Lavrov is on Blinken’s list of people to call

Thursday, 28 July 2022 — Indian Punchline

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov rounded off a tour of African states in a blaze of media publicity despite US hopes to “isolate” him

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press availability at the State Department on Wednesday made the dramatic announcement that he intends to speak to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov “in the coming days … for the first time since the war began” in Ukraine on February 24.

Interestingly, he gave an alibi that harks back to the Soviet era — prisoner exchange.

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Ukraine News Links 27-28 July 2022

Thursday, 28 July 2022 • 17:00 — The New Dark Age

There may be some duplication due to cross-posting and may be updated throughout the day, so please check back. If it gets updated, I usually insert the time on the line above. A lot of cross-posting usually indicates that the article is popular and some links may not work, depending on your location but I’ve kept them anyway, so at least the reader has some idea of the scale of censorship now operating in the ‘democratic’ West.

Black Sea And Three Musketeers
https://orientalreview.org/2022/07/28/black-sea-and-three-musketeers/

Lessons From Vietnam For Ukraine
https://popularresistance.org/lessons-from-vietnam-for-ukraine/

Africa Remains At The Center Of A 21st Century Cold War
https://popularresistance.org/africa-remains-at-the-center-of-a-21st-century-cold-war/

Cathartic, Dealing with Trauma, On Being Humane
https://dissidentvoice.org/2022/07/cathartic-dealing-with-trauma-on-being-humane/

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People Power in Pakistan

Thursday, 28 July 2022 — Pepe Escobar

“In Pakistan’s history, it may be the first time that people’s power has been honored by the judiciary in the face of open threats on the judges’ safety, including an attack on the chief justice. The lawless and powerful corrupt politicians did everything to derail the process of the rule of law, but justice prevailed. The U.S. government that initiated the current political crisis in Pakistan through its extremely unwise and self-destructive act of regime change in Pakistan has, hopefully, learned that it cannot impose corrupt and servile politicians on the 220 million people of Pakistan whose steady progress in the past three and a half years under the leadership of Imran Khan has been nullified by those incompetent and self-serving politicians that the U.S. installed in Pakistan. Pakistan now faces the challenge of going back to square one and re-starting its road to recovery. Congratulations to the people of Pakistan, to Pakistan’s Tehreek-e Insaaf Party (the Movement for Justice), and to the Party’s leader Imran Khan for this valiant and successful fight against foreign intervention and the powerful mafias.”

– Prof. Abdul Jabbar, longest-serving Pakistani academic in American history, professor of literature, global politics, Muslim world affairs. Based in San Francisco, California.

H/t Junaid Ahmad

All That I Ask Is That You Fight for Peace Today: The Thirtieth Newsletter (2022)

Thursday, 28 July 2022 — The Tricontinental

Fuyuko Matsui Japan Becoming Friends With All the Children of the World 2004Fuyuko Matsui (Japan), Becoming Friends with All the Children of the World, 2004.

Dear friends,

Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

The fragility of Europe’s energy supply has once again been on display in recent months. Gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany, were reduced to 40% of capacity in June, a cut that Moscow said was due to delays in the servicing of a turbine by the German firm Siemens. Shortly thereafter, on 11 July, the pipeline was taken offline for ten days for annual routine maintenance. Despite receiving assurances from Moscow that the supply would resume as scheduled, European leaders expressed feared that the shutdown would continue indefinitely in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. On 21 July, the flow of Russian gas into Europe resumed. Klaus Müller, the head Germany’s energy regulator, said that gas flows through Nord Stream 1 were below pre-maintenance levels during the first few hours of resumption, though they have now returned to 40% capacity.

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Black Agenda Report 27 July 2022

Tuesday, 27 July 2022 — — Black Agenda Report

Glen Ford’s Irreplaceable Journalism
Margaret Kimberley
I was very proud to write the preface to Glen Ford’s book, The Black Agenda, which was published posthumously by OR Books. As we approach the first anniversary of Glen’s passing, I endeavored to explain why his journalism was truly irreplaceable.

The Lies of Empire: Don’t Believe a Word They Say
Glen Ford
The U.S. reprises Iraq, inventing a WMD threat from Syria. The FBI concocts home-grown terror through stings, while the NSA claims it has secretly saved many lives. “Why this steady stream of government-invented terror, if the real thing is so abundant?” And, isn’t the U.S. arming and funding the same jihadists they are supposed to be listening for on our telephones?

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Serbian Leader Aleksandr Vučić Pushes for European Union Accession Despite Opposition Among Majority of Serbs

Wednesday, 27 July 2022 — CovertAction Magazine

By Ronald Thomas West

An anti-EU and anti-Nato mural in Belgrade, Serbia.A mural opposing NATO and the EU in Belgrade, Serbia. [Source: theguardian.com]

Serbia is one of the key battleground countries in the New Cold War that is being cajoled into the Western orbit.

During the 1990s, the Clinton administration orchestated a regime change in Serbia targeting the socialist Slobodan Milošević, first by bombing and military attack, and then by sponsoring a “color revolution” and having Milošević arrested and put up for a “show trial” at the Hague.

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The US is ‘close to getting its hands on Julian Assange. An interview with John Pilger

Tuesday, 26 July 2022 — John Pilger

In an interview with Oscar Grenfell of the World Socialist Website, John Pilger explains the latest manoeuvres by the US and UK authorities to extradite Julian Assange, journalist and publisher, to the US where he faces 175 years in prison for the crime of journalism.

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