NINA NOTMAN—After the revolution, in 1960 all pharmaceutical companies in Cuba, foreign and domestic, were nationalised as the government expropriated property, land and assets owned by companies and rich individuals. The resulting state pharma setup has undergone a number of transformations since, the most recent in 2012 saw BioCubaFarma established as the umbrella agency overseeing the 31 state-run pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D and production facilities. In 2013, according to the WHO, BioCubaFarma had more than 21,000 employees including 6158 university graduates (270 with a PhD and over 1000 with a master’s degree).
US EXCEPTIONALISM
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HELEN YAFFE—Cuban Interferon Alpha 2b has proven effective for viruses with characteristics similar to those of COVID-19. Cuban biotech specialist, Dr Luis Herrera Martinez explained that ‘its use prevents aggravation and complications in patients, reaching that stage that ultimately can result in death.’ Cuba first developed and used interferons to arrest a deadly outbreak of the dengue virus in 1981, and the experience catalysed the development of the island’s now world-leading biotech industry.
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Circle in the Darkness – Memoir of a World Watcher: Latest Diana Johnstone book reviewed
17 minutes readJIM MILES—NATO and European unity covers another large thematic area. She discusses how NATO and the European Union actively promote the neoliberal order as conditioned by the U.S. and other global hegemonic financial powers against the best interests of their own people and against the best interests of many sovereign states in the world.
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Why Iraqis Hate the U.S. Troops Who Occupy Their Country
21 minutes readERIC ZUESSE—The reason why “they feel they’ve been betrayed” by Trump’s bar against any Iraqi relocating to America is that many of these Iraqis had been hired by U.S. firms to do translating or other essential assistance to the invaders, and so they are themselves now hated by the locals, their own countrymen, and they think that the only safety for them and their families would be to move, along with their families, to America. They are therefore now terrified, at finding themselves stranded in Iraq, where they are very reasonably considered to be traitors.
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PROVEN: Biden Won the Democratic Nomination by Cheating.
27 minutes readERIC ZUESSE—Sanders lost the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination because he refused to pander to suckers. His only concern was to appeal to the voters’ better parts, without lying about himself or his policies or the dire condition of the country, which is an increasingly dire condition that is actually a two-party failure, not merely a Republican one. It’s in this condition because of people like Biden and Trump and Obama and Bush.