Educate!
Education is the foundation of political change. In this section we provide news and analyses of current events that you won’t likely read or hear in the corporate media. Our sources are from organizations and independent media outlets free of corporate and government propaganda. We strongly encourage you to share these articles by email and social media so that together we create an echo chamber that overcomes the influence of the oligarchy. You will find large social media sharing buttons on the left side of each article when you open the article to read.
Wow. In a series of rapid-fire developments last week, the new Trump regime has decisively joined the battle with the deep state on the national security side. This is big, or could be. Either Donald Trump will begin to exert political control over the invisible government or the invisible government will sink Donald Trump just as it did during his first term as president. Let us be attentive.
The attack on USAID, the telephone call with Vladimir Putin, the incipient alienation of the Kiev regime, new talk of talks with the Islamic Republic, Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation as director of national intelligence: I don’t know if these events and their timing reflect a concerted plan, back-of-an-envelope inspirations, or the president’s thinking but not necessarily the thinking of those around him.
Israel Maintains Occupation In Key Areas After Withdrawal From Lebanon
February 18, 2025
News Desk, The Cradle.
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Ceasefire, Israel, Lebanon, Occupation, War crimes
The Israeli army has maintained its occupation of at least five key locations in southern Lebanon after completing the withdrawal of most of its troops from the south early on 18 February.
Israeli forces continue to occupy Labbouneh, Mount Blat, Owayda Hill, Aaziyyeh, and Hammamis Hill.
According to AlJadeed’s correspondent, the “number of points from which Israeli occupation forces have not withdrawn has risen to seven, with its forces remaining on the international border road extending from Odaisseh to the entrance to Kfar Kila, along the border wall, and its positioning in the Batishiyeh area on the outskirts of Dhuhayrah, near the Al-Jardah site.”
Leonard Peltier Released From 49 Years Of Wrongful Incarceration
February 18, 2025
NDN Collective.
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Clemency, Leonard Peltier, Political Prisoner, Wrongful Imprisonment
Sumterville, FL – This morning, Leonard Peltier was released from over 49 years of wrongful incarceration. Mr. Peltier is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and will reside on his tribal homelands in North Dakota.
Upon Peltier’s request, NDN Collective is bringing him home to the Turtle Mountain community. NDN Collective and partners built upon five decades of organizing and led the advocacy that secured Peltier’s release. Tomorrow, the organization is hosting a celebratory event and community feed to welcome Peltier back to his homelands.
US Energy Secretary Backs Coal And Attacks ‘Sinister’ Climate Targets
February 18, 2025
Adam Barnett, DeSmog.
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climate crisis, Donald Trump, Energy, Politics and Policy, Science Denial, Secretary of Energy
Donald Trump’s new energy secretary has today vowed to “get out of the way” of coal, oil and gas, and called the UK’s 2050 net zero target “a sinister goal” that would “impoverish” people.
Chris Wright, an oil and gas industry executive appointed by U.S. President Trump, was speaking via video link at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London, a right-wing forum run by fierce opponents of climate policies.
He also downplayed the threat from extreme weather, and suggested that climate action is part of a plot to “grow government power” and “shrink human freedom”.
Renewable Energy Is Less Costly, More Efficient Than Carbon Capture
February 18, 2025
Paige Bennett, EcoWatch.
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Carbon Capture, climate crisis, Energy, Renewable Energy, renewables
The benefits of investing in clean energy, including solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower, make renewables a more cost-effective option compared to carbon capture technology, according to a new study.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, examined two scenarios across 149 countries through 2050: one in which the countries transition 100% of their business-as-usual energies into renewables, or wind-water-solar (WWS) sources, and another scenario in which policies invest in carbon capture (CC) and synthetic direct air carbon capture (SDACC).
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya Has Been Tortured And Denied Care In Prison
February 17, 2025
Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch.
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Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Gaza, Health Care, Palestine, Prisons, Torture
After multiple postponements by the Israeli occupation, Kamal Adwan Hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was finally allowed to see a lawyer. The visit confirmed suspicions about the torture he has endured since his arbitrary imprisonment at the end of December 2024. According to reports from Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Dr. Abu Safiya suffered the same methods of torture inflicted by Israeli forces on all Palestinian prisoners, including having his hands tightly shackled and being forced to kneel and sit on gravel for hours.
Hamas Leader Says Israeli Ceasefire Violations Aim To Continue Genocide
February 17, 2025
Tareq S. Hajjaj, Mondoweiss.
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Ceasefire, Genocide, Hamas, Israel, Palestine
Developments over the past week have threatened to unravel the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israel has consistently delayed or obstructed the implementation of the major humanitarian stipulations of the agreement guaranteeing the entry of fuel, food, tents, mobile homes, and heavy machinery for the removal of rubble. The first phase of the deal, which is currently ongoing, is supposed to see the entry of 200,000 tents and 60,000 mobile homes, but as of the time of writing, only a fraction has entered, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
Forced Displacement Of Palestinians From West Bank ‘Largest Since 1967’
February 17, 2025
News Desk, The Cradle.
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Displacement, Ethnic cleansing, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, US Imperialism
The mass displacement carried out by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank is the largest since 1967, according to experts cited by the New York Times (NYT) on 17 February.
“What makes this moment unprecedented is not only the scale of the displacement but also the accompanying discourse, which increasingly normalizes the idea of permanent forced displacement,” said Maha Nassar, a Palestinian historian at the University of Arizona.
“This represents a significant escalation in the longstanding conflict, one that threatens to fundamentally alter the political and demographic landscape of the region,” she went on to say.
US War On Africa Rages On With Somalia In The Crosshairs
February 17, 2025
The Black Alliance for Peace.
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Africa, AFRICOM, Donald Trump, Somalia, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism
The new Trump administration has wasted no time continuing the U.S. war on Africa. Just one month into his second term, the U.S. has launched at least six airstrikes in Somalia’s Puntland region. While AFRICOM and the Somali government claim these strikes are “authorized” and therefore legal under international law, this so-called authorization is nothing more than a hallmark of neo-colonial governance. Comprador regimes installed and maintained by Western imperialism do not exercise genuine sovereignty but instead serve as facilitators of foreign domination.
US Seizing Panama And Greenland Aimed At China
February 17, 2025
Brian Berletic, Orinoco Tribune.
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China, Greenland, Iran, Marco Rubio, Multipolar World, Panama Canal, Regime Change, Russia, US Imperialism, US State Department
While a recent interview with the newly confirmed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began with promising slogans, it quickly unraveled into threats of overt aggression, including outright calls to seize the Panama Canal and annex Greenland from Denmark under an implicit threat of military force.
While the change in presidential administration is purely superficial, the intense urgency it pursues continuity of agenda with is not. It reflects the rapid rise of China, Russian resilience in the face of US proxy war in Ukraine, and an expanding multipolar world overwriting the US-led unipolar world order at ever-increasing speeds.
The Mafia State
February 16, 2025
Chris Hedges, Scheer Post.
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Billionaires, Democracy, Donald Trump, Kleptocracy
Kiss the ring. Grovel before the Godfather. Give him tribute, a cut of the spoils. If he and his family get rich you get rich. Enter his inner circle, his “made” men and women, and you do not have to follow rules or obey the law. You can disembowel the machinery of government. You can turn us and the natural world into commodities to exploit until exhaustion or collapse. You can commit crimes with impunity. You can make a mockery of democratic norms and social responsibility. Perfidy is very profitable at first. In the long term it is collective suicide.
US Sectors Hit By New Chinese Tariffs And Restrictions
February 16, 2025
Mauro Ramos, People's Dispatch.
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China, Donald Trump, Metals, Taiwan, Tariffs, World Trade Organization (WTO)
Earlier this week, China’s tariffs on some US products came into effect, in response to the 10% increase in tariffs that the Trump administration imposed on all Chinese products, starting on February 1st.
China created a 15% tariff on coal and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, cars with large engines and pickup trucks.
On February 4, Xi Jinping’s government filed a lawsuit against the US government’s tariff imposition with the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement mechanism.
China has also implemented export controls on five metals: tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium.
Secret Terror Blueprints For US National Security Council Exposed
February 16, 2025
Kit Klarenberg, The Grayzone.
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National Security Council, NATO, Proxy War, Russia, Ukraine
Explosive leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone show how a shady transatlantic collective of academics and military-intelligence operatives conceived schemes which would lead to the US “helping Ukraine resist,” to “prolong” the proxy war “by virtually any means short of American and NATO forces deploying to Ukraine or attacking Russia.”
The operatives assembled their war plans immediately in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and delivered them directly to the highest-ranking relevant US National Security Council official in the Biden administration.
Trump Escalates Trade War With 25% Tariffs On Steel And Aluminum
February 15, 2025
Masao Suzuki, Fight Back! News.
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Aluminum, Canada, Steel, Tariffs, Trade, Trump Administration
San José, CA – On Monday, February 10, President Trump signed an executive order raising tariffs, or taxes on imports, to 25% on steel and aluminum. The tariffs are to start on March 4. While his first round of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China was based on a “national emergency” of refugees and drugs coming into the country, the latest tariff order used a “national security” rationale. They are seen as less likely to be suspended as the first round was.
Trump says that these tariffs will create jobs and expand manufacturing, but in fact they raise prices and cause overall job losses in manufacturing.
Should Canada Be Ready To Switch Sides?
February 15, 2025
Jen St. Denis, The Tyee.
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BRICS, Canada, Tariffs, Trade, Trump Administration
Jeff Rubin is the former chief economist for CIBC World Markets and is the bestselling author of a number of popular economics books that have tried to explain how the world is changing and departing from the norms of the 20th century to a more unsettled era of scarcity, inequality, natural disasters and war.
His previous books have warned about the end of cheap oil and explained how the middle class “got screwed” by globalization.
Rubin’s latest book is called The Map of the New Normal: How Inflation, War, and Sanctions Will Change Your World Forever, and it tackles the rapid inflation that hit economies across the globe in the wake of pandemic measures.