Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2023

UN lies about US military occupation of Syria, reporter calls out Ukraine hypocrisy

Geopolitical Economy Report   US troops have illegally occupied Syria's oil-rich territory for years, but a top United Nations official, Farhan Haq, falsely claimed " there's no US armed forces inside of Syria ". Chinese reporter Edward Xu called out the UN's hypocrisy on Ukraine.  

"France is furious": Anger grows at Macron for raising retirement age as millions strike & protest

Democracy Now!   French unions say nearly 3.5 million people took to the streets Thursday in a nationwide general strike to protest President Emmanuel Macron's deeply unpopular move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.    Macron forced the legislation through the French National Assembly last week, using a constitutional clause to bypass a parliamentary vote. Macron's government survived a vote of no confidence Monday by just nine votes, but public anger shows no signs of abating, with France's major trade unions planning another nationwide protest for Tuesday.    " Not only is the government trying to do this pension reform that people see as fundamentally unfair, but they're ignoring historically large protests even by French standards, " says journalist Cole Stranger from Marseille. His new guest essay in The New York Times is headlined "France is furious."

State surveillance and court cases: The lonely fight for press freedom of Greece’s independent media

by Alessio Giussani   Part 5 - 'A long way to go'   Still, the revelations on the spyware industry and its ties to the Greek state brought InsideStory an increase in visibility and revenue – its paying subscribers now exceed 3,000. " But it’s just enough money to stay afloat, " Triantafillou said. Founded in 2016, InsideStory pioneered a new kind of ad-free, politically independent reporting in Greece. Its growth represents an encouraging trend for other investigative journalists, who still heavily rely on grants, media partnerships and side jobs to make ends meet. According to Triantafillou, there is a contradiction in a significant part of the Greek audience: " They want impartial reporting, but they are not willing to provide their support. " Greek investigative reporting regularly informs parliamentary debate at national and EU level, but its overall impact is still limited. If they are to defeat systemic hostility and intimidation, independent journal

Tweet of the day

The NRA buys off Congress. No action on guns. The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate. Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care. The list goes on... Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction. — Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 27, 2023

US hegemony and its perils

Report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China   Part 4 -Economic Hegemony / Looting and Exploitation   After World War II, the United States led efforts to set up the Bretton Woods System, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which, together with the Marshall Plan, formed the international monetary system centered around the U.S. dollar. In addition, the United States has also established institutional hegemony in the international economic and financial sector by manipulating the weighted voting systems, rules and arrangements of international organizations including " approval by 85 percent majority, " and its domestic trade laws and regulations. By taking advantage of the dollar's status as the major international reserve currency, the United States is basically collecting "seigniorage" from around the world; and using its control over international organizations, it coerces other countries into serving America'

Millions protest Macron across France

The Jimmy Dore Show   Ever since President Emanuel Macron pushed through Parliament a raise in the retirement age from 62 to 64, the French public have been pouring into the streets with millions of protesters demanding the new law be revoked. Even firefighters and some police have joined in the protests — although many cops have continued to serve as the agents of state violence and cracked down on protesters. 

Day 1444: Julian Assange still in prison and under slow-motion execution by the Anglo-American imperialist criminals

failed evolution   On 11 April 2019, the Ecuadorian government of traitor Lenin Moreno, invited the Metropolitan Police into the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and they arrested Julian Assange . Since then, Assange is kept in Belmarsh high security prison in London, without actual charges.   The real reason world's number one political prisoner is still kept in this high security prison, is because he exposed horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.   The ruthless Western imperialist regime wants to punish the No1 real journalist in the world and make him an example for any Whistleblower or real journalist who will attempt to expose its big crimes in the future.   And the Anglo-American axis has now become officially a fascist coalition , framed by the rest of its Western pets. UK's Home Secretary Priti Patel, one of the most ruthless ever, decided to extradite Julian Assange to US. No surprise of course. The only question we had in mind is

A secret agenda dialogue ten years ago explains today's banking crisis, protests in France and more

by system failure Biggest Multinational Corporations (BMCs) : What the hell are you doing? You dictate governments to cut salaries and pensions, proceed in massive layoffs! You destroy our consumers! Banksters : Don't worry we know what we are doing. BMCs : No you don't. You reduce our profits! Banksters : Calm down! We are major shareholders in many of you. Do you think we want to lose? BMCs : Then what, exactly, is your plan? Banksters : Look, can you imagine what would happen if people were receiving higher salaries and pensions? BMCs : Yes, we would be selling more products and making more profits! Banksters : Far from it! Your losses would be much more than your profits for a number of reasons! BMCs : Can you be more specific? Banksters : First: if more money were going to the market, then they would lose much of their value and we would lose profits because we are the ones who print money! That's why we invented inflation, to keep governments in fear and dir

Iran’s unrest triggers explosion of fake news

Some of the most incendiary accusations made against Iran’s government by corporate media, celebrity influencers and Western leaders in the past months are little more than fabrications. And most remain uncorrected.   by Setareh Sadeqi and Christopher Weaver   Part 9 - Bryan Adams lies about Iranian singer’s arrest   Washed-up 1980’s pop-rock balladeer Bryan Adams claimed this his supposed friend, Iranian singer Sirvan Khosravi, “ has been arrested in Iran for supporting the women’s rights movement against the murder of Mahsa Amini and the rule that women are not free to wear a hijab how they wish. ” Adams’ tweet earned close to 9000 likes, even though he tagged the wrong account – a random egg with 31 followers – suggesting he was not as well acquainted with Khosravi as he claimed.   Adam’s tweet prompted Khosravi to take to his Instagram account to correct the record. He stated that he and his brother Zaniar had never been held by Iran’s security services or jailed: “ Zaniar and I ar

European antiwar protests gain strength as NATO’s Ukraine proxy war escalates

Europeans are storming the streets in unprecedented numbers to protest NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and their own declining living standards. The Grayzone has covered demonstrations and interviewed protest leaders in several countries since the war erupted.   by Stavroula Pabst and Max Blumenthal   Part 3 - Recent protests build on months of antiwar activity across Europe   The recent spate of demonstrations follows protests in Italy, where tens of thousands demonstrated in November 2022 against PM Giorgia Meloni’s decision to send arms to Ukraine, and burned their electricity bills in a display of civil disobedience. A poll of Italians taken this February shows that a major of the country’s citizens oppose sending arms to Ukraine, and favor an immediate negotiated solution. In Leipzig, Germany, meanwhile, mass protests against skyrocketing food and energy prices have been surging since last Fall. As in Berlin, where Wagenecht openly declared that anyone was welcome regardless of their

France RISES Up AGAINST Macron

Sabby Sabs    

Roger Waters Concert CANCELLED Over Israel Criticism

Breaking Points   Krystal and Saagar are joined by Katie Halper to discuss Roger Watters concert being cancelled in Germany over criticism of Israel.   

State surveillance and court cases: The lonely fight for press freedom of Greece’s independent media

by Alessio Giussani   Part 4 - Self-censorship   Troubles for press freedom in Greece started well before the conservative government came to power in 2019. In a country with a tradition of political and business meddling in editorial decisions, the economic crisis made the press all the more reliant on political parties, tycoons and advertisers. This, in turn, further eroded journalistic independence and undermined public trust. In Reuters Institute’s 2022 Digital News Report, Greece ranked lowest across 46 countries in terms of the share of citizens thinking that the press is free from undue political or business influence. " From shipping to energy and the banking sector, self-censorship in the mainstream media has become systematic since 2010, " Yannis-Orestis Papadimitriou, a journalist at investigative outfit The Manifold , told Euronews . With members in Athens, Nicosia and London, The Manifold has published extensively on police violence and child abuse in Greece, fa

Oscars Hypocrisy: Elites Cheer “Navalny” While Julian Assange Rots in Prison

Glenn Greenwald    

US hegemony and its perils

Report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China   Part 3 -Military Hegemony / Wanton Use of Force   The history of the United States is characterized by violence and expansion. Since it gained independence in 1776, the United States has constantly sought expansion by force: it slaughtered Indians, invaded Canada, waged a war against Mexico, instigated the American-Spanish War, and annexed Hawaii. After World War II, the wars either provoked or launched by the United States included the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the Libyan War and the Syrian War, abusing its military hegemony to pave the way for expansionist objectives. In recent years, the U.S. average annual military budget has exceeded 700 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 40 percent of the world's total, more than the 15 countries behind it combined. The United States has about 800 overseas military bases, with 173,000 troops de

Revealed: Britain secretly turned non-aligned Cyprus into a key NATO asset

A formerly top secret UK report shows Britain’s territory on Cyprus formed a key part of NATO’s surveillance and nuclear capabilities in the Mediterranean during the Cold War, despite knowing this was “not consistent” with the island’s non-aligned stance. by Matt Kennard   Part 5 - Deterring Russia, protecting oil supplies       Independent Cyprus’s first president, Archbishop Makarios, was prominent supporter of Non-Aligned Movement during Cold War     But British territories on Cyprus were “of great strategic importance” to NATO     Top secret map shows UK ran “NATO communications station” in Cyprus outside of British base areas     Covert surveillance operations were carried out from British Cyprus “on behalf of NATO”     Targets for Cyprus-based nuclear-capable Vulcan bomber squadrons were coordinated with NATO     UK planners cautioned “it is important to avoid drawing attention to the NATO implications of military activities” on British Cyprus   The British presence on Cyprus als

Day 1435: Julian Assange still in prison and under slow-motion execution by the Anglo-American imperialist criminals

failed evolution   On 11 April 2019, the Ecuadorian government of traitor Lenin Moreno, invited the Metropolitan Police into the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and they arrested Julian Assange . Since then, Assange is kept in Belmarsh high security prison in London, without actual charges.   The real reason world's number one political prisoner is still kept in this high security prison, is because he exposed horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.   The ruthless Western imperialist regime wants to punish the No1 real journalist in the world and make him an example for any Whistleblower or real journalist who will attempt to expose its big crimes in the future.   And the Anglo-American axis has now become officially a fascist coalition , framed by the rest of its Western pets. UK's Home Secretary Priti Patel, one of the most ruthless ever, decided to extradite Julian Assange to US. No surprise of course. The only question we had in mind is

Iran’s unrest triggers explosion of fake news

Some of the most incendiary accusations made against Iran’s government by corporate media, celebrity influencers and Western leaders in the past months are little more than fabrications. And most remain uncorrected.   by Setareh Sadeqi and Christopher Weaver   Part 8 - Non-existent dead person turns out to be living Iranian rapper   A person named Nadia Arefani has been presented as a casualty of the lethal violence of Iran’s security forces. However, the images of Arefani circulating on social media depict a not-very famous, but still very much alive Iranian rapper known as Niloufar. And Arefani herself may not even exist at all. The photo of Niloufar was first shared by a Twitter user who had been encouraging Iranians to take up arms against their government, painting violent insurrection as the path to freedom and independence. Claiming the headshot depicted someone named Nadia Arefani, the Twitter user said they were killed by the Iranian police.    The claim was later promoted on

European antiwar protests gain strength as NATO’s Ukraine proxy war escalates

Europeans are storming the streets in unprecedented numbers to protest NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and their own declining living standards. The Grayzone has covered demonstrations and interviewed protest leaders in several countries since the war erupted.   by Stavroula Pabst and Max Blumenthal   Part 2 - Popular resistance builds in Europe as leaders grovel to Washington   By the arrival of the February 24, 2023 anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a growing number of German citizens had begun to bristle at their government’s submissive attitude to Washington. Not only had Chancellor Olaf Scholz acceded to US demands to send Leopard tanks to the Ukrainian military, setting up what could be the first confrontation between German and Russian armor since World War Two, he seemed studiously disinterested in determining who was responsible for destroying the Nord Stream pipelines. An antiwar manifesto authored by Sahra Wagenknecht of the Die Linke (Left) party and feminist writer

When privatisation kills

DiEM25   Last week, a devastating train collision in Greece claimed at least 57 lives, the latest stain on the record of the EU’s most dangerous rail network. In the Greek parliament, MeRA25 blamed the lack of safety on the privatization of the country’s railways. The state-owned train operator was sold for a measly 45 million euros to a bankrupt Italian company at the height of Greece’s debt crisis, in a sell-off of public assets masterminded by the EU and the country’s other creditors. How do the waves of privatization of public services across Europe impact the state's ability to provide basic needs and keep citizens safe? And how can we prevent tragedies like the Greek rail disaster from happening again?     Related:   Nationalize railways now!

How America took out the Nord Stream pipeline

The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now   by Seymour Hersh   Part 4 - FALLOUT   In the immediate aftermath of the pipeline bombing, the American media treated it like an unsolved mystery. Russia was repeatedly cited as a likely culprit, spurred on by calculated leaks from the White House—but without ever establishing a clear motive for such an act of self-sabotage, beyond simple retribution. A few months later, when it emerged that Russian authorities had been quietly getting estimates for the cost to repair the pipelines, the New York Times described the news as “ complicating theories about who was behind ” the attack. No major American newspaper dug into the earlier threats to the pipelines made by Biden and Undersecretary of State Nuland. While it was never clear why Russia would seek to destroy its own lucrative pipeline, a more telling rationale for the President’s action came from Secretary o

Nordstream blame game begins

The Grayzone   Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the controlled leaks aiming to deflect blame for the Nordstream attacks onto "pro-Ukrainian" elements, the failed attempt by Republican populists and Democratic progressives to withdraw US troops from Syria, and the dramatic congressional Twitter files hearing.  

State surveillance and court cases: The lonely fight for press freedom of Greece’s independent media

by Alessio Giussani   Part 3 - State surveillance   These new outlets, which include Reporters United but also Solomon and The Manifold , half-jokingly call themselves “marides”, Greek for “whitebait”, yet are catching big stories. But at a cost. Editors at Reporters United were sued for hundreds of thousands of euros for a story they ran into the ties of the nephew and then-Secretary General of the Prime Minister Grigoris Dimitriadis with the spyware industry. " Even if you are not going to lose the case, these lawsuits cost a lot, and take up your time and energy, " Stavros Malichudis, who is used to facing legal threats as an investigative reporter at non-profit outfit Solomon , told Euronews . But lawsuits are just the tip of the iceberg. Malichudis was the first journalist found to have been placed under state surveillance while reporting on migration issues on the island of Kos.   " Stavros [Malichudis]’s surveillance deeply affected the mental health of the who

Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections

     ‘Team Jorge’ unit exposed by undercover investigation     Group sells hacking services and access to vast army of fake social media profiles     Evidence unit behind disinformation campaigns across world     Mastermind Tal Hanan claims covert involvement in 33 presidential elections   by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Manisha Ganguly, David Pegg, Carole Cadwalladr and Jason Burke Part 3 - ‘I will show you how safe Telegram is’ No less alarming were Hanan’s demonstrations of his team’s hacking capabilities, in which he showed the reporters how he could penetrate Telegram and Gmail accounts. In one case, he brought up on screen the Gmail account of a man described as the “ assistant of an important guy ” in the general election in Kenya, which was days away. “ Today if someone has a Gmail, it means they have much more than just email, ” Hanan said as he clicked through the target’s emails, draft folders, contacts and drives. He then showed how he claimed to be able to access accounts on T

US hegemony and its perils

Report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China   Part 2 - Political Hegemony /Throwing Its Weight Around The United States has long been attempting to mold other countries and the world order with its own values and political system in the name of promoting democracy and human rights. ◆ Instances of U.S. interference in other countries' internal affairs abound. In the name of "promoting democracy," the United States practiced a "Neo-Monroe Doctrine" in Latin America, instigated "color revolutions" in Eurasia, and orchestrated the "Arab Spring" in West Asia and North Africa, bringing chaos and disaster to many countries. In 1823, the United States announced the Monroe Doctrine. While touting an "America for the Americans," what it truly wanted was an "America for the United States." Since then, the policies of successive U.S. governments toward Latin America and the Caribbean Region have been ri

Revealed: Britain secretly turned non-aligned Cyprus into a key NATO asset

A formerly top secret UK report shows Britain’s territory on Cyprus formed a key part of NATO’s surveillance and nuclear capabilities in the Mediterranean during the Cold War, despite knowing this was “not consistent” with the island’s non-aligned stance. by Matt Kennard   Part 4 - ‘Nuclear force’       Independent Cyprus’s first president, Archbishop Makarios, was prominent supporter of Non-Aligned Movement during Cold War     But British territories on Cyprus were “of great strategic importance” to NATO     Top secret map shows UK ran “NATO communications station” in Cyprus outside of British base areas     Covert surveillance operations were carried out from British Cyprus “on behalf of NATO”     Targets for Cyprus-based nuclear-capable Vulcan bomber squadrons were coordinated with NATO     UK planners cautioned “it is important to avoid drawing attention to the NATO implications of military activities” on British Cyprus   The report shows that two Vulcan bomber squadrons, referred