Daily Archives: December 9, 2021

2021-12-09: News Headlines

Alan MacLeod (2021-12-09). OTF — The "independent" internet freedom organization that makes all your favorite privacy apps—is staffed full of spies. mronline.org While the OTF presents itself as independent internet freedom activists, their funding, staff, history and choice of targets all point to the conclusion that they are a digital weapon being used against Washington's enemies.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-09). 'People's Lawyer' Sudha Bharadwaj released after three years in jail. peoplesdispatch.org The activist-lawyer was granted default bail on December 1 following more than three years of her incarceration without trial in the Bhima Koregaon case in which a number of other activists were also implicated…

_____ (2021-12-09). Palestine Action Acquitted In First Trial. popularresistance.org United Kingdom – Three activists who defaced an Israeli drone engines factory in the UK were found not guilty of criminal damage on Monday. | The two-day trial took place at Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court, near Stoke-on-Trent in central England. | Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori told The Electronic Intifada that the victory showed they were on the right track. | "We're going to continue to take direct action in order to shut down and undermine Israel's arms trade," she said. | It was reassuring to have court backing for taking action against Israeli arms makers, she added, and that "to disrupt the…

April M. Short (2021-12-09). How Portland's Activists Are Bringing Mutual Aid to the Homeless. zcomm.org Mutual aid offers a route to directly help people living outside, and potentially save lives through the winter months…

Aaron Craine (2021-12-09). Solidarity shown to West Papua struggle for self-determination. greenleft.org.au The 60th anniversary of the raising of the Morning Star flag was marked by activists in solidarity with West Papua at the State Library. Aaron Craine reports.

WSWS (2021-12-09). Philippine Justice Department files charges for just one murder in the Bloody Sunday massacre. wsws.org The murder of nine activists in simultaneous police raids in March followed the orders of President Duterte, who told the military to "Kill them! Don't mind human rights!"

_____ (2021-12-09). Talking 'Peace' US Arms Saudis For Latest Attack On Yemen. popularresistance.org Hodeidah, Yemen – Inside the ruins of a modest Yemeni home where human and animal remains were strewn together, local rescuers struggled to evacuate a pregnant mother and other potential survivors from the rubble as warplanes circled above. There, they found the body of a toddler covered in ashes beside the remains of a humble dining table. The chaotic cries of rescuers covered in blood filled the scene as they examined his remains, exposing what appeared to be an umbilical cord. Near the boy, they found his young mother covered in rubble, barely groaning in a muffled voice of pain. | Just two days after World Ch…

WSWS (2021-12-09). In bid to blow up nuclear talks, US imposes sanctions, steals Iranian oil. wsws.org Washington's provocations have been accompanied by increasingly bellicose threats and actions by Israel.

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2021-12-09). Are the Candidacies of Jorge Arreaza and Claudio Fermín Legal? orinocotribune.com As the January 9 elections in the state of Barinas approach, the temperature of the political debate in Venezuela is heating up between the four opposition candidates and the candidate for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)/Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), Jorge Arreaza. | Within both the right-wing groups and the Chavistas, a debate was opened regarding the various options that are on the table. This political landscape was formed after the inconclusive elections of November 21 in Barinas, and the National Electoral Council's (CNE) announcement of a re-election process. | The present candidates now includ…

Staff (2021-12-09). Bolton Admits that 'Unity' of Venezuela's Opposition Depends on US Position. orinocotribune.com Former White House national security adviser and one of the main promoters of the maximum pressure policy against Venezuela, John Bolton, assured that the absence of "a solid position" from the United States puts the "unity of the opposition" at risk, in terms of the so-called "interim government," "Without stronger American support, how long could the opposition hold together?" asked Bolton, as quo…

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J.S. Davies (2021-12-08). Congress Is Still Throwing Good Money After Bad Foreign Policy. fpif.org Congress is preparing to hand 65 percent of federal discretionary spending to the war machine, even as they wring their hands over a fraction of that for the Build Back Better Act.

José Luis Granados Ceja (2021-12-08). Venezuela: Guaidó Increasingly Isolated as UN Recognizes Maduro Gov't in 'Resounding' Vote. venezuelanalysis.com Venezuelan Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia called the vote "a slap against imperialist interference and aggression."

scorinoco (2021-12-08). What You're Not Supposed to Know About Cuba and Venezuela. orinocotribune.com By Ted Snider — Dec 6, 2021 | What's changed in Venezuela and Cuba since Biden became President? Nothing. But as US foreign policy on those two great threats to America continues seamlessly on from the Trump presidency to the Biden presidency, there's something the White House and the media don't want you to know. | Venezuela | Though you'd barely know it from the media, Venezuela just had an important election. Though not a presidential election, the regional elections were significant because, since the opposition fully participated for the first time in several years, the election was an obvious referendu…

Eric Zuesse (2021-12-08). Putin: Ukraine Is to Russia What Cuba Was to America in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. moderndiplomacy.eu In an almost universally ignored speech by Putin, on December 1st (titled "Ceremony for presenting foreign ambassadors' letters of credence"), he said, merely as an aside [and I here shall add clarifications in brackets]: By the way, the threat on our western border [he was referring mainly to Ukraine] is really growing, and we have …

Editor2 (2021-12-08). "Summit for Democracy" — Enhancing Empire, Not Defending "Democracy" orinocotribune.com By Brian Berletic — Dec 1, 2021 | The very first "Summit for Democracy" will be held in early December 2021. Organized by the United States, it will include "leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector," all unilaterally picked by the United States who, by implication, has unilaterally declared itself arbiter of which nations are deemed "democratic" and by process of counting the uninvited, those deemed "undemocratic." | US-sponsored opposition movements in nations left uninvited took the opportunity to portray the summit as validation for some and a "slap in the face" to others. | Thai PB…

_____ (2021-12-08). Alex Saab's Diplomatic Immunity Ruling Freezes his Court Case In Florida. popularresistance.org The trial against the Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab, in the Court of the US Southern District of Florida, was suspended due to the ongoing appeal for his diplomatic status. The appeal was filed in April of 2021, reported FuserNews. The current complaint in regards to the recognition of his diplomatic status, which would confer immunity for Ambassador Saab, has been fought in the Court of Appeals of the Eleventh Circuit of Atlanta, Georgia, since April 1, 2021 when the defense team requested that the court "annul the order conferring the status of fugitive."

_____ (2021-12-08). Alex Saab's Diplomatic Immunity Ruling Freezes His Court Case. popularresistance.org The trial against the Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab, in the Court of the US Southern District of Florida, was suspended due to the ongoing appeal for his diplomatic status. The appeal was filed in April of 2021, reported FuserNews. The current complaint in regards to the recognition of his diplomatic status, which would confer immunity for Ambassador Saab, has been fought in the Court of Appeals of the Eleventh Circuit of Atlanta, Georgia, since April 1, 2021 when the defense team requested that the court "annul the order conferring the status of fugitive."

_____ (2021-12-08). How to counter the growing threat of agent provocateurs. popularresistance.org As awareness of racial injustice, climate crises and sexist violence grow in multiple countries, activists are responding in greater and greater numbers. We have this in common with earlier periods in history that birthed large social movements: activists "upping the ante," increasing the power of their action. One-off protests become sustained campaigns, short actions like parades become long marches, a union's token stay-at-home becomes a prolonged strike, law-abiding demonstrators turn to civil disobedience. It's easy, however, to overlook a key activist vulnerability that accompanies these moments of increase…

Asa Winstanley (2021-12-08). Not guilty: Palestine Action acquitted in first trial. electronicintifada.net "Elbit Three" activists defaced Israeli drone factory in UK.

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2021-12-08). Chilean Activists Welcome Leopoldo López with Eggs. orinocotribune.com This Tuesday, December 7, a group of Chilean demonstrators received the fugitive from Venezuelan justice Leopoldo López at the former Congress of the Republic, in Santiago de Chile, with a barrage of eggs and slogans denouncing him as a criminal, murderer, and coup leader. | The Venezuelan opposition figure visited the building to meet with representatives of the Chilean extreme right participating in the Constitutional Convention, the Chilean constituent body in charge of writing the new post-Pinochet Magna Carta.[VÂDEO] Leopoldo López llega a la Convención Constitucional de Chile y lo reciben tirándole huevo…

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2021-12-08). How Congress loots the Treasury for the military-industrial-congressional complex. nationofchange.org How the conjunction of dysfunctional military leadership, an ever-growing arms industry and a Congress that keeps handing them trillions of dollars, constitutes the full flowering of President Eisenhower's greatest fears for the future of the United States.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-08). Amid talks to revive nuclear deal, US imposes fresh sanctions on Iranian entities and officials. peoplesdispatch.org The fresh sanctions were imposed citing alleged human rights violations. Iran and at least one other signatory to the nuclear deal have stated that such moves raise serious questions about the Biden administration's seriousness to revive the deal…

The Canary (2021-12-08). Foreign secretary admits £400m owed to Iran from the 70s is a legitimate debt. thecanary.co Liz Truss has said the £400m that Britain owes Iran is a "legitimate debt" that the government wants to pay. | A long time coming: | The foreign secretary was asked about the amount at a Chatham House event on 8 December, where she set out her foreign policy aims. Truss said the government was going to "work night and day to prevent the Iranian regime from ever getting a nuclear weapon". But she said they were also working to "resolve the issue" over the debt. It relates to a cancelled order for 1,500 Chieftain tanks dating back to the 1970s. And it's been linked to the continued detention of Naz…

Sharon Zhang (2021-12-08). Senate Rejects Sanders's Resolution to Block $650M Weapons Sale to Saudi Arabia. truthout.org The Senate voted against a bipartisan resolution to block a $650 million weapons sale to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, rejecting a bid by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and progressive and Republican lawmakers to stop the sale. | The resolution was

Editor2 (2021-12-08). Crying at the Centro Fidel Castro Ruz. orinocotribune.com By Salifu Mack — Dec 2, 2021 | I recently had the opportunity to visit Cuba through a friendship Caravan with

Peter Gilbert (2021-12-08). U.S. caravan brings solidarity to Cuba. workers.org Ricardo Perez (center), head of International Relations for the Finlay Vaccine Institute (Instituto Finlay de Vacunas), meets with members of the Workers World Party contingent (from left to right) Chris Hollis, Peter Gilbert, Loan Tran and Elena Everett, in Havana, Nov. 16. Gilbert was a member of the 31st IFCO/Pastors . . . |

Misión Verdad (2021-12-08). Borges vs. Guaidó: US' House of Cards on Fire. orinocotribune.com By Mision Verdad — Dec 7, 2021 | We are witnessing live the unveiling of a fiction that has lasted for too long; whose protagonists belong to the most extreme of the anti-Chavismo sectors. The outcome of the unveiling is destined to propitiate the failure of the anti-Venezuela US strategy. Both the excesses of its dauphins and hitmen have worn out the age of anti-politics, and these are now being ignored because of the prevailing reality in the country, a reality in which most of the political parties are participating in the democratic arena. | Julio Borges has finally decided to depart from what Washington…

àÅlvaro Verzi Rangel (2021-12-08). Reconoce la Asamblea General de la ONU al gobierno constitucional de Maduro. globalizacion.ca La Asamblea General de la Organización de Naciones Unidas (ONU) reconoció el lunes al gobierno constitucional del presidente Nicolás Maduro como representante legítimo de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, lo que fue calificado por el embajador Samuel Moncada como "una…

Victoria Korn (2021-12-08). Juan Guaidó perdió a su "canciller: La lucha por el poder y el dinero usurpado. globalizacion.ca El publicitado gobierno interino de Juan Guaidó, la estructura institucional paralela que creó Estados Unidos para tratar de derrocar al presidente constitucional Nicolás Maduro en Venezuela, comienza a resquebrajarse desde dentro, tras el anuncio de Julio Borges, su "canciller", de…

2021-12-09 20:42 | 14:42 EST | jz | 31 | 0 | 19 | 10 | 0