alanjjohnstone
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Syrian government accused once more of use of chemicals
The light at the end of the tunnel is not for every country
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/12/covid-pandemic-still-growing-exponentially-who-says
The global coronavirus pandemic is still growing exponentially, the World Health Organization said on Monday, as it reported 4.4m cases in the last week, the seventh straight week of rising numbers.
WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said “confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures” were prolonging the pandemic. He said it might be months before the global situation was brought under control, and only then with concerted measures.
India has overtaken Brazil as the nation with the second-highest number of infections worldwide. The country, which has a population of 1.4 billion, has administered about 105m vaccine doses.
No change
Biden has struck an agreement with Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras to temporarily increase border security in an effort to stop migrants from reaching the US border. Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras will be deploying troops “to disperse a large contingent of migrants”
Twenty-five Chinese military jets breached Taiwan’s defence zone on Monday. The incursion was the largest in a year and came after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Sunday warned China not to attempt to change the status quo around Taiwan, saying to do so would be a “serious mistake”.
BD, a promising sign of the times that after all the soap-opera Prince Harry coverage, people are getting bored with media concentration on Philip.
BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history, as viewers expressed their annoyance that shows such as EastEnders and MasterChef were replaced with royal tributes.
I note Prince Andrew emerged from his self-imposed exile and the media shit-scared to make him address his sex abuse allegations.
Interesting article FYI
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210411-asias-isle-of-five-separate-genders
Our Scottish branches blog had this short post on the subject of GG
https://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2021/04/lie-with-dogs-and-get-fleas.html
https://www.dw.com/en/the-battle-over-greenlands-untapped-natural-resources/a-57138809
Kvanefjeld is home to one of the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of rare-earth elements outside of China. Seventeen elements, including scandium and yttrium, are buried deep underground there. They are used in everything from cell phones and wind turbines to electric cars. Mining advocates say tapping into them would be a major financial boon for Greenland.
Greenland Minerals Limited (GML), the Australian company developing the mine, said that the country would receive $240 million (€201 million) in taxes and royalties annually over the mine’s planned 37-year lifespan. GML’s biggest stakeholder is Shenghe Resources Holding, a Chinese rare-earths processing company.
No change
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday declared an “enduring and ironclad” American commitment to Israel
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said his country views the United States as a “full partner” against threats, “not the least, Iran.”
With the end of coronavirus in sight, capitalism says it is business as usual with a vengeance
He is still inside
“Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said the difference between China and the US is that China puts its critics in prison. I am not sure the British government is aware of how much international criticisms it is facing over this issue…”Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday the US is concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the western Pacific by force.
“What we’ve seen, and what is of real concern to us, is increasingly aggressive actions by the government in Beijing directed at Taiwan, raising tensions in the Straits,” Blinken told NBC
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/11/antony-blinken-china-aggression-taiwan
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56708778
A nuclear facility in Iran was hit by a “terrorist act” a day after it unveiled new advanced uranium centrifuges, a suspected cyber attack by Israel
If you follow the other thread, Chinese Tensions, you’ll find a time-line of escalations and looming confrontations of a new Cold War that can be interpreted as a run-up to perhaps a hot war.
We cannot avoid that national rivalries will always exist under capitalism, the trade routes of the South China Seas, building artificial islands to claim territorial waters and the development of the Belt and Road, the new Silk Roads and a very obvious encirclement strategy from the US and its allies with a new regional arms race.
A visit and search of our African blog will also show the intense competition in a 21st Century Scramble for Africa for raw materials and natural resources.
But I have also noticed that some in the anti-war campaign are allying themselves with the Chinese state regards Hong Kong protests and the Uyghurs being seen as pro-war propaganda by the West.
Once again we are being offered the enemy of my enemy is our friend, and a denial of what some called Third Campism – a plague upon both your houses.
Nor can we never take our eyes off other regions with other supposed enemies – Iran, the Russian threat to the Ukraine or the Arctic – the threat of of war or even the inadvertent accidental spark to a conflagration is ever-present.
A green fix?
https://news.trust.org/item/20210409133327-v0t10/
The Netherlands aims to invest up to 338 million euros ($401 million) in green hydrogen projects as part of its push to meet climate goals.
Green hydrogen is extracted from water via electrolysis powered by renewable energy, theoretically releasing no carbon emissions either in its production or consumption… But the development of green hydrogen is in a very early phase, and the costs of making it are still too high to compete with fossil fuels without government subsidies.
