2020-01-31: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these ‘POSTEES’ on social media!

Palestinians around the world reject Trump’s ‘fraud of the century’
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-01-31
Palestinians have responded to US President Donald Trump’s peace plan with a resounding “no,” expressing their frustrations with what they have dubbed as the “fraud of the century.” From social media to the streets, Palestinians in the occupied territory and in the diaspora have rejected Trump’s vision for the region, criticizing the plan for granting […] | Source…
mronline.org/2020/01/31/palestinians-aro…

US Announces Three New Military Bases in Iraq After Iraqis Demand Full Withdrawal
Alan MacLeod | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
Less than a week after millions of Iraqis took to the streets demanding the U.S. military leave for good, the United States announced that is planning to build three new military bases in Iraq, according to military news service …
globalresearch.ca/us-announces-three-new…

Do Not Light That Fuse DNC
Kathleen Wallace | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Recent leaked audio indicates that Donald Trump feared Hillary Clinton opting for Bernie Sanders as her VP choice in the last election cycle. This alone should create a situation that would cause the DNC to realize the viability of a Sanders candidacy this time around, but obviously a win for their “team” is not the…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/do-not-light…

How government and media are prepping America for a failed 2020 election
Whitney Webb | mronline.org | 2020-01-31
Russia, China and Iran are already being blamed for using tech to undermine the 2020 election. Yet, the very technologies they are allegedly using were created by a web of companies with deep ties to Israeli intelligence. | Source…
mronline.org/2020/01/31/how-government-a…

Why the U.S. Might Be Angling for the Return of a New ‘Strongman’ Like Saddam in Iraq
M. K. Bhadrakumar | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
The departure of the former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani is beginning to be felt in Iraq. The two meetings that the U.S. President Donald Trump had with the leader of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government Nechirvan Barzani and the president of Iraq Barhem Salih in Switzerland on January 22 on the sidelines of the World…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/why-the-u-s-…

“Balfouristans” for Bibi: “Apartheid” Isn’t an Insult, It’s a Blueprint
Richard Eskow | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
The image on the left is from a map Donald Trump tweeted out with the label, “Vision For Peace: Conceptual Map/The Future of Palestine.” The one on the right shows the “Bantustans” created by apartheid-era South Africa in 1970, a move designed to pen the country’s black citizens into impoverished “homelands.” Any questions? These maps…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/balfouristan…

A New US Air Force Video Game Lets You Drone Bomb Iraqis and Afghans
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-01-31
The U.S. Air Force recently unveiled its newest recruitment tool, an online video game that lets you carry out targeted killings by drone in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
mintpressnews.com/us-air-force-video-gam…

On Holocaust Memorial Day US Embassy Falsely Claims America Liberated Auschwitz
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-01-31
The statement was immediately met with scorn from those who felt it was another example of Soviet erasure and an insult to the enormous sacrifice the Soviet Union made to defeat fascism in Europe.
mintpressnews.com/us-embassy-falsely-cla…

I Will Hold You in My Arms a Day After the War
Vijay Prashad | zcomm.org | 2020-01-31
There is an economic war against the planet, one that has no anti-war movement…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/i-will-hold-you-in…

Australia: Alice Springs group condemns silence of “Bring Assange Home” parliamentary group
wsws.org | 2020-01-31
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/31/wilk…

Terrorism and the Militarization of the NYPD
David Rosen | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
President Donald Trump’s decision to assassinate Qassem Suleimani (the leader of Iran’s Quds Force) and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units) on January 3rd provoked deep fears in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio pointed out,…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/terrorism-an…

The Party’s Over: Bernie’s Last Dance With the Dems
Jim Kavanagh | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
The Good I wrote six articles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) about the Bernie Sanders campaign during the 2016 primary. As everyone keeps saying, Bernie is a paragon of consistency, so my understanding of him stands unchanged. The political situation in 2020 is, however, significantly different, and has opened up new possibilities for the…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/the-partys-o…

The Party’s Over: Bernie’s Last Dance With the Dems
Jim Kavanagh | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
The Good I wrote six articles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) about the Bernie Sanders campaign during the 2016 primary. As everyone keeps saying, Bernie is a paragon of consistency, so my understanding of him stands unchanged. The political situation in 2020 is, however, significantly different, and has opened up new possibilities for the…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/the-partys-o…

Right-Wing Business Billionaires Launch Attack on Bernie Sanders
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-31
Conservative business executives launched an ad campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders this week, attacking the democratic socialist on his plans to provide health care to all Americans and clean up the planet with a major public works program. | The wealthy manufacturing, poultry, fast food, and finance magnates, several of whom are Charles Koch allies, have recently donated millions of dollars to (CFGA), the super PAC affiliated with the right-wing political advocacy group
truthout.org/articles/right-wing-busines…

Gaza Is Already Unliveable: Help the Freedom Flotilla Sail Against the Inhuman Blockade of Gaza
Freedom Flotilla Coalition | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
In 2020, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition will sail again to break the illegal and inhuman blockade of Gaza. During this mission we will be focusing on children and youth struggling to survive in the wreckage of Gaza, their beloved home. | …
globalresearch.ca/gaza-already-unliveabl…

Chile: One Dead and 124 Arrested During a Violent Early Morning
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-31
One dead person, 124 detainees and several wounded was the balance of the police repression to the protests that Chileans carried out in the early hours of Friday in Santiago. | RELATED: | Chilean Students Protest Controversial Exam in Santiago | On Thursday afternoon, citizens went out to protest the death of Jorge Mora, a fan of the Colo-Colo soccer team, who was hit by a Police truck last Tuesday. | His death intensified popular mobilizations against the neoliberal state, which th…
telesurenglish.net/news/Chile-One-Dead-a…

Uprising in Chile is the Legacy of Dashed Hopes and Bitter Defeat
W. T. Whitney | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Santiago high school students were the spark. Rejecting a fare hike, they jumped over subway toll barriers on October 18, 2019. Students filled the streets all over. Police action led to injuries and arrests. Some 1.2 million people occupied Plaza Italia in Santiago a week later. After three months, on January 18, Santiago marchers arriving…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/uprising-in-…

Coronavirus Epidemic: WHO Declares a Global Public Health Crisis, Can We Trust the WHO?
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
In the course of the last two weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) had already pointed to a possible Global Public Health crisis in relation to China’s novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) categorized as a viral pneumonia. The virus outbreak is centred …
globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-epidemic-w…

Australia Offers a Preview of the World to Come
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
Unless we remove the arsonists in power across the globe, we’re headed for a climate catastrophe no less destructive than nuclear war.
truthdig.com/articles/australia-offers-a…

Climate Breakdown ‘is Increasing Violence Against Women’
Fiona Harvey | zcomm.org | 2020-01-31
Attempts to tackle crisis fail because gender issues are not addressed, report finds…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/climate-breakdown-…

Climate activists from Africa speak out about the marginalisation of African voices
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-01-31
Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate and peers from other African nations have made an urgent appeal for the world to pay more attention to the continent that stands to suffer the most from climate breakdown despite contributing to it the least.The Fridays For Future movement and activist Greta Thunberg held a news conference with the activists in Sweden to spotlight the marginalisation of African voices.”African activists are doing so much”: Nakate

Media on Climate Crisis: Don’t Organize, Mourn
Neil deMause | fair.org | 2020-01-31
While US media have indeed ramped up their coverage of the climate crisis, they continue to give short shrift to what are arguably the most important factors for determining our future: what specific human practices are responsible for the changing climate, why carbon emissions continue to rise, and what we can and should be doing about it.
fair.org/home/media-on-climate-crisis-do…

Blocking trains and removing coal
Sarah Freeman-Woolpert | zcomm.org | 2020-01-31
Climate activists fight to close one of New England’s largest power plants…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/blocking-trains-an…

China’s Virus Response Has Been ‘Breathtaking’
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
President Xi Jinping formally told WHO head Tedros Ghebreyesus, at their meeting in Beijing earlier this week, that the coronavirus epidemic “is a devil and we cannot allow the devil to hide.” | Ghebreyesus for his part could not but …
globalresearch.ca/china-virus-response-b…

Delta, American Suspend Flights Between U.S. and China
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
NEW YORK

UN agency declares the coronavirus a global health emergency
Al Neal, John Wojcik | peoplesworld.org | 2020-01-31
The World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations, declared the outbreak ignited by a new strain of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China that has spread to over a dozen countries as a global health emergency Thursday after a rapid spike in the number of cases this past week. To date, more than 7,800 …
peoplesworld.org/article/un-agency-decla…

China’s Coronavirus: A Global Health Emergency is Launched. What are the Facts
Larry Romanoff | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
While this coronavirus is indeed serious and is causing deaths, one wonders if the responses, especially in the West, are reaching out of control. | Canada, with a population about the same as Shanghai, has so far this flu season had …
globalresearch.ca/china-coronavirus-upda…

Coronavirus Pneumonia: 9,822 Confirmed Cases Reported Worldwide
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-31
A total of 9,822 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) were reported in China and other countries by Friday morning, with the death toll standing at 213. | RELATED: | Coronavirus Is a Business Opportunity: US Secretary of Commerce | Of the total number, 9,720 were reported in China, with 213 dead and 179 recovered. There are 102 confirmed cases outside of China. | Thailand and Japan have 14 each, while Singapore has 13. There are also a handful of cases in Australia, M…
telesurenglish.net/news/Coronavirus-Pneu…

World Health Organisation officially declares coronavirus a “global health emergency”
wsws.org | 2020-01-31
The announcement came the same day that Russia closed its border with China and authorities confirmed a human-to-human transmission of the virus in the United States.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/31/viru…

World Health Organisation Officially Declares Coronavirus a “Global Health Emergency”
James Cogan | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday decided to formally declare the outbreak of 2019-nCoV, the new coronavirus first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan, as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).” The PHEIC classification was only established …
globalresearch.ca/world-health-organisat…

Paralysed woman faces life-threatening deportation from New Zealand to Tonga
wsws.org | 2020-01-31
Paraplegic woman Taipaleti Vaeatangitau is due to be deported with her family at the end of the month, despite doctors warning she could die in Tonga.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/31/para…

Endless War Is a Disastrous (but Profitable) Enterprise
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
“The collapse of the Libyan state has had region-wide repercussions, with flows of people and weapons destabilizing other countries throughout North Africa.” This statement came from the Soufan Group’s recent Intelbrief, entitled “Fighting Over Access to Libya’s Energy Supplies” (24 …
globalresearch.ca/endless-war-disastrous…

To Keep the Rohingya Alive
J.B. Gerald | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-01-31
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.

Omar Baddar on Israel/Palestine ‘Peace’ Plan, Rainey Reitman on Greenwald Persecution
CounterSpin | fair.org | 2020-01-31
MP3 Link This week on CounterSpin: It is strange to think that you could create a plan to shape the relationship between two entities, in consultation with one but not the other, and then not just declare it, yourself, a “win-win,” but also say to the unconsulted party, “You better take it, or else.” Yet …
fair.org/home/omar-baddar-on-israel-pale…

‘Women to One Side, Men to the Other’
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. | Mirza had a sense of foreboding soon after she crossed into the U.S. with her two children and their father, David. A Border Patrol agent ordered the family from Honduras and the rest of their group to divide into two lines: “Women to one side, men to the other.” | Mirza held 19-month-old Lia and joined the women’s line. David took their 6-year-old son Sebastian and lined up with the men. An agent told them not to worry,…
truthdig.com/articles/women-to-one-side-…

The Expected No-Witness Vote Shouldn’t Surprise Us. Conservatives Want a King
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-31
Senate Republicans on Friday lined up behind President Trump, poised to protect him from witness testimony in his impeachment trial, a development that is neither surprising nor particularly difficult to understand. Most of the popular explanations, though, fail to explore the underlying dynamics of conservativism. As a result, the Senate’s apparent willingness to engage in a cover-up is seen as an aberration or low point for the Republican Party, rather than as a coherent expression of their…
truthout.org/articles/the-expected-no-wi…

Towards Zero Hour
Kenn Orphan | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Recently, I was asked a couple times what my thoughts were on the impeachment proceedings unfolding in Washington DC. Without a doubt, the trial is dominating many news cycles, and not only in the US by outside of it as well. It is a strange phenomenon that is astonishingly divorced from the pressing issues of…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/towards-zero…

The Jury Is Still Out
Andrew Levine | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
As of Thursday afternoon, the Trump impeachment trial is in its second day of its “question” phase

Senator Clears Way for Acquittal, Says Trump’s Actions Were Only “Inappropriate”
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-31
The Republican-led Senate appears poised to acquit President Trump as early as today in his historic impeachment trial. On Thursday night, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee announced he would vote against calling witnesses. Alexander said it was “inappropriate” for Trump to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival, but he went on to say…
truthout.org/video/senator-clears-way-fo…

GOP Accused of ‘Greatest Cover-Up Since Watergate’
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday accused the Republican Party of orchestrating the “greatest cover-up since Watergate” as the Senate prepared to debate and vote on whether to allow witnesses to testify in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. | The Senate is widely expected as early as Friday evening to oppose permitting witnesses, given swing vote Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-Tenn.) announcement late Thursday tha…
truthdig.com/articles/gop-accused-of-gre…

Senate May Delay Final Trump Trial Vote
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
WASHINGTON

It’s Not Just Trump: Why the Next President Should Pledge to Weaken the Presidency
David Schultz | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
The American presidency is too powerful. That is what the Senate impeachment trial and the 2020 presidential election should be about. Instead, masking this deeper constitutional problem is Donald Trump and his personal abuses of power. Yet these abuses of power are not simply the product of one errant person, but part of a longer…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/its-not-just…

The U.S. Is Recycling Its Big Lie About Iraq To Target Iran
Nicolas J S Davies | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Sixteen years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, most Americans understand that it was an illegal war based on lies about non-existent “weapons of mass destruction.” But our government is now threatening to drag us into a war on Iran with a nearly identical “big lie” about a non-existent nuclear weapons program, based on politicized intelligence from the same CIA teams that wove a web of lies to justify the U.S.
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/the-u-s-is-r…

Wealthy Gulf States Plan to Spend Big to Coax Syria Away from Iran
Agha Hussain | mintpressnews.com | 2020-01-31
In the first of a three-part series, Agha Hussein investigates efforts by wealthy Gulf Arab countries to ply post-war Syria away from Iran by investing heavily in its post-war reconstruction.
mintpressnews.com/wealthy-gcc-gulf-state…

White House Curbs Immigration for 6 Nations in Election-Year Push
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
WASHINGTON

Workers Organization Shares Staff, Cash With Anti-Immigrant Groups
Hatewatch Staff | splcenter.org | 2020-01-31
U.S. Tech Workers, a project of the anti-immigrant group Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), has ties to an anti-immigrant hate network and unprecedented access to the Trump administration.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/01/31/worke…

Video of ER Doctor Confronting Mike Pence Over Trump Medicaid Cuts Goes Viral
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-31
An emergency physician Thursday night confronted Vice President Mike Pence at a restaurant in Iowa over the Trump administration’s newly unveiled plan to allow states to block-grant Medicaid, a move that could strip essential healthcare coverage from millions of vulnerable people. | “I work in one of the poorest counties in Michigan and my patients depend o…
truthout.org/articles/video-of-er-doctor…

Massive Rejection of Trump’s Plan in Palestine, Jordan, Yemen
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-31
Thousands of Palestinians held numerous demonstrations on the first Friday following the announcement of the so-called “Deal of the Century” promoted by the U.S. President Donald Trump. | RELATED: | Palestinian Leaders Taking Steps to Topple Trump’s ‘Peace Plan’ | From Gaza to the West Bank, people protested energetically against what they called “an aparthei…
telesurenglish.net/news/Massive-Rejectio…

Dead on Arrival: Dissecting Trump’s Vision for the Future of Palestine
Miko Peled | mintpressnews.com | 2020-01-31
What used to be an idea expressed by only the most extreme right-wing Zionists, namely ridding Israel of its Palestinian citizens, is now part of a “peace” plan and has been given the rubber stamp of the United States government, writes Miko Peled.
mintpressnews.com/dissecting-trump-israe…

Pipeline or a Pipe Dream: Israel, Turkey Hydrocarbon Conflict is Brewing in the Mediterranean
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Massive natural gas discoveries off the coast of Israel and Palestine are slated to make Tel Aviv a regional energy hub. Whether Israel will be able to translate positive indicators of the largely untapped gas reserves into actual economic and strategic wealth is yet to be seen. What is certain, however, is that the Middle…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/pipeline-or-…

Pipeline or a Pipe Dream: Israel, Turkey Hydrocarbon Conflict is Brewing in the Mediterranean
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Massive natural gas discoveries off the eastern coast of Israel and Palestine is slated to make Tel Aviv a regional energy hub. Whether Israel will be able to translate positive indicators of the largely untapped gas reserves into actual economic and strategic wealth is yet to be seen. What is certain, however, is that the…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/pipeline-or-…

Erdogan’s Outburst Against Russia Reveals Frustration
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
Back in November 2015, a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M near the Syria–Turkey border on the allegations that the Russian warplane had violated Turkish airspace for 17 seconds

Trump’s Annexation Scheme: A Stake in the Heart of the Moribund Two-State Solution and Peace
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
Since no-peace/peace plans first surfaced in the 1970s, the US and Israel supported Palestinian self-determination in name only. | Both countries opposed the idea since Israel seized Palestinian territory not stolen in 1948. | A two-state solution was theoretically possible years earlier, …
globalresearch.ca/trump-annexation-schem…

War tensions mount between NATO powers over Libya, Mediterranean
wsws.org | 2020-01-31
The Berlin conference has set the stage not for peace, but only for stepped-up imperialist interventions to divide up the profits to be extracted from Libya and the entire region.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/31/fran…

Trump’s ‘peace plan’ gives the go-ahead to Israel’s biggest land grab in decades
Tom Anderson | thecanary.co | 2020-01-31
Donald Trump’s ‘ plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’ is catastrophic for Palestinians. One major problem is that it gives the green-light to Israeli politicians’ long-held plans to annex the Jordan Valley. | The Jordan Valley, which includes the Dead Sea region, makes up a third of the occupie…
thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2020/…

Chinese Resilience and Silent, Simple and Steady Resistance: a Model for Mankind
Peter Koenig | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-01-31
In a positive appeal to the Chinese people last Saturday, President Xi Jinping has called on the nation’s courage to defeat the deadly epidemic which has already claimed more than 80 lives and more than 2,000 infected worldwide, the vast majority in China. These figures are changing fast, as the spread of the epidemic is …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/01/chinese-resil…

Ukraine government plagued by political infighting
wsws.org | 2020-01-31
Sharp divisions are coming to the fore as the government is pressing ahead with mass privatizations and attempts to negotiate a settlement with Russia over the ongoing civil war in eastern Ukraine.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/31/ukra…

More Fallout from Trump’s Annexation Scheme of the Century
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
The unacceptable scheme is further proof of a geopolitical know-nothing US president

The War in Libya Will Never End
Vijay Prashad | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
General Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) continue to partly encircle Libya’s capital, Tripoli. Not only does the LNA threaten Tripoli, but it is within striking distance of Libya’s third-largest city, Misrata. Both Tripoli and Misrata are in the hands of the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is backed by the United…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/the-war-in-l…

The war in Libya will never end
Vijay Prashad | mronline.org | 2020-01-31
General Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) continue to partly encircle Libya’s capital, Tripoli. Not only does the LNA threaten Tripoli, but it is within striking distance of Libya’s third-largest city, Misrata. | Source…
mronline.org/2020/01/31/the-war-in-libya…

The Deliberate Destruction of Gaza’s Agriculture: Severe Damage to Crops Following Aerial Herbicide Spraying by Israel
GISHA | globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
Damage caused by aerial herbicide spraying conducted by Israel on three consecutive days ( January 14-16) along Gaza’s perimeter fence has become visible on crops in the Strip. Individuals working with London-based research agency Forensic Architecture collected samples from …
globalresearch.ca/severe-damage-crops-ga…

Two Wings, Four Despotisms
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Republican Tyranny, Orange Menace Democracy is trumped in the United States by multiple, overlapping, interrelated and mutually reinforcing forms of despotism. The Trump administration and the Trumpified Republican Party, backed by a cult-like base, embody a creepy, neofascistic variant of the disease. The Republican White House and Senate are currently conducting a tasteless tutorial in…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/two-wings-fo…

Two Wings, Four Despotisms
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Republican Tyranny, Orange Menace Democracy is trumped in the United States by multiple, overlapping, interrelated and mutually reinforcing forms of despotism. The Trump administration and the Trumpified Republican Party, backed by a cult-like base, embody a creepy, neofascistic variant of the disease. The Republican White House and Senate are currently been conducting a tasteless tutorial…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/two-wings-fo…

How mobile money is rebuilding lives in Sudan
news.un.org | 2020-01-31
When Mohammed Ahmed left Sudan in search of better life, he couldn’t have imagined that he would find financial security back home. But, some four years later, he now runs a thriving business, thanks to an innovative scheme involving the UN migration agency (IOM), based on the use of mobile money.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/01/1…

U.S. Declares Virus Emergency, New Entry Restrictions
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
WASHINGTON

China Has to Feed 50 Million People Now on Lockdown
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-01-31
Residents in the Wuhan area say that supermarkets remain stocked, but keeping them supplied is a massive governmental effort in logistics.
truthdig.com/articles/china-has-to-feed-…

Australia: Emergency State in Canberra Due to New Forest Fires
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-31
Australia’s authorities Friday declared a “state of emergency” in Canberra due to a new forest fire that threatens to spread to the south of the country’s capital. | RELATED: | Australia: New Bushfire Threat Reaches Southern Canberra | “The measure will be in effect for the duration of the fire risk in Canberra,” Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Andrew Barr said. | Since the forest fires could get out of control,‚Äã‚Äã‚&Auml…
telesurenglish.net/news/Australia-Emerge…

The Open Letter and the DNC
Rob Urie | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Strange times, strange times. Within days of the leading lights of the American left penning an open letter arguing that the political imperative of removing Donald Trump from office is so great that ‘any blue will do’ Tom Perez, the head of the DNC, was caught stacking Democratic Convention committees with the same centrists and…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/the-open-let…

21st Century Socialism
Louis Proyect | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Fifty years ago, Peter Camejo ran for Senator from Massachusetts against Ted Kennedy. He didn’t win but did manage to recruit many young people to socialism through a stump speech filled with jokes. One of them had to do with life under socialism. There would be such an abundance of goods that money would no…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/21st-century…

Mexicans Building a Feminist Internet Face Challenges
Tamara Pearson | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
When Patricia Azcagorta ran as a candidate for mayor of Caborca, Sonora, in Mexico in 2018, a video was circulated on social media of a woman dancing in her underwear, together with photos of Azcagorta, and messages accusing her of being a stripper. Using intimate images

The Muck We’re In
Joseph Natoli | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
“Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!”

The Super Bowl Presidency
Robert Lipsyte | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
Five Criteria for Selecting the Worst Old White Man to Lead Us Attorney General William Barr’s campaign to expand the powers of the presidency to unprecedented imperial levels has been misinterpreted as an attempt to raise Donald Trump to the level of his strongman heroes like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Jair Bolsonaro. Fake news!
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/the-super-bo…

The Imminent Threat of Trump and the Value of Progressive Third Parties
Roger Harris | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
As predictable as death and taxes is the quadrennial injunction from liberals for progressive third parties to cease and desist. Equally predictable is the admonition that this will be the most decisive presidential election in US history. Given the prospect of four more years of Trump, do they have a valid thesis or are they…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/the-imminent…

Trump’s EPA is a Huge Cancer Risk
Sam Pizzigati | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-31
This January, President Trump claimed credit for new figures from the American Cancer Society showing “the sharpest one-year drop in cancer death rate ever recorded” between 2016 and 2017. The society politely pointed out that the Trump administration had nothing to do with this encouraging decline. The new numbers, chief Gary Reedy explained,…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/31/trumps-epa-i…

Maasai leaders visit British museums in attempt to decolonise collections
Afroze Fatima Zaidi | thecanary.co | 2020-01-31
Representatives from Maasai tribes have been visiting museums in the UK this January. The visit was organised as part of a collaborative project called Living Cultures at Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum. It forms part of a larger movement to decolonise museums by making them aware of their colonial history and how this can be addressed responsibly. | According to a press release from Living Cultures, the project: is a partnership between Maasai represe…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/01/31/maasai-l…

F.W. Murnau’s ‘Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans’ has thrilling new score
Eric A. Gordon | peoplesworld.org | 2020-01-31
LOS ANGELES–This is a film town But there’s no period at the end of that sentence because L.A. is so much more. Not heavy industry so much, except the port, overland shipping and warehousing, and it’s probably the most productive garment center in the United States now. It’s a transportation hub and a generator of …
peoplesworld.org/article/f-w-murnaus-sun…

A reply to the American Historical Review’s defense of the 1619 Project
wsws.org | 2020-01-31
The disrespect expressed by editor Alex Lichtenstein toward leading historians reveals the extent to which racialist mythology, which has provided the “theoretical” foundation of middle-class identity politics, has been accepted, and even embraced, by a substantial section of the academic community as a legitimate basis for the teaching of American history.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/31/ahrr…

Minnesotans tell Klobuchar to drop White House run. Reports say she sent innocent Black teen to prison for life
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-01-31
Minneapolis, MN – “A young African American man by the name of Myon Burrell has spent more than half of his life incarcerated in Minnesota prisons under the leadership of Amy Klobuchar. She was the Hennepin County Attorney and she played a role in Myon Burrell being prosecuted for a crime that he did not commit,” said Nekima Levy Pounds of Racial Justice Network, as she opened a press conference on January 29. “We want to lift up family of Tyesha Edwards, who was the victim in this case, an 11-year-old innocent child who was shot and killed. The incident that happened to Tyesha is extremely devastating. It sent s…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/1/30/minnesot…

University of Wisconsin nurses seek community support for union effort
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-01-31
Madison, WI – Back in December of 2019, the professional nurses working at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority (UWHCA) demanded the voluntary recognition of their union from the UWHCA Board of Directors. | Dozens of nurses laid out the union’s demands at a UWHCA board meeting. Board members appeared largely indifferent to the presence of these workers expressing their need for recognition and better working conditions. | The demands put forward by the nurses at the meeting specifically centered around a few main points: voluntary recognition of the union by the board, direct the hospital an…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/1/30/universi…

EPA Reapproves Glyphosate, Claims Pesticide Poses No Human Health Threat

| globalresearch.ca | 2020-01-31
Relying on confidential industry research, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a final interim decision today to reapprove glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto/Bayer’s Roundup and the world’s most heavily used pesticide. | The EPA’s assessment contradicts a 2015 World Health Organization …
globalresearch.ca/epa-reapproves-glyphos…

Majority of Top 2020 Democrats Backed by Outside Groups
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-31
Democratic presidential candidates started their race to the White House with the promise to reject support from outside groups. | But with just a few days left till the early primaries, yet another TV ad campaign by an outside group —- this time in support of former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg —- indicates the 2020 Democrats are opening up to outside money. Three of the top five candidates a…
truthout.org/articles/majority-of-top-20…

Election Theft Is a 120-Year Tradition. Let’s End It This Year
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-31
Every four years we suffer the sad ritual of begging or bashing a left third party to refrain from draining votes from the mainstream Democrats because of a horrendous Republican alternative. | And every four years the real point

Top cleric Sistani condemns use of force to disperse Iraq protest camps, calls for elections
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has condemned the use of force to disperse protest camps across the country. | He also renewed calls for early elections to be held in a free and fair manner. | Sistani, who delivered his message through a representative at Friday prayers in the holy city of Kerbala, also “heavily condemned” US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, Reuters reported. | Earlier this month, Sistani condemned the US-Iranian military confrontation taking place on Iraqi soil, saying it risked plunging the war-ravaged country and the wider Middle East into deepe…
rt.com/newsline/479714-sistani-force-ira…

Afghanistan will need ‘billions in foreign aid,’ US agency warns
rt.com | 2020-01-31
A US agency warned on Friday that Afghanistan will need vast amounts of foreign funding to keep its government afloat through 2024. International money pays for roughly 75 percent of all of Afghanistan’s costs, while government revenue covers barely a quarter of Afghan public expenditures. | The warning comes as foreign donors become increasingly angry over the cost of corruption and the US seeks a peace deal with the Taliban to withdraw its troops from the country. The Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which issues reports quarterly to US Congress, monitors all US spending relating…
rt.com/newsline/479669-afghanistan-forei…

While other countries evacuate citizens from Wuhan, China is to bring over 200 people from Thailand, Malaysia back home
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Despite the coronavirus outbreak, over 200 Chinese nationals in Southeast Asia are desperate to come home. China has sent planes to bring them back to Wuhan while other nations airlift their citizens out of the quarantined city. | Ever since the Wuhan cordon sanitaire began on January 23, tourists from Hubei province have been stuck in nearby Southeast Asian countries, unable to get back home. Malaysia banned visitors from Wuhan on January 27, but those who were in the country already still remain. | Thailand has not shut its borders yet, but that’s of little help to the tourists: Wuhan is closed off from the…
rt.com/news/479758-china-citizens-back-t…

Crimean official quits, changes her mind, then quits again after bizarre ‘bread and fur coats’ scandal
rt.com | 2020-01-31
“Fur-coat gate” has gripped Crimea after a local official resigned, then re-instated herself, before

Special Indian flight en route to Wuhan to deliver medical supplies & evacuate citizens stranded in coronavirus epicenter
rt.com | 2020-01-31
An Air India flight has been given the green light to travel to the Chinese city of Wuhan

Spain confirms first case of fast-spreading coronavirus gripping China
rt.com | 2020-01-31
The Spanish Ministry of Health has confirmed the country’s first case of a lethal coronavirus that has swept all of China’s 31 provinces and at least 25 other nations. | The first case in the country was confirmed by Spain’s National Centre for Microbiology and announced by the Health Ministry late on Friday, with one man diagnosed on La Gomera, a remote island in the Canaries. The patient was among five people brought to the island for observation after coming into contact with a German man diagnosed with the virus. | The confirmation comes as officials in China’s Hubei Province

Feast in time of plague? Trump official says China coronavirus is good for US economy
rt.com | 2020-01-31
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday the deadly coronavirus outbreak that has claimed the lives of 213 and infected almost 10,000 people globally could boost the US economy. | “I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America

Italian Council of Ministers declares state of emergency due to coronavirus health risk
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Rome has declared a state of emergency for six months in response to Italy’s first two coronavirus cases. The decision comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the epidemic a global crisis. | Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Friday that two Chinese tourists staying in Rome had tested positive for the virus. As part of its emergency measures, Italy has suspended all direct flights to China. | The tourists from Wuhan

Pakistan suspends direct flights to China as novel coronavirus claims more lives
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Pakistan is suspending all direct flights to Chinese cities days after four of its students tested positive for the new coronavirus. Similar measures have been taken in countries across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. | “We are suspending flights to China until February 2,” the additional secretary of aviation, Abdul Sattar Khokhar, told Reuters on Friday, saying Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will review the situation after that date. | Local media shared an official CAA letter sent to local managers of Air China and China Southern Airlines

First two cases of coronavirus confirmed in Russia, both Chinese citizens
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Russia has registered its first patients diagnosed with the new Chinese coronavirus, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova has confirmed. The alarming news comes just a day after Moscow closed its Far Eastern border with China. | Golikova told reporters that the two sufferers are Chinese citizens, one in the Far Eastern Zabaikalsky Region, and the other in the Tyumen Region in western Siberia

Senate votes down Democrats’ witness demand in Trump impeachment trial
rt.com | 2020-01-31
The Republican-majority Senate has rejected Democrats’ demand for additional witnesses in the impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump, paving the way for the likely acquittal verdict expected sometime next week. | Senators voted 51-49 not to call on more witnesses beyond the 18 that testified in the proceedings led by the House Democrats last year. | Two Republicans, Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), joined the Democrats in calling for additional witnesses

‘Disney princess moment’: Fans rejoice as Priyanka Chopra and Danielle Jonas pose as ‘Frozen’ sisters Anna and Elsa at Grammys
rt.com | 2020-01-31
After posing for cameras as they walked down the red carpet at the Grammys, Indian actress Priyanka Chopra and Danielle Jonas decided to partake in a behind-the-scenes photoshoot, producing some quality Instagram pics. | Chopra made headlines earlier this week with the revealing white gown that she wore to the music awards ceremony

Russia set to train astronauts for India’s 1st manned Gaganyaan mission
rt.com | 2020-01-31
India, which is striving to become the fourth space superpower, is sending a group of astronauts to Russia where they will be given rigorous training at the famed Cosmonaut Training Center outside of Moscow. | An Indian crew of four is arriving in February and the program “is intended for one year and a half,” the head of Russia’s Cosmonaut Training Center, Pavel Vlasov, told TASS. The center will train a spacecraft commander and spacecraft flight engineers, using the time-tested Soyuz. | India, which is seeking to launch its first-ever manned mission

Tehran says US sanctions on chief of nuclear energy organization was ‘unwise move’
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Iran’s nuclear energy organization has described recent sanctions on the head of the agency by the US an “unwise move.” Washington announced new sanctions on Thursday against the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and its director, Ali Akbar Salehi. The sanctions freeze any assets that Salehi has within US jurisdiction. | The organization tweeted on Friday that “the unwise move” by President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Salehi and AEOI “will not in any way interrupt [Iran’s] peaceful nuclear activities and policies.” | “Such cruel sanctions will further enhance the nuclear scientist’s motives in…
rt.com/newsline/479745-iran-us-sanctions…

‘No such proposal’: Islamabad rejects ‘speculation’ over alleged plan to integrate Pakistani-held part of Kashmir
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Pakistan has denied it is gearing up to merge the territory it administers in the disputed region of Kashmir with the rest of the country, dismissing reports to the contrary as media speculation. | “There is no such proposal under consideration,” Pakistani Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said. She was responding to reports in the media that Islamabad is allegedly seeking to integrate Azad Jammu and Kashmir (also known as Azad Kashmir) into Pakistan. | The rumors have been circulating in the media since December, after the region’s prime minister reportedly suggested that he could become the las…
rt.com/news/479645-pakistan-azad-kashmir…

Trump to expand travel ban, targeting immigrants from 6 more countries
rt.com | 2020-01-31
US President Donald Trump will issue an updated version of his controversial travel ban, acting Homeland Security head Chad Wolf said Friday. The existing ban will remain in place, having been okayed by the Supreme Court in 2018. | Speaking to reporters by phone, Wolf said that the updated ban will suspend immigrant visas for nationals of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria. Non-immigrant visas from these countries will not be affected. | ‘Diversity Visas’

Erdogan blasts Arab states for backing Trump’s Middle East plan
rt.com | 2020-01-31
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted a number of Arab nations on Friday for backing a Middle East peace plan unveiled by the US, condemning it as “treason.” | “Some Arab countries that support such a plan commit treason against Jerusalem, as well as against their own people, and more importantly against all humanity,” Erdogan told his party’s provincial heads in Ankara. | Erdogan, a strong advocate of Palestinian rights, singled out Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan, AFP reports. “Saudi Arabia in particular, you are silent. When will you break your silence? You look at Amman,…
rt.com/newsline/479696-erdogan-arabs-tru…

Libyan government must honor its promise, release ‘illegally detained’ employees – Russian NGO
rt.com | 2020-01-31
A Russian NGO has accused the government in Tripoli of breaking the pledge it made during peace talks by refusing to release two of its employees, arrested last year on charges of “meddling” in an election that never happened. | Maxim Shugalei and Samer Hassan Ali Seifan worked for the Foundation for National Values Protection, a Russian nonprofit. They were arrested in May 2019 by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). | “We consider that one of the objectives of this arrest of Russian citizens was the urge to prevent the leak of the results of their social studies, which prove the absence of…
rt.com/news/479819-libya-russians-illega…