Events
Europe
RT: US ‘lying’ about Nord Stream expose – Moscow
Attempts by the US State Department to brush off Seymour Hersh’s article about the sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines as “nonsense” are overt lies that display shocking ignorance of American history, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Friday.
RT: China comments on bombshell Nord Stream report
“We have noted the reports,” Mao Ning said, responding to a question from Dragon TV. She added that the two Nord Stream pipelines were “vital transnational infrastructure” and that their destruction caused a serious economic and environmental impact. “If Hersh is telling the truth, what he revealed is clearly unacceptable and must be answered for. The US owes the world a responsible explanation,” Mao stated.
A follow-up question from the Beijing Youth Daily pointed out the sparse coverage of Hersh’s report by the “free, professional and impartial” US outlets. Mao responded:
It only proves that some media outlets care little about the truth. They pretend not to see the truth that really matters and, more often than not, try to sell false narratives rather than the truth.
People’s Daily: Russia launches cargo ship to int’l space station
Open Democracy: Anti-strike bill akin to modern slavery, legal experts tell MPs
RT: UK trade gap with EU widens – data
According to the report, the shortfall in the balance of trade in goods spiraled to £32.9 billion (almost $40 billion) in the three months to December – the largest gap since ONS records began in 1997.
RT: Moldova’s government resigns
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigned on Friday, precipitating a change in government for the economically-troubled and politically-unstable nation.
RT: German inflation accelerates
“Because core inflation will remain high in 2023, a fundamental easing of inflation is not in sight,” chief economist at Hauck Aufhaeuser Lampe Privatbank, Alexander Krueger, told the media outlet.
RT: Amsterdam’s Red Light District cracks down on cannabis
Smoking marijuana in the area will soon be illegal during certain hours, according to new regulations
TeleSUR: Dead Whales Washed Up in Cyprus Probably Linked to Earthquakes
East Asia and Oceania
People’s Daily: US will never win competition with China through dirty tricks: China Daily editorial
WSWS: New Zealand: Demands for Maori “co-governance” intensify
Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s national holiday on February 6, this year provoked escalating demands for constitutional change to entrench Māori “co-governance” across the political system.
The day celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between tribal chiefs and representatives of the British Empire in 1840.
Central Asia and the Middle East
MEE: Turkey earthquake: 2500-year-old Jewish presence in Antakya may come to an end
“Along with our [destroyed] Antakya Synagogue, the 2500-year-long Jewish life has come to an end with great pain,” the community said on Twitter. “We are in deep pain from losing the veteran president of our Antakya Jewish community, the city’s elder brother, symbol, our elder, the exemplary Saul Cenudioglu and his wife, Tuna Cenudioglu, in the Antakya Earthquake.”
People’s Daily: From China-bashing to China-hiding: How Western media excludes China from Türkiye rescue efforts
Western media frequently portrays China negatively, and they never cease to shock the world by descending to new lows, such as burying China’s efforts to aid earthquake-ravaged Türkiye.
Despite being one of many countries that have sent several governmental and civilian teams, and provided assistance supplies to Türkiye and Syria in the aftermath of the earthquake, Western media has intentionally ignored China’s contributions in their coverage.
Common Dreams: Under Pressure Amid Soaring Death Toll, US Eases Syria Sanctions for Earthquake Relief
“As international allies and humanitarian partners mobilize to help those affected, I want to make very clear that U.S. sanctions in Syria will not stand in the way of lifesaving efforts for the Syrian people,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. “While U.S. sanctions programs already contain robust exemptions for humanitarian efforts, today Treasury is issuing a blanket General License to authorize earthquake relief efforts so that those providing assistance can focus on what’s needed most: saving lives and rebuilding.”
“Robust exemptions for humanitarian efforts” ??? lmfao. Let me go inform the Cubans after the hurricane.
Africa
MEMO: Russia Foreign Minister says navy base in Sudan moving forward
Africa News: West Africa junta regimes seek reentry to regional blocs
The top diplomats of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso said in a joint statement that they had agreed to work together to push for the lifting of their suspensions from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).
Africa News: Cameroon restricts movement along Equatorial Guinea border after “unexplained deaths”
North America
Common Dreams: Sanders Statement Following Meeting with Brazil’s President Lula
Nothing too exciting, but still.
Common Dreams: How This Pipeline Giant Funded Minnesota Police Targeting Climate Protests
RT: US shoots down ‘high-altitude object’
America is getting better at shooting down weather balloons and it’s making China nervous.
RT: US museum changes Russian artist’s nationality
RT: Yahoo to lay off fifth of workforce
South America
TeleSUR: Haitian Schools Have Become A Target Of Gangs' Violence: UNICEF
The Ukraine Proxy Conflict
RT: Kiev sounds alarm over ammunition
Intense fighting in Ukraine has caused its military to almost run out of ammunition, with stocks not being replenished in time, Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s office, told Bloomberg. The official also called on the West to provide Kiev with long-range artillery systems, tanks and fighter jets.
In an interview with the outlet on Thursday, Zhovkva lamented that “now we are having like almost zero ammunition,” a situation that makes it harder for the Ukrainian military to respond to Russian shelling.
“We are running [out] of the ammunition very quickly because the fighting is intensive,” he explained, adding that Russian forces boast more firepower.
Analysis
Retrospectives, History, Theory, and Technology
Current Affairs: Exposing the Secretive and Sinister Work of McKinsey & Co.
Naked Capitalism: This Was Another Big Week for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
Another G-7 economy took a big step toward adopting a central bank digital currency (CBDC). At the same time, the first largish economy to have launched a CBDC, Nigeria, descends further into financial chaos.
Jacobin: “Soundbite Economics” Obscures Who’s Causing and Profiting From the Crisis
Capitalism’s apologists are throwing around economic concepts like inflation, recession, labor shortages, and supply chain shortages to justify ripping off consumers, raising rents, and depressing wages. Don’t ask them to define their terms.
Oh, don’t even get Michael Hudson STARTED on this.
Jacobin: Automation Isn’t the Cause of Unemployment — Capitalism Just Can’t Generate Enough Jobs
Monthly Review: Nestlé’s blatant misconduct shows us the darkness of capitalism
The Left and the Right
Jacobin: Only Socialism Can Put an End to Exploitation
Easy goal for the Jacobin.
Jacobin: France’s Once-Mighty Socialist Party Must Change or Die
Once a major national force, today’s French Socialist Party finds itself outcompeted by both the radical left and neoliberal president Emmanuel Macron. But last month’s congress shows many leaders would rather kill the party than sign up for radical policies.
Inside the Imperial Core
Valdai Club: How China Can Help Reimagine Europe
The strengthening of economic ties between Western Europe and the United States will force the EU market to be more open to American competitors, and the general crisis of the “welfare state” will make the labour market more flexible. Under such conditions, the methods of administrative management of the economy at the level of a significant group of states will turn out to be less effective, which raises the question of meaning of the activities of the EU institutions in Brussels, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev.
Valdai Club: The Baltic Region in a New Reality: From Cooperation to Conflict
On February 9, the Valdai Club held an expert discussion titled “The Baltic Region: What Will the Unprecedented Militarisation Lead to?” Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, acted as moderator and asked the participants whether cooperation in the region has ceased forever, and whether it is in Russia’s interests to do something to bring it back to the regional agenda.
Outside the Imperial Core
Anti War: No, China Is Not ‘Switching Sides’
B-but all the China Understanders have told me that Xi’s body language indicates he’s gonna ditch Putin any day now!
Monthly Review: The United States wants to make Taiwan the Ukraine of the East: The Sixth Newsletter (2023)
Climate Change
Common Dreams: ‘Tipping Point’: IEA Says Surging Renewables to Be World’s Top Electricity Source by 2025
The share of the world’s electricity generated via renewables will increase from 29% in 2022 to 35% in 2025, with coal and gas-fired power generation declining and renewables passing coal by mid-decade, the report forecasts.
Climate Change News: Missed deadline raises risk of delays to loss and damage fund
Inside Climate News: Wildfire Smoke May Worsen Extreme Blazes Near Some Coasts, According to New Research