It’s easy to say, but it’s been six very hard decades that began with disconcerting lightness and the belief that the United States government’s blockade of Cuba would not last long—a couple of years, maybe.
A mural in Cuba against the U.S. blockade. | Photo: Reuters
On February 2, 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy called his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, and gave him an urgent task: “I need a lot of [Cuban] cigars.” “How many, Mr. President?” “About a thousand,” Kennedy replied.
(UN News)*— Conflict last year had forced more than 700,000 Afghans to leave their homes and added to the 5.5 million people already displaced over past years, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday [8 February 2022].
“The ongoing crisis in Afghanistan is intensifying humanitarian needs and increasing displacement risks both inside the country, as well as across borders to countries in the region”, according to a statement issued by Ugochi Daniels, the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Deputy Director-General for Operations.
With the publication of Amnesty International’s new apartheid report, Israel’s supporters have just one tactic left: to accuse critics of antisemitism.
Jonathan Cook
The walls protecting Israel are quickly crumbling. A year ago, it was Israel’s most celebrated human rights group, B’Tselem.
Months later, it was the New York-based Human Rights Watch, whose senior staff have often enjoyed a revolving door with the US State Department.
Now, the one speaking up is Amnesty International – an organisation widely viewed as the most authoritative arbiter of what constitutes human rights violations.
Over the past year, all have reached the same conclusion: Israel is an apartheid state.
U.S. allies in Ukraine, with NATO, Azov Battalion and neo-Nazi flags. Photo by russia-insider.com
So what are North Americans to believe about the rising tensions over Ukraine? The United States and Russia both claim their escalations are defensive, responding to threats and escalations by the other side, but the resulting spiral of escalation can only make war more likely. Ukrainian President Zelensky is warning that “panic” by U.S. and Western leaders is already causing economic destabilization in Ukraine.
The Inter Press Service co-founder is part of a vanishing breed
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Dr. Roberto Savio is somewhat unique as an eyewitness to history and builder of institutions, a man who turns his visions into reality | Image from Wall Street International.
5 February 2022 (Wall Street International)* — We are sitting in the heart of Rome, Via Panisperna, where Dr. Roberto Savio has had his office for the last 58 years. His energy and activity, both mental and physical, belies his age.
At 87, he walks the 7 kilometres from his house to his office building and climbs two flights of stairs to reach his office.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 4 2022 (IPS)* – A rash of military coups in Africa has resurrected a long dormant question: should leaders who take power through armed insurrections be barred from addressing the United Nations—an institution which swears by, and promotes, multi-party democracy?
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Protesters take to the streets in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Credit: UN Sudan/Ayman Suliman
The most recent surge, which the United Nations describes as “an epidemic of coups”, include military takeovers in Chad, Guinea, Mali, Sudan, and Burkina Faso (and not excluding Myanmar, which marked the first anniversary of a military government in the Southeast Asian country on February 1).
SAN FRANCISCO, USA , Feb 2 2022 (IPS)*– Hidden in plain sight, the extreme hypocrisy of the U.S. position on NATO and Ukraine cries out for journalistic coverage and open debate in the USA’s major media outlets. But those outlets, with rare exceptions, have gone into virtually Orwellian mode, only allowing elaboration on the theme of America good, Russia bad.
1 February 2022 (UN News)* — Marking the first anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar, the independent UN expert monitoring the country implored States on Tuesday to take more robust action, reiterating his call for an arms embargo to stop the killing of innocent people.
One of the less-discussed aspects of the current crisis in Eastern Europe is its huge sales potential
Russia‘s President Putin holds a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council, via video conference from his Kremlin office, 21 January 2022 | Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin Pool/Alamy Live News
29 January 2022 (openDemocracy)* — As the Ukraine crisis evolves, the military machinery on both sides gears up for combat, with Russia moving troops and equipment towards Ukraine and NATO sending reinforcements to Eastern Europe.
Russia understandably fears the eastward expansion of NATO. Recently NATO countries, led by the United States, have supplied arms to Ukraine.
There is a threat that the tensions building up in the region will lead to war. Such a development would be catastrophic for the entire world. Against this backdrop, we examine the question of NATO’s illegality.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 