Inside Stories – altnews.org

1 in 3 Big Defense Contractors Profit from US Prisoner Suffering

February 14, 2022February 15, 2022 Alan Macleod 0 Comments Daily Digest, defense contractors, Foreign Affairs, Inside Stories, military industrial complex, National, prison-industrial complex, slave labor, Top Story, United States

WASHINGTON – America’s largest arms companies are increasingly finding lucrative new ways of profiting from the prison industrial complex; in many cases, weapons of war are directly manufactured using coerced prison labor. A new MintPress News study of the 100 largest private Defense Department contractors found that 37% of them were also profiting from incarcerated Americans, either in prisons and jails, or in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) camps. This proportion rose to 16 of the top 25 largest arms manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman. The complete list of top corporations profiting from mass incarceration, displayed in order of value of Department of Defense contracts received, is as follows: Lockheed Martin Raytheon General Dynamics Northrop Grumman BAE Systems L3Harris Technologies General Electric Health Net Federal Services Atlantic Diving Supply Leidos Holdings, Inc. McKesson Corp. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding AmerisourceBergen Corp. Leonardo S.p.A. Textron Inc. AECOM CACI International Jacobs Engineering Group Honeywell International The Walsh Group Ltd. Hensel Phelps Construction Co Express Scripts Inc.

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MintPress Study: NY Times, Washington Post Driving US to War with Russia Over Ukraine

February 4, 2022February 5, 2022 Alan Macleod 0 Comments Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Inside Stories, National, News, Top Story

WASHINGTON – Amid tough talk from European and American leaders, a new MintPress study of our nation’s most influential media outlets reveals that it is the press that is driving the charge towards war with Russia over Ukraine. Ninety percent of recent opinion articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal have taken a hawkish view on conflict, with anti-war voices few and far between. Opinion columns have overwhelmingly expressed support for sending U.S. weapons and troops to the region. Russia has universally been presented as the aggressor in this dispute, with media glossing over NATO’s role in amping tensions while barely mentioning the U.S. collaboration with Neo-Nazi elements within the Ukrainian ruling coalition. Periodic hysteria Western media and governments have expressed alarm over a suspected buildup of Russian military forces close to its over-1200-mile border with Ukraine. There are reportedly almost 100,000 troops in that vicinity, causing President Joe Biden to warn that this is “the most consequential thing that’s happened in the world in terms of war and peace since World War II.” Yet this is far from the first media panic over a supposedly imminent Russian invasion. In fact, warning of

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Revolutionary Front Seizes Haiti’s Largest Fuel Terminal as US Weighs Military Intervention

November 12, 2021November 13, 2021 Dan Cohen 0 Comments Dan Cohen, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Haiti, Inside Stories, Jovenel Moise, Top Story, uprising

Update: As this article went to publication, Jimmy Cherizier announced a temporary lifting of the FRG9’s blockade on the Varreux gas terminal for a one week period, deeming it a “truce for a week of reflection.” The truce will end on November 18, 2021, the anniversary of the Battle of Vertières, which marked the end of Napoleon’s bid to restore slavery in Haiti. Cherizier laid out nine demands; among them was Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation, the withdrawal of police forces from neighborhoods controlled by the FRG9, and the return of gasoline to its pre-blockade price. The government is unlikely to fulfill any of the demands, portending a resumption of the stand-off at the Varreux terminal following the anniversary. PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI — On Monday evening, several specialized units of the Haitian National Police (PNH) stationed armored vehicles at strategic points near the Varreux shipping terminal, the country’s main shipping terminal. It was the first attempt of the government of Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry to wrest control of the port from the federation of armed groups known as the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies: Mess With One, You Mess With All, or the FRG9,

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Bolivian President Luis Arce on Country Recovering from US-Backed Coup & Latin American Unity

November 12, 2021November 13, 2021 Pablo Navarrete 0 Comments Bolivia, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Imperialism, Inside Stories, Latin America, Luis Arce, Top Story, us-backed coup

[embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=LaOqE7PdRcA[/embed] LA PAZ, BOLIVIA — Bolivian President Luis “Lucho” Arce did not pull his punches when asked by MintPress News last week what he thought about U.S. interventions in his region: “The message that we give to Mr. Biden is that he should continue being president of the United States and let all the presidents of Latin America be presidents of our countries.” Arce made those comments during a sit-down interview conducted with MintPress at the Bolivian Embassy in London. “The only people who can generate policies to solve our problems are the Latin American countries themselves,” he said, adding: “It is clear to us that South America, Latin America has to stop being the backyard of the United States.” Much to the disappointment of the U.S. government, Arce was elected president of Bolivia last year in a landslide, helping return the Movement to Socialism Party (MAS) back to power after 11 months in opposition following a U.S.-backed military coup in November 2019. Since the election of Evo Morales in 2006, Bolivia has been a global leader in fighting for an alternative vision of the world, and has drawn the attention of political movements from across the planet.

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What Is France Hiding in the Sahel?

November 9, 2021November 10, 2021 Clinton Nzala 0 Comments Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, france, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Imperialism, Inside Stories, Mali, News, Sahel

BAMAKO, MALI — On the 8th of October, Choguel Maïga, the prime minister of Mali, boldly informed the world that its former colonial power, France, was sponsoring terrorists in the country’s northern region. Standing before dozens of cameras and microphones, he provided details on how the French army had established an enclave in the northern town of Tidal and handed it over to well-known terrorist groups. The revelation was shocking not simply for the serious nature of the accusation but because in past times West African leaders have rarely sparred so openly with the French government. A chain of events simmering in the background for weeks triggered the latest spat. On October 2nd, Britain’s BBC published an article with the headline “Mali’s plan for Russia mercenaries to replace French troops unsettles Sahel.” The embattled media outlet further claimed: “There is deep international concern over Mali’s discussions with the controversial Russian private military company, the Wagner Group.” Scene after a terrorist attack in Gao, Mali, Nov. 13, 2018. | Wikimedia Commons By now we all understand that whenever Western corporate media outlets utter the

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Over 500 Scholars Launch Fightback Against Israel Lobby’s Antisemitism Smear of UK Academics

October 25, 2021October 26, 2021 Jonathan Cook 0 Comments Academic Freedom, Antisemitism, antizionism, Daily Digest, David Miller, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Glasgow, IHRA, Inside Stories, Israel Lobby, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party, News, Top Story, United Kingdom

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — Hundreds of international scholars have begun a fightback against pro-Israel lobbyists who have been scoring increasingly high-profile victories on UK campuses as they seek to curb academic freedoms under the guise of stamping out antisemitism. Glasgow university officials have found themselves in the eye of a storm this week, accused of “capitulating” in two separate cases that have undermined academic research into the activities of Israel and its supporters. More than 500 scholars from around the world, including a Nobel prize winner, Royal Society fellows, and former and current presidents of major academic bodies, signed a petition delivered to the university this week in protest. They called it “extraordinary” that Glasgow had recently apologised and labeled as “hate speech” a peer-reviewed article on the Israel lobby in the university’s postgraduate magazine. The scholars warned that Glasgow’s actions could have “potentially very damaging” consequences for research on Israel. They pointed out that the university’s stance “implies that other groups, states and corporations can all be the subject of critical academic analysis, but commentary on pro-Israel advocacy must be limited”. Separately, the main body representing Middle East academics in Britain wrote to the Scottish university last week after its

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Report Reveals European Firms Have More Than $255B Entwined in Illegal Israeli Settlements

October 21, 2021October 22, 2021 Jessica Buxbaum 0 Comments BDS Movement, Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Inside Stories, Israeli settlements, Palestine, Top Story, West Bank

OCCUPIED WEST BANK, PALESTINE — Nearly 700 European firms have financial ties worth $255 billion with businesses actively involved in Israeli settlements, according to a new civil society report. The Don’t Buy Into Occupation (DBIO) coalition is a joint project between 25 Palestinian and European non-governmental organizations investigating the business connections between companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT) and European financial institutions. The coalition’s latest research found 672 European financial institutions had relationships with 50 businesses participating in Israel’s settlement economy. Between 2018 and May 2021, major European firms provided loans and underwritings amounting to $114 billion to these businesses while investing $141 billion. “The involvement of these corporations with the settlements — through investments, banking loans, resource extraction, infrastructure contracts, and equipment and product supply agreements — provides them with the indispensable economic oxygen they require to grow and thrive,” Michael Lynk, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied since 1967, wrote in the report. The findings The DBIO coalition found that the top 10 creditors collectively gave $77.81 billion to businesses involved in the Israeli settlements. These firms are BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC,

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Palestinian Prisoners Under Israeli Administrative Detention Continue Long, Brutal Hunger Strikes

October 18, 2021October 19, 2021 Jessica Buxbaum 0 Comments Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Inside Stories, Israeli prisons, Palestine, Palestinian prisoners, prison hunger strike, Top Story

RAMLA, HISTORIC PALESTINE — Palestinian prisoner Miqdad al-Qawasmeh has entered his 86th day on hunger strike. He is overcome with weakness and can’t move from his hospital bed, not even to shower or use the bathroom. He suffers from joint, kidney, head, bone, muscular and abdominal pain. He has trouble speaking and has lost more than 75 pounds. Despite his deteriorating health, al-Qawasmeh won’t end his hunger strike, as he and six other prisoners refuse food in protest of their ongoing administrative detention. Kayed Fasfous has been on hunger strike for 92 days; Alaa Al Araj has spent 68 days without food; Hisham Abu Hawash started his hunger strike 61 days ago; Rayeq Bsharat hasn’t eaten for 56 days; Shadi Abu Akar is now in his 52nd day without food; and Hassan Shouka has been on hunger strike for 27 days. Additionally, at least 250 prisoners associated with the Islamic Jihad organization began a hunger strike on Oct. 13 in protest of their relocation to isolated cells. Alaa Al Araj’s son protesting his father’s administrative detention. Israel’s Supreme Court

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US Writes Belarus into Its Familiar Regime-Change Script

October 12, 2021October 13, 2021 Alan Macleod 0 Comments Belarus, Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, foreign intervention, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Inside Stories, Lukashenko, News, Regime Change, Top Story, United States

MINSK, BELARUS — Quietly, the U.S. national security state is turning up the heat on Belarus, hoping that the ex-Soviet country of 9 million will be the next casualty of its regime-change agenda. This sentiment was made clear in President Joe Biden’s recent speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Biden announced that the U.S. would pursue “relentless diplomacy” finding “new ways of lifting people up around the world, of renewing and defending democracy.” The 46th president was explicit in whom he meant by this: “The democratic world is everywhere. It lives in the anti-corruption activists, the human rights defenders, the journalists, the peace protestors on the frontlines of this struggle in Belarus, Burma, Syria, Cuba [and] Venezuela,” he said, putting Belarus first on the list of states in desperate need of a change in government. This builds on the back of previous statements the administration has released. In June, a joint announcement by the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and the European Union essentially pronounced the death penalty on the Lukashenko government, in power since 1994. “We are committed to support the long-suppressed democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus and we stand together to impose costs on the regime

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Microcosms of Mayhem & Humanity: Destroying Black & Brown Lives for High-Rises in the Nation’s Capital

October 11, 2021October 12, 2021 Eleanor Goldfield 0 Comments Front Page: Inside Stories, Front Page: National, gentrification, Homelessness, housing, Inside Stories, National, Top Story, Washington DC homeless

ADAMS MORGAN PLAZA, WASHINGTON — “Where that McDonald’s is right now,” he says pointing across the street. “That used to be a news stand where I’d buy comics as a kid.” Dumah Muhammad stands in Adams Morgan Plaza in Washington, D.C., a light drizzle misting a small crowd of supporters and press. A few people wrangle a tarp over the PA system and there’s a tent where folks can grab snacks, pamphlets, water and shelter. Five Metropolitan Police cars are parked alongside the plaza and just behind the plaza there’s a staging area stacked with fencing and mingling cops. Despite literally being surrounded, the energy in the plaza is that familiar direct-action blend of defiance and celebration. Between speeches, music pumps out of the PA and folks dance alongside anti-gentrification artwork and handmade signs. A luxury condo looms up the street like a sterile square omen. There’ll be a similar behemoth where we’re all standing (and dancing) if Truist Bank gets its way: a seven-story luxury condo right here in the middle of what’s locally known as AdMo Plaza, a space won through grassroots organizing now hoping to be saved by the same. Truist Bank is a banking conglomerate made up

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Watch Trailer For Another Vision: Inside Haiti’s Uprising

October 8, 2021October 9, 2021 Dan Cohen 0 Comments Dan Cohen, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Haiti, Inside Stories, Jovenel Moise, Kim Ives, Top Story, uprising

[embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=K_lf6KgmRJs[/embed] Haiti is adrift. Since the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by Colombian mercenaries, the Haitian people have effectively had no coherent state leadership. Two weeks after the grisly killing, Washington and its allies, assembled in an ambassadorial front called the “Core Group,” appointed Dr. Ariel Henry, a long-time U.S. ally, to be the interim prime minister and de facto president, despite the fact that he spoke just hours after the killing to the man, Joseph Félix Badio, whom authorities believe ordered the triggermen to gruesomely riddle Moïse with bullets. Henry has refused to provide any explanation of his many conversations with Badio in the days before and after the assassination, and most Haitians reject his legitimacy and suspect his involvement. This has created a national leadership void that is being filled by the “Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies: Mess with One, You Mess with All” (FRG9), an alliance of armed neighborhood organizations formed in June 2020. Their charismatic leader and spokesman is Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, a former elite police commander who has become an outspoken opponent of Henry and a champion of Haiti’s vast urban underclass, which makes up most of Port-au-Prince’s

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Water as Weapon of War: Activists Say Israel is Drying Out the West Bank to Drive Out Palestinians

October 6, 2021October 7, 2021 Jessica Buxbaum 0 Comments Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Inside Stories, Israel, Masafer Yatta, occupation, Palestine, Settlers, Top Story

MASAFER YATTA, OCCUPIED WEST BANK — Last weekend, around 600 Israeli, Palestinian and international activists marched across Masafer Yatta in the Occupied West Bank to deliver a water tanker to Palestinian villagers. Their message was clear: Water is a human right, and Israel is depriving Palestine of this basic necessity. Amid a sea of rippling Palestinian flags, demonstrators walked alongside a tractor transporting the water tanker from the village of At-Tuwani. The protesters did not reach their intended destination. Instead, they turned back at the village of Mfakara in order to avoid a confrontation with the Israeli Army waiting for them atop a nearby hill. Demonstrators attempt to deliver a water tank from the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani. “Water is a right for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re Black or white or Jewish or Arab,” Adam Rabee — an activist with Combatants for Peace (CFP), one of the march’s organizers — told MintPress News. On Monday, CFP, along with other human rights organizations, submitted an urgent appeal to international bodies, demanding they “pressure Israel to allow access to

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Private Facebook Group that Organized the July Protests in Cuba Plans Bigger Ones Soon

October 5, 2021October 6, 2021 Alan Macleod 0 Comments Cuba, Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Inside Stories, La Villa del Humor, News, Protests, Regime Change, Social Media, Top Story

HAVANA — After gaining access to their private Facebook group, MintPress can reveal that the people who sparked the July 11 protests in Cuba are planning similar actions for October and November. The group, La Villa del Humor, is widely credited with providing the initial spark that ignited nationwide protests on the Caribbean island in the summer, the most significant demonstrations since the 1990s. On July 10, one of the group’s administrators posted this message: Tired of not having electricity? Stubborn because they didn’t let you sleep for 3 days? Tired of putting up with the impudence of a government that doesn’t care about you? It is time to go out and demand. Do not criticize from home, let’s make ourselves heard. If we’re not going to do it, we’d better shut our mouths and not talk shit from home that doesn’t solve anything. Are we more afraid to go out than to put up with all this cheek? How is it possible? We demand that [Presidents Miguel Díaz-Canel and Raúl Castro] also have blackouts. We demand that, since we have no food, at least they let us sleep. Hit the streets. Down with the opportunistic communist government now. This