2022-02-20: News Headlines

Editor2 (2022-02-20). Venezuela Pulls Plug on Lie that Alex Saab is DEA "Informer" orinocotribune.com Venezuela has pulled the plug on a false claim which circulated Wednesday that diplomat Alex Saab is working as an "informer" or "collaborator" of the United States and specifically of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). | President of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez When asked by a reporter following a press conference, Rodríguez called it strange that the United S…

Staff (2022-02-20). Venezuela Offers Brazil Assistance for Petrópolis Disaster. orinocotribune.com On Friday, February 18, the government of Venezuela expressed solidarity with Brazil for the catastrophe caused by torrential rains in the city of Petrópolis (southeast), in which 138 people have been reported dead so far. | The Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that the Venezuelan government is ready to collaborate with the Brazilian authorities in whatever way possible in order to help the people affected by the disaster. | El Presidente Nicolás Maduro Moros, en nombre del Gobierno de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela manifiesta su absoluta solidaridad con el hermano pueblo del Brasil (1/4)…

Chris Hedges (2022-02-19). Hedges: Democrats, the More Effective Evil. orinocotribune.com By Chris Hedges — Feb 14, 2022 | The US is a de facto one-party state where the ideology of national security is sacrosanct, unsustainable debt props up the empire and the primary business is war. | When all else fails, when you are clueless about how to halt a 7.5% inflation rate, when your Build Back Better bill is gutted, when you renege on your promise to raise the minimum wage or forgive student debt, when you can't halt the Republican suppression of voting rights, when you have no idea how to handle the pandemic which has claimed 900,000 lives — 16% of the world's total deaths although we are les…

WSWS (2022-02-19). Biden threats over Ukraine roil markets. wsws.org There have been warnings of a "perfect storm" that could hit, resulting from a combination of rising geo-political conflicts and increased interest rates.

In Defense of Liberation! (2022-02-19). Morning Commute: 2-19-2022 #NoWarWithRussia #NoWarWithChina. anchor.fm In this episode I discuss the ongoing Geo political situation between the US, United Nations, European Union, NATO, Russia, China, and other nations across the world. I discuss the historical development of and my definition of imperialism as well as its connection to capitalism and its natural development from capitalism. We have to illuminate the ruling class structure and oppressive organizations which hold the working and exploited people down. We need power in the hands of the oppressed masses, long live the revolution!

WSWS (2022-02-19). Germany increases military spending for war against Russia. wsws.org Germany is playing an increasingly provocative‚ÄÜrole in NATO's aggression against Russia which poses ever more clearly the threat of a third world war.

WSWS (2022-02-19). Biden administration and Republicans use war crisis to push phony "national unity" wsws.org The foreign policy aim is to accomplish American imperialism's decades-long goal of subjugating Russia. The domestic aim is to protect corporate profits and suppress social opposition amid the country's political crisis.

Staff (2022-02-19). British MP has Russia & China warning. rt.com The remarks come as Moscow and Beijing emphasize their deepening ties amid an impasse in eastern Europe | If the US and its partners in Europe hit Moscow with crippling embargoes, Russia could seek more economic and political cooperation with Beijing and form a pact with China against the West, a leading British lawmaker has warned. | Speaking to Sky News from Kiev on Thursday, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood set out his view on the standoff between the two eastern European nations and what impact punitive measures could have in the event of a Russian incursion. | "Any sanctions that are imposed onto Russia, th…

Staff (2022-02-19). Russians have hacked American military-industrial complex — US. rt.com The purported cyber attacks are said to date back at least two years | Russian government-backed hackers have been stealing "sensitive" information from American weapons companies for several years, a recent announcement by US security agencies has claimed. | The FBI, National Security Agency, and US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a report on Wednesday alleging that since at least January 2020, the hackers have been collecting information that is unclassified but contains "significant insight into US weapons platforms development and deployment timelines." | The attacks appare…

G. Dunkel (2022-02-19). Haitian workers demand: 'Triple the minimum wage!'. workers.org Haiti faces a crisis of government legitimacy. The only elected officials in the country at any level whose terms have not expired are 10 senators. The date for the expiration of the term of Haiti's President Jovenel MoàØse would have been Feb. 7, 2022 — before he died by assassination . . . |

Staff (2022-02-19). Over 1000 people already support #Palestine2022 campaign in France. samidoun.net In just a few weeks after its launch, the #Palestine2022 campaign, highlighting Palestine in the French presidential elections, has already received the support of more than 1000 people for its demands and its objectives. The campaign aims to denounce the collaboration of French governments with Israeli apartheid and introduce the subject of the Palestinian cause …

Abdul Rahman (2022-02-19). European Union prefers corporate profits over the health of people across the world. peoplesdispatch.org By showing reluctance on the patent waiver on COVID-19-related products even after the majority of its population is vaccinated, the EU leadership has once again taken the side of Big Pharma and perpetuated vaccine apartheid…

_____ (2022-02-19). Brown University Faculty Reject Push For Koch-Funded Scholarship. popularresistance.org More than 60% of Brown University faculty members voted Tuesday to postpone a vote on the creation of a new academic center until next month, giving professors more time to assess whether administrators have adequately strengthened the institution's gift policy to ensure that wealthy right-wing donors are not bankrolling science-denying, corporate-friendly research. | The proposed Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) would absorb and expand programs from the Political Theory Project (PTP), which has received funding from the Koch Foundation led by fossil fuel billionaire and GOP mega-donor Charles…

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2022-02-19). Colombia Wants Only 'Wealthy and Educated' Venezuelan Migrants. orinocotribune.com The Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, has complained about the "less wealthy and unskilled" Venezuelans who stay in Colombia as migrants. That group of vulnerable Venezuelans is at the center of the smear campaign and hybrid war against Venezuela, led by the US with its regional allied governments. | The Colombian vice president made the classist comment against migrants who are in a vulnerable economic situation or who do not have a considerably "high" academic level, during the regular session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of States Americans (OAS) this week. | "Colombia has not be…

Joel Richards (2022-02-19). China-Argentina mark 50 years of diplomatic relations. america.cgtn.com 2022 has been declared the "Year of Friendly Cooperation" between China and Argentina as the two countries celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations. The anniversary comes as the two nations are expanding economic ties, formalized during the recent presidential meeting between Alberto Fernandez and Xi Jinping in China. CGTN's Joel Richards reports.

Binoy Kampmark (2022-02-19). Tapping Fortress Australia: Priti Patel's Border Force Review. dissidentvoice.org When in opposition, Alexander Downer, destined to become Australia's longest serving foreign minister in the conservative government of John Howard, was easy to savage. The Australian Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating was particularly keen to skewer an establishment individual prone to donning fishnet stockings and affecting a plummy disposition. Never, he suggested, had there been …

Hadley Willow (2022-02-19). Education workers fight for justice. workers.org Education workers are adding to a recent surge of worker organizing across the country and around the world, a surge that is energizing the solidarity of the working class. This surge is reminding the capitalists that they are dependent on the labor of workers and that decent wages and safe . . . |

Peoples Health Dispatch (2022-02-19). Health workers in Slovenia go on strike. peoplesdispatch.org Health workers and members of trade unions in the health and care sector in Slovenia, including the Trade Union of Health and Social Security and the Nurses' Trade Union — Florence, organized a one-day strike on February 16. Physiotherapists, nurses, pharmacists, and auxiliary workers in publicly-owned health institutions all over the countries stopped their work as the government has betrayed its 2018 pledge to engage in negotiations for enhancing workers' rights in healthcare. | While several ministers, including those of health and labor, denied the unions' allegations and insisted that the government had…

Labor Video Project (2022-02-19). Oakland ILWU. OEA, Students & Community Rally To Stop Privatization & Union Busting. indybay.org Hundreds of ILWU Longshoreman, OEA teachers, students, labor and community activists rallied against the privatization of the Port Of Oakland Howard Terminal to the GAP A's billionaire owner John Fisher for a stadium and 3,000 condos and also against the closure of public schools in Oakland.

Lucho Ramirez (2022-02-19). Eco-Justice, People Power, Documentary Premiere- "We Still Here" indybay.org CubaCaribe announces a special community screening of We Still Here / Nos Tenemos, the latest documentary by award winning filmmaker by Eli Jacobs-Fatauzzi in collaboration with Defend Puerto Rico, FistUpTV and Clenched Fist Productions. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Bay Area filmmakers Eli and Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi along with a dynamic live music and dance performance by Aguacero.

WSWS (2022-02-19). Crisis-wracked Australian government ramps up war drumbeating. wsws.org This fortnight's dysfunctional parliamentary session saw Prime Minister Scott Morrison virtually accuse Labor Party leaders of being treasonous agents of China.

_____ (2022-02-19). Island States Meet To Discuss Suing Global North Over Climate Change. popularresistance.org Leaders of small island nations met on Tuesday to discuss suing countries in the Global North for the damage caused by emissions. | This week's discussion, convened by the Commonwealth Foundation, was the first major meeting of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, a body formed to help small island developing states (SIDS) bring legal action against major carbon-emitting countries. | The commission, announced last year at COP26 by Antigua and Barbuda with Tuvalu, has now called for as many countries as possible to join. | Kausea Natano, the prime minister of Tuvalu, said…

WSWS (2022-02-19). California's "endemic plan" sets the stage for unending COVID-19 infections and deaths. wsws.org The propaganda campaign is driven not by science, but by the demands of the corporations and financial elite. The aim is to fabricate a narrative that COVID-19 is harmless in order to maximize profits under the guise of a "return to normalcy."

Lutfi Camli (2022-02-19). Turkish health workers intensify protests amid soaring inflation and poor working conditions. peoplesdispatch.org The Turkish Medical Association (TMA) and other health workers' organizations organized country-wide industrial actions on February 8. This is part of a wave of workers' uprisings against rising living expenses and soaring inflation…

Alan MacLeod (2022-02-19). 1 in 3 Big Defense Contractors Profit from US Prisoner Suffering. orinocotribune.com By Alan MacLeod — Feb 14, 2022 | There exists a situation whereby prisoners earning pennies per hour are making multimillion-dollar weapons fired by individuals being paid barely $20,000 per year at civilians who might not make that much in their lifetimes. | America's largest arms companies are increasingly finding lucrative new ways of profiting from the

_____ (2022-02-19). National Day Of Strikes And Protests In Puerto Rico. popularresistance.org Teachers and government workers carried out a national day of strikes and protests in Puerto Rico Friday. There were marches and rallies across the US territory. A mass demonstration took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital city. The marchers demanded just wages and pensions and an end to the privatization of schools and government services. Despite a morning attempt by San Juan police to block a section of marchers, the protests were peaceful and high-spirited. | In San Juan, in the early morning hours demonstrators began congregating in the Hiram Bithorn baseball stadium before marching toward the headquar…

WSWS (2022-02-19). Strikes, protests engulf Haitian capital as workers demand higher wages, better conditions. wsws.org The strikes are an indication of growing working class opposition to the regime headed by Prime Minister Henry and backed by US corporations.

_____ (2022-02-19). City Denies Controversial Metal Scrapper Southside Recycling's Permit. popularresistance.org East Side, Chicago — The city's health department Friday rejected the final permit needed for a controversial metal scrapper to open on the Southeast Side, a victory for local activists who spent years organizing to block the industrial facility's move from the North Side. | Southside Recycling, owned by Reserve Management Group, will not be permitted to move troubled scrapper General Iron's assets and employees to 11600 S. Burley Ave. in East Side. | Reserve Management Group spent $80 million in anticipation of a permit for the facility at the Burley Avenue campus, where the Ohio-based firm operates four o…

Party for Socialism & Liberation (2022-02-19). Sunday 2/20: Red Books Day. indybay.org Bobby Hutton Park…

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