Staff (2021-09-20). North Korea wades into AUKUS row, blasts US for 'fueling nuclear arms race & backstabbing allies'. rt.com Pyongyang has condemned Washington for undermining regional stability and global power balance — and vowed retaliation if its divisive nuclear-powered submarine deal with Australia threatens its national security. | "This is a very controversial and dangerous move which undermines the strategic balance in the Asia-Pacific region and can trigger a nuclear arms race," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in response to KCNA state news agency's question about the AUKUS deal. | The ministry claimed that while the United States routinely demonstrates double standards, the new administration is more "unpredi…

Adriel Kasonta (2021-09-20). AUKUS the latest attempt to push for war with China. asiatimes.com Surprise, surprise! After a "candid" phone conversation with President Xi Jinping the previous week, aimed at "responsible managing the competition between the United States and the PRC" and ensuring it "does not veer into conflict," US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that his country was joining a new trilateral security coalition comprising Washington, London …

WSWS (2021-09-20). Beijing condemns military pact between the US, Britain and Australia. wsws.org The Chinese regime fears that Biden is accelerating the confrontation with China and preparations for war that began with President Obama and was expanded under Trump.

Gerald E. Scorse (2021-09-20). Biden: Tilt Taxes to the Middle Class. dissidentvoice.org The bad news is that taxes in America are tilted in favor of the rich. The best news is that we could be only weeks away from a tilt in favor of the middle class: the reforms President Biden is urging to help balance the Administration's $3.5 trillion budget bill. The changes won't be going …

WSWS (2021-09-20). Biden administration begins mass deportation flights from Texas to Haiti. wsws.org Hundreds of Haitian refugees were flown back to Port-au-Prince Sunday in the first step of what officials said would be the removal of all 12,000 refugees sheltering under an underpass in Del Rio, Texas, on the US-Mexico border.

Fight Back (2021-09-20). Climate Justice Committee marches to end Line 3 Oil pipeline. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — On September 18 nearly 100 people rallied and marched to call for an end to the Line 3 oil pipeline. The Climate Justice Committee organized the rally to continue pressure on President Biden and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to end the permits for Line 3. | Michael Johnson, an indigenous youth organizer with the Bloomington Anti Racist Coalition, started out the rally telling organizers, "As a young person, it's difficult to let your voice be heard. But I say our time is here and now. If you truly label yourself as an indigenous ally, use your voice, sign petitions, show up at rallies a…

Staff (2021-09-20). Headlines for September 20, 2021. democracynow.org Pentagon Admits Drone Strike Killed Afghan Civilians as Victims' Families Demand Probe, Women and Girls Increasingly Left Out of Education, Public Life in Afghanistan After Taliban Takeover, Biden Admin Starts Deporting Haitian Asylum Seekers Without Due Process as Humanitarian Crisis Mounts, Senate Parliamentarian Says Dems Cannot Use Spending Bill to Create Pathway to Citizenship, FDA Panel Says Booster Shots Should Be Offered to People 65+ and High-Risk Patients, CA Firefighters Protect Trees with Foil Blankets as Wildfire Threatens Sequoia National Park, U.N. Warns Planet Headed Toward Catastrophic 2.7 &infin…

Staff (2021-09-20). "People Are Desperate": Biden Vows Mass Deportations as Thousands of Haitian Refugees Shelter in Del Rio. democracynow.org Thousands of asylum seekers, primarily from Haiti, have sheltered in a makeshift camp at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Del Rio International Bridge, as the Biden administration has vowed to carry out mass deportations. On Sunday alone, the Biden administration said it sent three deportation flights to Haiti, with several more flights expected in the coming days. "For them to be deporting young children into Haiti right now, … it is unacceptable," says Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. We also speak with Jacqueline Charles, Haiti and Caribbean correspondent for the…

WSWS (2021-09-20). FDA advisory panel deals a blow to Biden's COVID-19 vaccine booster plans. wsws.org The FDA's scientific advisory panel opposed Pfizer's supplementary application for COVID-19 vaccine boosters by a wide margin.

_____ (2021-09-20). Democrats Urged to 'Ignore' Parliamentarian's Advice Against Path to Citizenship. commondreams.org Either Joe Biden and Democratic senators actually stand for the principle that "Black Lives Matter" or they stand for Rahm Emanuel. They can't stand for both.

Anonymous103 (2021-09-20). India Wants Quad To Get More Involved In Afghanistan. southfront.org Illustrative ImageThe issue of the Taliban will be discussed in the first-ever Quad summit, and it is once again all about containing China. | Written by Uriel Araujo, researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts. | The US has announced the Quad's first-ever Leaders' Summit to take place at Washington D.C. on September 24. Last Friday, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) held summit meetings at Dushanbe, Tajikistan. India was represented in the latter occasion and shall be in the former also. Currently Taliban-controlled Afghanistan a…

Fight Back (2021-09-20). SDS at Texas A&M demands takedown of Confederate statue. fightbacknews.org College Station, TX – On September 16, Students for a Democratic Society at Texas A&M University held a protest against the continued presence of a Confederate statue on their campus, racial profiling in the surrounding community, and how TAMU continually fails to meet the needs of Black students on campus. | Roughly 60 students, faculty and community members demonstrated in front of the Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue, calling for it to be taken down. Protesters chanted, "Hey, ho, ho, Sully Ross has got to go!" | Amorae' Shamberger, from the organization Round Table Talks, spoke about her experiences as an Africa…

David Vine, Patterson Deppen, Leah Bolger (2021-09-20). Drawdown: Improving U.S. and Global Security Through Military Base Closures Abroad. fpif.org Despite the withdrawal of U.S. military bases and troops from Afghanistan, the United States continues to maintain approximately 750 military bases abroad in 80 foreign countries and colonies (territories). These bases are costly in a number of ways: financially, politically, socially, and environmentally. U.S. bases in foreign lands often raise geopolitical tensions, support undemocratic regimes, and serve as a recruiting tool or militant groups opposed to foreign military occupation and governments bolstered by U.S. installations. In other cases, foreign bases are being used and have made it easier for the Unit…

Bertil Lintner (2021-09-20). US encircling China on multiple new Cold War fronts. asiatimes.com The Indo-Pacific's Cold War is heating up as the region splits ever more decisively into opposed camps with a loose alliance of US-led democratic powers on one side and authoritarian China and its aligned satellites on the other. And the first economic salvos of the contest launched by Donald Trump's trade war are becoming more …

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-09-20). Bringing the State Closer to People: 25 Years of Kerala's 'People's Plan'. libya360.wordpress.com Vyshakh T Photo: T M Thomas Issac/Facebook The Left Democratic Front (LDF) of the south Indian State of Kerala, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), came to power for the second consecutive time in April this year, securing 99 out of 140 seats in the State Legislative Assembly. This victory broke a 40-year-old…

Jeff Cohen (2021-09-20). Why Lindsey Graham is Trying to Rescue Rahm Emanuel. counterpunch.org This is not the first time Rahm Emanuel has turned to Republicans for rescue. The GOP rescued him in 1993, when he was a key White House aide, as the Clinton administration rammed the NAFTA trade pact though Congress. Most Democrats in Congress — responding to the base of the party, including union and environmental activists — voted no on NAFTA. Years later, Emanuel was still bragging about his role in NAFTA's passage.

Staff (2021-09-20). Indian Civil Society Urges Johnson & Johnson to Stop Exporting Indian-Made Vaccines to Rich Nations. democracynow.org More than a dozen civil society groups in India have written an open letter to Johnson & Johnson and the U.S. government, urging the pharmaceutical giant to cancel export of Indian-made COVID-19 vaccine doses to rich countries and instead focus on distributing them in the Global South. "The 600 million doses that Johnson & Johnson is manufacturing currently … in India should go where the vaccines are most needed, which is the Indian subcontinent, the African continent and the COVAX Facility," says public health activist Achal Prabhala, who co-authored the letter and is coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, whi…

Fairfield University Art Museum (2021-09-20). Tuesday 11/9: Black Voters Matter: LaTosha Brown on Our Obligation to Democracy & Equality. indybay.org Online speaker event (FREE)…

Ariela Ruiz Caro (2021-09-20). The Mexico Dialogue on Venezuela and the End of the Lima Group. counterpunch.org The conversations in Mexico between the opposition Unitary Platform of Venezuela and the Maduro government, with the intermediation of Norway, represent the failure of the US interventionist strategy and the end of the Lima Group. On August 13, a new stage of negotiations officially began to reestablish the institutional framework and democratic coexistence in Venezuela

WSWS (2021-09-20). Video: SEP meeting to oppose anti-democratic electoral laws—preview. wsws.org The Socialist Equality Party held an online meeting yesterday which discussed Australia's new electoral laws.

Staff (2021-09-20). Texas Abortion Doctor: "When We Ban Abortion, It Doesn't Stop the Need for People to Access Abortion" democracynow.org We look at the attack on reproductive rights in the United States, as the Department of Justice sues Texas over a new law that bans abortions after six weeks into a pregnancy. The law makes no exception for rape or incest and allows anyone in Texas to sue patients, medical workers or even a patient's family or friends who "aid and abet" an abortion. "What we see time and time again is when we ban abortion, it doesn't stop the need for people to access abortion," says Dr. Bhavik Kumar, a staff physician at Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston, Texas.

David Duhalde (2021-09-20). A Tale of Two September 11ths. zcomm.org Not only am I here because of the Chilean September 11, but I am also in the Democratic Socialists of America because of it…

Staff (2021-09-20). New Revelations on Haiti Assassination: Grenade-Dropping Drones, Paranoid President & Guards Who Ran. democracynow.org Miami Herald Haiti and Caribbean correspondent Jacqueline Charles discusses new revelations about the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel MoàØse. In her piece, "Grenade-dropping drones, a paranoid president, guards who ran: Latest on Haiti assassination," she reports the night President Jovenel MoàØse was shot "was actually the second time in a span of weeks that his life was in danger, according to testimony from one of the Colombians in custody, and one of the Haitian Americans."

Khubaka, Michael Harris (2021-09-20). California Admisson Day – Examining the impacts of Manifest Destiny. indybay.org Today, we prepare a way towoard systemic ressurection, a rebirth of California Admission Day Celebrations, worthy of our collective efforts coming together toward, forming a more perfect union: honest, courageous and bold.

Fight Back (2021-09-20). °Lucha por el derecho a votar! fightbacknews.org Desde 2013 cuando la Corte Suprema con mayoría conservadora debilitó la Ley de Derecho al Voto de 1965, Republicanos y derechistas han intentado pasar más y más restricciones jurídicas al voto. El objetivo principal de estos esfuerzos es reprimir los votos de afroamericanos, quienes llevan mucho tiempo luchando en contra del racismo del Partido Republicano moderno. Estos esfuerzos han incrementado tras la derrota electoral de Donald Trump en las elecciones presidenciales del 2020 y la victoria de un senador afroamericano en Georgia. Las mentiras de Trump y sus aliados acerca de fraude electoral se han unido a la…

Mark Weisbrot (2021-09-20). Republican Senators are Blocking Desperately Needed Pandemic Relief for the World's Poor. orinocotribune.com By Mark Weisbrot — Sep 17, 2021 | The world economy faces serious risks going forward: for example, an estimated $2.3 trillion in income is projected to be lost in 2022-25 due to vaccine inequity—most of it in developing countries. | In the United States, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to zero and has created more than

Staff (2021-09-19). AMLO Condemns US Blockade of Cuba. orinocotribune.com As part of the commemoration of the 211 years of the Independence of Mexico, the annual military parade, held in Mexico City, had Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel as this year's guest of honor. In a speech given before the parade, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), President of Mexico, highlighted the injustice suffered by the Cuban people due to the ongoing US blockade, and urged US President Joe Biden to lift the blockade against Cuba. | "The government that I represent respectfully calls on the US government to lift the blockade imposed on Cuba, because no state has the right to subdue another nation, anothe…

_____ (2021-09-19). Environmentalists Slam White House For Brushing Off IPCC Report. popularresistance.org President Joe Biden has been touring climate-ravaged areas of America, warning that climate change is a "code red" emergency for the planet. And yet, his administration has continued to boost fossil fuel projects and is now preparing to vastly expand offshore drilling. | The White House argues that a court order it opposes and is appealing requires federal officials to lease more than 78 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico for fossil fuel exploration. Environmental groups, however, assert that federal law gives the administration broad discretion over whether or not to hold such sales. | In fact, Biden's official…

_____ (2021-09-19). Biden Pledged to Protect People and the Environment From Toxic Chemicals—Now It's Time to Act. commondreams.org "I hope the law gets overturned," Dr. Alan Braid said, "and if this is what does it, that would be great."

Anonymous103 (2021-09-19). The Anglo Unilateralists Strike. southfront.org Jean-Yves Le Drian | Written by Dr. Binoy Kampmark. | When President Joe Biden won the White House, he promised, with a facility of unceasing boredom, that diplomacy was back. "Diplomacy is back at the centre of our foreign policy," The fact that such diplomacy had never gone away s…

John Wojcik (2021-09-19). Una pregunta para los llamados 'moderados' demócratas: øNo tienen vergàºenza? peoplesworld.org La presidenta Nancy Pelosi tiene solo un margen demócrata de tres votos en la Cámara, y el líder de la mayoría Chuck Schumer no tiene margen en el Senado 50-50, lo que significa que la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris romperá cualquier voto empatado cuando se trata de aprobar una legislación progresista. El resultado, comprensiblemente, es que …

_____ (2021-09-19). Understanding The Basics Of 21st-Century Democracy, Autocracy, And Capitalism. popularresistance.org Democracy exists if and when a community organizes its self-governance around the full participation, on an equal basis, of all the members of the community. Its other, autocracy, exists when a community organizes (or allows) its governance by an individual or subgroup of that community, a ruler. Universal suffrage is clearly a step toward at least formal democracy because voters elect leaders. How real this formal democracy is depends on the inclusivity of the population voting and the concrete reality of voters' equal influence on the election's outcome. | Residential communities in many parts of the modern wor…

Anonymous669 (2021-09-19). Northeastern Syria: US Helicopters Moved Iraqi, Saudi & Tunisian Terrorists Out From SDF Prison. southfront.org File image. | US helicopters transported dozens of ISIS terrorists from a prison run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the city of al-Qamishli in the northern countryside of Syria's al-Hasakah to a US base located in the governorate's southern countryside, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on September 19. | Citing local sources, the state-run agency said that around 60 terrorists were transported by two US military helicopters from the prison, known as Nafkar, to al-Shaddadi base. | "Most of the terrorists…

Anonymous669 (2021-09-19). Syrian Democratic Forces Warn From Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham Growing Influence In Turkish-Occupied Afrin. southfront.org File image. | Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is expanding its influence in the Turkish-occupied northern Syrian area of Afrin, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) warned in a statement released on September 17. | HTS is the de-facto ruler of the northwestern region of Greater Idlib which shares a 25 kilometers-long unofficial border line with Afrin. | Farhad Shami, head of the SDF Media Center, revealed in the group's statement that commanders of HTS had visited the Yazidi town of Bosoufane as well as…

Moderator (2021-09-19). Wendy Brown on Sheldon Wolin and Inverted Totalitarianism Ôøº. scheerpost.com On the latest episode of "On Contact," Chris Hedges discusses the work of political philosopher Sheldon Wolin with Professor Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley, a student of Wolin's. Sheldon Wolin, who died in 2015, is our most important contemporary political theorist, one who laid out in grim detail the unraveling of American democracy. In …