TAMARA RYZHENKHOVA—After the war, it was necessary to clear the territory of mines. Since Algeria did not have qualified sappers, it requested assistance from European countries (Italy, Sweden, and Germany), but they refused to help. Private companies could not solve the problem either. It was then that the USSR agreed to help Algeria, free of charge. On July 27, 1963, an agreement was signed between the Soviet leadership and Algeria. Soviet specialists removed about 1.5 million mines in Algeria from 1962 to 1965.
Default Editor Patrice de Bergeracpas
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BILLY BOB—The truth is that the ruling Western establishment is not agile enough. It is not organized well enough to manage, much less save, a crumbling empire. Sure, it can wreak havoc, it can sow destruction, it can reap misery, it can double down on failure, avoiding and projecting responsibility onto others for the humanitarian catastrophes that result from its own policies, but it can’t build anything worthwhile or develop and prosecute a plan that seeks to turn all the current losses into wins. They are too fractured, they are too incompetent, there is too much chaos, there are too many independent interests and centers of power that are too adamant (and selfish) in the violent pursuit of their own narrow interests, for any sensible or rational plan to congeal.
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What is next for Iran? Retaliation or Strategic Patience? In conversation with Mohammad Marandi
6 minutes readJEDAAL ENGLISH—Prof. Marandi explains the tough options Iran’s leadership faces due to Israel’s reckless provocations, and why any move may spark a regional and even global conflagration which could quickly escalate to a nuclear showdown. However, Iran has some narrow flexibility in the timing and nature of the escalation, and the US is making noises proclaiming that Washington is not interested in an all out war.
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Israeli Suffering Is Not Comparable To Palestinian Suffering
20 minutes readCAITLIN JOHNSTONE—I’m sick of hearing October 7 mentioned in the same breath as Israel’s incineration of Gaza as though they’re equal or even comparable. A thousand Israelis dying (probably hundreds by indiscriminate IDF fire) is not comparable to tens of thousands of Palestinians (probably more) being deliberately exterminated by high-tech war machinery, even if before you account for the fact that Israel was the aggressor and that the violence of the oppressed is not comparable to the violence of the oppressor in the first place.
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Hollywood’s Dangerous Afghan Illusion: “Charlie Wilson’s War”. Legacy of the late Robert Parry
42 minutes readTHIS IS A REPOST
ROBERT PARRY—First, there was the ascendance of propaganda over truth. The U.S. government was well aware of the gross human rights crimes of the Afghan “muj” but still sold them as honorable “freedom fighters” to the American people. Second, there was the triumphalism of Gates and other war hawks, who insisted on rubbing Moscow’s nose in its Afghan defeat and thus blocked cooperation on a negotiated settlement which held out the promise of a less destructive outcome.