(2021-11-21). Chicago activists demand release of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. liberationnews.org 
Saab is fighting extradition to the U.S. for the "crime" of trying to procure humanitarian supplies of food, fuel, and medicine from Iran in violation of illegal U.S. sanctions.
(2021-11-21). Adept in Pan-Ottomanism, Erdogan Got Carried Away Playing Soldiers. journal-neo.org 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is well known for his resounding appeals built on the political doctrine of Pan-Ottomanism, which emerged in Turkey in the 1970s, according to which all subjects of the Ottoman Empire are members of a single nation, the Ottomans. However, such verbal passage has been recently increasingly followed by actual actions, …
(2021-11-21). The farmers in India have won. fightbacknews.org The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi was forced to admit defeat at the hands of the protesting farmers, by repealing the three oppressive laws. | The farmer protests were sparked by these three oppressive bills that were introduced under false promises. One claimed to give farmers more leeway to sell crops outside the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee without paying the necessary taxes; that bill's official name is "The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020." The second, called "The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and…
(2021-11-21). National SDS condemns Israel's attacks on Palestinian human rights organizations. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Students for a Democratic Society (National). | National SDS unequivocally condemns Israel's designation of 6 Palestinian human rights organizations as "terrorist". The targeted organizations include the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Al-Haq, Addameer, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees and the Defense for Children International-Palestine. All of these organizations have longstanding roots among the Palestinian people. We see this as the US-backed Israeli apartheid regime paving the…
(2021-11-21). US Lawmakers Raise Questions Over Biden's Reasoning For Syria Air Strike. popularresistance.org More than 30 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden questioning the administration's reasoning for bypassing Congress and launching a military strike in Syria earlier this year. Led by Democrats Jamaal Bowman, Peter DeFazio and Republican Nancy Mace, the lawmakers said that Biden appeared to be "acting in contravention of the Constitution". They also said that the administration has offered less of a basis for its strike than the previous Donald Trump administration did when conducting a strike in Syria.
(2021-11-20). Democratic Socialists of America congressman Jamaal Bowman votes for Israel's Iron Dome, visits with right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. wsws.org The DSA's congressional support for Israel's Iron Dome armament program is further confirmation that the organization is a faction of the Democratic Party, a supporter of imperialism and a facilitator of war crimes against the population of Palestine.
(2021-11-20). Briefing: Venezuelan Elections November 2021. popularresistance.org Venezuela goes to the polls again on N21ovember in 'mega elections.' The dialogue that began in late summer between the Venezuelan government and sections of the hard right-wing opposition had been going well, with some definite outcomes. These include the decision by some right-wing opposition parties that have boycotted elections for years to take part in the elections. But the US's illegal extradition from Cape Verde of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who was en-route to Iran to broker a trade deal to bring fuel, food and medicines to Venezuela, has threatened to sabotage both the talks, as the US did before in…
(2021-11-20). [Correspondence] CoronaVac efficacy data from Turkey. thelancet.com Mine Tanriover and colleagues1 report that the efficacy of CoronaVac against laboratory-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 in a trial in Turkey is 83 ∑5% (95% CI 65 ∑4—92 ∑1). By contrast, the efficacy of CoronaVac against symptomatic COVID-19 has been estimated at 50 ∑7% (36 ∑0—62 ∑0) in a Brazilian trial and at 65 ∑3% (20 ∑0—85 ∑1) in an Indonesian trial.2,3 Noting that post-vaccination neutralising antibody titres are quite strongly associated with vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infection,4,5 the efficacy estimated from the Turkish dataset is much higher…
(2021-11-20). [Editorial] Afghanistan: the international community must act. thelancet.com "It is going to be hell on Earth." Afghanistan is set to become the world's worst humanitarian crisis according to David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme. Nearly half of Afghans need humanitarian aid. 22 ∑8 million people could face acute hunger this winter, with 8 ∑7 million at emergency levels of food insecurity. A resulting refugee crisis is likely to affect Afghanistan, the region, and the rest of the world. In desperation, people are selling their assets, and some are resorting to child labour and child marriage.
(2021-11-20). US at ASEAN Summit Looks to Turn Region Against Itself. newatlas.report 
November 20, 2021 (Brian Berletic — NEO) — For the first time in four years a US President has attended the annual ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit. In a poorly disguised redux of the Obama-era "Pivot to Asia," the US seeks to appear interested in contributing to ASEAN in a constructive manner …
(2021-11-20). Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand. wsws.org Striking Chinese taxi drivers demand lower contract fees; 95,000 Maharashtra state transport workers continue strike; Around 50,000 paramedical professionals protest in Sri Lanka; New Zealand rail workers vote for national strike.
(2021-11-20). Industrial Nations Value Capitalism Over People at Global Climate Conference. popularresistance.org When considering the need to end government subsidies for fossil fuels, especially coal, the language of the agreement was switched from "phase out," to "phase down." And while this language change was publicly attributed to India, the United States, which provides an estimated $22 billion annually in fossil fuel subsidies is culpable and certainly not beyond reproach. The tentacles of U.S. influence and coercion was present in every decision made at the COP.
(2021-11-20). After a year of struggle by farmers, Indian government forced to withdraw farm laws. mronline.org 
Movements across India celebrated the struggle by the farmers during which they faced great repression and vilification. Around 750 people are believed to have died during the agitation which saw thousands camp on the borders of Delhi…
(2021-11-20). 'Farmers' victory will be a boost to all democratic struggles'. peoplesdispatch.org On 19 November 2021, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced that the government will be repealing the three controversial farm laws. Farmers have been protesting for close to a year against these laws…
(2021-11-20). First Person: 'Bridge the gap between indigenous youth and the world'. news.un.org Nadya Zafira, an international relations student at Indonesia's Gadjah Mada University, won a writing competition for her letter to UN chief António Guterres, in which she addressed the inequalities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how indigenous communities and youth are marginalized in global conversations on climate crisis.
(2021-11-20). [Correspondence] CoronaVac efficacy data from Turkey — Authors' reply. thelancet.com We thank Martina McMenamin and Benjamin Cowling for raising important issues on vaccine trials in the context of our Article.1 The work they refer to by Palacios and colleagues2 has not been published in a peer reviewed journal; thus we cannot comment on the accuracy or the comparability of its methods. The Indonesian trial data have been published,3 and although the main method of this study was similar to ours, the case definition of COVID-19 and the methods used for active surveillance were different.
(2021-11-20). Pentagon chief promises Arab allies it will counter Iran. rt.com 
Iran and its drones are a threat to US troops and allies in the Middle East, and Washington will work to deter it, the Pentagon chief told Gulf officials amid concerns that US forces are being realigned away from the region.
(2021-11-20). Turkey and Iran, Friends or Foes? journal-neo.org 
Turkey and Iran, whose cooperation and potential conflict are closely intertwined despite the occasional disagreement and contradictory views on world events, are still trying to maintain a complex balance between themselves to prevent a significant escalation of tension. Indeed, any shift in the balance of power between these two critical poles in the Middle East …
(2021-11-20). COVID patient in California dies after maggots found in mouth and nose. wsws.org A woman recovering from COVID-19 at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana passed away only days after family members found her in a state of neglect, discovering maggots in her mouth and nose.
(2021-11-20). After woman's death abortion rights fight heats up in Poland. themilitant.com Tens of thousands took to the streets in Poland Nov. 5 to protest the government's extreme restrictions on the right to abortion. The actions in Warsaw, the capital, and other cities came after it became public that a 30-year-old pregnant woman identified only as Izabela had died of septic shock in September after doctors refused to end her pregnancy because the fetus still had a heartbeat. | Defenders of a woman's right to choose say her death is the result of the government's restrictions imposed in October last year by the Constitutional Court, Poland's highest judicial body. | Under the court ruling abortion…
(2021-11-20). Palestine's flag waves in Jersey City. workers.org 
On Nov. 15, the flag of Palestine waved in front of Jersey City's City Hall, an important first step to the recognition of the Palestinian people, said Ward D Councilperson Yousef Saleh. Saleh had suggested the flag raising to the Jersey City Cultural Affairs Department — saying it was . . . |
(2021-11-20). String of Pearls: Yemen Could Be the Arab Hub of the Maritime Silk Road. strategic-culture.org 
By Pepe ESCOBAR | The usual suspects tried everything against Yemen. | First, coercing it into 'structural reform.' When that didn't work, they instrumentalized takfiri mercenaries. They infiltrated and manipulated the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), ISIS. They used US drones and occasional marines. | And then, in 2015, they went Total Warfare: a UN-backed rogue coalition started bombing and starving Yemenis into submission — with barely a peep from the denizens of the 'rules-based international order.' | The coalition — House of Saud, Qatar, UAE, US, UK — for all p…
(2021-11-20). Musk vows mass Tesla server outage won't happen again. rt.com 
A problem with Tesla servers on Friday once again left hundreds of drivers unable to enter and operate their electric cars. CEO Elon Musk said the company would do its best to prevent outages happening in the future. | Tesla cars require the use of a cell phone to gain access, though other options such as a keycard are available as backup. Since Friday evening, as many as 500 people worldwide reported on social media that they couldn't access their vehicle by either method and were receiving a server error message. | Musk responded to one such complaint from South Korea with a "Checking" tweet. Hours later, he…
(2021-11-20). UN Commission Objects to OPCW Report on Syria. orinocotribune.com The UN Commission on Syria does not consider as proven the alleged chemical weapons attack in April 2018. | Criticism of the OPCW general secretary | A controversial report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a United Nations body, on an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian army in early April 2018 is being questioned by a committee of the United Nations itself. | According to German media outlet Telepolis, the Geneva-based UN Commission of Inquiry into the Situation in Syria does not consider the April 7, 2018 incident in Douma as a proven chemical weapons attack by the S…
(2021-11-20). Turkey's Proxies Shell Kurdish-Held Towns In Response To Deadly Rocket Attack On Afrin (Videos). southfront.org 
Screen grab from one of the videos released by Azm. | On November 20, the Turkish-backed Unified Operations Room-Azm announced that it had shelled positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern countryside of Aleppo in response to the recent The rocket attack, which took place in the late hours of Novem…
(2021-11-20). News on China | No. 76. dissidentvoice.org Chairman Xi Jinping and president Joe Biden met despite the US imposing new sanctions on Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE a few days prior. Nonetheless, Taiwan was affirmed as a part of China.
(2021-11-20). Thailand's Sufficiency Economy: Eliminating Poverty by Building Sustainable Wealth. newatlas.report 
Forward: This is an in-depth English language explanation of Thailand's New Theory and Sufficiency Economy principles, developed and promoted by King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama 9) across the nation to eliminate poverty and create local, sustainable wealth. These principles live on under his son, King Vajiralongkorn (King Rama 10), who continues to promote these principles …
(2021-11-20). Remains Of Turkish Laser-Guided Munition Found In Disputed Western Sahara (Photos). southfront.org 
File image. | On November 20, activists from the disputed Western Sahara region shared photos showing the remains of a Turkish-made MAM-L munition. | The MAM-L, which was developed by defense giant Roketsan, is a light-weight munition guided by semi-active laser. The munition has a range of 8 to 14 kilometers. | According to Western Sahara activists, the munition was fired by one of Morocco's newly-acquired Bayraktar TB2 combat drones. The Kingdom ordered 13 drones of this type from Turkey earlier this year. The…