Ex-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has offered unsolicited leadership advice to President Joe Biden, bemoaning the fact he allowed Russia and China to get ahead in “vaccine diplomacy” – giving Covid-19 jabs to poor nations.
“This is the kind of leadership that the United States has historically been known for, which frankly, we should be lifting up and doing more of,” Clinton said on Monday in an interview with Foreign Affairs magazine. “And what I’m intrigued by, and a little saddened by, is the way both China and Russia are pushing their vaccines.”
The former first lady, senator and secretary of state acknowledged that the Biden administration must balance foreign-affairs concerns with the need to vaccinate the US population. It appears that the country will have more than enough supplies to do that, she said, but Covid-19 variants could complicate matters.
The Biden administration has already met its goal of delivering 100 million vaccine doses in the president’s first 100 days in office, with more than a month to spare.
“We’re not at the end of this,” Clinton said. “I mean, when the vast majority of the world is not yet vaccinated, that is like a petri dish for more variants to develop. We are, you know, walking a fine line here. Let’s vaccinate us. But at the same time, let’s do everything we can to try to provide as much vaccination support to the rest of the world as possible.”
ALSO ON RT.COMRussian President Vladimir Putin receives domestically produced Covid-19 vaccine as nationwide immunization campaign continuesRussia has signed deals to supply its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine to more than 40 countries at a time when poor nations have struggled to access the inoculations developed by Western companies. After early international skepticism because of its record-fast development and approval, Sputnik V is in high demand after being found by the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet to be safe and highly effective against the virus.
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Like lemmings to the sea, Trump’s base is flocking to their Supreme Leader. They show up at mass Hitleresque rallies to adore him. He is maskless and they are maskless. It is like watching moths fly into the flame. He tells them, “Don’t worry. Don’t wear a mask.” Trump’s base is good at following orders and so that is what they do.
Meanwhile, the rallies he holds are super spreader events. Even some of his closest cronies like Herman Cain have died of COVID-19 as a result of attending such events and failing to follow the guidelines of the CDC.
In 2016 Hillary Clinton dubbed Trump’s base the “deplorables.” That may be what lost the election for her. It is the behavior of their leader that is deplorable, not them. Trump’s base is pathetic and should be pitied. Perhaps, some day they will realize that the demagogic New York huckster has bamboozled them and demand “Lock him up!”
Trump lies, manipulates, insults and double crosses just about everyone including major world leaders. The man who became famous for saying, “You’re fired!” has wrecked an already fragile US economy. As a result of his mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis and the economic catastrophe, over 220,000 people are dead and many people have heard those same words, “You’re fired!” The people of the USA will pay the price of his shenanigans for many years to come.
There has been a lot of MSM chatter about Russian interference with the 2016 election. There seems to be a lot of MSM chatter about Russian interference with the upcoming 2020 election.
A reasonable analysis of the 2016 election would be that clearly there was interference and that electoral struggle. Clinton won a majority of the popular vote and Trump won the electoral college vote.
Basic political science teaches that the electoral college was put in place by the founders as a stopgap against working people gaining political power. The electoral college is controlled by the wealthiest sector of the US population. Clearly, the wealthiest sector in the US decided that Trump was the candidate that best represented their interests. We all know the results of the 2016 election.
There is been a lot of chatter about the 2020 general election. The MSM proclaims that the Russians have decided that Sanders or Trump should be the next president because they will throw the US economic system into chaos.
The reality is that the US capitalist economic system has thrown itself into chaos with very little, if any, help from the Russian capitalists.
If people in the US are searching for enemies to blame for the current chaos, they should look in the mirror.
50 years on from Martin Luther King’s murder, hypocrisy reigns in America
John Wight has written for newspapers and websites across the world, including the Independent, Morning Star, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, London Progressive Journal, and Foreign Policy Journal. He is also a regular commentator on RT and BBC Radio. John is currently working on a book exploring the role of the West in the Arab Spring. You can follow him on Twitter @JohnWight1
On the 50th anniversary of his assassination, it is hard to think of anyone whose legacy has been so misrepresented as that of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King (MLK) dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth regardless of the consequences, personal or political. Thus, at the time of his murder at the hands of a white supremacist on April 4, 1968 in the city of Memphis, where he had arrived to lead a march of the city’s sanitation workers over pay and conditions, King found himself an isolated figure.
Indeed, in an uncanny example of a death foretold, on the eve of his assassination, at the end of both the last and one of the most famous speeches he ever gave, the black civil rights leader proclaimed, “I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
King, by now, had alienated many of his white liberal champions and supporters in Washington, and also many of his friends and followers within the black civil rights movement, over his vocal opposition to the war in Vietnam. Meanwhile, his refusal to budge from the principal of non-violence when it came to the struggle for racial justice and equality had shed him support within the wider black civil rights movement among a young generation of activists whose anger and frustration at the lack of progress when it came to achieving justice for black people was at the breaking point.
King biographer James H. Cone writes that King’s “sermons [opposing Vietnam] were delivered against the advice of many of his friends and followers… who told him to keep silent about the war because he was alienating President Johnson and [the movement’s] financial supporters.” No matter, Cone elaborates, because King “could not overlook [America’s] great contradictions of racism, poverty, and militarism.”
In the five decades that have elapsed since Martin Luther King’s assassination, those same contradictions have, rather than lessen or move an inch towards being overcome, sharpened to the point where America has been pitched into seemingly terminal decline – at war with itself at home and struggling to deal with a world it is no longer able to dominate, and which is no longer willing to be dominated. “It [America] can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over,” King declared in one of his most famous speeches, ‘Beyond Vietnam,’ which was delivered in 1967 – a year to the day in advance of his assassination.
Surveying the world today, who could possibly refute that the “deepest hopes of men” across the planet have indeed been destroyed by dint of the juggernaut that is US imperialism? Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya – destroyed; justice for a Palestinian people suffering under the iron heel of apartheid and occupation – blocked; the Global South locked inside an inescapable prison of under-development, courtesy of free market fanaticism dressed up as freedom and democracy. These are the fruits of US hegemony, an empire sustained by an insatiable appetite for human suffering and despair.
It is why the chorus of US establishment voices that never miss an opportunity to spout insincere platitudes whenever Martin Luther King’s name is raised or his legacy commemorated, are swimming in hypocrisy.
Chief among them are liberals who wear the cause of racial equality in America like a badge, while in practice ensuring it remains the dream that King embraced from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on that hot August day in 1963 in his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Here, for example, speaketh former US President Bill Clinton: “We should all thank God for Dr. King and John Lewis and all those who gave us a dream to guide us, a dream they paid for, like our founders, with their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor.”
Oh, by the way, speaking of Hillary, here she is in 2008, revealing her reaction to the news of King’s assassination, when she was a young college student: “I walked into my room, and hurled my bag across the room like everything had been destroyed.” Theatrics aside, a rather better reaction, I’m sure you will agree, than the one she displayed at the news of the foul murder of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, when the then-secretary of state clapped her hands with glee and intoned, “We came, we saw, he died.”
Though the Clintons may constitute a particularly noxious example of the opportunism and hypocrisy that is the beating heart of the liberal political tradition in the land of the free, a still more egregious example comes in the personage of Barack Obama. Here, I must give way to Cornel West: “We see the richest prophetic tradition in America desecrated in the name of a neoliberal worldview, a worldview King would be in direct opposition to. Martin [Luther King] would be against Obama because of his neglect of the poor and the working class and because of the drones, because he is a war president, because he draws up kill lists. And Martin [Luther] King would have nothing to do with that.”
On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of a man whose struggle for racial equality had by the time he was killed evolved into a struggle for social and economic justice for poor sanitation workers in cities like Memphis, and an end to the slaughter of poor people overseas, Martin Luther King’s legacy will be fawned over by champions and beneficiaries of a Washington establishment that he had come to realize was the obstacle to justice in America rather than its enabler.
In 2018, the constituency King spent his adult life fighting for – America’s poor, racially oppressed, and dispossessed – is not to be found in the palatial homes and state rooms of the rich and powerful, people adept at extrapolating selective quotes from King’s speeches and inserting them in theirs. The constituency Martin Luther King represented and identified with is, in 2018, languishing within the country’s vast prison network, home to over 2.2 million predominately young men of color. Consider for a moment the thoughts of US playwright August Wilson: “The most valuable blacks are those in prisons, those who have the warrior spirit, who had a sense of being African… The greatest spirit of resistance among blacks [is] found among those in prison.”Â
The reality, one inescapable, is that five decades after an assassin’s bullet ended his life on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Martin Luther King’s dream of racial equality in America died with him. And when it comes to an accurate rendering of his legacy, we are obligated to ponder a hypothetical – namely that if alive today, King would be outside protesting the crimes of the politicians and former presidents at the fancy dinners and commemoration events being held in his honor.
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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
Election of Donald Trump: Its Effect on International Women’s Day 2017
This year marks the 104th anniversary of International Women’s Day started by communist Clara Zetkin. Though American women have made some gains since that time there are many more that still need to be fought for. To this day, women in the US are not entitled by Federal Law to maternity leave, sick days for themselves or for ailing children or parents, vacation time, daycare services, or welfare benefits that help women take care of their own children or their ailing parents. This shows a complete disregard for the position of women and of the family.
Under President Donald Trump women’s rights are continuing to erode. Donald Trump has threatened to appoint Supreme Court judges who would repeal Roe v Wade and to exempt Big Corporations from providing birth control to female employees.
Women represent the backbone of the family and society. They help raise the next generation of workers. Yet, women continue to live in a state of constant crisis, going from a paid job at work to an unpaid job at home without any time of their own due to low wages, high inflation, and constant cuts in social services.
Trump’s cabinet is stacked with multi-billionaires whose policies, such as housing, job creation, job safety, healthcare, environmental protections are against working people. Under the Trump Administration there will be further drastic cuts to social services, such as Foodstamps, headstart programs, and Medicaid and also privatization of social security and education. These cuts are not being made because there is a lack of money; but because the government’s priorities are for the profits of big corporations, not for the benefit of society. Over $1 trillion continues to be spent on wars that benefit military contractors; while over ½ trillion is spent on government subsidies to billionaire Big Corporations like Exxon and Wal-Mart. Yet while officially 57% of the US budget goes towards military spending, the Trump Administration is demanding cuts be made to the Foodstamp program that represents a mere 1% of the budget. A program that is literally a lifeline to 1 in 7 hungry Americans; 83% of which are: children, seniors, and the disabled.
Since Trump’s inauguration, there have been many women’s rights marches throughout the country; mainly organized by the Democratic Party whose motto is “Voting Democratic will ensure Women’s Rightsâ€. However, Let’s not forget that it was Democrat President Jimmy Carter who voted against the Equal Rights Amendment and for the Hyde Act; Democrat Bill Clinton who destroyed Welfare; and Lastly Democrat Barack Obama who in 2011 during a high inflationary period that was combined with high unemployment slashed Foodstamps & also turned around and signed an act virtually eliminating it in 2021. Capitalism is based upon cheap labor and exploitation. The Democrats and Republicans represent the left and right wing of the same bird. Under such conditions, women with hungry children are the easiest to exploit and there is little economic incentive for either party to change the system.
Although Hillary Clinton’s Democratic Party is using these marches for its own ends, other truly progressive women’s groups like Code Pink, and smaller groups like Women Warriors, PSL, and PC USA (Party of Communists USA) have been able to come forward to refocus the spotlight on the conditions of working women under capitalism and to try to mount an offensive; not only to maintain the rights women currently have, but to demand greater rights. If perhaps nothing more, Trump’s presidency has had the affect of mobilizing women on the streets and opening up the subject of Women’s Rights in a way not seen since the 1970’s; something that would not have happened if Hillary Clinton had been elected to office.
Jessica Coco
Correspondent for Labor Today
Women’s Commission, Party of Communists USA (PCUSA)
The priorities of the government of the newly-elected U.S. President, Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20th, do not differ from those of the outgoing President Barack Obama because- despite the existing differences in their declarations- their common denominator is to safeguard the general interests of the bourgeoisie. That doesn’t negate a multilevel intra-bourgeois confrontation for the way through which this will be achieved more effectively, especially in a period when the inter-imperialist antagonism is exacerbated, with an estimated relative loss of U.S. leadership in the international capitalist economy and given the difficulties for a more impetuous capitalist recovery. More specifically Trump promotes a different mix of management with stronger elements of protectionism, an issue which however creates difficulties in international trade, which in turn displeases other parts of the (U.S) capital.Â
Last Wednesday, Donald Trump gave his first press conference after his electoral victory, offering a foretaste of the new tactics and the fronts of a possible collision. In the background, of course, is the peak of the confrontation between the intelligence agencies (inside and outside the U.S), especially after the publication of a controversial 35 pages-long “report” written by the British former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, currently owner of the “stratetic advice company” named Orbis Business Intelligence. The report claimed that the Russian intelligence services keep the new President under control because of intelligence information regarding financial and sexual activities. These informations were denounced by Trump as “vile and fabricated lies”, giving him rise to criticize part of the bourgeois media, such as CNN.
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In any case, the “war” between secret services isn’t expected to settle down soon, as it reflects intra-bourgeois contrasts. It is characteristic that on Thursday night, the Inspector General of the U.S. federal Justice Department announced an inquiry regarding the decision of the outgoing FBI Director James Comey to re-open, shortly before the election, the investigation about the e-mails of the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.Â
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Review of inter-state agreements.
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Trump also seemed taking a position regarding a possible conflict with competing forces, such as China, thus bringing back to the fore his campaign promises and intentions to renegotiate trade agreements. This is a fact which, of course, will influence international developments and which, obviously, creates concern to staffs and other imperialist centers, combined with the developments such as the bazaar for Britain’s disengagement from the EU (Brexit) and the Eurozone’s cohesion itself. Trump has already warned for the U.S. withdrawal from the “Trans-Pacific Partnership” (TPP), something which inevitably mean new big bazaars and sharpening of the confrontation between competing monopolies that will seek the biggest piece from the “pie” of the new opportunities. It is not clear which power will gain more from a new negotiation, nor it is certain that the U.S. will be that power. Some analysts believe that the possible withdrawal of the U.S. from the TPP will leave an open door to Beijing, in order to push forward for China’s benefit the “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership” (RCEP) which began in 2012.Â
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In his interview, Trump “shook his finger” to China which, as he said, “makes billions of dollars by taking advantage of U.S. weaknesses”. That happened while, a few days ago, he had announced, after his meeting with the 52 years-old Chinese business magnate (owner of the e-commerce firm “Alibaba”) Jack Ma, the latter’s plans to create “one million jobs in the U.S.”.Â
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Respectively, regarding the so-called “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement” (TTIP), Trump has said that he will seek hard renegotiation in defense of the U.S. companies.Â
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In relation to Russia, Trump seems to keep a more conciliatory stance, despite the wild war between intelligence services which has targeted him for this choice. It is characteristic that he described as a “plus” the fact that the Russian President Vladimir Putin “likes” him, because, as he explained, this could contribute to the restoration of the bilateral relations which, as he said, are “terrible” today. One must point out that Trump’s choice to compromise with the Russians is not a matter of preference but an issue of interest, as he may use a possible bridge with Moscow in order to exacerbate the pressure towards Beijing. Nonetheless, during their confirmation hearings at the Senate, the proposed Trump’s ministers, Rex Tillerson for the Department of State and James Mattis for the Department of Defense, marked Russia as a “threat”. A significant part of the press conference was also dedicated to the need, as Trump pointed out, for the U.S better defense towards cyberattacks, which, for the first time he admitted, have been unleashed “from Russia, China and many other countries”. It is interesting that he appointed the former New York Governor Rudolph Giuliani in the new position of the cybersecurity adviser, responsible for private sector’s cybersecurity. That means a very positive action for the monopolies operating in the field of cybersecurity, such as Giuliani’s company “Giuliani Partners”. Trump clarified once again that he will immediately proceed to the construction of the wall in the southern borders of the USA with Mexico, despite “the friendship and respect” for the people and the government of the neighboring country. He (Trump) tried to show consistency with his central electoral campaign promises, taking into account his objective to present himself as the “antisystemic president” who wants to “make America great again” and to create in the long term a “movement” which will resonate in the middle and lower social strata.Â
Promises for better healthcare and employment.
As it has been seen, it is in the immediate priorities of Trump to withdraw and replace the reforms promoted by the outgoing President Barack Obama (Obamacare), in order to benefit specific monopolies of pharmaceutical groups and parts of the diagnostic medical centers’ “industry”. Trump claims that he will replace Obamacare with a “cheaper and better” system. Chances are that he will attempt to redistribute the “pie” in favor of the monopolies operating in the sectors of Health and Insurance. Furthermore, Donald Trump repeated his promises for the “rescue” and the creation of new jobs, thus “throwing down the gauntlet” to those industries which didn’t correspond strongly to his efforts to prevent the transfer of factories abroad, such as in Mexico. He managed to highlight his recent agreements with industries, such as the automobile company “Ford” and the air-conditioning manufacturer “Carrier” that withdrew their plans for transfering their factories in Mexico and he threatened with very heavy imposts or “border taxes” those industries which will resist the pressures for keeping job positions in the US, such as the automotive “General Motors” corporation which doesn’t seem to “give in”. It becomes obvious that the choice of Trump, like the one of Obama previously as the first black President, serves the specific needs of the capital in every given time. However, the billionaire businessman has managed more effectively to manipulate the popular strata which had no benefit from the slight capitalist recovery after the outbreak of the 2008 capitalist crisis. The fact of the absence of a strong Communist Party with a revolutionary strategy and a class-based orientation undoubtedly contriubutes to the overal entrapment of popular forces. Rizospastis, 15/1/2017, p.30.
Statement on the U.S. election, Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, Nov. 10, 2016
Source: CP Canada website
The election of Donald Trump marks an extremely dangerous shift, that threatens peace, democracy and sovereignty abroad, and labour, civil, social, and equality rights in the U.S. As the de facto leader of a fascist movement, Trump has been compared to Silvio Berlusconi, the fascist leader of the Italian People of Freedom Party. The Republicans now control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the executive branch, with power to make crucial appointments to the Supreme Court. We are witnessing the rise of a far right political movement similar to several European countries with all of the violent racism, sexism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, and transphobia that goes with it. Marine Le Pen of France’s far-right National Front was the first foreign party leader to congratulate Trump on election night.
Most Republican electors cast a vote for Trump, despite earlier repudiations by many prominent party leaders. At the end of the campaign, most of them rallied for Trump and for the Republican candidates for Congress and Senate. Other factors included a relatively low turnout, racist voter suppression tactics, the electoral college system which helped Trump win despite a lower share of the popular vote, and the wide prevalence of misogynist and sexist views in the United States.
But Trump’s victory also resulted from the inability of Hillary Clinton’s campaign to hold together the broad coalition of forces that led to Barack Obama’s election in 2008 and re-election in 2012, including Black and Hispanic voters, women, labour, and youth. In this campaign, the turnout by Black Americans was significantly lower. A similar albeit narrower coalition had coalesced around Bernie Sanders, a self-styled “democratic socialist.†After Sanders’ candidacy for the Democratic nomination was defeated, many of his supporters opted to stay home even though the Democratic platform included some of his policies. Others voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, or other third party candidates, rather than support Clinton, who was widely recognized as a war-monger and a representative of the banks, finance capital, and the 1%. The Democratic Party establishment, which hand-picked Clinton for the nomination, turned their backs on the US working class which faces worsening social conditions, collapsing wages and living standards, and mass permanent unemployment.
In the process, the Clinton campaign helped Trump build up his image as an outsider, beholden to no-one, though he was in fact heavily financed and supported by the Breitbart group and alt.right movements, the Tea Party, the religious right, the KKK, the military, police, and secret service, and by reactionary corporate interests who undoubtedly helped to finance the campaign behind the scenes. Trump has never been the lone cowboy he claims to be, either financially or politically. He is the front man for the ultra-right corporate and fascist forces in the US today.
The ongoing capitalist crisis since 2008, combined with systematic de-industrialization, plant closures and job losses resulting from global capitalist trade deals such as NAFTA and the upcoming TPP, has created a tipping point. Unwilling to continue with the status quo, working people have become increasingly angry and bitter, demanding change.
The field was wide open for the demagogic ultra-right to offer their alternative: attacks on immigrants, racialized communities, Muslims, women, and unidentified elites, including trade unions and equality seeking groups and legislation blamed for the crisis in the country. “Make America Great Again†was Trump’s broad stroke promise to improve the lives of unemployed and unorganized sections of the white (male) working class and ruined small business people, and to wreak revenge on those held responsible for their situation.
Trump’s promises to create jobs and raise living standards are fantasies for the public. His agenda is to lower corporate taxes, eliminate regulation of corporations and banks, slash education and healthcare, privatize public assets and services, scrap civil, labour, equality and democratic rights, expel immigrants, repeal “Obamacareâ€, appoint judges who will attack reproductive rights, and rip up the Paris Accords and other efforts to tackle climate change. He will be in charge of the US nuclear weapons codes, and he proposes to double military spending. There will be no breathing space under Trump, who will continue the imperialist policies of previous presidents, including new wars in the Middle East and Central Asia, continued aggression in Africa, regime change in Latin America, and the NATO drive to encircle Russia and China.
Living next door to the tiger, Canada will not be immune. US investment and control runs right through the Canadian economy, our energy and resource extraction policies are very similar, our environmental policies are almost as bad, and Canadian foreign policy and support for NATO is in lock-step. Where there are differences, the US always prevails. This will include any amendments to NAFTA or the TPP, or the Keystone Excel Pipeline and other pipeline deals.
Facing this onslaught, working people in Canada and the US, and especially the trade unions, must organize to defend hard-won rights and standards, and to mobilize broad-based unity and mass independent political action in the streets to stop Trump and the ultra-right in their tracks. Unity of the Canadian labour and people’s movements with our counterparts in the US will strengthen this fight in both countries. The Communist Party of Canada stands in solidarity with those who voted against and fought to defeat Trump, and with the Black Lives Matters movement, the Standing Rock water protectors, and all other post-election struggles against the ultra-right, in the US, Canada and globally. To succeed, this fight must include a program and policies for the real, fundamental, and progressive change that working people are so desperately looking for. In the meantime, unity, unity and more unity is what we need in this struggle. The people united, will never be defeated!
