Monthly Archives: March 2021

2021-03-27: News Headlines

Clean Energy Wire (2021-03-27). Germany sees record greenhouse gas emission fall due to pandemic, renewables. juancole.com By Kerstine Appunn and Julian Wettengel | — ( Clean Energy Wire) — Germany's greenhouse gas emissions dropped nearly nine percent in 2020 — the largest annual fall since 1990 — as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed down the use of fossil fuels and added to the effects of the shift to renewable …

_____ (2021-03-27). New Global Alliance Defends UN Charter. popularresistance.org A new alliance called the "Groups of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations" has formed in a clear act of resistance to the unilateral and aggressive policies of the United States and its junior partners. Representatives of the alliance reside fully in the Global South. Nations spearheading the initiative include the DPRK, Iran, Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, Cuba, Eritrea, Laos, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines, Syria, Venezuela, and Palestine in addition to the largest of the developing countries, Russia and China.

Andrew Korybko (2021-03-27). Can Russia's S-400 Sale to India Trigger the Collapse of the US-led anti-China "Quad Alliance" globalresearch.ca The US-led anti-Chinese Quad alliance of itself, Australia, India, and Japan …

_____ (2021-03-27). End US Support For The Brutal MoàØse Regime In Haiti! popularresistance.org March 29 is the anniversary of the 1987 Haitian Constitution written after the 1986 overthrow of the brutal Duvalier dictatorship. The 1987 Constitution was designed to create "a socially just, economically free, and politically independent Haitian nation." Those ideals are again in crisis. | The US-backed de facto president of Haiti, Jovenel MoàØse, is refusing to leave office even though his term ended on February 7. MoàØse and his Western allies – the US, Canada, Brazil, France, Spain and the European Union – are trying to push through a new constitution.

WSWS (2021-03-27). German train drivers union head calls for massive staff cuts. wsws.org The chairman of the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL), Claus Weselsky, has called for massive staff cuts in the administration of Germany's main rail company, Deutsche Bahn (DB).

Ben Norton (2021-03-27). Western govt contractor entrapped British scholar in sting operation to cover up Syria corruption scandal. thegrayzone.com CIJA, a taxpayer-funded outfit that collaborated with al-Qaeda, lied to entrap a British academic in a sting operation. Its goal was to discredit critics of the dirty war on Syria — and cover up its own corruption. A British academic who belongs to a prominent anti-war research group has been targeted in a deceptive sting operation run by a regime-change organization funded with UK and US taxpayer money. That contractor now stands accused of defrauding the European Union of millions …

Ben Norton (2021-03-27). Western govt contractor entrapped British scholar in sting operation to cover up Syria corruption scandal. thegrayzone.com CIJA, a taxpayer-funded outfit that collaborated with al-Qaeda, lied to entrap a British academic in a sting operation. Its goal was to discredit critics of the dirty war on Syria — and cover up its own corruption. A British academic who belongs to a prominent anti-war research group has been targeted in a deceptive sting operation run by a regime-change organization funded with UK and US taxpayer money. That organization now stands accused of defrauding the European Union of millions …

The Lancet (2021-03-27). [Editorial] COVID-19: building a stronger Europe. thelancet.com Europe is facing serious third waves of COVID-19 and vaccine roll-out has been fraught. But while much of the focus has been on western Europe, little attention has been paid to central and eastern Europe. This region is large, politically diverse, and historically complex, spanning EU member countries like the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and the Baltic states, the non-EU western Balkans, and Ukraine further east. It is unclear how some of these countries managed to keep cases low during the first part of 2020.

Ann Danaiya Usher (2021-03-27). [World Report] Uncertainties over EU COVID-19 vaccine sharing scheme. thelancet.com Legal hurdles and political questions remain over a European Commission mechanism for donating COVID-19 vaccines to other nations. Ann Danaiya Usher reports.

Manitou (2021-03-27). Biden Go Home! indybay.org Uncle Sam is not American. He's not even speaking American. He's speaking the language of the filthy European squatter. There are hundreds of American languages but Uncle Sam is too damn stupid and too lazy to learn. What kind of a nation is a nation without an own language? A nation of filthy squatters and racist bastards attacking people that look much more American than Uncle Sam? Americans came from Asia and the Pacific not from Europe…?>

2021-03-26: News Headlines

Matthew Stevenson (2021-03-26). Letters From Minsk: Toward the Polish Corridor. counterpunch.org This is the third in a series about train and bicycle rides from Switzerland to Belarus, in those carefree days before pandemic lockdowns. I spent less than 12 hours in Berlin, but had I stayed a week I am not sure I would have seen more. My train the next morning to Poznan, in Poland,

Minnie Bruce Pratt (2021-03-26). March 20 solidarity with BAmazon Union No to Amazon union busting and racism! workers.org The historic union election sought by majority Black workers at a Bessemer, Ala., Amazon warehouse ends March 29. All indications are that the vote will be close, and the outcome could take weeks to determine. Monica Robinson, with Philadelphia Coalition for Labor Union Women, leads chants during March 20 protest. . . . |

WSWS (2021-03-26). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Pharmacists strike in Lebanon as economy collapses; UK bus strike at Go North West Manchester depot in fifth week; further strike planned by UK energy workers; French workers at Renault foundry strike against closure…

newsnetwork.mayoclinic (2021-03-26). Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Viruses can't mutate if they can't replicate. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org The COVID-19 virus mutates and replicates when people let down their guard and don't follow safety protocols, such as practicing social distancing and wearing a mask. "I think most of us expect a major surge because of spring break travel and the relaxation of restrictions," says Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo …

Rafael Logroño (2021-03-26). Students in Turkey Are Standing Up for LGBT Rights. thenation.com Bogazici University's LGBTI+ club in January, students across the country launched a nationwide protest movement.

MEE, agencies (2021-03-26). Suez Canal: Ship owner aims to free ship 'tomorrow night'. middleeasteye.net Suez Canal: Ship owner aims to free ship 'tomorrow night' | Report in Japanese newspaper comes despite salvage experts warning the rescue operation could last days or even weeks | Fri, 03/26/2021 – 09: 31 | Global shipping giant Maersk and Germany's Hapag-Lloyd both said on Thursday that they were looking into going around Africa (AFP) | Shoei Kisen, the Japanese owner of the container shi…

Alex MacDonald (2021-03-26). Turkey: Former police chiefs among those convicted in murder of Hrant Dink. middleeasteye.net Turkey: Former police chiefs among those convicted in murder of Hrant Dink | Dozens of people handed jail sentences in murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist | Fri, 03/26/2021 – 10: 53 | Demonstrators hold a banner reading 'For Hrant, For Justice' during a gathering in front of the Caglayan courthouse in Istanbul, on 26 March 2021 (AFP) | A court in Istanbul has handed down a verdict of six life…

Giulio D'Errico (2021-03-26). Resisting Greece's rapid descent into authoritarianism. zcomm.org The heavily militarized response to the pandemic and endemic police violence has exacerbated old conflicts within Greek society — and many have had enough…

Dave DeCamp (2021-03-26). Russian Defense Advisor Accuses US of Waging Psychological War. news.antiwar.com An advisor to Russia's defense minister "A new type of warfare … is starting to appear. I call it, for the sake of argument, mental war," said Andrei Ilnitsky, who advises Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. "A war is being waged for people's minds," he said in comments to Russia's Spas TV. Ilnitsky said the US is using "informational" and…

Euronews (2021-03-26). Denmark Extends AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Suspension for Three Weeks. globalresearch.ca Below is the report of EuroNews confirming Denmark's Decision to Suspend …

WSWS (2021-03-26). European Union summit retreats from vaccine export ban. wsws.org Every major capitalist power is engaged in the same beggar thy neighbour policy, with catastrophic consequences that only aids the spread of the virus.

_____ (2021-03-26). Blinken Threatens Germany With Sanctions. popularresistance.org While meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the US's opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will connect Russia to Germany and warned Berlin about possible sanctions over the project. | "President Biden has been very clear in saying that he believes the pipeline is a bad idea; it's bad for Europe, bad for the United States," Blinken said. "Ultimately, it's in contradiction to the EU's own energy security goals. It has the potential to undermine the interests of Ukraine, Poland, a number of other close partners or allies."