EDWARD J CURTIN—The Russian President Vladimir Putin and its Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov have just warned the U.S. that such involvement has made nuclear war a “serious” and “real” risk, in Lavrov’s words “we must not underestimate it,” which is a mild form of diplomatic speech. Putin said that Russia has made all the preparations to respond if it senses a strategic threat to Russia and that response will be “instant, it will be quick.” The U.S. response is to shrug these statements off, just as it has done so for many years with Putin’s complaints about NATO forces moving up to its border. Incredibly, Biden has said, “For God’s sake, this man (Putin) cannot remain in power.”
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The ‘Yellow Vests’ Saturday took to the streets after a summer break to continue protesting against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plans. Almost two years after their first mobilizations, the Yellow Vests marched through Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, Lille, Nantes, Nice, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg.
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Who would have bet that Portland, of all possible places, would become the focus of one of the most recalcitrant, courageous anti-status quo protests? It’s humbling, folks. History always carries surprises in its folds. It’s regrettable that such enthusiasm is not liable to survive the many devious stratagems deployed by false friends of the people, and the painful lack of a combative party and leadership capable of providing guidance in the months and years ahead.
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ALVARO GARCIA LINERA—Over several weeks, the police had shown great incompetence and neglect of their duty to protect the ordinary people whom fascistic gangs threatened with beatings and persecution. But since last Friday — refusing to recognize their civilian command — many of these same police have shown an extraordinary capacity for attacking, detaining, torturing, and killing protesters from the popular classes. Of course, in the earlier [anti-Morales] protests, it had been a matter of reining in the children of the middle classes — and the police were supposedly powerless to react.
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Revolts are arising all around the world and it can be hard to keep track of them. We speak with Andre Vltchek, a photographer, writer and documentarian who travels all over to cover world events. He brings a deeper understanding of the conditions that have given rise to the protests, the historical context of those conditions and outside forces that may be influencing them. We discuss Lebanon, Hong Kong, China, and the Uyghurs, which are completely propagandized in the United States; and Chile, where people are facing violent state repression and a deeply neoliberal government that has existed since the US-led coup by General Pinochet in 1973.
