… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: new authoritarianism

  • ‘As much as the United States would wish otherwise, Cuba is not alone’

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/much-united-states-would-wish-otherwise-cuba-not-alone

     Activists wave Cuban and Palestinian flags from the vessel Maguro, arriving from Mexico with humanitarian aid as part of the “Nuestra America,” or Our America convoy, in Havana Bay, Cuba, March 24, 2026

    Over 100 MPs call on PM to oppose Trump’s oil blockade on Cuba

    MORE than 100 MPs have voiced “grave concern” over Donald Trump’s Cuba oil blockade, calling on PM Sir Keir Starmer to oppose the US president’s “collective punishment” of its civilian population.

    Ministers were urged to reject Washington’s threat to slap tariffs on any other country that ships fuel to the island after it kidnapped Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January.

    The US has blocked Venezuelan oil supplies to Cuba’s socialist government, which said last week that it had not received any ​fuel in three months. 

    Your Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Green, SDLP, and Lib Dem MPs have now signed an early day motion by Labour MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr Steve Witherden.

    Mr Corbyn told the Morning Star: “The aim of the criminal and inhumane blockade by the US is clear: to starve the Cuban people into submission. They will not succeed.

    “As much as the United States would wish otherwise, Cuba is not alone.”

    They collectively called on the government to reject the “unjustifiable” sanctions and US claims that Cuba poses an “extraordinary” threat.

    …

    Socialist MP Richard Burgon, who was in Cuba this weekend delivering humanitarian aid with an international delegation, said: “In Cuba I saw the cruel consequences of Trump’s total ban on fuel entering the country, including its impact on the ability to provide healthcare to those in need. 

    “Cutting off fuel to an entire country is an inhumane attempt by Trump to strangle the Cuban people into submission. It is illegal and it’s putting lives at risk.

    “The UK rightly votes against the US blockade at the UN each year, but that must now be matched with action. It should follow Spain’s example and provide emergency humanitarian aid.”

    Green Party parliamentary leader Dr Ellie Chowns said: “Trump has intensified his threats against Cuba following the collapse of the island nation’s energy grid under a US-imposed oil blockade, declaring just yesterday that he believes he will ‘take’ the country and ‘could do anything [he] want[s] with it. This cannot continue.”

    Cuba Solidarity Campaign director Rob Miller said his group is delighted with the number of MPs who have signed the motion, saying: “Together they represent over seven million UK constituents. 

    “We now hope the UK government will move quickly to send humanitarian support to Cuba, a country with which we have had full diplomatic and friendly relations for over 120 years.”

    …

    Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/much-united-states-would-wish-otherwise-cuba-not-alone

    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

  • As Trump Threatens to Escalate Further, Majority of Americans Say Iran War Has Already ‘Gone Too Far’: Poll

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    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Demonstrators hold a protest against the war on Iran next to a military recruiting station in New York City on March 22, 2026. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Trump is considering putting US troops on the ground in Iran. Only 12% of Americans want that to happen, according to a new Associated Press-NORC poll.

    Nearly six in ten Americans say President Donald Trump’s war in Iran has gone too far, according to a poll out Wednesday from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

    The war launched late last month by the US and Israel has led to the deaths of more than 1,400 Iranian civilians, according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), and the displacement of more than 3 million. It has spiraled out across the region while creating a global economic crisis that has caused gas prices to spike to nearly $4 per gallon in the US.

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    ‘Cracks Are Beginning to Show’: Even 79% of Trump Voters Want Quick End to Iran War

    Protesters rally outside White House against US and Israeli strikes on Iran

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    Now, 59% of American adults say it’s “gone too far,” compared to just 26% who say it’s “been about right” and 13% who say it’s “not gone far enough,” according to the survey of 1,150 people.

    Those opposed to continuing the president’s war of choice include 90% of Democrats and 63% of independents. Most Republicans, 52%, say the amount of force used by Trump has been “about right.” Just 20% want him to go further, while 26% say he’s gone too far.

    In recent days, as Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has wreaked havoc on global oil prices, Trump has sent thousands more servicemembers to the region and reportedly mulled deploying American ground troops in hopes of reopening the crucial waterway.

    Experts have warned that a ground deployment could turn the war into an even greater quagmire. Already, 13 US soldiers have been killed since February 28.

    An even larger share of Americans, 62%, said they oppose the idea of deploying US troops on the ground in Iran, while just 12% say they support it and 26% say they have no opinion.

    While a minority says it is very important for the US to stop Iran from threatening Israel or to replace its government with one more favorable to the US, Americans are prioritizing issues at home.

    Ninety-three percent said it was very or somewhat important for the US to keep oil and gas prices low, which has so far not happened—in less than a month, they have spiked by about a dollar and have not shown signs of coming down, even as Trump has deployed emergency fuel reserves and lifted sanctions on some Iranian oil to juice supply.

    A majority of Americans, 65%, also said they felt that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon—one of Trump’s stated objectives for the war—was a very important foreign policy goal.

    However, as journalist and commentator Adam Johnson pointed out in a piece for The Real News on Tuesday, the US public is “grossly misinformed” about the subject—25% wrongly believe Iran already possesses a nuke while 45% believe they are working towards developing one, which has been refuted by US intelligence assessments and reporting based on the testimony of US officials.

    The unpopularity of the war with Iran is in line with previous polls showing that the majority of Americans believe the war benefits Israel more than the US and want the war to end quickly.

    With Trump having returned to office on the explicit pledge to avoid war with Iran and the cost of living already at the center of the president’s near-historic unpopularity, Republicans’ outlook for this year’s midterm elections looks as grim as ever.

    Polling aggregators predict Democrats will easily flip the House, and the Senate is now a toss-up, though Republicans still hold a slight edge.

    According to polls, Republicans’ midterm chances truly began to tank in January amid outrage over federal immigration agents’ killings of two US citizens in Minneapolis. Though surveys haven’t shown GOP numbers getting markedly worse since the war began, recent opinion polling suggests it is not a non-factor.

    A poll last week from the Institute of Middle East Understanding found that 43% of voters said they’re less likely to support Republicans in the midterms as a result of the war, compared to 31% who said they’re more likely.

    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
    Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
    Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
    Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.

  • Earth being ‘pushed beyond its limits’ as energy imbalance reaches record high

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/23/earth-being-pushed-beyond-its-limits-as-energy-imbalance-reaches-record-high

    Heatwaves and acidification are growing problems for corals and other marine life. Photograph: Mike Veitch/Alamy

    State of the Climate report finds Earth’s energy has moved dangerously out of balance, with oceans absorbing vast majority of trapped heat

    Our home planet is struggling with a record energy imbalance, which is warming oceans to unprecedented levels, making weather more extreme and threatening health and food supplies, the World Meteorological Organization has warned.

    The United Nations body confirmed 2015 to 2025 were the hottest 11 years ever measured, but a still bleaker message was that the rising temperature experienced by humans on the surface was only 1% of the faster-accumulating heat in the wider Earth system.

    More than 90% of that excess is absorbed by the oceans, which experienced the highest heat content in history last year. The rate of ocean warming has more than doubled over the past two decades, compared with the average over the previous 45 years.

    The authors of the latest annual State of the Global Climate report say this highlights the increasing vulnerability of a planet that is moving ever further out of balance as a result of human activity. The burning of oil, gas, coal and forests releases heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are all at their highest level in at least 800,000 years.

    …

    At present, humans and other life forms on the surface directly suffer only a small fraction of that energy backup because 91% is absorbed by oceans, 5% by the land, 1% warms the atmosphere, and 3% melts ice at the poles and on high mountains.

    …

    Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/23/earth-being-pushed-beyond-its-limits-as-energy-imbalance-reaches-record-high

    Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
    Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
    Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.

    What are zettajoules – and what do they tell us about Earth’s energy imbalance?

  • Spread the love
    Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won.
    Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won.

  • UN Experts Urge Israel to Free Gaza Doctor, Citing Reports of ‘Severe Torture’

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    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Healthcare workers and allies rally in support of Palestinians and to demand the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian healthcare workers in Israeli jails, in New York City on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s imprisonment appears “to be flagrantly arbitrary and manifestly inconsistent with the Mandela Rules, which establish the obligation of states to ensure prisoners have access to healthcare.”

    A pair of United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday called on Israel to immediately release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian physician and hospital director who has been imprisoned for more than 450 days and allegedly tortured by his captors.

    Israel must ensure Abu Safiya “is granted access to medical examination and treatment,” UN Special Rapporteurs Tlaleng Mofokeng and Ben Saul said, adding that the doctor reportedly suffered “severe torture.”

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    “We have received reports that Dr. Abu Safiya has been subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment, and that his health condition remains dire,” the experts continued. “The conditions of his detention appear to be flagrantly arbitrary and manifestly inconsistent with the Mandela Rules, which establish the obligation of states to ensure prisoners have access to healthcare.”

    “He has been systematically denied critical medical examination and treatment, and deprived of essential care to such an extent that his life, health, and well-being have been gravely endangered,” the pair added.

    Israeli troops detained Abu Safiya, who is now 52 years old, on December 28, 2024 amid a prolonged siege and assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, where he served as director. Abu Safiya which refused to evacuate the facility as long as patients were still being treated.

    Former detainees released from the notorious Sde Teiman torture prison in southern Israel said they met Abu Safiya there. According to testimonies gathered by the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Abu Safiya was tortured before his arrival at Sde Teiman and inside the facility.

    Abu Safiya was subsequently transferred to Ofer Prison in the illegally occupied West Bank of Palestine, where another renowned Gaza physician, Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, died after reportedly enduring torture. UN Palestine expert Francesca Albanese cited reports that al-Bursh was “likely raped to death.”

    During a previous Israeli attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, Abu Safiya’s 15-year-old son was killed in a drone strike. Abu Safiya was seriously wounded in a separate drone attack that left six pieces of shrapnel in his leg.

    Shortly after Abu Safiya’s detention, his mother died of a heart attack attributed to “severe sadness” by the medical charity for which the doctor worked.

    A UN commission concluded in 2024 that “Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities.”

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—who ordered the “complete siege” of Gaza—are wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder and forced starvation.

    “Violence against healthcare workers, destruction of health facilities, and underlying determinants of health continue unabated despite a so-called ceasefire in Gaza,” the UN experts said Tuesday. More than 650 Palestinian civilians, including medical professionals, have been killed by Israeli forces since the ceasefire took effect last October, according to Gaza officials.

    Overall, more than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded over 899 days of Israel’s US-backed war, which UN experts, human rights groups, and many others argue is a genocide. Since South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in late 2023, nearly 20 countries have formally intervened to support the proceedings.

    Most of Gaza’s over 2 million people have also been forcibly displaced—many of them multiple times—and many have suffered starvation and sickness.

    The UN experts asserted that countries “have the power to end [Abu Safiya’s] torment, and we call on them to use it.”

    “It is incumbent upon states with influence on Israel and the international community to use all avenues to ensure prevention, recourse, and justice,” they added. “Israel must release Dr. Abu Safiya and all healthcare workers, and ensure they have access to appropriate medical care.”

    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel's criminal war for Israel's genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said "I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
    Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
    Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
    Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
    Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
    Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.