Birth of the Digital Oligarchy: The Trump Ban and the Social Media Ruse

BIG TECH RULE

Raul Diego

MintPress News | January 15, 2021

On January 6, as the events unfolding at the U.S. Capitol were discussed on Twitter, the barrage of opinions predictably accumulated on one side of the political spectrum. Outrage over what mainstream pundits characterized as the desecration of the symbols of democracy and similar bleeding heart liberal rhetoric was far more prevalent than the opposing camp’s tendency to side with the so-called “insurrectionists” or tweets in support of the made-for-social media putsch.

A Record of Hawkish Intervention: Biden Picks Samantha Power to Head USAID

BIDEN’S IMPERIALIST POLICY 

Alan Macleod

MintPress News | January 13, 2021

President-elect Joe Biden has selected longtime Democratic insider Samantha Power to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “There is simply no one better to ensure our development agenda is a core pillar of our foreign policy,” the 78-year-old Delawarean said in a video statement, claiming that, under previous Democratic administrations Power, “fought tirelessly to prioritize human rights.”

What ‘Democracy’ Is Under Attack? Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

U.S. DEMOCRACY 

Caitlin Johnstone

The most imminent threat to US democracy is not Russia, nor fascist insurrectionists, but the fact that US democracy is entirely fictional.  Saying US democracy is being threatened is like saying Grinches are a critically endangered species.

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The previous president intervened in the primary to appoint his right-hand man as his chosen successor. That successor will be installed in a five-day, star-studded celebration surrounded by a sea of barbed wire and heavily armed soldiers. What “democracy” is under attack, exactly?

Jan. 6 Was An Inside Job

U.S. CAPITOL PROTEST

Abby Martin & Mike Prysner

The American Brumaire

U.S. FIASCO 

Francis Lee

Striking miners and their families assembled in front of their tent city, in Ludlow, Colorado, 1914. The massacre was one of many during the “labor wars” in the US, a nation with a ruthless and sanguinary oligarchy. Workers did not win their rights to a better life in America any easier than in other countries around the world.

During the late nineteenth century, the United States was the world’s most advanced capitalist country. According to orthodox (and I emphasise orthodox) Marxist theory this should have resulted in the rise of socialist movements. The development of capitalism and its internal contradictions was considered to eventually produce the situation and means that will bring about the termination of the capitalist order and establishment of socialism. Why, then, has there been no significant socialist movement in American history? Moreover, the defeat of proletarian revolutions in Central Europe (during the period 1919-1933) and the victory of fascism of the Mussolini and Hitler variety, thereafter, tended to repudiate the view that ‘advanced’ and ‘ objective’ political and economic conditions would bring about a destabilisation of capitalism according to traditional Marxist theory. Orthodox Marxists have been trying to get around this political conundrum for the last hundred years without much success. However, the same cannot be said of later versions of Marxism and its political impact elsewhere tell a different tale. See below – (1)

Bidenfreude: Covid-19 in Post-Trump U.S.

U.S. RULING CLASS

We’re glad Trump lost, but Biden’s win brings no joy. It’s time for real alternatives.

Rob Wallace

Climate and Capitalism | January 16, 2021

A jokester once characterized Yale University as a hedge fund with a campus attached to it. One might say something similar of the country in which Yale is based.

The United States is abandoning what recently deceased political scientist Leo Panitch described as its responsibilities in managing global capitalism for the bourgeoisie worldwide. With public health and other earmarks of the modern state abandoned within even its own borders, the U.S. seems now more a stock market with a country attached.

Biden Inaugural Guest is Venezuelan Coup Leader Charged with Inciting Violent Assault on Gov’t Building

U.S. IMPERIALISM

Anya Parampil

Greyzone | January 17, 2021

As Washington recovered from shock and outrage caused by pro-Trump hooligans storming the United States Congress – breaking windows, smashing doors, and intimidating police officers in order to push their way inside – a sense of pre-inaugural excitement began to sweep the nation’s capital. Who would be attending incoming President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, scheduled to take place exactly two weeks following the Capitol riot?

Venezuela Sends Oxygen Tanks To The Brazilian Amazonas State Amid COVID-19 Surge

VENEZUELA’S EFFORT AGAINST PANDEMIC IN LATIN AMERICA

Peoples Dispatch | January 15, 2021

Nicolás Maduro called for his government to send oxygen tanks to the Brazilian state of Amazonas amid the surge in COVID-19 cases and collapse of healthcare system. Photo: Twitter

At the request of President Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan government is sending tanks of oxygen to the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The information was confirmed by federal deputy for Amazonas, José Ricardo of the Workers’ Party, on social media. State Governor Wilson Lima also thanked the Venezuelan government on social media. The Brazilian foreign ministry meanwhile requested that the US government help transport oxygen tanks.

According to governor Wilson Lima, the consumption of oxygen increased around 130% from April 2020,the first peak that the disease had to January 13, 2021.

Soberana 02 Clinical Trials Expanded

CUBAN COVID-19 VACCINE

Nuria Barbosa León and Juan Diego Nusa Peñalver

Granma | January 19, 2021

Photo: José Manuel Correa

Expanded phase II B clinical trials of Cuba’s anti-COVID-19 candidate vaccine Soberana 02 with volunteers between 19 and 80 years of age, began at the 19 de Abril and No.1 Polyclinics, in the Havana municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución and La Lisa, respectively.

For the purpose of evaluating reactions, safety and immunogenicity of the candidate, created by the Finlay Vaccine Institute, volunteers will receive two doses of the drug, administered intramuscularly, and results will be compared to those from a placebo control group.

The Process of Creating the Alba Vaccine Bank Advances

SOCIALIST EFFORTS FOR COVID-19 VACCINES

Jeisnimar Nair Silva

UltimasNoticias | January 17, 2021

AFP photo

In order to serve the countries of the region that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) in the fight against covid-19, Venezuela together with Cuba have begun the process of creating a bank of vaccinations