Bogotá D.C., 27 de septiembre de 2023. Un carnaval se vivió en las calles de Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Riohacha, Quibdó, en las principales capitales del país, ciudades pequeñas y pueblos y veredas. ‘Nos movilizamos por la vida’ fue la oportunidad para que miles y miles de trabajadores, estudiantes, profesores, campesinos, mujeres, indígenas, afros, líderes […]
Los ruralistas aprobaron el miércoles de manera exprés el criterio del «marco temporal», que pone en riesgo el futuro de los territorios de los nativos y fue rechazado la semana pasada por los jueces de la máxima corte. Como era de esperar, el conservador Congreso de Brasil, dominado por una mayoría de terratenientes y ganaderos, aprobó una ley que […]
Social democrats and radical leftists, the supposed defenders of peace and the working class, have gone all-in cheering for the devastating war in Ukraine
By Denis Rogatyuk, a Russian-Australian journalist and writer based in Latin America, international director of El Ciudadano media platform, one of Chile’s largest independent media sources
After the breakout of the First World War, the Second International and the numerous socialist organizations affiliated with it across Western Europe threw their weight behind their governments’ new military adventurism and became completely oblivious to the suffering of their fellow man at the hands of their countries’ economic and political elites.
More than a century later, many of their modern-day counterparts have joined the chorus of Western governments, and their respective military-industrial complexes, in their proxy war hymn against Russia.
And some of them have gone as far as giving a standing ovation to a literal member of the Waffen-SS, Yaroslav Hunka, when he was presented as a “veteran who fought for Ukrainian independence against Russia during WWII” in the Canadian parliament.
It seems that even praising Nazis has become an acceptable part of the Western progressives’ discourse against all things Russian.
While many of the social democrats of the 1970s and 80s throughout Western Europe strongly opposed NATO’s expansionism and the presence of US military bases, the modern-day progressive and green parties go out of their way to roll out the red carpet for foreign soldiers on their soil.
The examples are numerous. There’s Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister from the Greens, who made headlines around the world for admitting that Germany is “fighting a war against Russia,” the former prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, who attended the funeral of a well-known neo-Nazi leader in Ukraine, Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, the first to pledge F-16 jets to Kiev, and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez, one of the first to promise Zelensky Leopard tanks.
In the United States, the Squad – a group of relatively young members of Congress elected in 2018 and 2022 on a progressive left-wing platform – was once considered something of an alternative to the Democratic Party establishment, but has equally fallen under the spell of the siren war song of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Except for criticism of the delivery of cluster munitions and depleted uranium shells and supporting Bernie Sanders’ proposal to cut military spending, the Squad has consistently voted in favor of progressivelybigger and bigger military aid packages to Kiev, while largely ignoring the threat posed by the various neo-Nazi armed groups in Kiev’s employ.
Even the trade unions, long considered the backbone of the anti-war movement, are not immune to the whims of the mass Russophobia and the warmongering spirit of the progressive and liberal leaders.
The British Trade Union Council’s resolution urging Rishi Sunak’s government to commit further arms deliveries and financial assistance to the regime in Kiev is a stab in the back for the Stop the War coalition and millions of British workers who view the cost-of-living crisis as far more important than the delivery of military aid to a government that has thrown the rights of its own workers back to the 19th century with the new law 5371.
Before the outbreak of WWI, one sole voice of reason against the coming mass slaughter was heard in the German Bundestag – that of the communist Karl Liebknecht.
Today that honor falls to Sahra Wagenknecht, the dissident left-wing deputy of the Die Linke party, who has consistently criticized the sanctions against Russia and the weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
In the UK, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has vehemently opposed any military support for the government in Ukraine, while also criticizing Russia’s actions.
In Ireland, the Irish Neutrality League has been established as a countermeasure to the attempt by the Fianna Fall-Fine Gael-Green coalition to train Ukrainian army units on Irish soil.
Across the Atlantic, the presidential candidate Cornel West has made the dissolution of NATO one of his campaign pledges, while blaming the military alliance for instigating the Ukraine conflict in the first place. Thankfully, there are still voices of common sense found among the Western left, although nowhere near enough to stem the tide of anti-Russian hysteria.
The greatest inspiration for the left ought to come from the left-wing governments of Latin America, both new and old. Presidents Lula Da Silva of Brazil, Gustavo Petro of Colombia, and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico have rejected the demands of the US to send military assistance to Kiev, have consistently opposed any talk of sanctions against Russia and, in the case of Lula, suggested that Ukraine should end its demands for the return of Crimea in exchange for a peace settlement.
The left-wing presidents of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua have been even more supportive of Russia’s position and strongly opposed to the US and NATO’s actions around the world.
What is to be done?
It is truly distressing to see how the alleged defenders of workers’ rights and supporters of world peace have turned into keyboard warriors engaged in live-action role play where they imagine themselves as heroes in their battle against “evil” Russia, with Ukraine as their vanguard.
Never mind that every week, hundreds (if not thousands) of young Ukrainians are snatched from their families, thrown into a quick training course and sent off to the frontlines, fighting and dying seemingly for the wishes of their country’s elite and the moral fulfillment of the Western virtue signalers.
Ironically, they have also consistently ignored the catastrophic damage to the environment and the acceleration of climate change as a result of their governments’ military adventurism.
Instead of making grandiose speeches demanding that their countries’ military warehouses be emptied in defense of one of the most corrupt regimes in Europe, there are more pressing causes that Western progressives should pursue.
Number one on the list is the escalating cost-of-living crisis, with spiraling energy and fuel prices, which could be mitigated through the nationalization of the biggest energy companies that have profited the most from the carnage in Ukraine.
There was once a time when millions of people would have protested at the mere thought of American planes and German tanks on the fields of battle in Europe. It seems that thousands more will have to die before the modern-day social democrats realize the error of their way, just as in the aftermath of WWI.
Tribal fighters attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor on September 25, confirming that the Arab armed uprising against the Kurdish-led group which began last month is still ongoing.
The attack targeted the key town of Diban, which is located on the western bank of the Euphrates River in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside.
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Hafel, a prominent figure of the influential Al Uqaydat tribe who rose to become the leader of the Arab armed uprising in Deir Ezzor, announced the beginning of the attack in a voice message that was shared on social media, calling for a “popular mobilization” against the SDF.
In the first few hours of the attacks, tribal fighters managed to enter Diban and nearby areas after capturing several checkpoints and positions of the SDF.
The group alleged in an initial statement that the attack was launched from the government-held eastern Euphrates bank and that tribal fighters received artillery support from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). These claims were backed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based pro-opposition monitoring group.
September 10, 2023 A message written to a trusted campaigning friend, who is struggling to accept that what is happening is intentional. It is indeed a big step to […]
A message written to a trusted campaigning friend, who is struggling to accept that what is happening is intentional.
It is indeed a big step to go from legitimate criticism of allegedly incompetent politicians and industrialists to putting the pieces together in such a way that they can only point to intentionality. See what you think.
***
Dear X,
I find it impossible to try to put all the information together in such a way that the whole thing could even be benign or at least not entirely malignant.
That’s because, as I’m sure you’ve heard me say, I believe it’s evil!
I also had difficulty with it early on, with the argument “they must have known this!?”, etc. Once I allowed the possibility that all the bad things were intentional, I found everything else fell into place. Of course, that alone doesn’t prove it was intentional.
Some early indications of deliberateness are the coordinated responses of dozens of governments to the alleged pandemic: lockdowns, masking, mass testing of the source, the misapplication of PCR-based techniques to bulk testing of clinical samples, selective closures of businesses and schools, border restrictions, etc.
Torture whistleblower Craig John Murray speaks and leads a discussion on the defense of Julian Assange, the importance of independent journalism and our key freedom of press/speech.
Mr. Murray speaks not only politically and ideologically about the Assange case and its ramifications for maintaining freedom and democracy but with the passion of his personal friendship with Julian Assange and the Assange family.
Murray is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat. After “9-11 changed everything” (exactly 22 years ago this date!) and while Murray was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, he exposed extremely serious violations of human rights taking place in that country.
Transcript To access the word for word transcript click on the 3 dots to the right of the Share choice on YouTube and select transcript from the menu.
The bloc claims to have ‘objectively evaluated’ social media platforms using secret ‘proprietary metrics‘
X (formerly Twitter) has the worst ratio of disinformation and misinformation to fact-based content of all major social media platforms, the EU’s values and transparency commissioner Vera Jourova claimed in a speech on Tuesday.
The platform’s level of factual content was supposedly measured using a set of newly created metrics devised by signatories to the EU’s Code of Practice on Disinformation, which X abandoned in May due to differences of opinion on the subject of censorship between the bloc and then-CEO Elon Musk.
“Disinformation actors” also had significantly more followers than their non-disinformation counterparts and had joined the platform more recently, according to Jourova, who admitted the methodology was in a “pilot phase” running in just three EU member states. She shared no further details about how the results were calculated or how disinformation was distinguished from fact-based content.
Jourova warned “very large platforms” – a category that includes X – that they must prioritize information control ahead of upcoming EU elections, reminding them that the Digital Services Act, the EU’s far-reaching internet content moderation legislation, had made aspects of the Code of Practice legally binding starting last month even for platforms that have not voluntarily opted in.
The DSA requires that these platforms implement “reasonable, proportionate, and effective mitigation measures” to manage risks identified by the European Commission and devise reporting and mitigation plans subject to audit and oversight by the Commission.
Jourova declared, “The Russian state has engaged in the war of ideas to pollute our information space with half-truth and lies to create a false image that democracy is no better than autocracy,” demanding social media behemoths step up their participation in the EU’s crusade against Moscow.
NewsGuard, Microsoft’s Pentagon-sponsored disinformation watchdog, also claimed in a report on Tuesday that Musk’s decision to remove the state-backed media labels on accounts affiliated with governments considered unfriendly to the US led to an explosion in disinformation and other nefarious influence operations by those accounts.
Russian, Chinese, and Iranian English-language news media accounts saw a 70% increase in engagement in the 90 days following the removal of the labels, according to the report, which acknowledged that the state-backed media label had suppressed those accounts’ content from search results and warned users who attempted to share it that they were spreading propaganda.
Brussels warned following Musk’s purchase of the company that X would have “huge work” ahead of it to comply with the DSA, insisting the platform then known as Twitter was not “living up to their commitments” to remove so-called hate speech. However, according to a report by the technology publication Rest of World, compliance with government content removal requests has increased significantly under Musk, from 50% before he bought the company to 80% in April.
27 Sep, 2023 09:16
RT surges after X (aka Twitter) removes censorship – ‘disinformation’ lobbyistNewsGuard
NewsGuard has accused Elon Musk of “pushing propaganda” after buying the platform
NewsGuard, a self-proclaimed disinformation watchdog, has lamented the rise in popularity of RT and 11 other news outlets after Elon Musk relaxed censorship on X (formerly Twitter).
Among 12 media accounts analyzed, RT experienced the highest engagement growth in the 90 days following Musk’s decision in April to remove ‘government-funded’ and ‘state-affiliated’ labels from certain outlets, NewsGuard said on Tuesday. The number of ‘likes’ and reposts for RT’s account increased to 2.5 million in the period studied, up from 1.3 million.
The analysis focused on Chinese, Iranian, and Russian media outlets, which NewsGuard branded “state-run disinformation sources” and purveyors of “propaganda.”
NewsGuard cited political memes posted by Iranian news accounts as purported examples of disinformation.
Another instance was supposedly a link shared by Iran’s PressTV to an article on remarks made by US presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who argued that Americans “created” the Islamic State terrorist group.
Kennedy made the claim during an election rally in Boston, where he accused Washington of decades of misguided foreign policy. Iran is condemned for ‘misinformation’ for reporting the public words of a US Presidential candidate.
The self-described disinformation watchdog advocates imposing strict moderation on online platforms to protect users from supposed foreign influence. NewsGuard’s rating of news outlets generally labels mainstream Western media as trustworthy, while outlets linked with governments opposed by the US are branded deceitful.
Among NewsGuard’s advisers is Michael Hayden, a former head of the CIA and the NSA. He was notably one of the more than 50 former intelligence officials who claimed in 2020 that the factual New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Others include former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former US Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, and former US Under Secretary of State Richard Stengel. .
The latter stated publicly that his job in the Obama administration was jokingly described as “chief propagandist” by others.
The Pentagon and Microsoft have contracted NewsGuard services.
The report heavily implied that the lack of X labels for the likes of RT was to blame for the rise in engagements, as it is now “impossible for users to know whether an account is government-affiliated” simply by looking at posts.
NewsGuard claimed that the 12 accounts in question are attempting to conceal their associations, such as when RT rebranded from its previous name Russia Today. The report described the move as taking place “several years ago,”although the rebranding was implemented in 2009.
Musk, who formally stepped down as CEO of X (then Twitter) in June, ordered the ‘government-funded’ and ‘state-affiliated’ labels to be removed amid a row with America’s NPR, which exited the platform after being branded. Around the same time, X ended its ‘shadow-ban’ on RT and others, lifting a restriction imposed under the previous executive leadership.
The subsequent publication of the ‘Twitter Files’ has detailed extensive US government oversight and pressure on the social media company to amplify Pentagon talking points over dissenting voices.
NewsGuard conceded that Musk’s move to end restrictions on X, which it described as “pushing” undesirable accounts, may have benefited them.
In August, NATO’s Strategic Communications Center of Excellence blamed Musk for a “dramatic rise” in the visibility of Russian government and media accounts.
The Free 