Events
Globally
RT: World facing biggest cholera surge in 20 years – WHO
Factors including economic crises, climate change and the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic have led to the ideal circumstances for cholera to flourish in high-risk countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned after noting a sharp surge of the illness in at least 30 countries.
Europe
Open Democracy: UK human rights being ‘eroded’, warn dozens of groups in landmark letter
More than 60 prominent charities, unions and campaign groups have signed a landmark letter of alarm to the UN about the state of human rights in the UK, as the organisation begins its periodic review into the country’s living standards.
WSWS: Mass protests and strikes over train crash threaten Greek government
The Greek Civil Servants’ Confederation (ADEDY) has announced a 24-hour nationwide strike in the public sector for March 8 and a mass demonstration to be held at noon in Klafthmonos Square in the capital, Athens. Such has been the outpouring of anger among millions of workers that ADEDY said the strike was “to demand - together with all the workers and the people - an end to the policy of privatization, and that the real responsibilities for the murderous crime of the Tempi train crash be attributed.”
TeleSUR: Three of France’s Four LNG Terminals Shut Down for a Week
The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) Elengy said Monday it has suspended for seven days three of the country’s four LNG terminals in protest to the government’s pension reform bill.
Africa News: In a Paris parking lot, migrants survive out of sight
WSWS: Mass teachers strikes erupt across Portugal
Barely a year after the Socialist Party (PS) won a majority in the Portuguese parliament, strikes and protests are erupting across the country. Workers are mobilizing as rampant inflation slashes real wages after years of austerity, amid a global economic crisis intensified by the pandemic and NATO’s war against Russia in Ukraine. It is part of a mass strike movement drawing in millions of workers from across Europe.
People’s Daily: Sweden sees record surge in food prices, mainly for baby food
A survey covering 44,000 items found that food prices had increased by 2.5 percent in February – the highest monthly increase since 2015, whereas baby food prices had surged by a staggering 10.8 percent from January.
RT: Swiss inflation soars – data
Consumer prices surged 3.4% last month year-on-year and were higher than the median estimate by Bloomberg, which predicted a slower rate of 3.1%. The February jump reflected rising prices for air transport, package holidays, rents and gasoline, indicating that the country’s central bank will have to tighten its monetary policy, the media outlet said.
“You’re never gonna guess what our next move is gonna be. It didn’t work before, but I reckon we need to raise interest rates even MORE."
People’s Daily: Germany to face severe economic losses due to climate change: study
Germany is set to lose up to 900 billion euros (960 billion U.S. dollars) by 2050 due to climate change related damages to its economy, according to a study published Monday.
Even the best-case scenario calculating with only a moderate rise in temperatures forecasts losses of around 280 billion euros in the same period, reveals the study jointly carried out by Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).
It’ll be fine, as long as Europe isn’t currently burning a shitload of coal because they cut off their natural gas supplies. If they did that, then they might have something to worry about! But so long as that Nord Stream pipeline is happily chugging along, then everything will be f–
People’s Daily: European experts question unusual silence over Nord Stream blasts
RT: Poland to sue Russia over oil supplies
Russian state-owned pipeline operator Transneft, which runs the a section of the “Druzhba” (“Friendship”) connector explained that in late February, Moscow suspended crude supplies after Poland stopped paying for deliveries.
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Last March, Poland pledged to stop importing Russian oil by the end of 2022 but continued to receive crude via the Druzhba system.
They’re just helping you out? I’m not sure what the problem is here.
East Asia and Oceania
RT: India poised to ditch dollar in trade with Sri Lanka
Inside Climate News: Western Firms Certified as Socially Responsible Trade in Myanmar Teak Linked to the Military Regime
In the summer of 2021, as Myanmar’s military junta pressed a bloody campaign against its pro-democracy opponents, a 220-year-old U.S. lumber company that boasts of its commitment to responsible forestry quietly struck a deal with a subsidiary of a timber-processing firm with links to the junta.
RT: North Korea warns of ‘overwhelming’ response
North Korea has vowed to respond with “overwhelming” force should the US military attempt to intercept missiles fired during test launches. The warning came hours after Washington and Seoul carried out their latest round of air drills in the region, which involved at least one nuclear-capable bomber.
RT: Fire rips through world’s largest refugee camp
Authorities in Bangladesh have opened an investigation into the circumstances which led to an inferno at a Rohingya refugee camp on Sunday that destroyed around 2,000 shelters and left thousands of people homeless.
Common Dreams: 350.org Responds to Vanuatu State of Emergency After Two Tropical Cyclones
A state of emergency was declared for Vanuatu after two tropical cyclones and two earthquakes hit the Pacific nation in under a week. Vanuatu was still reeling from Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Judy when Tropical Cyclone Kevin tore through the island group.
Central Asia and the Middle East
MEMO: Israel Ben-Gvir orders demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem during Ramadan
Monthly Review: House overwhelmingly approves resolution to maintain Syria sanctions after earthquake
Death to America.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and received 51 cosponsors. It passed in a vote of 414-2. Only Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against the measure.
You have got to be kidding me.
RT: Iran’s supreme leader responds to schoolgirl poisonings
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has branded a string of suspected schoolgirl poisonings an “unforgivable crime,” calling for the “maximum punishment” of the perpetrators, should they be caught.
Africa
Africa News: Talon: the use of Wagner “condemnable” if the objective is “not safe”
The recourse of certain African States to a paramilitary group like the Russian Wagner is “not reprehensible in principle” unless its mission is not “purely security”, estimated Sunday the President of Benin, Patrice Talon, on the French channel LCI.
Africa News: Malnutrition in mothers soars in 12 countries, putting women and babies at risk - UNICEF
5.5 million pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women suffered of acute malnutrition in 2020, 6.9 million are now affected.
MEE: World Bank halts talks with Tunisia over president’s ‘racist’ remarks
In a speech last month that was widely denounced as racist, Saied said “there has been a criminal plan since the beginning of the century to change the demographic structure of Tunisia and there are parties that received large sums of money after 2011 for the settlement of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa”.
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“As you heard from the World Bank we too are deeply concerned by President Saied’s remarks regarding migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia and reports of arbitrary arrests of migrants in recent weeks,” US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said.
MEMO: Morocco relies on Spain to defend sovereignty in Western Sahara against French opposition
Africa News: Fight against insurgents: Burkina Faso announces curfew
Africa News: UN says human rights situation in Eritrea remains “dire”
Climate Change News: World Bank backs mega dam threatening to displace thousands in Mozambique
Africa News: South African leader grapples with ever-worsening power cuts
Africa News: South Africa’s leader reshuffles cabinet, unveils new Electricity minister
RT: Major oil discovery made in Southern Africa
North America
Common Dreams: Lawsuit Challenges Biden Decision to Open 73.3 Million Acres of Gulf of Mexico for Oil Leasing
Oh, please. What could go wrong?
Common Dreams: Analysis Shows Major US Oil Companies Raked in $290 Billion in Profits Last Year
Naked Capitalism: Why Student Debt Cancellation Is Reasonable, Not Radical
Common Dreams: Majority of US Voters Want the Fed to Stop Raising Rates Before It Tanks the Economy: Poll
The survey, which reached 1,240 registered voters nationwide, found that just 14% believe the Fed is on the side of “average Americans.” Nearly 40% said they feel the central bank serves the interests of big businesses or banks.
MEE: Muslim inmates sue US prison after being pepper-sprayed while praying
Death to America.
People’s Daily: Plan to incinerate soil from Ohio train derailment “horrifying”: The Guardian
*This is so fucking hilarious. Imagine if the Soviets after Chernobyl were like “Alright, there’s some prime lumber in the Red Forest and we’re gonna use it as firewood for the rest of the region!” *
South America
TeleSUR: Venezuelan President Maduro Meets With Latin American Leaders
On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with former Cuban President Raul Castro and former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who traveled to Caracas to attend tributes to Commander Hugo Chavez on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death.
Dream blunt rotation.
TeleSUR: Paraguayan Farmers Hold Protest in Asuncion
On Monday, some 7,000 peasants marched to Asuncion City to denounce President Mario Abdo’s failure to comply with the policy agreements reached in March 2022.
The Ukraine Proxy Conflict
RT: China warns of ‘critical juncture’ in Ukraine conflict
The conflict in Ukraine will spin of control if a peace process does not start soon, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has said.
The fighting between Russia and Ukraine has reached a “critical juncture,” Qin stated during his annual press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
“There will either be cessation of hostilities, restoration of peace and a move towards political settlement, or fuel will be added to the fire, the crisis will expand, and the situation will get out of control,” he warned.
The diplomat pointed out that now is the time for “calmness, sanity and dialogue,” insisting that talks “should start as soon as possible.”
Analysis
Retrospectives, History, Theory, and Technology
Valdai Club: The Arctic: Eurasia’s Final Pivot
Sir Halford Mackinder was right: the Earth has a heart and it is located in the World-Island, that is, Eurasia. However, he was wrong about something, although it’s true that he could never have forecast climate change: the true Heartland doesn’t lie in the very centre of Eurasia, it lies in the once-hostile Arctic, which is now increasingly warmer and more hospitable to human life.
The Arctic is where a mammoth amount of strategic natural resources are hidden, from hydrocarbons to rare earth metals, which is set to be untapped and to be fully exploited as the temperature grows and the ice melts. The repercussions of a forbidden-turned-livable Arctic in world affairs will be as deep as they are ever-lasting. If willing, the world’s three major powers – the United States, China and Russia – still have time to face this inevitably forthcoming change by choosing cooperation over competition.
RT: China presses for Covid origins probe in US
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson accused Washington of “spreading myths” without “supporting evidence,” saying the allegations have only “poisoned the atmosphere for science-based global origins-tracing.” She noted the WHO had already visited China on two occasions to probe the issue and concluded the leak hypothesis was “extremely unlikely,” but said no similar investigation had been carried out in the US.
“The US, however, ignored these science-based conclusions and recommendations and kept pressurizing WHO into repeatedly demanding origins-tracing in China. It is quite clear what the US is trying to achieve,” Mao continued. “While claiming to take origins-tracing seriously, the US has never invited WHO expert groups to the US for joint study, or shared any early data. Instead, it has turned a blind eye to the world’s concerns about US bio-military bases at Fort Detrick and around the world.”
The Left and the Right
Jacobin: The “Equality vs. Equity” Distinction Doesn’t Explain What Matters for Social Justice
The nonprofit jargon of “equity” isn’t helping us tackle basic questions of how to live in a better, more equal society.
Jacobin: Millennial Anger Is the First Step Toward Class Consciousness
Millennials aren’t angry because they’re coddled. They’re angry because they know we live in a society of unprecedented wealth and capacity but are being held back from a better world by a minority of billionaires.
This seems like the opposite of class consciousness. This feels like they’re like “Why do WE have to be the generation when the prosperity generated by global imperialism is fading, and the wealthy take greater proportions of what’s remaining?"
Inside the Imperial Core
Anti War: The US Is in Conflict With Countries for Doing Things We Know They’re Not Doing
Indian Punchline: US occupation of Syria will continue
Not if the Lion of Damascus has anything to say about it.
Monthly Review: Why is Norway the glove that fits the USA’s hand?
In the sequel to his revelation of Norway’s and USA’s role in blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, Seymour Hersh addresses the long standing tradition of Norway’s secret and illegal collaboration with USA. He shows that Norway played a key role in carrying out the provocation which gave USA the pretext to bring about the Vietnam War, a war which ended with more than three million dead and an outrageous number of maimed and injured in Vietnam and its neighbouring countries.
This undeniably raises the question of what role Norway has played for USA’s imperialism in the period following the Second World War. As is well known, Norway also supported the USA and the western powers in the Korean War and contributed, among other things, through Norwegian ships transporting American soldiers to Korea. The Korean War resulted in at least 2.5 million people dead.
*I hope a Norweigan comrade is gonna go on a rant now. It does put a smile on my face every time somebody from a European and particularly Nordic country starts a 5 paragraph long rant on how their country is the most bootlicking of all, before another person comes along and is like “No, we’re worse, we should get the wall first, here’s why…”
Outside the Imperial Core
Naked Capitalism: Coups, Chaos, and the Crumbling of the Francafique: the Widening War between East and West in Africa’s Sahel
RT: Dmitry Medvedev eyes ‘final nail’ in neocolonialism’s coffin
In an article published on Monday, Medvedev claimed that “geopolitical turbulence has cut open an abscess of the old problems of our world.”
The ex-president and now deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, argued that the “malignant tumor of a colonial past” is a problem that calls for “international surgery.”
He noted that the Soviet Union played a major role in dismantling the colonial system of the 20th century.
“We, together with other countries, can now drive the final nail in the coffin of the Western world’s neo-colonial aspirations,” Medvedev proclaimed in the piece, posted on the United Russia party website.
Climate Change
Inside Climate News: Increasingly Large and Intense Wildfires Hinder Western Forests’ Ability to Regenerate
A new study suggests that reducing forest fire severity in the next few decades could make all the difference for future generations of trees in the West.