Susan Price (2021-04-22). Philippines: 'Duterte resign!' . greenleft.org.au There are growing calls for Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte to resign over his government's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, corruption and brutality, reports Susan Price.

Sophia Tareen (2021-04-22). Emmett Till was the first George Floyd. peoplesworld.org CHICAGO (AP)—A Black Chicago teen's lynching in 1955 galvanized the Civil Rights Movement. A Black Minneapolis man's killing by police last year propelled a worldwide call for racial justice and ending police brutality. The murders of Emmett Till and George Floyd were separated by more than six decades, contrasting circumstances and countless protests, but their …

Anonymous007 (2021-04-22). IKE Cyber Warfare Tool Entered U.S. Cyber Command. southfront.org Click to see full-size image | A critical cyber tool — Project Ike was officially delivered to US Cyber Command, after initially being developed by DARPA. | Project Ike is a prototyping effort that got its start under the name Plan X in 2013. After DARPA, it was moved to the Pentagon's Strategic Capabilities Office in July 2019 with an award to contractor Two Six Labs for $95 million dollars. | In early April 2021, the program finally moved under the Joint Cyber Co…

MISES (2021-04-22). Polarization In Washington Is Forcing Politicians To Decentralize — OpEd. eurasiareview.com By José Niño* | Can political polarization be used for good? | The average political commentator often argues that unity is the highest virtue for any polity. Polarization is constantly lamented and is perceived as a sign of a deteriorating political environment. In fairness, a polarized political climate is not exactly hospitable toward productive political discourse. Against the backdrop of a divided culture, politics tends to to devolve into performance art and cheap renditions of political theater. | At the same time, polarization is not the end of the world. As a matter of fact, polarization in Washington…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-04-22). West Asian countries lead in global execution list, says Amnesty report. peoplesdispatch.org A scathing new report released by international human rights organization Amnesty International has revealed that countries in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region carried out the highest number of death penalties in 2020, reported Associated Press yesterday, April 21. The Amnesty report also stated that four countries in the MENA region, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, carried out an overwhelming 88% of all known executions worldwide last year. | According to the report, Iran executed 246 people, Egypt 107, Iraq 45, and Saudi Arabia 27, on a wide range of "vague and overly broad terror-related and othe…

Moderator (2021-04-21). The Director of National Intelligence's Hypocritical Annual Threat Assessment. scheerpost.com DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando] By Maj. Danny Sjursen / AntiWar Make no mistake: much policy indecency is permitted and enabled by vacuously vague bureaucratic reports peddling in platitudes. For further evidence bolstering this increasingly open-and-shut case, see Exhibit number 3,472, or so: last week's release of the Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community — the latest… |

Dan Cohen (2021-04-21). Xinjiang Native Speaks Out: 'Western Media Jeopardizing Uyghurs' Interests'. orinocotribune.com Dan Cohen speaks with Gordon Gao, an ethnic minority and native of Xinjiang native on the realities of life in Xinjiang, Western media coverage and US-China tensions. | WASHINGTON — Dan Cohen speaks with Gordon Gao, Director of Strategic Research at Tsinghua University Endowment Fund in Beijing and a native of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Gao discusses growing up as a Mongolian ethnic minority in XUAR, and how the propaganda war against China hurts Uyghur interests, but will ultimately backfire on the United States. Gao and Coden also discuss the U.S.-China artificial intelligence…

Dan Cohen (2021-04-21). Xinjiang Native Speaks Out: "Western Media Jeopardizing Uyghurs Interests" orinocotribune.com Dan Cohen speaks with Gordon Gao, an ethnic minority and native of Xinjiang native on the realities of life in Xinjiang, Western media coverage and US-China tensions. | WASHINGTON — Dan Cohen speaks with Gordon Gao, Director of Strategic Research at Tsinghua University Endowment Fund in Beijing and a native of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Gao discusses growing up as a Mongolian ethnic minority in XUAR, and how the propaganda war against China hurts Uyghur interests, but will ultimately backfire on the United States. Gao and Coden also discuss the U.S.-China artificial intelligence…

Anonymous103 (2021-04-21). Mixed Sight: New Zealand, the Five Eyes and China. southfront.org U.S. Air Force photo by SrA Michael Mathews | Written by Dr. Binoy Kampmark. | The Five Eyes arrangement between the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has always resembled a segregated, clandestine club. Focused on the sharing of intelligence between countries of supposedly like mind, it has shown that even its own citizens cannot be guaranteed protection from the zeal of surveillance. | In recent years, the club has become a font of other intentions, nudging beyond the group's original remit.

Staff (2021-04-21). Historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad: Policing in U.S. Was Built on Racism & Should Be Put on Trial. democracynow.org A Minnesota jury's conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin on three counts for murdering George Floyd does not go far enough in dismantling police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, says historian and author Khalil Gibran Muhammad. "We know that while the prosecution was performing in such a way to make the case that Derek Chauvin was a rogue actor, the truth is that policing should have been on trial in that case," Muhammad says. "We don't have a mechanism in our current system of laws in the way that we treat individual offenses to have that accountability and justice delivered." Muhammad also l…

Editor2 (2021-04-21). Biden isn't Ending the Afghanistan War, he's Privatizing it: Special Forces, Pentagon Contractors, Intelligence Operatives will Remain. orinocotribune.com By Jeremy Kuzmarov — Apr 16, 2021 | Over 18,000 Pentagon contractors remain in Afghanistan, while official troops number 2,500. Joe Biden will withdraw this smaller group of soldiers while leaving behind US Special Forces, mercenaries, and intelligence operatives — privatizing and downscaling the war, but not ending it. | On April 14, President Joe Biden announced that he would end the U.S.'s longest war and withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan on the 20th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. | Over 6,000 NATO troops will also be withdrawn by that time. | "War in Afghanistan was…

Anonymous103 (2021-04-21). English Voiceover Needed. Take Your Chance! southfront.org Illustrative image | Take your chance! Join SouthFront Team | SouthFront: Analysis&Intelligence unites volunteers and specialists from all over the world and you can be the next to join our ranks. | We are looking for English language voiceover artists of any age, gender or nationality. If you have a wide experience or you wish to improve your skills join our team. | SouthFront is committed to the freedom of speech and the principles of independence, valuableness of different but confident points of views. Our…

Anonymous007 (2021-04-21). U.S. Falling Behind China And Russia In Terms Of Nuclear Arsenal: STRATCOM. southfront.org Click to see full-size image | The Chinese nuclear capability is improving at an incredible pace, and could soon be useable in actual conflict, Adm. Charles Richard, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command warned. | He told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he had just ordered all briefs on Beijing's nuclear weapons contain no intelligence information vetted more than one month earlier "because it's probably out of date" that quickly. | Richard testified that China is capable of accurately deployi…

Staff (2021-04-21). Republicans Have Introduced 81 Anti-Protest Laws in 34 States Just This Year. truthout.org As protesters have rallied across the U.S. over the past year against police-perpetrated violence and brutality, Republicans in state legislatures have been busy cooking up anti-protest laws. Reporting has found that, just in the 2021 legislative session, Republicans This is double the number of anti-protest laws that have been f…

VINS (2021-04-21). Report Documents Governments' Use of COVID-19 to Impose Authoritarian Policies. projectcensored.org A January 2021 report by the American Friends Service Committee documents how local and state governments arounds the world have implemented "extreme emergency measures under the cover of responding to…

subMedia (2021-04-21). System Fail # 8: The Ghosts of Democracy. dissidentvoice.org Discussion about sexual assault (including against minors), torture; scenes of police brutality, murder. In this episode, Dee Dos takes a look at recent developments in the social war in Greece, including the COVID-19 lockdown, the #MeToo movement and the hunger strike waged by 17th of November member Dimitris Koufontinas. We also include an interview with …

teleSUR (2021-04-21). US: Ohio Rejects Police Brutality After Black Teen's Murder. telesurenglish.net U.S. citizens on Tuesday night took to the streets against police brutality after 15-year-old teenager Ma'Khia Bryant was shot and killed by an officer in Columbus city, Ohio. | RELATED: | Protesters marched to Ohio's Capitol with signs that read "The whole damn system is guilty as hell" and "Police brutality is white supremacy. End both." | "So far, details of the African-Descendent girl's murder remain unclear. Authorities are review…

Clare Corbould (2021-04-21). Relief at Derek Chauvin conviction a sign of long history of police brutality. nationofchange.org "You were told, for example, that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big […] [but] the truth of the matter is—that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr Chauvin's heart was too small."

Middle East Monitor (2021-04-21). Israeli Intelligence Chiefs Assess that Biden, Iran will Rejoin Nuclear Deal; Netanyahu wants to Stop it. juancole.com By Motasem A Dalloul | — After two weeks of deliberations in Vienna about reactivating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Monday that, "There is a real goodwill on both parts to reach an agreement." He pointed out that the …

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2021-04-21). Privacy Champions Urge Passage of 'Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale' Act. commondreams.org "Intelligence and law enforcement agencies must come to understand that the American people are off limits to warrantless mass surveillance, no matter how it is done." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/cell_phone_data.jpg …

_____ (2021-04-21). USA: UN Experts Call for President Biden to End Death Penalty. strategic-culture.org UN human rights experts* have called on President Biden to do everything in his power to end executions in the United States, at both the federal and state level. | "The death penalty is an abhorrent practice. It serves no deterrent value and cannot be reconciled with the right to life," said the experts. | "Despite retentionist States' pretence that capital punishment can be implemented in a 'humane' fashion, executions have repeatedly resulted in degrading spectacles. The death penalty is an inherently flawed form of punishment which disproportionately impacts African-Americans and people living in poverty," th…

Charlie Hogle (2021-04-20). The Public Should Have Access to the Surveillance Court's Opinions. aclu.org For decades, a special court—the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or "FISC"—has issued secret legal opinions authorizing the U.S. government to conduct sweeping programs of electronic surveillance. These opinions have had a profound impact on Americans' rights to privacy, free expression, and free association. But many of them are entirely hidden from public view. | Secret law undermines democracy and the legitimacy of the judicial system—especially when the law being withheld from the public affects the rights of millions of people. So today, the ACLU is asking the Supreme Court to o…

Staff (2021-04-20). Police Killed John Thompson's Friend Philando Castile. Now He Is a Lawmaker Fighting Racist Policing. democracynow.org We look at the long history of police killings of Black men during traffic stops in Minnesota with state Representative John Thompson, a community activist who was elected last year and has attended protests demanding justice for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality. His friend Philando Castile was killed by police during a 2016 traffic stop in a suburb of St. Paul. "We have every right to be angry, we have every right to be mad, and we have every right to use our voices," Thompson says. "We have a problem here in this state with policing." Thompson is part of the People of Color and Indigenous Cauc…

_____ (2021-04-20). 'Western Media Jeopardizing Uyghurs Interests'. popularresistance.org Dan Cohen speaks with Gordon Gao, Director of Strategic Research at Tsinghua University Endowment Fund in Beijing and a native of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Gao discusses growing up as a Mongolian ethnic minority in XUAR, and how the propaganda war against China hurts Uyghur interests, but will ultimately backfire on the United States. Gao and Coden also discuss the U.S.-China artificial intelligence arms race as well as the comparative strengths of the two countries.

Anonymous765 (2021-04-20). Locations Of US Carrier Strike Groups — April 20, 2021. southfront.org This is the newest update of the 'U.S. Carrier Strike Groups Locations Map' exclusive series showing the approximate locations of U.S. Carrier Strike Groups. SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence tracks locations of U.S. aircraft carriers using the available open-source information. No classified information was used in production of the map. | click to see the full-size image | Carrier strike group (CSG) is an operational formation of the United States Navy. It is centered on an aircraft carrier and a carrier ai…

RT (2021-04-20). Judge says Maxine Waters comments about Chauvin could get case thrown out on appeal, but denies motion for mistrial. rt.com Rep. Maxine Waters' public calls for protests and 'confrontation' in the event Derek Chauvin is acquitted could bolster an appeal that gets his case thrown out, the judge said, though refused to declare a mistrial. | Soon after delivering lengthy closing arguments on Monday, Chauvin's lead defense attorney Eric Nelson requested a mistrial, citing media coverage of the trial that he said was unavoidable and what he deemed inflammatory and "threatening" remarks from the California Democrat over the weekend. During a visit to Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Waters encouraged anti-police brutality activists to step up…

Fight Back (2021-04-20). Large protest at U of MN demands justice for Daunte Wright. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Black Student Union held a protest on the University of Minnesota campus, April 17, to demand justice for Daunte Wright, to call for community control of the campus police (UMPD), and to speak out against the recent deployment of the UMPD to brutalize protesters in Brooklyn Center. About 1000 students were in attendance, marking the largest on-campus demonstration in recent history. Speakers included students and community members who have experienced brutality at the hands of the National Guard this week while out in the streets demanding justice…

RFE RL (2021-04-20). Amid A Czech Spy Scandal, A Meltdown Of Moscow's Atomic Ambitions? — Analysis. eurasiareview.com By Mike Eckel* | ( Now, a snowballing spy scandal in the Czech Republic, involving a pair of 7-year-old explosions and Russia's military intelligence agency, threatens to pull the plug on one of Rosatom's higher-profile i…

Staff (2021-04-19). Meet Cariol Horne, Black Police Officer Fired After Stopping Fellow Cop's Assault on Handcuffed Man. democracynow.org Amid nationwide protests over police abuse, we speak with Cariol Horne, the Buffalo police officer whom a New York court has just vindicated for stopping a fellow cop from choking a handcuffed Black man during an arrest. In 2006, Horne, who is Black, saw a white officer repeatedly punching the man in the face before putting him in a chokehold. After Horne heard the man say "I can't breathe," she intervened by grabbing the officer's arm. Horne was sanctioned by the Buffalo Police Department, reassigned, then fired in 2008, just months before she was eligible to receive her full pension. A new ruling makes her elig…

Staff (2021-04-19). Cops Have Brutalized Chicago's Latinx Community for Decades; Adam Toledo, 13, Is the Latest Victim. democracynow.org As protests continue in Chicago and nationwide over the police killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, we get an update from community activist and independent journalist Mateo Zapata, who says, "People in Chicago are just tired of seeing Black and Brown youth murdered by police." Released bodycam video showed Adam had his hands up in the air when he was shot by an officer. We also speak with Rutgers professor Lilia Fernández, who studies Latino Chicago history and says police brutality toward this community is "not a new phenomenon" and goes back many decades. "Adam Toledo would not be dead today if he were white, i…

John Feffer (2021-04-19). The Spread of Global Hate. counterpunch.org One insidious way to torture the detainees at Guantanamo was to blast music at them at all hours. The mixtape, which included everything from Metallica to the Meow Mix jingle, was intended to disorient the captives and impress upon them the futility of resistance. It worked: this soundtrack from hell did indeed break several inmates.

Susan Price (2021-04-19). India: What we can learn from the farmers' protests. greenleft.org.au The Indian farmers movement has come to signify a democratic resistance to crony capitalism, communalism and authoritarianism, writes Ruchira Talukdar.

sputniknews (2021-04-19). Video: Balaclava-Clad Madonna Says 'Mandatory' Gun Control is the 'New Vaccination'. sputniknews.com As the US observes a rise in mass shootings and reports of police brutality, conversations on US gun control, the Second Amendment right to bear arms and related gun ownership laws – such as background checks – have also become hot topics amongst Americans.

Staff (2021-04-19). Intelligence forces seize weapons consignment SW Iran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 19 (MNA) — Iranian intelligence forces seized a consignment of weapons at Khuzestan province borders.

_____ (2021-04-19). Hidden Russiagate Docs Expose More Misconduct, Evidentiary Holes: Ex-Investigator. strategic-culture.org Exclusive: Kash Patel, a former Russiagate investigator on the House Intel Committee and senior White House official, says US intelligence leaders blocked the release of documents that expose more malpractice and critical evidentiary holes in their claims of sweeping "Russian interference." Patel also singles out the FBI's "outrageous" reliance on Crowdstrike, and the burying of testimony that the firm had no concrete evidence.

_____ (2021-04-19). Learning From the Espionage Malpractice Behind the Steele Dossier. strategic-culture.org Mistakes like relying on Steele and his atrocious reporting must not be repeated | By Daniel N. HOFFMAN | Recently declassified notes of an FBI meeting in 2017 with former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele and his Orbis Business Intelligence partner Christopher Burrows add to the growing mountain of evidence discrediting Mr. Steele's infamous dossier — a virulent, self-injected virus in the U.S. political process. | According to the FBI, Mr. Steele said it was Fiona Hill, senior director for European and Russian affairs on the Trump White House's National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, who introd…

Shabbir H. Kazmi (2021-04-19). US Intelligence Agencies Playing Mantra Orchestrated By Military Complexes — OpEd. eurasiareview.com I have often raised this point that the US foreign policy is driven by 'military complexes'. The survival of these conglomerates is dependent on internal conflicts and proxy wars, often created and proliferated by the US intelligence agencies. | If presence of weapons of mass destructions in Iraq was the biggest joke of the century, Iran getting ready to attack United States is another point to laugh. If you don't agree with me read the highlights of 'The Annual Threat Assessment Report'. | According to The Annual Threat Assessment Report — 2021 prepared by the office of the US Director of National Intel…

Eurasia Review (2021-04-19). Combining News Media And AI To Rapidly Identify Flooded Buildings. eurasiareview.com Artificial intelligence (AI) has sped up the process of detecting flooded buildings immediately after a large-scale flood, allowing emergency personnel to direct their efforts efficiently. Now, a research group from Tohoku University has created a machine learning (ML) model that uses news media photos to identify flooded buildings accurately within 24 hours of the disaster. | Their research was published in the journal Remote Sensing. | "Our model demonstrates how the rapid reporting of news media can speed up and increase the accuracy of damage mapping activities, accelerating disaster relief and response de…