2021-12-26: News Headlines

Editor2 (2021-12-26). Ukraine in the Great Game. orinocotribune.com By Alexander Dugin — Dec 21, 2021 | Throughout history, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia were intertwined with a set of solid cultural, political, and economic links, to the point that the division did not appear more than mere administrative under Soviet jurisdiction. But it all changed after the collapse of the Union. | The escalation between the West and Russia | Today, under Joe Biden's neoconservative and ultra-globalist administration, relations between Russia and the United States are so strained that humanity is on the verge not of a Cold War (which has long been ongoing), but of a nuclear war, World War…

Timothy Alexander Guzman (2021-12-26). Poking the Russian Bear: US-NATO Aggression and Russia's Red Line. globalresearch.ca Following the Taliban's victory over US-NATO forces in Afghanistan, Washington is walking into another death trap, but this time on Russia's borders with the neighboring Ukraine. So now, Washington's non-partisan bureaucrats and the Military-Industrial Complex are calling for ways to …

Rick Rozoff (2021-12-26). Senators sound Ukraine "War Drums", not "Peace Chimes" on Christmas Eve. globalresearch.ca On the day before Christmas, when the world's two billion Christians celebrate the birth of the prince of peace, the Washington Post accorded Senators Rob Portman and Jeanne Shaheen — Republican and Democrat, from Ohio and New Hampshire, respectively — …

Editor2 (2021-12-26). The Socialist Program Red Star Over the Third World w/ Vijay Prashad: Lessons of Soviet History — Part 2. orinocotribune.com This interview is an episode of | Russia's October Revolution in 1917 and the rise of Soviet power rev…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-26). Belgian Workers' Party intensifies campaign to reduce energy bills. peoplesdispatch.org As of December 25, a petition launched by the PTB demanding a reduction in the VAT has been endorsed by over 290,000 people. The VAT on energy bills is one of the highest in Europe…

M.K. Bhadrakumar (2021-12-26). Nord Stream 2 is a double-edged geopolitical tool. peoplesdispatch.org When Pavel Zavalny, the chairman of Russian parliamentary committee on energy, made the forecast on December 18 that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline could start shipping natural gas to Germany as early as next month, it was received with disbelief. But Zavalny was categorical, and was quoted by Reuters as saying, "I can say with a high degree of certainty that the first gas via Nord Stream 2 will go in January." | He added that Europeans would not want to drag their feet with the certification process over Nord Stream 2 at a time when their storage levels of gas is so abysmally low. | But Zavalny was effectively contr…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-26). Attack on protesting oil refinery workers in Greece condemned. peoplesdispatch.org On December 21, police attacked the workers of Kavala Petroleum who were protesting at their plant against threats of layoffs and inadequate safety measures. The All Workers Militant Front of Greece and the Communist Party of Greece have condemned these attacks…

Olga Malik (2021-12-26). Pakistan—Russia Gas Stream: Opportunities and Risks of New Flagship Energy Project. moderndiplomacy.eu Russia's Yekaterinburg hosted the 7th meeting of the Russian-Pakistani Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation on November 24—26, 2021. Chaired by Omar Ayub Khan, Pakistan's Minister for Economic Affairs, and Nikolai Shulginov, Russia's Minister of Energy, the meeting was attended by around 70 policy makers, heads of key industrial companies and businessmen …

_____ (2021-12-26). Mongolia is Among Russia's Key Partners in Asia. journal-neo.org Russia and Mongolia are close neighbors, and their immediate geographic proximity has determined the mutual geopolitical pull of Russia and Mongolia, an objective contributing to political, military, trade and economics, cultural, and other bilateral ties. Russian-Mongolian relations, characterized by traditional good-neighborliness, are comprehensive, oriented to further development in the spirit of strategic partnership, based on …

_____ (2021-12-26). Failure of U.S. Media on Ukraine. strategic-culture.org By Ron FORTHOFER | We need to constantly remind ourselves about the US media. During the Cold War, there was the saying that the difference between theNew York Times and the Soviet Pravda was that Pravda readers knew they were being lied to. Unfortunately, current coverage by the US media about the movement of Russian troops demonstrates the applicability of that saying today. | Lies by Omission | For example, the US public is continually being told that the movement of a large number of Russian troops is a major crisis-inducing provocation of the US and NATO over Ukraine. There is much speculation about whether…

Denis Baturin (2021-12-26). Ukraine after Putin — Biden talks. moderndiplomacy.eu Negotiations between US and Ukrainian Presidents Joe Biden and Volodymir Zelensky in the wake of Putin-Biden talks were anticipated with genuine interest, particularly given that talks between the Ukrainian and American leaders took place against the backdrop of the Ukrainian provocation in the Sea of Azov. As became clear from official sources, the "Ukrainian issue" …

Staff (2021-12-25). Damascus Denounces US and Turkish Occupation Prolonging Syria Crisis. orinocotribune.com The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria, Ayman Susan has denounced the politicization of the issue of humanitarian aid, as well as the military presence of the United States and Turkey in Syria. | In an interview with Russia Today (RT), aired on Thursday, December 23, Susan condemned the politicization of humanitarian aid in Syria, specifically the cross-border delivery of aid, as the Syrian government considers this a violation of Syrian sovereignty and also that this aid ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations. | The minister added that the occupation of parts of Syria by US and Turkish military…

Syed Zain Abbas Rizvi (2021-12-25). Russian Economic Policy: The Antithesis of Turkey's Inimical Approach. moderndiplomacy.eu In my last article, I discussed the illogical approach of the Turk premier to counter inflation. The dogmatic policies of President Erdogan are driving the Turkish economy into the ground. It is fascinating to witness the antipode to Turkey's immature dovish stance embodied by Russia. Last week, the Bank of Russia — the Russian central …

MD Staff (2021-12-25). Denmark: Focus on climate policy and labour market inclusion. moderndiplomacy.eu Denmark's economy is enjoying one of the quickest post-COVID recoveries of OECD countries. While it is important to stay vigilant to further virus outbreaks, policy can now focus on advancing the country's climate ambitions and expanding employment opportunities for low-skilled, foreign-born and female workers, according to a new OECD report. Danish economic activity rebounded rapidly …

_____ (2021-12-25). Growing Russia-India Cooperation Strengthens Global Stability. journal-neo.org With its sanctions intrigues and the desire to demonstrate a servile adherence only to the United States, Europe is increasingly becoming a global strategic periphery. Asia, on the contrary, is moving forward in terms of the global significance of the events taking place there. Against this background, the strategies of Russia and India complement each …

_____ (2021-12-25). Why the Right Always Loses Part II — Russia, Hungary, Socrates and Traditional Values. strategic-culture.org The overwhelming majority is in favor of this brilliant slogan "Traditional Values" and yet what this means is completely undefined. | In the recent past I have written about "

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-25). Declassified Documents Reveal How the US Lied to Russia about NATO Expansion in the 1990s. libya360.wordpress.com Kit Klarenberg In April 2014, President Vladimir Putin addressed Russia's Federal Assembly in the wake of Moscow's reabsorption of Crimea. Over the course of his speech, he laid the blame for an increase in tensions on the West, which he insisted had "lied to us many times, made decisions behind our backs, placed us before an…

Shane Quinn (2021-12-25). Pentagon Plans to Destroy Dozens of Soviet Cities and the So-called Cold War. globalresearch.ca Of relevance to the ongoing US-NATO agenda directed against the Russian Federation: | The history of Nuclear Weapons dates back to World War II. The Manhattan Project was intended to "Subdue The Soviets" while the US and the USSR were allies. …

_____ (2021-12-25). Maturity Is Realizing That Propaganda Isn't Something That Only Happens to Other People. strategic-culture.org By Caitlin JOHNSTONE | What I find interesting is that it's not just coming from complete mainstream normies; a lot of the pushback I'm getting comes from people who've succeeded in seeing through other western propaganda narratives on fronts like Russia, Syria, or Julian Assange. They're just as brainwashed about China as any uncritical consumer of TV news, but because they get their information from people like Tucker Carlson and other so-called "right-populists" who have disputed those other narratives, they assume they are safe from mass media indoctrination. | And a liberal who gets their information from Th…

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2021-12-25: News Headlines

_____ (2021-12-25). Growing Russia-India Cooperation Strengthens Global Stability. journal-neo.org With its sanctions intrigues and the desire to demonstrate a servile adherence only to the United States, Europe is increasingly becoming a global strategic periphery. Asia, on the contrary, is moving forward in terms of the global significance of the events taking place there. Against this background, the strategies of Russia and India complement each …

_____ (2021-12-25). Why the Right Always Loses Part II — Russia, Hungary, Socrates and Traditional Values. strategic-culture.org The overwhelming majority is in favor of this brilliant slogan "Traditional Values" and yet what this means is completely undefined. | In the recent past I have written about "

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-25). Declassified Documents Reveal How the US Lied to Russia about NATO Expansion in the 1990s. libya360.wordpress.com Kit Klarenberg In April 2014, President Vladimir Putin addressed Russia's Federal Assembly in the wake of Moscow's reabsorption of Crimea. Over the course of his speech, he laid the blame for an increase in tensions on the West, which he insisted had "lied to us many times, made decisions behind our backs, placed us before an…

Shane Quinn (2021-12-25). Pentagon Plans to Destroy Dozens of Soviet Cities and the So-called Cold War. globalresearch.ca Of relevance to the ongoing US-NATO agenda directed against the Russian Federation: | The history of Nuclear Weapons dates back to World War II. The Manhattan Project was intended to "Subdue The Soviets" while the US and the USSR were allies. …

WSWS (2021-12-24). As Omicron surges in Europe, governments prepare holiday catastrophe. wsws.org This year's Christmas festivities will be an unprecedented super-spreader event as Omicron leaves European countries facing hospital collapse in January.

Shawgi Tell (2021-12-24). Will Charter Schools Improve Education in France? dissidentvoice.org Charter by definition means contract, a legally binding agreement between two or more parties to do or not do something within a specified period of time. Typically, contracts also enshrine a set of rewards and punishments. Contracts are the quintessential market category. They govern how relations work in the marketplace and ensure exchange relations occupy …

_____ (2021-12-24). Western Expansionism Turns Russia-China to a Strategic Partnership. journal-neo.org In its latest meeting, the G7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the USA and the High Representative of the European Union — "condemned Russian military build-up" on the Ukrainian border. While the statement does show the growing anti-Russia rhetoric in the West, the meeting drastically failed to contextualise how the West itself …

Newsroom (2021-12-24). Russia, Iran, Turkey to hold Syria summit in Tehran in February or March. moderndiplomacy.eu Russia, Iran and Turkey have agreed to hold the next Astana format summit in Tehran in February or March 2022, depending on the coronavirus situation, senior assistant to Iranian foreign minister for special political affairs Ali Asghar Khaji told TASS in Nur Sultan, on Wednesday. "Yes, it [the summit] is planned. We are preparing to …

_____ (2021-12-24). Erdogan is Actively Trying to Score Points in Africa. journal-neo.org Amid growing accusations against the Turkish government and calls for early presidential and parliamentary elections from the local population due to the intensifying domestic crisis in Turkey in recent days, there has been a surge in publications in the West about the impending power transition in Turkey. Thus, American edition Foreign Policy says that even …

Syed Zain Abbas Rizvi (2021-12-24). The Frenzied Economy of Turkey: Erdogan Unfazed by the Ineluctable Financial Collapse. moderndiplomacy.eu Inflation is a ubiquitous word nowadays in almost every discussion worldwide. While the concept is tricky to quantify objectively, the subjective interpretation (at least to a layman) is straightforward: prices rise, goods become expensive, and money loses value. Ever since the pandemic upended routine life, inflation has garnered attention from almost every walk of life. …

MD Staff (2021-12-24). Austria: Boost labour supply and foster green and digital transitions. moderndiplomacy.eu Austria's economy is recovering well from the COVID-19 crisis thanks to decisive policy action, although challenges remain in the form of labour and skills shortages. Efforts should now focus on increasing the labour force participation of women and older workers, adjusting public finances once the recovery is fully self-sustained, and accelerating the shift to a …

A Guest Author (2021-12-24). Por qué Cuba no tiene un movimiento antivacunas. workers.org Por Marc Vandepitte y Toon Danhieux Traducido del neerlandés por Sven Magnus. Versión cortada por Mundo Obrero. Cada vez más, amplios sectores de la población europea expresan abiertamente su desconfianza hacia las políticas para combatir en COVID-19. La reacción de la política tradicional es de pánico y se caracteriza por . . . |

_____ (2021-12-24). EU's Most and Least Polluted Cities. strategic-culture.org This infographic shows ten most and least polluted cities of the European Union with a population above 500,000 people. The domination of Polish cities in "the most polluted" list is due to the nation's heavy reliance on coal for heat and electricity. | (Click on the image to enlarge)…

Dr.Nadia Helmy (2021-12-24). The benefits of China and Russia from the United States' disengagement from the Middle East. moderndiplomacy.eu Russia and China, as two countries that compete with the United States and the European Union on the international scene, are trying to find a foothold in the Middle East, and the new Chinese and Russian strategy is represented in (restricting and curtailing American influence in the Middle East due to the direct American penetration …

MD Staff (2021-12-24). Minimum corporate taxation- Explainer. moderndiplomacy.eu What did the European Commission propose? The European Commission has proposed a Directive to ensure a global minimum effective tax rate of 15% for large groups operating in the European Union.The proposal delivers on the EU's pledge to move extremely swiftly and be among the first to implement the historic global tax reform agreement reached …

WSWS (2021-12-24). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Riot police use stun guns against occupation of Kavali Oil plant by Greek workers; Romanian miners hold wildcat strike to demand early retirement and rail workers walk out spontaneously over pay; teachers demonstrate across Iran in 120 cities over wages, conditions and state repression; strike by South African Clover food workers against pay, conditions and job cuts enters second month…

_____ (2021-12-24). Meet the Elites of Northern Europe, NATO's Hardcore Militant. strategic-culture.org If you want to find the NATO hardcore militant, you have to meet the elites of North Europe, Claudio Gallo writes. | The sun has been rising from the North for quite some time on the NATO land. Since mid-2009, the chair of NATO secretary general has been occupied by Northern Europe's politicians: first the former Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen and then (since October 2014) the former Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg. Brussels extended Stoltenberg's contract to September 2022. The not so far deadline is already prompting the first discussions among the Atlantic partners. | Next year, the new secretary might be intro…

Ron Forthofer (2021-12-24). Failure of US media on Ukraine. dissidentvoice.org We need to constantly remind ourselves about the US media. During the Cold War, there was the saying that the difference between the New York Times and the Soviet Pravda was that Pravda readers knew they were being lied to. Unfortunately, current coverage by the US media about the movement of Russian troops demonstrates the applicability of that saying today. …

John Feffer (2021-12-24). Russian Green Deal: Light at the End of the Tunnel? zcomm.org Russia is a leading carbon emitter and exporter. But change is afoot inside the country…

_____ (2021-12-24). How Not to Explain the Ukraine Crisis. strategic-culture.org The PBS NewsHour invited on just about the worst person in the U.S. government to help Americans understand the crisis in Ukraine, writes Mike Madden. | By Mike MADDEN | U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who choreographed the 2014 coup that overthrew Ukraine's democratically-elected government and set the current crisis in motion, was invited by PBS NewsHour on Dec. 7 to explain the standoff in Ukraine. | Typical of Western media, the story began with Russia's involvement in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, which took place in March 2014. The crisis actually began…

Dr.Nadia Helmy (2021-12-24). The repercussions of the American presence in the Middle East on China and Russia. moderndiplomacy.eu There are many potential repercussions of the US presence in the Middle East, with direct impacts on both China and Russia. Here, the most important priorities of the new US administration in the Middle East are represented in (negotiating over the Iranian nuclear program), which threatens Israel's security and destabilizes the region, according to American …

Derek Royden (2021-12-24). Talon Anvil, Task Force 9 and the terrible cost of the air offensive in Syria. nationofchange.org Subsidizing militarism in search of monsters overseas seems more and more like the American way. With the new focus on near peer competitors like Russia and China, the dangers are only growing.

WSWS (2021-12-24). "We have no way further to retreat," says Putin, as NATO escalates military build-up on Russia's borders. wsws.org The Russian president warned his country would "react harshly" to further aggressive moves by NATO.

teleSUR (2021-12-24). Russia Refutes US Claims About Its Import Substitution Policies. telesurenglish.net On Friday Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoma Maria Zakharova slammed as unfounded and beyond absurd the claims made by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, about Russia's import substitution in the IT sector and its alleged general non-compliance with the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO). | RELATED: | "We've grown accustomed to the United States' unfounded accusations against us, but this one exceeded all ou…

Dr.Nadia Helmy (2021-12-24). The main problems to the expansion of Sino-Russian cooperation with the Middle East. moderndiplomacy.eu The most prominent problems of expanding Sino-Russian cooperation in the Middle East are due to the US policy of hegemony in the region, and they are considered a real challenge to Washington. And here we can (interpret the ultimate goal behind the Russian and later Chinese intervention in Syria at the heart of the world …

teleSUR (2021-12-24). Russia Imposes Million Dollar Fines on Google and Meta. telesurenglish.net On Friday, the Russian Justice imposed high fines on Google and Meta, which together exceed US$100 million dollars, for non-compliance with local laws. | RELATED: | The Tagansky District Court of Moscow fined Google US$98.4 million because of "systemic failure to remove prohibited information," agency TASS reported. Another Moscow court also imposed a fine of US$2.7 million on Meta, owner of Facebook. | This is th…

Noam Chomsky (2021-12-24). Outdated US Cold War Policy Worsens Ongoing Russia-Ukraine Conflict. zcomm.org The Russia-Ukraine conflict is a solvable problem, but one wonders if the U.S. will remain dedicated to a "zombie policy" that could produce potentially awful consequences in the event of a diplomatic failure…

Kester Kenn Klomegah (2021-12-24). Assessing Russia-African Relations, its Setbacks and the Existing Challenges. moderndiplomacy.eu Last November, an expert group headed by Sergei A. Karaganov, the Honorary Chairman of the Presidium, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, presented its final 150 paged assessment policy report with some recommendations intended to improve and scale up the existing Russia's influence in Africa. The report, put together by 25 academic researchers and experts, …

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-24). Anti-imperialists in Slovakia protest proposal for defense agreement with US. peoplesdispatch.org Talks on the Agreement on Defence Cooperation between Slovakia and the US concluded earlier this month. The agreement, likely to be approved in January 2022, is being criticized by progressive sections as a move that will compromise the sovereignty of Slovakia…

Craig Murray (2021-12-24). Protecting the Nazis: The extraordinary vote of Ukraine and the USA. mronline.org The Ukrainian vote against the U.N. resolution against Nazism was motivated by sympathy for the ideology of historic, genocidal active Nazis. It is as simple as that, writes Craig Murray.

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