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Calling Russia’s Attack “Unprovoked” Lets U.S. Off the Hook
“Putin was very clear about a path to deescalation: He called on the West to halt NATO expansion, negotiate Ukrainian neutrality in the East/West rivalry, remove U.S. nuclear weapons from non proliferating countries, and remove missiles, troops and bases near Russia. These are demands the U.S. would surely have made were it in Russia’s position. Unfortunately, the U.S. refused to negotiate on Russia’s core concerns.”
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Media Coverage of Ukraine: When Selectivity Becomes Propaganda
“The whiteness of Ukrainians may make it easier for Western governments to sell to their publics escalation and intervention instead of urgent negotiations to defuse a potentially catastrophic crisis between nuclear superpowers.
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What’s Wrong with the CDC’s Decision to Drop Mask Mandate
The CDC’s new guidelines, which allow around 70 percent of Americans to stop wearing masks indoors, place a double burden on the medically vulnerable, asking them to exclude themselves from society and bear the cost of buying PPE. Disability advocates have decried the agency’s shift. Beatrice Adler-Bolton says, “We should be honest that a lot of what anti-mask sentiment is boiling down to is a rejection of social rights for the medically vulnerable.”
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Toxic Military “Burn Pits” Across the U.S. and in Iraq: Why Are They Allowed?
After Joe Biden suggests his son’s fatal cancer could be attributed to toxic “burn pits,” experts and activists question their continued use. Laura Olah of the Cease Fire Campaign said that “Nationwide, there are approximately 60 active private and public sector facilities that routinely conduct OB/OD [open burn/open demolition] of hazardous waste. All are currently permitted by the EPA or allowed by the agency to operate under ‘interim status’ without any permit at all. The munitions industry is the only industry in the United States that is still being permitted to burn hazardous waste to the open air.”
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End Ukraine War, and Perpetual Wars: Call for a Transnational Citizens’ Movement
“What’s needed above all is a courageous and transnational citizens’ movement demanding not simply the end of the war on Ukraine but also an end to perpetual wars. We need political leaders who will speak out about our real security needs and resist the reflex to fall into old patterns that distract from the threats we can no longer afford to ignore.”
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News Headlines Downplaying Severity of Omicron Variant
Justin Feldman: “When Omicron first hit the U.S., pundits and government officials painted a misleading picture that downplayed the severe public health consequences of the variant. The truth is that even while people infected with Omicron are less likely to die compared to Delta, it is hardly mild. The narrative of ‘mildness’ provided cover for government to weaken the few remaining public health protections, such as reducing isolation time for infected workers from 10 days to 5.”
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Ukraine Crisis: Overlooked Facts
“Now, sadly, Russia’s illegal actions will embolden the hawks and armament mongers on all sides. Already armchair strategists are calling for doubling the US military budget, for grasping the ‘strategic opportunity’ to bleed Putin in Ukraine while pushing the Europeans to build up their military forces.”
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Ukraine and the “Borderline Euphoria” of Military Lobbyists
ANDREW COCKBURN, [email protected], @andrewmcockburn Cockburn is author of the new book The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War MachineAndrew Cockburn’s new book reports on how “Washington expanded NATO to satisfy an arms manufacturer’s urgent financial requirements; the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet deployments were for years dictated by a corrupt contractor who bribed high-ranking officers with cash and prostitutes; senior Marine commanders agreed to a troop surge in Afghanistan in 2017 for budgetary reasons.”
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Can OSCE Help Defuse Ukraine Crisis?
Nonviolence International released a staetment last week: “A Chane for Peace: OSCE Must Strengthen the Ukraine Peace Monitoring Mission. The U.S. must reverse its withdrawal of OSCE peace observers.” Its director said today: “The escalation in these territories means that peace monitoring to monitor the conflict is needed more than ever.”
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How Biden Could End the Ukraine Crisis
Expert David Gibbs on the dangers of expanding NATO into Ukraine and how the Biden administration should deescalate the current conflict. He said that to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, “the Biden administration should offer a written guarantee that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO. To do this would satisfy” a “key Russian demand.”
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Howard Zinn