Showing posts with label Mike Pompeo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Pompeo. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Lula and Brazil, Gulf of Oman, MMIWG Backlash & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos June 9 - 16
This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.
This list covers the week of June 9 - 16.
1) Secret Files Show How Brazil’s Elites Jailed Former President Lula and Cleared the Way for Bolsonaro
Democracy Now
A political crisis is growing in Brazil after The Intercept revealed that the judge who helped jail former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva likely aided federal prosecutors in their corruption case in an attempt to prevent Lula’s Workers’ Party from winning the presidency. Leaked cellphone messages among Brazilian law enforcement officials and other data obtained by The Intercept point to an ongoing collaboration between Judge Sérgio Moro and the prosecutors investigating a sweeping corruption scandal known as Operation Car Wash. Lula was considered a favorite in the lead-up to the 2018 presidential election until he was put in jail and forced out of the race on what many say were trumped-up corruption charges. The leaked documents also reveal prosecutors had serious doubts about Lula’s guilt. The jailing of Lula helped pave the way for the election of the far-right former military officer Jair Bolsonaro, who then named Judge Sérgio Moro to be his justice minister. We get an update from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept, whose reporting is based on a trove of internal files and private conversations from the prosecutorial team behind Operation Car Wash.
2) Leaked Messages Confirm: Imprisonment of Brazil’s Lula da Silva was Politically Motivated
The Real News
The website The Intercept received a massive archive of communications between prosecutors and judges, involving Brazil's corruption cases. Initial analysis reveals that former president Lula da Silva's prosecution and conviction were politically motivated. Mike Fox discusses the ramifications.
3) BERNIE SANDERS CALLS FOR BRAZIL’S JUDICIARY TO RELEASE LULA IN WAKE OF CORRUPTION EXPOSURE
Aída Chávez & Akela Lacy, The Intercept
FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva should be released from prison and his conviction should be annulled, said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, on Tuesday. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., meanwhile, is calling on the Trump administration to investigate the case that imprisoned the former president on corruption charges, following The Intercept’s exposé that showed Judge Sérgio Moro plotted with prosecutors to convict Lula and prevent the Workers’ Party from returning to power.
4) Lula Is Innocent. Free Him Now.
Tony Burke, Jacobin
The evidence is now overwhelming — Lula was the victim of a politically motivated campaign to keep him from returning to power. He must be freed.
5) Brazil: Bolsonaro to Suspend Senior, Disabled Benefits Programs
Telesur
A benefits program for Brazil's low-income disabled and senior citizens will be suspended as of June 25, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted Monday, citing a lack of federal funds.
6) Brazil Struggles To Replace Departed Cuban Doctors, Thousands of Lives at Risk
Telesur
The Brazilian government is struggling to replace more than 8,000 departed Cuban doctors, despite promises made by President Jair Bolsonaro, according to a New York Times report published on Tuesday.
7) Brazil’s Universities Are Under Attack — And So Is Its Democracy
Daniel Peres, Public Seminar
Brazil’s democracy is on the edge of an abyss. Its new far-right government has begun an attack, first against humanities, sociology, and philosophy in general, and then on Brazil’s Public Universities in particular. First it was said that Philosophy and Sociology Programs should be defunded. Then, the government announced a 30% cut in the budget of three Universities, mine included, citing ideological bias. Eventually, the cut was extended to all federal Universities and after that to all public educational system.
8) Brazil cities paralysed as Bolsonaro faces first general strike
France 24
A nationwide strike called by Brazil's trade unions disrupted public transport and triggered road blocks in parts of the country Friday, ahead of protests against far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's pension reform.
9) Tanker owner seems to dispute U.S. account of Gulf of Oman attack
CBS News
The Japanese owner of the Kokuka Courageous, one of two oil tankers targeted near the Strait of Hormuz, said Friday that sailors on board saw "flying objects" just before it was hit, suggesting the vessel wasn't damaged by mines.
10) Organise now to avoid war with Iran
Chris Nineham, Counterfire
Neither the US nor Iran really wants war we are told, because the reality of such a conflict is too horrific to contemplate. But the Gulf tanker crisis and the US response shows that we are alarmingly close to open hostilities. It is true that there are voices in the US defence establishment calling for restraint. It appears to be the case too that the Iranian government is operating on the assumption that the US doesn't want a war. But there are several reasons why such assumptions are not a sound basis for judgement.
11) Greek Communist Party Demand Closure of US Bases in Country in Wake of US Threats Against Iran
Sputnik News
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said on Friday that the United States' plans against Iran would bring nothing good for nations in the region and urged for all US and NATO bases in Greece to be closed.
Related: Don't let the Americans lie their way into another disastrous war
12) Mike Pompeo Threatens To Intervene In British Democracy To Stop Corbyn Becoming Prime Minister
Alex Tiffin, Medium
US Secretary for State Mike Pompeo has come under fire after a recording emerged of him saying he’d intervene to stop Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. In the recording first reported by the Washington Post, Pompeo suggests he won’t wait for Corbyn to be elected, rather he’ll attempt to stop it from being possible.
13) B.C. Green’s anti-worker biases expose the party’s contradictions on climate change
Alex Cosh, Canadian Dimension
After making vague promises in its 2017 election platform to “modernize” provincial labour standards, the British Columbia Green Party recently blocked two important reforms to the province’s labour code, showing that, in practice, Canada’s mainstream Green movement harbours anti-worker biases that negatively impact the struggle against climate change.
14) Aung San Suu Kyi in Hungary: A chilling sign of global Islamophobia
Peter Oborne, Middle East Eye
The spectacle of the Burmese Nobel Laureate's meeting with Viktor Orban highlights the monstrous threat posed to Muslims around the world.
15) IF IT SEEMS AS IF CANADA’S CONSERVATIVES HAVE LOST IT, GUESS AGAIN: THEY’VE JUST ADOPTED THE TRUMP PLAYBOOK IN ITS ENTIRETY
David Climenhaga, Alberta Politics
“Huge pothole on #StAlbert Trail right now! This is a preview of Canada’s future if Justin Trudeau is re-elected as prime minister, as he continues to implement his terrible anti-automobile agenda.”
16) Workers With Disabilities Are Making Cents Per Hour — and It’s Legal
Jack Delaney, Truthout
Imagine making cents on the dollar to toil in a warehouse, separated from the broader society, while repeatedly piecing together widgets or engaging in manual labor for some multinational corporation with which you’ve never interacted. For many Americans, the concept of making nickels and dimes for your labor in the richest nation in human history is incomprehensible. But for the tens of thousands of Americans making far less than minimum wage due to their disabilities, it is an all too familiar reality.
17) Rebel Media’s Jason Kenney Coverage is Being Funded With Foreign Money From an Anti-Muslim Billionaire
Press Progress
It turns out Rebel Media’s coverage of Jason Kenney is funded with foreign money.
18) Jurors refuse to convict activist facing 20 years for helping migrants
The Guardian
A US jury could not reach a verdict on Tuesday against a border activist who, defense attorneys say, was simply being kind by providing two migrants with water, food and lodging when he was arrested in early 2018.
19) Canadian Communist leader: Extreme right danger looms over fall election
Liz Rowley, People's World
Developments in Canada this spring have been disturbing. Tory (Conservative) governments have been elected in Alberta, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, joining Tory governments in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and the right-wing CAQ in Quebec.
20) Colombia: increasing violence against union leaders
IndustriALL
Colombian trade union leaders Igor Díaz and Dibeth Quintana have again received death threats. Since Iván Duque became president last year, violence against union and social leaders has been on the rise.
21) The Left’s Failure to Envision a World Without Capitalism
Conor Lynch, The New Republic
There is a common saying on the left, usually attributed to the Marxist critic Fredric Jameson, that “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism.” The late writer Mark Fisher once described this as “capitalist realism,” or the “widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it.”
22) Breaking Point: Violence in Long Term Care
Zaid Noorsumar, Rank and File
Punched. Groped. Kicked. Killed. Violence in long-term care homes has to stop.
23) Is it Time to Care Yet?
Zaid Noorsumar, Rank and File
On Jan. 23, 2007, 73-year-old Betty Moseley-Williams testified to the legislative standing committee about Bill 140, the Long-term Care Homes Act.
24) Swiss women strike for more money, time and respect
Imogen Foulkes, BBC News
Women across Switzerland have taken to the streets to protest against what they say is the country's unacceptably slow pace to equality.
25) The Real Face of Prostitution
Julie Bindel, Truth Dig
The research could make a difference, by providing more evidence of the harms of prostitution, and by helping those struggling with the polarized debate on whether we are talking about “sex workers’ rights” and “women’s agency,” or the commercial sexual exploitation of vulnerable, prostituted people. What is needed, alongside such research, is for every one of us to imagine a world without prostitution, and to ask the question, “Why does it exist?” In a world where women and girls were liberated from male supremacy, in which we could live as equal human beings, prostitution would be starved of oxygen.
26) Study Linking US Sanctions to Venezuelan Deaths Buried by Reuters for Over a Month
Joe Emersberger, FAIR
I emailed Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters on May 22 about her article, “Venezuela Turns to Russia, Cuba, China in Health Crisis” (5/22/19). Her article depicted the impact of US sanctions as an allegation that Venezuelan government officials are alone in making.
27) Legal clinic cuts aim to quash resistance to province's agenda, Hamilton director says
Adam Carter · CBC News
A series of "targeted" and "politically motivated" cuts to legal clinics across Ontario are the provincial government's way of making sure its agenda can't be challenged, says the head of the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic.
28) To beat Scheer, fight Ford
John Bell, International Socialists
As the fall federal election looms, the strategic voting rhetoric is coming to a boil. Not surprisingly, most of the talk originates with the Liberals who are anxious to erode Andrew Scheer’s lead in the polls.
29) One Million More Reasons to Mobilize Against Ford
Jeff Noonan, Socialist Project Bullet
The public sector “salary restraint” legislation expected by public sector union leaders was formally introduced on June 5th (Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019). I will get to the criticism in a moment. First, I have to acknowledge the Orwellian chutzpah of this government: without a climate change plan, it cheekily appropriates the language of “sustainability” and concern for “future generations.” They could have topped themselves by tipping their hat to the indigenous traditions they are also ignoring by adding “seven” in front of “generations.” Perhaps the next spending restraint bill can be more inclusive.
30) 'Genocide' is a loaded word
Doug Cuthand, Saskatoon Star Phoenix
It’s a shame that the reporting on this important report got stuck on one word and became defensive rather than proactive. According to the 1948 convention, Canada is guilty of committing genocide against the Indigenous people.
31) Canada's treatment of Indigenous peoples fits the definition of 'genocide'
Michael Spratt, Canadian Lawyer
Some people believe the earth is flat. Some people believe climate change is a myth. Some people believe the justice system is colour-blind. All of those people are dangerously wrong.
33) Blowback to the word genocide proves the national inquiry report was right
Tanya Talaga, The Toronto Star
I should have anticipated the blowback to the final report of the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls.
34) 'It's torturous': Young mother joins calls from MMIWG advocates to stop apprehensions at birth
Erin Brohman · CBC News
A young mother who was on Manitoba's birth alert system is joining calls from advocates, researchers and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls demanding that the province stop taking babies from mothers at birth.
35) Andrew Scheer rejects use of ‘genocide’ in reference to Indigenous women, girls
Kerri Breen, Global News
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is disputing the use of the word “genocide” in reference to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
36) ‘It’s a farce’: No Indigenous women named to civilian advisory panel overseeing the RCMP
Kathleen Martens, APTN
Just days after the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its final report, the federal government announced an interim civilian advisory board to oversee the RCMP.
37) Civil Disobidience Empties Streets in Sudan’s Capital
Telesur
A campaign of civil disobedience to demand civilian rule left the streets of Sudan’s capital Khartoum largely deserted as the working week began Sunday, while police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Khartoum North, witnesses said.
38) Sudan’s generals launch renewed crackdown to defeat general strike
Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih, The Guardian
The military regime in Sudan has launched a new wave of arrests and violent intimidation in an effort to undermine opposition plans for a widespread campaign of civil disobedience.
39) Sudanese troops raped protesters at sit-in, doctors report
Zeinab Mohammed Salih in Khartoum and Jason Burke, The Guardian
Doctors believe paramilitaries carried out more than 70 rapes during an attack on a protest camp in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, a week ago.
40) Arctic Permafrost Is Going Through a Rapid Meltdown — 70 Years Early
Grant Currin, Live Science
In the Canadian Arctic, layers of permafrost that scientists expected to remain frozen for at least 70 years have already begun thawing. The once-frozen surface is now sinking and dotted with melt ponds and from above looks a bit like Swiss cheese, satellite images reveal.
41) Don’t waste any more money on the Trans Mountain pipeline
Gordon Laxer, The Toronto Star
Justin Trudeau is in over a barrel. In 2015, he made a deal with Alberta. He would get an oil pipeline built to a coast if the province joined his pan-Canadian climate plan. After his election this past April, Conservative Alberta Premier Jason Kenney ripped up Alberta’s side of the bargain and declared war on Trudeau‘s climate plan.
42) The Uninhabitable Earth: A grim portrait of the future of climate change
CBC News
Floods in Ontario. Wildfires in Alberta. A mass species die-off. According to scientists, all of these phenomena are caused or exacerbated by our warming climate.
43) Near-record 'dead zone' predicted in the Gulf of Mexico this summer
Doyle Rice, USA Today
The annual Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" – a region of oxygen-depleted water off the Louisiana and Texas coasts that's harmful to sea life – will be the second-largest on record this summer, scientists announced Monday.
44) Plant extinction 'bad news for all species'
Helen Briggs, BBC News
Almost 600 plant species have been lost from the wild in the last 250 years, according to a comprehensive study.
45) 'Eye-Popping': Analysis Shows Top 1% Gained $21 Trillion in Wealth Since 1989 While Bottom Half Lost $900 Billion
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
Adding to the mountain of statistical evidence showing the severity of U.S. inequality, an analysis published Friday found that the top one percent of Americans gained $21 trillion in wealth since 1989 while the bottom 50 percent lost $900 billion.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Don't let the Americans lie their way into another disastrous war
Given that Trump himself apparently "said 10,796 things that were either misleading or outright false" during his first 869 days in office it is pretty clear that a critical approach should be taken to anything his administration asserts on any front. Yet we have already seen that despite this culture of lies the American mainstream media and Democratic politicians almost all got on board with Trump's attacks on Venezuela and have stayed on board even after various incidents -- such as the fabricated burning of aid trucks on a bridge from Colombia -- were proven to be false.
When it comes to its imperialist adventures in the interests of American business and capital abroad, however, there is almost always unity within the American ruling political class and its pundits.
Now Trump's bombastic, truth averse Secretary of State Pompeo -- fresh off of implying that the United States would intervene in upcoming British elections to prevent a victory by Jeremy Corbyn -- is trying to use an alleged attack on Japanese oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman as justification for action against Iran that could easily escalate into full blown war.
Already Pompeo's claims regarding this incident are being thrown into doubt by the owner of the tankers himself. "Company president Yutaka Katada said Friday he believes the flying objects seen by the sailors could have been bullets. He denied any possibility of mines or torpedoes because the damage was above the ship's waterline. He called reports of a mine attack "false.""
When placed in historical context, moreover, it is impossible to escape the likelihood that whatever happened in the Gulf of Oman, the version we are getting from the Trump administration is almost certainly untrue.
The most obvious parallel is with the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1965 that was used by the Johnson administration to greatly escalate the war in Vietnam. It is widely known now that the incident was fabricated and as a US Navy Lieutenant Commander put it in an article for the US Naval Institute, it is "clear that high government officials distorted facts and deceived the American public about events that led to full U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War."
Then there was the allegation made in 1990 that Iraqi forces had removed babies from incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals and left them to die on the floor that was used as one of the major propaganda points to get Americans on board with the first Iraq War. The problem was, of course, that is was totally made up and the 15 year old girl "Nayirah" who tearfully recounted it to the Human Rights Caucus of the US Congress was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador who had been coached by a public relations firm to lie to the caucus.
Not to be outdone the Bush administration notoriously lied its way to the second war on Iraq. This is so well known that there really is no need to belabour it, but two key things to remember are the entirely false assertions that were made by the then Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations in 2003 and the fact that John Bolton, now the national security adviser to Trump, was a major hawk calling for war with Iraq back in that administration.
Given this long and sordid history of imperialist lies and fabrications by the Americans over the decades, and given the fact that the Trump administration has a proven track record of lying on an almost daily basis about even minor issues, it is astounding that anyone would take anything Pompeo says seriously.
One does not have to embrace or be an apologist for the Iranian regime to know that a war in Iran would be catastrophic for the Iranian people. Given the terrain and the strength of the regime it would likely make the war in Iraq -- which has destabilized the entire region -- look relatively mild in comparison. It would be certain to result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, and lead to further destabilization and radicalization in the Middle East. American forces would likely have to occupy the country for many years. They are still in Afghanistan 18 years later.
It is imperative that the Americans not be allowed to lie their way into another terrible conflict.
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