CounterCurrents: Appearance Of Military Officers During Trump’s Inaugural Address Still Unexplained

Dear Friend,

A strange and disturbing sequence took place behind President Donald Trump as he delivered his inaugural address Friday, which has gone virtually without comment in the news media. At one minute and 16 seconds into the speech, Trump turns around, at which point two marine sentries behind him open the doors of the west side of the capitol building to allow the group of 10 officers to walk down the steps to stand directly behind Trump. What does that mean? Is it a show of strength? Is it a warning? Only time will tell. 

Immediately after taking office President Trump  installed a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office. Why Churchill? Romi Mahajan goes throgh the important book by Shashi Tharoor "An Era of Darkness" and warns us that the bust of Churchill may be a forewarning of things to come. 

Millions are protesting against 'Trumpism' around the world. Some of them may be naive too. Dr Binoy Kampmark reports from San Francisco "they held signs backing Hillary Clinton as the legitimate president, alongside peace symbols, NATO, and “love, actually”. " When we protest Trump we also need political understanding of against what we are protesting. 

Just a couple of days after she helped a team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate complaints of rapes by the security forces near Bijapur (South Chhattisgarh), social activist Bela Bhatia was told by a mob of goons to leave her house in Parpa village outside Jagdalpur or face the consequences. This comes after a series threats against JagLag and other social activists and organisations in Chhattisgarh. 

Well we are coming full circle now! With climate change and fast depletion of resources our Mother Earth is on the edge of the cliff with 7.5 Billions humans and other species facing extinction. The near term calamity can be so disastrous. Sally Dugman asks "What are we going to do with  immigrants fleeing deplorable conditions in their own lands? How many more people can the world subsume with climate change conditions and fossil fuel depletion on the way? If you think for a moment that the Pogroms were an isolated set of incidents, look at at present-day Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Rwanda and so on. Look, too, at what’s slated for Florida and Boston while speculating outcomes". The scenario may not be unfamiliar to those who read Jared Diamond's remarkable book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed ".  We've to accept that our civilization is heading for a collapse and devise strategies accordingly, at the earliest. 

And also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Appearance Of Military Officers During Trump’s Inaugural Address Still Unexplained
by Jerry White 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/appearance-of-military-officers-during-trumps-inaugural-address-still-unexplained/

A strange and disturbing sequence took place behind President Donald Trump as he delivered his inaugural address Friday, which has gone virtually without comment in the news media.






Trump’s Inaugural Address: Neoliberal Anti-Christ Donald Trump’s “America First” Trumps Jesus’ “Love Thy Neighbour”
by Dr Gideon Polya 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/trumps-inaugural-address-neoliberal-anti-christ-donald-trumps-america-first-trumps-jesus-love-thy-neighbour/

US President Donald  Trump’s Inaugural Address was a mish-mash of populist rhetoric, unachievable promises, lying by commission and egregious lying by omission, most notably over the 1.7 million Americans who die preventably each year in the neoliberal US Corporatocracy.  Crucially, espousal of “America First” by an anti-Christ Donald Trump contradicts the “Love thy neighbour” imperative of that wonderful Palestinian humanitarian Jesus Christ who is worshipped by most Americans.





Ignored Ironies: Women, Protest And Donald Trump
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/ignored-ironies-women-protest-and-donald-trump/

In front of the Asian Museum were several women, garbed in hippy chic outfits, the tattered jackets lending themselves to stylish suggestions.    They held signs backing Hillary Clinton as the legitimate president, alongside peace symbols, NATO, and “love, actually”.  The confused combination evidently ignored the troubling and far from peaceful role of NATO since the end of the Cold War, not to mention the role played by the nuclear weapons in the alliance, triggering the European Disarmament Movement.





Busting The Busts Of Churchill:  Why Reading “An Era Of Darkness” By Shashi Tharoor Is Necessary
by Romi Mahajan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/busting-the-busts-of-churchill-why-reading-an-era-of-darkness-by-shashi-tharoor-is-necessary/

Writers are every now and again given a gift from the “news,” a nugget that serves to be an easy opening gambit.  The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, delivered a perfect one recently by installing a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office. One would indeed get this impression from the typical romantic (and racist) hagiographies that pass as “history.”  To read such pabulum is to be at play in the fields of elision.






Bangalore Protests Against Trumpism
by New Socialist Alternative (CWI-India) 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/bangalore-protest-against-trumpism/

The ‘Bangalore Joins Global Resistance to Trump’ was a remarkable event, as we joined the #ResistTrump movement that has engulfed and raged around the world in continents.






Social Activist Bela Bhatia Attacked At Home In Bastar, Asked To Leave In 24 Hours

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/social-activist-bela-bhatia-attacked-at-home-in-bastar-asked-to-leave-in-24-hours/

Just a couple of days after she helped a team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate complaints of rapes by the security forces near Bijapur (South Chhattisgarh), Bela Bhatia was told by a mob of goons to leave her house in Parpa village outside Jagdalpur or face the consequences.






Moving Successfully Towards Future Improvements In A Distressed World
by Sally Dugman 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/moving-successfully-towards-future-improvements-in-a-distressed-world/

Let’s go full circle here. What are we going to do with  immigrants fleeing deplorable conditions in their own lands? How many more people can the world subsume with climate change conditions and fossil fuel depletion on the way? If you think for a moment that the Pogroms were an isolated set of incidents, look at at present-day Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Rwanda and so on. Look, too, at what’s slated for Florida and Boston while speculating outcomes






Rebuilding Activism From The Ground Up
by Mickey Z 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/rebuilding-activism-from-the-ground-up/

It can be the same when you resist oppression. You may begin such work as a reaction or even a resolution. At first, it will be challenging. But if you stick with and start to see some results and find the method that lights you up, you begin to look forward to it. You will even find yourself thinking and talking about your activism all the time. You’ll wake each morning on a mission. You’ll go to bed each night knowing you did the work. 






Development And India: Why GM Mustard Really Matters 
by Colin Todhunter 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/development-and-india-why-gm-mustard-really-matters/

The push to commercialise the growing of genetically modified (GM) mustard in India is currently held up in court due to a lawsuit by Aruna Rodrigues. The next hearing is due in February. Rodrigues has indicated at length that, to date, procedures and tests have been corrupted by fraudulent practices, conflicts of interests and gross regulatory delinquency.





Strategic Disinvestment of Bharat Earth Movers Limited Will Compromise India’s Security
by S G Vombatkere 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/23/strategic-disinvestment-of-bharat-earth-movers-limited-will-compromise-indias-security/

I therefore earnestly and strongly urge you to urgently reconsider the economically and financially ill-advised disinvestment of equity in BEML, so that MoD retains strategic control of BEML, and immediately scrap the disinvestment proposal in the best interest of the defence, security and sovereignty of our country.