(2020-09-04). Richard Wolff: The Declining Empire With Chris Hedges. popularresistance.org On this week's Economic Update, Prof. Wolff discusses the following: Denmark's new taxes on banks and rich people to help workers doing dangerous jobs; West Virginia AG sues Walmart and CVS for complicity in opioid scandal; and US State Department urges universities to sell shares in Chinese corporations. On the second half of the show, Prof. Wolff interviews author and journalist Chris Hedges on signs of the declining US empire.
(2020-09-04). With US AWOL, NATO Allies rattle sabers. zcomm.org Turkish Ruling Party says Greece is now a Rogue State…
(2020-09-04). POLL: 66% of Young Muslims in France Want Blasphemy Punished by Law. strategic-culture.org 26% do not oppose the assassination of cartoonists mocking Mohammed | Guillaume DUROCHER | With the beginning of the trial of 11 Muslims accused in the 2015 Charle Hebdo massacre, the notorious French newspaper is republishing the cartoons of Mohammed which got 12 of their colleagues murdered. Bernard-Henri Lévy and secularist establishment are celebrating this brave expression of free speech as a triumph of the Values of the Republic. | Meanwhile, this same politico-media establishment is condemning en masse the right-wing magazine Valeurs actuelles for publishing an alternative history in which a left-wing Blac…
(2020-09-04). David Graeber is Gone: Revisiting His Wrongful Termination from Yale. counterpunch.org 
I am so very sad to hear that David Graeber died yesterday in Italy at the age of 59. David was not only brilliant, but he was genuine, accessible, and passionate. What a huge, immeasurable loss, could 2020 be any worse? Here is an interview I did with David in 2005 when he was wrongfully
(2020-09-04). Impeachment seems forever ago, but Trump's Washington still a swamp of corruption. peoplesworld.org 
In December 2019, Republican Party leader Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on two corruption counts. The impeachment hearings charged that Trump abused his power as president to manipulate Ukraine's government into creating evidence against his political opponents, which he could use in this year's campaign. Numerous high-level diplomats and officials …
(2020-09-04). Trump dismissed US war dead as 'losers' and 'suckers' — report. thecanary.co 
Donald Trump made multiple disparaging remarks about members of the US military who had been captured or killed, and referred to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France as "losers" and "suckers", according to a report. The president said the story, first reported in the Atlantic, is "totally false".First hand knowledge: A senior Defence Department official with first-hand knowledge of events and a senior Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump's comments confirmed some of the remarks to the Associated Press, including the cemetery incident.The officials said he made the c…
(2020-09-04). France Aims to Counter Turkish Influence in the Middle East by Gaining a Foothold in Lebanon. globalresearch.ca French President Emmanuel Macron has visited Lebanon for the second time in less than a month following the terrible blasts that destroyed Port Beirut. Macron first visited Lebanon on August 6, two days after a warehouse with 2,750 tons of …
(2020-09-04). Global Warming Could Make Viruses More Lethal, Study. telesurenglish.net Switzerland's Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology on Friday said that global warming could make viruses more lethal and harder to control. The American Chemical Society's Environmental Science and Technology journal published the study. | RELATED: | "This implies that microbial water quality may be worse in warm regions, and the health risks posed by viruses will be greater," said environmental chemistry prof…
(2020-09-04). Germany: Extreme Right Marches Under Anti-Lockdown Banner. popularresistance.org The large Berlin demonstration and rally against the federal government's corona policy on August 29 was a moral victory for the right and neo-Nazis. Pictures of fascists occupying the stairs to the Reichstag building with the Reichsflag (symbol of the empire overthrown by the revolution in 1918 and the Nazi dictatorship 1933-45) are circulating around the world and trigger alarms, especially among anti-fascists. | Such symbolic images also serve to weld the right scene together. After all, more members of the extreme right are likely to have marched through the federal capital unified and unmolested on this day…
(2020-09-04). Black-Led Resistance Movements Are Paving The Way For Reparations. popularresistance.org Months after the police killing of George Floyd sparked racial justice protests around the world, Black Lives Matter activists are once again flooding the streets — this time in response to the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Among the demands that continue to ring out is the call for reparations, or payment to people of African descent. Several African countries — including Namibia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — have also joined the call, demanding reparations from European countries for the perpetration of genocide under colonialism.
(2020-09-04). A Silver Lining in the Rise of Neo-Fascism. strategic-culture.org The only benefit from the rise of neo-fascist leaders in heretofore democratic nations is that the various fascist, neo-Nazi, racial and religious supremacists, and far-right terrorists have reared their ugly heads to the degree where it is now easier to identify them and their circle of contacts and organizations. When the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Poland, Turkey, and other similarly afflicted nations return to political normalcy, the forces of the far-right, already self-identified, can be rolled up, stripped of their weaponry and access to the Internet as threats to public safety. These resurgent Nazis…
(2020-09-04). At least 3,000 virus cases reported in Eurasia, Central Asia. yenisafak.com Novel coronavirus infections and deaths continued their upward trend across Eurasia and Central Asia on Friday.- UkraineUkraine registered 2,723 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 130,951, Health Minister Maxim Stepanov said.The death toll rose to 2,761 as 51 more people died of the virus. Most recently 937 people recovered and the nationwide recoveries hit 60,613.More than 67,500 people are currently receiving medical treatment in Ukraine, where the number of cases has been on the rise since August.- UzbekistanThe Health Ministry in Uzbekistan said in a statement that 215 more peopl…
(2020-09-04). On Brexit, EU needs to accept UK is independent now, British source says. yenisafak.com The European Union is slowing down Brexit trade negotiations and should understand that its demands on state aid and fishing are not compatible with Britain's status as an independent country, a British source close to the negotiations said."We have been clear from the start that we are seeking a relationship that respects our sovereignty and which has a free trade agreement at its core, similar to the one the EU has with Canada," the source said."We have also consistently tried to move discussions forwards but have been prevented from doing so by an EU which insists that everything must go at the pace of the mos…
(2020-09-04). Erdogan marks 101st anniversary of Sivas Congress. yenisafak.com Turkey on Friday marked the 101st anniversary of the Sivas Congress, a milestone on the Republic of Turkey's road to independence."On the 101st anniversary of the Sivas Congress, we express once again that our nation, which does not accept mandate and patronage, will protect this heavenly piece of land as a whole and will never let it divide," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a message.Erdogan said planning for the war was done at the congress in which Turkey declared that it will never submit to the occupying forces."The decisions taken at the Sivas Congress played an important role in the determination of…
(2020-09-04). Indonesia denounces provocative acts against Muslims. yenisafak.com Indonesia strongly denounced the Quran burning during a rally in Sweden and the republication of offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said those provocative acts offend hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world."Those acts are provocative, irresponsible, and contrary to the principles and values of democracy," she said during a virtual press conference on Friday.Moreover, those incidents will more likely disunite religious communities around the world, which adds an extra burden to the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Last Friday,…
(2020-09-04). Belarus DefMin says NATO activities forcing it to develop military response. yenisafak.com Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin said on Friday that Belarus was being forced to come up with a military response to NATO activities near its borders, the Interfax news agency reported.Tensions have risen in Belarus where the government has accused foreign powers of meddling in the country after a disputed presidential election last month that sparked mass protests.
(2020-09-04). New family joins sit-in against PKK in SE Turkey. yenisafak.com A father from Turkey's eastern Mus province on Friday joined the year-long sit-in protest against the YPG/PKK terror group.Mehmet Zeki Budak claimed that his son Yusuf was kidnapped and brought to the mountains by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Sept. 21, 2014.Telling that he has not heard from his son for the past six years, Budak added: "I have joined the protest to reunite with my son. I want my son from the HDP and will not leave until I have him."He said his son was all he got and that his wife became blind after their son disappeared."I want my son to get married and I want to become a grandfather. I…
(2020-09-04). Navalny case is 'heavy burden' for Russia's leaders: German president. yenisafak.com The poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who is in intensive care in a Berlin hospital, is damaging to Russia's leadership and makes it harder for Germany to cooperate with Moscow, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to murder him and that Berlin would consult its NATO allies about how to respond.Russia has said there is no evidence of a crime when Navalny fell ill in Siberia last month and until now not opened a criminal investigation.Steinmeier, a former German foreign minister…
(2020-09-03). Russiagate Or Impeachment, Because Those Were Fake Things. indybay.org Caitlin Johnstone writes about the end of illusions. | "Peace is not everything, but without it, everything becomes nothing" (Willy Brandt). You can have peace or the US empire. You can't have both.
(2020-09-03). Putin Didn't Fall for Lukashenko's Claim that Poland Intends to Annex Belarus' Grodno Region. globalresearch.ca Lukashenko's entirely speculative claim last week about Poland's supposed intention to annex Belarus' Grodno region was nothing more than an attempt to trick Putin into "pulling a Crimea" by compelling him to comply with Russia's CSTO mutual defense obligations to …
(2020-09-03). US Determined To Make Assange Pay For Exposing The Cruelty Of Its War. popularresistance.org The hearing that Assange will face has nothing to do with the reasons for his arrest from the embassy of Ecuador in London on April 11, 2019. He was arrested that day for his failure to surrender in 2012 to the British authorities, who would have extradited him to Sweden; in Sweden, at that time, there were accusations of sexual offenses against Assange that were dropped in November 2019. Indeed, after the Swedish authorities decided not to pursue Assange, he should have been released by the UK government. But he was not. | The true reason for the arrest was never the charge in Sweden; it was the desire of the U.
(2020-09-03). Malta: 27 Migrants Aboard Tanker Go Through Humanitarian Crisis. telesurenglish.net Maersk Tankers Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Tommy Thomassen warned that 27 migrants who were rescued by the Maersk Etienne oil tanker 29 days ago need immediate help. | RELATED: | "We are calling on responsible governments for urgent humanitarian assistance and safe disembarkation of the 27 people we rescued over 4 weeks ago. We ask relevant authorities to give immediate attention and care to this vulnerable group…
(2020-09-03). UN sends 65 trucks with aid to Idlib, Syria. yenisafak.com The UN on Thursday dispatched 65 trucks with humanitarian aid to northwestern Syria, where millions of people remain in need of assistance due to internal conflict.The trucks crossed over into Syria's Idlib province from the Cilvegozu border gate in Turkey's southern Hatay province.Some 1,625 tons of basic food supplies will be distributed among residents of Idlib and nearby rural areas.Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.
(2020-09-03). EU urges Greece to respect rights of asylum seekers. yenisafak.com "We fully expect the Greek authorities to act in accordance with the law. In case of any breach of EU law, we expect the authorities to investigate the facts and to appropriately follow up," Adalbert Janhz, the European Commission's spokesman on home affairs and citizenship, commented on recent remarks by Greek Shipping Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis.Plakiotakis — whose ministry is in charge of the coast guard — said on Wednesday that Greece this year stopped more than 10,000 migrants trying to cross to the country by boat."We had 68 cases of prevention and we succeeded in 3,000 people not entering our country" i…
(2020-09-03). Belarus overthrow campaign aims to destroy last traces of Soviet socialism. peoplesworld.org 
Our television screens are currently awash with images of protesters on the streets of Belarusian towns and cities. Images of masses of civilians holding red and white flags are flooding the European media. Rolling news footage of presidential candidates meeting high-ranking EU officials is part of a sustained campaign to give defeated candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya …
(2020-09-03). Ukraine admits fears over Russian influence in Belarus as Minsk claims foreign powers trying to separate country from Moscow. rt.com 
Ukraine's Foreign Minister has warned that extra Russian clout in Belarus is dangerous for Kiev. Dmitry Kuleba's comments come as the Belarusian Prime Minister said foreign powers hope to drive a wedge between Minsk and Moscow | Kuleba admitted that the present situation is likely to lead to a "strengthening of Russia," listing some scenarios Kiev views as a threat: "If Belarus is absorbed by Russia within the Union State, or if a person under full control of the Kremlin comes into power there. Or if [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko stays in power, but becomes so weak that he won't be able to say no…
(2020-09-03). 'US-Russia relations can get even worse': American diplomat warns Kremlin against military interference in Belarus. rt.com 
Relations between the US and Russia will deteriorate further if Moscow intervenes militarily in Belarus. That's according to George Kent, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. | "If they think that US-Russia relationship over the past four years has been difficult, it can get worse," Kent explained, warning that "overt intervention with force" is the worst-case scenario for both Belarus and Russia. | However, according to the American diplomat, the situation in Belarus is not related to geopolitics, insisting that the country's authorities and civil society must solve th…
(2020-09-03). Athens & Ankara agree to talks, Stoltenberg says, amid maritime tensions between NATO allies. rt.com 
Greece and Turkey will meet for talks to reduce the likelihood of clashes in the Eastern Mediterranean and to establish deconfliction mechanisms, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has announced. | The two states are NATO allies, but have been locked in a naval standoff for a month, after Ankara sent a research vessel into disputed waters near Cyprus. The vessel was launched after Greece signed a drilling agreement with Egypt, a move Ankara claims is designed to force it out of the energy-rich waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, even though Turkey signed a similar agreement with Libya last year. | With the Turkish N…
(2020-09-03). EU & France call on US to reverse 'unacceptable' sanctions against International Criminal Court's war crimes investigators. rt.com 
US sanctions against two International Criminal Court officials are "unacceptable and unprecedented" and should be reversed, said the EU's top diplomat, while the French foreign minister called them "a grave attack" on the court. | The sanctions are "unacceptable and unprecedented measures that attempt to obstruct the court's investigations and judicial proceedings," EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said in a statement on Thursday. | The US should "reconsider its position and reverse the measures it has taken," Borrell added. | His comments came shortly after French Foreign Minister Jean…
(2020-09-03). Extensive Russian research project suggests you CANNOT get Covid-19 twice unless you have a serious underlying medical condition. rt.com 
After claims of double infections added to the prevailing anxiety around Covid-19, Russian scientists say it's not possible to be sick twice from the virus if you have no comorbidities, such as allergies, diabetes, and obesity | As reported by business daily Kommersant, researchers at the private DNKOM laboratory examined 1,512 people from the Russian cities of Moscow, Ryazan, Kursk, and Nizhnevartovsk, and concluded that, after 74 days of observation, there is no chance of most people becoming sick again from Covid-19. | The study showed that a second infection could only affect patients with underlying issue…
(2020-09-03). No more Red Light district? Netherlands to consider banning prostitution as government party argues it's 'hypocritical'. rt.com 
Amsterdam's famous Red Light district may become a thing of the past as one of the junior partners in the Netherlands' coalition government is calling for paid sex to be banned. | The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) have breathed fresh life into the country's long-running debate on legality of prostitution with proposals to make paying for sex a punishable offence. | The motion will be debated in the lower house of the Dutch parliament this week and it comes after a Christian youth movement collected 50,000 signatures calling for prostitution to be curbed. | CDA MP Anne Kuik submitted the proposed law change…
(2020-09-03). 186 children among 334 victims: Beslan school siege remembered in Moscow (VIDEO). rt.com 
Hundreds of balloons were released in the air in Moscow to commemorate each victim of a terrorist siege of a school in the southern city of Beslan sixteen years ago – one of the worst tragedies in Russia's modern history. | On September 1, 2004, a gang of more than 30 terrorists attacked School No.1 in Beslan in Russia's Republic of North Ossetia. They took more than 1,200 people hostage — mostly children. For many of the kids it was their first day at school. The hostages were locked up in a gym. | The siege, which the whole of Russia — and the world — followed in shock and horror, lasted fo…
(2020-09-03). Alleged poisoning of activist Navalny could be classed as 'a use of chemical weapons' & violation of international law — OPCW. rt.com 
In response to Germany's insistence that Alexey Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok-like nerve agent, the primary international watchdog has warned that such a "reprehensible" act would be considered "a use of chemical weapons" | The International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) also labelled it "a violation of international law." The strong reaction came in a
(2020-09-03). Putin "Can't Afford to See Belarus Fall" counterpunch.org 
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(2020-09-03). Lifting Embargo on American Non-lethal Arms to Cyprus Is Aimed Against Russia. US Militarization of the Eastern Mediterranean. globalresearch.ca Washington announced the lifting of the embargo to sell American-made non-lethal equipment to the Republic of Cyprus. US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, told Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis over the phone on Tuesday that Washington decided to lift the …
(2020-09-03). Socialist Equality Group in Turkey condemns attack against Tƒ∞P deputy after threats from interior minister. wsws.org Sosyalist E≈üitlik unequivocally condemns the attack on Barƒ±≈ü Atay, who was physically assaulted by a mob in ƒ∞stanbul after Interior Minister Sàºleyman Soylu threatened him on social media.
(2020-09-03). Montenegro: Pro-Russia, pro-West parties win nearly same number of seats. yenisafak.com Montenegro's Sunday general election results blink an eye to the country's future policy in terms of its either Euro-Atlantic integration or tendency to lean more towards Russia and Serbia.Elections resulted in the long governing Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) winning the majority of the votes but losing in the majority in the National Assembly to the opposition wing.President Milo Djukanovic's pro-Western DPS, which ruled the country for 30 years, won 30 seats at the parliament, while the opposition For the Future of Montenegro alliance led by the Democratic Front (DF), leaning more towards Russia and Serb…
(2020-09-03). Montenegro: Muslims threatened with genocide. yenisafak.com Muslims living in Montenegro were threatened with genocide after the Sunday general election results showed the country's future policy leaning more towards Russia and Serbia. | Elections resulted in the long-governing Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) winning majority of the votes. But it lost majority in the National Assembly to the opposition For the Future of Montenegro alliance, led by the Democratic Front (DF), leaning more towards Russia and Serbia. | The DF is known for its anti-NATO stance and closeness to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC). | Those who gathered around the churches sang Serbian nationa…
(2020-09-03). JCPOA Signatories in Vienna Reject Snapback Sanctions on Iran. globalresearch.ca Hegemon USA increasingly finds itself isolated on the world stage. | The harder it pressures, bullies, otherwise threatens and/or bludgeons other countries to bend to its will, the further its isolation longer-term. | On Tuesday, Joint Commission of the JCPOA signatories Russia, …
(2020-09-03). Germany's IG Metall union organizes job cuts at Thyssenkrupp-Stahl. wsws.org The IG Metall trade union is pushing ahead with the break-up of the company under an agreement reached with Thyssenkrupp AG management at the end of May.
(2020-09-03). Lithuania Blocks the Development of Its Own Economy. globalresearch.ca Admittedly, a lot of good happened over the last years in Lithuania, but unfortunately we have also see political leadership that is not interested in developing their own country. | Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
(2020-09-03). Diarrhea and Vomiting May Be Sign COVID-19 in Children, Study. telesurenglish.net Researchers of North Ireland Queen's University Belfast said on Thursday that vomiting and diarrhea could be a relevant COVID-19 symptom in children. | RELATED: | Doctors and epidemiologists have described muscle pain, fatigue, confusion, chest pain, and gastrointestinal issues as the most frequent COVID-19 symptomatology in adults. Because children are often asymptomatic, their clinical showings regarding the v…
(2020-09-03). Britain's Coming Winter of Discontent — What It Looks Like. truepublica.org.uk By TruePublica Editor: The summer recess is over — and now we are staring at reality — like a loaded gun at Russian roulette. Our future is now made up of trigger pulls, of 'ifs.' What if Covid comes back just as bad, what if we have a really cold winter and the NHS is …
(2020-09-03). The New York Times slanders left-wing opposition to Biden as "Russian propaganda" wsws.org The American intelligence agencies are at it again, instigating anti-Russian propaganda in the US media with reckless and entirely unsubstantiated claims that Moscow is intervening in the 2020 presidential election.
(2020-09-03). This Public US University Has Seen Grades Soar Despite COVID-19. popularresistance.org If anywhere was going to take a pummeling from the coronavirus, you'd think it would be a place like Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. | Georgia State is not a glamorous flagship university — that would be the University of Georgia in Athens, the spiritual home of the Bulldogs, REM and the B-52s. It's more of a workhorse public institution, with a large population of students who come from low-income households and have to work at least one paying job outside their studies to make ends meet.
(2020-09-03). The US Expeditionary Kleptocracy. popularresistance.org Of course, a desperate US military — and its Washington masters — had an expedient solution for the ethno-sectarian strife they'd catalyzed: consider it the Lebanon formula. So America's orientalist ambassadors — most, staggeringly young Republican stalwarts with no knowledge of the Mideast — imported France's imperial Levantine blueprint. Essentially, this meant sectarian quotas and preferences for political office: a Kurdish president, Sunni parliamentary speaker, and Shia prime minister. The French have actually added the term for this disastrous recipe — libanisation — to t…
(2020-09-03). Oil tanker catches fire off the east coast of Sri Lanka. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Sep. 03 (MNA) —Russian officials announced on Thursday that the country has dispatched ships to assist the New Diamond oil tanker, which is reportedly in flames.
(2020-09-03). Ayatollah Lankarani condemns Quran desecration in Sweden. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Sep. 03 (MNA) — Ayatollah Lankarani issued a statement and called on the Iranian government to take the strongest actions against burning the Holy Quran in Sweden.
(2020-09-03). Four Imperial engineers win ERC Starting Grants worth €6 million. imperial.ac.uk Four Imperial engineers have won European Research Council Starting Grants worth €6 million in total.
(2020-09-03). Russia Spotted 43 Foreign Spy Jets Close to National Airspace Over Past Week. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Armed Forces detected 43 foreign jets that were engaged in reconnaissance activities close to Russia's airspace last week, the military's official newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda reported on Friday.