(2021-08-22). US Scrambles To Hit Hard With "Soft" Power. popularresistance.org In keeping with President Joe Biden's pledge to withdraw from America's 20-year war in one of the poorest countries on earth, the U.S. government has yet to present any plan for future relations with Afghanistan, as it is reportedly scrambling to freeze Kabul's wealth for fears of it falling into the hands of the Taliban.
(2021-08-22). Sports Boycotts & Apartheid. counterpunch.org 
During this summer's Tokyo Olympics, Algerian Fethi Nourine was slated to battle Israeli Tohar Butbul in judo. Before the bout, Nourine withdrew in protest of Israeli policies, expressing support for Palestinians. "We worked a lot to reach the Olympics but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this," Days later a…
(2021-08-22). Biden, Sanders & LGBTQ+ Oppose Republican Recall. indybay.org Pres. Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders and LGBTQ+ are all strongly in opposition to the Republican Recall of Governor Newsom, set for Sept 14, with vote by mail ballots received by all registered voters. Do your part to save our state and Vote No on the Recall Today.
(2021-08-22). Tragedy in Saigon, Farce in Kabul. orinocotribune.com By Radhika Desai — Aug 14, 2021 | As President Joe Biden scrambles to get U.S. personnel out of Kabul before it falls to the Taliban, the media resound with Saigon analogies. In 1975, the U.S. had to conduct the largest helicopter evacuation to save its personnel from the advancing North Vietnamese. The analogy evokes Karl Marx's words, "Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." | The U.S.'s Vietnam tragedy unfolded from the contradictions of a self-delu…
(2021-08-22). Elliott Abrams: If Opposition Decides to Reform or Eliminate 'Interim Government,' We Must Support It. orinocotribune.com The alleged "interim government" of Juan Guaidó is becoming more and more lonely in its abstentionist stand. The "special envoy" of the United States for Venezuela during Donald Trump's administration, Elliott Abrams, stressed that the US government should support the Venezuelan opposition if it decides to participate in the regional elections on November 21. | "If the democratic forces in Venezuela decide to participate in the elections, we [the United States] must support them and vigorously organize international pressure to force Maduro to fulfill the promises he has made on electoral conditions," Abrams said…
(2021-08-22). How California's Top Democrats Paved the Way for a Republican Governor This Fall. indybay.org Looking out for the 1 percent…
(2021-08-22). Justice, Impoverishment and Fear. indybay.org The defense of the welfare state is the defense of democracy… | Democracy is as strong as it is fragile. It is strong when it is defended. It is strong when we do not allow ourselves to be fobbed off with answers that do not tolerate questions. But it disappears immediately when we have become indifferent to it.
(2021-08-22). Ethical human rights are a Great Idea whose time has begun. indybay.org Not all countries want democracy. Rather than confrontation between a democratic coalition and totalitarianism it would be better if the superpowers, in particular, adopt ethical human rights.
(2021-08-22). Cal Recall Impacts Nation; Repub Elder's Anti-Pregnant Workers. indybay.org The Sept 14 Governor Recall will drag the US government and economy to the reactionary, economic deep hole of Nazi Trump if it succeeds. The Trump Republican Larry Elder wants female employees to be required to notify their employer when they plan to get pregnant. He is also anti-mask and anti-vaccine in this COVID19 pandemic. This is not about the Democrats; this is about our lives.
(2021-08-22). Sanders Traveling to Pitch $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan to Working Americans. zcomm.org "While it will have no Republican support in Washington, Democrats, Independents, and working-class Republicans all over the country support our plan to finally invest in the long-neglected needs of working families"
(2021-08-22). Thursday 8/19: "Is Nancy Pelosi Addicted– to War?" indybay.org Nancy Pelosi's house, 2640 Broadway, in Pacific Heights, San Francisco…
(2021-08-21). Latest US misstep in Afghanistan just one of many. asiatimes.com 
US President Joe Biden is under a tremendous amount of pressure from his own Democratic Party and the liberal media establishment for daring to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan and allowing the country to fall back into the hands of the fundamentalist Taliban regime. Biden, in a statement on August 14, said, "One more year, …
(2021-08-21). US evacuates about 13,000 people from Afghanistan, Biden says. tass.com These numbers include American citizens and permanent residents, as well as their families, US President said…
(2021-08-21). Biden expands military operations in Afghanistan amid withdrawal crisis. wsws.org Appearing yesterday at his first White House press conference since the fall of Kabul, US President Joe Biden tried again to play down the humiliating blow suffered by the US and its allies in their 20-year neo-colonial war in Afghanistan.
(2021-08-21). Biden Heads Home for the Weekend as Turmoil in Afghanistan Continues, Media Says. sputniknews.com The US President previously faced criticism over spending the weekend at the presidential retreat in Camp David while the Taliban was capturing Kabul.
(2021-08-21). Soft Power Just Shifted Massively From West To East. southfront.org 
U.S. soldiers at Kabul airport. Illustrative image | Written by Don Hank | If you look back to the US's first involvement before the start of the Afghan war in 2001, a case can be made that Biden's decision to pull US troops out of the country was planned as part of the ongoing US attempt to weaken Russia. After all, the Democrats have been accusing Putin of meddling in the 2016 election and they seem to have fallen for their own proofless narrative. | Bringing down (Soviet) Russia was the goal when the CI…
(2021-08-21). Invitation to a Fiasco: U.S. Policy Toward China and Iran. strategic-culture.org By Eve OTTENBERG | U.S. foreign policy since World War II has been a screaming disaster. Coups, regime change operations and CIA-sponsored slaughters drowned the globe in blood. So did imperial wars, from Korea to Vietnam to Afghanistan to Iraq — all of which, incidentally, were lost. Washington's pursuit of its "interests" inexcusably piled tens of millions of corpses to the heavens. So when Biden, early in his presidency, cited those interests as guides to his foreign policy, it was only natural to expect the worst. | That expectation has proved correct, except for the military withdrawal from Afghanistan…
(2021-08-21). Biden Continues Hardline Cuba Policy. news.antiwar.com The US announced new sanctions on Cuban officials on Thursday as the Biden administration Thursday's sanctions marked the fourth round since anti-government protests took place in the country in July. The sanctions Considering Cuba has been under a US trade embargo for over…
(2021-08-21). Migration Crisis In US Reaches Unprecedented Levels. southfront.org 
Illustrative ImageAs the calamity escalates, the greater the crisis of legitimacy for the Biden government. | Written by Lucas Leiroz, research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. | The migration crisis in the US seems far from over. Recently, Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, confirmed what everyone already suspected: the number of migrants on the southern border reached an "unprecedented" mark in the country's history. With this, the challenges appe…
(2021-08-21). Methane Is Flaring Out of Control. Biden Administration, Congress Must Step In. truthout.org 
This summer, methane got a nickname that stuck. Climate scientists and policy analysts have been calling the greenhouse gas a "low-hanging fruit" for years, but the term seems to have caught on more broadly among world leaders, journalists and organizers, due in part to a major United Nations
(2021-08-21). In Somalia, the U.S. is bombing the very 'terrorists' it created. mronline.org 
This July, the Biden administration picked up where Trump left off and began bombing Somalia, a country with a gross domestic product of less than $6 billion and a poverty rate of 70 percent. But why?>
(2021-08-21). Biden to nominate ex-NATO envoy ambassador to China. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com I was to have debated Burns ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago in 2012 before his announced appearance was cancelled. "Rozoff and a representative of Iraq Veterans Against the War will take the anti-NATO position in a debate with former Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary James Appathurai at …
(2021-08-21). Methane Is Flaring Out of Control. Biden Administration, Congress, Must Step In. truthout.org This summer, methane got a nickname that stuck. Climate scientists and policy analysts have been calling the greenhouse gas a "low-hanging fruit" for years, but the term seems to have caught on more broadly among world leaders, journalists and organizers, due in part to a major United Nations
(2021-08-21). Participatory Economy: institutions of a just and democratic economy. zcomm.org Talk from the online conference "The crisis of nation-states — anarchist answers"
(2021-08-21). Yemeni Minister Claims Iranian Military Advisor Was Killed In Saudi Airstrike. southfront.org 
File image. | On August 21, Muammar al-Iryani, Minister of Media in the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, claimed that an Iranian military advisor who was supporting the Houthis (Ansar Allah) was killed in the central Yemeni province of Ma'rib. | According to al-Iryani, the advisor, allegedly called "Heydar Sirjan," was killed along with nine other people, including two Colonels of the Houthis "Musa al-Qahazi" and "Ahmed al-Sahari," when a warplane of the Saudi-led coalition bombed their position in the district of Sirwah.
(2021-08-21). What is happening in Turkey? peoplesdispatch.org 
Despite the announcements from the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan that "everything is under control", Turkey is experiencing one of the deepest crises in recent years. A conversation with Hasan Durkal.
(2021-08-21). [Correspondence] Revisiting the evidence for physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection. thelancet.com Derek Chu and colleagues1 examined whether physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection could prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We are concerned that some of the data from the included preprints were out of date, affecting the results of the meta-analysis.