Daily Archives: December 22, 2021

2021-12-22: News Headlines

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-22). 'We have to reexamine the legality of US drone wars'. peoplesdispatch.org Newly declassified Pentagon documents revealed the scale of devastation caused by flawed US intelligence as US forces bombed across various countries in West Asia. An investigation by New York Times showed that "flawed intelligence" and "faulty targeting" resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 civilians over the last decade. Official numbers undercounted these deaths by several hundred at least.

New Atlas (2021-12-22). The US Fights Asia, Not Just China. newatlas.report December 22, 2021 (Brian Berletic — NEO) — US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken cut short his tour of Southeast Asia due to concerns over COVID-19, the New York Times would report. The aborted trip comes at a time when the US finds itself struggling for relevance in a region it had once held considerably more …

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-22). Egyptian court sentences activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to five years in prison for 'spreading fake news'. peoplesdispatch.org A prominent activist in the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship, Alaa has been in jail for most of the decade since for opposing the crackdown on dissent carried out by the regime of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi…

Lauren Smith (2021-12-22). Nicaragua's evidence-based democracy threatens U.S. oppression domestically and abroad. mronline.org Despite Washington's best effort to derail Nicaragua's electoral process through hybrid warfare, strong voter turnout resulted in a decisive victory by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), and the reelection of President Daniel Ortega with 75.92% of the votes cast. Nicaragua's non-partisan, independent Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) reported on Monday, November 8th that 65.23% of …

_____ (2021-12-21). New York Times Reporting on Airstrikes Should Give Daniel Hale More Credit. popularresistance.org Hale used his first hand experience identifying targets for the drone program to highlight how it relies on faulty criteria, and as a result, kills civilians. Later, Hale worked for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, where he had access to documents on how the drone program operates. Hale provided those documents to the Intercept which published them as The Drone Papers in 2015. While Hale's documents were not as comprehensive as the trove recently published by the New York Times, they did provide much of the same core revelations, particularly the faulty nature of how intelligence is gathered and the h…

_____ (2021-12-21). NYT Reporting On Airstrikes Should Give Daniel Hale More Credit. popularresistance.org The New York Times recently came through with a display of reporting that should be commended. On December 18, the paper announced its release of hundreds of the Pentagon's confidential reports of civilian casualties caused by U.S. airstrikes in the Middle East. This follows its high profile investigations into the U.S. drone murder of the Ahmadi family during the Afghanistan withdrawal, and an American strike cell in Syria that killed dozens of civilians with airstrikes. | Many journalists will, rightfully, praise the New York Times for its reporting on U.S. airstrikes and the civilian cost. Far fewer will point…

Dr. Andrey KORTUNOV (2021-12-21). 8 Years Have Passed, Western Leaders' Lack of Vision Continues from Sochi to Beijing. moderndiplomacy.eu The US recently confirmed that it would not send any official or diplomatic representatives to the Winter Olympic Games and Paralympics in February 2022 due to China's alleged "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses." Make no mistake—this tough language does not imply a total boycott of the Games—US …

_____ (2021-12-21). Mutual Aid And Solidarity In Nigeria's #EndSARS Protests. popularresistance.org On October 18, 2020, during the #EndSARS protests against police violence and state corruption in Nigeria's capital Abuja, a photo was shared on social media that quickly drew nationwide attention. The image showed passionate protesters with their fists pumped in the air, mouths wide open singing songs and chanting slogans. Some were holding placards that read "Our Lives Matter." | What drew the attention of the public, however, was the woman right at the center of the image. With a small Nigerian flag in her left hand and missing her right leg, the woman who was later identified as Jane Obiene stood out because…

Ann Brown (2021-12-21). Harvard University Journal Retracts Fake Disinformation Criticism Of ADOS Reparations Organization. moguldom.com On Jan. 18, 2021, Harvard University's Harvard Kennedy School published an article entitled "Disinformation creep: ADOS and the strategic weaponization of breaking news" that was decidedly anti-ADOS. ADOS is an acronym for American Descendants of Slavery, a growing reparations movement started in 2016 by Yvette Carnell, formerly a board member of Progressives for Immigration Reform, and …

_____ (2021-12-21). In the Great Tradition of Populist Leaders, Boris Johnson can no Longer Tell Truth From Falsehood. strategic-culture.org By Patrick COCKBURN | When Donald Trump won the US presidential election while lying about almost everything, Boris Johnson expressed deep interest in his success. "He was fascinated by it," an official in constant contact with Johnson at the time told me. "He kept asking how on earth Trump had got away with it." | Johnson required no tuition in mendacity since he had Johnson's own record of dup…

Kim Petersen (2021-12-21). Gullibility and Poor Sportsmanship. dissidentvoice.org Fool me once, shame on the trickster for resorting to trickery. Fool me twice, shame on me. When someone has earned the reputation of a trickster, one ought to be very skeptical of that trickster. Thus, to be fooled twice by the same trickster brings shame on the gullible person. The United States has been …

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