Author: Bill Weinberg

Iran
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GIG

As in the Venezuela crisis, Donald Trump, the great enthusiast for dictators, is making a cynical pretense of concern for democracy in Iran. Fortunately, his latest bit of exploitation of the Iranian protesters has blown up in his face. Noting the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, he issued a tweet featuring a meme with an image of a student protester from the 2017 anti-austerity uprising and the words: "40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure." Now, the courageous photographer who snapped the image at the University of Tehran in December 2017, Yalda Moayeri, comes forward to express her outrage at its co-optation by Trump. Alas, Masih Alinejad, the Iranian-American feminist who last week met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, seems not to get how she is endangering opposition activists in Iran, allowing the regime to paint them as pawns of imperialism. (Image via @realDonaldTrump)

The Andes
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GIG

Under pressure to address the ongoing wave of targeted assassinations in Colombia, President Iván Duque for the first time spoke before the National Commission to Guarantee Security, formed by the previous government to address continuing violence in the country—which has only worsened since he took office last year. Duque said 4,000 people are now under the government's protection program for threatened citizens. But his office implied that the narco trade is entirely behind the growing violence. Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez told the meeting: "This great problem is derived from the 200,000 hectares of illicit crops that we have in Colombia." However, it is clear that the narco economy is but part of a greater nexus of forces that fuel the relentless terror—all related to protecting rural land empires and intimidating the peasantry. (Photo via Contagio Radio)

Watching the Shadows

Ex-CIA chief weighs in for Internet kill switch

Cyberterrorism is such a threat that the US president should have the authority to shut down the Internet in the event of an attack, former CIA director Michael Hayden said.

The Amazon
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ANTIFA

Lizardo Cauper, president of Peru's alliance of Amazonian peoples, AIDESEP, issued an urgent call for authorities to open dialogue with indigenous communities in the northern region of Loreto rather than militarizing the area in response to mounting social conflicts and attacks on the North Peruvian Pipeline. Noting that the aging pipeline is in chronic disrepair, with repeated spills contaminating the rainforest, Cauper said: "We have made a call that, in place of militarization, they put in place a new pipeline. But it is not enough to have a new pipeline, but to respond to the demands of the people who are living around these oil activities." Regional authorities have called upon Lima to declare a state of emergency in response to paralysis of the pipeline, which delivers crude from rainforest oilfields over the Andes. (Photo: Andina)

Planet Watch

Deepwater Horizon: where is the oil?

Massive fish kills are still being reported from the Louisiana coast as BP finally completes the relief well at Macondo, supposedly putting a final end to the Gulf disaster.

New York City

WHY WE FIGHT

From the NY Daily News, Sept. 8: S.I. driver busted after opening car door and knocking cyclist into path of bus in fatal accident A Staten Island woman was busted for unlicensed operation of a vehicle after a freak accident… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT

The Caribbean

Cuba to impose austerity on workers?

Days after Fidel Castro told a reporter “The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore,” the government announced plans to lay off more than half a million workers from the public sector.

New York City

9-11 at nine: a cynical report from New York City

The rally in Lower Manhattan in support of Cordoba House was far bigger and more spirited than the Islamophobe opposition—but led by a Stalinist cult that supported genocide against Bosnian Muslims.