2020-11-01: News Headlines

Robert Hunziker (2020-11-01). Dumping Fukushima's Water into the Ocean. counterpunch.org For nearly a decade the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has been streaming radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. As it happens, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co.) struggles to control it. Yet, the bulk of the radioactive water is stored in more than 1,000 water tanks. Assuredly, Japan's government has made an informal decision

Aaron Maté (2020-10-31). Remembering Stephen F. Cohen: Katrina vanden Heuvel on life and love with eminent Russia scholar. thegrayzone.com Katrina vanden Heuvel on the life and legacy of her late husband Stephen F. Cohen, the eminent historian who shaped the field of Russia studies and bravely challenged the New Cold War. Stephen F. Cohen, the eminent historian who helped shape the field of Russia studies and bravely exposed the fallacies and dangers of Russiagate and the new Cold War, passed away on September 18, 2020 at the age of 81. Cohen's wife, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher …

WSWS (2020-10-31). Spanish police make ludicrous claim Russia plotted to invade Catalonia. wsws.org Spain's paramilitary police also made basesless allegations that WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange was party to a plot involving 10,000 Russian troops attacking Spain.

Binoy Kampmark (2020-10-31). Cultivated Lunacy, Nuclear Deterrence and Banning the Nuke. zcomm.org In looking at the debates on nuclear weapons, one tension remains ineradicable. Those who do not possess such weapons, nor put their stake in their murderously reassuring properties, have little interest in seeing them kept…

Robert Hunziker (2020-10-31). Dumping Fukushima's Water into the Ocean… Seriously? dissidentvoice.org (Reuters) For nearly a decade the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has been streaming radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. As it happens, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co.) struggles to control it. Yet, the bulk of the radioactive water is stored in more than 1,000 water tanks. Assuredly, Japan's government has made an informal …

Finian Cunningham (2020-10-31). The Threat of Peace… Why America Needs War With Russia and How To Stop It. thealtworld.com In an interview for Strategic Culture Foundation, veteran activist and author Ron Ridenour shares his insights on the prospects of war and peace |

H. Patricia Hynes (2020-10-31). The David and Goliath in Our Time. commondreams.org We have never been so close to nuclear annihilation, in the opinion of many nuclear weapons experts, as today. | www.flickr.com/photos/30835738@N03/34921916204/in/album-72157683139988823/

Robert Koehler (2020-10-31). The parallel universe of peace. zcomm.org The guy who could start a nuclear war has, in his own mind, already dehumanized a huge percentage of the world's population. Doing so makes it so much easier to kill them when necessary…

Manlio Dinucci (2020-10-31). Manlio Dinucci: "Il pericolo per l'umanità viene dalle armi nucleari non dal covid" globalresearch.ca Manlio Dinucci, giornalista del comitato "no guerra no Nato", spiega i reali pericoli che incombono oggi sul pianeta. …

Dave Lindorff (2020-10-30). Effective January 1, 2021 Nuclear Weapons Will Be Illegal. zcomm.org The task, going forward, is to use the new UN treaty banning these weapons to pressure the nations of the world to eliminate them for good…

Virginia Rodino (2020-10-30). Why I'm Voting Green in 2020. globalresearch.ca Author's note: Kevin and I worked on this article together right before his untimely passing on September 6. I met Kevin during Ralph Nader's 2004 presidential campaign. Throughout the years since, I appreciated seeing his anti-imperialist and eco-socialist arguments strengthen …

Stephen Lendman (2020-10-30). Will Trump Surprise Pollsters and Hostile Media by Defeating Biden? globalresearch.ca The NYT is notably unrelenting in pushing fake news of Russian US election meddling to help Biden defeat Trump. | Despite claiming otherwise, the US intelligence community has no evidence suggesting foreign interference in the US election process this year or …

RT (2020-10-30). As Covid-19 cases continue to sharply rise in Russia, Kremlin admits country has a shortage of doctors & calls for pay rises. rt.com Russia hasn't got enough doctors and paying them more should be a priority. That's according to Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, who said medics are working in "extreme conditions" during the Covid-19 pandemic. | When asked about doctors' wages, during a Friday press call, Peskov highlighted that Russia's regions have been given extra money to fight the coronavirus, and that they should use some of that to attract better specialists. According to Moscow-based newspaper Kommersant, a journalist had noted that richer areas of the country are luring higher-qualified doctors away from poorer lo…

WSWS (2020-10-30). Casualties mount in Armenian-Azeri war as US-brokered ceasefire collapses. wsws.org The danger is growing that the war between the two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus could escalate into a war involving Russia, Iran, and the NATO powers.

Kester Kenn Klomegah (2020-10-30). Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS), New Momentum in the Development of Trade and Investment. globalresearch.ca On October 28, the BRICS Business Council (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) during the forum reviewed its joint work for the previous years, discussed at length current business issues and, in particular tried to choose a path for …

John Krzyzaniak (2020-10-30). The Nuclear Ban Treaty Is Set to Enter Force. Experts Explain What Comes Next. globalresearch.ca Seventy-five years after their destructive power was first unleashed, nuclear weapons are about to be officially and explicitly prohibited by international law. For the average person, it may come as a surprise to know that nuclear weapons, dreadful as they …

_____ (2020-10-30). Western Sanctions a Failure of Diplomacy — What Lies Beneath. strategic-culture.org Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) once remarked that "assassination is the extreme form of censorship". The satirist might add that so too are "sanctions" as a form of censorship. | Hardly a week goes by, it seems, when there is not some new round of sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its allies in the European Union. This debased ritual has been going on for six years since the Western powers backed a violent coup d'état in Ukraine in 2014, and yet they have continued to blame Russia for that conflict. | In addition to ironical allegations about Russia interfering in Ukraine, oth…

_____ (2020-10-30). America's Still Strangelovian Schemes To 'Win' Nuclear Wars. popularresistance.org A full 56 years after Peter Sellers roasted America's nuclear absurdity in Stanley Kubrick's dark comedy classic Dr. Strangelove, Pentagon planners remain dedicated to delusions. That old Pete's three-role — in three nationalities — performative evisceration of the fantasy that nuclear wars can be won didn't stick raises serious questions about human nature, and our species's survival prospects. Don't take my word for it: just six years ago Eric Schlosser, author of Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, penned a piece in the New Yorker titled…

RT (2020-10-29). Russia's regional Covid crisis: Health Ministry investigates after two patients with serious lung damage left without hospital bed. rt.com Healthcare in the Siberian city of Omsk is under the microscope after ambulances carrying seriously ill patients were turned away by hospitals due to a lack of beds. The Russian Health Ministry has launched an investigation. | On Tuesday evening, two ambulances with elderly patients were driven around the city of Omsk for several hours, as multiple hospitals told them that no beds were available. The patients, aged 70 and 85, had suspected cases of Covid-19. After a few hours, the ventilation machines in the ambulances began to run out of oxygen, and the lives of the two patients were threatened. After that, t…

MEE staff (2020-10-29). Turkey faces 'real' risk of sanctions for testing Russian S-400 missile system: US. middleeasteye.net Turkey faces 'real' risk of sanctions for testing Russian S-400 missile system: US | Turkey confirmed the first test of the S-400 earlier this month, despite repeated warnings from the United States | Thu, 10/29/2020 – 14: 49 | Following the delivery of the first battery of missiles last year, Turkey was excluded from an F-35 fighter jet training programme (AFP/File photo) | A US State Department official has…

Gordon Duff (2020-10-29). Intel Drop with The Greenwald issue. thealtworld.com A few things to add… | The Greenwald issue, he has taken to twitter to establish himself as 'wronged' but those of us who carry the water for the journalistic world, those who point at Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Kosher Nostra (Trump's gang) as 9/11 perpetrators…who publish the hard evidence of nuclear attacks…don't appreciate those like Greenwald very much. | You can't say "Israeli did it" without crediting Giuliani. You can't say "Rudy" without saying "Donald." | Trump's silence on 9/11 has been deafening. | Is the great reset coming? You will know when Trump flees to Ukraine. | As for Greenwald, we woul…

Mehr News Agency (2020-10-29). Iranian, Russian deputy FMs discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Oct. 29 (MNA) — Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Ryabkov met and held talks in Moscow on Thursday.

Dave DeCamp (2020-10-29). Putin Offers NATO Inspections to Prevent Deployment of INF-Banned Missiles. globalresearch.ca On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin The INF was signed between the US and the Soviet …

WSWS (2020-10-29). Russian government issues mask mandate, opposes shutdown as COVID cases spike. wsws.org With coronavirus cases far outpacing their May peak, outbreaks are hitting medical facilities and cultural institutions across the country.

Carla Stea (2020-10-29). China: "Nuclear 'Sword of Damocles' Jeopardizes the Survival of Humanity". Entry In Force of Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. globalresearch.ca Background: An Auspicious October | October 2, 2020: United Nations High Level Meeting Commemorating and Promoting the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons: This Meeting Was Boycotted by United Kingdom, United States and France, AGAIN! | For many years …

Matt Taibbi (2020-10-28). Ten Ways to Call Something "Russian Disinformation" Without Evidence. globalresearch.ca How do you call something "Russian disinformation" when you don't have evidence it is? Let's count the ways. | We don't know a whole lot about how the New York Post story about Hunter Biden got into print. There are some …

Stephen Lendman (2020-10-28). US versus Russia in Syria. "A Fake 'Revolution' Using Islamic Gangs" globalresearch.ca At the request of Syria's government in September 2015, Russia intervened in the country to combat ISIS and other US/NATO/Israeli-backed jihadists. | Moscow's freedom-fighting operations turned the tide of battle, enabling Syrian forces to liberate most parts of the country. | Most …

Bruce Lerro (2020-10-28). "Dictatorship" and "Democracy" as Loaded Language: Anti-Communist Cold-War Propaganda. dissidentvoice.org ORIENTATION In my last article I showed how the word "totalitarian" was used as a loaded vice word to attack the Soviet Union after World War II and to red-bait communists around the world. The use of the word totalitarian began in the 1930s, but even before then in the 1920's, the word "dictator" began …

RT (2020-10-28). Keep your cash in the country: New law means Russia's most important officials will be banned from having foreign bank accounts. rt.com Members of Russia's Security Council will be forbidden from keeping their money and valuables in banks outside of Russia, after the country's parliament passed a law restricting financial freedoms for the most powerful officials. | The bill, which passed through parliament on Tuesday, will bring the law in line with the new constitutional reforms. In July, Russian voters approved a wide-ranging package of amendments to the constitution, including a restriction on high-level officials having foreign citizenship or residency. | Once signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, members of the Security Council will…

_____ (2020-10-28). The Significance Of The Nuclear Ban Treaty. popularresistance.org The NPT has been lived up to to a surprising extent by the non-nuclear powers. It is amazing that more countries have not gone the nuclear path. The world is fortunate that more haven't made that leap at a time when, according to El Baradei, at least 40 countries have the technological capability of doing so. The ones who are guilty of violating it are the five original signatories—the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, and France. They have completely ignored Article 6, which requires the nations possessing nuclear arsenals to reduce and eliminate those arsenals.

Finian Cunningham (2020-10-28). Russian Blitz in Syria Warns Turkey to Back Off in Caucasus. thealtworld.com For Russia and Syria to launch such a pulverizing blitz against an important Turkish asset can only be seen as an emphatic warning to Ankara. | In an unprecedented show of strength, Russian warplanes this week reportedly launched devastating attacks on a Turkish-backed militant stronghold in northern Syria, Th…