the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

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 4 - Ecuador outsources coronavirus tests and rams through neoliberal reforms While countries around the world are seeking medical help from Cuba to contain the coronavirus, Washington’s allies in Latin America are failing to meet the basic needs of their populations. The US-backed, right-wing government of Lenín Moreno in Ecuador, which has joined Brazil and Colombia in supporting the Trump administration’s coup efforts against Venezuela and attempting to politically and economically isolate Cuba, decided to outsource coronavirus testing to private for-profit corporations. Ecuadorian companies are charging $250 to $300 per coronavirus test — in a country where the minimum wage is just $400 per month. At the same time, the repressive Moreno administ

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 4 - US fights for control of potential coronavirus treatment and vaccine While Cuba, China, and Venezuela — countries targeted by US economic warfare — are helping the world contain the coronavirus outbreak, Washington itself is working overtime to monopolize any potential treatments, so it can profit from them. A California-based pharmaceutical corporation, Gilead Sciences, has developed an experimental drug that medical experts think could potentially treat coronavirus. The Chinese government’s Wuhan Institute of Virology applied for a patent so it can produce this drug, which is called remdesivir. But the US company has been fighting tooth and nail to prevent Beijing from being able to manufacture it. Why? Because Gilead Scien

failed evolution Φαίνεται ότι εν μέσω πανδημίας, ο "ιός" του Σοσιαλισμού άρχισε να κολλάει και τους πιο φανατικούς φονταμενταλιστές της ελεύθερης αγοράς, ή αλλιώς, νεοφιλελέδες. Το "κακό" ξεκίνησε από τον μετριοπαθή αντιπρόεδρο της βουλής, Νικήτα Κακλαμάνη, ο οποίος αίφνης μίλησε για "νεοφιλελεύθερα παπαγαλάκια" που δεν πρέπει να πιάνουν στο στόμα τους τη δημόσια υγεία. Απ'ότι φαίνεται, δεν έχει καταλάβει, ή κάνει πως δεν καταλαβαίνει, ποιοι κάνουν κουμάντο στο κόμμα του. Ο Σοσιαλιστικός "ιός" άρχισε να μεγαλώνει και σαν χιονοστιβάδα να παίρνει σβάρνα ανθρώπους του φιλελεύθερου-νεοφιλελεύθερου χώρου, οι οποίοι, με σχεδόν απολογητικό ύφος αναγνώρισαν την αξία του δημοσίου σε τέτοιες στιγμές κρίσης.  Χαρακτηριστικές είναι οι πρώτες γραμμές του άρθρου του Παύλου Παπαδάτου, ο οποίος μάλιστα (και προς τιμήν του), αισθάνθηκε ότι έπρεπε να ζητήσει συγγνώμη για τη "φθηνή" αντιμετώπισή των γιατρών και νοσηλευτών στα δημόσ

 by Jonathan Cook Part 7 - Russian ‘agents’ and ‘assets’ None of this is to overlook the fact that another variation of identity politics has been weaponised against Sanders: that of failing to be an “American” patriot. Again illustrating how closely the Democratic and Republican leaderships’ interests align, the question of who is a patriot – and who is really working for the “Russians” – has been at the heart of both parties’ campaigns, though for different reasons. Trump has been subjected to endless, evidence-free claims that he is a secret “Russian agent” in a concerted effort to control his original isolationist foreign policy impulses that might have stripped the establishment – and its military-industrial wing – of the right to wage wars of aggression, and revive the Cold War, wherever it believes a profit can be made under cover of “humanitarian intervention”. Trump partly inoculated himself against these criticisms, at least among supporters, with his “Make Ame

by Paul Street Part 6 - Deleting Dementia: A “Classic Orwellian” Moment I could go on but won’t because doing so would be too depressing and start to feel like able-ism and elder-abuse. Glen Greenwald is correct: “ it is visible to the naked eye that the 77-year-old six-term Senator and two-term Vice President is in serious cognitive decline…That is a grave matter not just because the establishment wing of the Democratic Party wants to put him in charge of the world’s most dangerous nuclear arsenal, a large chunk of the planet’s health, and the welfare of hundreds of millions of people, but also because it directly pertains to whether he can sustain the rigors and spotlight of a General Election against the incumbent President. And multiple incidents over the past couple weeks — from Biden’s forgetting the words of the most iconic and memorized passage of the Declaration of Independence to confusing his wife for his sister to spouting sentences that make no sense — have onl

«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 δαπάνησε 1.623 ευρώ κατ’ άτομ

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