In the early 1960s, at the height of America’s original Cold War with the Soviet Union, my old service branch, the Air Force, sought to build 10,000 land-based nuclear missiles. These were intended to augment the hundreds of nuclear bombers it already had, like the B-52s featured so memorably in the movie Dr. Strangelove. Predictably, massive future overkill was justified in[Read More...]
A report issued by the British-based international aid agency Oxfam last week has highlighted the rapid escalation of economic and social inequality in the Asia-Pacific region during the COVID-19 pandemic, documenting how a handful of the ultra-wealthy have directly benefited from the suffering of millions. The investigation found that 20 new “pandemic billionaires” had been created over the past two[Read More...]
The global charity Oxfam released a briefing on Monday entitled “Inequality Kills” in advance of the World Economic Forum State of the World conference being held virtually January 17-21. In focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, the document paints a devastating picture of the world capitalist order. It shows that the unprecedented accumulation of wealth by the world’s billionaire elite is[Read More...]
External interference in Afghanistan has reappeared much sooner than one would have expected after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August. In a familiar pattern, the rumour mill has become active. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova hit out today at the rumours being planted by American sources insinuating that Moscow is supplying arms to the so-called National Resistance Front of[Read More...]
Australia’s treatment of Novak Djokovic, the tennis world number one, has been revelatory. Unintentionally, this has exposed the seedier, arbitrary and inconsistent nature of Australia’s border policies. The approval by the Australian Federal Court of the Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to re-cancel the prominent Serb’s visa left the country a heaving precedent that will be invoked, in future, with[Read More...]
Throughout 2021, Americans were absorbed in arguments over mask mandates, school closings, and the meaning of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Meanwhile, geopolitical hot spots were erupting across Eurasia, forming a veritable ring of fire around that vast land mass. Let’s circle that continent to visit just a few of those flashpoints, each one suffused with significance for[Read More...]
by Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant Is it not shocking that after more than two years into the pandemic (when we know how to protect ourselves from getting infected, and have had vaccines for more than a year now), by far the highest-ever number of corona virus infections in a single week were reported in the second week of January[Read More...]
On 14 January, a breaking news story from the New York Times informed its readers: “U.S. Says Russia Sent Saboteurs Into Ukraine to Create Pretext for Invasion.” Unsurprisingly, Washington “did not release details of the evidence it had collected.” Why did the NYT not question the withholding of evidence? Why even deign to report what so easily could be dismissed,[Read More...]
The US and its allies are countering the re-emergence of China with a Sinophobic confection of new alliances, military threats, jingoism and false propaganda about a falsely claimed Uyghur Genocide in Xinjiang. However excellent health, infant mortality, maternal mortality, population growth and education outcomes in Xinjiang reported by China and confirmed by respected NGOs contradict Sinophobic US, UK and Australian[Read More...]
The short expiration dates of vaccines donated to the sharing program is a major problem, Etleva Kadilli, an official concerned with the issue told the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday. The official heads the Supply Division of UNICEF, the UN’s agency for the betterment of children’s lives worldwide. “Until we have a better shelf life, this is going to be[Read More...]
