative proselytisers. moderndiplomacy.eu Saudi Islamic affairs minister Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz al-Sheikh has ordered imams in the kingdom to identify one of the world's largest Muslim movements as misguided, deviant, dangerous, and a breeder of militancy. Mr. Al-Sheikh's offensive against Tablighi Jamaat or Society for Preaching, a secretive transnational ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim missionary movement of South Asian origin long …
(2021-12-11). Venezuela: VP Delcy Rodríguez Presents 2022 Budget to National Assembly. orinocotribune.com The Executive Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, emphasized this Friday, December 10, that 2022 will be the year of the recovery of the bolívar as Venezuela's national currency. | During the presentation of the budget and annual plan 2022 before the National Assembly (NA), Rodríguez affirmed that strengthening the bolívar as the national currency will be the center of the economic actions of the national government next year. In this regard, she pointed out that the government is refusing to dollarize the economy. | "We come from the year 2020, a year of pandemic, but 2021 has also been a year of pande…
(2021-12-11). Venezuela Denounces US Attack on Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. orinocotribune.com On Thursday, December 9, the Venezuelan government issued an official statement, strongly denouncing the diplomatic boycott that the US, as well as US allies such as Australia, are trying to carry out against the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. | Venezuela demands that such politicizations of sport competitions should be stopped. The Venezuelan government has called "on all countries to defend the spirit of fair play that should reign during these tournaments." | U…