(2022-02-17). Ukraine reveals new gun plan. rt.com 
Legal gun ownership in Ukraine would make any aggressor think twice before attacking it, Kiev's defense chief believes | Allowing people in Ukraine to legally own handguns would greatly improve national security against outside "aggressors," Ukraine's Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov told news agency RBK Ukraine on Thursday. The move would "increase citizens' personal security, help law enforcement and certainly reduce crime rates," the minister claims. | Reznikov said on Thursday he has been a "longtime gun-rights supporter", adding that "as a lawyer" he believes a gun law is long overdue in Ukraine. In late…
(2022-02-17). European Parliament President Condemns Bulgarian MEP for Nazi Salute. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola on Thursday condemned Bulgarian MEP Angel Dzhambazki from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group for a "fascist salute" in the parliament hall in Strasbourg calling fascism the "darkest chapter" in history.
(2022-02-17). Orange County bus drivers: Vote No on Teamster sellout! Prepare for strike! wsws.org The World Socialist Web Site calls on bus drivers in Orange County, California, to reject a new tentative agreement being voted on starting February 17, whose details are being withheld by the Teamsters.
(2022-02-17). In New Yorker interview, Ocasio-Cortez defends Biden and Pelosi, urges readers not to lose "hope" in reforming two-party system. wsws.org The New York congresswoman urges readers not to lose "hope" in reforming the two-party system, while disclaiming the label socialist.
(2022-02-17). Nurses front socialist NSW Senate ticket. greenleft.org.au Two experienced nurses and unionists are heading the Socialist Alliance NSW Senate ticket for the federal elections. Pip Hinman reports.
(2022-02-17). Welcome To The Cryptoverse: A Conversation With The Blockchain Socialist. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image | Written by Dr. Leon Tressell | On 3 January 2009 the genesis block of the Bitcoin blockchain was mined. Satoshi Nakmoto, the creator of Bitcoin, coded a message within the genesis block. It contained a headline from the Times newspaper, "Chancellor on brink of second bail out for banks". | This new digital currency represented a rejection of the failed capitalist system that in 2008 brought the world to the brink of complete financial meltdown. Since then, Bitcoin has gr…
(2022-02-17). Long before US extradition request, the streets of Honduras cried, 'Get out JOH narco-dictator'. peoplesdispatch.org 
Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández is accused of drug trafficking-related crimes and the US has sought the extradition of its former ally. For the people of the country, his 'narco-dictatorship' was a well-known fact…
(2022-02-17). The war that must be waged is the war on COVID-19. wsws.org While no cost is too great for the American ruling elites to wage imperialist war, there has been a full-scale capitulation to COVID-19 during the Omicron surge.
(2022-02-16). No U.S. war with Russia, end U.S. intervention in Ukraine. fightbacknews.org Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is opposed to the Biden administration's war preparations against Russia and U.S. intervention in the Ukraine. We urge all progressives and revolutionaries to help organize, promote and participate in anti-war protests. We are against imperialist wars. | In recent years the Pentagon has ranked Russia as a "strategic competitor," making it one of the main targets of U.S. war plans. Currently the U.S. is sending mountains of weapons to the reactionary Ukrainian government, deploying more troops in Eastern Europe, and is making threat upon threat. The constant barrage of a…
(2022-02-16). Pipeline Politics And The Ukraine crisis. popularresistance.org Amid escalating tensions between the United States, NATO and Russia, all eyes are on Ukraine. Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland describes it as "a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism." But Nord Stream 2, a pipeline built to bring Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Germany, is an integral part of the story. | On January 27, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, asserted, "If Russia invades Ukraine one way or another … we will work with Germany to ensure it [the pipeline] does not move forward." Delayed by US threats and sanctions, Nord Stream 2 highlights…
(2022-02-16). Russian Communist leader: The West is backing fascists and using Ukraine. peoplesworld.org 
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article is an edited version of an opinion piece written by Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. It was published on Feb. 14, 2022, the day before the State Duma, Russia's Parliament, voted on a CPRF resolution calling on the government to officially recognize the independence …
(2022-02-16). A new war with Russia? Absolutely not! cpusa.org 
The following statement was issued by the CPUSA Peace and Solidarity Commission. For the last two months the Biden administration has been shouting, "The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!" in a bold attempt to stifle public anger against suffocating policies by government and private enterprise. The Biden administration has dismissed Russia's insistence …
(2022-02-16). There Is a Limit to the Tyrant's Power: Ottawa Freedom Convoy Tears Down Illusion of Democracy in North America. strategic-culture.org Tyrants living in their ivory tower echo chambers are panicking as they have no idea how to interact with actual human beings organizing themselves around such non-mathematical principles as "freedom", "justice" and "rights". | No, there is a limit to the tyrant's power! | When the oppressed man finds no justice, | When the burden grows unbearable, he appeals | With fearless heart to Heaven, | And thence brings down his everlasting rights, | Which there abide, inalienably his, | And indestructible as stars themselves. | -Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell's Rutli Oath | Who would have thought that Canada would ever…
(2022-02-16). Trucker Convoy Going Strong. With Matt Ehret. The Strategy Session, Episode 45. strategic-culture.org Tyrants living in their ivory tower echo chambers are panicking as they have no idea how to interact with actual human beings organizing themselves around such non-mathematical principles as "freedom", "justice" and "rights".
(2022-02-16). Settler-Colonialism is an Inevitable Incubator for Fascism. libya360.wordpress.com Rainer Shea It's ironic that U.S. patriots are the most insistent in claiming that China is headed for collapse. Not only is this narrative totally detached from China's increasingly prosperous actual conditions, but it's ignorant to just how long Chinese civilization has been here. This is in contrast to the makeshift settler colony that was…
(2022-02-16). Anti-fascists observe 77th anniversary of Mostar liberation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. peoplesdispatch.org In February 1945, the Yugoslav partisans liberated the city of Mostar from the Nazis and their collaborators. The commemoration this year was marked by a renewed determination to fight neo-fascism…
(2022-02-16). An inspiration for Black Lives Matter: Trayvon Martin will never be forgotten. workers.org 
Ten years ago today on Feb. 26, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, was murdered by an armed fascist in Sanford, Florida. The murderer, George Zimmerman, was found "not guilty" in a powerfully racist court decision, and all charges were let go. Labor unionists in Florida demand justice for Trayvon . . . |
(2022-02-16). REPORTBACK SACRAMENTO: Alleged "Peckerwoods" Attacked During "White Lives Matter" Banner Event. indybay.org REPORTBACK SACRAMENTO: Alleged "Peckerwoods" Attacked During "White Lives Matter" Banner Event Over South Sac Neighborhood…
(2022-02-16). How to Withstand the Neo-Fascists Conquest of Power. libya360.wordpress.com Kali Akuno Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press Thousands of demonstrators crowd Bank Street in Downtown, waving flags and signs during the Lobby Day rally by gun rights activists at the State Capitol on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. It is my honest assessment that as of this writing we have a little less than two…
(2022-02-16). FRSO members meeting set for Feb. 17. fightbacknews.org Grand Rapids, MI – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization is hosting another online meeting for the growing numbers of members on Thursday, February 17 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We will use Zoom to welcome our new members who joined since the last meeting on capitalism destroying the environment. | Tom Burke, the organizational secretary of the FRSO, will speak about the growth of the FRSO, the importance of union solidarity with the George Floyd rebellion, the recent uptick in strikes, and how we can lead the American working class toward revolution. | Emily Butt, a union steward, will speak on the victories of t…
(2022-02-16). Pat O'Shane inspires supporters at election launch. greenleft.org.au Kuku Yalanji woman Pat O'Shane's campaign for the seat of Leichhardt for Socialist Alliance in Far North Queensland was launched on February 13. Alex Bainbridge reports.
(2022-02-16). UK lecturers and students speak on conditions they face as strikes continue. wsws.org World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke with strikers and students as lecturers struck at 44 universities for a second day.
(2022-02-16). Video: Socialist Alliance candidate Paula Sanchez applauds NSW Nurses and Midwives' strike. greenleft.org.au Socialist Alliance NSW Senate candidate Paula Sanchez explains why she is passionate about the nurses and midwives' campaign for safe ratios and better pay.
(2022-02-16). US housing bubble about to burst, leading economist warns. rt.com 
Higher interest rates could trigger collapse | The US real estate market could crash this year, leading economist Desmond Lachman predicted in an interview with Nikkei Asia on Tuesday. Adjusted for inflation, house prices in America are now higher than they were 15 years ago, before the last housing bust, he added. | Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former deputy director at the International Monetary Fund, explained that last year the US government was buying large quantities of bonds, which created an equity price bubble, and led to "equity valuations at levels only seen once…
(2022-02-16). Unions And Worker Co-Ops: Economic Justice Requires Collaboration. popularresistance.org Unions and worker cooperatives have a lot in common when it comes to passions and principles for democratic workplaces. Where they differ is in strategy and tactics. At this moment in history, it is clear to many that much needs to be torn down and much needs to be built up. To face this challenge and change our economic system to achieve genuine workplace democracy requires new ways of doing business and a multi-pronged approach. | To explore these issues in greater depth, the Community and Worker Ownership Project at the City University of New York (CUNY) published a report titled A Union Toolkit for Cooperativ…
(2022-02-16). EU nations lose legal battle in bloc's top court. rt.com 
The European Court of Justice has ruled that the EU may cut funding to member states that violate its 'rule of law' standards | The EU's top court has dismissed a complaint filed by Poland and Hungary against a mechanism allowing Brussels to punish member states it deems 'rule-of-law violators.' The so-called "conditionality mechanism" gives the bloc the right and power to withhold aid funding from a member that is found to be failing to adhere to the union's democratic principles. | "The court dismisses the actions brought by Hungary and Poland in their entirety," the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said in a…