Utsa Patnaik | The farmers’ movement for the repeal of the three farm laws which affect them closely but have been rammed through without consulting them, has now entered its second month. It is of historic significance. It is not just about minimum support prices but also about the survival of the entire system of public procurement and distribution of foodgrains. Without ensuring the economic viability of foodgrains production in North India — the grain basket of the country — no continuity can be ensured for the public procurement and distribution system, which, despite its drawbacks, continues to provide a modicum of food security to vast numbers of our population.

Seventeen Iraqis were killed and 14 seriously wounded in an unprovoked attack by the four who indiscriminately fired machine guns, sniper rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades into a crowd of unarmed civilians. Among the dead were two boys, 9 and 11 years of age, and a woman burned alive in her car. The four killers suffered no injuries and their claims of self-defense were rejected by Iraqi and U.S. investigations. It was one of many atrocities committed by U.S. and allied forces.

U.S. trials and retrials found the four guilty of heinous crimes including first-degree murder and manslaughter.

But why were they never tried in Iraq, the site of their monstrous actions?

The most recent denunciation from Syria confirms the support of Western powers to the alleged humanitarian organization of the White Helmets which is also a fraud of crude media manipulation.

The US Congress’ $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill was packaged with $1.4 trillion in omnibus spending that includes tens of billions for war, weapons, and regime change abroad, from anti-Russia and anti-China initiatives to $3.3 billion for Israel’s military.

Democracy Now! interview with Andrew Quilty on his story for The Intercept.

A U.S.-Backed Militia That Kills Children May Be America’s Exit Strategy From Its Longest War

By Patrick Cockburn | It was the worst crime of Donald Trump’s years in the White House. In October 2019 he ordered US troops to stand aside, greenlighting Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria that led to the murder, rape and expulsion of its Kurdish inhabitants.
Eighteen months earlier, Trump did nothing as the Turkish army occupied the Kurdish enclave of Afrin and replaced the population there with Syrian Arab jihadis.

Those farmers who survive the profiteering strategies of dispossession and imperialism are to become incorporated into a system of contract farming dictated by global agri-food giants tied to an exploitative food regime based on market dependency and corporate control. A regime that places profit ahead of biodiverse food security, healthy diets and the environment.

Vote No. 23 specifically targets China as a threat to Canadian “values” and demands the government table a plan to “combat China’s growing foreign operations.” In the midst of the pandemic, this motion (and the agenda behind it) have not penetrated most people’s bubbles. We ignore it at our peril. Vote No. 23 represents the thin edge of a wedge that would cleave the world in two and potentially lead to unmitigated disaster.

The legacy of the Iraq war, and the prospect of a bloody sequel sparked by Donald Trump’s assassination of a senior Iranian official in Baghdad this week, has the potential to transform the Democratic primary, offering voters radically different visions of how the next commander-in-chief proposes to deal with the ongoing chaos caused by the 2003 invasion.

"The Lessons Learned interviews also reveal how U.S. military commanders struggled to articulate who they were fighting, let alone why. Was al-Qaeda the enemy, or the Taliban? Was Pakistan a friend or an adversary? What about the Islamic State and the bewildering array of foreign jihadists, let alone the warlords on the CIA’s payroll? According to the documents, the U.S. government never settled on an answer. As a result, in the field, U.S. troops often couldn’t tell friend from foe."

Strikes, demonstrations, marches, the blocking of highways and the burning down of polling stations have been undertaken by a wide range of actors from across Bolivian society. Some have been content to point out that Bolivia’s urban middle classes and student organisations took to the streets, angered about the democratic and constitutional legitimacy of Morales’s run for a fourth presidential term. Others have pointed out that there is a large indigenous contingent protesting the developmental agenda of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) government – indigenous peoples and organisations from communities who stand to suffer at the hands of large-scale infrastructure and resource extraction projects.

Whereas:

Bolivian President Evo Morales received the most support in Bolivia’s presidential elections; President Morales gave his consent to a second round election, even though, according to Bolivian election law, the results and support he received did not require a second round election; and, whereas the coup d'état put in power an illegitimate government in Bolivia which has promoted violence against progressive Bolivian activists and Indigenous peoples.

It is proposed:

That Québec solidaire formally denounce the coup d'état in Bolivia and the foreign interference through the OAS.

And that Québec solidaire denounce the violence of the extreme right towards President Evo Morales, the popular movements and Indigenous communities of Bolivia.

U.S. military intervention has played an important role in the instability, poverty, and violence that drives tens of thousands of people from the Central American countries toward Mexico and the United States... On March 11, 1999, President Bill Clinton took an unprecedented step. During a four-nation visit to Central America, he expressed regret for the role the United States had played in a brutal counter-terrorism campaign that had caused the deaths of thousands of civilians in Guatemala’s civil war.

"At least 21 people have been killed in the turmoil since the disputed Oct. 20 elections, Bolivia’s human rights ombudsman said."

"Why is Bernie Sanders the only one who has spoken out? Don't the other candidates have a position about a destabilizing, right-wing takeover of a neighboring country? We need to hear from them."

CUPE joins the international community in raising our concern about the developing situation in Bolivia, which has led to a coup.

"Chinese companies including TBEA Group and China Machinery Engineering made deals with [Bolivia]. It was being said that China’s Tianqi Lithium Group, which operates in Argentina, was also going to make a deal with [Bolivia]. Chinese investors and the Bolivian lithium company were experimenting with new ways to mine the lithium and share the profits. The idea that there might be a new social compact for the lithium was unacceptable to the main transnational mining companies. Tesla (United States) and Pure Energy Minerals (Canada) both showed great interest in having a direct stake in Bolivian lithium. But they could not make a deal that would take into consideration the parameters set by the Morales government. Morales himself was a direct impediment to the takeover of the lithium fields by the non-Chinese transnationals. He had to go. After the coup, Tesla’s stock rose astronomically."