(2022-02-18). Activists win positions in contested Geelong Trades Hall elections. greenleft.org.au Three union activists were elected to positions in a delayed election at Geelong Trades Hall Council. Sue Bull reports.
(2022-02-18). Activists arrested at FL state capitol for opposing abortion ban law. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL- On February 17, around 12 a.m., members of Students for a Democratic
| Society and Tallahassee's chapter of Planned Parenthood were given trespassing warnings for speaking up against HB 5, an abortion ban bill that limits abortions to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. After HB5 was passed despite significant public opposition, organizers and students joined a chant denouncing the bill and were subsequently removed from the capitol. | Capitol Police threatened to arrest organizers if they did not sign a trespassing warning that indefinitely banned them from entering the Florida Capitol Building…
(2022-02-17). Does the US really need to spend $800bn on its military? rt.com 
Joe Biden's likely request for a record-breaking defense budget shows America's priorities remain all wrong | President Biden is expected to ask Congress for a record-shattering military budget for the fiscal year 2023 that will exceed $770 billion and could reach $800 billion, according to a While the story has yet to be confirmed, there are many reasons to believe its veracity — and it…
(2022-02-17). Report: Biden to Ask for Over $770 Billion Military Budget for 2023. news.antiwar.com According to a report from Reuters, Sources told Reuters that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the White House's Office of Management and Budget have agreed to a proposed military budget of higher than $770 billion. | Two of the sources said about $773 billion would go to the Pentagon. Additional funds needed for the Energy Department's nuclear weapons program and other areas…
(2022-02-17). Ex-U.S. Ambassador to USSR: Ukraine Crisis Stems Directly from Post-Cold War Push to Expand NATO. democracynow.org 
U.S. officials are accusing Russia of sending more forces to the Ukrainian border just days after Moscow announced it was pulling some troops back. This comes as Ukrainian authorities and Russian-backed separatists are both accusing the other side of violating a ceasefire in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. For more on the history behind the present crisis in Ukraine, we speak with one of the last U.S. ambassadors to the Soviet Union prior to the collapse of the USSR, Ambassador Jack Matlock, who says the U.S.-led expansion of NATO following the end of the Cold War helped lay the groundwork for the current s…
(2022-02-17). Ukraine: The Tip Of The Spear For The Imperialist Project. popularresistance.org We have serious concerns that the accelerated drive to militarization and war by the United States and its allies dramatically unfolding with the crisis in Ukraine might very easily escalate to the point that it could threaten global humanity. | In their mad drive to advance their geostrategic interests to the detriment of everyone else—the Democratic Party version of "America First"—the Biden administration willfully violates all of the core principles of international relations and law. The respect for national sovereignty, the prohibition against threatening other members of the United Nations with…
(2022-02-17). Russia likely to invade Ukraine after February 20 — media. rt.com 
Claims that February 16 was planned invasion date were unrealistic, analysts say | Failed predictions that Russia would invade Ukraine on February 16 were unrealistic, and the key date to focus on is actually February 20, American political analysts have claimed, blaming "hype" for having caused US officials to focus on the wrong date. | Earlier this month, numerous western media outlets claimed that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine in the early hours of Wednesday, citing claims by anonymous officials that US President Joe Biden had warned members of the NATO bloc that an invasion was imminent. This date…
(2022-02-17). Selected Articles: Ukraine Invasion Scheduled for Wednesday Canceled. globalresearch.ca 
By Over recent weeks, AP's ace reporter Matthew Lee and colleagues had been repeatedly led down the White House garden path by the likes of broken-record "the-Russians-are-coming-and-it-could-be-Wednesday" national …
(2022-02-17). Headlines for February 17, 2022. democracynow.org NATO Defense Ministers Gather in Brussels, Dispute Russia's Claims of Troop Drawback, COVID-19 Pandemic Claimed 75,000 Lives Last Week, U.S. Centers for Disease Control Prepares to Roll Back Guidelines for COVID Restrictions, Hospitals in War-Ravaged Syria Forced to Close Amid Cuts in International Aid, U.N. Says 8 Million Yemenis Could Lose All Humanitarian Aid Next Month Due to Funding Shortages, Colombia Forced Displacement Crisis Worsened in 2021, Mexican Journalists Interrupt Congress to Demand Justice for Assassinated Colleagues, Amnesty International Condemns "Sham Trial" for Jailed Russi…
(2022-02-17). With Its Doomsday Clock at 100 Seconds to Midnight, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Calls for Escalating US Aggression Against Russia. orinocotribune.com By Roger D. Harris — Feb 14, 2022 | The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists emerged after World War II as a voice for peace by some of the scientists who developed the then ultimate weapon of mass destruction. Now, its mission has drifted into being an echo chamber for the US imperial project urging President Biden to take even more destabilizing actions against Russia. | Dropping the A-bombs | By the time that the scientists at the top-secret Manhattan Project had developed the atomic bomb and the US military had worked out the logistics for deploying it, World War II was for all intents and purposes over. By…
(2022-02-17). Hillary Clinton Accuses Trump of 'Spinning Up Fake Scandal' Amid the Durham Investigation. sputniknews.com Last week, Donald Trump argued that Special Counsel John Durham's new filing proves that his 2016 campaign and subsequent presidency "were spied on by operatives paid by" Hillary Clinton "in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia", which has repeatedly rejected all "collusion" allegations.
(2022-02-17). Father of exiled Navalny ally jailed. rt.com 
Yuri Zhdanov given three years behind bars for fraud | The father of a close aide of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been given three years in prison for fraud, in a case the activist's allies have called politically motivated. | Yuri Zhdanov, the father of Ivan Zhdanov, was given a suspended sentence last year. However, on Thursday, a court in the Russian city of Naryan-Mar overturned Zhdanov's probation, citing a violation, opting instead to replace it with a real jail term, meaning he will now be forced to serve the entire three years behind bars. | Naryan-Mar is a small city around 1,500 kilom…
(2022-02-17). Marco Rubio Threatens Honduras' President (+Venezuela). orinocotribune.com During a US Senate hearing regarding the nomination of Laura Farnsworth as new US ambassador to Honduras, US extreme-right Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he hoped the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, would not follow the example of her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, and align Honduras with Cuba and Venezuela. | "I hope that the new president Xiomara Castro follows that path, and not the example that her husband provided when he was president and sympathized with Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Raúl Castro in Cuba," said the anti-communist senator. Analysts surmise that Zelaya's drift to the left…
(2022-02-17). Senator Johnson Presses Secret Service on 'How They Missed Pipe Bomb' Amid VP Harris Visit to DNC. sputniknews.com The incident allegedly occurred on 6 January 2021 – the day of the Capitol Riot. Reports claim that Harris drove near the bomb, and it remains unclear why the location was unchecked beforehand.
(2022-02-17). Libya Remains a Failed State 11 Years After NATO Intervention. telesurenglish.net February 17, 2011 marked the beginning of the "Libyan War," a conflict in which the United States and Western countries used the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a spearhead to dispute control of territories rich in oil reserves. | RELATED: | Similar to other occasions, the NATO intervention was justified by arguing the defense of freedom and democracy. In reality, however, the military o…
(2022-02-17). Biden's $7 Billion Afghan Heist. popularresistance.org With his Executive Order redefining Afghanistan's Fiscal Reserve as a slush fund to be disbursed on his whim and with the stroke of his pen, President Biden has taken what may well be the final step in an experiment gone amok. The U.S. first attempted to make Afghanistan into a Western democracy, instead installed a kleptocracy, made Afghans endure 20 years of violence and then left in a whirlwind of chaos. With Biden's latest move to deprive Afghanistan of its monetary reserves, the nation is likely to come full circle, turning once again into a failed state that, in the absence of economic recovery, will become…
(2022-02-17). Polling On Issues People Know Little About Creates Illusion Of Public Opinion. popularresistance.org Last week (FAIR.org, 2/2/22), I suggested that a new ABC News/Ipsos poll (1/30/22) was a poster child for what is wrong with many media-sponsored polls these days. Instead of a serious effort to measure what the public is thinking about any specific issue, the poll glided superficially across a whole range of subjects, never stopping long enough to provide understanding of any one of them—creating an illusion of public opinion that is either misleading, biased or simply inaccurate. | That article focused on the poll's biased wording on one question about President Joe Biden's promise to nominate a Black wom…
(2022-02-17). Cómo los intereses estadounidenses del gas natural están alimentando la crisis de Ucrania. peoplesworld.org 
Además de tratar de absorber militarmente a Ucrania en la OTAN, otro factor importante que se está volviendo más evidente en las incesantes conversaciones de guerra con Rusia de la administración Biden es el deseo de los productores de energía estadounidenses de invadir los mercados europeos con gas natural fracturado. Aunque la prensa dominante está …
(2022-02-17). In New Yorker interview, Ocasio-Cortez defends Biden and Pelosi, urges readers not to lose "hope" in reforming two-party system. wsws.org The New York congresswoman urges readers not to lose "hope" in reforming the two-party system, while disclaiming the label socialist.
(2022-02-17). UN Pressures Biden Against Redesignating the Houthis as Terrorists. news.antiwar.com Foreign Policy reported Wednesday that The report said that Brett McGurk, the top Middle East official on the National Security Council, led the drive to redesignate the Houthis as terrorists after the Yemeni group launched attacks on the UAE. But McGurk encountered pushback from other US officials during a meeting on February 4th. | The report said top UN envoys, some officials f…
(2022-02-17). Biden's multi-Billion Afghan theft gets scant mention on TV News. mronline.org 
Two months ago (FAIR.org, 12/21/21), I noted the striking contrast between vocal media outrage—ostensibly grounded in concern for Afghan people—over President Joe Biden's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and the relative silence over the growing humanitarian crisis in that country, which threatens millions with life-threatening levels of famine.
(2022-02-17). Refusing Trump's claims of 'executive privilege,' Biden orders National Archives to turn over White House visitor logs. wsws.org Former President Donald Trump had been seeking to block the release of the visitor logs, which show who entered the White House before and during his failed January 6, 2021, coup.
(2022-02-17). South Korean Presidential Candidate Suspends Campaign After Staffers Die in Election Bus. sputniknews.com Police have launched an investigation and are now looking into the exact cause of the deaths. Preliminary reports suggest that the victims died from carbon monoxide poisoning. According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, several days after the tragedy, a similar incident occurred leaving one person in serious condition.
(2022-02-17). Mali: Macron Withdraws The French Troops, Wagner Arrives. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image | Written by Piero Messina | After nine years, the French soldiers leave Mali. For Macron it is a necessary defeat. Three months before the presidential elections in France, the move by the French president was inevitable. The withdrawal of the Elysée troops from the African country had already begun in June last summer. Now, the deployment to the Ivory Coast will be completed in a very short time. Mali risked becoming for France what Afghanistan was for the United States. But, in the face of the…
(2022-02-17). Leaked Audio Shows Amazon Official Threatening Workers Over Union Election – Reports. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – An Amazon union avoidance official threatened workers with minimum wage and warned that things might get worse if they unionize and enter negotiations with the company, Vice reported on Thursday, citing a leaked audio from an Amazon meeting that it obtained.
(2022-02-17). Pessimism rife ahead of Colombia's elections. colombiareports.com Colombia's government is preparing elections amid widespread pessimism and distrust in public institutions, a pollster revealed Tuesday. The country's adult population is particularly pessimistic about economic insecurity, corruption and public…
(2022-02-17). Nurses front socialist NSW Senate ticket. greenleft.org.au Two experienced nurses and unionists are heading the Socialist Alliance NSW Senate ticket for the federal elections. Pip Hinman reports.
(2022-02-17). San Francisco holds city-wide special election. america.cgtn.com 
San Francisco is holding a city-wide special election, impacting its school board.
(2022-02-17). Tomgram: Engelhardt, Unbanning Maus! warisacrime.org This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. My Life with Maus Or How I Was Banned (Even If in a Second-Hand Way) by a Trumpian World By Tom Engelhardt Sometimes life has a way of making you realize things about yourself. Recently, I discovered that …
(2022-02-17). Why the US trade war on China has been an economic disaster for Americans. rt.com 
Trump hailed his 2020 deal with Beijing as "transformative" for the US. He was right — it's made ordinary US citizens much poorer | At the end of January, the US-China 'phase one' trade deal made under Donald Trump expired. The agreement, struck in January 2020 at the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and before ties with Beijing fell off a cliff, stipulated that China would purchase (ludicrously) over $200 billion in agricultural products from the US per annum in order to end Trump's trade war. It was more like a one-sided extortion, placing huge demands on Beijing with very little compromise on t…
(2022-02-17). Are Democrats Strategically Delaying A Vote On HR40 Reparations Study? Here's What Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Says On Progress. moguldom.com On April 14, 2021, Congress made history when the House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee voted to move HR40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, to the House floor for full consideration. Since then, the proposed legislation has been stalled. Some 10 months later, the full House has yet to vote …
(2022-02-17). From the Kingpins of Private Equity, A New Dagger to Democracy. inequality.org
(2022-02-17). OCLA Statement on the Government's Use of the Emergencies Act. dissidentvoice.org The Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) condemns the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act (formerly the War Measures Act) to dispel peaceful protests in Canada. Peaceful protest and civil disobedience are essential in a democratic society — without these mechanisms of peaceful expression, demonstration, and opposition there can be no democracy. There is no …
(2022-02-17). Western Democracies Have Mutated Into Propagandists for War and Conflict. independentmediainstitute.org Marshall McLuhan's prophecy that "the successor to politics will be propaganda" has happened. Raw propaganda is now the rule in Western democracies, especially the U.S. and Britain. On matters of war and peace, ministerial deceit is reported as news. Inconvenient facts are censored, demons are nurtured. The model is corporate spin, the currency of the …
(2022-02-17). Back to Normal? Many Immunocompromised People Feel Left Behind as U.S. Lifts Pandemic Measures. democracynow.org 
As U.S. health guidelines start to loosen as COVID-19 cases fall from record-high levels of infection, we look at how there there are still millions of immunocompromised people who face acute risk of illness and feel they have received little to no guidance on how to stay safe in a prolonged COVID-19 world. Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Ed Yong of The Atlantic spoke to immunocompromised people for his new report and says, "While a lot of the world opens up, their world shuts down, and they feel left behind and abandoned by the government, by their friends, by their workplaces." Yong notes immu…
(2022-02-17). Denver SDS kicks off campaign to demilitarize campus police. fightbacknews.org Denver, CO – On February 10, students gathered outside Tivoli Commons on Auraria Campus to demand the disarmament of Auraria Campus Police Department (ACPD) and the end to their involvement in the Pentagon 1033 Program. Denver Students for a Democratic Society began their "Defund, Disarm, Demilitarize" campaign, joining many student and community organizations around the country in the struggle against police injustice. | "The money being put into ACPD's budget is being misused. We don't need rifles or SWAT vehicles; we need tuition relief for students suffering from housing insecurity in a pandemic!" said SDS s…
(2022-02-17). The criminal role of the Swedish government in the pandemic: Testimony from anti-COVID-19 activist Keith Begg—Part 2. wsws.org This interview is about the experience of the pandemic in Sweden, the birthplace of the homicidal "herd immunity" strategy which the Social Democratic government has ruthlessly pursued since March 2020.
(2022-02-17). Ethiopia: Amnesty Accuses Tigrayan Forces of Rape & Murder in Latest Probe of War Crimes in Conflict. democracynow.org 
Amnesty International is accusing Tigrayan forces of deliberately killing dozens of unarmed civilians and gang-raping dozens of women and girls in the northern Amhara region of Ethiopia. This comes as the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebel forces remain at war, and just last year Amnesty similarly accused the Ethiopian government of subjecting Tigrayan women and girls to rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual mutilation and other forms of torture. "These are deliberate attacks which constitute war crimes and possibly may also constitute crimes against humanity," says Amnesty's Donatella Ro…
(2022-02-17). Danish Defense Intelligence Chief Is Jailed by Social Democratic Government—Possibly to Protect U.S. Spy Programs. covertactionmagazine.com Part 1 of a 2-part series on U.S. penetration of Denmark's National Security State [BREAKING NEWS: As we go to …
(2022-02-17). As Trudeau Cracks Down, the Left Drives Protesters Into the Arms of the Right Once Again. mintpressnews.com OTTAWA — If you were Canada's prime minister, what would you be prepared to do to enforce Covid restrictions on large swaths of your population? No one need ask that question any longer. Now we know the answer. | For the first time in the country's history, Justin Trudeau has invested his office with sweeping and undemocratic powers under the 1988 Emergencies Act in a bid to stop the so-called "Truckers' Protests" against Canada's pandemic restrictions. But, as one might expect, Trudeau has
(2022-02-17). The path toward an Official California Juneteenth Paid Holiday. indybay.org The legacy of "Chattel Slavery of people of African Descent" in California may originate in legendary battles with Queen Califia. Spanish Military led by Hernan Cortez, with ships full of Conquistadors including reinforcements of over 300 free and enslaved men of African Descent in 1535 began a new paradigm along western coast of the Pacific Ocean.
(2022-02-17). 2022 California Juneteenth – American River Parkway – Introducing the California Gold Book. indybay.org In 1844, the Honorable William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr., "African Founding Father of California," seized the opportunity and stipulated in his unique Mexican Land Grant, Rancho Rio De Los Americanos, not to interfere with the Indigenous population who remain the sacred stewards of the land.
(2022-02-17). Rep. Dominicana suspende medidas de restricción por la Covid-19. telesurtv.net "Desde ahora, a todos nos tocará cuidarnos, con responsabilidad, pero sin restricciones", destacó el presidente Abinader.
(2022-02-17). Reconoce presidente cubano trabajo de la Fiscalía General de la República. cubadebate.cu Un reconocimiento por la manera en que se crecieron el pasado año y la exhortación a seguir perfeccionando su labor en 2022, hizo el Primer Secretario del Comité Central del Partido y Presidente de la República, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, a las trabajadoras, trabajadores y dirigentes de la Fiscalía General de la República (FGR).
(2022-02-17). AOC warns failure to cancel student debt has 'demoralized' critical voters. mronline.org 
"This really isn't a conversation about providing relief to a small, niche group of people," said the congresswoman. "It's very much a keystone action politically." —AOC…