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Category: Politics (Page 1 of 10)

June 6, 2024 » the 80th Anniversary of D-Day » We Shall Remember Them

2024-06-06 /

80 years ago today, 160,000 troops from Britain, Canada, USA, —along with a dozen other nations— stormed five sandy beaches along the Normandy Coast, intending to liberate France and mainland Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny.

The Canadian Encyclopedia says »

Juno Beach was the Allied code name for a 10 km stretch of French coastline assaulted by Canadian soldiers on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. The Canadian Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and 2nd Armoured Brigade seized the beach and its seaside villages while under intense fire from German defenders — an extraordinary example of military skill, reinforced by countless acts of personal courage. The 3rd Infantry Division took heavy casualties in its first wave of attack but took control of the beach by the end of the day. More than 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed or parachuted into France on D-Day. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 warships and 10,000 sailors and the RCAF contributed 15 fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons to the assault. There were 1,074 Canadian casualties, including 359 killed.

Footage of Canadians landing on Juno Beach.

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Jewish anti-Zionism in the U.S. and around the world

2024-06-02 /

Anti-Zionist Jews have formed a large part of the protests across the United States, and indeed the world, against Israel’s war on Gaza.

In this Al Jazeera’s interview and Simone Zimmerman, co-founder, IfNotNow, a Jewish advocacy group which opposes the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, we hear of her own transition away from Zionism forms the core of the 2023 award-winning documentary, Israelism.

More » Al Jazeera

Trump – the convicted felon and presumptive GOP nominee – vows to appeal guilty verdict in rambling speech after jury finds him guilty of 34 felonies

2024-05-31 /

A Manhattan jury on May 30, 2024 found former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 felonies.

After only two-days of deliberation, a unanimous, 12-person jury in the New York case concluded that Trump was guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in an alleged scheme to cover up a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

While Trump is no longer legally allowed to possess firearms, and may no longer be allowed to vote, he remains the presumptive Republican nominee is still allowed to run for president of the United States.

» Mother Jones » Convicted felon rambles through greatest hits of grievances, falsehoods, and legal nonsense

» The Journal » ‘I’d like them to say, “gee, we have to have a little sorrow for this man”, because they just don’t say that about me.’

» BBC » Can Trump run for president as a convicted felon?

» The Guardian » After guilty verdict on 34 felony counts, Trump criticized the process in speech repeating falsehoods and conspiracy theories

» Globe and Mail » Trump launched into attacks on the judge in his criminal trial and continued to undermine New York’s criminal justice system Friday as he tried to repackage his conviction on 34 felony charges as fuel, not an impediment, to his latest White House bid.

» El País » Landmark ruling against Trump triggers unprecedented political earthquake

» Mother Jones » Trump loses a big battle in his lifelong war against accountability

More » Axios / NBC News / CNN / NPR / Politico

Trump is to be sentenced on July 11.

Mexico is on the verge of electing its first female president

2024-05-30 /

The Journal »

Mexico is on course to elect its first woman president this weekend, with two front-runners competing to break the highest political glass ceiling in a country with a history of gender violence and inequality.

Ruling-party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum and opposition hopeful Xochitl Galvez, both 61, have dominated the presidential race in the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country, home to 129 million people.

The only man running, Jorge Alvarez Maynez, is trailing far behind with just days left before the vote this coming Sunday. »

Natalie Kitroeff, writing in the NY Times »

Claudia Sheinbaum’s list of accolades is long: She has a Ph.D. and a shared Nobel Peace Prize and was the first woman elected to lead Mexico City, her nation’s capital and one of the largest cities in the Western Hemisphere.

Now she has another chance to make history. Ms. Sheinbaum, 61, is the clear front-runner in the Mexican election on Sunday, putting her in position to become the country’s first female president.

But she has an image problem, and she knows it.

Many Mexicans are wondering: Can she be her own leader? Or is she a pawn of the current president? »

Also » Axios / France 24 / Al Jazeera

“Everyone is absolutely terrified” » Inside India’s secret war against its critics abroad

2024-05-24 /

Zack Beauchamp, a senior correspondent at Vox, writes »

Interviews with political figures, experts, and activists revealed a sustained campaign where Narendra Modi’s government threatens American citizens and permanent residents who dare speak out on the declining state of the country’s democracy. This campaign has not been described publicly until now because many people in the community — even prominent ones — are too afraid to talk about it.

…

Prior to last year, the idea of India killing American citizens on American soil might have sounded absurd. But in the fall of 2023, both the Canadian government and a US Justice Department indictment alleged that Indian government agents had attempted to assassinate Sikhs living in North America. While federal agents disrupted the American plot, a Canadian citizen was killed by (alleged) Indian agents. The Modi government has denied involvement in both cases, but evidence — including reporting from the Washington Post and the Intercept —suggests they were deeply involved.

Women Peace Security Index for 2023

2023-10-25 /

Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) seeks to promote a more stable, peaceful, and just world by focusing on the important role women play in preventing conflict and building peace, growing economies, and addressing global threats like climate change and violent extremism.

This fourth edition of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Index ranks and scores 177 countries on women’s status. The results show that countries where women are doing well are also more peaceful, democratic, prosperous, and better
prepared to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

This year, nine of the top ten best countries to be women are European, with Scandinavian countries leading the rankings. Denmark leads the 2023 rankings, scoring more than three times higher than Afghanistan.

1 Denmark
2 Switzerland
3 Sweden
4 Finland
4 Iceland
4 Luxembourg
7 Norway
8 Austria
9 Netherlands
10 New Zealand

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Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on 60 Minutes

2023-09-28 /

“Look, I’m a soldier. I’ve been faithful and loyal to the Constitution of the United States for 44 and a half years, and my family and I have sacrificed greatly for this country, and my mother and father before them. And, you know, as much as these comments are directed at me, it’s also directed at the institution of the military, and there’s 2.1 million of us in uniform, and the American people can take it to the bank that all of us, every single one of us, from private to general, were loyal to that Constitution and will never turn our back on it, no matter what. No matter what the threats, no matter what the humiliation, no matter what.”

– Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on CBS’ 60 Minutes

The mayor of Pontevedra, Spain is placing pedestrians first

2023-09-27 /

For decades, throngs of cars clogged the cobblestone streets of Pontevedra’s downtown, making this seaside city on Spain’s northwestern tip a hard place to live. Smog, loud noise and narrow walkways drove young families away from a region struggling with a shrinking and aging population.

Family physician turned mayor Miguel Fernandez Lores managed to halt the bleeding by closing many streets to car traffic. Now Pontevedra is a model of success in a growing global movement that’s trying to reclaim streets for pedestrians.

Bloomberg »

This Spanish Mayor Is Putting Pedestrians First

Note: Clicking the above image will load and play the video from YouTube.

Russian oil accounts for about 40% of India’s crude imports

2023-09-24 /

International Energy Agency (IEA) »
https://www.iea.org/reports/oil-market-report-september-2023

Russian oil export revenues surged by US$1.8 billion to US$17.1 billion in August, as higher prices more than offset lower shipments. Led by a decline in product shipments, total Russian oil exports eased by 150 kb/d last month, to 7.2 mb/d, 570 kb/d below a year-ago.

Shipments to China and India slumped to 3.9 mb/d from 4.7 mb/d in April and May but accounted for more than half the total volumes.

Who is financing the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Russia is one of the world’s top three crude oil producers, vying for the top spot with Saudi Arabia and the United States. Russia relies heavily on revenues from oil and natural gas, which in 2021 made up 45% of Russia’s federal budget.

Russia was the world’s largest fossil fuels exporter in 2021.

Meanwhile, energy demand in India (and China) is growing rapidly with major implications for the global energy market and world security.

Reference »

UNESCO has added war ravaged sites in Kyiv and L’viv on its list of World Heritage sites in Danger

2023-09-15 /

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Riyadh until 25 September, decided today to inscribe the sites of “The Saint Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings and Lavra of Kyiv-Pechersk” and “L’viv – the ensemble of the historic centre” on the List of World Heritage in Danger, due to the threat of destruction the Russian offensive poses.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee considers that “optimal conditions are no longer met to fully guarantee the protection of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property and that it is threatened by potential danger due to the war”. Faced with the risk of direct attack, these sites are also vulnerable to the shockwaves caused by the bombing of the two cities.

While noting the many actions taken by the Ukrainian authorities to protect their cultural property, the Committee stated that these two heritage sites of outstanding universal value have remained under permanent threat since the start of the invasion on 24 February 2022.

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Child poverty more than doubled in U.S. after expanded tax credits, stimulus checks ended

2023-09-13 /

CNBC »

  • The child poverty rate surged to 12.4% in 2022, up from 5.2% in the year prior, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
  • The bureau attributed the increase in child poverty to the expiration of expanded child tax credits and the end of stimulus checks.
  • The U.S. had made historic gains in fighting child poverty during the Covid-19 pandemic due in large part to the expanded tax credits. »

BRICS welcome six emerging countries » including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt » into the club of large and populous emerging economies

2023-08-24 /

At the summit in Johannesburg, BRICS » Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa » agreed to make Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates full members from January 1, growing the blocs role as a geopolitical alternative to Western-led world order.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping stated the world was undergoing major shifts and had entered a new period of “turbulence and transformation.” Ironically, Xi blamed countries that form “exclusive blocs” for the problems.

Can, will BRICS dethrone the US dollar? » The world’s reserve currency is facing increasing challenges from countries who want options beyond the greenback.

The leaders of Brazil, India, and China are all in South Africa — which is hosting the annual event this year — while Russian President Vladimir Putin is participating virtually to avoid arrest under an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant over war crimes in Ukraine.

The Guardian | Le Monde | DW | NY Times | RFi | Al Monitor | Al Jazeera

BRICS summit: Bloc announces 6 new members including Saudi Arabia and Iran • FRANCE 24 English

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Chinese President Xi Jinping failed to attend a business forum in South Africa where he was expected to deliver a speech defending China’s economy and its support for emerging markets

2023-08-23 /

This seems is rather significant.

BRICS is Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Bloomberg »

According to a public schedule, the Chinese leader was set to address the BRICS Business Forum on Tuesday, after meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier that day. Instead, delegates were greeted on stage by Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, who read the speech without giving an explanation for Xi’s absence.

 

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