(2020-12-27). Washington's favorite Venezuelan opposition leader exposes links to Colombian paramilitary and narco networks. thegrayzone.com While the US government and media glorify Leopoldo López as a new MLK, the Venezuelan opposition leader collaborates with Colombia's narco-affiliated, death squad-sponsoring former President àÅlvaro Uribe and his protegé Iván Duque. According to Western corporate media outlets and human rights groups, Venezuela's far-right opposition leader Leopoldo López is a hallowed saint. The New York Times glorified López as the would-be "savior" of Venezuela, akin to none other than Martin Luther King Jr., while Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International …
(2020-12-27). US Economic Sanctions On Cuba In The context Of The COVID-19 Pandemic. popularresistance.org On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.1 Shortly after that, on Friday, March 26, during his participation in a virtual summit of leaders from the G20 countries, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for the waiving of sanctions that could undermine countries' capacities to respond to the pandemic.2 A few days later,the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Hilal Elver, made a similar call for the immediate lifting of international sanctions to prevent hunger crises in countries hit by the pandemic: "The continued imposition of crippling economic sanctions on S…
(2020-12-27). Over 5,500 new COVID-19 cases reported in Iran. yenisafak.com Iran's Health Ministry on Sunday reported new cases of COVID-19 and virus-related deaths as efforts continue to contain the disease.Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a statement that 119 more people died in the last 24 hours and 5,502 new cases had been identified.Lari said the death toll increased to 54,693, and the number of cases to a total of over 1.2 million.She said as many as 5,212 patients were in critical condition, while recoveries numbered 951,860.In the country with a population of 83 million, more than 7.4 million tests have been administered to date.Lari also indicated that 108 dis…
(2020-12-27). Elections in Venezuela: The Trump-Guaidó "Pyrrhic Victory" and Its Achilles Heel. globalresearch.ca On December 14, a live webinar was broadcast on the topic of "The National and Regional Impact of Parliamentary Elections in Venezuela." It was organized by the Washington DC-based
(2020-12-26). 'Everyone would be mobilized': President Zelensky says he'd call up all Ukrainian adults to fight if Russia invaded. rt.com 
Every man and woman would be called up to the Ukrainian Army in the event of an invasion from Russia, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, who noted that it would be an awful situation for the people of Ukraine. | "This would be a terrible situation. I don't even want to imagine it," Zelensky told Kiev-based magazine Fokus on Friday. "Let's hope it's not possible. Otherwise, there will be a big war. We will not go anywhere, we will all fight, everyone would be mobilized — both men and women. This will be bad for the population of Ukraine. And I think that Russia understands this very well." | Zelens…
(2020-12-25). Cuba's Hotel Nacional to Reopen Doors on its 90th Birthday. telesurenglish.net The famous Hotel Nacional de Cuba will mark its 90th birthday on December 30 with the reopening of its doors following several months of closure due to the Covid-19 confinement measures and restrictions. | RELATED: | Luis Miguel Díaz, General Manager of the Hotel Nacional, shared with the press some of the improvements that have been achieved in this "dead" time. The facility is being converted into a smart hotel where…
(2020-12-25). Saudi crown prince receives first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. middleeasteye.net 
Saudi crown prince receives first dose of Covid-19 vaccine | Health ministry says it hopes to have enough vaccine to cover 70 percent of population | Fri, 12/25/2020 – 21: 44 | MBS is one of several world leaders to have received their first dose of the vaccine (AFP) | Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Friday, a week after health author…
(2020-12-25). PDF of December 24 issue. workers.org 
Download the 12-page PDF. Georgia Senate runoff Redbaiting derails people's needs Youth in vanguard; Russell Maroon Shoatz; The real 2020 heroes; Amazon union drive in Ala.; Five hottest years; Vaccine chaos; Editorial: Too little, too late GLOBAL: Amauta in Peru; 'Soft coup' attempt in Cuba; BLM in France. TEAR DOWN . . . |
(2020-12-25). Recidivist Criminal and Constitutional Outlaw Trump Rushes to Pardon Criminal Lawbreakers. commondreams.org Trump and future presidents cannot be allowed to brazenly dishonor justice and undermine the rule of law. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/roger_stone_0_1.jpg …
(2020-12-25). U.S. attempts 'soft coup' in Cuba. workers.org 
By Rosa Miriam Elizalde From Resumen English Dec. 10 ‚àí Invasions get bad press — those close-ups of foreign boots marching over a beach or a neighborhood like El Chorrillo in Panama in 1989, where they still don't know the total number of people who the U.S. troops killed. After . . . |
(2020-12-25). Christian community celebrates Christmas across Pakistan. laprensalatina.com Members of the Christian minority community in Pakistan attended the traditional Christmas Mass on Friday. Pakistan is a Sunni Muslim-majority country, with four million Christians out of a total population of around 200 million residents. A visual story by EFE/EPA photographers…
(2020-12-24). All the Cannons Will Silently Rust. zcomm.org In Kerala, the government operated in a measured, swift, and deliberate way to inform the public, to use the government machinery to test the population for COVID-19, to carry out contact tracing, to isolate and treat the infected, and to take all possible measures to flatten the curve…
(2020-12-24). Yemen's Humanitarian Crisis Worsened Amid COVID. truthout.org For Yemen, 2020 has been an apocalyptic year, which has exceeded even the worst forecasts for a country that has in recent years been ravaged by war and humanitarian disaster. | The rapprochement between the Houthis — a political and armed movement that controls two-thirds of the population of Yemen's population — and Saudi Arabia at the end of 2019 was viewed with some optimism, yet new clashes have since broken out across the country. Even the outbreak of COVID-19 did not stop the violence. As a result of ne…
(2020-12-24). 2020 Latin America and the Caribbean in Review: The Pink Tide May Rise Again. dissidentvoice.org The balance between the US drive to dominate Latin America and the Caribbean and its counterpart, the Bolivarian cause of regional independence and integration, tipped portside by year end 2020 with major popular victories, including reversal of the coup in Bolivia and the constitutional referendum in Chile. Central has been the persistence of Venezuela's Bolivarian …
(2020-12-24). Hugo Chávez and Maoism: A Conversation with Chris Gilbert. counterpunch.org Professor of political science at Venezuela's Bolivarian University, Chris Gilbert is creator and co-host of Escuela de Cuadros, a Marxist educational program broadcast in Venezuelan public television and a participant in the Barcelona-based project Seminari Taifa. Gilbert's articles have appeared in Rebelión, LaHaine, Monthly Review, and CounterPunch, and he has coauthored the recently-published book Venezuela,
(2020-12-24). Cuba: Presa Levisa de cara al futuro. peoplesworld.org 
Aunque el grueso de las obras del trasvase Este-Oeste ya ha sido ejecutado, no cesa la construcción de otras que ramifican túneles y canales desde el nororiente cubano. Sorteando pinares y terrenos rojizos aparece el área donde se erige la presa Levisa, en la que casi se mueven montañas para aprovechar al llamado Oro Azul. …
(2020-12-24). US Airports Are Portals for Disease Spread. Venezuela Shows Another Way. zcomm.org People in the United States do have a lot to learn from Venezuelans and from people in many other countries that are handling the pandemic well…
(2020-12-23). Imperial Intent: Destroying India's Farm Sector. dissidentvoice.org Agriculture in India is at a crossroads. Indeed, given that over 60 per cent of the country's 1.3-billion-plus population still make a living from agriculture (directly or indirectly), what is at stake is the future of India. Unscrupulous interests are intent on destroying India's indigenous agri-food sector and recasting it in their own image. Farmers …
(2020-12-23). Ralph Nader: He's a Cookbook! counterpunch.org 
"We can all sit down and have a few beers together while we wait." — Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart), The Petrified Forest (1936) Call before, you dig? — Utility notification for unmarked Internet cables from hippy who finally got a job The other day, minding my own business, and getting lots of unwanted help doing
