2021-02-14: News Headlines

_____ (2021-02-14). How One Tiny Country Is Beating The Pandemic And Climate Change. popularresistance.org The small Himalayan country of Bhutan, mainly known for measuring national happiness instead of GDP, is the only carbon-negative country on the planet. Believe it or not, it has only had one single death from COVID-19. Is that a coincidence? | Madeline Drexler's new article in the Atlantic, "The Unlikeliest Pandemic Success Story," dives into the reasons that Bhutan has managed to fare so well against the novel coronavirus while rich countries and middle-income have struggled to keep it in check. The tiny developing country, landlocked between India and Tibet, wasn't exactly set up for success. It began 2020 with…

Ralph Nader, Bruce Fein (2021-02-14). Democrats' Shameful Cave. commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gettyimages-12923215461.jpg

RT (2021-02-13). Ho-ho-hiss: Chinese troops in EXOSKELETONS deliver New Year presents to Himalayan outpost (VIDEO). rt.com The Chinese military has shown off its recently delivered exoskeletons, using them to deliver Lunar New Year supplies to a remote border outpost in Tibet. Beijing is rapidly adopting the pioneering technology. | A report on Saturday by the state broadcaster CCTV showed the new passive exoskeletons in use, helping to bring some festivity to Friday's celebrations. The troops strapped on the smart-braces to get an extra oomph for the last leg of a supply run in China's Ngari Prefecture. | The area is noted for including some parts of the Chinese-Indian border territory that is a matter of dispute between the t…

Vijay Prashad (2021-02-13). The complex politics, geopolitics of the Myanmar coup. zcomm.org The 'new cold war' between the US and China has deepened the instability that has marked Myanmar's history since 1962…

RT (2021-02-13). It takes two to tango: ByteDance may sell TikTok to rival as dispute between Beijing & New Delhi wrecks app ops in India. rt.com Chinese multinational ByteDance is reportedly mulling the idea of selling the India operations of TikTok to local rival Glance in an effort to breathe new life into the app, which has been indefinitely banned by New Delhi. | The talks, initiated by Japan's SoftBank, are currently in the initial phase, according to people familiar with the matter, as cited by Bloomberg. | Glance's parent company, mobile advertising technology firm InMobi, also operates video-sharing social media platform Roposo, which has boomed in India after the South Asian nation introduced a ban on using TikTok last July. SoftBank is report…

Online News Editor (2021-02-13). China's Mars probe captures stunning video of red planet. laprensalatina.com Beijing, Feb 13 (efe-epa).- China has released the first video footage of Mars captured by its spacecraft circling the red planet, days after the Tianwen-1 probe successfully entered the orbit after nearly a seven-month journey from Earth. China National Space Administration (CNSA) released two stunning videos of less than a minute each captured when the …

Eyck Freymann (2021-02-13). How Chinese infrastructure is reshaping the planet. salon.com China's massive One Belt One Road project is being touted as a modern Silk Road. Is America's global hegemony over?>

Margaret Kimberley (2021-02-12). Freedom Rider: Forced labor in the U.S. mronline.org Forced labor of Uyghurs in China is questionable, but there is absolute proof that incarcerated people in this country are forced to work for little or no pay.

_____ (2021-02-12). Biden Announces Pentagon Task Force To Review China Policy. popularresistance.org On Wednesday, President Biden announced a new Pentagon task force that will be reviewing the US military's policy towards China, another sign that the new administration is prioritizing confronting Beijing. | Pentagon officials said the task force is a "sprint effort" that will examine things like US troop presence in the region, intelligence, and the role of US allies and partners in countering China. Leading the task force is Ely Ratner, a China hawk who Biden appointed as a special advisor to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. | Before his new position at the Pentagon, Rather worked at the interventionist Cent…

RT (2021-02-12). CCTV under fire after Chinese New Year gala features blackface performers AGAIN as Beijing celebrates Africa ties. rt.com Chinese state TV has been labelled "racist" after its Spring Festival Gala kicked off with a celebration of African culture featuring Chinese dancers in African-style costumes and black face makeup beating drums. | The five-hour annual program, which has drawn as many as 800 million viewers in the past, caused a storm on Twitter, with activists and commentators lambasting China's CCTV for the culturally inappropriate move. | The show, titled African Song and Dance and featuring blackfaced dancers and a man dressed as a monkey, aired on Thursday, as Asia welcomed in the lunar Year of the Ox in a subdued fashion…

teleSUR (2021-02-12). Vaccination To Help Revive Tourism in Chile's Easter Island. telesurenglish.net Residents of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in this week are receiving the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines made in China. | RELATED: | This Chilean territory has seen zero coronavirus cases since March 2020, when local authorities barred the entry of tourists to curb the spread of the disease. | The move was effective, but potentially painful, cutting off the community's major source of income. Now residents hope the vaccine push w…

Global Research News (2021-02-12). Selected Articles: Is America on a Collision Course with China? "Very Real Possibility" of Nuclear War. globalresearch.ca By Wall Street may own the country, as Kansas populist leader Mary Elizabeth Lease once declared, but a new generation of "retail" stock market …

Anand Naidoo (2021-02-12). The Heat: Chinese New Year. america.cgtn.com China celebrates its New Year and looks forward to the Year of the Ox.

Alan Macleod (2021-02-12). CNN Declares BBC 'Banned' but CGTN 'Withdrawn' as UK and China Fire off in Propaganda Battle. mintpressnews.com While this was clearly a tit-for-tat decision, many in the media still managed to frame it as a chilling blow for free speech in China, ignoring decades of media repression in the West.

Online News Editor (2021-02-12). China blocks BBC over claims it is biased and untruthful. laprensalatina.com Beijing, Feb 12 (efe-epa).- Chinese authorities blocked national broadcasts of British channel BBC World News for over claims it is not impartial and truthful, the National Administration of Radio and Television said in a Friday statement on its website. It said the network violated the regulations in force concerning broadcasts about China and "violated the …

Staff (2021-02-12). Headlines for February 12, 2021. democracynow.org House Managers Rest Their Case in Donald Trump's Senate Impeachment Trial, Biden Blasts Trump's Failures to Prepare for Vaccinations as U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Tops 475,000, As U.S. Secures 200 Million More Doses, Concern Grows Over Vaccine Inequity, NYTimes: Trump Was Far Sicker from COVID-19 Than Previously Reported, Five Killed in Attack on U.S. Convoy in Afghanistan's Capital, Lawmakers Plead With President Biden to End "Catastrophic Impact" of U.S. Sanctions, U.S. Has Sold Over a Million Barrels of Iranian Oil Seized As Part of Sanctions, China Bans BBC's World News Channel, Trump's "Remain in Mexico" Progr…

Staff (2021-02-12). Where Are the Witnesses? Ralph Nader Says Democrats' Impeachment Case Is "Prescription for Defeat" democracynow.org As the historic Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump continues, we speak with longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who says Democrats have set themselves up for defeat by rushing proceedings and failing to call witnesses — including Trump himself. "The narrow approach of the articles of impeachment keep the Democrats from having a full hand," says Nader. "They have like 10 arrows in their quiver and they're using one or two."

Staff (2021-02-12). Ralph Nader on Corporate Crime, Holding Boeing Accountable for 737 MAX Deaths & Biden's First Weeks. democracynow.org Legendary consumer advocate Ralph Nader says the U.S. is experiencing a "corporate crime wave," and that the Trump administration's $2.5 billion settlement with Boeing over the manufacturer's faulty 737 MAX jets amounts to a "slap on the wrist." Boeing's faulty planes were involved in two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019, including Nader's 24-year-old grandniece Samya Stumo. Nader says the Biden Justice Department should reopen the previous administration's settlement and hold Boeing fully accountable. "This is just another example of giant companies getting away with their corporate criminal…

Staff (2021-02-12). Ralph Nader: Biden Must Hold Boeing Accountable for Deaths Due to Faulty Planes. truthout.org Legendary consumer advocate Ralph Nader says the U.S. is experiencing a "corporate crime wave," and that the Trump administration's $2.5 billion settlement with Boeing over the manufacturer's faulty 737 MAX jets amounts to a "slap on the wrist." Boeing's faulty planes were involved in two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019, including Nader's 24-year-old grandniece Samya Stumo. Nader says the Biden Justice Department should reopen the previous administration's settlement and…

yenisafak (2021-02-12). China bans British broadcaster BBC. yenisafak.com China on Thursday night announced a ban on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from airing in the country over alleged bias.BBC World News is now barred from broadcasting in the country, the China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported, citing the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA).Some of the BBC's reports on China infringed on the "principles of truthfulness and impartiality in journalism," said the Chinese broadcaster.This appeared to be a tit-for-tat move as earlier this month, the UK's broadcast regulator revoked the license of the state-affiliated CGTN.A statement from Ofcom said…

yenisafak (2021-02-12). Biden says China will 'eat our lunch' sans infrastructure. yenisafak.com China is poised to defeat the US amid a great power competition unless the country can come together on a plan to bolster its heavily deteriorated infrastructure, President Joe Biden warned Thursday.Biden's cautionary note comes after he held his first telephone call Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a conversation the US president said lasted two hours.The US president called on Congress to forge ahead with a massive infrastructure revitalization plan, saying that without it China is "going to eat our lunch.""They have major, major new initiatives on rail, and they already have rail that goes 225 mi…

Shahbazz Afzal (2021-02-12). Is America on a Collision Course with China over Iran? globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). A mobile version is forthcoming. | *** | The visit of Chinese President Xi …

RT (2021-02-11). BBC World News banned from broadcasting in China, as London-Beijing media war heats up. rt.com BBC World News has been banned from the Chinese airwaves, Beijing's state-controlled TV network announced. The tit-for-tat move comes after the UK media regulator, Ofcom, revoked the broadcast license of the Chinese CGTN network. | China's National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) The "reports" in question likely refer to BBC News…

Staff (2021-02-11). Headlines for February 11, 2021. democracynow.org "The Inciter-in-Chief": Democrats Accuse Trump of Being "Singularly Responsible" for Insurrection, Trump Attacked Pence on Twitter Minutes After Learning VP Was Evacuated from Capitol, Georgia Prosecutor Opens Criminal Probe of Trump over Election Interference, U.S. COVID Death Toll Tops 471,000; Half of All Deaths Occurred Since Nov. 1, WHO Backs Use of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine, Saudi Women's Rights Activist Loujain al-Hathloul Released After 1,001 Days in Prison, Biden & Xi Jinping Speak on Phone as U.S. Forms Military Task Force on China, U.S. Sanctions Military Junta as Anti-Coup Protests Continue in Burma,…

Eds. (2021-02-11). China's energy watchdog under fire over pollution failures. mronline.org China's energy regulator has come under rare fire from a team of central government inspectors over the agency's lax enforcement of environmental standards.

RT (2021-02-11). Russian Navy joins major multinational AMAN-2021 drills in Pakistan, NATO countries also expected to attend (VIDEO). rt.com Russia's navy ships have arrived in Pakistan to take part in the multinational exercise AMAN-2021. The drills are expected to see China and several NATO nations in attendance. | Russian vessels arrived in Karachi on Thursday. They were greeted by Pakistan's military officials, as well as the Russian diplomats working there, and they took a brief tour of the ships. RT's footage from the scene shows the vessels being prepared for the drills, expected to kick off on Friday. | The Russian Navy is represented by the country's Black Sea Fleet, which dispatched frigate Admiral Grigorovich and patrol vessel Dmitriy…

Alan MacLeod (2021-02-11). Head of Strategic Command: U.S. must prepare for "very real possibility" of nuclear war with China. mronline.org In an era when international cooperation in the face of pandemics and climate change is essential, the world appears to be racing towards a new Cold War, and unfortunately, few except the military top brass are talking about it.

Patricia Gorky (2021-02-11). Biden's first directive to the war machine. liberationnews.org In his first presidential visit to the Pentagon yesterday, Joe Biden announced the creation of an anti-China task force. This team will review the Pentagon's policy towards the country in areas such as strategy, technology, military and diplomacy with neighboring countries. During the visit Biden pledged to "meet the China challenge … and win the …

Online News Editor (2021-02-11). Biden confronts Xi over rights, security, economic practices. laprensalatina.com (Update 1: adds Xi comments in pars 4-6, updates dateline, minor edits) Washington/Beijing, Feb 10 (efe-epa).- United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday (Thursday Beijing time) spoke to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for the first time as leader and expressed concern over a range of issues including human rights, regional security and Beijing's economic …

Online News Editor (2021-02-11). India, China agree on military disengagement from Himalayan border lake. laprensalatina.com New Delhi, Feb 11 (efe-epa).- India on Thursday said it reached an agreement with China on disengagement from a Himalayan lake after their months-long deadly military standoff in the disputed eastern Ladakh border region. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told the upper house of the Indian parliament that the pact with the Chinese side "for disengagement …

WSWS (2021-02-11). Biden declares US in "extreme competition" with China. wsws.org Biden's catch-cry—"America is back"—has the same belligerent content as Trump's "America First."