(2021-12-11). The U.S. national security establishment needs a paradigm shift. Now. moderndiplomacy.eu If you can sense one trend over the past weeks is that war is in the air, both on the Ukraine and the Taiwan fronts. That brings the world to a brink of war, and it seems like the US military establishment is interested in connecting the dots. They have been waiting for this for …
(2021-12-11). Erdogan's Bayraktar Bonanza. journal-neo.org 
On December 3, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Russian President Vladimir Putin. The heads of the two states spoke about Libya, Ukraine, and what is happening in Transcaucasia. While discussing the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian President stressed the importance of full and strict compliance with the Implementation of the 2015 Minsk Package of Measures …
(2021-12-11). US State Department holds talks with Sri Lankan Tamil leaders. wsws.org The TNA and the GTF are acting as quislings of US imperialism, seeking privileges for the Tamil elite.
(2021-12-11). India's community health workers' struggle for recognition. roarmag.org 
Asha worker marking the finger of a baby girl after administering a polio vaccine in Delhi, India. June 28, 2021. Photo: PradeepGaurs / Shutterstock.com | This essay is published in collaboration with Public Services International | | Over the last year-and-a-half, one of the most visible groups of workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in India have been the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), a cadre of community health workers appointed by the National Health Mission (NHM). These hitherto invisible women were seen not only going hou…
(2021-12-11). New Threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Taliban's Capacity, Tehrik-i Taliban, and ISIS-Khorasan. moderndiplomacy.eu Authors: Mahmut Cengiz, Asma Ul Hussna Durrani, Andrea Quinn The world was stunned by the Taliban's quick takeover of Afghanistan. The former Afghan government's military was four times larger than the Taliban's, but the world saw how the Afghan military surrendered to the Taliban in a short time. Overlooked or at least underestimated were the …
(2021-12-11). Saudi Arabia targets banned ultra-conservative proselytisers. moderndiplomacy.eu Saudi Islamic affairs minister Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz al-Sheikh has ordered imams in the kingdom to identify one of the world's largest Muslim movements as misguided, deviant, dangerous, and a breeder of militancy. Mr. Al-Sheikh's offensive against Tablighi Jamaat or Society for Preaching, a secretive transnational ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim missionary movement of South Asian origin long …
(2021-12-11). Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand. wsws.org Indian ordnance factory workers hold national strike; Odisha state childcare workers demand higher wages; Australian plasterboard workers locked out; New Zealand rail union calls off strike.
(2021-12-11). [Comment] Offline: The origin story. thelancet.com The relationship between humans and animals is deep and ancient. The spread of our Early Bronze Age (3300—2500 BCE) ancestors from central Eurasia westwards into Europe and eastwards towards Mongolia depended on the domestication of horses, sheep, goats, and cattle. Migration is a defining characteristic of who we are as a species. But the extent of our migration has long been entwined with the fate of animals. These relationships are only growing more complex over time. One aspect of our association with animals has recently provoked a controversy of momentous geopolitical importance—the origin of SA…
(2021-12-11). No focus on India on UN Genocide Day. moderndiplomacy.eu Each year, on the ninth day of December, the United Nations observes the UN Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims and Crimes of Genocide. The day is also remembered as anniversary of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the "Genocide Convention). As usual, the Day came and passed …
(2021-12-11). Iran Warns Against 'Dangerous' Acts of Piracy Targeting its Oil at Sea. orinocotribune.com An Iranian envoy to the United Nations has issued a stern warning against acts of piracy targeting tankers carrying Iran's oil cargos at sea, urging the international community to condemn such illegal measures that endanger freedom of navigation. | Zahra Ershadi, deputy permanent representative of Iran to the UN, made the remarks on Wednesday in an address to the UN General Assembly's meeting on oceans and the law of the sea. | She complained that the coronavirus pandemic and the US imposition of sanctions under the so-called maximum pressure campaign had disrupted freedom of movement for Iranian vessels and affe…
(2021-12-11). On 'Gassing the Arabs' and Other Diseases: Is Israel a 'Sick Society'? zcomm.org Whether right-wing, left-wing or center, Israel is committed to its military superiority, its racism and to the military occupation more than ever before…
(2021-12-11). [World Report] What next for the Philippines' war on drugs? thelancet.com With President Duterte's term in office ending, an investigation by the International Criminal Court into the killing of drug users has been suspended. Talha Burki reports.
(2021-12-11). Schools emerge as new hotbed for COVID-19 infection in South Korea. wsws.org The lifting of all serious social distancing measures has led to an explosion of new COVID-19 cases, which is now beginning to overwhelm the medical system.
(2021-12-11). South Korea's Green New Deal: Myths versus Realities. zcomm.org There's one place in the world where the Green New Deal is a policy reality. But is it living up to its hype?>
(2021-12-11). [Perspectives] The healer as the enemy: attacking health care in war. thelancet.com Violence against health care in war has shocked the global public conscience over the past decade. Images of attacks on hospitals from my home country, Syria, have been especially disturbing. Documentaries such as The New Barbarianism, For Sama, and The Cave, the latter two from Syria, provide gripping accounts of the plight of hospitals and health workers under attack. Scholarship on health-care attacks has not been extensive. For instance, three fairly recent authoritative edited volumes on conflict and health—Ilkka Taipale's 2001 War or Health: A Reader, Barry Levy and Victor Sidel's 2007 War and Public…
(2021-12-10). Extradiction of Assange Darkens Human Rights Day: Russia Says. telesurenglish.net On Friday, Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova harshly criticized the decision of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales to approve the extradition of WikiLeaks Julian Assange to the United States. | RELATED: | "The U.K. High Court has authorized Julian Assange's extradition to the United States. This shameful verdict as part of the political case is yet another manifestation of the Anglo-Saxon t…
(2021-12-10). Assange ruling a dangerous precedent for journalists and British justice. dissidentvoice.org On Friday, the English High Court paved the way for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States and tried over the publication of hundreds of thousands of documents, some of which contained evidence of US and British war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. The decision reversed a ruling in January by …
(2021-12-10). Biden's Summit for Democracy: International NGOs express concern that Summit will ignore India's descent to fascism. mronline.org 
Groups extend offer to Biden to provide input to help make the summit a success.
(2021-12-10). US senate rejects resolution seeking ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia. peoplesdispatch.org The resolution presented jointly by some Republican and Democrat senators sought to limit the sale of US weapons to Saudi Arabia due to its involvement in the war in Yemen and its alleged war crimes…
(2021-12-10). Ethiopian community rallies in Dallas against U.S. intervention. fightbacknews.org Dallas, TX – Hundreds of members of Dallas's large Ethiopian community rallied outside Dallas City Hall on November 21 against U.S. intervention in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The protest was associated with the nationwide #NoMore movement and was called by community members, though the rally was also attended by members of the All African People's Revolutionary Party and the Dallas Anti-War Committee. | A community spokeswoman talked about the sanctions and diplomatic moves that the Biden administration has taken against Ethiopia in recent weeks, stating, "The Biden administration actions are a pretext to ge…
(2021-12-10). Journalist Nada Homsi freed after 23 days of illegal detention in Lebanon. peoplesdispatch.org Homsi was in Lebanon working with US news outlet NPR (National Public Radio) when she was detained on November 16 after members of the Lebanese General Security Directorate raided her home…
(2021-12-10). Afghanistan: Two Blasts Rock Western Part of Kabul City. telesurenglish.net Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti confirmed that two civilians were killed and three others injured as a blast targeted a mini-bus in Dasht-i-Barch district in Kabul on Friday. However, eyewitnesses believed that the number of casualties could be higher than reported. | RELATED: | The official also confirmed that another blast almost in the same area injured a woman on Friday afternoon, but he…
(2021-12-10). Laos' Railway Opens: The West Kicks and Screams as China and Laos Move Forward Together. asia-pacificresearch.com
(2021-12-10). Assad, Syria and China's new Silk Road. orinocotribune.com 
By Matthew Ehret — Dec, 07 2021 | Count on Syria becoming an important West Asian hub in China's Belt and Road Initiative | Ever since Russia and China began challenging the Anglo-American scorched Earth doctrine in 2011 with their first vetoes against US intervention into Syria, the Gordian knots that have tied up the Arab world in chaos, division and ignorance for decades have finally begun to unravel. | Where just one decade ago the unipolar vision of the 'new American century' reigned unchallenged, by 2013 the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had sprung into life, and the largest purges of China's deep sta…
(2021-12-10). Future of Peace and Human Rights in West Asia. warisacrime.org By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, December 9, 2021 Submission to conference organized by FODASUN ( fodasun.com ) on the future of peace and human rights in West Asia Every government in West Asia, as in the rest of the Earth, abuses human rights. Most of the governments in West Asia and the surrounding regions …
(2021-12-10). Cambodia Is Now Living with COVID-19: World Bank. moderndiplomacy.eu Cambodia's real GDP growth is projected to reach 2.2% this year, impeded by slow growth in services including tourism, and in construction, and real estate. While, other traditional growth drivers, especially the garment, travel goods, footwear, and bicycle manufacturing industries, as well as agriculture, are underpinning the economic recovery, according to Living with COVID-19, the …
(2021-12-10). Observing The Effectiveness of Indonesia's Food Estate Program. moderndiplomacy.eu Food security is again a public concern and discussion, this is related to…
(2021-12-10). Between China and the AUKUS: The Future of Indonesia-France Strategic Partnership. moderndiplomacy.eu The regional tension between Indonesia and China was reaching a new stage. On December 1, 2021, some Chinese diplomats told Indonesia to halt the oil and gas exploration in Northern Natuna. Believing that the drilling was taking place in the Chinese territory, the Chinese authorities sent a protest letter towards the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign …
(2021-12-10). Israel Pushes Hardline in Iran Nuclear Talks. dissidentvoice.org 
After a 5-month hiatus, indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran resumed last week in Vienna in an attempt to revise the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). The outlook isn't good. Less than a week into negotiations, Britain, France, and Germany accused Iran of "walking …
(2021-12-10). Parisian "Wheeling and Dealing" in the Persian Gulf. journal-neo.org 
The first official European assessment of the recent round of talks in Vienna between the representatives of Iran and those of the E3 (Great Britain, France, and Germany), Russia, China, and the US came, oddly enough, from Dubai, where the quick-witted French president Emmanuel Macron announced what he called the failure of the foregoing phase …
(2021-12-10). Iraq Announces End of US Combat Mission, but US Says Troops Not Leaving. libya360.wordpress.com Peoples Dispatch (Photo: Fazel Hawramy/Rudaw) The change in the nature of the US mission in Iraq first announced in July this year has been rejected by the Iraqi militias who are demanding a complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country Iraqi groups expressed dissatisfaction and opposition to the official announcement of the end…
(2021-12-10). How Israel made Gaza's houses unsafe. electronicintifada.net Numerous buildings had to be demolished after the May attack ended.
(2021-12-10). Bachelet describes 'disastrous' human rights situation across Occupied Palestinian Territory. moderndiplomacy.eu The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Tuesday that the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has become "disastrous", with severe infringements occurring effecting some four million people. "This clearly also has damaging impact on prospects for peace and sustainable development for Israel, as well as the surrounding region", she argued. Ms. Bachelet was briefing the UN Committee on …
(2021-12-10). Myanmar military massacre: Burmese army burns civilians alive. peoplesworld.org 
Burmese soldiers raided a village in the northwest part of the country, tied up 11 civilians, and burned them alive, witnesses report. Human Rights Watch said today Wednesday the massacre, which took place on Tuesday, should prompt further sanctions on Burmese military commanders. "Our contacts are saying these were just boys and young people who …
(2021-12-10). A Pause in the Talks between the US and North Korea Continues. journal-neo.org 
Since the failure of February 2019's summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, relations between the US and North Korea have been put on hold, with no active dialogue, but no nuclear crisis or military stand-off. On the one hand, Pyongyang has avoided any talks on the question of denuclearization. On the other hand, it is …
(2021-12-10). Court Ruling Threatens Eviction Of Landless Workers Movement Camp. popularresistance.org Valinhos, Brazil – The camp was created on April 14, 2018 and named after Rio de Janeiro socialist city councilwoman Marielle Franco who was murdered a month before. Since then, the residents have transformed the abandoned land into a thriving community that provides housing for the residents, a school, a community kitchen, and produces agroecological products and handicrafts. They now face eviction after a court ruling that clearly favors real estate speculation and generating profit for its investors over the social and legal right to housing and agrarian reform. | On 23 November, the Sà£o Paulo Court of…
(2021-12-10). Organizing isn't Just Some Romantic Idea, it's Practical Steps and Action! anchor.fm In this episode I talk about the fact that what we need today across the world has already been tried, built, and able to grow in many places around the world; we need to only learn. Communists, socialists, and Marxists all over the world have been building revolutions and mass organizations for centuries. Our objective? Organize the people. But that's not just some slogan, that is a necessary step towards building a New World. If the people are an educated as to what's oppressing them, that they're exploited and HOW, and if they don't learn who their comrades in that fight are, then they lose time and time again…
(2021-12-10). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Workers' strikes spread at Tiger Brands and Clover food manufacturers, South Africa as Sibanye-Stillwater gold miners close to strike over pay and work fatalities; national strike over three days by healthcare workers in Turkey over pay; sailors begin 48-hour pay strike in Greek ports; health and social care workers strike and demonstrate throughout France against exclusion from pay review…