Daily Archives: December 20, 2020

2020-12-20: News Headlines

T.J. Coles (2020-12-20). The Evolution of U.S.-Backed Death Squads in Honduras. counterpunch.org U.S. intelligence agencies and corporations have pushed back against the so-called Pink Tide, the coming to power of socialistic governments in Central and South America. Examples include: the slow-burning attempt to overthrow Venezuela's President; Nicolás Maduro; the initially successful soft coup in Bolivia against President Evo Morales; and the constitutional crises that removed Presidents Lula

Aaron Maté (2020-12-20). Ex-UK Ambassador: war on Syria continues with US occupation, sanctions, propaganda. thegrayzone.com Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, on how the US and its allies continue to wage war on Syria via sadistic sanctions, an illegal US military occupation, the OPCW cover-up, and media propaganda that masks the brutality. Syria and its allies prevented regime change, but the US and its allies are continuing to squeeze Syria's population with crippling sanctions on all aspects of civilian life and a US military occupation in Syria's northeast breadbasket. Peter Ford, the former …

Juan Cole (2020-12-20). Everyday War Crimes: Israeli PM Netanyahu Gets Covid Vaccine, Squatters Get Vaccine, But Not Occupied Palestinians. commondreams.org Vaccines will be supplied to the hundreds of thousands of government-backed illegal Israeli squatters on Palestinian land in the West Bank, but not to the indigenous Palestinian population. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/netanyahu_7.jpg

Bryce Greene (2020-12-20). NYT Erases US Economic War Against Venezuela. commondreams.org The New York Times has long played a role in supporting U.S. attempts to dominate Latin America. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/venezuela_3.jpg

Prensa Latina (2020-12-19). Cuba sends medical brigade to Mexico to fight COVID-19. mronline.org The second group of a Cuban medical brigade to contribute to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic traveled to Mexico City on Thursday.

A Guest Author (2020-12-19). How long will Peru last? History weighs on today's events. workers.org By Sergio Rodriguez Gelfenstein The writer was the director of international relations in Venezuela's presidential office and the country's ambassador to Nicaragua. Currently, he is a guest professor at Shanghai University in China. This article was posted at sergioro07.blogspot.com on Nov. 13. Translation: Michael Otto. Mariategui's magazine, Amauta. Credit: Juan . . . |

WSWS (2020-12-19). The global surge in COVID cases and deaths requires an immediate international response. wsws.org The present surge across the globe is a byproduct of lifting restrictions on commerce by every major nation whose economy faces stagnation. According to the World Bank, "the pandemic and global recession may cause over 1.4 percent of the world's population to fall into extreme poverty."

Online News Editor (2020-12-19). Malaysia set for first Covid-19 vaccines in February. laprensalatina.com Bangkok, Dec 19 (efe-epa).- Malaysian authorities on Saturday said they expected to receive the country's first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in February, the state news agency Bernama reported. The Asian country has some 12.8 million doses of the jab on order so far, enough to cover 6.4 million people, roughly 20% of the total population. …

teleSUR, CE (2020-12-19). Venezuela Pays Homage to Former Vice President José Vicente Rangel. telesurenglish.net President Nicolas Maduro has paid a heartfelt tribute to revolutionary leader, José Vicente Rangel, who passed away on Friday. President Maduro recalled the deep friendship between José Vicente and Commander Hugo Chávez based on moral principles and social justice. | RELATED: | "We have come to give words of condolences to the family of a great friend and protector. We come to give a hug of solidarity and courage for this irreparable…

Ricardo Vaz (2020-12-19). US Sanctions Venezuelan Electoral Technology Company. venezuelanalysis.com Ex-Cle Soluciones Biometricas has provided software in voting processes.

Reese Erlich (2020-12-19). Are Cuban Protesters Freedom Fighters or US Pawns? commondreams.org Painters, musicians, and other artists are responding to what they call the "lack of freedom of speech." The government calls them agents of the U.S. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/cuba_2.jpg

_____ (2020-12-19). Urgent Call To End The Illegal Sanctions. popularresistance.org U.S.-backed economic sanctions impact nearly one-third of humanity in some thirty countries, causing untold death and devastation by denying them access to global markets restricting the ability to generate wealth, stabilise currency, and provide basic human essentials for their people. For the past several decades, the United States of America has used its considerable institutional power (over finance and diplomacy) to strangle countries that do not fall in line with its global political and economic agenda. The most dramatic case is Cuba, which has faced a blockade for six decades, a blockade that the UN Gener…

Eds. (2020-12-18). Venezuela's Maduro proposes joint ALBA COVID-19 vaccination. mronline.org The Venezuelan president announced a strict quarantine for January.

news.un (2020-12-18). COVID-19: Avoid 'nationalistic footrace' in choosing vaccines. news.un.org As governments move to secure COVID-19 vaccines for their populations, choosing these treatments should not be viewed as "some kind of nationalistic footrace", with some countries winning and others losing, a senior official with the World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists on Friday.

Stephen Lendman (2020-12-18). "Unhealthy Americans". Best Healthcare For the Rich. Highest Child Poverty Among Developed Nations. globalresearch.ca The world's richest country USA has one of the least healthy populations. | Among developed nations, Americans have shorter lifespans, more illnesses and injuries — despite around double the per capita amount spent on healthcare compared to other developed countries. | In …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-12-18). Progressive International calls for end to US-imposed unilateral sanctions. peoplesdispatch.org In a statement released on Friday, December 18, the Progressive International called for "take urgent steps to put an end to the unilateral. Illegal (primary and secondary) sanctions" imposed by the US on over thirty countries, and in particular against Cuba, Iran and Venezuela. The statement was addressed to United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres, G-77 chair Moses Nagamootoo and United Nations High Commissioner for human rights Michele Bachelet. | The US-backed economic sanctions are causing massive suffering to more than one-third of humanity by blocking their access to global markets and damaging th…

W. T. Whitney (2020-12-17). Confronting and Ending the US Blockade Against Cuba. counterpunch.org U.S. news reports rarely touch upon the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba. The blockade destroys people's lives and threatens the island's economy and Cuba's economic development. Damning evidence appears in the Cuba's Foreign Ministry's most recent report on adverse effects. Its authors refer to "the longest-lasting trade embargo in modern history."

Staff (2020-12-17). As Wealthy Countries Hoard Vaccine Supply, Pandemic Could Rage in Poor Countries Until 2024. democracynow.org Health experts are raising concerns that wealthy countries have reserved enough coronavirus vaccine doses to immunize their populations multiple times over, while poorer countries may only have enough to vaccinate about 20%. Reuters reports the World Health Organization's global plan for delivering COVID-19 vaccines to 91 poor and middle-income countries faces a "very high" risk of failure and could leave billions of people with no access to vaccines until 2024. "What we see is that something like 90% of all the vaccine doses that have been purchased have actually been done directly by countries, mostly middle-in…

Joe Glenton (2020-12-17). Office for Veterans' Affairs doesn't collect data on ex-forces suicides or homelessness. thecanary.co The Office for Veterans' Affairs doesn't collect data on homelessness or suicides among the ex-military population, The revelations call into question exactly what the department is doing to address two of the most high-profile issues affecting ex-forces personnel in the UK. | Responding to the FOI, which asked that data and reports on the issues be shared, th…