(2021-12-12). Why Poorer Nations Aren't Falling for Green-Washed Imperialism. orinocotribune.com By Prabir Purkayastha — Dec 8, 2021 | Fighting global warming is not just about providing a path to net-zero carbon emissions for all countries. It is also about figuring out how best to meet the energy needs of people across the world while working toward net-zero emissions. If fossil fuels have to be given up, which has now become an urgent need given the current environmental challenges, countries in Africa and a significant part of Asia, including India, need an alternate path for providing electricity to their people. What then is the best alternate course for poorer countries to follow for electricity…
(2021-12-12). How India stifled dissent on the United Nations' "Human Rights Day" moderndiplomacy.eu Each year, on 10th December, the United Nations observes international human rights day. When the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, it was proclaimed as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations". The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out a broad range of fundamental rights …
(2021-12-12). Afghan War: Pakistan's Sacrifices & Indian Hegemonic Designs. moderndiplomacy.eu Pakistan has been most affected country due to US-led war against terror. It has supported the US in combating terrorism in Afghanistan. The country paid a heavy cost in Afghan war as around 70, 000 causalities happened in the last two decades. Pakistan's contributions to Afghan peace process are highly appreciated worldwide. Pakistan has tried …
(2021-12-12). India's community health workers' struggle for recognition. zcomm.org India's ASHA and anganwadi workers are rallying under the slogan "Community health work is work!" to demand fair pay and treatment for the essential services they provide…
(2021-12-12). "Ten crises: The political economy of China's development," by Wen Tiejun. mronline.org 
Wen's vision is of a China which would be increasingly self-reliant, delinking from the American dominated global capitalism and developing its own key technologies and productive capacities, while at the same time continuing to engage with other emerging economies which share a desire to be free of Western neo-imperial control.
(2021-12-12). A Plea To Make Widespread Environmental Damage An International Crime. popularresistance.org The campaign to make ecocide an international crime took center stage in the Hague on Tuesday as Bangladesh, Samoa and Vanuatu advocated criminalizing environmental destruction during a virtual forum at the annual meeting of the International Criminal Court's 123 member nations. The forum, attended by more than 1,300 individual participants, represented a collective cry for justice from three of the world's most climate vulnerable countries. It came less than a month after they and other developing nations pressed their claims at the United Nations climate talks in Glasgow for greater resiliency and adaptation fu…
(2021-12-12). The Confused Superpower: A Year After America's Elections. moderndiplomacy.eu By virtue of its combined power capabilities, the United States continues to occupy a central place in international politics, and developments inside the country inevitably become the most important factor in world affairs. Even if we deny the significance of what is happening inside this huge "billiard ball", the transformations taking place there inevitably affect …
(2021-12-12). Protesters say 'No' to AUKUS, nuclear submarines and war with China. greenleft.org.au A national weekend of action against AUKUS was organised over December 10-12, with protests in Canberra, Perth, Sydney, Wollongong, Hobart, Brisbane and Adelaide. Kerry Smith reports.
(2021-12-11). UK High Court orders Assange extradited: A pseudo-legal travesty. wsws.org The UK High Court is greenlighting a prosecution, in open defiance of the American constitution and international law, of a journalist for exposing monstrous criminal wrongdoing by the US government and military.
(2021-12-11). The U.S. national security establishment needs a paradigm shift. Now. moderndiplomacy.eu If you can sense one trend over the past weeks is that war is in the air, both on the Ukraine and the Taiwan fronts. That brings the world to a brink of war, and it seems like the US military establishment is interested in connecting the dots. They have been waiting for this for …
(2021-12-11). The Maidan massacre in Ukraine: revelations from trials and investigations. mronline.org 
The Maidan massacre trial and investigation produced overwhelming evidence that Maidan protesters were massacred by snipers at Maidan-controlled buildings, rather than by government snipers or Berkut policemen—who were nevertheless charged with the crime.
(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). Democratic Deficits At The Summit For Democracy. popularresistance.org The so-called "Summit for Democracy" should first agree on a definition of what democracy means. Whereas etymologically we know that the definition of democracy means rule by the people, instinctively we feel that people power must be more than a slogan, that it must be concretized by genuine public participation in the conduct of public affairs. | There are, of course, many manifestations or "models" of democracy, exercised nationally as well as locally in provinces and communities. The spectrum of democratic governance goes from direct democracy by way of citizen power of initiative and the possibility to chall…
(2021-12-11). How The Grinch Stole Medicare Protest At Humana. popularresistance.org Louisville, KY – On Saturday, December 11 at 11: 00 a.m. EST, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care and others will gather outside the headquarters of Humana, 500 W. Main St., Louisville, KY 40202 where they will demand an end to Medicare Direct Contracting, a program that could fully privatize Traditional fee-for-service Medicare without a vote by Congress. | The protest with feature Steven Katz in full costume as the Grinch with the reading and performance of "How the Grinch Stole Medicare," an original poem from National Single Payer. Jill Harmer and the Single Payer Singers, Stephen Bartlett and his band, a…
(2021-12-11). "Every Option is On the Table": US Prepping for Libya-Style Intervention in Ethiopia. libya360.wordpress.com Alan MacleodADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Amid a bloody civil conflict and increasing great-power competition between the United States and China, there are a number of alarming signs that Ethiopia will become the next Libya — an African nation where the U.S. intervenes militarily under the pretext of stopping an impending genocide. A considerable military buildup…
(2021-12-11). Opaque algorithms are creating an invisible cage for platform workers. mronline.org 
We live in a world run by algorithms. Nowhere is this more apparent than with platform companies, such as Facebook, Uber, Google, Amazon, and Twitter.
(2021-12-11). People of the Sahel oppose imperialism. workers.org 
After two weeks of struggle — burning barricades, smashed windows and mirrors, Molotov cocktails, masses of people on the road, attempts to seize the trucks — the logistics convoy that the French army had organized at the port of Abidjan, Cà¥te d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), in the middle of November finally . . . |
(2021-12-11). US State Department holds talks with Sri Lankan Tamil leaders. wsws.org The TNA and the GTF are acting as quislings of US imperialism, seeking privileges for the Tamil elite.
(2021-12-11). Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand. wsws.org Indian ordnance factory workers hold national strike; Odisha state childcare workers demand higher wages; Australian plasterboard workers locked out; New Zealand rail union calls off strike.
(2021-12-11). No focus on India on UN Genocide Day. moderndiplomacy.eu Each year, on the ninth day of December, the United Nations observes the UN Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims and Crimes of Genocide. The day is also remembered as anniversary of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the "Genocide Convention). As usual, the Day came and passed …
(2021-12-11). New Zealand warehouse strikers win raises to cover inflation. themilitant.com AUCKLAND, New Zealand — "All we are asking for is enough to pay our bills and feed our kids," Tetini Rangi told the Militant as he picketed outside Countdown's distribution center in Mangere Nov. 25. "The prices for rent, food, power, everything has gone up." | Over 700 First Union members rejected a company offer of a 3% pay raise. They struck for three days, stopping production at two warehouses here, asking for 4.9% in line with the rise in the government's consumer price index. | Jaskaran Singh explained his rent had gone up 50 New Zealand dollars ($34) per week from last year, but "the company pay offe…
(2021-12-11). No compassion, no release in California prisons. workers.org 
Oakland, Calif. Dec. 5 — The California prison system continues to outdo itself in reckless and inhumane treatment of incarcerated people. COVID rates are spiking again in the state's prisons, due to continued policies of mass incarceration. A recent court decision has severely gutted the state's medical parole process. Now . . . |
(2021-12-11). Rank-and-file democracy wins in the UAW. workers.org 
From Oct. 19 through Nov. 29, working and retired members of the United Auto Workers participated in a referendum vote on how they would elect their union's International Executive Board officers. The two choices were whether to continue the current delegate voting system, where the IEB is chosen by delegates . . . |
(2021-12-11). Baseball players union blasts owners for lockout. workers.org 
At midnight Dec. 2, immediately after the contract between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association expired, team owners locked out all members of the MLBPA. The union issued the following statement on Twitter 20 minutes after the lockout was imposed. In two days the statement received . . . |
(2021-12-11). From grassroots to lawmaker: a glimpse of China's 'whole-process democracy'. mronline.org 
The notion of Chinese democracy is not the same as that in the West. The political system in China is more about consensus building within a greater voice rather than the protracted bargaining to arrive at decisions common in the West.
(2021-12-11). New variant, same problem: Joint U.S.-China solidarity book tackles COVID. workers.org 
The continuing U.S. COVID crisis was predicted in a book published a year ago. "Capitalism on a Ventilator," a unique anthology by 50 progressive commentators — written even before the vaccines were rolled out — explained why the much anticipated vaccines alone could not solve the soaring COVID death rate . . . |
(2021-12-11). Marxism and STS: From Marx and Engels to COVID-19 and COP26. mronline.org 
At the recent conference of the Society for the Social Study of Science, I came to the conclusion that the history of Marxism in relation to science and technology studies is an increasingly forgotten story.
(2021-12-11). Systems thinking in COVID-19 recovery is urgently needed to deliver sustainable development for women and girls. mronline.org 
Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the gendered aspect of pandemics; however, addressing the gendered implications of the COVID-19 pandemic comprehensively and effectively requires a planetary health perspective that embraces systems thinking to inequalities.
(2021-12-11). [Comment] Offline: The origin story. thelancet.com The relationship between humans and animals is deep and ancient. The spread of our Early Bronze Age (3300—2500 BCE) ancestors from central Eurasia westwards into Europe and eastwards towards Mongolia depended on the domestication of horses, sheep, goats, and cattle. Migration is a defining characteristic of who we are as a species. But the extent of our migration has long been entwined with the fate of animals. These relationships are only growing more complex over time. One aspect of our association with animals has recently provoked a controversy of momentous geopolitical importance—the origin of SA…
(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). 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). Steel scaffolders strike continues in UK over wages, scabs, safety. themilitant.com SCUNTHORPE, England — "We're staying out for a result," striker Dave Birchall told the Militant on the picket line outside the massive British Steel plant here. Sixty scaffolders organized by the Unite union are now into their third month of strike action. | Sharon Graham, Unite union general secretary, joined the pickets Dec. 1. They're demanding contractor Actavo pay them the national rate for their job of 17 pounds an hour ($22.50), as opposed to their current wages of some 2 pounds less. | In a picket line interview with the BBC, Graham said, "British Steel is blaming Actavo. Actavo is blaming British S…
(2021-12-11). Libyan Popular National Movement: Statement on Developments in the Electoral Process. libya360.wordpress.com The Libyan National Movement Party followed the course of the electoral process in all its scheduled stages, marred by unjustified confusion and deliberate delay, as everyone groaned under the weight of direct and indirect interference from internal and external parties, represented by the illegal presence of foreign ambassadors who through media and frequent visits to…
(2021-12-11). Protesting BlackRock's support for Adani. greenleft.org.au A protest called on United States multinational investment management corporation BlackRock not to fund Adani. Coral Wynter reports.
(2021-12-11). Kellogg strikers vote No! Say 'End two-tier wages'. themilitant.com MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Kellogg's workers on strike at the company's four cereal plants across the country overwhelmingly rejected the bosses' latest contract offer in a vote Dec. 5. The key issue is the company's demand to expand the number of "transitional" workers on its divisive two-tier wage and benefits system. | "The members have spoken. The strike continues," Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union President Anthony Shelton told the press. "Solidarity is critical to this fight." The company responded with threats. "The prolonged work stoppage has left us no choice but t…
(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). The US is at a Loss in Central America. libya360.wordpress.com Stephen Sefton In November 2008, while ambassador to Nicaragua, death-squad manager nonpareil John Negroponte's long time torture and terror campaign sidekick, Robert Callahan, remarked to a reporter in Managua, "US foreign policy toward Latin America has not changed in 50 years and is unlikely to do so under President Obama". Just months later, the June…
(2021-12-11). Insect and Hydroponic Farming Could Boost Food Security and the Circular Economy. moderndiplomacy.eu Insect and hydroponic crop farming, for both human food and animal feed, have the potential to increase access to nutritious food, while creating millions of jobs, improving the climate and the environment, and strengthening national economies, according to a new World Bank report 'Insect and Hydroponic Farming in Africa: The New Circular Food Economy'. "The …
(2021-12-11). January 6 committee releases documents detailing Trump's plot to overthrow election by declaring bogus "National Emergency" wsws.org Prior to his public declaration to cease complying with the committee investigating the January 6 attack, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows turned over the 36-slide coup presentation to Congress.
(2021-12-11). School strikers protest NAB's support for fossil fuel corporations. greenleft.org.au School students protested outside National Australia Bank headquarters calling on it to stop funding fossil fuels. Coral Wynter reports.
(2021-12-11). [World Report] What next for the Philippines' war on drugs? thelancet.com With President Duterte's term in office ending, an investigation by the International Criminal Court into the killing of drug users has been suspended. Talha Burki reports.
(2021-12-11). Managua — Beijing: The New Route. libya360.wordpress.com Fabrizio Casari Taking the international community by surprise, Nicaragua has decided to re-establish diplomatic relations with China at the highest level and, consequently, break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which have always been commercial, never political. It is no coincidence that Taiwan has never gone out of its way to show support for Managua internationally…
(2021-12-11). Nicaragua-China: The New Silk Road in Central and Latin America. libya360.wordpress.com Fabrizio Verde "Today is a historic day. The re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China fully corresponds to the will and fundamental interests of the Nicaraguan people". Nicaragua recognizes the one-China principle and acknowledges that the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government that represents all of…