Daily Archives: June 6, 2020

2020-06-06: News Headlines

Joe Emersberger (2020-06-06). When did Venezuela's Economic Crisis begin? zcomm.org The starting point for Venezuela's current depression has been the subject of some debate. It can get a bit technical, so I'll weigh in on it here. Looking at Real GDP Inflation adjusted (i.e. real) Gross Domestic Product (GDP ) is essentially a country's aggregate income. I say "essentially" because there is an adjustment that

Staff (2020-06-06). Climate Crisis: Black Lives Matter, Looting Puerto Rico, And California's Environmental Racism. therealnews.com This week the climate justice movement says Black Lives Matter, disaster capitalists are still looting Puerto Rico, and California is neglecting to fix the environmental racism of its oil infrastructure.

Kaitlin Curtice, Esther Choo (2020-06-06). [Perspectives] Indigenous populations: left behind in the COVID-19 response. thelancet.com Scholar Annie Belcourt described Native American populations in the USA as having lives that are "challenging and short". Globally, across countries and populations, Indigenous peoples face a greater burden of disease than non-Indigenous peoples, including cardiovascular disease and HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, and have higher infant and maternal mortality and lower life expectancy. Their health is impacted by epigenetic stressors of generational oppression and violence, including disproportionate numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women, lower educational attainment, and persistent poverty.

Healthier Societies for Healthy Populations Group (2020-06-06). [Comment] Healthier societies for healthy populations. thelancet.com The COVID-19 pandemic makes the importance of health and wellbeing clear. The pandemic's implications for societies are far reaching. Yet the response to this pandemic and the creation and promotion of health and wellbeing require action beyond the health sector—and beyond the usual ways of working in global health. Governments are not adequately tackling inequality, ongoing economic crises, or continuing environmental damage, which undermines the health of current and future generations. For example, tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diets, air pollution, and insufficient physical exercise contribute to m…

Joht Singh Chandan, Deepiksana Keerthy, Dawit Tefra Zemedikun, Kelvin Okoth, Krishna Margadhamane Gokhale, Karim Raza, Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, Julie Taylor, Krishnarajah Nirantharakumar (2020-06-06). The association between exposure to childhood maltreatment and the subsequent development of functional somatic and visceral pain syndromes. thelancet.com Background: Childhood maltreatment is a global public health issue linked to a vast mortality and morbidity burden. This study builds on current literature to explore the risk of developing central sensitivity syndromes (CSS) (consisting of somatic and visceral pain syndromes) subsequent to childhood maltreatment exposure.Methods: A retrospective population based open cohort study using the UK primary care database, 'The Health Improvement Network,' between 1st January 1995-31st December 2018. 80,657 adult patients who had experienced childhood maltreatment or maltreatment related concerns (exposed patients) were…

W. T. Whitney Jr. (2020-06-05). New U.S. military intervention subverts peace in Colombia and Venezuela. peoplesworld.org The United States Embassy in Bogotá announced on May 28 that the U.S. is sending 50 or so soldiers of the Army's 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) to Colombia. They would be carrying out consultations with Colombian Army commanders and providing them with technical assistance, both in order to fight narco-trafficking. The collaboration will …

Vijay Prashad (2020-06-05). Goliath is not invincible. mronline.org Last year, I walked with Mariela Machado in her housing complex known as Kaikachi in the neighbourhood of La Vega (Caracas, Venezuela). After Hugo Chávez was inaugurated president in 1999, a group of working-class residents of the city saw an empty piece of land and occupied it. Mariela and others went to the government and …

Manar Alkuzweny, Anita Raj, Sanjay Mehta (2020-06-05). [Letter] Preparing for a COVID-19 surge. thelancet.com As of May 12, 2020, over 4.2 million cases of COVID-19 across 187 countries have been reported, of which 1.3 million have occurred in the United States (US) alone [1]. Although many infected individuals will have mild symptoms, older patients are disproportionately more likely to progress to severe disease (US adults aged 65—84 are hospitalized at a rate of 31—59%, and infected adults over 85 at a rate of 31—70%) [2]. As hospital capacity and the population density of older adults vary considerably across the country and worldwide, understanding which regions will face disproportionate burden fr…

Zoe PC (2020-06-05). How do you resist a hybrid war amid a pandemic? peoplesdispatch.org The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked a series of unexpected challenges in countries across the world. However amid the uncertainty, crisis and tragedy, we have seen traces of a more humane society based in solidarity. In several countries, States have committed to paying the salaries of workers that lost their jobs, some have implemented a basic income, and the healthcare systems have been re-nationalized. These measures have shown not only that it is not antagonistic to protect and support the people but long term it is actually better for the economy. On the international level, China and Cuba stand out for showi…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-06-05). Taxing large fortunes, a tool of social justice. peoplesdispatch.org Several countries around the world are discussing a tax on large fortunes to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The question of combating extreme inequality is a political decision that governments have to make. | According to an Oxfam study, since 2015, the richest population, which accounts for 1% of the total, has more wealth than the rest of the planet. Small elites of countries seize an increasing proportion of national income, while hundreds of millions of people still do not have access to potable drinking water or enough food for their families. | The gap between rich and poor people wid…

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-06-05). Smartphone Cameras Are The Windows Into Society's Soul. thealtworld.com In ages past we knew hardly anything about what was going on in a given civilization. Mythology about a population's history were handed down around campfires in the form of verbal tradition from generation to generation. When the written word came around we invented something called "history", which was really just records of the ancient propaganda from whoever happened to have won the most recent war. Then later on we got very clever and invented something called "journalism", which was really just whatever stories the people who controlled the media wanted told. | None of these presentations were particularly…

news.un (2020-06-05). First Person: Countering COVID-19 misinformation in Venezuela. news.un.org The virus of false information and fake news which has proliferated globally as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, has not spared the crisis-wracked South American country, Venezuela. But the United Nations there is countering the misinformation by making sure that Venezuelans receive trustworthy and reliable information about the deadly virus.

Helen Yaffe (2020-06-04). Leading by Example: Cuba in the Covid-19 Pandemic. counterpunch.org The response of socialist Cuba to the global SARS-CoV2 pandemic has been outstanding both domestically and for its international contribution. That a small island nation, subjected to hundreds of years of colonialism and imperialism and, since the Revolution of 1959, six decades of the criminal United States blockade, can play such an exemplary role is due to Cuba's socialist system.

Philip Giraldi (2020-06-04). Operating Outside the Rule of Law: Washington Pressures International Criminal Court. thealtworld.com There is apparently no limit to what the United States and Israel can get away with without any consequences. | There is apparently no limit to what the United States and Israel can get away with without any consequences. The United States has been waging devastating economic warfare against Iran and Venezuela while also blaming China for a global health crisis that it is unwilling to help address

Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz (2020-06-04). Venezuelan Government and Opposition Reach Deal to Fight Coronavirus. venezuelanalysis.com Spain has agreed to transfer $10 million in frozen Venezuelan funds to the Pan American Health Organization's medical efforts in the country.

Luis Alberto Martinez-Juarez, Ana Cristina Sedas, Miriam Orcutt, Raj Bhopal (2020-06-04). [Commentary] Governments and international institutions should urgently attend to the unjust disparities that COVID-19 is exposing and causing. thelancet.com During the COVID-19 pandemic, world leaders should pay more attention to those populations living in the poorest conditions, such as the homeless, those in prisons, poor ethnic & racial minorities, and millions of distressed migrants and refugees in unsanitary camps, settlements, shelters or detention centres. These vulnerable groups are most likely to suffer the consequences of inadequate and equitable access to testing, treatment and medical care [1]. Socio-economic circumstances determine the distribution of health conditions in populations and the severity of outcomes.

Brett Heinz (2020-06-04). The UN's Anti-Poverty Proposal for Latin America: a "Basic Emergency Income" counterpunch.org The economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Latin America could be potentially devastating, according to a new Special Report by the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The report, based on the available data in mid-April, has estimated a -5.3 percent drop for the region's GDP growth in 2020 —

Jake Johnston (2020-06-04). The OAS Picks Sides in Haiti … Again. cepr.net Haitian president Jovenel MoàØse, governing without parliament after terms expired in January without new elections taking place, is facing increasing questions over when, exactly, his own presidential mandate ends. MoàØse assumed the presidency after 2015 presidential elections, which had to be rerun after the discovery of widespread irregularities that undermined the credibility of the vote. …

Jen Moore (2020-06-04). Defending Land and Water From Mining Profiteers in the Time of Covid-19. counterpunch.org Over the years, the mining industry has taken advantage of dictatorship, disasters, and a variety of distractions to expand operations in Latin America. In the time of Covid-19, with entire populations under lockdown and economies falling apart, mining companies have also hopped on the pandemic profiteering bandwagon. The potential implications are wide-reaching. In Latin America,

Anya Parampil (2020-06-03). Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective wins legal victory in face of hostile Obama-appointed judge & govt prosecution. thegrayzone.com The sentencing of the final four from the Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective marked another defeat for Juan Guaidó and his…

Nash Landesman (2020-06-04). Across Colombia, Red Flags of Despair Fly as Harsh COVID Lockdown Is Extended for a Third Time. anti-empire.com Bogota, Colombia — Red flags hang draped from the doors, rooftops and windows of Bogota's impoverished southern neighborhoods. They symbolize the suffering wreaked by a now thrice-extended house-arrest and quarantine policy purportedly aimed at containing the Coronavirus. While the pandemic has infected only a few thousand people out of a population of more than thirty million in Colombia, the quarantine has caused prolonged unemployment, a wave of housing evictions, and rioting; fueling scourges like domestic violence while pushing many to the edge of starvation. | Colombia's tragedy mirrors those of the m…

Dan Roberts (2020-06-06). The Shortwave Report 06/05/20 Listen Globally! indybay.org A weekly 30 minute review of international news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet. With times, frequencies, and websites for listening at home. 3 files- Highest quality broadcast, regular broadcast, and slow-modem streaming. Radio Deutsche-Welle, Radio Havana Cuba, and NHK Japan.

Staff (2020-06-05). Pandemic and Digital Divide Threaten Accurate Census Count of Native Populations. truthout.org Every 10 years, the U.S. government undertakes the largest peace-time mobilization effort to count the nation: the U.S. census. People from marginalized communities are…

RT (2020-06-05). Venezuelan FM says Guaido is holed up in French Embassy in Caracas, calls on Paris to 'hand over the fugitive'. rt.com Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has taken refuge at the French Embassy in the country's capital, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said. Guaido previously sought to shoot down the rumors, insisting he is "with the people." | "We cannot enter the premises of any country's embassy whatsoever, in this case Spain or France," Arreaza said on Thursday, referring to both Guaido and fellow opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who fled to a Spanish diplomatic compound soon after a failed attempt to spark an insurrection in April 2019. Arreaza said this means that any arrest of the two men "is not possible." | We hop…

RT (2020-06-05). Paris denies that Guaido is hiding in French Embassy in Caracas as Venezuela demands he be handed over. rt.com France has rejected allegations that Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has been holed up inside the nation's diplomatic mission in Caracas. Venezuelan authorities earlier labeled Guaido a "fugitive from justice." | "Juan Guaido is not at the French residence in Caracas. We have repeatedly confirmed this to the Venezuelan authorities," French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Agnes von der Muhll said. | Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza earlier claimed that Guaido, who was named 'interim president' by the opposition-controlled parliament last year, has been hiding inside the French Embassy, and deman…

sputniknews (2020-06-06). American Oil Company Chevron's Crude Cargo Gets Embroiled In US Anti-Venezuela Sanctions. sputniknews.com The day before, Reuters reported, citing unnamed US officials that the US Department of the Treasury was considering sanctioning more than 40 foreign oil tankers over their alleged involvement in the oil trade with Venezuela, which has been sanctioned by the US in its efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

_____ (2020-06-06). Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective Wins Legal Victory. popularresistance.org On the morning of June 3, four U.S. citizens from the Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective (EPC) who engaged in a two-week-long standoff with right-wing Venezuelan exile hooligans and members of Juan Guaidó's coup administration entered a plea agreement with the U.S. government. | The chief Judge for the U.S. District Court District of Columbia, Beryl Howell, sentenced David Paul, Margaret Flowers, Kevin Zeese, and Adrienne Pine to six months of probation and fines totaling $750 each. Additionally, Judge Howell ordered the four defendants to stay away from the building which formally served as Venezuela's emb…

_____ (2020-06-05). Push Back: US Police State Faces Revolt. popularresistance.org Dr. Gerald Horne on the George Floyd protests, the black freedom struggle, and Trump's expansion of the US police state at home and around the world. | Historian and author Gerald Horne discusses the US uprisings against police brutality and systemic racism sparked by George Floyd's killing; the devastating impact of the US government's decades-old war on the black freedom struggle; the ongoing "Russia-baiting" of the protests; and how, amidst the suffering and repression at home, the U.S. government, in bipartisan fashion, continues to attempt to impose its will on countries abroad, from China to Venezuela. | Gu…

_____ (2020-06-04). Protectors Of The Venezuelan Embassy Victorious After Federal Charges Are Dropped. popularresistance.org Federal charges against the four protectors of the Venezuelan Embassy, who defended the building in Washington DC against violent opposition crowds for several weeks between April 10 and May 16 of 2019, were completely dropped in a case that was brought directly by prosecutors of the Trump administration. | After several months of proceedings that produced a mistrial in February 2020, the four activists expressed in a public statement that "Today's sentence marks yet another victory in the effort to protect the Venezuelan Embassy. The Embassy Protection Collective broke through the blockade and got supplies to th…