13 April 2021 — Global Justice in the 21st Century
by Richard Falk
Ramsey Clark was a great man, and it was my privilege to work with him closely on several occasions. His death is a time to mourn, but it is also a time to remember who he was and why his life mattered in profound ways to so many people.
13 April 2021 — MRZine
by Richard Smith, Simon Pirani, and Eds.
In the Notes from the Editors to the March 2021 issue of Monthly Review, the MR editors questioned some of the arguments in Richard Smith’s book, China’s Engine of Environmental Collapse, as well as replied to Simon Pirani’s related criticisms (writing under his pseudonym of Gabriel Levy) of MR editor John Bellamy Foster on China and the environment. Both Smith and Pirani have written replies to our March editorial, which we are publishing here, along with our own rejoinder.
12 April 2021 — Moon of Alabama
Today CNN continued its long stint of publishing anti-Russian propaganda. But this video ‘report’ falls on several levels.
12 April 2021 — Craig Murray
Discrimination against people on the grounds of their health status is not acceptable, while the ever increasing reach of the surveillance state is pernicious. The idea of people without Covid-19 antibodies being treated as second class citizens should be anathema to anybody with concern for human liberty.
12 April 2021 — Covert Action Magazine
by Ron Ridenour
Millionaire conservative Guillermo Lasso, former banker and Coca Cola director, won the run-off election over socialist candidate Andrés Arauz, 52.5% to 47.5%. Arauz had led the pack of 16 presidential candidates during the first round, on February 7th, with 32.7% of the vote over Lasso’s 19.74%. Arauz was Union […]
12 April 2021 — Origin: New Eastern Outlook
Author: Vladimir Odintsov
The US government, with the UK hot on its heels, has long viewed the Middle East as a region where the presence of its army is indispensable not only because there are energy resources there, but due to the opportunity to control vast territories under the guise of “spreading democracy”. Therefore, American and British private military companies (PMCs) have been very actively involved in armed conflicts in the Middle East over recent decades, occupying an equal footing with the conventional armies deployed by their respective countries. The activity of PMCs particularly increased after the start of the “war on terror” declared by the West in 2001, when countries began to offer billions of dollars in contracts for PMCs around the world. The large Western PMCs founded during these years began to play a key role in fulfilling the tasks traditionally assigned to national armed forces. Moreover, according to findings from American experts, these military corporations will play an increasingly important role in local armed conflicts and wars in the future.
12 April 2021 — Global Research TV
By Ramsey Clark
William Ramsey Clark – December 18, 1927 – April 9, 2021
First published by GR in September 2013.
Abby Martin speaks with former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, discussing Iraq before the first Gulf War, his opinions on Syria, why he legally represented Saddam Hussein, and how US sanctions have a far greater negative effect on people than on the regimes of the countries these sanctions target.
(more…)
11 April 2021 — Indian Punchline
Turkey is a pillar of NATO mission to Afghanistan (File photo)The zeal with which Washington is soliciting Turkey’s services to plot the pathway leading to the mainstreaming of Taliban in Afghanistan raises some troubling questions. Acting on Washington’s request, Turkey will be hosting high-level talks on the Afghanistan peace process (likely April 16) to bring together the Afghan government and the Taliban. Turkey has appointed a special envoy to assume the mediation role.
11 April 2021 — Caitlin Johnson
“Concerns mount that US withdrawal from Afghanistan could risk progress on women’s rights,” blares a new headline from CNN.
“Concerns are mounting from bipartisan US lawmakers and Afghan women’s rights activists that the hard-won gains for women and civil society in Afghanistan could be lost if the United States makes a precipitous withdrawal from the country,” CNN tells us.
7 April 2021 — Origin: New Eastern Outlook
It has long been noticed that the candidates appointed as US and UK diplomatic ambassadors all have impressive experience of military or intelligence service, which in a way shows that the tasks these countries assign to their foreign representative offices are rather of military and strategic nature, than simply a diplomatic mission.
10 April 2021 — theplanningmotivedotcom
Just a few years ago, at the height of globalisation, International Trade Treaties that were being negotiated included laws binding on participating countries with enforcement devolved to offshore havens. Failure to comply would entail facing unavoidable financial penalties set offshore. This was the ultimate goal of neo-liberalism, to strip national governments of their tax and legal powers rendering them supplicants to the multi-nationals and international finance.
Brian Green, 9 April 2021.
10 April 10, 2021 — Indian Punchline
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones prepares to pull alongside aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (File photo)
The guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones sailing past Lakshadweep Islands April 7 has thrown India’s Sinophobes into confusion. One leading daily noted it as a “rare falling out between the two partners in the Quad grouping.” An anti-China analyst tweeted that it’s just a “botched PR exercise” on the part of Americans.
9 April 2021 — Mint Press News
For a self-proclaimed citizen journalism outfit, an alarming number of Bellingcat’s staff and contributors come from highly suspect backgrounds, including high-level positions in military and intelligence agencies.
9 April 2021 — Moon of Alabama
Yesterday CNN said that the US is considering sending warships to the Black Sea amid Russia-Ukraine tensions. That the U.S. is ‘considering’ this is however disinformation:
(more…)
9 April 2021 — Sustainable Pulse
Editors’ picks
8 April 2021 — Internationalist 360°
Ajamu Baraka, the former Green Party vice presidential candidate and current national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace – a member of the Black is Back Coalition — says Europe must be “de-centered” from discussions of fascism. African people need to “reject the assumption that fascism was something new and unique to Europe in the early 20th century,” said Baraka. In fact, “the fascism that emerged in Europe did not break from the totalitarian logic and practice of European colonialism. Practices that were applied in the colonies” were now “applied in Europe.”
9 April 2021 — Statewatch
(Also available as a PDF)
We recently launched an updated and improved Observatory on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, providing a focal point for documentation and analysis on the role and activities of the agency.
9 April 2021 — Uneven Earth
On ecological imaginaries, post-pandemic futures, and the long shadow of colonial science
Once a month, we put together a list of stories we’ve been reading: news you might’ve missed or crucial conversations going on around the web. We focus on environmental justice, radical municipalism, new politics, political theory, and resources for action and education.
(more…)
7 April 2021 — The Grayzone
White Helmets founder James Le Mesurier falling to his death from the top floor of his Istanbul home in uncertain circumstances in November 2019 created a myriad of extremely serious problems for a great many powerful people.
The New Dark Age 