Tag Archive for: undermine
Ignore the GOP’s sudden pivot, Republicans have long worked to undermine Ukraine
In light of the brutal carnage being perpetrated by the Russian army on Ukraine this week, it’s good to see that most Republicans have found it in themselves to finally condemn the invasion. It obviously wasn’t easy for them. As we’ve just witnessed with the pandemic, they hate to be on the same side as a Democratic president for any reason, no matter how high the body count is. But they have come around, with even the most reluctant Republican now rallying to the side of the Ukrainian people. In fact, some of them have gone so far in the opposite direction that they have become reckless and dangerous:
That may be one of the most irresponsible comments by a sitting U.S. senator in modern memory. When Graham repeated it on Fox News, even Laura Ingraham was left bewildered.
Of course, many Republicans still blame President Joe Biden for failing to prevent the crisis.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas declared that Vladimir Putin didn’t invade while Donald Trump was in office because Trump was so tough on him, which is, of course, laughable. Cruz’s evidence is the sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (which Trump didn’t even sign into law until the end of his term.) But former national security adviser John Bolton claimed that Trump actually fought all of the sanctions every step of the way, adding, “the fact is that he barely knew where Ukraine was. He once asked John Kelly, his second chief of staff, if Finland were a part of Russia.”
And in a stunning reversal, after boldly insisting for months that he supported Russia over Ukraine, even extolling the virtues of Vladimir Putin, last night Fox News host Tucker Carlson even admitted he was wrong … sort of.
He claimed that he didn’t think the threat was real because Joe Biden had allegedly sent Vice President Kamala Harris to “fix” it so it couldn’t have been that serious. (The president did not send Harris to fix it.) Nobody does smug, unctuous trolling quite like Tucker Carlson.
Nonetheless, it does appear that Republicans have finally recognized that their admiration for the Russian strongman Vladimir Putin may have been a bit of a bad look. And I’m sure they are hoping that no one will remember the last few years of…
West African fish meal exports undermine food security: Greenpeace
Rising exports of fish meal and fish oil from West Africa to Europe and Asia are depriving millions of Africans of food, Greenpeace said Tuesday.
In a report, the environmental group said that over half a million tonnes of fish used to produce fish meal and fish oil in the poor region could feed some 33 million people instead.
Fish meal is made in factories dotted along the West African coast and is predominantly sold as feed for fish farms in the developed world. Fish oil serves a similar purpose.
Much of West Africa’s fishing grounds are already overexploited and illegal fishing is a persistent problem.
Greenpeace said West Africa’s trade in fish meal and fish oil had grown tenfold between 2010 and 2019 — from about 13,000 tonnes to over 170,000 tonnes.
Most fish oil and meal is exported to Europe and Asia.
The report cited “severe consequences for local populations”, explaining that the industry undermined food security across Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
The main species used in the industry are small fish such as sardinella and bonga, which Greenpeace said constitute a vital source of animal protein for many in the region.
The group recommended that governments phase out fish oil and meal production from fish fit for human consumption, among other measures.
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Dispatches from Thacker Pass – How corporations work to undermine grassroots resistance, and how to stop them
Opinion
For 50 days, the Protect Thacker Pass camp has stood here in the mountains of northern Nevada, on Northern Paiute territory, to defend the land against a strip mine.
Lithium Americas, a Canadian corporation, means to blow up, bulldoze, or pave 5,700 acres of this wild, biodiverse land to extract lithium for “green” electric cars.
In the process, they will suck up billions of gallons of water, import tons and tons of waste from oil refineries to be turned into sulfuric acid, burn 11,000 gallons of diesel fuel per day, toxify groundwater with arsenic, antimony, and uranium, harm wildlife from Golden eagles and Pronghorn antelope to Greater sage-grouse and the endemic King’s River pyrg, and lay waste to traditional territories still used by people from the Fort McDermitt reservation and the local ranching and farming communities.
The Campaign to Protect Thacker Pass
They claim this is an “environmentally sustainable” project. We disagree, and we mean to stop them from destroying this place.
Thus far, our work has been focused on outreach and spreading the word. For the first two weeks, there were only two of us here. Now word has begun to spread. The campaign is entering a new stage. There are new opportunities opening, but we must be cautious.
How Corporations Disrupt Grassroots Resistance Movements
Corporations, faced with grassroots resistance, follow a certain playbook. We can look at the history of how these companies respond to determine their strategies and the best ways to counteract them.
Corporations like Lithium Americas generally do not have in-house security teams, beyond basic security for facilities and IT/digital security. Therefore, when faced with growing grassroots resistance, their first move will be to hire an outside corporation to conduct surveillance, intelligence gathering, and offensive operations.
Private Military Corporations (PMCs) are essentially mercenaries acting largely outside of government regulation or democratic control. They are hired by private corporations to assist in their interests and act as for-hire businesses with few or no…