(2022-01-15). China debunks Xinjiang-related lies fabricated by anti-China forces. ecns.cn A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday refuted the so-called "genocide" and "forced labor" in Xinjiang that U.S. politicians, in collusion with some anti-China organizations and individuals, have been unscrupulously spreading and hyping up for their ulterior political purpose.
(2022-01-15). [Correspondence] The UK People's Covid Inquiry. thelancet.com The People's Covid Inquiry anticipated that any official public investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic would be much delayed. It was a citizens' tribunal —ie, part legal proceedings, part theatre, part publicly speaking truth to power—aimed at raising issues to more visible levels than government or the media were prepared to do on their own. The renowned human rights barrister, Michael Mansfield, acted as chair. A final report in December, 2021, set out conclusions and recommendations on the basis of the evidence collected.
(2022-01-15). [Editorial] Theranos and the scientific community: at the bleeding edge. thelancet.com The Theranos story is reaching its conclusion. Elizabeth Holmes, the company's founder and former CEO, once the world's youngest self-made female billionaire, was last week found guilty of four of 11 charges of fraud related to her actions at the now defunct blood testing company. COO Ramesh Balwani will face similar charges in a trial later this year. The sensational rise and fall of Theranos has spawned books, documentaries, and podcasts. Yet, for all the attention, questions remain: where was the scientific community in exposing the absence of evidence backing the claims of Theranos? Why did it take the Wall S…
(2022-01-14). The Iran Deal And The Assassination Of Soleimani. popularresistance.org Vienna – World leaders have descended upon Austrian capital Vienna to participate in the ongoing nuclear deal being negotiated primarily between the United States and Iran. Today, MintPress spoke to Dr. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran. Dr. Marandi is currently in Vienna as part of the Iranian delegation. | While corporate media often portray Iran as a recalcitrant pariah and the United States as a long-suffering broker in the situation, Dr. Marandi notes that it was actually the Trump administration that unilaterally walked away from the agreemen…
(2022-01-14). Russia responds to US 'false flag' claims. rt.com 
The Kremlin says there is no evidence for 'hearsay' accusations of Russian 'operatives' set to frame Ukraine | After Western media carried reports, on Friday, citing unnamed US officials, claiming that Russia is preparing a "false flag" incident in order to invade Ukraine, the Kremlin has dismissed them as baseless and unfounded rumors. | "So far, all these statements have been unsubstantiated and not backed up by anything," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS news agency, when asked about the stories making the rounds. | Earlier in the day, anonymous US officials echoed claims from Kiev that Russia had sent "op…
(2022-01-14). Congressional Democrats maintain pretense as Biden concedes defeat on voting rights bill. wsws.org In response to the right-wing onslaught against democratic rights, President Biden has combined inflated rhetoric with empty gestures.
(2022-01-14). Book Review: 'On the Ho Chi Minh Trail' Leaves U.S. War Propaganda Intact. towardfreedom.org Sherry Buchanan's "On the Ho Chi Minh Trail" criticizes a few isolated events that took place during the U.S. war on Vietnam. This speaks more to the depressing ignorance of so-called progressives in the West than to the experiences of Vietnamese women, writes Nick Flores.
(2022-01-14). Australian media COVID propaganda barrage intensifies ahead of schools' reopening. wsws.org An "open letter" demanding the school system's reopening will serve as an enduring indictment of its 35 signatories, and, for the medical professionals among them, as a gross dereliction of duty.
(2022-01-14). Why is the US Stirring Up Tibet as an 'Issue'? journal-neo.org 
More than a mere territorial and ethnic question, Tibet, for the US, is a geo-political opportunity to up the ante against China in Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. The US decision to appoint a 'special envoy' for Tibetan 'issue' comes at a time when the US' anti-China rhetoric has persistently failed to drive a wave …
(2022-01-14). Signal Warning?: Why Moxie's Departure is Not the End of Signal. itsgoingdown.org Technical discourse almost always generates an odd sort of distortion when it collides with life outside of disciplinary separations. This is very much the case when it comes to radicals and information security. Communications, computer science and cryptography are highly complex, to the point that even people working in the security industry full time have…
(2022-01-14). The Rule Of Law Must Finally Evolve Into The Rule Of Justice. popularresistance.org Many politicians, academics, media pundits are wont of invoking the "rule of law", a "rules-based international order", "values diplomacy" etc. But what do all these benevolent-sounding slogans actually mean in practice? Who makes the rules, who interprets them, who enforces them? What transparency and accountability accompany these noble pledges? | In a very real sense, we already have a "rules based international order" in the form of the UN Charter and its "supremacy clause", article 103 of which grants it priority over all other treaties and agreements. The norms established in the Charter are rational, but e…
(2022-01-14). Fact Check: 40% Of Credit Card Debt Holders Don't Know Their Interest Rate. moguldom.com Do you know the interest rate on your credit cards? If you don't, you're not alone. Some 40 percent of Americans with credit card debt do not know what interest rate they are paying on that debt, according to a new Bankrate report. "As much as we have heard about record-low rates on other products, credit card …
(2022-01-14). How Canada's homicidal let it rip policy paved the way for the catastrophic Omicron wave. wsws.org With hospitalizations and deaths rising sharply across Canada, government and corporate media claims that Omicron is "mild" are proving to be a cruel lie.