(2021-03-12). Syria war: Average of one child injured or killed every eight hours over past 10 years – UNICEF. news.un.org The grim ten-year anniversary of the war in Syria has left 90 percent of the country's children in need of help, as a triple crisis of violence, economic misery and the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed families to the brink of despair, UNICEF reported on Friday.
(2021-03-12). FROM THE FIELD: Syria statistics tell tragic tale of decade-long conflict. news.un.org Ten numbers for each year of Syria's seemingly interminable conflict: the UN's Humanitarian agency (OCHA) has marked this tragic milestone by highlighting in figures the country's miserable decade of suffering and loss.
(2021-03-12). US says Syria's Assad has 'done nothing' to restore legitimacy. middleeasteye.net 
US says Syria's Assad has 'done nothing' to restore legitimacy | Biden administration has no plans to normalise relations 'anytime soon' as Syrian government flouts accountability, State Department says | Fri, 03/12/2021 – 16: 30 | State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters the US will continue to promote a political settlement to end the conflict in Syria (AFP/File photo) | The United States has n…
(2021-03-12). Israeli press review: Netanyahu calls on supporters to protest against attorney general. middleeasteye.net 
Israeli press review: Netanyahu calls on supporters to protest against attorney general | Former Mossad chief said Iran was different from Syria and Iraq, and war with 'a single bomb' will not draw a line on Tehran's nuclear ambitions | Fri, 03/12/2021 – 15: 39 | People walk past an electoral billboard for Israel's Likud party bearing a portrait of its leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, 12 M…
(2021-03-12). European Parliament calls for repatriation of children from Syrian camps. middleeasteye.net 
European Parliament calls for repatriation of children from Syrian camps | Resolution marking 10 years of the conflict also dismisses forthcoming presidential election in Syria as 'completely lacking in credibility' | Fri, 03/12/2021 – 11: 27 | A girl stands in the rain at the Roj camp in northeastern Syria on 4 March (AFP) | The European Parliament has called for the repatriation of children from Eur…
(2021-03-12). Israel has reportedly targeted a dozen ships carrying Iranian oil. middleeasteye.net 
Israel has reportedly targeted a dozen ships carrying Iranian oil | Attacks potentially signal the opening of a new front in the conflict between rivals Iran and Israel | Fri, 03/12/2021 – 14: 00 | Israel recently blamed Iran for an explosion that struck an Israeli-owned ship, the MV Helios Ray, an accusation that Iran rejected (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP) | Israel has struck at least a dozen boats heading to Syria o…
(2021-03-12). US says Syria's Assad has yet to restore his legitimacy. yenisafak.com The US said Thursday that Syria's Bashar al-Assad has not done anything to restore his legitimacy and rejected restoring ties with his government "anytime soon.""Syria is a humanitarian catastrophe. The Syrian people have suffered for far too long under the brutal rule of Bashar al-Assad," State Department Spokesman Ned Price told reporters.Price said Assad remains in power despite a decade of civil war that has devastated the country and urged the Syrian government to "change its behavior.""He has been at the center of the suffering of the Syrian people. We continue to believe that we need to find a durable poli…
(2021-03-12). UN says pursuit of justice should step up in Syria. yenisafak.com Repeated attempts to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court have stalled, but it is vital that national courts continue to conduct fair, public and transparent trials, the UN human rights chief said Thursday.In a report to the UN Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet said that trials for serious crimes should be complemented by initiatives that further realize victims' rights.These included the "rights to truth and reparation."Bachelet noted that Syria is about to enter its 11th year of violence and conflict, and the pursuit of truth, justice, and reparations for victims must not only continue but be s…
(2021-03-12). US Bombing in Syria Illegal; Biden Should Rejoin Iran Agreement Now. zcomm.org The bombing of Syria was a violation of U.S. and International law. It was the U.S. that violated the nuclear deal with Iran and Biden should rejoin the agreement without new conditions…
(2021-03-12). Roaming Charges: Fear of a Black Prince. counterpunch.org 
The ravages of COVID and the narrow victories in the elections gave the Democrats a once in a generation chance to do something big without having to barter for the votes of grifter Republicans. Instead, the Democrats ended up negotiating amongst themselves in a strange dance of downward harmonization, where every intra-party compromise resulted in those who needed the most relief ending up with less and less. In the end, Biden, Schumer and Pelosi settled for a hefty spending package (bigger than most but similar in kind to past bills) that doled out $1.9 trillion across the political spectrum, but did little or…
(2021-03-12). Salt of the Earth Labor College spotlights border militarization and death. peoplesworld.org 
TUCSON, Ariz.—For decades, the U.S.-Mexico border areas have experienced increased militarization, a surge in deportations, and an ever-more brutal border patrol. The Trump administration's policies of separating families, building walls, and racist demonizing of migrants made the situation even worse—and then came the pandemic. Some hope the Biden administration will ease things somewhat, but change is slow …
(2021-03-12). Yemen: Sanaa migrant centre fire survivors grieve as death toll mounts. middleeasteye.net 
Yemen: Sanaa migrant centre fire survivors grieve as death toll mounts | New footage shows scores of charred bodies inside overcrowded hangar detaining mostly Ethiopian migrants, as Houthis and IOM trade blame | Fri, 03/12/2021 – 11: 23 | Ethiopians and other nationals wait in Djibouti as they prepare to be smuggled to Saudi Arabia from Yemen in December 2010 (AFP) | It was just after m…
(2021-03-12). Free Khalida Jarrar! workers.org 
In advance of International Women's Day on March 8, Israel sentenced one of Palestine's most prominent women to two years in prison, in a military court wherein no evidence could be presented against her except her affiliation with an outlawed political organization. Khalida Jarrar, a senior leader in the Popular . . . |
(2021-03-12). Elections under Fire: Palestine's Impossible Democracy Dilemma. dissidentvoice.org 
Many Palestinian intellectuals and political analysts find themselves in the unenviable position of having to declare a stance on whether they support or reject upcoming Palestinian elections which are scheduled for May 22 and July 30. But there are no easy answers. The long-awaited decree by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last January to hold …
(2021-03-12). The ICC and Israel's Charge of Anti-Semitism. counterpunch.org 
We are at a critical historical juncture in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to criticize Israel without being branded an anti-Semite. You are an anti-Semite if you support the International Criminal Court's recent ruling that it has jurisdiction to open a war crimes investigation against Israel. But you are also likely to be called an anti-Semite if you reject the logic informing the court's decision.
(2021-03-12). Ecuadorian Indigenous Leader: "We must get out of the Correaism-Anticorreism polarization" mronline.org 
MR Online
(2021-03-12). Neoliberalism was born in Chile; Neoliberalism will die in Chile. mronline.org 
MR Online
(2021-03-12). Letters From Minsk: Leaving Home. counterpunch.org 
This is the first in a series about train and bicycle rides from Switzerland to Belarus, in those carefree days before pandemic lockdowns. Tired Tires Before boarding the train to Minsk, I first had to fix a flat tire on my Brompton bicycle. Mercifully, it lost its air just before I left home, although it
(2021-03-12). Data confirms what we already knew: Pandemic hit people of color harder. peoplesworld.org 
NEW YORK (AP)—A year ago, Elvia Banuelos' life was looking up. The 39-year-old mother of two young children said she felt confident about a new management-level job with the U.S. Census Bureau—she would earn money to supplement the child support she receives to keep her children healthy, happy, and in daycare. But when the coronavirus …
(2021-03-12). Do Organists Dream of Electric Sheep? counterpunch.org 
In his encyclopedic cinderblock of a book Musurgia Universalis of 1650, the German polymath Athanasius Kircher imagined God as an organist pulling out a new stop on each new day of Creation and playing the world's beings into life. Kircher didn't mention any Pandemic Pipes in his World Organ, but they have been sounding for
(2021-03-12). San Francisco: $5/hour COVID hazard pay for grocery, pharmacy workers. peoplesworld.org 
San Francisco this week joined the growing number of Bay Area cities mandating hazard pay for grocery workers, when its Board of Supervisors on March 9 unanimously passed an emergency ordinance requiring large grocers and pharmacies to pay their workers an additional $5 per hour during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city had earlier urged, but …
(2021-03-12). Cuba's reforms raise public sector salaries, broaden self-employment options. peoplesworld.org 
Starting in January 2021, Cuba began to implement broad economic reforms designed to increase production and exports in an effort to mitigate the effects of the U.S. blockade and the coronavirus pandemic. The following article, republished from the Turkish media site Sol ("The Left"), analyzes the first month of the reforms and their impact on …
(2021-03-12). No Matter How Bad, COVID Makes It Worse. counterpunch.org 
It's disquieting to see profit-incentivized entities turn into major vaccination hubs—many people now routinely go to drug stores to get their flu shots. Until such time as the American government catches up with the rest of the world–and creates the public health care system we so desperately need—it looks as if the large pharmacy chains will remain central to the patchwork, makeshift future of pandemic response
(2021-03-12). Unless the Power of the People Asserts Itself. counterpunch.org 
The COVID-19 pandemic and recession and the political realignment in Washington after the defeat of the malignant fascist Trump and the two former Republican Senators in Georgia have opened the door for some welcome federal action. Among the improvements: the newly serious and aggressive federal response to the deadly virus and the passage of a
(2021-03-12). Saudi Arabia's King Salman sacks pilgrimage minister. middleeasteye.net 
Saudi Arabia's King Salman sacks pilgrimage minister | The kingdom has suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic from a lack of income from pilgrims | Fri, 03/12/2021 – 14: 30 | Handout from the Saudi Press Agency on 15 December 2020 shows Saudi Arabia's King Salman signing the 2021 state budget following a virtual cabinet meeting in the capital Riyadh (AFP) | Sauid Arabia's minister overseein…
(2021-03-12). NY House speaker launches impeachment probe into Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations & Covid nursing home cover-up. rt.com 
The New York State Assembly has given the nod to an impeachment investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo, who faces a litany of sexual harassment charges from several accusers and intense criticism of his pandemic response. | Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie authorized a Judiciary Committee to probe the allegations on Thursday, tapping fellow Democrat Assemblyman Charles Lavine to spearhead the investigation. | "The reports of accusations concerning the governor are serious. The committee will have the authority to interview witnesses, subpoena documents and evaluate evidence, as is allowed by the New…
(2021-03-12). Biden says all American adults will be eligible for vaccination by May 1, says rollout 'months ahead of schedule'. rt.com 
President Joe Biden has said he ordered states to remove vaccine eligibility criteria by May 1. He noted, however, that the measure would allow Americans only to "get in line" for the shot, not to take it immediately. | The announcement came during a national address on Thursday night, in which Biden marked the first anniversary of pandemic-related shutdowns across the US and updated the various ways his administration had tackled the health crisis, including an upcoming directive to states to slash their eligibility requirements. | "Tonight, I'm announcing that I will direct all states, tribes and territories…
(2021-03-12). Russia Offers Europe Win-Win Vaccine Solution. strategic-culture.org 
The Sputnik V vaccine potentially fills the supply gaps that the EU is encumbered with. Immediately. | It is now one year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic from the novel coronavirus and its accompanying Covid-19 disease. Worldwide, the death toll stands at 2.6 million and continues to rise. | The arrival of effective vaccines has offered new hope that the deadly virus can be eradicated. Sputnik V, the Russian manufactured vaccine, was the first to be registered anywhere in the world as of August last year and has since been proven by large-scale trials to be highly effective and safe…
(2021-03-12). Share the Vaccines, Erase the Debt: Joseph Stiglitz on How the U.S. Can Help Developing Countries. democracynow.org 
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says wealthy countries have a responsibility to help the developing world in overcoming the pandemic. He says the response must include vaccine equity as well as economic aid, including debt relief. "America won't be free from the pandemic until the world is," says Stiglitz.
(2021-03-12). Israel has Detained 13,000 Palestinian Children since 2000 and just took 5 more. juancole.com 
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — Since the year 2000, the Israeli military in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank has "detained, interrogated, prosecuted, and imprisoned approximately 13,000 Palestinian children," according to Defense for Children International. Nowadays Israel typically prosecutes between 500 and 700 children annually in military courts. Even though they are civilians and children, they …
(2021-03-12). Why are Super-Rich Democrats Called "Moderates" When they Wage Class War vs. Low-Income Workers? liberationnews.org 
Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss the Biden administration's stimulus package.
(2021-03-12). US hoarding millions of doses of unapproved AstraZeneca vaccine as EU & others suffer shortages — reports. rt.com 
Washington has reportedly refused a request by AstraZeneca to loan some of the US' stockpile of its Covid-19 vaccine — which cannot be used there yet — and deliver it to the EU, where the supplier is failing to meet its targets.
(2021-03-12). Biden asks Americans to 'trust Fauci' after he draws criticism for saying the latest CDC recommendations are not science-based. rt.com 
US President Joe Biden's call to trust Dr. Anthony Fauci on the issue of vaccine safety while describing him "one of the most trusted voices in the world" has earned scorn from conservatives, accusing him of inconsistency. | In his first address as president on Thursday evening, Biden demanded Americans follow advice from scientists, who he said "have made clear that things may get worse again" as new strains of the virus spread. | "But to get there we can't let our guard down. This fight is far from over," he added, calling on those hesitant to receive the Covid-19 vaccine to take cues from Dr. Fauci, praisin…
(2021-03-12). The End of Trickle-Down Economics? Joe Stiglitz on the "Transformational" $1.9T American Rescue Plan. democracynow.org 
President Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which Democrats are hailing as the largest anti-poverty bill in a generation. It includes stimulus checks to most adults, expanded unemployment benefits and an overhaul of the child tax credit. One study projects the law will lift almost 14 million Americans out of poverty, including 5.7 million children. "This is transformational," says economist Joseph Stiglitz. "It says, 'We are actually going to live up — try to live up — to our aspirations.'"
(2021-03-12). Fukushima at Ten: Aftershocks, Lies, and Failed Decontamination. counterpunch.org 
It's now 10 years since the catastrophic triple meltdowns of reactors at Fukushima in Japan. As Joseph Mangano of the Radiation and Public Health project put it three years ago, "Enormous amounts of radioactive chemicals, including cesium, strontium, plutonium, and iodine were emitted into the air, and releases of the same toxins into the Pacific have never stopped, as workers struggle to contain over 100 cancer-causing chemicals."
(2021-03-12). Battleground Baltimore: House passes police reform legislation. therealnews.com 
In this week's round-up of Baltimore news: Maryland Republicans call police reform legislation "far left," a teen is accused of murder, the continued fight against a Johns Hopkins University private police force, and more.
(2021-03-12). Ari Berman on the Attack on Voting Rights. fair.org 
USA Today ( This week on CounterSpin: A March 3 New York Times
(2021-03-12). Milošević trial exposed U.S.-NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. workers.org 
Few people in the United States, even those in the movement that opposes U.S. imperialist aggression, remember that March 11 is the 15th anniversary of the death of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević. He had been unjustly incarcerated in Scheveningen prison in The Hague, Netherlands. For movement activists, a review of . . . |
(2021-03-12). To mine or not to mine? Alberta coal confusion puts water in danger. peoplesworld.org 
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada—Conservative Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's government has been dancing all over the place lately when it comes to coal policy. First, they talk to Australian coal mining companies before letting Albertans know they are planning to rescind a 1976 coal policy that forbids mountaintop removal coal mining. When outrage mounted, they announced that …
(2021-03-12). Cuba's contributions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. mronline.org 
MR Online
(2021-03-12). Police Violence, Racial Justice and Class. counterpunch.org 
The racial justice protests of the summer of 2020 tied to four years of #Resistance, but more precisely to the unresolved Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests of 2014 — 2015 that preceded it. What both BLM movements accomplished was to elevate racial justice as a talking point without altering the distribution of power. Broader questions
(2021-03-12). Wolf Killing and the Legacy of Conquest. counterpunch.org 
It had seemed for the past half century that perhaps the worst of wolf killing was finally over. After centuries of methodic extermination had nearly completely wiped the animals out of the lower forty-eight, government agencies, scientists, and the general public began to see wolves not primarily as threats to private property, but rather, as
(2021-03-12). Haiti protests: 'MoàØse, U.S., UN out!'. workers.org 
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians took to the streets of Port-au-Prince Sunday, March 7, to demand the departure of President Jovenel MoàØse, whose term of office has expired. The protesters raised the corruption under MoàØse's PHTK (Haitian Party of Tèt Kale), which has stolen or squandered billions of dollars of . . . |
(2021-03-12). Livestock and Deforestation in the American West. counterpunch.org 
The dawn breaks each morning on a hundred different mountain ranges in the Great Basin, with few human eyes to see it. Many of these mountain chains will be unfamiliar to most — the Toquimas, the Wah Wahs, the Goshutes, the Sheeprocks, the Fox Range — but the one thing they all have in common
(2021-03-12). Leaving Afghanistan by May 1? Alas, Not Likely. counterpunch.org 
Will the U.S. military ever leave Afghanistan? The answer appears to be no. When the U.S. military comes it stays. It's been in Germany since the 1940s, and now has expanded, with its attack dog, NATO, from there throughout Eastern Europe to menace Russia. The Afghan adventure has so far lasted 20 years and cost two trillion dollars. Afghanistan provides a convenient, imperial base from which to threaten China. The U.S. military, realistically, will never want to give that up.
(2021-03-12). Journalist acquitted: Covering protests against racism is not a crime. liberationnews.org 
After a three day trial an Iowa jury has found journalist Andrea Sahouri not guilty on misdemeanor charges stemming from her coverage of a June 2020 demonstration against racist police violence. Police pepper-sprayed the journalist in the face and arrested her as she covered a local protest against police brutality. Acquitted. (Photo credit: Ted Nieters/Polaris …
(2021-03-12). Amy Poehler's new film 'Moxie': Growing up female in 2020. peoplesworld.org 
Amy Poehler's new Netflix film Moxie is not perfect. But it is very, very good. It's a smart, funny, entertaining look at how growing up female in 2020 is similar and different from growing up in the Sixties and Nineties, or any other time for that matter. Now we know what the prolific writer-director-actress Poehler …
(2021-03-12). We need to decolonize our understanding of antisemitism. mronline.org 
MR Online
(2021-03-12). The Necessity of Dismantling the U.S.—A conversation with Ajamu Baraka. counterpunch.org 
On February 26th, I interviewed Ajamu Baraka for my podcast. Baraka is a veteran grassroots organizer whose roots are in the Black Liberation Movement and anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity struggles. He is an internationally recognized leader of the emerging human rights movement in the U.S. and has been at the forefront of efforts to
(2021-03-12). More on H.R.1/S.1: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. counterpunch.org 
The "For the People Act" (H.R.1/S.1) passed the House on March 3 and is now under consideration by the Senate. The bill was also adopted by the House in 2019 but had no chance of passage in the Senate with the Republicans in control. But now that this voting and elections reform bill has become