Daily Archives: November 4, 2020

2020-11-04: News Headlines

Vijay Prashad (2020-11-04). The US is doing its best to lock out China from Latin America and the Caribbean. peoplesdispatch.org Vijay Prashad writes on how the US has meddled in trade relations between China and El Salvador, while promoting its own private investment initiatives…

Mohammed al-Deirawi, Ramzy Baroud (2020-11-04). "They Tried to Freeze Me to Death:" Torture and Resistance in Israeli Prisons. counterpunch.org Mohammad Ibrahim Ali al-Deirawi was born on January 30, 1978 in Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. His family is originally from Bir Al-Saba', an ethnically cleansed Palestinian town located in the southern Naqab desert. Mohammad was arrested by the Israeli army at a military checkpoint in central Gaza on March 1, 2001. He

Mohammad al-Deirawi and Ramzy Baroud (2020-11-04). "They Tried to Freeze Me to Death": Torture and Resistance in Israeli Prisons. dissidentvoice.org Mohammad Ibrahim Ali al-Deirawi was born on January 30, 1978 in Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. His family is originally from Bir Al-Saba', an ethnically cleansed Palestinian town located in the southern Naqab desert. Mohammad was arrested by the Israeli army at a military checkpoint in central Gaza on March 1, 2001. He …

MEE staff (2020-11-04). Bahrain convicts dozens on allegations of membership of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. middleeasteye.net Bahrain convicts dozens on allegations of membership of Iran's Revolutionary Guard | Conviction of 51 people, mostly in absentia, decried by activists as proof of 'systemic corruption of Bahrain's judiciary' | Wed, 11/04/2020 – 11: 05 | Bahraini women demonstrate in solidarity with political prisoners, in the village of Shakhora, west of Manama, on 1 June 2012 (AFP) | The Bahraini government announced on Tuesd…

Bill Meyer (2020-11-04). Features from Iran at 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. peoplesworld.org Iran, yet another country in the bull's-eye of U.S. imperialism, has probably one of the most humanist national cinemas in the world. Despite rabid U.S. attempts to demonize the people of Iran, the country's rich history of filmmaking has provided a different picture entirely, of a country defending itself through many chaotic transitions in power, …

Ted Kelly (2020-11-04). International calls for release of Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike. workers.org Hunger striker Maher al-Akhras The International Association of Democratic Lawyers, in a resolution released late last month, called for the immediate release of Maher al-Akhras, a Palestinian man imprisoned by Israeli occupation. Detained without charges under the notorious "administrative detention" policy, al-Akhras has been staging a hunger strike for almost . . . |

MEE and agencies (2020-11-04). Children among civilians killed in government air strikes on Syria's Idlib province. middleeasteye.net Children among civilians killed in government air strikes on Syria's Idlib province | According to war monitor, at least seven civilians, including four children, killed as opposition forces attempt to hold last remaining territories | Wed, 11/04/2020 – 13: 53 | Damage caused by heavy shelling by Syrian government forces on the industrial area in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of…

Ragip Soylu (2020-11-04). Turkey slaps social media networks with millions of dollars' worth of fines. middleeasteye.net Turkey slaps social media networks with millions of dollars' worth of fines | Ankara took the step after companies such as Facebook and Twitter failed to assign a legal representative in the country as new law requires | Wed, 11/04/2020 – 10: 21 | The Turkish government believes the social media network providers would eventually submit papers to assign legal representatives (AFP) | The Turkish governmen…

Fight Back (2020-11-04). Green Bay, WI: Vigil and caravan for Donna Christensen and missing, murdered indigenous women. fightbacknews.org Green Bay, WI – On November 1, the Wisconsin Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression held a car caravan and vigil for Donna Christensen, an Ojibwe woman and member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, who was found dead in a jail cell in Vilas County, Wisconsiin. | The car caravanners displayed signs and chanted slogans calling for justice for Donna Christensen and for all Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), as well as justice for all victims of police crimes. They flew a banner with the words "Native lives matter" and "Justice for Jonathan," an indigenous man murdered by Gree…

Anthony Cartalucci (2020-11-04). US-funded Thai Protests: iLaw. thealtworld.com iLaw is a US government-funded front petitioning the Thai government to have the entire Thai constitution rewritten and rewritten in such a way as to make it easier for US-backed opposition parties to get into power. | I cover iLaw's US government funding and why it seeks to change Thailand's constitution and how it threatens Thai-Chinese relations and ultimately Thailand's economic future. | landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2020/11/us-funded-thai-protests-ilaw.html | References: | Bangkok Post — Three parties want to rewrite charter: | Elijah Magnier (2020-11-04). L'exercice militaire ´Lethal Arrow ª montre qu'Israà´l s'attend à ce que le Hezbollah traverse la frontière. thealtworld.com Après une semaine de

Elijah Magnier (2020-11-04). Israel's "Lethal Arrow" military exercise anticipates Hezbollah will its cross-borders. thealtworld.com After a week of In these large-scale exercises, Israel has acknowledged, for the first time…

_____ (2020-11-04). Amazon Bans Book Exposing US COVID-19 Chaos. popularresistance.org A decision by the Amazon company to block a book focused on a scientific and cooperative approach to COVID-19 amounts to corporate information control operating at a new intensity. This censorship occurs while almost every form of U.S. media permits and promotes racist, unscientific and thoroughly confusing information. | The censored book is "Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China & the U.S." This anthology of 55 articles by a broad range of social justice authors discuss the importance of free health care, social distancing, testing, protective equipment, education and social mobilizat…

Gloria Rubac (2020-11-04). Indigenous nations in Oklahoma win Supreme Court ruling. workers.org A surprisingly progressive Supreme Court decision found that over one-third of Oklahoma still falls into "Indian Country" under federal law for the Muscogee Creek Tribe and other Oklahoma tribes. The court ruled July 9 in McGirt v. Oklahoma that under treaties dating back two centuries, much of eastern Oklahoma is . . . |

Editor (2020-11-04). How Will the U.S. Election Change the Mideast? scheerpost.com By Juan Cole / Informed Comment If Joe Biden wins the presidency and the Democrats sweep to power in both houses of Congress, it will have a huge impact on domestic policies, on everything from health care to workers' rights to green energy. But the impact on foreign policy would be equally significant. The biggest foreign loser in such a sea change will be Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a country… |

Areeb Ullah (2020-11-04). Saudi Arabia to allow foreign workers to change jobs without employer's permission. middleeasteye.net Saudi Arabia to allow foreign workers to change jobs without employer's permission | New labour reforms will not apply to the millions of migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia | Wed, 11/04/2020 – 11: 16 | New rules will allow workers to change jobs and leave the country without their employers' permission (AFP) | Saudi Arabia has introduced plans to ease restrictions imposed on foreign workers and mak…

Susan Abulhawa (2020-11-04). Labour's ouster of MP Jeremy Corbyn aims to crush criticism of Israel. workers.org Member of Parliament and former leader of the Labour Party (2015-2020), Jeremy Corbyn was ousted from his own party by its new leader, Keir Starmer, who has clearly allied with right-wing and neoliberal forces to destroy the socialist left in Britain and beyond. While Workers World Party has disagreed with . . . |

South Front (2020-11-04). Video: Turkish Risk Investments in Local Conflicts and Prospects of Armenian Counter-offensive in Karabakh. globalresearch.ca In early November, the Azerbaijani-Turkish advance in the directions of the Lachin corridor and the town of Shusha in the Nagorno-Karabakh region slowed down. | The main factors are the fierce resistance of Armenian forces, the complicated terrain, deteriorating weather conditions …

MEE and agencies (2020-11-04). Palestinian killed by Israeli fire near West Bank checkpoint. middleeasteye.net Palestinian killed by Israeli fire near West Bank checkpoint | Bilal Rawajba, 29, was a legal consultant in the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service in the Tubas district, and lived in the village of Iraq al-Tayeh, outside Nablus | Wed, 11/04/2020 – 10: 42 | Israeli forces gather at Huwara checkpoint near Nablus in the occupied West Bank where Bilal Rawajba, 29, was killed (…

news.un (2020-11-04). UN brings Cyprus leaders together, mulling future talks on divided island. news.un.org The leaders of the divided island of Cyprus have met in the capital Nicosia, in an encounter convened by the United Nations, the Secretary-General's Good Offices Mission in Cyprus said on Tuesday.

Tom Anderson (2020-11-04). Campaigners take direct action as Palestinians remember Balfour's shameful declaration. thecanary.co UK Palestine solidarity campaigners have taken coordinated direct action across the UK to mark the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. | The Balfour Declaration

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Bosnia & Herzegovina eyes developing parl. ties with Iran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina emphasized the need for the expansion of parliamentary ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Russia Intl. ICT exhibition hosts Iran Knowledge-based firms. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Some Iranian knowledge-based firms exhibited their latest achievements at the 32nd International Exhibition for Information and Communication Technology in Moscow.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Gen. Soleimani assassinators responsible for all "insecurity" en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — The Ambassador of Iran in Azerbaijan asserted that the responsibility for the insecurity of Kabul and Vienna lies with the perpetrators of the cowardly assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, who fought bravely against ISIL.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Coronavirus infects 8,452, kills 419 in Iran in 24 hours. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — The daily count of COVID-19 infections in Iran reached 8,452 on Wednesday, bringing the total cases to 646,164, according to the Health Ministry.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Iran's newly-appointed envoy to Yemen submits credentials. en.mehrnews.com SANA'A, Nov. 05 (MNA) — Iran's newly-appointed ambassador to Yemen Hassan Irloo submitted a copy of his credentials to the Chairman of Yemen's Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat on Wednesday.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Bloodshed, insecurity only result of Takfiri terrorism. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Iran's deputy foreign minister has condemned a deadly terrorist attack on Kabul University, Afghanistan, saying Takfiri terrorism has led to nothing but bloodshed and insecurity.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Iranian envoy pays tribute to victims of Kabul terror attack. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to France paid tribute to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack at Kabul University.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). VIDEO: Iranian envoy submits credentials to Yemeni official. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Iran's new ambassador to Yemen Hassan Irloo submitted a copy of his credentials to the Chairman of Yemen's Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat on Wednesday.

Staff (2020-11-04). Election Day Mayhem Began Two Years Ago With Massive Voter Purges. truthout.org You didn't hear this in the cable TV chatter: In the two years leading up to this election, Georgia's GOP secretary of state quietly wiped away the voter registrations of 198,351 voters — based on false information. | Call it "The Great Purge" — overwhelmingly wiping away the voting rights of young voters and voters of color. In other words, voters who might be more likely to vote blue. | I'm not guessing the number of wrongly purged voters. I directed a team of experts that identified each…

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Iran sends 8th non-oil cargo to Oman via Sirik. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Iran has shipped the second non-oil cargo to Oman via Sirik Port in southern Hormozgan province, Governor of Sirik County said on Wednesday.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). NIDC indigenizes know-how for manufacturing highly-used parts. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — After the US reimpostion of sanctions against Iran, indigenizing the know-how for the manufacturing of the parts and equipment applied in different industrial sectors is one of the major strategies of Iran.

_____ (2020-11-04). Is Adam Schiff an Anti-Semite? strategic-culture.org Is Adam Schiff an anti-Semite? | On its face, the question seems absurd. Not only is Schiff himself Jewish, but, as far as anyone knows, he's never uttered an unkind word in his life about Jews as a nation, religion, or ethnic group. So he seems to get a clean bill of health. Yet when it comes to Russia, his thinking hews so closely to the classic anti-Semitic model that one hesitates to let him off the hook. | Basically, Schiff obsesses about the Kremlin the way people used to obsess about a mythical entity known as the elders of Zion. According to the notorious czarist forgery known as the "secret protocols," t…

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Global Arrogance aims to engage Muslims against each other. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — The Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) said engaging Muslims against one another and sowing seeds of discord among Muslims is the main objective of the Global Arrogance.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Baku 'highly values' Leader's remarks on Karabakh row. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — In a statement on Wednesday, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry appreacited the remarks of the Islamic Revolution Leader over the Karabakh conflict.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). US presidential election country's internal affair: China. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said that the US presidential election is the country's internal affair.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Iranian Foreign Minister arrives in Venezuela on Wednesday. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Iranian Foreign Minister was welcomed by his Venezuelan counterpart upon his arrival in the country on Wednesday.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Leader pardons, commutes prison terms of 3,780 convicts. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has pardoned or commuted the sentences of a large number of Iranian prisoners.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Iranian prisoners in Georgia repatriated to Islamic Republic. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — Georgia handed over 6 Iranian prisoners to the Islamic Republic on Wednesday due to the efforts made by the Iranian Embassy in Tbilisi.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). Sidelines of cabinet session on Wednesday. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — On the sideline of Iran's Cabinet session on Wednesday, some of the ministers answered a number of questions raised by reporters.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-04). US election has minor effect on West Asian policy. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 04 (MNA) — An American scholar believes that the US election has a minor effect on West Asian policy and major implications for domestic unrest.

WSWS (2020-11-03). Australian troops accused of Abu Ghraib, My Lai-style war crimes in Afghanistan. wsws.org An official 2016 report, now partially revealed, is part of a protracted government cover-up.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida (2020-11-03). Relations Between Mexico and India Are on the Rise. asia-pacificresearch.com

MEE staff (2020-11-03). Covid-19: Scores of Palestinian prisoners infected. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: Scores of Palestinian prisoners infected | The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners' Affairs blames 'bad measures' inside Gilboa prison for the spread of the coronavirus | Tue, 11/03/2020 – 15: 05 | Palestinian prisoners and visitors at Gilboa prison in central Israel in 2006 (AFP) | Around 73 Palestinian prisoners have tested positive for Covid-19 inside the Israeli prison of Gilboa, according to the…

Gareth Porter (2020-11-03). How DHS and FBI officials spun a dubious Russian election threat days before voting. thegrayzone.com A Department of Homeland Security election alert spawning new Russia fears was so incoherent and inconsistent with previous findings, it suggested a state of political panic inside the agency. Just days before the 2020 election the bureaucratic forces behind the original claim of Russian hacking of state election-related websites in 2016 launched a new drive to spawn fears of Moscow-made political chaos in the wake of the voting. The new narrative was not consistent with information previously published by the …

Gareth Porter (2020-11-03). How a key Pentagon official turned China policy over to arms industry and Taiwan supporters. mronline.org Branded "Fortress Taiwan" by the Pentagon, the ambitious arms deal was the engineered by Randall Schriver, a veteran pro-Taiwan activist and anti-China hardliner whose think tank had been financed by America's biggest arms contractors and by the Taiwan government itself.

MEE and agencies (2020-11-03). Turkey earthquake: Rescue workers pull four-year-old girl from rubble as death toll rises to 102. middleeasteye.net Turkey earthquake: Rescue workers pull four-year-old girl from rubble as death toll rises to 102 | Four-year-old Ayda Gezgin was trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in Izmir for four days | Tue, 11/03/2020 – 08: 12 | Death toll increased to 102 as rescue continues to search for survivors after Turkey suffered its most devastating earthquake in a decade (Reuters) | Turkish resc…

MEE and agencies (2020-11-03). Covid-19: Saudi Arabia's Aramco announces major slump in profits. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: Saudi Arabia's Aramco announces major slump in profits | Saudi state oil company revealed it had suffered a 44.6 percent decline in profits in the third-quarter | Tue, 11/03/2020 – 13: 59 | Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing plant (AFP) | Profits in Saudi Arabia's state oil company have taken a severe hit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, slumping by 44.6 percent in the…

RT (2020-11-03). In major rule change, Russian intelligence officers to be allowed to take foreign citizenship & residency as part of missions. rt.com Russia's State Duma has moved to roll back rules that prevented many of the country's intelligence and security officers from holding residence permits, and even the citizenship, of other countries as part of their service. | Until now, employees of these agencies, like military personnel, federal civil servants, and other senior officials, had been banned from possessing these documents, and being a foreign resident or citizen constituted official grounds for dismissal. | However, a new bill introduced earlier this year by President Vladimir Putin would allow agents of the FSB and SVR, Russia's domestic and o…

MEE and agencies (2020-11-03). Bahrain approves use of experimental Covid-19 vaccine for frontline workers. middleeasteye.net Bahrain approves use of experimental Covid-19 vaccine for frontline workers | Bahrain's health minister said clinical trials showed the Chinese vaccine was 'safe and effective' | Tue, 11/03/2020 – 12: 13 | A volunteer disinfects a bed as Muslim Shia mourners give blood as part of Ashura commemorations, in Alnoaim village, a suburb of the Bahraini capital Manama (AFP) | Bahrain has approved…