Iran Seizes Vessel in Gulf for ‘Smuggling’ Oil
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a foreign tanker “smuggling fuel” in the Gulf Thursday as reported by state media. | RELATED: | UK to Send 3rd Warship to Persian Gulf As Tensions With Iran Grow | “A foreign vessel smuggling one million liters of fuel in the Larak Island of the Persian Gulf has been seized,” the station said, adding that the ship was seized Sunday. | “The vessel that Iran towed to its waters after receiving a distress call, was later seized with t…
telesurenglish.net/news/iran-seizes-oil-…

Iran Acknowledges Missing Tanker Was Seized in Persian Gulf
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-07-18
The United Arab Emirates-based oil tanker and its crew of 12 was smuggling fuel out of the country, according to Iran’s state-owned TV station.
truthdig.com/articles/iran-acknowledges-…

Venezuela: Trump Diverts Central America Aid to Guaido as EU Threatens More Sanctions
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-07-18
Guaido’s team is receiving over $40 million to fund salaries, travel, training, propaganda and technical assistance.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14592

Seeking truth about Venezuela’s food production
John Catalinotto | workers.org | 2019-07-18
An organization in the United States has scheduled a 10-day trip to Venezuela in late August that could help people find answers to important questions: Are there shortages of food? What is responsible for such shortages? What is the role of U.S. sanctions? How are the Venezuelans responding to the . . . | Continue reading Seeking truth about Venezuela’s food production at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/07/18/seeking-truth-abo…

National Polls Don’t Mean Much. Here’s Why
Thomas Knapp | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
“Here we go with the Fake Polls,” President Donald Trump tweeted on July 15. “Just like what happened with the Election against Crooked Hillary Clinton.” He’s complaining about several polls that show him losing the national popular vote to various Democratic presidential aspirants, in some cases by double digits. He has a point. In 2016,…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/national-pol…

Media Lies About Iran Deal, Headlines Repeat Unfound State Department Claims
Dave DeCamp | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Iran announced last week they will be enriching uranium to 5% which is over the 3.67% limit set by the Joint Comprehension Plan of Action signed in 2015 under the Obama administration. | Iran has every right to go over that …
globalresearch.ca/msm-lies-about-iran-de…

Diplomacy Instead of a Disaster in Iran
Paul Kawika Martin | peaceaction.org | 2019-07-18
Washington, D.C. — July 18, 2019 — In response to reports of the U.S. shooting down an Iranian drone, Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Peace Action, released the following statement: “Because of the Trump administration’s policy of maximum provocation towards Iran, America stands on the precipice of another blunderous …
peaceaction.org/2019/07/18/diplomacy-ins…

Trump: U.S. Navy Destroys Iranian Drone in Strait of Hormuz
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a U.S. Navy ship had “destroyed” an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after the aircraft threatened the ship, in the latest incident in the Gulf. | Trump told an event in the White House that the drone had flown to within 1,000 yards (meters) of the USS Boxer. | RELATED: | Iran Seizes Vessel in Gulf for ‘Smuggling’ Oil | “This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels ope…
telesurenglish.net/news/Trump-U.S.-Navy-…

How Corporate Media Are Fueling a New Iran Nuclear Crisis
Gareth Porter | commondreams.org | 2019-07-18
Screen shot of a recent Fox Business report about U.S.-Iran relations. (Photo: Fox Business via YouTube) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/views/2019/07/18/how-co…

How Iranian MEK Went from US Terror List to Halls of Congress
Ali Harb | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
As soon as Maryam Rajavi, her face beaming across a giant screen, finished speaking, the sky above hundreds of her supporters in the United States filled with red, white and green confetti — the colours of the Iranian flag….
globalresearch.ca/how-iranian-mek-went-f…

Diplomacy Instead of a Disaster in Iran
commondreams.org | 2019-07-18
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2019/07/18/dip…

Africans Solving African Problems; Bringing Peace to Sudan
Thomas Mountain | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
The recent peace deal being implemented in Sudan was brokered by African leaders without any interference or even input by non African players ie the UN or western countries. As a matter of fact the deal was made in Asmara, Eritrea where the head of the Sudanese military that had overthrown the long time despot…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/africans-sol…

Travels in the South
Michele Willens | thenation.com | 2019-07-18
Travels in the South…
thenation.com/article/national-memorial-…

Mercosur No Longer Seeks Chavez’s ‘Great Homeland’: Bolsonaro
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
At the end of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) Summit in Santa Fe, Argentina, the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro affirmed Wednesday that this trade bloc does not aim anymore to build a “Great Homeland,” which was common goal proposed by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a way to unite all Latin American countries in order to overcome the h…
telesurenglish.net/news/Bolsonaro-Cites-…

Bernie Sanders, Anti-Imperialism and Venezuela
Timothy M. Gill | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair | Throughout the last century, socialists have faced an uphill battle within the United States. Unlike other similarly high-income countries, the U.S. has largely remained a bastion of deeply individualist attitudes and unregulated capitalist policies. | Yet, over the span of the past decade, socialism has transformed from a demonized ideology to a publicly discussed economic model that many Americans are now seriously considering. Indeed, the Pew Research Center just last month published data showing that 42 percent of the country has a positive view of socialism, including 65 perc…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/bernie-sande…

Mexico Rejects the Presence of Venezuelan Opposition at the OAS
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
Mexico, along with nine countries in the region, challenged on Thursday the presence of representatives of the Venezuelan opposition in the General Assembly of the Organization of American States ( OAS ), which is being held in Medellin, Colombia. | RELATED: | Why the Canadian Government Is Confronting Venezuela | After the accreditation of said delegation, headed by the deputy of the Venezuelan right Julio Borges, Mexico requested that the following be included in the minutes and doc…
telesurenglish.net/news/Mexico-Rejects-t…

An Interview with Daniel Kovalik
Alex Anfruns | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-07-18
In his last book on Venezuela, Daniel Kovalik, a lawyer and a long standing friend of Latin American people in countries such as Colombia and Central America, is tearing away the veil of war propaganda: “The humanitarian part of the intervention is now barely a fig leaf for the real and usual intention — the …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/interview-wit…

Spying on Julian Assange: UC Global, CNN and Russian Couriers
Binoy Kampmark | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-07-18
History’s scope for the absurd and tragic is infinite. Like Sisyphus engaged in permanent labours pushing a boulder up a slope, the effort of making sense of such scope is likewise, absurdly infinite. To see images of an exhausted and world-weary Julian Assange attempting to dodge the all-eye surveillance operation that he would complain about …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/spying-on-jul…

Julian Assange: US Coopts Patriotic Opposition in Ecuador, Former President Correa goes against Wikileaks Founder
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Former President Rafael Correa’s claim that Julian Assange abused his political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to influence the US’ 2016 elections and his publicly proclaimed admiration for Hillary amount to nothing less than the completion of America’s …
globalresearch.ca/us-just-completed-its-…

Will Any Disgusted Republicans Challenge Trump in the Primaries?
Ralph Nader | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-07-18
In 1956, then Senator John F. Kennedy authored a best-selling book titled Profiles in Courage, in which he told the stories of Senators in American history who, on principle, bucked the tides of power. Today, some Republican writer or conservative syndicated columnist — George Will or Max Boot — should write a book called Profiles in Cowardliness. It …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/will-any-disg…

Trump: America’s “Racist-in-Chief”
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Racism defines Trump’s private and public life. He falsely said “I am not a racist.” | “I’m the least racist person you” will ever meet is belied by his unacceptable Trump Organization practices, his hostile actions against unwanted aliens of the …
globalresearch.ca/trump-americas-racist-…

Trump Ignorant of China’s Resolve
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Trump is an artful dealmaker in his own mind, his mastery more myth than reality. | Former Trump Organization executive Barbara Res earlier said he wasn’t a great dealmaker. | “In terms of taking the responsibility for the buck, he just would | …
globalresearch.ca/trump-ignorant-chinas-…

Don’t Open the Door
Elliot Sperber | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
Don’t Open the Door When the knock came at the door for A second I thought about a man: Davino Watson A US citizen Locked up for forty-one months by ICE Over 3 years Of his life lost. For what? A clerical error Or clerical terror And then about Bello, the Bakersfield poet Targeted by…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/dont-open-th…

How the Goliath of the Jerusalem Settler Movement Persuaded the World It’s Really David
Jonathan Cook | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
Israeli police forced out the Siyam family from their home in the heart of occupied East Jerusalem last week, the final chapter in their 25-year legal battle against a powerful settler organisation. The family’s defeat represented much more than just another eviction. It was intended to land a crushing blow against the hopes of some…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/how-the-goli…

Rally demands “Justice for Isak Aden”
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-07-18
Eagan, MN – Some 200 community members gathered here July 16 to demand justice for Isak Aden, a Somali man who was killed by police in this Saint Paul suburb on July 2. Aden was a 23-year-old college student who was killed by police after a four-hour standoff with 90 officers from nine different agencies. Five police officers from the cities of Eagan and Bloomington were named responsible for his death. | Marching behind a 30-foot banner, about 100 protesters took to the streets around the municipal center, which includes the Eagan Police Department and the Eagan City Hall. Then, the crowd poured into the center…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/7/18/rally-de…

Why Are Billionaires Like Jeff Bezos so Obsessed With Space?
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-07-18
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing is this year, and it’s worth recalling the memo that then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson wrote to President John F. Kennedy: “If we do not make the strong effort now, the time will soon be reached when the margin of control over space and over men’s minds through space accomplishments will have swung so far on the Russian side that we will not be able to catch up, let alone assume leadership.” | That sense of urgency has shifted over the decades f…
truthdig.com/articles/why-are-billionair…

Trump’s send-them-back doctrine
John Feffer | nationofchange.org | 2019-07-18
During the height of Stalin’s purges, the great Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich kept a packed suitcase near the door of his apartment. The Black Marias, the vehicle of choice for the secret police, would traditionally arrive in the middle of the night to ferry “undesirables” to interrogation cells. Shostakovich wanted to be ready at any …
nationofchange.org/2019/07/18/trumps-sen…

The Mad Corruptions of Trump Inc
Jim Hightower | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Where’s Shakespeare when we need him? Only the Bard of Avon could do literary justice to the tortured madness of Donald Trump, who fluctuates between petulant self-pity and weird self-praise. | His brags are especially weird because they usually involve …
globalresearch.ca/mad-corruptions-trump-…

Top 10 Facts About Cell Phones and Wi-Fi
Environmental Health Trust | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
1. All Cell Phones And Wireless Devices Emit Radiation. | Every wireless device is actually a two-way microwave radio that sends and receives a type of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation called radio frequency radiation RF — EMF. This machine-made radiation is millions | …
globalresearch.ca/top-10-facts-about-cel…

History Is Happening: WikiLeaks, the Global Fourth Estate
Ann Garrison | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
Nozomi Hayase dedicated WikiLeaks, the Global Fourth Estate: History Is Happening to “the youth who grew up on the Internet,” then added, “The future of civilization depends on great acts of courage inspired by the heart.” Hayase is a psychologist, essayist, and activist, and her book is a chronological collection of her essays about WikiLeaks,…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/history-is-h…

The Dark Side of the Moon Mission
James Jeffrey | progressive.org | 2019-07-18
“For that kind of money,” Vonnegut cracked on the CBS Evening News, “the least [NASA] can do is discover God.” Civil rights activists, anti-Vietnam War protesters and even top scientists were skeptical of the Apollo moon mission at the time.
progressive.org/dispatches/dark-side-of-…

“It Is Not Just War. It Is Life”: Acclaimed Doc “For Sama” Offers Rare Glimpse into War-Torn Syria
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-18
We look at the award-winning documentary feature titled “For Sama,” a devastating account of war-torn Syria told through the eyes of director Waad al-Kateab. She filmed hundreds of hours of footage in her native Aleppo to create a stunning depiction of life during wartime. Amid airstrikes and attacks on hospitals, Waad falls in love with one of the last remaining doctors in Aleppo, gets married and has a baby girl, Sama, to whom the film is dedicated. When protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad first began in 2011, Waad al-Kateab was a young economics student who began filming on a cellphone. Fo…
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/18/for_sama_…

Landless Worker Hit by a Truck in Sao Paulo, Brazil
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
The Landless Workers Movement, or MST, condemned Thursday the killing of one of their members, hit by a truck in Sao Paulo in the morning, arguing the crime was the result of a strategy attempting to spread fear among social movements. | RELATED: | Brazil Court to Rule on Eviction Case of Landless Workers Camp | A man in a truck entered at full spee…
telesurenglish.net/news/Landless-Worker-…

Psychology Stories: Children
Judith Deutsch | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
The majesty and burning of the child’s death…. After the first death, there is no other. — Dylan Thomas The sniper who shot at Muhammad the child Beneath his father’s arm Wasn’t acting alone — Aharon Shabtai, J’Accuse If you are overcome by the horrific crimes against the humanity of children and then wonder how this…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/psychology-s…

Cuba and a New Generation of Leaders Respond to U.S. Anti-People War
W. T. Whitney | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
For almost 60 years Cuba has successfully defended its socialist revolution against a steady onslaught of U.S. aggressive actions, serious enough at times to warrant extraordinary measures. Cuba, for example, established alliances with the Soviet bloc of nations in the early 1960s, readjusted its economy and politics following the Soviet collapse, and sharpened its intelligence capabilities in response to terrorist attacks continuing into the 1990s.
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/cuba-and-a-n…

The Devolution Will Be Televised: Our Body-cam President
John G. Russell | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
Gil Scott-Heron was only partially correct when he predicted the revolution would not be televised. “There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay,” he sang. While the revolution may not be aired live in prime time, in the age of mass surveillance, the abuses that may give rise to…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/the-devoluti…

Corporate Gangster: Adani’s Pursuit of Scientists
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
The Adani conglomerate should be best described as a bloated gangster, promising the earth even as it mines it. Like other corporate thugs of such disposition, it will do things within, and if necessary outside, the regulatory framework it encounters. Where necessary, it will libel detractors and bribe critics, speak of a fictional number of…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/corporate-ga…

The Coal Industry is Not a Major Employer
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
The NYT had a column by Eliza Griswold talking about the prospect of job loss in coal mining areas due to efforts to restrict greenhouse gas emissions. While it is often traumatic for workers to lose jobs, especially long-held jobs, it is important to realize that relatively few jobs are at stake in the coal…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/the-coal-ind…

Merger Mania: the Military-Industrial Complex on Steroids
William Hartung | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-18
When, in his farewell address in 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the dangers of the “unwarranted influence” wielded by the “military-industrial complex,” he could never have dreamed of an arms-making corporation of the size and political clout of Lockheed Martin. In a good year, it now receives up to $50 billion in government…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/18/merger-mania…

Uruguay: Left-Wing Broad Front Ratifies Its Presidential Ticket
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
Uruguay’s left-wing coalition Broad Front endorsed Thursday its presidential ticket Daniel Martinez – Graciela Villar as the formula that will represent it in the country’s national elections on Oct. 27. | RELATED: | Uruguay Walks Out of OAS Meeting Rejecting Guaido Reps | “With the Broad Front, all progressives are aiming for an increasingly fair country, we are going for a better nation, we are going to walk firmly in the 21st century, we are going for a change that adds up,” Martine…
telesurenglish.net/news/Uruguay-Broad-Fr…

Boeing Assumes US$5b in After-Tax Charges for Plane Crashes
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
The Boeing airplane manufacturing company will be assuming a US$4.9 billion dollar after-tax charge for the pair of deadly crashes suffered by passengers riding the 737 MAX plane since February. | RELATED: | From Boeing to Lockheed Martin | The charge will result in a US$5.6 billion reduction in revenue and pre-tax earnings in the second quarter, Boeing officials said in a statement. | Known as the world’s largest airplane manufacturer, the Chicago-based company is set to release financial results July 24.
telesurenglish.net/news/Boeing-Assumes-U…

Trump’s drilling leases on public lands could release 4.7b metric tons of carbon–more than all 28 EU countries emit in a year
Julia Conley | nationofchange.org | 2019-07-18
A national conservation group revealed Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s drilling leases on public lands could lead to the release of more carbon emissions than the European Union contributes in an entire year. The Wilderness Society estimates that U.S. companies will release at least 854 million and as much as 4.7 billion metric tons of carbon if …
nationofchange.org/2019/07/18/trumps-dri…

Korea-Japan Trade Plus War: Where Are You Going Mr. Shinzo Abe?
Prof. Joseph H. Chung | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Right after the G20 Conference (28-28 June 2019) in Osaka, Japan, Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan declared the beginning of trade war against South Korea. It was indeed an irony that Abe was the host of the Conference …
globalresearch.ca/korea-japan-trade-plus…

African Free Trade Area Launched in Niger
Abayomi Azikiwe | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
On July 4 the 12th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union (AU) was held in Niamey, Niger to officially proclaim a project that is inherent within the notions of sovereignty and unity on the continent. | This African Continental Free …
globalresearch.ca/african-free-trade-are…

Brother of Manchester bomber to deny murdering 22 victims of arena terror attack
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-07-18
The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi has indicated he will deny helping him to murder 22 people in the 2017 terror attack.Hashem Abedi, 22, stood in the dock at Westminster Magistrates’ Court as the names of each fatality were read aloud. | His counsel, Zafar Ali QC, said the defendant denied the charges against him. No formal pleas were entered during the 15-minute hearing.Abedi, who was raised in Manchester, travelled to Libya before his older brother detonated his suicide vest as pop fans left an Ariana Grande concert.Prosecutor Kathryn Selby told the court that Abedi had been charged with 22 co…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/07/18/brother-…

Video: Waiting for New Idlib Offensive. US Continues to Provide Syria Rebels with Weapons and Military Supplies
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
The situation in northwestern Hama and along the entire contact line around the Idlib de-escalation zone has remained stable but tense during the past week. The Syrian Arab Army, the Tiger Forces and their allies have repeatedly engaged in local …
globalresearch.ca/video-waiting-for-new-…

Government ‘still not doing enough’ over cladding after Grenfell tragedy
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-07-18
The Government is “still not doing enough” to remove dangerous cladding from buildings more than two years on from the Grenfell Tower tragedy, a report has said.The Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee report accuses the Government of being “far too slow” in its response to the blaze, which killed 72 people in June 2017.The report further warns that the £200 million set aside for remediation of private sector residential buildings with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding will not be enough.(PA Graphics)The spread of the fire at Grenfell has been linked to the use of ACM in its…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/07/18/governme…

Die absurden Beziehungen der EU-Là§nder zu Russland
Mondialisation | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Der Stand der Beziehungen zwischen Italien und Russland ist ‚Äûausgezeichnet”: So lautete die Erklà§rung von Premierminister Giuseppe Conte, als er Prà§sident Vladimir Putin in Rom empfing. Die Botschaft war als Beruhigungsmittel, gar als Schlafmittel fàºr die à∂ffentliche Meinung gedacht. Grundsà§tzlich …
globalresearch.ca/die-absurden-beziehung…

Vaccine Safety and Immunization: Suppressing Critique, Silencing Scientific Evidence
Richard Gale | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
During the past year there has been a deliberate assault on medical sanity by the Silicon Valley’s internet giants and popular social media platforms to abolish and censor voices and websites challenging the orthodoxy of the CDC’s vaccination policies. Last …
globalresearch.ca/vaccine-safety-and-imm…

Donald Trump, “the Democrat Squad” and Failed Impeachment
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Twitter has become policy. It is platform, direction and determination. It has served one particular person well, a hazy mechanism to fog up the lenses of law makers. When President Donald Trump needs an air-wave filling distraction, a bilious splurge …
globalresearch.ca/donald-trump-democrat-…

Five Years Ago: Was Malaysia Flight MH17 Shot Down by a Ukrainian Fighter Plane?
Mike Whitney | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
This article was originally published in 2014. | July 17th is the commemoration of the downing of MH17, July 17, 2014 | “From start to finish, the Ukraine crisis has been instigated by US imperialism. Every action Washington has taken has been …
globalresearch.ca/five-years-ago-was-mal…

New Zealand’s Role at the Biggest US Bombing Base in the Middle East
Darius Shahtahmasebi | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
A recent issue of Air Force News revealed that a senior NZDF officer served a six-month posting at the Qatar base, placing New Zealanders at the heart of the main targeting and bombing centre in that region, writes Darius Shahtahmasebi….
globalresearch.ca/trouble-nzs-role-bigge…

Some Like It Hot
William Bowles | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
I am nothing if not an optimist, a trait that most on the Left seem to share. A belief in the future, that there is one that includes us. That things, eventually, get better, if we fight for it. | ‘Unrealistic’, …
globalresearch.ca/some-like-it-hot/56839…

Trophy Hunting in Southern Africa. Elephant Poaching
Ross Harvey | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
A recent slew of articles have hit international media in the wake of Botswana’s decision to lift its moratorium on trophy hunting. | Typically, the argument is that Botswana now has too many elephants, which have exceeded the country’s carrying capacity. | …
globalresearch.ca/hunting-clickbait/5683…

Western Intellectuals Freak Over ‘Frankenstein’ China
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Western economists and intellectuals obsessed with demonization of China are never shy of shortcuts glaringly exposing their ignorance. | The latest outburst posits that “we” — as in Western intellectuals — “are the modern version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” who electro-shocked …
globalresearch.ca/western-intellectuals-…

Why the West is Determined to Ignore China’s Success
Andre Vltchek | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-07-18
It used to be comical, but suddenly it is not, anymore. In the past, blind hatred towards China could had been attributed to ignorance, or at least to indoctrination by the Western propaganda and mass media outlets. But now? China’s tremendous leap forward, its excellent, humane social policies and determined people-oriented scientific research, as well …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/why-the-west-…

John Paul Stevens Was Right: Citizens United Opened the Door to Foreign Money in U.S. Elections
Jon Schwarz | theintercept.com | 2019-07-18
Citizens United created a huge loophole for foreign influence in American politics, and in the nine years since then, it’s been used over and over again.
theintercept.com/2019/07/18/john-paul-st…

Beware Facebook’s Libra: A Corporate Surveillance Leviathan With No Precedent Outside the Realm of Science Fiction
Robert Weissman | commondreams.org | 2019-07-18
David Marcus, Head of Calibra at Facebook, testifies about Facebook’s proposed digital currency called Libra, during a Senate Banking, House and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 16, 2019. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/views/2019/07/18/beware…

G7 Countries Take a Step Towards Taxing Big Internet Companies
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-18
France, Italy, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States (the G7 countries) reached Thursday a principle of agreement for Internet companies to pay taxes in countries where they have digital activity, although they lack physical presence, to prevent them from transferring their profits to tax havens. | RELATED: | French National Assembly Approves GAFA Tax to Big Tech Firms | The compromise reached at the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeti…
telesurenglish.net/news/G7-Countries-Tak…

The Best Civil War Movie Ever Made Gets Its Due
Allen Barra | truthdig.com | 2019-07-18
“Glory” is set for nationwide screenings marking its 30th anniversary. Star Andre Braugher tells Truthdig what he learned from his role.
truthdig.com/articles/the-best-civil-war…

At Last, Legislation to Stop Private Equity Abuses
Robert Kuttner | commondreams.org | 2019-07-18
Workers have been abused by many facets of today’s American capitalism. (Photo: Reuters) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/views/2019/07/18/last-l…

A California Bill Could Transform the Lives of Gig Workers. Silicon Valley Wants Labor’s Help To Stop It
Rachel M. Cohen | theintercept.com | 2019-07-18
Gig economy workers who support the legislation view it as a necessary step toward their ability to collectively organize. Uber and Lyft want a workaround.
theintercept.com/2019/07/18/uber-lyft-ca…

Fighting Climate Change Means Ending War
Robert C. Koehler | commondreams.org | 2019-07-18
Fighting this war is as much a matter of demobilization—reversing courses of action, shrinking our carbon footprint—as it is mobilizing green energy production and rebuilding society around a green consciousness. (Photo by Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/views/2019/07/18/fighti…

Protestors demand water for the rivers
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
A protest outside New South Wales Parliament on July 10 demanded the state government take real action to combat the dire situation facing the Murray-Darling river system. | The action was opened by Muruwari and Budjiti man, water activist and artist Bruce Shillingsworth, who is organising a Water Corroborree in the drought-affected north-west and west of the state in early October. | Watershed AllianceAU’s Kylie Lawrence, who has spent years researching the water crisis in the north-west and west of NSW, addressed the protest, sp…
greenleft.org.au/content/protestors-dema…

The European Union expands its war against refugees
wsws.org | 2019-07-18
As anger grows at the number of refugees dying in the Mediterranean, EU politicians are demanding military operations in Libya.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/18/refu…

Yemen: UN Envoy ‘guilty’ of optimistic hope that war is ‘nearing the end’
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-18
With Yemen once again at a “crucial moment” the UN Special Envoy trying to facilitate peace there told Security Council members on Thursday that despite the dangers of being over optimistic, he could not help thinking the country could finally be “nearing the end of its war.”
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1…

Protesters Target Palantir for Profiting from ICE Contracts
Ruth Robertson | indybay.org | 2019-07-18
July 12 was a national day of action to call for the protection of immigrants from ICE raids. In Palo Alto, demonstrators marched on Palantir Technologies’ headquarters, saying the data mining company is helping the Trump administration separate families. Palantir sells software that assists the government in tracking and finding people to arrest and deport. | Please credit the photographer: Jack Owicki, Pro Bono Photo.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/07/16/1882477…

Thursday’s Daily Brief: Mandela Day, war waning in Yemen? Deadly monsoon rains, zero hunger hopes fade, fifth anniversary of MH17 crash
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-18
In today’s Daily Brief: World celebrates Nelson Mandela; Security Council hears end of Yemen war may be in sight; South Asia children turned ‘upside down’ by monsoon rains; world ‘off track’ to meet zero hunger target; Italy urged to stop ‘criminalising’ migrant rescues…
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1…

Monsoon rains turn millions of children’s lives ‘upside down’ across South Asia
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-18
Heavy rainfall, severe flooding and landslides across Nepal, India and Bangladesh have killed at least 93 children, and put the lives of millions more at risk, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is “responding urgently”.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1…

Trump’s Iran Treaty Withdrawal and Sanctions Based on Lies, but War Could Be a Reality
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-07-18
Khury Petersen-Smith outlines how Trump’s untruths and policies are making America the aggressor, not Iran, and how American media from the New York Times to Fox News are falling for his rhetoric…
therealnews.com/stories/trumps-iran-trea…

Billionaires are not going to rescue us
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
When billionaires advocate for social change, or adopt green issues, they are not doing so for the public good, but to reinforce an unequal status quo. | The billionaire class, rather than providing solutions for societal problems, are themselves part of the plutocratic system that is generating civilisational dislocation. | Let us dig deeper into this issue. | It is a telling sign of capitalist culture that we look to billionaires as inspirations for meaningful social change. The inequities of our t…
greenleft.org.au/content/billionaires-ar…

33 brave senior(kupuna) protectors on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea detained by police
DLI | indybay.org | 2019-07-18
On Wednesday morning, State police removed 33 senior(kupuna) protectors from a human chain that had blocked–for 3 days–access to the Mauna Kea Road, by construction equipment that are slated to begin the Thirty Meter Telescope(TMT). The protectors are part of the hundreds-strong peaceful activists that had been up at the Mauna(mountain) since last Sunday, July 14.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/07/18/1882482…

Carnage must stop in northwest Syria demands Lowcock, as attacks intensify
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-18
After 80 days of intensifying attacks, many on health facilities, “the carnage must stop” in northwest Syria, said the UN relief chief on Thursday, noting that more than 70 civilians had been killed this month alone across the last rebel-held enclave of the country.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1…

33 Die as Attacker Ignites Blaze at Japanese Anime Studio
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-07-18
TOKYO–A man screaming “You die!” burst into an animation studio in Kyoto, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire Thursday, killing 33 people in an attack that shocked the country and brought an outpouring of grief from anime fans. | Thirty-six others were injured, some of them critically, in a blaze that sent people scrambling up the stairs toward the roof in a desperate — and futile — attempt to escape what proved to be Japan’s deadliest fire in nearly two decades. Others emerged bleeding, blackened and barefoot. | The suspect, identified only a 41-year-old man who did not work fo…
truthdig.com/articles/33-die-as-attacker…

Noam Chomsky: Trump Is Trying to Exploit Tension With Iran for 2020
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-07-18
| “Any concern about Iranian weapons of mass destruction could be alleviated by the single means of heeding Iran’s call to establish a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone in the Middle East,” says legendary public intellectual Noam Chomsky, but that isn’t stopping the Trump administration from concocting stories about Iran threatening to “conquer the world” in order to escalate tensions and thereby strengthen Trump’s hand going into the 2020 election. | In this exclusive transcript of a conversa…
truthout.org/articles/noam-chomsky-trump…

Are Veterans Finally Through With Forever War?
Maj. Danny Sjursen | truthdig.com | 2019-07-18
This piece originally appeared on antiwar.com. | It is undoubtedly my favorite part of every wedding. That awkward, but strangely forthright moment when the preacher asks the crowd for any objections to the couple’s marriage. No one ever objects, of course, but it’s still a raw, if tense, moment. I just love it. | I suppose we had that ubiquitous ritual in mind back in 2007 when Keith — a close buddy and fellow officer — and I crafted our own plan of objection.
truthdig.com/articles/are-vets-finally-t…

Woke words: PC bastion Berkeley adopts gender-neutral city code, ‘manpower’ becomes ‘human effort’
rt.com | 2019-07-18
In the latest politically correct escalation of the ongoing culture war in the US, Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to remove gender-specific words and phrases from its municipal code on Tuesday. | …
rt.com/usa/464462-berkeley-city-council-…

Planning commission must reject proposed Bylong mine
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
Protesters gathered outside the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) on July 16 to urge it and the Coalition state government to save the precious Bylong Valley, in Central West NSW, from a new thermal coalmine. | The IPC is due to make a decision on the future of South Korean company KEPCO’s Bylong mine proposal in the near future. | Bylong farmer Phil Kennedy said: “There are just so many reasons why this mine cannot go ahead. | “This valley is so gorgeous and so productive. It would be a crime to ruin it with a dangerous coalmine, putting water resources and the Growie River under strain. | “We help produ…
greenleft.org.au/content/planning-commis…

Schumer, DNC up in arms over face manipulation app created by ‘the Russians’
rt.com | 2019-07-18
Accusations about FaceApp, a service for manipulating portraits, have graduated from racism and transphobia to a bona fide national security threat, with Chuck Schumer calling for a formal FBI probe. Because Russia is behind it! | …
rt.com/usa/464457-democrats-alarm-russia…

Trump’s trade war against China hits Asian economies
wsws.org | 2019-07-18
Because it functions as a transhipment hub for final destinations in the rest of Asia, a sharp decline in exports from Singapore last month points to an economic slowdown across the region.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/18/chin…

Selected Articles: The Race for the Domination of Space
Global Research News | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Our objective at Global Research is to recruit one thousand committed “volunteers” among our more than 50,000 Newsletter subscribers to support the distribution of Global Research articles (email lists, social media, crossposts). | Do not send us money. Under Plan A…
globalresearch.ca/selected-articles-race…

NOAA’s Finding That Last Month Was Hottest June Ever Recorded Bolsters Calls for Radical Climate Action
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-07-18
As meteorologists warned Thursday that temperatures above 100 ∞F are expected to impact two-thirds of the country this weekend, U.S. government scientists revealed that last month was the hottest June ever recorded—bolstering calls for radical global action on the climate emergency. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2019/07/18/noaas-f…

Ilhan Omar’s bill backs Americans’ right to boycott Israel. Here’s why it will fail
rt.com | 2019-07-18
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has introduced a bill that would protect the right to boycott Israel, apparently related to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. We look at why the legislation is bound to be dead on arrival. | …
rt.com/usa/464519-omar-bds-bill-analysis…

Trump Outreach: Pandering to Christian Zionism, “Preparing the Nation for An Inevitable War”?
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
In Washington on the weekend after the Fourth of July, Israel was praised and Iran was condemned in the strongest terms, with a bit of a call to arms thrown in to prepare the nation for an inevitable war. It …
globalresearch.ca/pandering-christian-zi…

Die Europà§ische Union in der Atomstrategie des Pentagons
Manlio Dinucci | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
Der General der Marine-Infanterie und Prà§sident des Gemeinsamen Ausschusses der Stabschefs, Joseph Dunford, àºberreichte am 13. Juni 2019 die Diplome an die Studenten der National Defense University. Er nutzte die Gelegenheit, um ihnen zu versichern, dass es ‚ÄûAufgabe der Generaldirektoren …
globalresearch.ca/die-europaische-union-…

Extinction Rebellion disrupts Brisbane
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
Extinction Rebellion activists disrupted numerous intersections in Brisbane’s CBD on July 11. | climate justice Jacob AndrewarthaIssue 1229 Australia Extinction Rebellion BrisbanePhoto: J…
greenleft.org.au/content/extinction-rebe…

Challenging capitalism is the ultimate climate mitigation strategy
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
The climate movement both at the international level and within specific countries is quite disparate, meriting a distinction between climate activists per se and climate justice activists. | Representatives of the former include organisations such as the Climate Action Network, Greenpeace, and Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, which emphasise the need for renewables, energy efficiency, and other techno-fixes and attempt to work within the parameters of global capitalism. | Others, such as Friends of the Earth, Climate Justice Action, and various socialist and anarchist groups, are attuned to the enormous social…
greenleft.org.au/content/challenging-cap…

Residents protest opening of WestConnex tunnel
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
Residents gathered at several sites near entrances to the environmentally and socially disastrous WestConnex tollway tunnel on July 13 to protest the opening of the NSW Coalition government’s signature $27 billion transport nightmare. | At Ashfield Park, adjacent to a nearby tunnel entrance, protesters displayed banners reading “Sydney needs more trains and buses, not tollroads” and “Crowded trains, traffic jams and tolls: Who wins? Who loses?” | Motorists, who face tolls of more than $4 for each tunnel voyage, tooted in support of the protest. Many supportive honks came from truck drivers, who will be force…
greenleft.org.au/content/residents-prote…

A Farsa das Relaàßàµes com a Rússia
Manlio Dinucci | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
O estado das relaàßàµes entre a Itália e a Rússia é “excelente”: afirmou o Primeiro Ministro Conte, ao receber em Roma, o Presidente Putin. A mensagem é reconfortante, na verdade, soporífera em relaàßà£o à opinià£o pública. Limitamo-nos, fundamentalmente, ao estado …
globalresearch.ca/a-farsa-das-relacoes-c…

We could have been nuke-free
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up and the Deceitful Case for the Atom Bomb | Peter Watson | Simon & Schuster, 2018 | 423 pages | Nuclear weapons need never have been built. Our world could have been free from the “frozen tableau of terror” of 9500 nuclear warheads capable of destroying the world 100 times over, as Peter Watson comprehensively shows in Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up and the Deceitful Case for the Atom Bomb. | It is pure fable that the atomic bomb was only brought into being as a necessary defence against Nazi Germany acquiring nuclear weapons during World War II. | Nazi Germany never had a…
greenleft.org.au/content/we-could-have-b…

WHY IS THE TURKISH PRESS SILENT ON THE CRISIS IN LIBYA?
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-07-18
Faruk Bildirici, one of the distinguished representatives of Turkish journalism, with whom I worked for 27 years at Hàºrriyet news, has consistently represented the interests of his readers over the past few years. After he was fired several months ago, Bildirici created his own website to continue his work. Last week Bildirici published a curious …
uwidata.com/4343-why-is-the-turkish-pres…

Stronger partnerships with post-conflict countries needed to ensure ‘path towards durable peace’: UN chief
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-18
As UN missions are drawn down and eventually closed, stronger partnerships are needed to ensure that countries recovering from conflict can transition successfully to a phase of durable peace and development, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Thursday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1…

Brexit ‘Deal Dead’, New Financial Market Fears and Unredacted Riot Report
True Publica | globalresearch.ca | 2019-07-18
If you didn’t know it, you would think the British establishment had been deliberately rocking every boat possible to ensure a no-deal or hard-Brexit from the outset. From David Cameron’s so-called ‘miscalulation’ to Theresa May’s guaranteed failure to produce a …
globalresearch.ca/brexit-deal-dead-new-f…

House votes to block Saudi arms sales in face of Trump’s veto threat
rt.com | 2019-07-18
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday sided with the Senate in passing three resolutions to ban sales of precision-guided munitions and other weaponry and technology to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. | …
rt.com/usa/464429-house-blocks-saudi-sal…

Amazon Workers Demand Fair Pay & Conditions as Company Continues Undercutting Rivals
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-17
While online shoppers around the world flocked to Amazon’s mega-sale “Prime Day” this week, the retail giant faced growing outrage from protesters, workers and lawmakers for its unsafe working conditions and collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Demonstrators in Seattle delivered a petition with over 270,000 signatures to Amazon headquarters demanding it stop exploiting workers and cooperating with ICE. Lawmakers, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilhan Omar, co-signed a letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration demanding a full investigation into Amazon’s wor…
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/17/amazon_wo…

‘Journalism Is Helping to Normalize the Concentration Camps’ – CounterSpin interview with Arun Gupta on immigration abuses
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2019-07-17
Janine Jackson interviewed Arun Gupta on Trump’s concentration camps for the July 12, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
fair.org/home/journalism-is-helping-to-n…

Places of worship seek to protect people from ‘terror’ raids launched by Trump
Ed Sykes | thecanary.co | 2019-07-17
Places of worship across the US are standing up to Donald Trump. In recent days, many have given sanctuary to people at risk from Trump’s latest anti-immigration raids. These are targeting roughly 2,000 people without official documentation. Numerous religious figures have criticised Trump for ‘terrorising’ these people. | Synagogues oppose “cruel, immoral, and inhumane” raids: | On 14 July, New York’s Jewish community united to defend families…
thecanary.co/us/us-analysis/2019/07/17/p…

“We need to do more”: On the border in Brownsville, Texas
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2019-07-17
People’s World correspondent Al Neal is in the field reporting from sites all along the U.S.-Mexico border. In his dispatches, you will get a view of the towns and people caught up in Trump’s “border crisis.” You will see the women, men, and children impacted by the administration’s immigration policies as well as U.S. foreign …
peoplesworld.org/article/we-need-to-do-m…

Britain is following Trump and escalating the threat of war with Iran
Lindsey German | mronline.org | 2019-07-17
The British Navy’s seizing of an Iranian oil tanker shows Britain following Trump, trading in diplomacy for the threat of military confrontation, argues Lindsey German | Source…
mronline.org/2019/07/17/britain-is-follo…

UK to Send 3rd Warship to Persian Gulf, Tensions With Iran Grow
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-17
The United Kingdom announced Tuesday that it will send a third warship to the Persian Gulf. The announcement comes at a time when tensions between the U.K. and Iran over the illegal seizure of an Iranian oil tanker earlier this month are increasing. | RELATED: | Iran Ready for Talks If US Lifts Sanctions: Rouhani | The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that HMS Kent, a type 23 frigate, would be sent out into the region in September in order to ensure the country’s maritime security p…
telesurenglish.net/news/UK-to-Send-Warsh…