Friday, February 05, 2021

Anne Feeney Goes Out Fighting

Remembering Anne Feeney

by David Rovics - Dissident Voice

 
February 5th, 2021 
 
On February 3rd, 2021, Anne Feeney died in the hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her children at her side. She was 69 years old. She was a cancer survivor in poor physical health when she fell and broke her back a month ago, and in the hospital she contracted Covid-19, then pneumonia.
 
 
 

Although Anne died too young, she lived a long life. She lived many lives during those 69 years, really, and she cheated death at least a couple times during her last decade on Earth. 

 

Wednesday, February 03, 2021

Ecuador Elections: "A Tipping Point for Democracy"

We are Mobilizing to Ecuador. Here’s Why

 
January 27, 2021
 
The people of Ecuador are fighting to recover their popular sovereignty. International solidarity will be critical to their success. On 7 February, the citizens of Ecuador will express their constitutional right to popular sovereignty, electing a new president and National Assembly to carry the country out of its most severe crisis in a generation.

Supporters of the presidential candidate Andres Arauz march, 
Quito, Ecuador, Jan. 26, 2021. | Photo: EFE via Telesur
 

Between violent crackdowns on IMF protests in 2019 to persistent threats to cancel next month’s election, Ecuador’s democracy is on the brink. The vigilance of the world will be critical to preserve it — and help restore democracy to a region in the midst of an authoritarian backslide. 

 

Listen to Progress International's David Adler from Ecuador here.

 

Unmasking Navalny: The New York Times Doesn't Need to Know

Who Is Aleksei Navalny? NYT Once Knew, but Has Since Forgotten

by Jim Naureckas - FAIR

 
February 3, 2021

“Who Is Aleksei Navalny?” was the headline over the “Inside the Times” column (New York Times print edition, 2/1/21).

Navalny on a Plane - The New York Times headline (2/1/21) asks a 
good question that the accompanying story completely fails to answer.
 

Which is a good question, given that the Russian activist has been mentioned more than 300 times in the paper, and has become the undisputed poster child for opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

Tuesday, February 02, 2021

Indian Farmers' Fight from There and Here

The fight over agriculture in India, and how Punjabis in Canada are supporting farmers

by Vandana K - Media Co-Op

February 1, 2021

Farmers are demanding repeal of new laws gutting agricultural protections, and Punjabis in Canada are supporting their protest


 Protestors listening to speeches by farm leaders at Singhu 

Farmers are demanding repeal of new laws gutting agricultural protections, and Punjabis in Canada are supporting their protest The fight over agriculture in India, and how Punjabis in Canada are supporting farmers. 

 

Memo: Pentagon Stood Down National Guard Ahead of January 6 Mobbing of Capitol

Trump’s acting secretary of defense disarmed D.C. National Guard 48 hours before the fascist assault

by Jacob Crosse - WSWS

1 February 2021

A recently published memo issued by former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller two days before the January 6 fascist assault on the US Capitol confirms that the leadership of the Pentagon deliberately disarmed National Guard soldiers on the eve of the coup attempt. 
 

The memo ensured that soldiers would be unable to protect themselves, much less the Capitol, allowing thousands of pro-Trump neo-Nazis and white supremacists to overwhelm the Capitol Police, who themselves had been deliberately underdeployed.

 

Monday, February 01, 2021

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jeremy Kuzmarov, Joe Emersberger February 4th, 2021

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com


February 4th, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition recorded on the dates, January 28th, and February 1st, 2021.
 


Well barring a Trump return to political life with the full moon, we can now safely say America has turned a new page; if “new” is the appropriate descriptor for the new president, a man who’s been at this game longer than most Americans have been alive. 

Though some may feel near-octagenarian Joe is a less than inspiring figure to lead an American renaissance, at least he arrives with an unprecedented amount of policy baggage; more than ample provenance to measure the man from his acts, and his fictions.

Jeremy Kuzmarov is a journalist and serves as Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine. He is too the author of four books on U.S. foreign policy, including: ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, and ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’ co-authored with John Marciano. 

Listen. Hear.

Kuzmarov's latest at CovertAction is the series, ‘Biden’s Foreign Policy History and What it Portends for his Presidency‘.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; February 7th, Ecuadorians will go to the polls to decide who will succeed Lenin Moreno. Moreno may be remembered as the protege of leftist president and thorn in the side of America, Raphael Correa, who upon election himself undid his predecessors progressive policies, (and threw Wikileaks publisher, Julian Assange to the wolves). Early polling suggests Correa loyalist, Andree Arauz will take the post, perhaps in a first round landslide.

Joe Emersberger is a Canada-based writer whose articles appear at VenezuelAnalysis, CounterPunch, and The Canary, among other places. Joe will be taking part tomorrow in the Webinar, ‘Ecuador’s Presidential Election’ interviewing Monica Palacios, UNES candidate for North America. Emersberger is too author, with Justin Podur, of the forthcoming book, ‘Extraordinary Threat: The U.S. Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela’.

Joe Emersberger and does a pinkening sky in Ecuador promise a new morning for Latin America? in the second half.

But first up, Jeremy Kuzmarov and what Joe Biden’s past portends for America’s future.
 
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com

Watching Democracy Unfold in Ecuador

With Anti-IMF Candidate Surging in Polls, Ecuador’s Moreno Flies To DC Amid Talk of Suspending Election

by Alan Macleod  - MintPress News

 
February 1, 2021

Adding to worries that a Bolivia-style coup might be imminent in Ecuador, Lenín Moreno will spend his final days in office in Washington, DC, where he’s been meeting with members of the Biden administration. 
 
 

Polls show socialist, anti-imperialist candidate Andrés Arauz to be the clear frontrunner in Ecuador’s presidential elections slated to take place this Sunday, February, 7. Some even suggest the 35-year-old might receive double the votes of his nearest competitor in the first round of voting. Yet it now appears that the greatest danger to Arauz is not his rival candidates, but the threat of authorities canceling the election to prevent his victory.

 

Undoing Ecuador: Turncoat Moreno Seeking to Deep-Six Democracy

Fears of US Interference in Ecuadorean Elections

January 30, 2021

On February 7, presidential and legislative elections (137 assembly members) will be held in Ecuador, and the candidate best positioned to win is Andres Arauz, candidate for the coalition Union for Hope (UNES). Arauz, who represents correísmo, is the heir of a citizen revolution which the current government has tried to annihilate and outlaw electorally. 
 
 
OAS & Ecuador's neoliberal president looking to suspend elections to cling on to 
power and stop coming victory of the Correísta left. | Photo: Twitter/@OVargas52

Andres Arauz has 37 percent of voting intention in the most recent polls, compared to 24 percent of the banker Guillermo Lasso, his main competitor, who seeks to banish once and for all the failed model of 21st Century socialism. In the elections, it is necessary to reach 40 percent of the votes and 10 points of difference from the second candidate to win in the first round, and if not, there will be a second round on April 11. 

 

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Rejecting a Reckless Apparatchik: Power's Past Plays Wreaked Havoc and Death

Why Samantha Power Should Not Hold Public Office

by David Swanson - World BEYOND War

 
January 27, 2021
 
It took a variety of approaches to market the 2003 war on Iraq. For some it was to be a defense against an imagined threat. For others it was false revenge. But for Samantha Power it was philanthropy. She said at the time, “An American intervention likely will improve the lives of the Iraqis. Their lives could not get worse, I think it’s quite safe to say.” Needless to say, it wasn’t safe to say that.
 
 

Did Power learn a lesson? No, she went on to promote a war on Libya, which proved disastrous.

Then did she learn? No, she took an explicit position against learning, publicly arguing for the duty not to dwell on the results in Libya as that might impede willingness to wage war on Syria.