NPR's information warfare for the US government
Turkey just bombed Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan, not for the first
time, but NPR gave more attention and condemnation to bombing by Iran
in Iraqi Kurdistan. Today it was reported that a Turkish
airstrike killed Syrian soldiers at an outpost in Kurdistan.
The US is still bombing Iraq and both the US and Israel bomb Syria.
Turkey and the US both occupy parts of Syria and are accused of
stealing oil, while sanctions are being used to inhibit Syria's
post-war recovery.
Talks are being held in Mexico between the Venezuelan government and its opponents, and a declaration was just agreed to, asking that government funds frozen abroad be released. It is reported as if foreign banks just happened to decide to freeze Venezuela's assets held abroad, suspecting criminal activity, not because the US and its allies are trying to overthrow the government through economic warfare against the entire country. The rightist cold warriors of the Biden administration seem to think they are fighting "communism" in capitalist Venezuela, and probably throughout Latin America, and other Democrats in and out of office agree with them. I haven't heard them say "communist China" recently. It is also unclear if this is only happening because the US government is desperate for Venezuelan oil. After Trump was defeated they could have tried harder to restore the nuclear deal with Iran and end the campaigns against Syria and Venezuela.
The week of November 14th there were more anti-China interviews. I think Gordon Guthrie Chang was on Here and Now pushing a hawkish view of China and Thursday, November 17th Dave Davies interviewed reasonable-sounding reporter Dexter Filkins of The New Yorker about his recent article on the Taiwan issue, which had some true information about the history, but portrayed the situation as Xi's China causing a crisis, unreasonably claiming "democratic," "self-governing" Taiwan and building up its military, while the USA is an innocent party. Small, "democratic" Israel is also innocent in the Middle East, but for some reason Taiwan doesn't have a "warrior" culture like that of the Israelis. It sounded like Taiwan no more foresees a war than Ukraine did last fall, as reported by the mainstream media. Nancy Pelosi did nothing wrong, she was just shoring up her legacy as an imperialist. Allegedly China has the largest army and navy in the world, and the US isn't trying to surround China. There was talk of "freedom of navigation" through the Taiwan Strait and the waters around China, backed by treaties, through which a massive amount of trade travels, much of it probably to or from China itself. I think it was mentioned that China is a signatory - but it was left unsaid that the US government hasn't signed, and would probably react badly if the apparently huge Chinese navy started doing "freedom of navigation" exercises in the Western Hemisphere.
In related news, are the new anti-China micro-chip production export controls, imposed October 7, 2022, the anniversary of the start of the Afghanistan War in 2001, similar to the resource embargoes that led to the Pacific theatre of WWII? More recently Tom Clancy and others imagined a Soviet oil crisis leading to a US-Soviet world war in the late 20th century. Biden seems to be out doing Trump in effectively sinking US-China relations and there is no more talk of anti-Asian hate crimes in the mainstream media.
Developing countries will allegedly be given money to deal with the impact of climate change, much of it caused by the developed countries - but where will the money come from, when the "West" intends to fight cold or hot wars with both Russia and China and will have to deal with climate change, demographic problems, etc. at home as well? The plans to limit climate change are coming unravelled, so now they claim that a few degrees Celsius of warming won't be so bad.
Ukrainian repression
Some articles from the British newspaper Morning Star on the banning of a number of left opposition parties by the USA-EU installed government in Ukraine following the 2014 coup and the denunciation (via chatbot) and criminal prosecution of people for alleged activities such as online speech, collaboration with Russia, or for spying for Russia or Belarus. It could be asked whether the alleged 'average' Ukrainians quoted in the mainstream media are speaking freely, besides the issue of who "Western" journalists deem fit to talk to and where they report from. What does it mean if "collaboration" is common? I haven't ever heard the "Western" media ask how alleged "collaborators" are treated. Recently an NPR correspondent was talking to a Ukrainian official about how they would go in and round up "collaborators" before civilians could return to some city, without any of the seemingly obvious questions about how these people are being identified or treated. The Ukrainian government army supposedly had to clear disguised or hiding Russian soldiers and "collaborators" (identified how?) from re-occupied Kherson. Is it "collaboration" to merely remain in a Russian-occupied city? It was probably Kherson where an NPR reporter went to a market after government re-occupation and was told by a producer that a vendor planned to report other vendors to the government as "collaborators." The mainstream media sometimes gives hints that not everyone in Ukraine supports the government and that it isn't only Russia that is being accused of violating international law and the Geneva Conventions. A few days ago it was said that both sides stand accused of torturing prisoners of war, though only the Ukrainian government side was interviewed, about alleged torture by Russians.
Communist Party of Ukraine banned and all its assets seized by the state
Woman jailed for five years in Ukraine for posting communist symbols on social media
Some articles
www.counterpunch.org/2023/01/13/south-korea-prosecutes-its-citizens-for-screening-north-korean-drama/
On the recent attacks on electrical substations in North Carolina and across the US: www.counterpunch.org/2023/01/13/the-far-right-assault-on-our-future/
www.counterpunch.org/2023/01/13/fiery-flying-roll/ [referring to A Fiery Flying Roll: A Word from the Lord to all the Great Ones of the Earth published in Britain in the 1600's]
Questionable - www.counterpunch.org/2023/01/13/occult-knowledge-in-russia/
Marco D'Eramo on light pollution and the loss of darkness: newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/starless-sky
www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/23/seeking-relief-from-oppression-peruvians-resist-castillo-removal-and-wait/
covertactionmagazine.com/2022/12/26/to-defeat-fascism-we-must-win-over-a-substantial-segment-of-the-social-strata-that-make-up-its-mass-base/
www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/02/us-tax-dollars-at-work-neocolonial-dictatorship-paramilitary-and-police-terror-in-haiti-today/
Another article on deploying armed police robots in the US: mronline.org/2022/12/03/cops-are-asking-to-kill-people-with-robots-what-could-go-wrong/
Military robots, including armed robots, being deployed within the US: caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/12/03/the-incremental-normalization-of-police-murderbots-probably-needs-more-attention/
Capitalism and imperialism seek a beachhead in space in this decade, or it could merely be a fantasy of the rich:
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/privatized-universe
The peace encampment across from the White House since 1981, mentioned in my post about the Women's March on the Pentagon in fall 2018: covertactionmagazine.com/2022/08/12/meet-the-man-jesse-ventura-called-the-bravest-man-in-washington/
The Democratic Party funds and promotes the right of the Republican party, after Hillary Clinton actually wanted to run against Trump and then lost. This is apparently becoming more widely circulated news:
www.counterpunch.org/2022/08/26/the-democratic-party-is-a-fifth-column-for-right-wing-lunacy/
The Ukrainian parliament has apparently increased the pay its members receive:
www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/08/ukrainian-parliament-votes-give-raise-thanks-us-taxpayers-country-bans-free-speech-targets-information-terrorists/
This article by 2020 Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins covers what is going on in NC and other states, through legal and other means, to remove third parties and independent candidates from ballots and some recent history. It is apparently not very difficult for independent candidates to get on ballots in the UK, India, Canada, and Germany, while some US states have electoral rules like Russia's - or even more restrictive. It raises the question of what should be done if a view held by many people is banned from electoral politics. The NC Green Party followed the law, but then had to turn to the courts to force the Democratic Party majority in the State Board of Elections to grant the party state recognition and ballot access this summer:
www.counterpunch.org/2022/07/15/the-democrats-third-party-massacres/
How to recycle plastic toys
EVENTS
The Chatham Artist Guild's 2022 30th Annual Studio Tour will be December 3 - 4 and 10 - 11th: chathamartistsguild.org/studio-tour/he
The 30th annual Boylan Heights Artwalk will be Sunday, December 4th 12 - 5pm in Raleigh: www.boylanheights.org/art-walk
Tell Governor Cooper: No More Death Row! march and rally Saturday, December 10th 12 - 2pm. The march will be from Central Prison to the Governor's Mansion, in Raleigh: nccadp.org/events/
The Sanctions Kill Campaign will hold a webinar, "Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy" Saturday, December 10th at 1pm EST and there will be in-person discussions with some of the authors of an anthology with the same title December 6 - 15th in Pennsylvania, New York, and California: sanctionskill.org , iacenter.org/2022/11/23/20381/
Durham's Annual Homeless Memorial Vigil will be Wednesday, December 21st, the winter solstice, 6 - 6:45p.m. at the Durham Central Park's Farmer Market Pavilion at 501 Foster Street. It memorializes those who have died unhoused this year, up from 2021.
In recent weeks Fayetteville and Cumberland County have moved to criminalize homelessness, though positive steps aren't in place yet and it is forecast to be very cold Christmas weekend, with lows in the teens and highs in the 30's, and it seems to be a cold December this year. In recent years there have been long spells of warm, possibly climate change-driven weather in December, but not in 2022.
The USA's extraterritorial prison on stolen Cuban territory - Guantanamo - opened 21 years ago January 11th; there is a list of protests at: www.rightsanddissent.org/news/guantanamo-at-21-upcoming-vigils-rallies-and-events-to-mark-the-anniversary/
There will be a vigil in Raleigh on the 11th:
"January 11 vigil in Raleigh to commemorate 21 years since the opening of Guantánamo prison
WHEN: Wednesday, January 11, 2023, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
WHERE: The Federal Building at New Bern Avenue and Person Street in Raleigh
SPONSORS: NC Stop Torture Now, Veterans for Peace, NC Peace Action"
Stop US Wars: Next Step -->> MLK Week of Actions - January 13 - 22
The United National Antiwar Coalition is calling for another week of action in the New Year. To endorse the call or to announce an event, contact: UNACpeace at gmail [See unac.notowar.net/martin-luther-king-jr-week-of-actions/ for a list of events, including in North Carolina.]
[There will be a demonstration Monday, January 16th, MLK Day, beginning at the State Capitol, 1 East Edenton Street in Raleigh, on the south side, at 12pm, followed by a march to Moore Square: www.facebook.com/events/1967893030080217
There will be another demonstration Tuesday, January 17th at 4:30pm at Park Square in Asheville, NC; both events are listed by UNAC above, along with many other events across the US and internationally.]
BAJ hosts CODEPINK's Medea Benjamin January 16th:
"Mark your 2023 calendar
for next month's Balance & Accuracy in Journalism program.
7:30 PM on the evening of Monday January 16, MLK day,
legendary peace advocate Medea Benjamin is scheduled to join us
at the Community Church of Chapel Hill. We're the first NC venue
of her national book tour featuring the co-authored book,
"War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict."
She urges action to draw the war to a sustainable end.
"The group's name is a play on Homeland security’s color coded alert system
in which Code Orange and Code Red signify the highest levels of danger."
***** BAJ is inviting your contribution for honorarium, travel costs,
and support for her travel to the three (probably five) additional locations
[in North Carolina.]
Medea’s organization, Code Pink, has not specified the costs associated
with her appearances. For my part, I will spend as much of the week
as necessary for her to speak across the state, delivering calls for an end
to the tragic and escalating spiral of violence.
Checks made to BAJ can be mailed to my address
[ ],
for plans which include assisting the rest of the NC tour.
Early in the pandemic, your contributions allowed us to send
support to each of ten independent media with urgent needs.
Thanks for that, and for the contributions by three folks
who’ve already helped toward our January event!
Bring a friend on January 16th!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These December 'program' links can be enjoyed at your leisure...
CAN GOOD NEWS be found among our sources?
Can we clear the air, to understand what’s behind what we see and engage?
Economist Michael Hudson lifts the lid on much that’s 'too big to see.'
Will Jeffrey Sachs and others with depth & experience
be allowed on mainstream media?
Past Euro- and US domination of China explain current China-US tensions.
And after Clare Daly’s strong comment,
Two clearly positive items:
Mexico defends its 7,000 year heritage, their indigenous varieties of corn
and calls have emerged for the freeing of Julian Assange.
————————
A regular guest on Yves Smith’s blog,
Michael Hudson discusses the Future of Europe and Global Restructuring
The Irish have centuries of experience under British rule. Irish EU rep Clare Daly
mocks EU parliament deliberations on "state sponsor of terrorism.”
Heads of state and the publishing world now call for an end
to the persecution of Julian Assange for the “crime” that
singer songwriter Tom Neilson names in his song,
"
"7:30pm Monday January 16,
Balance & Accuracy in Journalism program
at the Community Church of Chapel Hill, UU
106 Purefoy Rd
On the day of the Martin Luther King holiday across the US,
legendary peace advocate Medea Benjamin will speak on
"War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict,”
her new book coauthored with Nicholas J.S. Davies.
(UPS just delivered a box of her books!)
Covid is not done with us,
so for everyone’s sake pls wear a mask,
and some will be available at the door.
"The group's name is a play on Homeland security’s color coded alert system
in which Code Orange and Code Red signify the highest levels of danger."
Can we have a role in drawing the war to a sustainable end?
Resource table:
Wikipedia calls John Mearsheimer "an American political scientist and
international relations scholar, who belongs to the realist school of thought.
His description of great power dynamics illuminates much of what is going on.
We will have CDs of his recent Alternative Radio talk recorded in Budapest Nov 8.
Bring a friend on January 16th!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These links can be enjoyed at your leisure...
Economist Michael Hudson lifts the lid on much that’s 'too big to see.’
"Future of Europe and Global Restructuring"
Jeffrey Sachs and Oliver Stone on Colossal Diplomatic Failure of Century [Ukraine]
Past Euro- and US domination of China explain current China-US tensions.
David Swanson’s upcoming book is introduced:
The Monroe Doctrine at 200 and What to Replace it With
The Irish have centuries of experience under British rule.
Irish EU rep Clare Daly mocks EU parliament deliberations on "state sponsor of terrorism.”
Heads of state and the publishing world now call for an end
to the persecution of Julian Assange for the “crime” that
singer songwriter Tom Neilson names in his song,
Chapel Hill-based Camellia Forest Nursery will have open houses in February, March, and April, when there will be spring-blooming camellia cultivars and other flowers: camforest.com/pages/open-house Some nice sasanqua/sazanka tree-sized camellias with large, very pale pink multi-petalled flowers and glossy, very dark green evergreen foliage bloom at UNC, such as around Bingham Hall, into December and possibly later. They stand out at night, maybe under the full Moon, like UNC's Japanese cherries in March, though there are lights in the area. There are also some winter-blooming camellias, bright red to more white, at NCSU's JC Raulston Arboretum and at UNC.
The annual National Invasive Species Awareness Week will be February 20 - 26 in 2023: www.nisaw.org/
Library booksales
The Friends of the Durham Library's Books Among Friends has a new location, at 3825 South Roxboro Road, #131, zipcode 27713. There are satellite sales at each library. For more information and the membership form, see: fodlnc.org/book-sales/ Their online store is at: shopfodlnc.org
The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library has an online store at: friendschpl.org/online-book-store and there will be an in-person sale December 2-4, 2022: friendschpl.org/FCHPLevents
The Friends of the Chatham County Library will have in-person sales March 30 - April 1 and September 21 - 23 in 2023: www.friendsccl.org/ and they now have an online store, at: friendsccl.org/Store
The Friends of the Lee County Libraries has sales at open libraries: library.leecountync.gov/friends
There is supposed to be a sale every Monday 2-4pm at the Warren County Memorial Library: www.wcmlibrary.org/friends-of-the-library-book-sale/
Granville County: granville.lib.nc.us/friends-of-the-library/ and www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheGranvillePublicLibrarySystem/
Person County: www.personcountync.gov/departments-services/departments-i-z/library/friends-of-the-library-1603
Vance: www.facebook.com/friendsperrymemoriallibrary/
Moore County: www.facebook.com/moorecountylibrary/
Caswell: www.caswellcountync.gov/blog/categories/library-programs
Alamance County: www.facebook.com/AlamanceLibraries , www.alamance-nc.com/library
The Friends of the High Point Library: www.highpointnc.gov/927/Friends and www.facebook.com/HighPointPublicLibrary/
Forsyth: www.facebook.com/groups/105298719513537 , www.forsyth.cc/library/ www.facebook.com/FCPublicLibrary , www.facebook.com/GSOLibrary , library.greensboro-nc.gov
See also Book Sale Finder: www.booksalefinder.com/NC.html
CALENDAR
The Chinese Soviet Republic was founded November 7, 1931, but was dissolved September 22, 1937.
The Taliban offered to surrender very early in the Afghanistan War, according to an article I saw at the end of the war. Unfortunately I don't remember where the article was; here is a New York Times article discussing a surrender offer as early as November 2001: www.nytimes.com/2021/08/23/world/middleeast/afghanistan-taliban-deal-united-states.html Also: www.consortiumnews.com/2011/020811b.html Whether there really was a genuine offer of full surrender, the Taliban faced armed opposition and did not control all of Afghanistan at the beginning of October 2001, but now they are the national government, well-armed, and apparently have at least some support among non-Pashtuns and even among the Hazara ethnic group, who they formerly and are apparently still persecuting. The US and other countries are withholding aid, after destroying Afghanistan's economy and making it dependent on foreign aid over 40 years of war, hammering the Afghan population for leverage against the Taliban.
Albania has two national days, November 28, 1912, when Albania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, and November 29, 1944, when Albanian partisans drove out the German occupiers. Subsequently the Albanians were unique in liberating their own country and then helping to liberate neighboring Yugoslavia. For a British account of the Albanian independence days as marked in 2021 in Gjirokaster, in southern Albania, Enver Hoxha's hometown, see: michaelharrison.org.uk/2021/12/independence-day-29th-november-2021-in-gjirokaster/
The Natchez and other indigenous groups rebelled against French colonialism in the lower Mississippi Valley, starting November 29, 1729. Other indigenous nations fought on the side of the French. The governor feared that a wider Indian and possibly slave rebellion was planned, so he ordered a force of African slaves to massacre the peaceful Chaouacha tribe living near New Orleans, for which he was apparently criticized at the time. Ultimately the Natchez were driven out of their homeland or enslaved by the French, but still exist as a people. Complex Natchez society is supposed to have been the last example of the Mississippian culture to remain into historic times.
Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov was born November 29, 1856 and was upheld as a founder of the Russian Marxist movement, but was an opponent of the Bolsheviks. For more information see
marxists.org, etc.In the Sand Creek Massacre, starting November 29, 1864, Federal soldiers attacked peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians camped along Big Sandy Creek in what is now Colorado (where the government had requested that they gather, displaying a US flag and a white flag), killing about 230 Indians, predominantly women, children, and elders, as well as committing torture and mutilation, before leaving the area December 1st. Some soldiers refused to attack the village, but the perpetrators received little punishment and no criminal prosecution (from
Wikipedia as well as
www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/index.htm ).
The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was declared November 29, 1945, and the 29th was the country's national day until 2002; the name was changed to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, becoming the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or Serbia and Montenegro February 4, 2003, and in June 2006 Montenegro and Serbia separated and the idea of a South Slavic union ended.
Mark Twain (Samuel L Clemens), acclaimed author as well as vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, was born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri.
The Winter War between the USSR and Finland began November 30, 1939.
The People's Republic of Southern Yemen (South Yemen) gained independence from the UK November 30, 1967. North Yemen had been independent since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after WWI.
November 30, 1981 the Reagan administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation, making Israel a strategic partner of the US. The partnership was suspended after Israel annexed the Golan Heights December 14th, but it came back into force in 1983. This is described in Fifty Years of Israel by Donald Neff, published in 1998. This could bring to mind the way Democrats in the House of Representatives proclaim Ukraine a vital partner and the proposal to absorb the Republic of Georgia into NATO, both increasing the likelihood of bloodshed between the USA and Russia. More recently, the US military began training with the Israelis in territory held by Israel.
In 2022 the US media constantly denounces Russia for illegally seizing territory from Ukraine by force - but it is rarely if at all mentioned as a great problem when Israel extends sovereignty over territory seized from its neighbors and is rewarded by the US, such as with the new embassy; the UK takes Indian Ocean islands from Mauritius for the US military; the US holds parts of Cuba and Syria (with Turkey) against the wishes of those countries and the US created a border across Korea; NATO redrew borders in the Balkans by force; and there is the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the issue of Kashmir. There are some differences, but these examples are at least similar to what Russia is accused of doing. The UK and Portugal eventually had to return their colonies in China, though there is still the issue of Taiwan.
Tens of thousands of people, many anarchists, protested the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle November 30th - December 1st, sometimes called the
Battle of Seattle and
N30. It was a major event of the anti-globalization movement, later overshadowed by the need for anti-war organizing after 9/11. There was a lot of organizing against sweatshops and globalization at UNC-Chapel Hill around then, by groups such as Students for Economic Justice (later called Demand Economic Justice), and some concessions were gained from the administration. The Battle of Seattle also featured things like the black bloc, heavy police repression, bans on protesting, etc. seen in many large protests in the early 2000's.
Chinese leader Jiang Zemin passed away November 30, 2022.
Rosa Parks refused to yield her bus seat December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. Her trial began December 5th and there was a bus boycott for over a year.
According to Wikipedia the Morning Star flag of West Papua (on the island of New Guinea) was first raised December 1, 1961 and this is a traditional day to protest for independence from Indonesia; displaying the flag is harshly punished by Indonesia and people have been sentenced to over a decade in prison. Independence activists declared the Republic of West Papua July 1, 1971.
The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the first and so far only Arab Marxist state to have existed , was founded December 1, 1970. It merged with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) in 1990, creating the Republic of Yemen. There is currently a civil war and armed intervention by other Arab states and the USA and there are still Southern Yemen secessionists.
Tens of thousands of people were killed or injured, along with livestock and other animals and even plants, the night of December 2-3, 1984 in Bhopal, India when gases were released from a pesticide plant at the time owned by Union Carbide India Limited and more recently by the Dow Chemical Company. The land was left contaminated and there are lingering health effects. Beginning February 27, 2012 WikiLeaks posted leaked documents (labelled the Global Intelligence Files) indicating that the intelligence company Stratfor spied on activists for Dow, as well as spying on Occupy Wall Street. It also reveals that Stratfor employees advocated bankrupting and torturing Julian Assange and charging him with crimes in several countries, which is similar to what is happening now (he was charged with a crime in Sweden, is now being held by the UK following years besieged in Ecuador's London embassy, and the US government wants him extradited, which Stratfor knew).
NC Regulator leader Herman or Harmon Husband was born December 3, 1724 in Cecil County, Maryland.
The Troops Out Now Coalition was founded December 3, 2004.
According to Wikipedia, Aztec ruler Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin's successor Cuitlahuac ruled from mid-September 1520 until dying December 4th, possibly of smallpox. He was succeeded by Cuauhtemoc, who survived the war but was ordered executed by Cortes in 1525 while on an expedition far to the south. In late December 1520 a massive Spanish and allied Indian army returned to the Basin of Mexico and defeated the Mexica in August 1521.
Black Panther leader Fred Hampton was killed by the Chicago Police December 4, 1969.
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) declared Acehnese independence from Indonesia December 4, 1976. Following the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami a peace agreement was negotiated, signed August 15, 2005.
Plowshares Number Seven
The first Plowshares direct action disarmament in Europe and 7th in all was carried out December 4, 1983 in West Germany. Carl Kabat, one of the Plowshare Eight defendants from the first action, in Pennsylvania, and Herwig Jantschik, Dr Wolfgang Sternstein, and Karin Vix of Germany cut through a fence at a US Army base in Schwabisch-Gmund, Federal Republic of Germany and damaged a Pershing II missile launcher. The deployment of these American intermediate-range nuclear missiles in West Germany was apparently very unpopular and they no longer exist, thanks to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which Trump withdrew from (Russia and China support the INF Treaty). Kabat left the country while the three Germans were charged with trespassing, attempted sabotage, and destruction of property. The defendants had the option of imprisonment or fines, so Jantschik was imprisoned for 90 days, Vix for 60 days, and Dr Sternstein paid 1800 Deutsche Marks. Similar direct actions are still being carried out. See Swords Into Plowshares: Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, edited by Arthur J Laffin and Anne Montgomery, published in 1987.
Soviet Constitution Day was December 5th from 1936 until 1977, when a new constitution was promulgated (October 7th, the most recent Soviet Constitution Day).
The DPRK's Korean Central New Agency (KCNA) was founded December 5, 1946 (
www.kcna.kp ; with sections in Korean, English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Japanese).
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations united to create the AFL-CIO December 5, 1955.
December 5th is also
World Soil Day, raising awareness about soil erosion, depletion, and the importance of healthy soil for humanity and other species:
www.un.org/en/observances/world-soil-day This year's theme is "Soils: Where Food Begins." Our soil is probably much poorer than it was when the English Lost Colony was founded on Roanoke Island. It isn't good for the soil or other environmental systems that construction in Durham typically involves clearcutting a site and mass grading, often leaving large areas of exposed soil to erode for weeks, months, and even years. It seems like great areas of torn up soil and bedrock, already close to the surface, were left to erode for years along Ellis Road near the Durham Freeway, a hot spot for "development" in recent years, though eroded silt didn't seem very apparent downstream. I've been remiss and need to go see what is going on at 55-Hopson, probably the reason Northeast Creek was opaque yellow downstream at Grandale Road after heavy rain in the summer in between some dry weather.
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is December 7th, marking the 1941 attack. There are allegations of conspiracy on the part of the Roosevelt administration, for example search counterpunch.org or see
Covert Action Magazine. Many, but not all, citizens of Japanese descent and Japanese nationals were later interned in the US and Canada and their property taken (
Wikipedia indicates that other countries were involved as well). The last people were freed in 1946 in the US and 1949 in Canada.
Apollo 17, the last mission of the Apollo program, was December 7 - 19, 1972. Apollo 17 was the last time a human mission left Earth orbit, the only time a Saturn V was launched at night, it was the first and only time a professional geologist went to the Moon, it returned the largest lunar sample, had the most orbits and longest time in lunar orbit, the longest total time doing EVAs on the surface of the Moon, etc. (according to Wikipedia). The crew included Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, Ronald Evans, and five pocket mice. People might soon return to the Moon, and the first not from the US. [The US plans to end the first woman and first person of color to the Moon in the next few years, after the successful first, uncrewed Artemis mission. It could appear that the Apollo program was mainly about domestic and international politics, and now there is it sister Artemis.]
Indonesia invaded newly independent East Timor December 7, 1975, with the complicity of Australia, Belgium, Canada, India, Japan, the UK, the USA, and other countries.
The First Palestinian Intifada began December 9, 1987. There wasn't a single trigger, but on December 8th an Israeli military truck hit Palestinians close to the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza, killing four and injuring seven, and many thought it was retaliation for the killing of an Israeli salesman in Gaza a few days earlier.
The Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish-American War, was signed December 10, 1898. This war is often seen as the beginning of the imperialist phase of US capitalism, when it became one of the great powers, eclipsing the old imperialist powers by 1945. There is a monument commemorating this early imperialist war in Durham.
Environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill occupied an 180' tall coast redwood in California for 738 days, starting December 10, 1997, to save a forest from being clearcut by Pacific Lumber Co. She endured winter storms and company harassment from the air and ground. The tree was named Luna and is thought to have sprouted 1000 years ago.
Human Rights Day is December 10th (
www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day ), marking the UN General Assembly's adoption of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 (
www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html ). December as a whole is
Human Rights Month. The US and its allies like to use "human rights" to sell imperialist wars and policies carried out for economic or geopolitical reasons. In addition, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights goes beyond the rights the US government talks about most prominently, as the Black Alliance for Peace highlights. A UK court ruled that Julian Assange could be extradited to the USA on this day one year, I think even as opposition journalists from the Philippines and Russia were receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for their work.
Hundreds of civilians were killed in El Mozote, El Salvador by the US Army-trained Atlacatl Battalion December 11, 1981. There were other massacres nearby before and after the El Mozote Massacre. This was during the Salvadoran Civil War, but El Mozote was seen as a neutral village.
The DPRK launched its Kwangmyŏngsŏng -3 Unit 2 Earth observation satellite into polar orbit December 11, 2012, making the DPRK one of the few countries able to independently manufacture satellites and place them into orbit. The satellite's name translates as Bright Star or Lodestar. There is tracking information to see it pass overhead at: www.heavens-above.com
December 12, 1954 Israel forced a Syrian Airways Dakota passenger plane to land at Israel's Lydda airport. The four passengers and five crew were held and investigated for two days before being freed. Allegedly Israel wanted hostages to bargain for the release of five Israeli soldiers captured a few days earlier inside Syria while retrieving equipment being used to wiretap Syrian phone lines. This also comes from Donald Neff's Fifty Years of Israel. Similarly European countries forced Bolivian president Evo Morales' plane to land in July 2013, thinking Edward Snowden might be onboard. The USA and EU countries only have a problem when an unfavored country like Belarus does this, though it seems like a much more serious step to stop and search a head of state's flight, the equivalent of Air Force One.
December 11, 1955 paratroops, artillery, and mortar units under Ariel Sharon invaded Syria, killing 56 (including three women), injuring nine, and capturing 30, later exchanged for the Israeli soldiers captured in Syria's Golan Heights. There was speculation that Israel also wanted to provoke a war with Egypt (Syria and Egypt were unified as the United Arab Republic at the time).
The
Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (National Agrarian Bank) on Milan's Piazza Fontana was bombed December 12, 1969, killing 12 and wounding 88; there were other bombings and attempted bombings elsewhere in Italy the same day. Initially more than 80 anarchists were arrested, and late on December 15th anarchist railroad worker Giuseppe Pinelli fell to his death from a fourth-floor window at a police station, which was ultimately ruled an accident. Later fascists were charged for the bombings. There are allegations that intelligence agencies of NATO countries, including the CIA, abetted the bombings to stop massive strikes and keep the Communist Party of Italy (PCI) out of the government. This also relates to NATO's formerly secret terrorist network, called Gladio in Italy. Italy's Years of Lead began in fall 1969 and lasted until the late 80's. The PCI was the largest "Western" communist party and scared the bourgeoisie, but it took a revisionist course and became a prominent example of Eurocommunism. In 1991 it became the social-democratic (or "democratic socialist") Democratic Party of the Left. See: www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/20/gladio-the-story-of-a-conspiracy/ The Ukrainian government wants to involve its people in NATO terrorism and wars of aggression.
There was a military coup in the Republic of Korea December 12, 1979, followed by a bloodier coup beginning May 17, 1980
The Nanking Massacre or Rape of Nanking began December 13, 1937 and continued into January during the Second Sino-Japanese War. At the time Nanking (or Nanjing) was the capital of the Republic of China.
Plowshares Number Two
December 13, 1980 Peter De Mott damaged the USS Florida (SSBN-728), an Ohio-class submarine originally equipped with Trident ballistic nuclear missiles, just before it was launched at the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. DeMott was a member of Jonah House in Baltimore, Maryland and a former seminarian and Vietnam veteran. During the launch ceremony for the USS Baltimore (SSN-704), a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, DeMott came upon a security van left unlocked and with its keys in the ignition, and spontaneously used it to dent the USS Florida's rudder. He was convicted of criminal mischief and criminal trespass and was imprisoned for one year (
Swords Into Plowshares). According to
Wikipedia, the USS Florida launched Tomahawk cruise missiles to disable Libyan air defenses at the start of Obama's 2011 war, the first military action by that doubtlessly very costly submarine or any of its sister ships. For more on DeMott see:
www.commondreams.org/news/2009/02/21/peace-activist-peter-demott-dead-after-fall and
www.ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/committed-life-peter-demott
Republican NC Governor William Woods Holden was impeached December 14, 1870, and convicted March 22, 1871, making him the second governor in US history to be impeached and the first to be removed from office. He was pardoned April 12, 2011 and is so far the only NC governor impeached.
December 14, 1981 Israel's Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law, applying Israeli laws to the Golan Heights, Syrian and disputed Lebanese territory occupied by Israel. This was seen as annexation and condemned even by the Reagan administration, demonstrating how much more pro-Zionist the US government has become. The Trump administration gave US recognition to this March 25, 2019. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem May 14, 2018 might have been recognition of Israel's claim to all of the city and a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 478. The Biden administration hasn't reversed what Trump did, but condemns Russia.
The Dayton Accords were signed December 14, 1995 in Paris, ending the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recently there has been talk in the mainstream media of renewed contention in the Balkan country on the Adriatic Sea, a republic in the former Yugoslavia.
Muntadhar al Zaidi famously threw his shoes at George W Bush December 14, 2008 in Baghdad, among other things saying "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq!"
China's Chang'e 3 spacecraft carried out a soft landing on the Moon December 14, 2013, the first such landing since the USSR's Luna 24 in 1976 and making China the third country to carry out such a lunar landing. A rover, Yutu, was deployed.
US vaccinations against the coronavirus began December 14, 2020.
Bill of Rights Day is December 15th (the US Bill of Rights was ratified December 15, 1791). Durham City and County used to make annual proclamations for December 15th, thanks to a campaign by the Durham Bill of Rights Committee, but that might no longer be done. The DBORDC no longer exists, but there might still be an Orange County BORDC, and there is a national organization (it changed names in 2016):
rightsanddissent.org/news/bill-rights-day-celebrate-mobilize-remember/ Normally there is or was a public reading of the Bill of Rights at Chapel Hill's Peace and Justice Plaza on the 15th.
December 15, 1970 the Soviet space probe Venera 7 (Venus 7) was the first human spacecraft to land on another planet and send telemetry, confirming that our physically similar sister planet is actually a hell of runaway greenhouse warming, sulfuric acid, and crushing atmospheric pressure, not a tropical and watery cloud-covered world. On the other hand, in 2020 phosphine, a chemical produced by earthly life might have been detected in the Venusian cloudtops, possibly indicating that Venus is a life-bearing planet after all. There are arguments that Venus would be a more interesting planet to visit than Mars, or one mission could visit both, getting a gravitational assist on the way to Mars.
The US and UK bombed Iraq December 16 - 19, 1998, calling it Operation Desert Fox. This occurred during the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton. The US attacked Iraqi military and civilian targets off and on throughout the period between the two US-Iraq wars (1991 to 2003), so it could be seen as one long period of war and Clinton laid the groundwork for George W Bush and Obama's war, weakening Iraq's defensive capability and preparing domestic public opinion and the world for renewed war. What future wars are being prepared now?
India seized Goa from Portugal December 17-19, 1961.
Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest outside a government office in Tunisia December 17, 2010, setting in motion the protest movement that overthrew authoritarian President Ben Ali January 14, 2011 and spread to other countries, becoming the Arab Spring. Bouazizi was left comatose and died January 4, 2011. Many others in Tunisia and a few people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Europe set themselves on fire in similar acts of protest in early 2011.
The Cuban 5 political prisoners were all free by December 17, 2014. They had been arrested in 1998 while monitoring anti-Cuban terrorist groups in Florida:
freethefive.org/ The Obama administration released the last of the Cuban 5 as part of its effort to improve relations with Cuba, which Trump worked to undo, but Biden has continued Trump's policies. So-called "doves" in the US government could be hoping for a repeat of the Libyan scenario, in which the Libyan government agreed to US and EU demands in exchange for normalization, but was overthrown at the first opportunity (and Russia and China allowed this to happen with UN approval).
In
Operation Linebacker II the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was heavily bombed (with about the same explosive force as the two nuclear bombs used on Japan) from December 18 - 29, 1972, hitting a hospital, residential areas, dikes, electrical facilities, etc. and killing over one to two thousand civilians just weeks before the Paris Peace Accords were signed to end the Vietnam War (
revcom.us/a/574/american-crime-case-number-34-1972-christmas-bombings-of-north-vietnam-en.html ).
The last Japanese soldier from WW2 (actually Taiwanese) was arrested in Indonesia December 18, 1974, but a Wikipedia article claims others joined communist guerillas in southern Thailand (perhaps this refers to Malaysian guerillas). This might not be true, though in other cases I think surrendered Japanese soldiers did join local national liberation struggles following WW2.
The Moon Treaty was signed December 18, 1979, but not by any of the powers capable of human spaceflight. The Outer Space Treaty was created January 27, 1967 and came into effect October 10th that year.
According to The Long Surrender, by Burke Davis, Walter Williams of Houston was the last veteran of the Civil War, dying December 19, 1959 at age 117. He had served under Confederate General John Hood. The last Federal veteran was Albert Woolson of Duluth, who died about three years earlier. According to Wikipedia, the last known widow of a veteran of the Civil War died August 17, 2008, but someone receiving a Civil War pension was still alive more recently. The last people enslaved prior to Emancipation also probably lived well into the 20th century. Forced prison labor remains legal (forced labor or not, prisons produce most of the cleaning chemicals used by state entities in North Carolina, such as the state parks; visitors can easily look into cleaning closet in the parks), and people are illegally enslaved in the US today.
South Carolina was the first state to secede, December 20, 1860, and the Civil War started a few months later.
George HW Bush attacked Panama December 20, 1989, resulting in hundreds to thousands of civilian deaths, including American civilians and a Spanish journalist. Poor neighborhoods were burned and demolished, thousands were deprived of work, and churches, embassies, unions, and other institutions were violated by searches and seizures (
revcom.us/a/540/american-crime-case-43-the-US-invasion-of-panama-1989-1990-en.html ). The war also allowed the USA to test what were new weapons at the time, including the Humvee, AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, and the F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter.
Portugal restored Macau to Chinese sovereignty December 20, 1999.
The Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice will be Wednesday December 21st in 2022, with the longest night of the year. The Earth is actually closest to the Sun in the Northern Hemisphere's winter.
Thomas Sankara, called Africa's Che Guevara, was president of Burkina Faso from 1983 until he was assassinated October 15, 1987. Sankara was born
December 21, 1949, in the northern town of Yako, in what was then the French colony of Upper Volta. Some of his writings are posted at:
www.marxists.org/archive/sankara/index.htm
Alex Saab was born December 21, 1971 in Barranquilla, Colombia.
The Apollo 8 mission was December 21 - 28, 1968, and was the first Saturn V launch with a crew and the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit and orbit the Moon. The three crew members, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, were the first to visit another celestial body and see the Earth 'rise.' An influential photo taken on the 24th by Anders might have aided the development of environmental protection movements.
The Cambodian-Vietnamese War, in which Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge government of Democratic Kampuchea, began December 21, 1978.
The First Battle of Fort Fisher was December 23-27, 1864.
Christmas is December 25th and it seems strange that Jesus is supposed to be a Capricorn, conventionally set as the period from December 22nd to January 19th. Two thousand years ago the Sun actually was 'in' the ancient constellation Capricornus in late December, but now it is in Sagittarius around the solstice.
Soldiers organized informal Christmas truces during WWI (especially on the Western Front, but also in the East), especially early in the war (1914) and less so in later years. In many cases these fraternizing truces were repressed and there might have been cover ups.
WWI was supposed to be over by Christmas; a war over Serbia became a world war, and today the US elite portrays the potential for war over Ukraine or Taiwan as nothing to worry about. Are they taking the world towards a global conflagration or are they bluffing? Soon women might be required to register for the draft, so they can die for US imperialism as well, assuming it takes a while for WWIII to go nuclear on a large scale or maybe by then autonomous swarms of drone will be WMDs.
Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were executed December 25, 1989
Romanian President and General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party Nicolae Ceaușescu, his wife Elena, Romania's Deputy Prime Minister, and others were captured December 22, 1989. Whatever their revisionism or alleged crimes, the Ceaușescus were barely given a trial before being executed by firing squad on the 25th (which is apparently also Romania's date for Christmas). The Romanian Communist Party vanished, but former members continued to run Romania, as happened elsewhere in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Apparently the Ceaușescus were the last people killed before Romania abolished the death penalty.
Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics December 25, 1991, one of the last events after years of active destruction and dismantling, not passive, natural, and inevitable "collapse" of the Soviet socialist project.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched December 25, 2021 from the EU's equatorial spaceport in French Guiana, in eastern South America.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched from French Guiana in South America December 25, 2021, and placed at the distant Earth-Sun Lagrange Point L2. It is often said that unlike the HST, the JWST can't be reached if there is a problem and apparently it isn't designed for refurbishing, but that shows how little progress there has been in human spaceflight since Apollo, beyond living in space stations orbiting close to the Earth. Decades ago there was talking of sending humans to Mars by now, but today the USA is having trouble even getting back to the Moon. There has been talk of privately owned spacecraft going to refurbish the HST, in the absence of the Space Shuttle.
Sen Katayama, co-founder of the Japanese Communist Party and an official in the Comintern, was born December 26, 1859. He was also one of the first members of the CPUSA and was also active in Canada and Mexico; he is buried in Moscow's Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Some of his writings are available at
www.marxists.org/archive/katayama/index.htm and there is a book about his legacy at
redstarpublishers.org
December 26, 1862, following the Dakota War, 38 Dakota or Dakota Sioux were hung, the largest mass execution in US history. 303 Dakota were convicted of murder or rape, some in trials lasting less than 5 minutes, and without defense attorneys, but Lincoln commuted the sentences of 264 prisoners and one more received a reprieve. They were buried in a mass grave, possibly after skin was taken from some of the bodies. Graverobbers later stole bodies for anatomy specimens. Except for a group that helped the American settlers, the rest of the Dakota lost their reservation and were exiled from Minnesota over the next few months, and many died during the journey. Any Dakota found in Minnesota could be killed, with the offer of a $25 dollar bounty. The unrelated Ho-chunk tribe was also expelled. Nonetheless some Dakota remained or returned 20 years later.
Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky was born November 23 or 24 in what is now Poltava, Ukraine. He was appointed as the USSR's ambassador to Spain but passed away December 26, 1933 in France. In 1932 he represented the USSR at the League of Nations.
American entomologist E.O. Wilson, known for his work on ants, sociobiology, island biogeography, biodiversity, and the online Encyclopedia of Life, though he was also condemned by the PLP, died December 26, 2021. He was born June 10, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama.
The great Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami / Boxing Day Tsunami/ Sumatra/Andaman Earthquake was December 26, 2004 off northern Sumatra, Indonesia, close to Aceh.
Hinton Rowan Helper was born December 27, 1829 near Mocksville, North Carolina and is known for his 1857 book The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It, arguing that slavery and the planter aristocracy based on it were hindering the South's material progress, harming poorer whites, and causing deforestation. Copies were distributed by the Republican Party and it was banned in SSouthern states and burned. Not that long ago a copy from something like 1859 could be checked out from Durham's Main Library like any other loanable book. Starting several years ago the Library gets rid of books after a while, even if they are in good condition and still get checked out, while in other cases books were lost, and misshevelling [misshelving] seemed common then if not now.
Noel Ignatiev (Noel Saul Ignatin), known for Race Traitor, etc. was born December 27, 1940 in Philadelphia, and passed away November 9, 2018 in Tucson.
The USSR intervened in Afghanistan December 27, 1979, killing President Hafizullah Amin, accused of conspiring with the CIA, and installing Babrak Karmal. The Afghan government had previously requested additional Soviet military support, but obviously not the overthrow of the Khalq faction of the People's Democractic Party of Afghanistan, in favor of Karmal's Parcham faction. The US and other countries were materially supporting Afghan Islamists before December 1979, ultimately leading to the creation of al-Qaida, the Taliban, and the Afghan branch of ISIS, and fueling the civil wars that destroyed Afghanistan. Choosing to get involved in Afghanistan was also disastrous for the USSR. During this period the US, UK, China, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt aided anti-government forces, often brutal Islamic fundamentalist warlords, though there were also Maoists fighting.
Martian meteorite ALH84001 was found December 27, 1984 in the Allan Hills West Ice Field in Antarctica and August 6, 1996 it was announced that possible evidence of past Martian life had been found. President Bill Clinton made a televised statement August 7th.
The anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, itself in danger, is December 28th.
The Wounded Knee Massacre was December 29, 1890 in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. US soldiers went to disarm a camp of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota and it became a massacre of 300 men, women, and children, with an additional 51 wounded, some fatally. 25 soldiers were killed and 39 wounded, some fatally. Many of the soldiers subsequently received the Medal of Honor.
December 29, 2008 a Free Gaza ship carrying relief supplies, doctors, journalists, and others, including former Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney was intercepted by the Israeli navy. Free Gaza says their ship was in international waters when shots were fired and it was rammed after refusing to turn back. Another Free Gaza ship was intercepted January 15th.
Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging by the US-installed government December 30, 2006, which was the beginning of Eid ul-Adha and the timing was criticized. Apparently he wanted to be executed by firing squad. The fairness of the trial was questionable and he was insulted before the execution, as shown on a cellphone video; there were allegations that the execution was done poorly and that he was stabbed after death. His body was buried the next day in his hometown of Tikrit; allegedly his body was removed and hidden at some point, and the tomb has been destroyed.
The groundbreaking ironclad USS Monitor sank 16 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras during a storm December 31, 1862. Sixteen crew members were killed while 47 were rescued by the USS Rhode Island, which had been towing the Monitor to the southeast coast of NC. I think I read that the ship had a cat, and I wonder if its remains were found (as were human remains) when the turret was salvaged. I think it was said to be bad luck, and cruel, to intentionally kill a cat at sea. Parts of the ship are on display at the Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia. The first US national marine sanctuary was established January 30, 1975, to protect the wreck site.
Israel attacked Gaza from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009 (Operation Cast Lead), killing or displacing thousands of Palestinians, mostly civilians, while 10 Israeli soldiers were killed, four by friendly fire. Rockets fired by various armed resistance groups killed three Israeli civilians and injured or scared hundreds. Israel was accused of using white phosphorus as a chemical weapon (the media prefers to talk about white phosphorus use as a weapon when it can be attributed to US government enemies), as well as depleted uranium, and birth defects and blood cancer became more common after the war. Palestinian civilians were used as human shields, Israeli soldiers robbed homes, etc. though there was some prosecution in Israel later. Agricultural, fisheries, humanitarian aid facilities, universities, schools, mosques, hospitals, and civilian shelters were damaged or destroyed, including the UN Relief and Works Agency headquarters in Gaza City where tons of food, medicine, and fuel were stored (the building was hit by white phosphorus munitions, and the chemical fires could not be extinguished). As in Yemen today, much of this was done with American weapons, which supposedly are not to be used to commit war crimes. The Gaza War was followed by a joint Israeli and Egyptian blockade.
During this time, Democratic Party House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "We support Israel, very strongly as a national policy, because it is in our national interest to do so" (and the Democratic Party still has or recently had this in its platform, as well as calls for an "undivided" Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, giving Israel state of the art weapons, and condemnation of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement:
democrats.org/about/party-platform/#middle-east (an old link). On the way to recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, Trump moved the US embassy there, with Democratic support, and Biden hasn't attempted to go back to the previous international "norm." In June 2010 talkative Democratic Party Senate leader Chuck Schumer endorsed Israel's policy of collective punishment, saying "...since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see that's not the way to go, makes sense." He also said Hamas was waging "total war." Pelosi and Schumer had both long advocated moving the US embassy in Israel to disputed Jerusalem, and then Trump did it for them. In the summer of 2008 and again in 2013 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Obama went to southern Israel and said war is justified over simple rockets fired from Gaza, while doing little to end the suffering of the Palestinian people and Trump was even less interested in appearing even-handed. Biden doesn't seem interested in even appearing to be publicly working for an agreement between Israel and occupied Palestine. (
revcom.us/a/574/american-crime-case-30-us-armed-backed-massacre-in-gaza-en.html and
Wikipedia).
The anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, itself in danger from Trump and Republicans, but also from Democrats, is December 28th.
The Communist Party of Germany's founding congress was December 31, 1918 to January 1, 1919 in Berlin.
Cuban president Fulgencio Batista fled the country early on January 1, 1959, following the December 31st Battle of Santa Clara. There is analysis of the nature of the Cuban revolution at ml-review.ca/aml/index/subject.html but some of the debate seems to be be missing; it might have been in the related International Struggle Marxist-Leninist.
According to Wikipedia, the Soviet supersonic airliner Tupolev Tu-144 first flew December 31, 1968, though that flight wasn't at supersonic speeds. Its first flight, first supersonic flight, and operational use all preceded the Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde, the only other supersonic airliner. There were technical and economic problems, so the Tu-144 was last used to transport passengers in the summer of 1978. Use for mail and research, including by NASA, continued until 1999. The Concorde was retired in 2003, due to financial and environmental issues.
According to Wikipedia, Occupy Wall Street began in New York City's Zuccotti Park September17, 2011, and the protesters were forcefully removed later that year, especially November 11th and December 31st. The Federal government under Obama and Biden on at least spied on the national Occupy movement, and has been accused of actively opposing it. There were encampments in Chapel Hill, but I think Occupy Durham took the form of mass meetings at a plaza downtown rather than continuous occupation.
China announced the detection of what became known as the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, cause of COVID-19 December 31, 2019.
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was founded at a small unity meeting January 1, 1965 and by 1978 was strong enough to carry out a revolution, though the uprising was the result of government repression.
The asteroid Ceres was discovered January 1, 1801 by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. 1 Ceres is the first and largest asteroid yet found by astronomers, the largest member of the Asteroid Belt, and the closest dwarf planet. It is geologically active and potentially could support life or once did, and a space colony could be established on Ceres some day.
Kwanzaa is December 26th to January 1st.
There is a tradition of New Year's Day hikes at NC State Parks. There also seems to be a tradition of viewing the sunrise and visiting temples on New Year's Day in Japan, among other traditional observances. Ōmisoka (大晦日) or ōtsugomori (大晦) is at the end of the year, now December 31st.
Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia January 1, 1993
January 1, 2019 NASA's New Horizons probe executed a flyby of a Kuiper Belt object. The object was found using the HST and was called Ultima Thule at the time of the flyby, as a result of public input, but is now called 486958 Arrokoth, a sky-related word from the Powhatan language of coastal Virginia. New Horizons is expected to continue working into the 2030's or even longer as it heads into the outer reaches of the Solar System. The icy outer reaches of the solar system might extend far out into space, and maybe it isn't far from there to the edges of the next nearest star systems.
The USSR launched Luna 1, the first spacecraft to approach the Moon and the first in a heliocentric orbit, January 2, 1958. The next year Luna 2 became the first spacecraft to land on the Moon or any celestial body, and Luna 3, launched October 4, 1959, was the first spacecraft to image the lunar far side.
The Workers' Party of Tunisia was founded January 3, 1986 as the Communist Party of the Workers of Tunisia or PCOT (Parti communiste des ouvriers de Tunisie): albadil.info
China's Chang'e 4 was the first spacecraft to carry out a soft landing on the lunar far side and deployed a rover, Yutu-2. Besides scientific instruments, the lander also carried a Lunar Micro Ecosystem experiment. The mission was launched December 7, 2018 and the landing was January 3, 2019. This mission was the first time the US and Chinese space programs were allowed to cooperate, following the April 2011 Wolf Amendment. Cooperation is probably even less likely with Obama's "Pivot to Asia" and Trump-Biden warmongering.
The assassination of Qassem Soleimani and Trump's destabilization of the Middle East
A US drone strike killed Iranian major general Qassem Soleimani, Abd Mahdi al-Muhandis of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, and others outside the Baghdad International Airport early on January 3rd. In assassinating Iranian and Iraqi officials, with whom the US is not in a declared war, in Iraq, without consulting other parties, the Trump administration probably violated international law, agreements with Iraq, and US law. Subsequently Trump threatened to attack Iran's cultural heritage, which would most likely be a war crime, similar to actions by IS, the Taliban, Nazi Germany, and the Spanish conquistadors, though it took a while for the media to admit the magnitude of what Trump said.
Issac Newton [Isaac] was born January 4, 1643 under the Gregorian calendar.
Jewish Zionist terrorist group Irgun Zvai Leumi carried out a truck bombing outside the city hall in Jaffa January 4, 1948 killing 26 and injuring about 100 civilians. The driver wore a uniform of the British army, the occupiers of Palestine at the time.
Alexander Dubček became first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia January 5, 1968, which Wikipedia labels the beginning of what is often called the "Prague Spring."
Eris, the most massive dwarf planet, was discovered January 5, 2005, and its discovery is one reason Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet (Pluto is slightly larger than Eris, but less massive).
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or Comecon was founded at a conference of Eastern European countries in Moscow January 5-8, 1949 and eventually involved countries around the world; for example Mongolia, Cuba, and Vietnam were full members and Finland, Iraq, Mexico, Nicaragua, Ethiopia and South Yemen were observers.
The Khmer Rouge declared their state of Democratic Kampuchea with the proclamation of a new constitution January 5, 1976.
There was a pro-Trump attempted "coup," "insurrection," or riot at the US Capitol January 6, 2021, supposedly heavily armed, seeking to and able to overthrow the elected government, yet the only person directly killed in the violence was unarmed rioter Ashli Babbit, shot by a police officer. Other deaths have been included in the death toll that day, due to heart disease, drug overdose, stroke, and suicide. Three Trump supporters, not necessarily involved in the fighting, died, one officer had a stroke the next day, and four officers committed suicide, two that January and two in July. Republican control of the House might result in investigation into whether there was a lapse that allowed the rioters to reach the Capitol.
Around January 6th is also Christian Twelfth Day/Epiphany/Theophany/Three Kings' Day/Little Christmas, in some cases with celebration beginning on the eve before. The following Monday is Plough Monday.
Stephen Hawking was born January 8, 1942.
Kim Jong-un was born January 8, 1982 (this is the DPRK's official date while other countries dispute the year).
Iran fired ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq January 8, 2020 in retaliation for the assasination of Qassem Soleimani and others a few days earlier.
Conservationist Aldo Leopold was born January 11, 1887 in Burlington, Iowa. He is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac, published posthumously in 1949. For more information, see: www.aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold/
Following US calls for full-spectrum dominance, including in space, and missile shields, China used a missile to destroy one of its old weather satellites January 11, 2007. The Dong Neng-3 missile, possibly an anti-satellite weapon, was tested February 5, 2008. More recently Russia and India have also tested anti-satellite weapons. The USSR and the USA worked on such weapons throughout the Cold War, and the first successful interception seems to have been by the USSR in February 1970. The US tested anti-satellite missiles fired from a modified F-15 fighter in 1984-85.
Warfare in space could produce debris that would prevent human use of space long-term and anti-ballistic missile weapons make a nuclear war more likely. One country would think it had an edge and could escape retaliation by using nuclear weapons first, so other countries would be more likely to use their weapons, under the idea of 'use them or lose them.'
The genome of the coronavirus was published January 11, 2020.
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was born January 12, 1907. He led the early Soviet space program to successes such as putting Sputnik I and Yuri Gagarin into orbit, and sending the first spacecraft to the Moon (though it was not intended to be a soft landing). His name was hidden, to avoid assassination attempts by the US government, until after his death on January 14, 1966. He was honored with the placement of his ashes in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
Among the Iranian scientists probably assassinated by Israel, the USA, or Arab countries during the Bush and Obama years, Ardeshir Hosseinpour might have been murdered or died in an accident January 15, 2007, Masoud Alimohammadi was killed January 12, 2010, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed January 11, 2012, and in January 2015 an assassination attempt was foiled.
German naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian died January 13, 1717 in Amsterdam. She was born April 2, 1647 in Frankfort, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Explorer 1, the USA's first satellite, was launched February l, 1958.
The Charonne Massacre was February 8, 1962 at a Paris Metro station, where the police killed nine trade unionists demonstrating against a French terrorist group during the Algerian War.
Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping passed away February 19, 1997. He was born August 22, 1904. His predecessor, Hua Guofeng, was born February 16, 1921 and passed away August 20, 2008.
According to the website Prisoner Solidarity, Tsutomu Shirosaki might be released from prison in Japan February 20, 2027: prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/tsutomu-shirosaki
The Biden administration first bombed targets in Syria February 25, 2021.
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