Daily News Digest March 1, 2022
Humanity Will Not be Covid Free, Until the Vaccines, Like the Salk Polio Vaccine, are Free For the Whole World
Image of the Day:
Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Ws Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat Over 5 Years Ago and Did Nothing!: Under Capitalism — Human Lives Don’t Matter Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the Banner Headline: “There Is No Peace”, is Still True for Today’s World!
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: 1.Austerity,2. Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel! For Decades, Blacks Have Been Subjected to The Iron Heel! Currently, the US Capitalist Class is Divided Over When — Not If, to Apply It to Everyone!
Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Now Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he Established, in writing, the United States Capitalist Austerity Program. — The Race to the Bottom/Pauperization of the 99%!
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99%, Only the 1% Voted For Austerity! The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1%, Who Profit From Austerity!! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.! Socialism Means True Democracy, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
Quotes of the Day:
The time to stop the exploration of fossil fuels, which are destroying our planet, is now! — UN Chief: IPCC Report a ‘Damning Indictment of Failed Climate Leadership’
Videos of the Day:
Politicians Ignore Vulnerable Prisoners as Climate Change Worsens
United States:
The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through their ownership of the Reublicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. — The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War! Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace! The United States takes from th poor and gives to the Rich. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford to Pay!
How the US Started a New Cold War with Russia and Left Ukraine to Fight It Nothing justifies the Russian invasion, but there is a more insidious reality at work beneath the surface of this classic morality play. The defenders of Ukraine are bravely resisting Russian aggression, shaming the rest of the world and the UN Security Council for its failure to protect them. It is an encouraging sign that the Russians and Ukrainians are holding talks in Belarus that may lead to a ceasefire. All efforts must be made to bring an end to this war before the Russian war machine kills thousands more of Ukraine’s defenders and civilians, and forces hundreds of thousands more to flee. But there is a more insidious reality at work beneath the surface of this classic morality play, and that is the role of the United States and NATO in setting the stage for this crisis.
Chris Hedges: The Greatest Evil is War Russia was Baited Into War But That Does Not Absolve Its Criminal Act of Aggression. Preemptive war, whether in Iraq or Ukraine, is a war crime. It does not matter if the war is launched on the basis of lies and fabrications, as was the case in Iraq, or because of the breaking of a series of agreements with Russia, including the promise by Washington not to extend NATO beyond the borders of a unified Germany, not to deploy thousands of NATO troops in Eastern Europe, not to meddle in the internal affairs of nations on the Russia’s border and the refusal to implement the Minsk II peace agreement. The invasion of Ukraine would, I expect, never have happened if these promises had been kept. Russia has every right to feel threatened, betrayed, and angry. But to understand is not to condone. The invasion of Ukraine, under post-Nuremberg laws, is a criminal war of aggression.
Ralph Nader: Everyone Loses in the Conflict Over Ukraine The U.S. and Russia are toying with a dangerous recipe for an out-of-control escalation, much like the lead-up to World War I. When two scorpions are in a bottle, they both lose. This is the preventable danger that is growing daily, with no end game in sight between the two nuclear superpowers, led by dictator Vladimir Putin and de facto sole decider, Joe Biden. Putin’s first argument is, Washington invented the model of aggressive, illegal invasions, and destruction of distant countries that never threatened U.S. security. Millions have died, been injured, and sickened in defenseless countries attacked by U.S. armed forces. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney killed over a million innocent Iraqis and devastated the country in so many ways that scholars called it a “sociocide.”
Environment —Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
Capitalism Puts Profits Before Life!: UN Chief: IPCC Report a ‘Damning Indictment of Failed Climate Leadership’ “The facts are undeniable. This abdication of leadership is criminal,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. A landmark scientific report published Monday warns that the human-caused climate crisis is driving a “dangerous and widespread disruption in nature” and impacting billions of lives across the globe, emergencies that can only be redressed by immediate and sweeping action that world leaders have thus far failed to take. The product of years of collaborative research by scientists from around the world, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report “emphasizes the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks,” said Hoesung Lee, chair of the IPCC.
Antarctica: Where Realpolitik and Science Meet A frozen continent. Another potential frontier for conflict and competition. Antarctica is a part of the world were realpolitician meets scientist; the desire for finding exploitable resources meets environmental expectations and fears. Countries have vied for their little slice of ice, sometimes citing reasons of scientific collaboration, and often national self-interest. Much of this culminated in the establishment of the Antarctic Treaty System, comprising four major international agreements beginning with the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and ending with the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
The Plasticification of ‘All Creatures and Plants Great and Small!’: How Nanoplastics Enter the Human Body We are no better protected from plasticized air outdoors than we are indoors. Minuscule plastic fibers, fragments, foam, and films are shed from plastic stuff and are perpetually floating into and free-falling down on us from the atmosphere. Rain flushes micro- and nanoplastics out of the sky back to Earth. Plastic-filled snow is accumulating in urban areas like Bremen, Germany, and remote regions like the Arctic and Swiss Alps alike.
Civil Rights/BlackLiberation:
Labor:
Economy:
Moscow Stock Exchange Can’t Open as Russian Stock Prices Collapse on Foreign Exchanges Putin started an unprovoked war in Ukraine and now finds himself losing a serious financial battle at home. Anything connected to Putin is now toxic: that includes his country’s currency, its stock exchange, its banks, its major corporations, and its central bank. Even Russia’s vodka is being removed from shelves in Canada and the U.S. The central bank of Russia (Bank of Russia) first announced earlier today that the Moscow Stock Exchange would open at 10 a.m. Moscow time (2 a.m. New York time) but there would be no stock trading, just trading in the foreign exchange, currency and repo markets. A further decision on opening up the stock exchange for stock trading was set for 1 p.m. Moscow time (5 a.m. New York time). Stock trading has still not opened on the Moscow Stock Exchange and even the website of the Moscow Stock Exchange was not functioning as of 7 a.m. ET Monday morning. Unfortunately for Putin, investors are able to see where Russia’s major corporations are trading because many of them also trade on foreign exchanges: as of 8:16 a.m. ET on Monday, this is where some major Russian corporations were trading on the London Stock Exchange: Sberbank (down 69 percent); Rosneft (down 39 percent); Novatek (down 67 percent). That follows plunges in their stock prices at the end of last week after Russia invaded Ukraine.
World:
The Ukrainian Conflict: Is This the Start of World War III? Alan Woods (editor of marxist.com) provides an update on the situation in Ukraine. Since Russia’s invasion, a barrage of propaganda has been pumped out by the Western media, contributing to an atmosphere of utter hysteria, with the papers now screeching about the threat of a Third World War. Meanwhile, the imperialist leaders continue to display disgusting hypocrisy in their condemnation of Putin’s ‘violation of Ukraine’s national sovereignty’, having never shied from warfare in pursuit of their own interests in the past. Marxists must reject the cynical message of ‘patriotism’ and ‘national unity’, as we continue to oppose our own ruling classes in every country.
Crisis Over Ukraine: A Primer The 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine brought to power hardliners who adopted policies detrimental to the Russians living in the eastern part of the country, especially banning the Russian language in all areas of life. As a result, the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in eastern Ukraine refused to recognize the post-coup government and demanded that they be given a special status and broad powers, especially the right to use the Russian language. In response, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against them. A ceasefire was brokered by Russia, France, and Germany, and an agreement (the Minsk Accords) was reached between the two sides, so they could negotiate with each other in order to ensure that Ukraine observed the special status of the 2 provinces. NATO expansion: The US Senate ratified NATO expansion in 1992. NATO has expanded 1287km/800 miles eastward over the last 30 years, deep inside the borders of the former USSR. Allegedly, NATO was created as a defensive alliance, but by no stretch of the imagination could this expansion, which doubled NATO’s territorial scope, be called a “defensive strategy”.
15 Nuclear Reactors in the Midst of Battle Russian forces have captured Chernobyl, a 1,000 square mile radioactive exclusion zone. But more significantly, what about Ukraine’s nuclear reactors smack dab in the middle of a theatre of war? A complicating/dangerous aspect of Russia’s invasion is the status of Chernobyl’s sister reactors, 15 reactors at four nuclear power plants exposed in a war zone of bombing, missile attacks and rampant gunfire or perhaps a breakdown of crucial infrastructure that keeps super hot atom-splitting vessel containers and spent fuel rods in open pools of water cool enough to prevent a massive zirconium fire or hydrogen explosion that spews radiation across the countryside. With an odd twist of bad is good for the enemy, Ukraine’s rickety Russian-designed nuclear power plants serve as a defense mechanism for Putin’s armed forces, essentially prohibiting any involvement by NATO forces that must know that the worst possible tactic would be to escalate warfare in Ukraine with 15 vulnerable nuclear reactors in the line of fire.
Education, Health, and Welfare:
The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of Wall Street and the bankers. Yet, those who pass universal healthcare for themselves, but they cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People Vote on Healthcare!
Now is Not the Time to Stop Masking!
A U.S. Epidemiologist, Rich DiPentima, Talks About the “Next” COVID-19 Pandemic Dipentima: With smallpox, the only reservoir was humans and thus after the last human case the virus in the wild was eradicated. Diseases like COVID-19, influenza and many others have multiple primary and secondary reservoirs causing the viruses to live, multiply and spread to other animals even when the hosts do not become ill. In some cases, various strains of a virus can mix within a single reservoir and exchange genetic material, creating a novel virus. Rosenberg: Are these risks growing and if so, what are the factors? Dipentima: The risk of the emergence of novel viruses is growing due to greater encroachment of humans into animal habitats, climate change and increased population growth. There are particular species like bats and migratory birds that are reservoirs for viruses because of their frequent and easy contact with domestic animals such as poultry, swine and others.
Who Lives, Who Dies: The Remarkable Life and Untimely Death of Dr. Paul FarmerPaul Farmer, rest in peace and power, and may your work continue. Paul Farmer argued that equal access to healthcare was blocked by the neoliberal concept of healthcare as a commodity to be bought and sold! “Who Lives, Who Dies: Reimagining Global Health and Social Justice” was the title of a talk delivered virtually at the University of Hawaii on February 17th by renowned public health physician Dr. Paul Farmer. He was speaking from a hospital in Rwanda that he helped build along with Partners in Health, the global non-profit organization he co-founded in 1987. Paul Farmer talked of his life’s work transforming healthcare systems worldwide, where too often access to care is reserved for the wealthy while the poor are left to die.