2022-02-26: News Headlines

JANET (2022-02-26). Berlin antiwar rally exposes Washington's lies. iacenter.org By John Catalinotto February 25, 2022 Despite gale warnings, the Berlin Peace Coordination drew a thousand people to a Feb. 18 antiwar rally on the Platz des 18. Mà§rz at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, under the slogans "Stop the media warmongering and NATO aggression policy" and "Disarmament and peace with Russia." Among the participants were members of the Left Party, the German Communist Party and the Friends of Nature. Left Party representative in Bundestag, Sevim Dagdelen, at Feb. 18 antiwar rally. Friko (Peace Coordination) Left Party member of the Bundestag, Sevim Dagdelen, to the cheers of the crowd…

New Atlas (2022-02-26). US Plans to Destroy Taiwan to "Save" It. newatlas.report February 26, 2022 (Brian Berletic — NEO) — Tensions between the United States and China exist across a wide spectrum of areas, from economics to geopolitics. Among the many flashpoint issues defining this growing confrontation is the "Taiwan question." Officially, the United States recognizes what is known as the "One China Policy." The US State …

WSWS (2022-02-26). Herd immunity in Northern Ireland: "My family has been torn apart" wsws.org "The moneymen in government don't care how many families suffer, as long as profits keep rolling and the economy is booming."

Richard Horton (2022-02-26). [Comment] Offline: There is no right to lie. thelancet.com Perhaps the most curious aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the flourishing of anti-science movements, despite the demonstrable triumphs of science in producing life-saving antivirals and vaccines. Mistrust of science is spreading well beyond COVID-19. Political challenges to climate action, notably the goal of net zero emissions, are growing, especially as economic stress impoverishes millions. 5G remains a target for many science sceptics. And libertarian politicians condemn scientists as unelected threats to democratic freedoms.

Liberation Staff (2022-02-26). Union files complaint: Is Amazon trying to rig the Bessemer election AGAIN? liberationnews.org The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union released a statement announcing the filing of Unfair Labor Practice charges against Amazon alleging illegal union-busting actions by the company in the re-run union election in Bessemer, Alabama.

Labor Video Project (2022-02-26). SEIU 1021VP Dawkins Opposes Building John Fisher's A's Stadium In Port of Oakland. indybay.org SEIU 1021 VP for Organizing Brandon Dawkins spoke out about the closure of public schools in Oakland and also opposed billionaire A's over John Fisher's stadium in the Port of Oakland.

Brian Williams (2022-02-26). SWP takes truckers' fight in Canada to working class. themilitant.com Members of the Socialist Workers Party have been building on the momentum of the recently concluded successful renewal campaign to introduce the paper and the party's election campaign to workers and farmers at plant gates, strike picket lines, political events and on their doorsteps. | They're making special efforts to meet truckers to discuss the conditions they face and how working people can defend ourselves. | "Fuel prices are high, freight is low. And the shippers and receivers keep us waiting for 13, 14 hours and we don't get paid. I'm for the Canadian truckers," Chris Weber told Eleanor García, SWP candid…

Editor (2022-02-26). Hedges: Assange Affirms the Existence of Another Kind of Human Nature. scheerpost.com Original illustration by Mr. Fish | By Chris Hedges / A Statement made at the We know what Julian did. We know the great public service he provided. We know that he and WikiLeaks, aided by courageous figures such as Chelsea Manning, gave us the most important journalist coup of our generation, ripping back the veil erected by the ruling political, military, and financial elites to expose their mendacity, their corruption, and their crimes. We know that populations around the world, from Haiti to Tunisia, w…

teleSUR (2022-02-26). Argentina Expects Agreement With IMF in the Near Future. telesurenglish.net The divergent points between the Casa Rosada and the international organization lie in the way to reduce the fiscal deficit, with the objective of reducing the 2.5 percent of GDP set for 2022 to 0.9 percent in 2024. | As IMF staff and Argentina advance on talks for a new agreement, the lender's board is closely following whether the country meets four key criteria that would allow it to receive a large loan. Feb. 26, 2022.

Nicholas J White, Nicholas P J Day, Elizabeth A Ashley, Frank M Smithuis, Francois H Nosten (2022-02-26). [Correspondence] Have we really failed to roll back malaria? thelancet.com The World Malaria Report (WMR) 2021 estimates that there were 241 million (95% CI 218—269) malaria cases in the world in 2020, which is the same number as in 2000 (241 [226—260] million).1 Has the global burden of malaria really not changed over 20 years, after spending more than US$30 billion on malaria control activities, and after distributing more than 2 ∑5 billion insecticide-treated bednets, 3 billion rapid diagnostic tests, and 3 ∑5 billion artemisinin combination treatments?

sputniknews (2022-02-26). Russian Space Agency Suspends Cooperation With Europe on Launches in Kourou Spaceport. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian space agency Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with Europe on launches from the Kourou cosmodrome and is recalling its employees from French Guiana in response to sanctions imposed by the European Union, the head of the agency, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Saturday.

WSWS (2022-02-26). Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand. wsws.org India: Tamil Nadu state transport workers demonstrate over working conditions; Punjab fire fighters workers protest sackings; Pakistan: Quetta municipal workers demand unpaid wages; West Australian Newspaper print workers still locked out; CHEP pallet workers continue strikes in New Zealand…

Partido por el Socialismo y la Liberación (2022-02-26). Declaración del PSL sobre la intervención militar de Rusia en Ucrania. liberationnews.org La operación militar rusa en Ucrania pone de manifiesto que el mundo ha llegado a una peligrosa bifurcación.

WSWS (2022-02-26). Chinese translation of "2022: Year Three of the pandemic and the emerging global class struggle" wsws.org The perspective outlines a socialist and internationalist perspective for the global working class and is of immense relevance to workers and young people in China, as well as the millions around the world who also read Mandarin.

Roy Landersen (2022-02-26). Defend the independence of Ukraine! Moscow out now! themilitant.com Russian President Vladimir Putin Feb. 21 declared that the Moscow-backed "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk set up in Ukraine in 2014 were independent countries and ordered Russian troops to go in as "peacekeepers." The Kremlin's invasion is backed by the largest military mobilization on the European continent since World War II. | "The Socialist Workers Party demands Moscow pull its tanks and troops out of Ukraine and respect the sovereignty of Ukraine," Joanne Kuniansky, Socialist Workers Party leader and candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey, told the press the next day. "Sin…

Steve Penner (2022-02-26). Protest Canadian rulers' Emergencies Act attack on workers' protests, rights! themilitant.com MONTREAL — "The sweeping police operation carried out under the anti-working-class Emergencies Act against the three-week protest in Ottawa, Canada's capital, by truckers and others opposed to vaccine mandates is an assault on the political rights of all working people," said Philippe Tessier, Communist League candidate in a Quebec provincial by-election in the riding of Marie-Victorin. "It is one of the largest acts of police repression in modern Canadian history and should be opposed by all unions and supporters of democratic rights. | "As of today — Feb. 22 — even though the cops have shut do…

Chris Hedges (2022-02-25). Chris Hedges: Russia, Ukraine and the Chronicle of a War Foretold. mintpressnews.com After the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a near-universal understanding among political leaders that NATO expansion would be a foolish provocation against Russia. How naive we were to think the military-industrial complex would allow such sanity to prevail.

_____ (2022-02-25). Chronicle Of A War Foretold. popularresistance.org I was in Eastern Europe in 1989, reporting on the revolutions that overthrew the ossified communist dictatorships that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a time of hope. NATO, with the breakup of the Soviet empire, became obsolete. President Mikhail Gorbachev reached out to Washington and Europe to build a new security pact that would include Russia. Secretary of State James Baker in the Reagan administration, along with the West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, assured the Soviet leader that if Germany was unified NATO would not be extended beyond the new borders. The commitment not t…

WSWS (2022-02-25). EU imposes sanctions on Russia as NATO escalates troop deployments. wsws.org The NATO powers are intensifying economic and military pressure on Russia, risking escalation of the conflict into a global war between the major nuclear powers.

Steve Topple (2022-02-25). Keir Starmer's latest authoritarian crackdown is dire timing. thecanary.co Keir Starmer has shut down 11 MPs who signed a Stop the War Coalition (STWC) statement on Ukraine. It's divided opinion and caused controversy. Now, he's also taken action against Young Labour, too. And his timing with all of this couldn't have been worse. | The STWC statement: | PA reported that STWC issued the statement earlier in February on Ukraine. The group accused the UK government of "aggressive posturing". It also said that NATO "should call a halt to its eastward expansion". The Labour MPs who signed the statement were: | Diane Abbott. | John McDonnell. | Richard Burgon. | Ian Lavery. | Beth Win…

_____ (2022-02-25). The Government Just Admitted An Inconvenient Truth. popularresistance.org Every now and then, federal officials admit some truths that are inconvenient to the corporations that own the government — and this latest admission is pretty explicit: Scrapping corporate health care and creating a government-sponsored medical system would boost the economy, help workers, and increase longevity. | Those are just some of the findings from the Republican-led Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in a new report that implicitly tells lawmakers just how the existing corporate-run health care system is immiserating millions of Americans — and how a Medicare for All-style system could quickly…

sputniknews (2022-02-25). West's Resolve to Sanction Any State With Its Own Position Endangers World Order – Russian Envoy. sputniknews.com On Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced a number of new sanctions that he said would "impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time".

sputniknews (2022-02-25). EU Should Urge US to Change Its Course Aimed at Containing Russia, Chinese Media Says. sputniknews.com On Thursday, the US imposed a string of new "severe" sanctions on the Russian economy after Moscow began a special military operation to demilitarise Ukraine following the Donbass republics' request for Russia's assistance in repelling growing attacks by Ukrainian forces.

WSWS (2022-02-25). War crisis triggers market swings. wsws.org Global economy and financial markets are being hit by "stagflationary" shock as the major powers consider whether to exclude Russia from the Swift international payments system.

_____ (2022-02-25). The American Political Process Is Disconnected From Economic Reality. popularresistance.org The growing disconnect between the capitalist system and the economic realities plaguing the United States is now nearing completion. On the ground, the accumulated problems of U.S. capitalism undermine its empire and challenge its very future. Meanwhile, the ever-deepening inequalities of wealth and income conjure up images of ancient Egypt's pharaohs. Three economic crashes opening the new century (2000, 2008, and 2020) have shaken the system; so have the two wars America lost against very poor countries in the Middle East: Afghanistan and Iraq. The worst public health crisis in a century during the COVID-19 pa…

teleSUR (2022-02-25). Ukraine Situation Pose 'Significant Economic Risks': IMF. telesurenglish.net On Friday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said this week's events in Ukraine are "a matter of grave concern," warning that the repercussions of the conflict pose "significant economic risks" in the region and around the world. | RELATED: | "This week's events in Ukraine are a matter of grave concern – first and foremost due to the human toll and suffering of ordinary p…

Sarah Schiffling, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos (2022-02-25). Five essential commodities hit by war in Ukraine. asiatimes.com The war in Ukraine is threatening further disruption to already stretched supply chains. Ukraine and Russia may only account for a small proportion of the imports of major manufacturing nations like Germany and the US, but they are essential suppliers of raw materials and energy for many crucial supply chains. Though the economic consequences of …

Mark Valencia (2022-02-25). China-Australia laser incident raises many questions. asiatimes.com Australia has accused a Chinese warship of shining a military-grade laser at an Australian Air Force Poseidon 8A (P-8A) surveillance plane on February 17 in Australia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Department of Defense condemned "the unprofessional and unsafe military conduct." Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the incident was an "act of intimidation." Defense Minister Peter Dutton …

Alicia Garcia Herrero (2022-02-25). China's economic support for Russia is not a panacea. asiatimes.com Given the delicate situation in Ukraine and the US imposition of sanctions on Russia, followed by the European Union, it seems important to assess how much Russia can rely on China as a trading partner. Although trade between the EU and Russia has lost some steam since President Vladimir Putin's "Pivot to the East" announced …

Graham Peebles (2022-02-25). The Keep Africa Poor and Dependent Project. dissidentvoice.org Exploited and abused for generations by white colonial powers and manipulative economic structures, there is a growing feeling of solidarity within parts of the African continent, as exemplified by the #NoMore movement. Covid vaccine inequality and environmental injustice, together with recent events in Ethiopia, have galvanized people. Ideas of African unity and rage against former …

sputniknews (2022-02-25). EU Sanctions Against Russia Should Be Cancelled, Head of German Party AfD Says. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Tino Chrupalla, the co-chairman of the German right-wing party AfD, has called for the lifting of all European economic sanctions against Russia, stressing that they have not had the desired effect in the past.

Kevin Mwanza (2022-02-25). Leverage: Putin And Russia Expected To Respond To Sanctions By Choking Europe's Access To Natural Gas Supplies. moguldom.com Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to respond to Western sanctions by choking Europe's access to natural gas supplies. A major supplier of oil and gas, Russia is linked to European energy markets through a series of critical pipelines. The biggest one flows through Ukraine and it became a stumbling block for both sides in …

Binoy Kampmark (2022-02-25). Antarctica: Where Realpolitik and Science Meet. dissidentvoice.org A frozen continent. Another potential frontier for conflict and competition. Antarctica is a part of the world were realpolitician meets scientist; the desire for finding exploitable resources meets environmental expectations and fears. Countries have vied for their little slice of ice, sometimes citing reasons of scientific collaboration, and often national self-interest. Much of this culminated …

teleSUR, jaa, SH (2022-02-25). Exsenadora colombiana Piedad Córdoba pide acogerse a la JEP. telesurtv.net Piedad Córdoba señaló que en su labor como activista humanitaria tuvo la posibilidad de escuchar testimonios que podrían contribuir en el Caso 001.

JANET (2022-02-25). Sat, Feb 26 @ 12pm — Stop racist union-busting! Black Lives Matter! iacenter.org On the tenth anniversary of the killing of Trayvon Martin STOP RACIST UNION-BUSTING! Black Lives Matter! Saturday, February 26 @ 12pm Barclays Center, Brooklyn NYPD arrests Amazon Union Leader Chris Smalls for delivering food NYPD HANDS OFF AMAZON LABOR UNION! REHIRE THE STARBUCKS WORKERS MEMPHIS 7! Labor leaders, union supporters and anti-racist activists will gather noon Saturday in Brooklyn to denounce the racist union-busting campaigns being organized by the bosses at Amazon and Starbucks. African-American labor leader Chris Smalls, arrested Wednesday for the crime of delivering food to Amazon workers, will b…

WSWS (2022-02-25). Major League Baseball spring training delayed as lockout continues. wsws.org The owners, who have vastly increased their revenue share as a result of the last collective bargaining agreement (CBA), intend to maintain their beneficial wealth distribution by offering small, incremental changes in a new CBA.

KS Kumar (2022-02-25). India Inc worried about Ukraine fallout. asiatimes.com Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Thursday rattled Indian industry leaders, who are now worried about the immediate and long-term fallout. While those exporting their produce to Russia are concerned about the impact of war on their trade, others are worried about the soaring crude and commodity prices and their effect on the input costs. In …

Matt Sedlar (2022-02-25). Congressional Hearing Highlights Need for IMF Policy Change to Support an Equitable Global Recovery. cepr.net On February 17, 2022, the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy held a virtual hearing titled "The Role of the International Monetary Fund in a Changing Global Landscape." The hearing addressed critical issues facing developing countries in their efforts to recover from the fallout of the COVID-19 …

David P Goldman (2022-02-25). China's SWIFT alternative may undercut US sanctions. asiatimes.com Washington's new sanctions against Russia were no match for President Biden's rhetoric, leaving out the most obvious measure that the United States might take to hurt Moscow, namely exclusion from the SWIFT international payments system. Banks conduct virtually all hard-currency transactions via SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. But a new Chinese …

WSWS (2022-02-25). Financial scandal at Black Lives Matter foundation: Who benefits from racialist politics? wsws.org While leaders of the official Black Lives Matter organization have profited from book deals and corporate sponsorships, tens of millions of dollars in revenues are unaccounted for.

Dana Sanchez (2022-02-25). Bitcoin Falls Hard In Times Of War: It's Not A Safe Haven Like Gold. moguldom.com Bitcoin, long hyped by fans as a safe haven, a hedge against inflation and an alternative to gold — saw its price plummet 8 percent within minutes after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The Bitcoin price subsequently recovered to more than $39,000 in the last 24 hours and other stocks closed higher on Thursday, …

sputniknews (2022-02-25). US Inflation Reaches 6.1% in January, Highest Single-Year Increase in 40 Years. sputniknews.com The US is experiencing levels of inflation not seen in decades, caused by many factors both internal and external. Some experts predict that inflation in the country will remain high and could even accelerate in the coming months.

New Atlas (2022-02-25). Russian Military Ops in Ukraine: Explained in 6 Minutes. newatlas.report February 25, 2022 (The New Atlas) — Is Russia really "invading" Ukraine? Or is it finally reacting to an ongoing occupation or capture of Ukraine — a nation on its own borders after 8 years of patience? The US has admittedly interfered in Ukraine's internal political affairs in violation of the UN Charter, admittedly spending …

WSWS (2022-02-25). North Carolina prison inmates initiate hunger strike against inhumane treatment and grossly inadequate pandemic response. wsws.org The strike came to light nearly two weeks ago after family members of one of the inmates contacted the non-profit law firm, North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services.

sputniknews (2022-02-25). Avocados Held Hostage by Drug Violence in Mexican State of Michoacan. sputniknews.com Although the United States Department of Agriculture resumed imports of avocados after a nearly week-long ban, Mexico's western state of Michoacan is being held hostage by violent drug traffickers who are trying to turn a profit off the beloved fruit through robbery, kidnapping and extortion.

Tobias Debiel (2022-02-25). øA las puertas de un mundo posneoliberal? globalizacion.ca Aunque hay quienes afirman que la pandemia y la crisis climática son indicios del final del neoliberalismo, otros consideran que su caja de herramientas no está vacía. Para el posneoliberalismo hace falta una nueva política y un cambio de estructuras….

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