Tag: Council on Foreign Relations

Dr Yunus introduces Mahfuz Alam as mastermind of student movement +

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source / Full video

Dr Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser in Bangladesh’s interim government, on Tuesday introduced Mahfuz Alam, his special assistant, as the “brain” behind the country’s recent student-led movement and subsequent push to topple the Awami League regime, at an event in New York, US.

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Dr Yunus praised Mahfuz for his leadership, calling him the “brain of the whole revolution,” though Mahfuz humbly insisted that the movement had been a collective effort. 

Dr Yunus introduces Mahfuz Alam as mastermind of student movement

Related:

Who was the third youth to join Yunus on stage at the Clinton Global Initiative event?

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Chinese and Philippine ships collide at Sabina Shoal, a new flash point + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

The incident, the first time in decades that Beijing and Manila have clashed over the Sabina Shoal, may derail efforts to lower tensions in the South China Sea.

Chinese and Philippine ships collide at Sabina Shoal, a new flash point (archived)

Related:

CCG restricts repeated Philippine vessel intrusions near South China Sea reefs

Chen Xiangmiao, director of the World Navy Research Center at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that the Philippines sees Xianbin Jiao as a transfer station for its resupply missions to Ren’ai Jiao, as Xianbin Jiao is located between Ren’ai Jiao and the Philippines’ Palawan Province.

[08-16-24] Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s Remarks on the Philippine Coast Guard Vessel’s Illegal Anchoring in the Lagoon of Xianbin Jiao

[08-14-24] Exclusive: Manila to deploy new vessel for ‘semi-permanent presence’ at China’s Xianbin Jiao, breaking its promise: source

Philippine media have hyped the China Coast Guard’s (CCG) presence in the Xianbin Jiao, but it is the Philippines that has sent the MRRV-9701 to the area in the first place. The Philippine ship anchored in the lagoon of the Xianbin Jiao in April, with a CCG ship arriving later in July.

Updated on 07-27-2024: SeaLight, formerly Project Myoushu

Powell’s storytelling:

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German Publishers and Booksellers Association awards its annual “Peace Prize” to US war hawk Anne Applebaum

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

On June 25, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels), which organises the world’s biggest annual book fair (in Frankfurt), announced it was awarding its annual “Peace Prize” to US journalist and author Anne Applebaum.

German Publishers and Booksellers Association awards its annual “Peace Prize” to US war hawk Anne Applebaum

Biden Offers to Turn U.S. Military Personnel Into Saudi Royal Bodyguards

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

President Joe Biden has made a habit of putting the interest of foreign governments before that of the American people. Like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

Biden Offers to Turn U.S. Military Personnel Into Saudi Royal Bodyguards by Doug Bandow

Flashback (has he forgotten?):

[2019] American Soldiers Are Not Bodyguards for Saudi Royals by Doug Bandow

President Donald Trump believes in America First except when it comes to the Saudi royal family. Then it is Saudi Arabia first.

David Villamar interviewed about Ecuador’s violent crime disaster

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Ecuador’s violent crime problem is such an incredible disaster that it manages to attract international attention. Criminals have recently taken over live newscasts. Supporters of the rightwing governments that created the disaster (for example, The Economist) have declared Ecuador to be the deadliest country in the Americas. It’s difficult for Ecuador to get international news coverage. In recent years, it generally has to be something very bad (or sports-related).

David Villamar interviewed about Ecuador’s violent crime disaster

Related:

How Did Ecuador Spiral into This Nightmare? It Was the Neoliberal Dismantling of the State

Ecuador: Quasi Civil War

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ecuador: Quasi Civil War

Los Choneros is tied to the Mexican drug Sinaloa Cartel and Los Lobos to Jalisco. Ecuador itself, together with Bolivia and Colombia, is part of the so-called cocaine triangle, which is the world’s largest producer of the drug. From Ecuador, it travels overland to Brazil and Peru and by sea to Mexico, European countries, and the African market.

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Finally, and thirdly, another version of the reason for the current conflict outbreak is the activation of the CIA and their agents who want to destabilize the entire Andean region (after all, the situation in Peru and Chile is also complicated). Although it sounds like a conspiracy, given the skills of US intelligence agencies and their networks in Latin America, it should not be dismissed, but more attention should be paid to the activities of State Department agents who do not want to lose the region.

Interestingly, when I highlight and look up, ‘cocaine triangle’, Apple brings up the Wikipedia page for ‘CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking’. 🤔

Related (Money & Front Organizations):

RT—Ecuador: 2 Days of Armed Violence, 14 Deaths, Several Kidnapped and Injured, Dozens Arrested (+Correa & Maduro)

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Neocons are panicking over another possible Trump presidency

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Atlantic: Two Men Running to Stay Out of Prison

Liz Cheney warns US ‘sleepwalking into dictatorship

Robert Kagan: A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.

…We can expect more of this when the war against the “deep state” begins in earnest. According to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), there is a whole cabal determined to undermine American security, a “Uniparty” of elites made up of “neoconservatives on the right” and “liberal globalists on the left” who are not true Americans and therefore do not have the true interests of America at heart. Can such “anti-American” behavior be criminalized? It has in the past and can be again.

So, the Trump administration will have many avenues to persecute its enemies, real and perceived. Think of all the laws now on the books that give the federal government enormous power to surveil people for possible links to terrorism, a dangerously flexible term, not to mention all the usual opportunities to investigate people for alleged tax evasion or violation of foreign agent registration laws. The IRS under both parties has occasionally looked at depriving think tanks of their tax-exempt status because they espouse policies that align with the views of the political parties. What will happen to the think-tanker in a second Trump term who argues that the United States should ease pressure on China? Or the government official rash enough to commit such thoughts to official paper? It didn’t take more than that to ruin careers in the 1950s.

Their panic just shows how out of touch they are with the working class! As for Kagan, there’s so much more that I could say, but for now I’ll just roll my eyes! 🙄

New York Times Helps Marco Rubio Push Persecution Of Antiwar Leftists + More

NED: Georgia, still in their crosshairs

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
YouTube: Georgia’s Path to Europe

The European Commission’s November recommendation that EU candidacy status be granted to Georgia is the latest in a string of hard-won victories the Georgian people have achieved in recent months. In March, hundreds of thousands of Georgians took to the streets and forced the government to abandon a draconian Russian-style NGO law. In October, a controversial partisan gambit to impeach President Salome Zurabishvili failed after vocal opposition both in the parliament and throughout civil society. The loudest voices pushing back against democratic decline in the country belong to youth, civil society, and parliamentarians such as the women on this panel. Women from different political parties are coming together to highlight the importance of expanding political participation and keeping European integration the nation’s top priority.

Georgia’s Path to Europe

Related:

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