(2021-11-21). Venezuela: The Dictatorship of Democracy. orinocotribune.com By Marcos Maranges — Nov 18, 2021 | On this coming Sunday, November 21, Venezuela will go to regional and local elections to vote for over 3000 public officials. However, some governments and people still think that the country is a dictatorship ruled by President Nicolás Maduro. We all know where these words come from, but despite it, is there any solid evidence or argument to believe it? The upcoming electoral process gives us the perfect context to put a light on this issue. | In this opportunity, the right-wing parties have proposed candidates for the first time since 2018. The Venezuelan opposition inte…
(2021-11-21). Socialist draws biggest applause at mayoral candidate meeting. greenleft.org.au The Supercar race, council transparency and Stockton's sand erosion problems were key discussion topics at a lord mayoral candidates' forum organised by Hunter Community Forum. Kathy Fairfax reports.
(2021-11-21). Adept in Pan-Ottomanism, Erdogan Got Carried Away Playing Soldiers. journal-neo.org 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is well known for his resounding appeals built on the political doctrine of Pan-Ottomanism, which emerged in Turkey in the 1970s, according to which all subjects of the Ottoman Empire are members of a single nation, the Ottomans. However, such verbal passage has been recently increasingly followed by actual actions, …
(2021-11-20). Democratic Socialists of America congressman Jamaal Bowman votes for Israel's Iron Dome, visits with right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. wsws.org The DSA's congressional support for Israel's Iron Dome armament program is further confirmation that the organization is a faction of the Democratic Party, a supporter of imperialism and a facilitator of war crimes against the population of Palestine.
(2021-11-20). Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. fightbacknews.org FRSO strongly condemns the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges. This verdict is another example of how the police and courts work hand in hand with racist vigilantes to kill and injure African Americans, other oppressed nationalities, and all who try to fight to end police crimes. | In August of 2020, Jacob Blake, a young African American man, was shot in the back four times and three times in the side in by a white police officer Kenosha, Wisconsin. Coming less than two months after the killing of George Floyd, another uprising took place, with the African American community and supporters battling poli…
(2021-11-20). The acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse: A judicial travesty. wsws.org The verdict, which will serve to embolden violent fascistic militias being cultivated around Trump and the Republican Party, is the culmination of a trial that constituted a travesty of justice from beginning to end.
(2021-11-20). EU's Beleaguered Immigration Policies Will Be the Sword Which It Falls on. strategic-culture.org The refugee flows are nothing new. And the games that poorer, weaker countries play by using them, have also been around for a while. | The Belarus border is just the most recent in a long list of examples how Brussels cannot fight back countries who use refugees as a weapon against the EU's failed hegemony | For many erudite commentators who know the EU well, the scenes on the Poland-Belarus border felt a bit 'déjà vu'. Once again, the EU's failed policies when tackling immigration flows — which in many cases are as a direct result of propping up dictators or for dabbling in geopolitics — comes right…
(2021-11-20). The Collapse of America: What History Teaches Us About the Rise and Fall of Empires. Prof. Alfred McCoy. globalresearch.ca
(2021-11-20). Rotten, Arrogant and Threatening. orinocotribune.com By Vladimir Acosta — Nov 16, 2021 | How can we avoid the subject of empire? How can we avoid talking about its threats? | The history of mankind is full of empires, empires of all kinds. All of them diverse and complex, and the only indisputable thing about them is that, despite their arrogance, they are not eternal as they pretend to be, because in the end they disappear one after the other in different ways. And, what is more, because none of them lasts even a thousand years, as promised by German Nazism (which barely lasted 13 years) and as the arrogant American empire has been proclaiming since the begin…
(2021-11-20). Australian state Labor government accelerates "reopening" amid fascistic anti-lockdown protests. wsws.org Trumpian protesters in Victoria, backed by key sections of the corporate elite, are setting an agenda that is in large part being implemented by the state Labor government.
(2021-11-20). New study supports natural origins of COVID-19, sources close to WHO team say. wsws.org A landmark new study published in Science is another nail in the coffin of the Wuhan lab conspiracy theory, concocted by the fascist ideologue Stephen K. Bannon and promoted by the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
(2021-11-20). Colombian Police Repudiated for Using Nazi Symbols at Academy Event. orinocotribune.com 
On Thursday, November 18, some members of the Colombian police used Nazi symbols at an event paying "tribute" to the German police, which generated strong controversy in Colombia. The incident occurred at the Simón Bolívar Police Academy in Tuluá, in the Valle del Cauca Department. In the photos, which went viral on social media, police officers are seen wearing the Nazi swastikas, and one officer even disguised as Adolf Hitler. | The Valle University Student and Youth Organization condemned the incident, expressing outrage at the Colombian police paying tribute to the Nazi police and army. Similarly, environment…
(2021-11-20). Industrial Nations Value Capitalism Over People At Climate Conference. popularresistance.org The cataclysms of the interlinked crises of COVID and climate change were elucidated this past year in ways that cannot be repudiated. Following the release of the International Panel on Climate Change's (IPPC) most recent report on the state of global warming, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres characterized it as, "a code red for humanity ." In short, the report found that absent immediate and decisive measures to address planetary warming, the worst-case scenarios of climate change will be soon realized for both the physical environment and the social systems that depend on it. These admonishments should h…
(2021-11-20). Industrial Nations Value Capitalism Over People at Global Climate Conference. popularresistance.org When considering the need to end government subsidies for fossil fuels, especially coal, the language of the agreement was switched from "phase out," to "phase down." And while this language change was publicly attributed to India, the United States, which provides an estimated $22 billion annually in fossil fuel subsidies is culpable and certainly not beyond reproach. The tentacles of U.S. influence and coercion was present in every decision made at the COP.
(2021-11-20). Moderna fights US gov't over patent and profits. themilitant.com Profit-driven bosses at Moderna have iced out of the main patent for its COVID-19 vaccine the scientists from the federal government's National Institutes of Health, which helped pay for and develop it. The fight over this patent exposes the dog-eat-dog morality of capitalism, where all so-called health care is a business organized primarily to maximize profits, not save lives. | Moderna filed for the patent in July, claiming the company invented the mRNA technology used in its vaccine. It entirely excluded the scientists from the federal agency's Vaccine Research Center who helped develop the genetic sequence th…
(2021-11-20). 'Cuban socialist revolution's example is due to its working people's strength'. themilitant.com The remarks below by Mary-Alice Waters, on behalf of the Socialist Workers Party, were made at a Nov. 10 meeting of opponents of the U.S. government embargo of Cuba held at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Pedro Pedroso, Cuba's ambassador to the U.N., addressed the event, followed by Waters and several other participants. | First of all, I'd like to thank Ambassador Pedroso, Ambassador [Yuri] Gala, and all the compañeros here at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations. | To thank you for this opportunity to share our determination to stand together in face of this phase of Washington's mo…
(2021-11-20). US-organized provocation against Cuba 'fizzles out'. themilitant.com U.S.-government-organized provocations planned in Cuba for Nov. 15 were a failure, as were "sympathy" actions denouncing Cuba's socialist revolution around the world. Opponents of the revolution had hoped to create incidents on the island that would disrupt the reopening of schools and businesses and expanded tourism scheduled that day. | Striking a blow to the U.S. rulers' plans, Cubans celebrated the tremendous progress the country has made in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic despite Washington's stepped-up sanctions, which make it difficult to purchase raw materials and even syringes. Tens of thousands of ele…
(2021-11-20). Philosophers with no clothes: A Review of 'The War Against Marxism'. mronline.org 
Tony McKenna's new book is an important defence of Marxism, against thinkers who have confused and obscured its revolutionary core, argues Chris Nineham…
(2021-11-20). [Correspondence] Long-term effects on survivors with COVID-19 — Authors' reply. thelancet.com Yan-Jie Zhao and colleagues and Chengliang Yang and colleagues all recommend specific questionnaires to evaluate depression and anxiety symptoms in hospital survivors with COVID-19 1 year after onset.1 We agree that the professional questionnaires could provide the actual prevalence of psychiatric symptoms. However, these questionnaires are somewhat complex and time-consuming. It is challenging to integrate all these assessments into our follow-up study.1 The EuroQol five-dimension five-level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire is commonly used to assess the quality of life from five domains in clinical studies.
(2021-11-20). The Baghuz Massacre Underlines the Necessity for Freeing Julian Assange. dissidentvoice.org 
The implications of the Baghuz Massacre should deeply underscore the integrity, morality, and vital importance of WikiLeaks and its heroic publisher and political prisoner Julian Assange. The Baghuz Massacre was a failed cover-up by the United States. WikiLeaks is the journalistic enterprise that shines a spotlight on the egregious crimes of states. Assange is imprisoned …
(2021-11-20). COVID-19: Big Pharma's 'Obscene' Profits. orinocotribune.com By Jake Johnson — Nov 18, 2021 | Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech rake in millions an hour while refusing to share manufacturing recipes with low-income countries. | Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech — the makers of the two most successful coronavirus vaccines — are raking in a combined $65,000 in profits every minute as they refuse to share their manufacturing recipes with According to a new People's Vaccine All…