By Victoria Nikiforova – Dec 5, 2022
The following essay is written and published by a columnist at Russia’s main state media outlet, RIA Novosti. The essay provides an overview of the achievements and the lasting legacy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) for today’s Russia and for the world. It is not a comprehensive history of the USSR; that is for historians to continue to write and debate. The essay’s most salient feature is the insight into the thinking of the people of the Russian Federation at this very turbulent turning point in their history.
The essay voices the wholesale loss of positive expectations of the Russian Federation people for the Western imperialist countries as the latter escalate their drive to isolate and weaken their country and its government. Many other such writings are appearing in Russian media. Altogether, they reflect a deepening understanding in Russian society that world imperialism—headed by the United States and including the major powers of Europe and Japan–is very much alive, dangerous, and, quite literally, out to get them. There is a profound upheaval taking place in the political thinking and the aspirations of the many peoples of the Russian Federation.
Today’s Russia Is Upholding the Best of the Soviet Legacy
Tag: Universal Healthcare
Matthew Hoh: War is a cancel culture
YouTube: Scheer Intelligence: War is a Cancel Culture
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The U.S. Is Drowning in Pretend Patriotism
Washington’s “Farewell Address” to the new nation was a warning about the threat of American imperial ambitions and a declaration of his high expectations for a republic of free men: “In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. …”
…
But recognize that you have shamed the legacy of our first president. George Washington, who distinguished the promise of the new world from the corruptions of the old by shunning imperial conquest, said: “Our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing.”
Colombia’s First Leftist President Charts a New Path on Venezuela + Government of Venezuela and Opposition Resume Mexico Talks
Colombia’s First Leftist President Charts a New Path on Venezuela
While critics derided the meeting as just another propaganda spectacle for Maduro, Petro has sent a signal to opposition parties in Colombia and the international community, particularly the United States, to rethink its approach if they hope to improve relations and achieve a successful political transition in Venezuela.
Related:
Guaidó’s possible change of status occurs just as the opposition coalition establishes the rules to select the unitary candidate who will compete in the next presidential elections in 2024.
So Biden can support a new interim president for Venezuela.
Government of Venezuela and Opposition Resume Mexico Talks: What Is on the Table? (+Alex Saab)
Still skeptical of Gustavo Petro.
What the 2022 Midterm Election Charade Offers Us
That neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are offering anything to alleviate the problems working people face is illustrated by their campaign fear-mongering – the former over “fascism” and the latter over “socialists” and “radicals.” No matter which party dominates the midterm elections, do not expect either will herald in fascism or socialism.
What the 2022 Midterm Election Charade Offers Us
The Failed Serotonin Theory of Depression: A Marxist Analysis
By Carlos L. Garrido – Sep 9, 2022
A recent study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry sent shockwaves across the scientific community and popular outlets as it disproved the predominant “serotonin hypothesis” of depression. In just two weeks since its publication it has been accessed by nearly half a million people and the subject of dozens of subsequent articles. The researchers analyzed a total of seventeen systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and other large studies focused on the following six tenets pertinent to the “serotonin hypothesis” of depression:
The Failed Serotonin Theory of Depression: A Marxist Analysis
How This Rural Wisconsin County Put Publicly Funded, Non-Profit, National Health Care on the Ballot
Is it possible that the people of these rural communities, under the stress of a broken health care system, can spark a movement to fix health care for the nation?
How This Rural Wisconsin County Put Publicly Funded, Non-Profit, National Health Care on the Ballot
United States of Death? Study Shows Worrying Mortality Rates of Broken Health System
Researchers find that the nation had become an outlier among other rich countries in mortality rates long before the pandemic—and that Americans are dying younger than their peers abroad.
United States of Death? Study Shows Worrying Mortality Rates of Broken Health System
Chile’s Draft Constitution: Undemocratic—or Too Much Democracy?
Chileans will vote in September on whether to approve a new constitution that promises to address inequality and lack of democracy (Reuters, 7/4/22). It would replace the present constitution imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who came into power through a US-backed coup in 1973. The nation’s newly elected left-wing leadership is calling for a “yes” vote, although in the much-divided country, the constitution faces steep opposition from the right.
Chile’s Draft Constitution: Undemocratic—or Too Much Democracy?
American Shooter: The Intersection of Alienation and Desperation Under Capitalism
American Shooter: The Intersection of Alienation and Desperation Under Capitalism
Universal Healthcare and Easy Access Mental Health Services
59% of gun deaths are suicides. Getting healthcare in the United States is nigh impossible for many people whether it be the cost of services, lack of insurance, or the stigmatization that comes from seeking medically necessary mental health services. We need to make concerted efforts to ensure that anyone who needs healthcare can walk into a facility and get the help they need with no questions asked nor strings attached. Whether it is nationalizing healthcare or instituting dual power healthcare structures we need to get this done and we need to do it now. Getting people the healthcare they need drastically reduces rates of mental illness while also reducing the rates of economically motivated crime which is sometimes violent in nature.
In May 2002, The Secret Service published a report that examined school shootings. Among much else, they found that the majority of school shooters had difficulty coping with loss and personal failures, attempted suicide, felt persecuted, and exhibited alarming behaviors toward those around them. All of these are signs to immediately provide accessible healthcare, particularly mental healthcare. We need to be proactive about getting people the help they need. Simply scapegoating mental health issues as the conservative gun lobby does is about as helpful as thoughts and prayers. We need to directly address mental healthcare and build the systems that prevent violence.
Stable Food and Housing
Violence is quite often a symptom of economic distress. Ensuring the stable material conditions of a community not only reduces the incentive to commit economically motivated violent crime, but it also reduces interpersonal violent crime. We need to build communities that have affordable housing and accessible food. The fastest and easiest way to work towards both is to ban R1 zoning because this form of zoning creates food deserts, makes communities car dependent, and skyrockets the cost of housing. This is not to say that we should not be working on dual power structures in housing. We also need free lunch and breakfast programs run by local radicals and community-powered housing programs.
Source: Socialist Rifle Association
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visits China
A blow for Western diplomacy: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chilean national Michele Bachelet, has just completed a six-day visit to China, looking in particular for evidence of the “Uyghur genocide”, but had to leave empty-handed. Going back 17 years, none of her predecessors has ever set foot in China.
Ms. Bachelet interviewed several dignitaries, heads of associations, religious leaders and witnesses at large. She even paid a visit to Kashi prison, but could find nothing that conflicted with the official Chinese version.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visits China
Related:
Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet after official visit to China
US keeps manipulating high-profile UN Xinjiang visit to attack China: FM
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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