(2021-12-18). [World Report] Russia—Ukraine tensions hampering health-care access. thelancet.com Humanitarian groups warn that medical care for civilians is being jeopardised amid a military standoff. Sharmila Devi reports…
(2021-12-18). The Dangerous Ignorance of Germany's New Foreign Minister. moderndiplomacy.eu Germany's new Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock came into office on December 8th without her knowing that America's stationing missiles in Ukraine on Russia's border, and only a 7-minute flying distance away from Moscow, would be even more unacceptable to Moscow than, in 1962, would have been, to Washington, the Soviet Union's stationing missiles in Cuba, …
(2021-12-18). Azerbaijan might be the champion that GUAM needs. moderndiplomacy.eu International organizations remain key venues where states with overlapping interests try to cooperate and find common ground. Such organizations range from all-encompassing global organizations to small thematic institutions. In order to remain operationally relevant and on the agenda, they may need to seek ways of reviving organizational structures with fresh methods and ideas that fit …
(2021-12-18). PSOE-Podemos government arrests Cádiz workers as strikes spread in Spain. wsws.org The PSOE-Podemos government's arrests in Cádiz are a blatant attempt to intimidate workers to prevent them from exercising their right to strike and to protest.
(2021-12-18). A Sino-Russian military alliance is gratuitous (as of now). mronline.org 
To apply a western analogy, while the Sino-Russian partnership has great potential to model itself after the European Union, neither Moscow nor Beijing desires an Eurasian NATO to create synergy for it.
(2021-12-18). EU summit threatens Russia. wsws.org The escalating coronavirus pandemic and threats against Russia were the focus of the EU summit that met on Thursday in Brussels.
(2021-12-17). Why We Must Defend Julian Assange. popularresistance.org December 10 is International Human Rights Day. It is always a sham holiday for the United States, which locks up its own people at rates exceeding those of every other country, and routinely makes war against the rest of the world. In 2021 the date was treated as even more of a mockery than in the past. Joe Biden convened a bizarre democracy summit, wherein he declared other nations good or bad based on whether they go along with the dictates of the U.S. empire. Although it was in London where the U.S. behaved in a particularly shameful manner, working with the United Kingdom to secure the right to extradite Juli…
(2021-12-17). US Unveils Legal Trigger For War With Russia. popularresistance.org A bill tabled this week in the Senate looks likely to pass into law because of the bilateral consensus of belligerence towards Russia. It is generally accepted as if fact that Russia is threatening to invade Ukraine despite Moscow's repeated denials and lack of evidence to support such sensationalized speculation. | Among other provocations, the lawmakers want to more than double the supply of lethal weaponry that the US is about to send Ukraine and to kill off the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. | On top of that — as if all that were not incendiary enough — the US Senators want to d…
(2021-12-17). Cyprus: More awareness of Armenian and Cypriot Maronite Arabic languages. moderndiplomacy.eu State authorities in Cyprus continue to support minority language speakers by funding existing cultural institutions and establishing new sports facilities where their languages can be used, according to a new report by the Committee of Experts for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. (see executive summary in Greek) The Charter had entered into …
(2021-12-17). COVID-19 infections in France explode to over 60,000 per day. wsws.org As the vaccine-resistant Omicron variant spreads across Europe, daily new cases in France are exploding, rising from 5,940 cases to over 60,000 in just one month.
(2021-12-17). Protests erupt against homophobic proposals by far-right Vox party. peoplesdispatch.org On Wednesday, December 15, LGBTIQ rights groups and other progressive, liberal sections protested in Madrid, Spain, to demand that the regional government of Madrid discard a proposal by the far-right Vox Party to repeal LGBTQI rights. The call for the protest was given by LGBTQI activist platform Trans Platform and was supported by various groups including Podemos, United Left (IU), Anti-capitalists Madrid, among others. Enrique Santiago, member of parliament and leader of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), also joined the demonstration on Wednesday. | On Thursday, the 136-seat Assembly of the Autonomous Commun…
(2021-12-17). Militias Threaten Military Escalation to Postpone the Libyan Elections. libya360.wordpress.com Editorial Comment: The Dabaiba government, following orders from Turkey, failed to prepare the security environment for holding elections. Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the Government of National Unity, Najla Al-Manqoush, is in Istanbul today, attending the Turkish-African Summit. — A.V. Libyan political circles described the military escalation that some militias…
(2021-12-17). Modi's Hindu Nationalism in Assam and Manipur. moderndiplomacy.eu The rise of nationalism is going global. From the success of Brexit, the popularity of the far-right movements across Europe, and to Donald Trump winning the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In India, the nationalist government is led by Narendra Modi. This article highlights the strategies of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its parent organization …
(2021-12-17). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Continuing strike wave of French transport workers over pay and conditions joined by waste collection workers and extracurricular school staff; national one-day strike across Italy against government's budget joined by teachers demanding more resources; strike by teachers across 100 Iranian cities over pay and conditions attacked by police; municipal and health workers strike in Free State, South Africa over pay and conditions…
(2021-12-17). Stefan Heym: A central witness to both fascism and socialism in Germany. peoplesworld.org 
Stefan Heym—journalist, novelist, essayist—and a lifelong socialist, died 20 years ago, aged 88, on Dec. 16, 2001. His unfading commitment to humanity through his writing and actions must be remembered and celebrated. Born in 1913 into a prosperous Jewish family in the industrial east German town of Chemnitz, he was Helmut Flieg until he changed …
(2021-12-17). Volkswagen to cut around 900 temporary jobs in Germany. wsws.org Volkswagen is cutting the positions of around 900 temporary workers in the midst of the current coronavirus wave. VW General Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo and VW brand board member Ralf Brandstà§tter announced this just four weeks before Christmas in an online workforce meeting.
(2021-12-17). The New Great Game Is Afoot — With All Of Us "Underfoot" journal-neo.org 
The western elites have finally pushed China and Russia too far. A long awaited independent trade network and alternative currencies will certainly go forward as Washington pushes NATO deeper into Eurasia. Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have now agree to accelerate attempts to create a system that cannot be influenced by 'third parties.' As …
(2021-12-17). German Chancellor Scholz's first speech: Praising Merkel, threatening Russia and committing to mass infection. wsws.org The new Chancellor's remarks confirmed the assessment of the WSWS that the programme of the so-called traffic light coalition of SPD (red), Liberals (FDP, yellow) and Greens is a declaration of war on the working class.
(2021-12-17). Red Star Over the Third World w/ Vijay Prashad: Lessons of Soviet History, Part 2. mronline.org 
Russia's October Revolution in 1917 and the rise of Soviet power reverberated across the world, from Latin America to Africa to Asia, and Middle East — that part of the world that lived under the ravages of colonialism and under-development.