(2021-12-20). UN report documents massive attacks on democratic rights in Ukraine. wsws.org Limited as it is, the UN report exposes attempts to frame a potential war between a "free Ukraine" against an "aggressive" Russia as a "war for democracy" as a complete fraud.
(2021-12-20). Headlines for December 20, 2021. democracynow.org Build Back Better in Jeopardy After Sen. Joe Manchin Announces He Will Not Vote in Favor, Federal Company Vaccine Mandate Reinstated; New Data Show Moderna Booster Helps Fight Omicron, Southwest CEO Tests Positive After Senate Hearing; Sens. Booker and Warren Announce They Have COVID, Omicron Sends COVID Cases Surging, Prompts New Restrictions in Israel, U.K., the Netherlands, 35-Year-Old Progressive Activist Gabriel Boric Will Be Chile's Next President, Death Toll from Super Typhoon Rai Rises to 375 in Philippines; Floods Kill 8 in Malaysia, Hong Kong's "Patriots Only" Election Sees Record Low Turnout, Hundreds…
(2021-12-20). Article 3 in expulsion of mentally ill individuals: risk of harm to others insufficient to engage protection. ukhumanrightsblog.com 
Savran v. Denmark (Application number 57467/15), 7 December 2021 The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") has held that the risks to the applicant's psychiatric health posed by his expulsion to Turkey did not reach the threshold for the application of Article 3. The decision demonstrates the extremely high evidential threshold which applicants …
(2021-12-20). COVID-19: WHO urges Europeans to be smart and safe this holiday season. moderndiplomacy.eu The World Health Organization (WHO) is reminding Europeans to remain vigilant against COVID-19 spread as they round out the year with friends and family. In a message on Thursday, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge urged Europeans to "be smart, be kind, be safe this holiday season." The COVID-19 threat remains high across the continent, which …
(2021-12-20). Death toll rises in Germany even before Omicron variant takes hold. wsws.org With about 2,000 COVID-19 deaths per week, more people are currently dying than at the peak of the third wave in spring 2021. The situation threatens to worsen with the spread of the even more infectious Omicron variant.
(2021-12-20). The new, young and radical feminist movement, at the forefront of resistance in Greece. zcomm.org The event is significant, almost historic, in a conservative and disoriented Greek society, which is always seeking a left worthy of its name…
(2021-12-20). Why the U.S. Will Reject Russia's Proposed Peace-Settlement. moderndiplomacy.eu On December 17th, Russia presented America with a proposed peace-settlement that would empower the U.N. to be not only nominally but in reality the one-and-only body that can create international laws. The proposed treaty would obliterate America's effort to replace the U.N. by America's never-defined 'rules-based international order', which was first proposed by the neoliberal-neoconservative …
(2021-12-20). West Complicit in Arming Chile to Violate Mapuche Rights. towardfreedom.org Between former U.S.-backed dictator Augusto Pinochet's terror laws being used to criminalize Mapuche elders and activists, the United States and the United Kingdom arming Chile's security forces, and the failure of international agencies to treat the Mapuche conflict with urgency, the West appears complicit in the genocide of the Mapuche people.
(2021-12-19). Putin and Xi Plot Their SWIFT Escape. orinocotribune.com By Pepe Escobar — Dec 17, 2021 | Russia and China's announcement of an independent financial trading platform will free nations under US sanctions from western intrusion into their commercial activities | Vladimir Putin got straight to the point. At the opening of his one hour and fourteen minute video conversation with Xi Jinping on 15 December, he described Russia-China relations as "an example of genuine inter-state cooperation in the 21st century." | Their myriad levels of cooperation have been known for years now — from trade, oil and gas, finance, aerospace and the fight against Covid-19, to the…
(2021-12-19). Venezuela and Belarus Sign Bilateral Agreements in Strategic Areas. orinocotribune.com This Friday, December 17, the governments of Venezuela and Belarus signed several agreements at the closing event of the Eighth Meeting of the Venezuela-Belarus high level mixed commission, in order to consolidate strategies for the benefit of both nations and for strengthening cooperation relations. At the Simón Bolivar room of the Miraflores Palace, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, stressed that Venezuela "is taking a successful step in the right direction, with the pace, speed and intensity that is needed," by signing agreements that will allow the development of different sectors of the national ec…
(2021-12-19). Tales Of Resistance: Guaidó's Pie. popularresistance.org A few days ago I was out grocery shopping when I heard a man tell his friend that Venezuela was the only country in the world with two presidents but where everything was still screwed up. | This has become a running joke among Venezuelans. However, some three years ago, when Juan Guaidó proclaimed himself "interim president" and was instantly backed by the United States and the European Union, things didn't seem so funny. | The government and its support base feared this was the opening act ahead of a US military invasion. Opposition activists weren't totally clear as to what was going on, but their leaders were…
(2021-12-19). Pakistan-Bangladesh: Need to move forward. moderndiplomacy.eu History tells that countries, at daggers drawn for centuries, progressed by leaps and bounds once they buried the hatchet. Europe is a case in point. They first general agreement on trade and tariffs to to remove kinks and wobbles in free flow of goods and services. And , then joined the European Union. Thus they …
(2021-12-19). Why Russia vetoed at the U.N. the U.S.-proposed inclusion of climate-change as a 'National Security' issue. moderndiplomacy.eu The United States Government wants to persuade the gullible global public that that Government takes seriously the global-warming threat. The only way actually to stop global warming — if it still can be stopped — is to outlaw, even if in only one major country (such as the U.S.), purchases of stocks and bonds in …
(2021-12-19). After COP26: Russia's Path to the Global Green Future. moderndiplomacy.eu Russia is certainly now taking climate-related issues seriously, but even though a latecomer in embracing the climate change agenda, it will not simply accept the West's or the EU's lead. Rather, it will act in accordance with its national interests. At the COP26 UN climate change summit that ended last week, Russia was noted mainly …
(2021-12-19). Russian Foreign Policy: Shifting Gears. moderndiplomacy.eu Not long ago, a popular Russian joke went: "Those who do not want to listen to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will have to deal with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu." Now it is official. President Vladimir Putin often makes statements on foreign policy. Just last month, he spent several hours discussing world affairs at the annual …