2019-09-20: News Headlines

Ismael Hossein-Zadeh (2019-09-20). Unipolar Governance of the Multipolar World. counterpunch.org The emergence in recent years of the economic and military powers in countries like China, Russia and India has given rise to theories and hopes of a multipolar world that could temper the heavy-handed unilateral/unipolar policies of the United States on a global level. Such hopes are further buoyed by the fact that these rising poles of economic development have instituted a number of regional international organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the China-sponsored Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the Eurasian Economic Union that incorporates Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzsta…

WSWS (2019-09-20). Julian Assange: The great unmentionable as Australian leader wines and dines with Trump. wsws.org Were Assange imprisoned by the Chinese, Russian or Iranian regimes, the response of the Australian government would doubtless be very different.

Staff (2019-09-20). Global Climate Action's Biggest Obstacle Is US Foreign Policy. truthout.org | | The climate crisis and war are both international problems that cross borders and threaten the future of humanity. The melting of glaciers in Greenland has global repercussions, just as the catastrophic war in Syria has drawn in and impacted countries way beyond the Middle East, including the United States and Russia. | These crises must be addressed by international agreements, negotiations and cooperation. But the U.S.'s insistence on leveraging its economic and military power to have the final say…

Joshua Cho (2019-09-20). Media Omit Context Behind Latest North Korean Missile Tests. fair.org by Joshua Cho | In his 2004 book North Korea: Another Country, historian Bruce Cumings described the irony of corporate media's perpetual narrative of North Korea as an unhinged or devious adversary of the US with hostile nuclear ambitions: Almost always, media discussion of North Korea assumes that Washington is in a position of original innocence, and the North is assiduously trying to obtain and then to use "weapons of mass destruction"—the ubiquitous media trope for the arsenals of American enemies since the Cold War ended. Yet the American record in Northeast Asia since the 1940s is one of consistent us…

RT (2019-09-19). Russiagate's last stand? #Resistance works itself up over whistleblower complaint on Trump's alleged 'favor to foreign leader'. rt.com Just when you thought the Russiagate horse was well and truly dead, count on House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff to whip it back into life with another saucy tale of collusion, conspiracy and cover-up. | President Donald Trump's alleged "collusion" with Russia to swing the 2016 election has largely been absent from the news of late. After the Mueller Report cleared the president of wrongdoing, and after the damp squib that was Special Counsel Mueller's testimony before Congress in July, the story finally exited the news cycle. | Here comes Congressman Schiff (D-California), determined to breathe new life into…

Ricardo Vaz (2019-09-19). Venezuela oil production continues decline as China cancels more shipments. mronline.org Russian oil giant Rosneft blasted threats of U.S. sanctions as "unfair competition." | Source

Eds. (2019-09-19). Soviet Archaeology in Theory and Practice. mronline.org A Review of Ancient Irrigation Systems of the Aral Sea Area: The History, Origin, and Development of Irrigated Agriculture by Boris V. Andrianov, and Soviet Archaeology: Schools, Trends, and History by Leo S. Klejn | Source

teleSUR (2019-09-19). French Unions Strike Against Privatization of Electricity. telesurenglish.net More than a third of EDF's workforce in France was on strike on Thursday for the second day in a row in protest against a privatization plan, yet without affecting households, affirmed labor union leaders. | RELATED: | French Gov't Budget, Actions To Tackle Femicides Falls Short of Expectations | EDF workers are protesting plans steered by the French government to restructure and split the group in two, privatizing its nuclear power generation business set to one side. | The rest…

Philip Giraldi (2019-09-19). Spy vs Spy vs Spy: The Mysterious Mr. Smolenkov. globalresearch.ca A new spy story has been making the rounds in Washington, but this time it involved a brave Russian official who allegedly was allegedly recruited while in the Russian Embassy in Washington in 2007 and then worked secretly for the …

The Canary (2019-09-19). France rejects Edward Snowden's latest request for asylum. thecanary.co France's foreign minister has said "it's not the time" to grant a new asylum request from former US National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden. | Snowden gained asylum in Russia after Barack Obama's adminstration revoked his passport — rendering him stateless — while he was travelling to Latin America in 2013. The revocation left him stranded in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Snowden was en route to seek asylum after leaking classified documents detailing government mass surveillance programmes. | Asking France again for asylum this week, he argued that "protecting whistleblowe…

unitedEditor (2019-09-19). Challenges and Opportunities toward Iran in the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. uwidata.com Negotiations for the Caspian Sea legal regime began almost immediately after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, but at the beginning of the process there were no negotiations on a single text. Prior to that, Iran and the Soviet Union used this sea commonly, though in practice the Soviet Union, by using its power …

Stephen F. Cohen (2019-09-18). Will Russia Be Driven From the West? thenation.com Will Russia Be Driven From the West?

Eds. (2019-09-16). Russia has 'oligarchs,' the U.S. has 'businessmen'. mronline.org In 150 NYT, CNN and Fox articles, 'oligarch' seems reserved for Slavic billionaires | Source

Robert Hunziker (2019-09-16). Fukushima's Radioactive Water Crisis. dissidentvoice.org Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which experienced three massive meltdowns in 2011, is running out of room to store radioactive water. No surprise! But now, what to do about phosphorescent water? Addressing the issue, Japan's environmental minister Yoshiaki Harada held a news conference (September 2019). Unfortunately, he proffered the following advice: "The …

Aaron Maté (2019-09-15). Outing of CIA's Kremlin mole echoes Iraq WMD hoax. thegrayzone.com The outing of a CIA informant inside of the Kremlin raises new questions about the Russia investigation and the intelligence…

Ricardo Vaz (2019-09-12). Venezuela Oil Production Continues Decline as China Cancels More Shipments. venezuelanalysis.com Russian oil giant Rosneft blasted threats of US sanctions as "unfair competition."

Eva Bartlett (2019-09-12). MintPress Sits Down with Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova. mintpressnews.com Ian Gamble (2019-09-02). US conducts ground launch cruise missile test. liberationnews.org On Aug. 18, less than three weeks after scrapping the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, the U.S. launched a ballistic cruise missile from San Nicholas Island, CA.

Peace Action (2019-06-25). Peace Action Endorses Ilhan Omar for Congress. peaceaction.org Washington, DC — June 25, 2019 — Peace Action has announced its endorsement of Ilhan Omar for Congress in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District. Peace Action is a national grassroots organization working to advance nuclear disarmament, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights, and support nonmilitary …

Peace Action (2019-06-24). Peace Action Endorses Kara Eastman for Congress. peaceaction.org Washington, DC — June 24, 2019 — Peace Action has announced its endorsement of Kara Eastman for Congress in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Peace Action is a national grassroots organization working to advance nuclear disarmament, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights, and support nonmilitary …

Peace Action (2019-06-17). Peace Action Endorses Ayanna Pressley for Congress. peaceaction.org Washington, DC — June 17, 2019 — Peace Action, the nation's largest grassroots peace organization, and its affiliate Massachusetts Peace Action, endorsed Ayanna Pressley for Massachusetts' 7th district. Peace Action is a national grassroots organization working to advance nuclear disarmament, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and …