(2021-02-04). The Decline and Fall of the American Empire. dissidentvoice.org 
Image: Calvin Shen In 2004, journalist Ron Susskind quoted a Bush White House advisor, reportedly Karl Rove, as boasting, "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality." He dismissed Susskind's assumption that public policy must be rooted in "the reality-based community." "We're history's actors," the advisor told him, "…and you, …
(2021-02-04). Tallahassee demands affordable housing from City Commission. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL – On January 13, activists with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee attended the Tallahassee City Commission's annual retreat. While much of the retreat featured city leaders applauding each other for their great work, there were some moments that touched on the people's concerns regarding affordable housing and redevelopment initiatives on the majority-Black Southside. | After a discussion of the city's efforts to invest in Southside, the newly-elected Democratic Socialists of America-backed commissioner Jack Porter asked for clarification as to why the Southside of Tallahassee has been so…
(2021-02-04). Tallahassee demands affordable housing from City Commission. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL – On January 13, activists with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee attended the Tallahassee City Commission's annual retreat. While much of the retreat featured city leaders applauding each other for their great work, there were some moments that touched on the people's concerns regarding affordable housing and redevelopment initiatives on the majority-Black Southside. | After a discussion of the city's efforts to invest in Southside, the newly-elected Democratic Socialists of America-backed commissioner Jack Porter asked for clarification as to why the Southside of Tallahassee has been so…
(2021-02-04). Ottawa should apologize for role in Agent Orange use in Vietnam. dissidentvoice.org 
A French legal battle offers an opportunity to revisit Canada's role in chemical weapons use and whether Ottawa owes something to its Vietnamese victims. On the weekend activists gathered in Paris to support a court case launched by a woman exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. The group Collectif Vietnam Dioxine is supporting French-Vietnamese woman, …
(2021-02-03). Biden-Kerry international climate politricks. mronline.org 
Is U.S. President Joe Biden's January 27 Executive Order to address 'climate crisis' as good as many activists claim, enough to reverse earlier scepticism?>
(2021-02-03). A Coup in Burma: Did Military Seize Power to Avoid ICC Prosecution for Rohingya Genocide? democracynow.org 
We speak with a Burmese dissident about the military coup underway in Burma as de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been arrested. The coup unfolded hours before lawmakers were to take their seats in the opening of parliament, following a November election in which Aung San Suu Kyi's party won over 80% of the contested seats in the Burmese parliament and the military made unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Hundreds of lawmakers, activists and human rights defenders have also been detained since the coup, and telecommunications have been cut in parts of Burma, which the military calls Myanmar. "The military decided…
(2021-02-03). How the Gulf War Sparked China's Military Revolution. anti-empire.com 
Monday marks the 30th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, when American-led coalition forces invaded With the technology and firepower on show during the conflict — precision bombing, satellite guidance, missile interception, air-to-surface strike to eliminat…
(2021-02-03). Jeff Bezos to Quit as CEO, But Amazon's "Predatory Business Model" Will Continue Unless Lawmakers Act. democracynow.org 
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced he will step down as CEO and move into a new role as executive chairman later this year, giving up the reins after nearly three decades during which he grew Amazon from an online book retailer into a sprawling business empire and became one of the world's richest people in the process. Andy Jassy, the head of the company's cloud computing division, is set to take over the top job, but Bezos will continue to be the largest Amazon shareholder and remain on the board of directors. The news comes as calls continue to mount for lawmakers to break up Amazon and other tech giants.
(2021-02-03). Russian Strike Jet Flies Low Past US Destroyer in the Black Sea. anti-empire.com 
A Russian warplane conducted a low pass near the USS Donald Cook on Sunday in the Black Sea, where the Navy has dispatched three ships for exercises. | The Sukhoi Su-24 fighter-bomber screeched past the U.S. destroyer while it was operating in international waters, the U.S. Navy's 6th Fleet said in a statement. | The Navy said it operates in the Black Sea to reassure allies in the region and "ensure security and stability." | USS Donald Cook is operating alongside the destroyer USS Porter and USNS Laramie, which is refueling the warships during operations. | Refueling at sea is fundamental for the Navy, but doing…
(2021-02-03). The Struggle Inside Senator Mitch McConnell's Brain. commondreams.org Allowing the Trumpian half of his brain to overpower his judgment and vote to acquit Dangerous Donald would spell disaster for the Republican Party (assuming the Democratic Party doesn't go to sleep as it did after Obama's win in 2008). | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2021-02-03). What Does It Mean for a Virus to Become 'Endemic?'. anti-empire.com 
We already forgot we flattened the curve to allow hospital capacity to increase. The supposed purpose of the lockdowns was not to stop the virus but merely to better ration medical resources. | We already overlooked the common sense espoused by the We already missed the opportunity vaccines offered for us to rehabilitate social interaction and the economy. | And now, if we fail to recognize when Covid becomes 'endemic' and move on, society will be stuck in lockdown until 2023. | Even if you lock down society for two weeks (or two months) [md…
(2021-02-03). Huawei Struggles in Smartphone Market as Sanctions Bite, Apple Profits. anti-empire.com 
Chinese telecom giant Huawei saw a substantial drop in both smartphone shipments and market share in China market in 2020, following a tough year of US government's strangle on semiconductors supply, allowing US rival Apple to rise to fill up the void. | Under the US' relentless assault, Huawei saw a drop in market share in China from 38.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 25.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, the only one of the top five smartphone makers in China whose share declined, an International Data Corp (IDC) report showed on Tuesday. | Industry experts said that Huawei's rare market share…
(2021-02-03). France, Sweden, Poland, Germany, France: Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Not for Elderly. anti-empire.com 
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should be prioritized for people younger than 65, according to recommendations by government advisory bodies in France and Sweden on Tuesday, while Poland set its threshold at 60. | "Currently available data for people aged 65 and over are limited by a small sample size and don't allow for a conclusion on the safety and the efficacy of the [AstraZeneca] vaccine for this population," the French national authority for health (HAS) said. "The [AstraZeneca] vaccine is therefore recommended preferentially for health professionals under 65 and people under 65." | The three countries join…
(2021-02-03). Macron: AstraZeneca Vaccine Seems 'Quasi-Ineffective' for Over-65s. anti-empire.com 
French President Emmanual Macron said Friday the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine appeared to be "quasi-ineffective" on people older than 65 — just hours before the EU's drugs regulator "The real problem on AstraZeneca is that it doesn't work the way we were expecting it to," Macron told a group of reporters, including POLITICO, in Paris. "We're waiting for the EMA [European Medicines Agency] results, but today everything points to thinking it is quasi-ineffective on pe…
(2021-02-03). After Most US Troops Pull Out of Somalia, Some Reenter for Training. anti-empire.com 
Editor's note: It appears the Pentagon never even fully withdrew as Trump had told them to, but kept some behind with an eye to Biden. |
| The U.S. military on Sunday held its first training engagement in Somalia after the recent drawdown of most American troops stationed there, Africa Command announced Monday. | "Our first engagement back into Somalia so quickly after the repositioning shows we remain committed to our Somali and regional partners and support their fight against violent extremism," U.S.
(2021-02-03). Activists Push to Ban Fracking. zcomm.org "We do not know what our future holds right now. But we do know that any further fossil fuel extraction will only further perpetuate this"
(2021-02-02). Germany Rejects French Call to Scrap Russia Gas Pipeline Over Navalny. anti-empire.com 
France on Monday urged Germany to scrap a major gas pipeline project with Russia in protest over the detention in Moscow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but the plea fell on deaf ears in Berlin. | "We have always said we have the greatest doubts on this project in this context," European Affairs minister Clement Beaune told France Inter radio. | Asked specifically if France wanted Berlin to drop the project, Beaune said: "Indeed, we have already said this." | Nord Stream 2 is a 10 billion euro ($11 billion) pipeline that will run beneath the Baltic Sea and is set to double Russian natural-gas shipments to Ge…
(2021-02-02). China's New Aircraft Carrier Killer Is World's Largest Air-Launched Missile. anti-empire.com 
Navies are racing to develop hypersonic missiles which may change the pace of naval warfare. Russia will deploy the Zircon hypersonic missile aboard warships and submarines. The US Navy has started down the path of the common hypersonic glide body (c-HGB) for its destroyers. Meanwhile China's latest hypersonic weapon is something completely different; it is air launched. | The massive new missile, labelled CH-AS-X-13, is probably the largest air-launched missile in the world. | The missile was first reported by Ankit Panda, the Stanton Senior Fellow at the Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for Internatio…
(2021-02-02). Scientists Predict Humans Will Simply Be Giant Rolling Balls of Masks by 2024. anti-empire.com 
Experts are now predicting that humans will make a giant evolutionary leap forward in the next few years, moving from walking around on two legs to rolling around in a giant ball of masks, thanks to ever-evolving mask guidelines. | "At the current rate of mask growth, humans will evolve to just be rolling around in a giant ball of them within three years," said evolutionary biologist Bob Carson III. "As the mask arms race accelerates, we're already seeing humans wearing three, four, five, six, even seven masks. Projecting that rate out, assuming logarithmic growth — let's see, carry the one… yep. We're all…
(2021-02-02). China's New Digital Currency — A Preemptive Move Against Domestic Big Tech, US Sanctions, and Cryptos. anti-empire.com 
The take is by a Hungarian engineer who used to work in China for their smartphone maker Oppo. I assume he knows his stuff: | Source:
(2021-02-02). Facility for 'Quarantine Objectors' in Germany Ready for Inmates. anti-empire.com 
Machine translated from German | Today is the official start, but so far the rooms have not been used. Until Friday afternoon it was not foreseeable that the districts would already make use of the accommodation, said a spokeswoman for the district assembly. In the building on the grounds of the Moltsfelde juvenile detention center in Neumàºnster, there is space for up to six quarantine objectors. The cells are each twelve square meters in size and the facility is closed from the outside. The operator is the Segeberg district and makes them available to the other districts and independent cities. | Housi…
(2021-02-02). Regime Journalists Mobilize to Ban Competition. And Your Free Speech. anti-empire.com 
"Like many of the other proponents of controlled speech mentioned here, Bazelon's writing has a detectable winking quality to it: Don't worry, dear reader, YOU'RE not the one who's going to be censored. THEY are. In fact, the censorship, so-called, won't even be that bad. You'll hardly notice it." | "One thing that people might not immediately recognize when they hear scary-sounding words like "censorship" is that the act of controlling other people's speech can be gratifying, a psychic net-positive for those who dream of a purified information space."The new enemy is no longer "disinformation" but "misinformatio…
(2021-02-02). Bill Gates Has a New $1bn Yacht That Shows He Is Morally Superior to You Because It's Hydrogen-Powered. anti-empire.com 
Editor's note: A $1bn yacht might be the ultimate symbol of excess, conspicuous consumption, and waste. But make it "hydrogen-powered" and suddenly it's a symbol of virtue, or so the bottom-feeding press would have you believe (see an exhibit below if you can stomach it). | And at all that Gates did not even earn his fortune (that he is now using to help keep you in lockdown), but is a tax parasite owing all his ill-begotten wealth to a state-granted monopoly patent. These were rightfully abolished centuries ago, but for some reason when it comes to the bogus concept of "intellectual property" a "patent" can stil…
(2021-02-02). On Inauguration Day, Police Nationwide Went After Left-Wing Protesters. truthout.org 
The storming of the U.S. Capitol by armed far right activists shifted the political climate for much of the U.S., despite the fact that anti-fascist activists and researchers had been warning for years that this type of response was imminent. While the tone and behavior of the far right had escalated since the election — a result of Donald Trump's failure to win a second term and his explosive conspiracy theories — the events on January 6 showed that the risks were not just street-level…
(2021-02-02). Biden urged to publicly support rights of citizens to boycott Israel. middleeasteye.net 
Biden urged to publicly support rights of citizens to boycott Israel | Human Rights Watch calls on Biden administration to renounce Trump-era policy that labelled BDS movement as antisemitic | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 16: 47 | The BDS movement was founded in 2005 and modelled after a similar campaign credited with ending apartheid in South Africa (AFP/File photo) | A leading human rights group has called on US Presid…
(2021-02-02). The government brags its 2020 badger-murdering spree was effective. But activists vow to stop the cull. thecanary.co The government has released its latest figures from the UK's annual badger cull, stating that the state-sanctioned murder spree was "effective" in 2020. The cull, which takes place between September and November, was already The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA)
(2021-02-02). Biden Appoints Warmongers. popularresistance.org The corporate media has focused on Biden's promise to overturn many of former-President Trump's policies. But Biden pledged throughout his campaign to make "no substantial change" — and his foreign policy appointments show he meant that. Despite the media talk of justice, new policy and diversity, behind the scenes the same old U.S. militarist policies are being reinforced through Biden's cabinet choices and their direct ties to industry-funded think tanks and military contractors. | Biden's cabinet nominations follow the failed imperialist policies of the Trump, Obama, Bush Jr., Clinton and Bush Sr. admini…
(2021-02-02). Tampa activists rally against police brutality and Gov. DeSantis' anti-protest bill. fightbacknews.org Tampa, FL – On January 30, the Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC), alongside other local organizations and around two dozen people gathered near city hall to demand that state legislators reject HB1, the repressive bill being proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis. | William Blake, a member of TBCAC, said, "This bill is a huge attack on those fighting for police accountability in Florida. It would legalize running over a protester, something we've seen many times in Tampa, as well as giving felonies to those exercising basic constitutional rights." The bill, which was proposed during the uprisings of the sum…
(2021-02-01). Boris Johnson and the Deaths of the Hundred Thousand. counterpunch.org Not exactly Thermopylae. Not even close. The hundred thousand who have now been taken by COVID-19 in Britain were not determined warriors holding up the forces of a mighty empire to save their land. They were the innocent victims of infection, mismanagement and miscalculation. Central to the policy which led to such losses was a
(2021-02-01). Guaido Prevents the Use of Frozen Funds for Vaccines. anti-empire.com 
Jan 21 (teleSUR) — The former lawmaker rejected a proposal of the legitimate government to allocate gold blocked in the United Kingdom to anti-COVID-19 vaccines. | Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza denounced Wednesday that former opposition deputy Juan Guaidó rejected a proposal by the legitimate government of the South American nation to allocate 120 million dollars, illegally withheld in the United Kingdom, to the purchase of anti-Covid-19 vaccines. | In a message disseminated through the social network Twitter, Arreaza detailed that this maneuver constitutes "another proof of the cruelty of Guaid…
(2021-02-01). Hedges: Papering Over the Rot. scheerpost.com By Chris Hedges / Original to ScheerPost The death spiral of the American Empire will not be halted with civility. It will not be halted with the 42 executive orders signed by Joe Biden, however welcome many are, especially since they can, with a new chief executive, be immediately revoked. It will not be halted by removing Donald Trump, and the crackpot conspiracy theorists… |
(2021-02-01). Much of Western Australia Is Thrown Into Mass House Arrest After a Single PCR Test Shows Up Positive. anti-empire.com 
South Australia and
(2021-02-01). 12 arrested in SWAT operation after activists armed with KNIVES & AXES briefly occupy hotel in Olympia, WA (VIDEOS). rt.com 
A dozen people were arrested after armed protesters attempted to forcibly take over the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia, Washington. A SWAT team cleared out the hotel and escorted guests and employees out of the building. | Demonstrators armed with hatchets, batons, and knives stormed the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Olympia on Sunday, reportedly assaulting an employee who tried to lock the establishment's doors. The rest of the staff barricaded themselves in the hotel's basement,
(2021-02-01). French hijab wearers must navigate politics to keep identity. yenisafak.com Few issues trigger reactions in French politics as much as Muslim women donning the veil and headscarf, or hijab, who once again find themselves at the center of controversy as far-right leader Marine Le Pen last week proposed a nationwide ban of the garment on the streets and in public places.A day before world hijab day is marked on Feb. 1, activists from feminist group Nemesis, dressed in flowing black burqas, staged a protest in front of the Trocadero, overlooking the Eiffel tower. They held a large banner that read, "France in 50 years" in a visual assertion that this is the future of the country if "creepin…
(2021-02-01). 'An Ominous Moment': Human Rights Groups Sound Alarm as Military Coup Unfolds in Myanmar. commondreams.org "The concurrent arrests of prominent political activists and human rights defenders sends a chilling message that the military authorities will not tolerate any dissent amid today's unfolding events." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
