plutocracy

Amid tension between Venezuela and the US, Lula criticizes “foreign interventions in Latin America”

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Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

President Luiz Inácio da Silva. Photo: X

Washington has launched a “counter-narcotics operation” with seven warships in international waters in the Caribbean.

President Luiz Inácio da Silva said on Monday, October 20, that foreign interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean could cause “greater damage than what is intended to be avoided” amid the escalation of tension between Venezuela and the United States. 

During his speech at the ceremony to hand over credentials to ambassadors at the Itamaraty Palace, Lula did not directly mention Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or US President Donald Trump, but said that maintaining peace in a region experiencing a period of instability is a priority for Brazil.

“In Latin America and the Caribbean, we are also experiencing a time of growing polarization and instability. Maintaining the region as a zone of peace is our priority. We are a continent free of weapons of mass destruction, without ethnic or religious conflicts. Foreign interventions can cause greater damage than intended,” the president stated.

Last Thursday, October 16, the president publicly defended the neighboring country. “Everyone says that we are going to turn Brazil into Venezuela, and Brazil will never be Venezuela, and Venezuela will never be Brazil, each one will be themselves. What we defend is that the Venezuelan people are the masters of their destiny, and it is not any president of another country who has to give advice on what Venezuela or Cuba will be like,” he said without naming Trump.

In August, Washington launched what they describe as a “counter-narcotics operation” with seven warships in international waters in the Caribbean, near the Venezuelan coast, after accusing Maduro of leading drug cartels. To date, at least six vessels have been attacked by the US, leaving more than 30 dead.

Read more: As Trump wages war on the Caribbean, its peoples rise to defend peace

In response, Maduro, who considers the action a “threat” to pressure “regime change,” ordered military exercises along the borders. The head of state also announced the activation of three new Comprehensive Defense Operational Zones (ZODI) in the states of Nueva Esparta, Sucre, and Delta Amacuro.

“This is how we are concluding all the necessary preparations, reaching the ideal state for the comprehensive defense of the Homeland,” Maduro said on his Telegram channel.

Venezuelan deputy Raúl Campos, who was in Brazil last Friday, October 17, to discuss the current situation, said that the population is organizing to defeat the “imperialist maneuver”.

“In Venezuela, we are experiencing an unprecedented aggression from US imperialism, which is desperate. It is desperate because all attempts to defeat the Bolivarian government have failed. Right now, the people enjoy complete tranquility and peace. They are dedicated to studying, working, and preparing for the Christmas holidays, but we are also preparing to defend the territory,” Campos declared. 

This article was first published by Brasil de Fato in Portuguese.

Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

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.
Continue ReadingAmid tension between Venezuela and the US, Lula criticizes “foreign interventions in Latin America”

Report Reveals $2 Billion of New Financing by Big Banks for Oil and Gas in the Amazon

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

The Pastaza River and the Heart island are seen in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest on April 12, 2023. 
Photo by Misha Vallejo Prut for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“These investments are complicit in genocide: They are killing our culture, our history, and destroying the biodiversity of the Amazon.”

A day after the Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras announced it would begin drilling for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River “immediately” after obtaining a license despite concerns over the impact on wildlife, an analysis on Tuesday revealed that banks have added $2 billion in direct financing for oil and gas in the biodiverse Amazon Rainforest since 2024.

The report from Stand.earth—and Petrobras’ license—come weeks before officials in Belém, Brazil prepare to host the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), where advocates are calling for an investment of $1.3 trillion per year for developing countries to mitigate and adapt to the climate emergency.

Examining 843 deals involving 330 banks, Stand.earth found that US banks JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citi are among the worst-performing institutions, pouring between $283 million and $326 million into oil and gas in the Amazon.

The biggest spender on oil and gas in the past year has been Itaú Unibanco, the Brazilian bank, which has sent $378 million in financing to oil and gas firms for extractive activities in the Amazon.

“Oil and gas expansion in the Amazon endangers one of the world’s most vital ecosystems and Indigenous peoples who have protected it for millennia,” said Stand.earth. “In addition to fossil fuels leading global greenhouse gas emissions, in the Amazon their extraction also accelerates deforestation, and pollutes rivers and communities.”

The group’s research found that banks have directly financed more than $15 billion to oil and gas companies in the Amazon region since the Paris Agreement, the legally binding climate accord, was adopted in 2016. Nearly 75% of the investment has come from just 10 firms, including Itaú, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Bank of America.

The analysis comes weeks after the UN-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance said it was suspending its operations, following decisions by several large banks to leave the alliance that was established in 2021 to limit banks’ environmental footprint, achieve net-zero emissions in the sector by 2050, and set five-year goals for reducing the institutions’ financing of emissions.

“Around 1,700 Indigenous people live here, and our survival depends on the forest. We ask that banks such as Itaú, Santander, and Banco do Nordeste stop financing companies that exploit fossil fuels in Indigenous territories.”

Devyani Singh, lead researcher for Stand.earth’s new bank scorecard on fossil fuel financing, noted that European banks like BNP Paribas and HSBC have “applied more robust policies to protect the sensitive Amazon rainforest than their peers” and have “significantly dropped in financing ranks.”

But, said Singh, “no bank has yet brought its financing to zero. Every one of these banks must close the existing loopholes and fully exit Amazon oil and gas without delay.”

More than 80% of the banks’ Amazon fossil fuel financing since 2024 has gone to just six oil and gas companies: Petrobras, Canada’s Gran Tierra, Brazil’s Eneva, oil trader Gunvor, and two Peruvian companies: Hunt Oil Peru and Pluspetrol Camisea.

The companies have been associated with human rights violations and have long been resisted by Indigenous people in the Amazon region, who have suffered from health impacts of projects like the Camisea gas project, a decline in fish and game stocks, and a lack of clean water.

“It’s outrageous that Bank of America, Scotiabank, Credicorp, and Itaú are increasing their financing of oil and gas in the Amazon at a time when the forest itself is under grave threat,” said Olivia Bisa, president of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Chapra Nation in Peru. “For decades, Indigenous Peoples have suffered the heaviest impacts of this destruction. We are calling on banks to change course now: by ending support for extractive industries in the Amazon, they can help protect the forest that sustains our lives and the future of the planet.”

Stand.earth’s report warned that both the Amazon Rainforest—which provides a habitat for 10% of Earth’s biodiversity, including many endangered species—and the people who live there are facing “escalating threats” from oil and gas companies and the firms that finance them, with centuries of exploitation driving the forest “toward an ecological tipping point with irreversible impacts that have global consequences.”

Oil and gas exploration is opening roads into intact parts of the Amazon and other forests, while perpetuating the new fossil fuel emissions that scientists and energy experts have warned have no place on a pathway to limiting planetary heating.

“With warming temperatures, the delicate ecological balance of the Amazon could be upset, flipping it from being a carbon-absorbing rainforest into a carbon-emitting savannah,” reads the group’s report.

Jonas Mura, chief of the Gavião Real Indigenous Territory in Brazil, said “the noise, the constant truck traffic, and the explosions” from Eneva’s projects “have driven away the animals and affected our hunting.”

“Even worse: they are entering without our consent,” said Mura. “Our territory feels threatened, and our families are being directly harmed. Around 1,700 Indigenous people live here, and our survival depends on the forest. We ask that banks such as Itaú, Santander, and Banco do Nordeste stop financing companies that exploit fossil fuels in Indigenous territories.”

“These companies have no commitment to the environment, to Indigenous and traditional peoples, or to the future of the planet,” he added. “These investments are complicit in genocide: They are killing our culture, our history, and destroying the biodiversity of the Amazon.”

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

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.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.

Continue ReadingReport Reveals $2 Billion of New Financing by Big Banks for Oil and Gas in the Amazon

Global use of coal hit record high in 2024

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/22/global-use-of-coal-hit-record-high-in-2024

A coal power station in Ohio, US. Donald Trump has declared his support for coal and other fossil fuels. Photograph: Jason Whitman/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Bleak report finds greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite ‘exponential’ growth of renewables

Coal use hit a record high around the world last year despite efforts to switch to clean energy, imperilling the world’s attempts to rein in global heating.

The share of coal in electricity generation dropped as renewable energy surged ahead. But the general increase in power demand meant that more coal was used overall, according to the annual State of Climate Action report, published on Wednesday.

The report painted a grim picture of the world’s chances of avoiding increasingly severe impacts from the climate crisis. Countries are falling behind the targets they have set for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which have continued to rise, albeit at a lower rate than before.

Clea Schumer, a research associate at the World Resources Institute thinktank, which led the report, said: “There’s no doubt that we are largely doing the right things. We are just not moving fast enough. One of the most concerning findings from our assessment is that for the fifth report in our series in a row, efforts to phase out coal are well off track.”

…

Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/22/global-use-of-coal-hit-record-high-in-2024

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.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Continue ReadingGlobal use of coal hit record high in 2024

Trump’s ICE Jacks Up Weapons Spending by 700%—Including ‘Guided Missile Warheads’

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

Federal agents target protesters with “less lethal” weapons at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on October 18, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. 
(Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

“ICE was always going to be Trump’s private military to deploy domestically against Americans,” said one critic.

The $170 billion in new funding for immigration enforcement operations that the Republican Party included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act earlier this year led some to warn that the Trump administration was ramping up spending at anti-immigration agencies not just to fund its attacks on migrants, but to deploy federal forces against anyone it wanted to across US communities.

New reporting on Monday detailed just how much US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has spent on weaponry since President Donald Trump took office—weapons that have been purchased as the administration has turned federal agents on US cities such as Chicago and Portland, illustrating how the president is treating increasingly armed ICE officers as his “private military,” as one progressive critic said.

As images spread online of immigration agents deploying pepper spray and tear gas at nonviolent protesters, Judd Legum at Popular Information recently delved into government contracting records from the Federal Procurement Data System and found that ICE has increased its spending on “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing” by 700% this year compared to 2024 numbers.

The agency spent $71,515,762 on small arms from January 20—the day Trump began his second term—through October 18.

The number dwarfs ICE’s spending during the first Trump term, during which the agency spent about $8.4 million annually on small arms, and during President Joe Biden’s administration.

The type of weaponry purchased by ICE also raised alarm Monday, with Legum reporting that while most of the agency’s spending was on guns and armor, “there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and ‘guided missile warheads and explosive components.’”

“If the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This puts it higher than the national militaries of Poland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey, and Spain—and just below Israel.”

The reporting comes as ICE and other immigration agencies continue to deploy armed, masked agents in major Democratic-leaning US cities, where officers have been filmed and photographed pointing a weapon at a protester; firing a pepper ball at a pastor, and pointing a firearm at bystanders who saw one agent arresting a man.

A CBS reporter in Chicago also accused an ICE officer of firing a pepper ball at her vehicle, causing the chemical to “engulf the inside of her truck.”

Sally Duval, a Texas state House candidate in last year’s election, said she was “curious to know why ICE needs ‘guided missile warheads.’”

The report came days after the Trump administration used the US military for what Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom called “a profoundly absurd show of force that could put Californians directly in harm’s way,” when the Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells over a section of the busy Interstate 5 freeway to celebrate the military branch’s 250th anniversary.

Newsom accused Trump of “using our military to intimidate people [he disagrees] with” and called the exercise “reckless.”

Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, said Legum’s reporting on Monday showed that “ICE was always going to be Trump’s private military to deploy domestically against Americans.”

Legum’s analysis—which likely understated total spending on weapons by Trump’s deportation forces, as it did not include spending by other anti-immigration agencies—followed a report on ICE’s recent funding increase by In These Times.

With the $170 billion included in the OBBBA, reported the outlet, “if the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This puts it higher than the national militaries of Poland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey, and Spain—and just below Israel.”

The budget, Brandon Lee of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights told In These Times, “shows the misplaced priorities of this administration, where they are cutting healthcare and cutting vital programs for people across the country, and putting all of this money into a domestic terrible force.”

“And it shows the cruelty,” said Lee, “that the Trump administration intends to enact on all people in the United States.”

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

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.
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.

Continue ReadingTrump’s ICE Jacks Up Weapons Spending by 700%—Including ‘Guided Missile Warheads’

Trump-Appointed Judges Give Him Green Light to Send Troops Into Portland

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

A protester in a frog costume stands in front of a line of federal law enforcement officers outside a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon, on October 6, 2025. (Photo by Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

In a dissent, Judge Susan Graber accused her 9th Circuit colleagues of eroding “core constitutional principles.”

Two federal judges are giving President Donald Trump the green light to send National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon on Monday.

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to put a hold on US District Judge Karin Immergut’s earlier order blocking deployment of the National Guard to Oregon’s largest city.

The two judges who ruled in the DOJ’s favor were appointed by Trump, while the lone dissenter in the case, Judge Susan Graber, was appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

The court’s majority ruled that the protests outside the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility were sufficiently disruptive to justify deploying the National Guard, despite the fact that demonstrations outside the facility in recent weeks had not disrupted operations.

Judge Ryan Nelson, one of the Trump appointees, went so far as to issue a concurring opinion stating that the president’s right to deploy the National Guard, even over the objections of state and local officials, cannot be reviewed by the judiciary.

In a scathing dissent, Graber noted that “the record contains no evidence whatsoever that, on September 27… ICE was unable either to protect its Portland facility or to execute the immigration laws it is charged with enforcing.” This is relevant, she said, because the law states that the president may only deploy the National Guard “to repel a foreign invasion, quell a rebellion, or overcome an inability to execute the laws.”

Graber then accused her colleagues of eroding “core constitutional principles, including sovereign states’ control over their states’ militias and the people’s First Amendment rights to assemble and to object to the government’s policies and actions.”

Graber’s argument echoed a ruling made earlier this month by Immergut, who was also appointed to the bench by Trump and who said his declarations that violent protests at the Portland ICE facility prevented the enforcement of the law were “untethered to facts.”

Sandy Chung, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, said in a statement responding to the ruling that “we are very disappointed that the majority on this 9th Circuit panel were unable to see through President Trump’s political theater, divisive rhetoric, and extreme abuse of power and misuse of our military.”

“The fact remains that Portland is peaceful,” Chung added. “Portland protesters have shown a remarkable level of humor, creativity, and community care in the face of this administration’s persistent and violent abuses of power. Inflatable frog and unicorn costumes, bike rides, and musical events are hardly a threat or reason to take the extremely dangerous and anti-democratic action of sending American troops into our communities.”

In addition to Portland, Trump is also seeking to send National Guard troops to Chicago over the objections of both Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The administration has appealed that case to the US Supreme Court.

This article has been updated with comment from the ACLU.

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

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.
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.

Continue ReadingTrump-Appointed Judges Give Him Green Light to Send Troops Into Portland