Declassified: Yugoslavia’s ‘Propaganda Value’ for British Spies

Declassified files shed fascinating light on how during the Cold War, Yugoslavia was a subject of intense cloak-and-dagger interest to British intelligence propagandists within Information Research Department (IRD).

Declassified: Yugoslavia’s ‘Propaganda Value’ for British Spies

Related:

The Rational Destruction of Yugoslavia

Propaganda in the War on Yugoslavia

Chile, September 11, 1973: The Horrors of ‘the First 9/11’ Are Routinely Overlooked

Salvador Allende’s Final Speech on Sept. 11, 1973

Each September large memorials are held for the 9/11 attacks on the US. Yet few recall the far more destructive 9/11 that occurred 28 years before.

Chile, September 11, 1973: The Horrors of ‘the First 9/11’ Are Routinely Overlooked

Related:

Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973

Western Media’s Double Standards Exposed Amidst Violence Against Eritrean Communities in The West

Late last week, Eritrea Profile published “Words Matter: Double Standards in Mainstream Media,” a well-written article by Afabet Gebretinsae that decries media coverage of the recent spate of crime and terror perpetrated against peaceful Eritrean festivals in cities across the West. Not long after, The Grayzone, an independent news website producing original investigative journalism, released the article, “Western media glorifies TPLF mob violence against Eritrean festivals,” an enlightening commentary that similarly raised critical questions about how mainstream media in the West have reported recent events.

Western Media’s Double Standards Exposed Amidst Violence Against Eritrean Communities in The West

Related:

Western media glorifies TPLF mob violence against Eritrean festivals

Eritrean Flag during the years of the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea

AOC-Led Delegation Can Push for New Approach to Latin America

You might not know it by the relatively scant news coverage, but the U.S. congressional delegation, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that visited Brazil, Chile, and Colombia in August marked a big step forward in the development of a new U.S. approach to Latin America and highlighted the important role that the U.S. progressive left has to play in it.

AOC-Led Delegation Can Push for New Approach to Latin America

Related:

AOC urges US to apologize for meddling in Latin America: ‘We’re here to reset relationships’

Asked if the left needs to build a counterweight network, Ocasio-Cortez, whose trip to Latin America was branded “AOC’s socialist sympathy tour” by Rupert Murdoch’s conservative Wall Street Journal newspaper, replied: “I absolutely believe that the battle for democracy must be transnational and it must be global, and it especially must be hemispheric.

Ukraine is being sacrificed at the altar of Western values

US officials now suddenly announced that 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed so far. This Western state secret was revealed – but it was not a secret at all.

Ukraine is being sacrificed at the altar of Western values

Related:

No More Boxers: Ukraine’s Military To Issue Field Uniforms Specially Designed For Female Soldiers

Pregnant women can use an expandable elastic band in the waistline of the trousers, which bear an ArmWomenNow tag. A sports-style black bra and brief complete the set.

Gabon Opposition Leader Alleges the Ousted President’s Family Arranged the Coup to Retain Power

Gabon’s opposition leader is accusing the family of the recently ousted president of engineering his removal from power as a way of retaining their control in the oil-rich Central African nation

Gabon Opposition Leader Alleges the Ousted President’s Family Arranged the Coup to Retain Power

Video via The New Tourist

Related:

Disputed election sparks beginning of the end of 56 years of Bongo family rule

Ali Bongo’s presidency has also been marked by a distancing from France. When he first came to power in 2009, Bongo recalled Gabon’s ambassador to Paris after France’s prime minister appeared to question the legitimacy of his election.

Ali Bongo has never stopped distancing himself from Paris,” said Glaser. “His favourite capital is London and he has very good relations with the Americans, with China and also with Muslim countries, including Morocco. In the post-colonial period, if there’s one [African] country that has truly gone global, it’s Gabon.”

🤨

Why the U.S. Government Cares About the Coup in Niger + More

Let us travel back in time to April 9, 1999. It was the middle of hot season in the West African country of Niger and 120 degrees in the shade. Jocelyn, one of the authors, was a newly minted Peace Corps volunteer and had recently arrived in a rural community 60 miles south of Niamey, the capital, where she would spend the next two years. That day, President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara and five other people were shot dead at the airport, a mutiny by his presidential guard. But there was no international outcry, no evacuation of Americans and Europeans. Jocelyn was told to stay put in the small community where she was living. Life went on as usual.

Why the U.S. Government Cares About the Coup in Niger | Opinion

Related:

“Divide and Rule”: Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni Is Biden’s “Political Asset”. U.S. Behind Niger Coup d’Etat. America’s Hegemonic Wars Against Europe and Africa

Biden’s ally in Guatemala?

CHIUL, Guatemala − Life in Bartolo Báten’s village has been defined by corruption: A teacher who can’t get a job at the school until she pays a bribe. A water project that runs out of money before the pipes reached town. Sick residents who can’t afford the medicine that’s available elsewhere.

Insurgent candidate tells Guatemalans: Stay, don’t go to the U.S. This time, they’re listening. (archived)

Related:

Seven Decades After Guatemala Coup, Bernardo Arévalo Sees a Dramatic Rise (Will Freeman, CFR)

Arévalo and Semilla are centrists—but in a country where politics habitually skews right, they are often described as center-left. “Semilla has a social democratic element, but its program is centrist, and it also has some center-right followers,” said Lucas Perelló, a political scientist who has spent time studying the party’s formation. Arévalo says he wants to gradually universalize existing social assistance programs to include a greater share of poor Guatemalans, reduce the cost of medicines and healthcare, and link isolated parts of the country through new infrastructure—doable tasks, given Guatemala’s exceptionally low share of debt as GDP, and necessary ones, given the country’s soaring poverty and malnutrition rates.

On security issues, another major concern for Guatemalans, Arévalo promises to increase state presence in crime hotspots, reclaim jails from gangs, and use intelligence-gathering to dismantle mafias. He says Bukele’s anti-gang strategy is not applicable to Guatemala. He is also critical of human rights abuses in Venezuela and Nicaragua and Putin’s war on Ukraine and has no stated plans to recognize China over Taiwan. Asked for a leader he admires, he named the ex-president, José Pepe Mujica, of Uruguay, where he was born during his father’s exile.

Joe Biden’s Aid to Hawaii vs Ukraine Aid Compared: What We Know

The Biden administration has been criticized in recent days over the support offered to survivors of the deadly wildfires in Maui, compared to the billions in U.S. aid sent to Ukraine.

Joe Biden’s Aid to Hawaii vs Ukraine Aid Compared: What We Know

WH FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration’s Latest Actions to Support Communities Impacted by Maui Wildfires

To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved nearly $7 million in assistance to nearly 2,200 households, including nearly $3 million in initial rental assistance.

White House Calls for $40 Billion Supplemental

If enacted, the supplemental would provide $24.0 billion of additional aid to Ukraine – on top of the $113 billion the United States provided in 2022 alone. This includes $13.1 billion of military aid and replenishment of Pentagon weapons stocks, $8.7 billion of economic and humanitarian aid, and $2.3 billion to leverage additional aid from other donors through the World Bank.

That’s approximately $137 billion to Ukraine, $10 million, or so, for Hawaii (in soft loans and rental assistance)!