The rouble is soaring and Putin is stronger than ever - our sanctions have backfired | Simon Jenkins | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/29/putin-ruble-west-sanctions-russia-europe
The chief beneficiary is none other than Russia
Il n’y a pas que la Russie ▻https://seenthis.net/messages/968901
Si pour les régimes occidentaux #l’important n’est pas le pouvoir d’achat des citoyens mais celui des actionnaires, les sanctions ne sont pas du tout contre-productives.
]]>Sarah Abdallah sur Twitter : ""The goal is to have an endless war, not a successful war." — Julian Assange" / Twitter
▻https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1549473411348545536
#gagnants #guerres #états-unis #régime_criminel #l’important
]]>US Empire Is Lining the Pockets of Defense Contractors
▻https://jacobin.com/2021/09/united-states-war-iraq-afghanistan-profiteering-defense-contractors
How the ’self licking ice cream cone,’ prolonged the 20-year war – Responsible Statecraft
▻https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/10/04/how-the-self-licking-ice-cream-cone-prolonged-the-20-year-war
This is the first time political candidates have suggested that the interests of senior military officials played a key part in prolonging the war in Afghanistan. The idea that national security institutions and their leaders pursue such parochial interests has been almost entirely ignored in past discussions, because mainstream foreign policy specialists have disapproved of it.
]]>New report shows leading Covid-19 vaccine pharma companies fuelling unprecedented human rights crisis | Amnesty International
▻https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/new-report-shows-leading-covid-19-vaccine-pharma-companies-fuelling-unprece
Six companies at the helm of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out are fuelling an unprecedented human rights crisis through their refusal to waive intellectual property rights and share vaccine technology, with most failing to prioritise vaccine deliveries to poorer countries, Amnesty International said today.
In a new report, A Double Dose of Inequality: Pharma companies and the Covid-19 vaccines crisis, the organization assessed six of the companies that hold the fate of billions of people in their hands: AstraZeneca plc, BioNTech SE, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Inc., Novavax, Inc. and Pfizer, Inc. It paints a dismal picture of an industry that is woefully failing to respect human rights.
“Vaccinating the world is our only pathway out of this crisis. It should be time to hail these companies, who created vaccines so quickly, as heroes. But instead, to their shame and our collective grief, Big Pharma’s intentional blocking of knowledge transfer and their wheeling and dealing in favor of wealthy states has brewed an utterly predictable and utterly devastating vaccine scarcity for so many others” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“Its plunging parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia into renewed crises, pushing weakened health systems to the very brink and causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths every week. In many low-income countries not even health workers and people at-risk have received the vaccine.”
“Against the backdrop of these gross inequalities BioNTech, Moderna and Pfizer are set to make US$130 billion combined by the end of 2022. Profits should never come before lives.”
]]>International study finds insomnia, anxiety and depression very prevalent during first phase of COVID-19 pandemic | University of Oxford
▻https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-09-10-international-study-finds-insomnia-anxiety-and-depression-very-prev
Oui mais de l’or pour #pharma
]]>Stanley McChrystal and other generals who led in Afghanistan now thrive in the private sector - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/04/mcchrystal-afghanistan-navistar-consulting-generals
Last year, retired Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who commanded American forces in Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014, joined the board of #Lockheed_Martin, the Pentagon’s biggest defense contractor. Retired Gen. John R. Allen, who preceded him in Afghanistan, is president of the Brookings Institution, which has received as much as $1.5 million over the last three years from #Northrop_Grumman, another defense giant. David H. Petraeus, who preceded Allen and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for providing classified materials to a former mistress and biographer, is a partner at #KKR, a private equity firm, and director of its #Global_Institute.
Petraeus said several firms “aggressively sought” him for his military and CIA experience. As for his leadership in Afghanistan, he said, “I stand by what we did and how I reported it during my time.” Dunford said he pushed no policy in Afghanistan but “did exactly what the president directed me to do,” and that 80 percent of his time now is devoted to nonprofits, several serving veterans. Allen, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.
McChrystal is the runaway corporate leader. A board member or adviser for at least 10 companies since 2010, according to corporate filings and news releases, he also leverages his experience to secure lucrative consulting contracts on topics distant from defense work, such as managing the coronavirus pandemic for state and local governments. The general, who was dismissed after being quoted in 2010 disparaging then-Vice President Joe Biden, has made millions from corporations, governments and universities, commanding six-figure salaries for some of his board positions and high five-figure speaking fees.
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