the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

«Αν υπάρξουν απολύσεις γιατρών στον ΕΟΠΥ, σας παρακαλώ αυτό δεν θέλω να το χρεωθεί η τρόικα, δεν θέλω να μου παίρνει την δόξα ο Τόμσεν για τα αυτονόητα. Οι αποφάσεις είναι δικές μου» (Άδωνις  Γεωργιάδης, 13/11/2013)  του Λεωνίδα Καρίγιαννη Μέρος 2ο - Η δημόσια υγεία στην Ελλάδα Τα μέτρα δημοσιονομικής πειθαρχίας που έχουν επιβληθεί τα τελευταία χρόνια στον τομέα υγείας, έχουν προκαλέσει δραματική μείωση της δαπάνης για την δημόσια υγεία, που αποτελεί πλέον το 5% του ΑΕΠ από περίπου 7% που ήταν προ δεκαετίας, ενώ ο αντίστοιχος μέσος όρος στις χώρες της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης ανέρχεται σε 7,5% (Eurostat, 2018).  Η μείωση αυτή σε απόλυτα νούμερα είναι πολύ μεγαλύτερη καθώς οι δαπάνες για την υγεία  μειώθηκαν κατά 47,5 % από το 2008 έως το 2013.  Λόγω αυτής της μείωσης, η υγεία απορροφά μόλις το 8,9% του συνόλου των κρατικών δαπανών, την ίδια στιγμή που το αντίστοιχο ποσοστό στον ΟΟΣΑ ανέρχεται σε 15,3% από το 2015 και μετά. Το 2017 η Ελλάδα δαπάν...

Bernie Sanders Sen. Bernie Sanders hosts a town hall with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and public health experts about the coronavirus, how we should respond, and what to expect.

The Grayzone As Iran struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration has imposed new sanctions that further weaken the Iranian economy and health system. Assal Rad of the National Iranian American Council discusses the sanctions' toll on Iran and how the Trump administration's regime change agenda could lead to bigger catastrophe.

The International Criminal Court approved an investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by threatening to punish family members of ICC staff. by Ben Norton Part 2 - Long history of US threatening multilateral institutions This blatant US threat against the family members of International Criminal Court prosecutors is part of a longer historical pattern of Washington attacking multilateral institutions. At the beginning of the George W. Bush administration’s so-called war on terror, in 2002, the US Congress passed a bill called the American Service-Members’ Protection Act — more commonly known as the “Hague Invasion Act.” This unprecedented piece of legislation, which has no precedent anywhere else in the world, declares that the US government unilaterally grants itself the right to militarily invade the Hague if a citizen of the United States or any allied country is tried at the court. Nor are Secretary of Stat...

Brazil’s far-right government requested the return of thousands of Cuban doctors to help fight the coronavirus. Months ago, President Jair Bolsonaro smeared the doctors as “terrorists” and expelled them. by Ben Norton Part 3 - Venezuela seeks regional collaboration, is rejected by Colombia Venezuela, for its part, has also encouraged regional collaboration to try to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The country’s leftist government even extended an olive branch to the far-right governments in Colombia and Brazil, which have cut ties with it, recognized US-backed coup leader Juan Guaidó as supposed president, and supported violent terror attacks on Venezuelan soil. Venezuela called for peaceful dialogue with Colombia and Brazil, emphasizing that the countries should work together to try to contain Covid-19. The hardline Colombian government of President Iván Duque initially announced that it was going to coordinate with Venezuela’s actual, elected government — but...

Italy requested doctors from China, Cuba, and Venezuela to contain the coronavirus, while Cuba rescued a ship of British citizens. Meanwhile, US sanctions worsen the toll of the Covid-19 crisis in Iran and Venezuela. by Ben Norton Part 3 - Britain relies on Cuban help to dock coronavirus-infected ship Cuba has been under an illegal US embargo since 1960 — which every country in the world (excluding Israel) votes to denounce each year at the United Nations. But this blockade has not stopped the small country from developing the best health system in all of Latin America. Even the United Kingdom, one of the richest countries on the planet, has relied on Cuban help to contain the coronavirus.  The British government asked numerous countries in the Caribbean to let the cruise ship MS Braemar dock in their port, after there were several reports of coronavirus among its more than 1,000 passengers. CNN noted that “ British officials launched an intense diplomatic...

globinfo freexchange Σε χθεσινό άρθρο, αποκαλύψαμε τη νεοφιλελεύθερη ζούγκλα που επικρατεί στο χώρο της υγείας στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες.  Όπως είχαμε επισημάνει, δεδομένου ότι στην άκρως νεοφιλελεύθερη Αμερική τα δημόσια νοσοκομεία είναι έννοια σχεδόν άγνωστη, η εικόνα που σχηματίζεται ισοδυναμεί με τον απόλυτο εφιάλτη, ειδικά σε καταστάσεις συναγερμού, όπως αυτή που διανύουμε λόγω της πανδημίας. Στα ενδιάμεσα στάδια της πυραμίδας του κέρδους δεν υπάρχει πουθενά κάποια δημόσια παρέμβαση που να λειτουργεί ως δικλείδα ασφαλείας για τον μέσο Αμερικανό, έτσι ώστε να εξασφαλίζεται η θεραπεία του, τουλάχιστον σε έκτακτες περιπτώσεις σαν αυτή που βιώνουμε. Αντίθετα, η πλήρης ιδιωτικοποίηση και εξαγορά ουσιαστικά του πολιτικού συστήματος από τις τράπεζες και τις μεγάλες εταιρίες, έχουν εξαφανίσει κάθε ίχνος ηθικής, με το όλο σύστημα να επιδιώκει τρόπους μεγιστοποίησης του κέρδους την ώρα που οι άνθρωποι πεθαίνουν. Πολλοί από αυτούς, επειδή απλά δεν έχουν αρκετά χρήμ...

While posing as a grassroots human rights organization, the World Uyghur Congress is a US-funded and directed separatist network that has forged alliances with far-right ethno-nationalist groups. The goal spelled out by its founders is clear: the destabilization of China and regime change in Beijing. by Ajit Singh Part 8 - Celebrating the Gray Wolves, proposing US and Turkish military intervention Along with their extensive ties to Washington, the WUC and Uyghur separatist movement has maintained close connections with the Turkish far-right. In 2015, members of the MHP-affiliated Grey Wolves formerly led by Alparslan Türkeş attacked South Korean tourists in Turkey, mistaking them for Chinese citizens, in protest of the situation in Xinjiang. Turkish MHP party leader Devlet Bahçeli defended the attacks. “ How are you going to differentiate between Korean and Chinese? ” the rightist politician questioned. “ They both have slanted eyes. Does it really matter? ” Bahce...

 by Jonathan Cook Part 6 - Being unkind to billionaires This kind of special pleading by the establishment for the establishment – using those sections of it, such as Symone Sanders, that can tap into the identity politics zeitgeist – is far more common than you might imagine. The approach is being constantly refined, often using social media as the ultimate focus group. Symone Sanders’ successful conflation of the establishment with “black voters” follows earlier, clumsier efforts by the establishment to protect its interests against Sanders that proved far less effective. Remember how last autumn the billionaire-owned corporate media tried to tell us that it was unkind to criticise billionaires – that they had feelings too and that speaking harshly about them was “dehumanising”. Again it was aimed at Sanders, who had just commented that in a properly ordered world billionaires simply wouldn’t exist. It was an obvious point: allowing a handful of people to cont...

by Paul Street Part 5 - “You Know the Thing” All of this is as expected, as is the standard claim that the progressive candidate (Sanders) is “unelectable” even though he was the most electable potential Democratic nominee. This is standard operating procedure. What’s different this time is the extent to which the corporate Democratic media-politics machine is willing to make its determination to lose to the Republicans rather than to the progressive wing of its own party grotesquely obvious by advancing a candidate who is clearly losing his marbles.  I’d like to say that Biden is unelectable because he’s a corporatist and imperialist whose record and platform stand well to the right of majority-progressive public opinion on numerous key issues (health care, Social Security, climate change, the minimum wage, bankruptcy protection, financial regulation, the Pentagon budget, war, and more). All of that and more helps damage Biden as a presidential candidate, but ...