Daily Archives: September 20, 2021

2021-09-20: News Headlines

Staff (2021-09-20). North Korea wades into AUKUS row, blasts US for 'fueling nuclear arms race & backstabbing allies'. rt.com Pyongyang has condemned Washington for undermining regional stability and global power balance — and vowed retaliation if its divisive nuclear-powered submarine deal with Australia threatens its national security. | "This is a very controversial and dangerous move which undermines the strategic balance in the Asia-Pacific region and can trigger a nuclear arms race," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in response to KCNA state news agency's question about the AUKUS deal. | The ministry claimed that while the United States routinely demonstrates double standards, the new administration is more "unpredi…

Prof. James Chin (2021-09-20). Why Is Southeast Asia So Concerned About AUKUS and Australia's Plans for Nuclear Submarines? asia-pacificresearch.com

Juan Cole (2021-09-20). Is US-Australia Nuclear Sub Deal a Proliferation Danger, and does it Justify Iran's Civilian Enrichment Program? juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — Alexander Ward and Quint Forgey at Politico raise a crucial question about the AUKUS alliance among the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia that involves providing Australia with nuclear submarines. Is it a form of proliferation and does it provide justification for Iran's civilian nuclear enrichment program? Nuclear submarines …

Thom Hartmann (2021-09-20). The Real Crime That General Milley Exposed. counterpunch.org Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley stepped outside the realm of his constitutional power to prevent Donald Trump from starting nuclear war with China or Iran. It was definitely unconstitutional and probably illegal. But he's not the true villain in this story; the true villain is almost never mentioned in the press. Trump's advisors aren't

Jason Ditz (2021-09-20). Iran Is Ready to Sell Oil to Lebanon Directly. news.antiwar.com Discussing recent shipments of fuel to Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Ministry officials have said that they are prepared to sell fuel directly to the Lebanese government Massive economic struggles in Lebanon are leading to terrible shortages. Trying to avoid controversy, Iran shipped the first tanker by way of neighboring Syria, and then sent trucks from Syria into…

Revolution Books (2021-09-20). Saturday 9/25: Heroism for Our Times-Free Iran's Political Prisoners NOW: An Afternoon of Solidarity. indybay.org Revolution Books, 2444 Durant Ave. Berkeley CA 94704…

Winslow Wheeler (2021-09-20). Why the Nuclear Sub Deal Will End Badly for the Australians. counterpunch.org The Australians complained that the French deal was growing too uncertain as regards cost, schedule and pork (the amount of work done in Australia). Should they opt for the American sub option, their complaints on those measures are about to be multiplied. Virginia class SSNs today cost about $3 billion per copy; given the mods the Australians might need or be talked into, that number is going to go up; way up. US Navy level development and production delays are in a category of their own. American possessiveness of technology, production and other dimensions of pork is the same; multiply that for the nuclear cha…

Lawrence Wittner (2021-09-20). The Fate of Cassandra: Dire Predictions Go Unheeded. warisacrime.org In ancient Greek mythology, Cassandra was a priestess who was able to predict the future but unable to convince others to act upon her prophecies. The fate of Cassandra seems particularly relevant today, for there has been ample warning about three developments that threaten continued human existence—preparations for nuclear war, climate change, and disease pandemics—without, …

Bertil Lintner (2021-09-20). US encircling China on multiple new Cold War fronts. asiatimes.com The Indo-Pacific's Cold War is heating up as the region splits ever more decisively into opposed camps with a loose alliance of US-led democratic powers on one side and authoritarian China and its aligned satellites on the other. And the first economic salvos of the contest launched by Donald Trump's trade war are becoming more …

Melvin Goodman (2021-09-20). Dangerous "War Scares" Of 1974, 1983, And 2021: What Needs To Be Done? counterpunch.org The United States over the past five decades has had dangerous experience with "war scares." This demands an assessment of options for reducing the possibility of a war scare that could result in an actual war, particularly in the nuclear age. U.S. and allied military exercises are particularly dangerous because military doctrine, particularly in communist states, argues that military exercises are an effective way of hiding an actual first strike operation.

The Conversation (2021-09-20). Yes, Australia is buying a fleet of nuclear submarines. But the future of Electricity is Renewables, not Polluting Nuclear. juancole.com By Ian Lowe | — The federal government on Thursday announced a landmark defence pact with the United States and United Kingdom that involves this nation acquiring nuclear-powered submarines. The question of nuclear submarines in Australia has been bubbling along for some time — and with it, whether we should also develop a nuclear energy …

Stuart Rees (2021-09-20). US nuclear submarines: a dangerous nonsense. greenleft.org.au Stuart Rees argues that the decision to own and operate United States nuclear submarines is dangerous nonsense.

sputniknews (2021-09-19). Australia May Rent or Buy Nuclear Subs From US, UK Until Its Own Fleet is Built Under AUKUS Deal. sputniknews.com Australia announced its new security alliance with the US and the UK, called AUKUS, on Wednesday, which would allow the country to acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. France, which found itself pushed out of a $66 billion defence contract with Canberra, branded the agreement "a stab in the back".

sputniknews (2021-09-19). As US Prepares to Leave Iraq, Ex-Advisor to Iraqi President Says Kurds Need Reliable Partners. sputniknews.com Washington has a proven track record failing its allies, says a former Kurdish official, whereas such countries as Iran and Russia are known for standing by their partners and fighting for them until the end.

Peter Koenig (2021-09-19). Iran Becomes Full Member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Geopolitical and Economic Implications. globalresearch.ca

_____ (2021-09-19). Iran has joined the SCO, now it needs to turbo-boost its economy. strategic-culture.org With Iran's full accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) complete, Tehran now needs to wrangle big trade deals with its new regional friends to offset US sanctions against its beleaguered economy. | By Maysam BIZAER | "Today, we will launch procedures to admit Iran as a full member of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization)," Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Friday, putting to rest the rampant speculation that Iran will officially accede to Asia's most coveted security organization. | Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is in Dushanbe, Tajikistan with a high level diplomatic and economic…

_____ (2021-09-19). Afghanistan: Iran Is the Only Deal in Town Worth Watching. strategic-culture.org Everything depends on which way Iran turns and whether the Taliban can control its own country and stop it short from falling into the abyss. | Much has been written about the partners which the Taliban are signing up. But its relations with Iran is the only issue which the whole world is watching with bated breath | The creation of a new government in Kabul has sent ominous signs to the weary West of how seriously it can take the Taliban. Much hope was placed on it including a few members, as ministers, of other groups from the previous government. In the event, it was made up entirely of Taliban figures and not…

_____ (2021-09-19). A Network Of Military-Related Programs Is Spreading In Schools. popularresistance.org Seventy-six years after the U.S. dropped atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I am reminded of my own mindset during the Cuban missile crisis when American President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev were threatening a nuclear confrontation. I remember feeling that my life would soon end, clearly embracing a comprehensible existential threat even at the age of 7. | I now understand the weapons of mass destruction deployed against the Japanese in 1945 as the two most horrible "singular event war crimes" ever committed by a state actor. | Coming from and living in the most militarized cultur…

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