[Peace-discuss] Headlines, stories too short or in the wrong medium for running as-is on TV

[J.B. Nicholson]

A few items I found interesting:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=USZmJXoAje4 -- "The cancel culture effect | Half of NYT 
staff afraid to speak their mind - poll"


And a couple articles illustrating how sanctions are war:

https://on.rt.com/b20w -- "US sanctions on Venezuela have failed to achieve anything 
but needless death and misery. Against all reason, they are set to stay" an op ed by 
Daniel Kovalik author of "The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep 
State Have Conspired to Vilify Putin", "The Plot to Attack Iran : How the CIA and the 
Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran", and "No More War: How the West Violates 
International Law by Using “Humanitarian” Intervention to Advance Economic and 
Strategic Interests". Kovalik's op ed starts:
> In its regime-change effort in Venezuela, the US has imposed devastating sanctions
> that have caused tens of thousands of deaths among the most vulnerable – without
> ever coming close to toppling the president.
> 
> Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human
> rights – a new position created by the UN Human Rights Council in March of 2020 –
> issued a stinging preliminary report last week condemning US and EU sanctions
> against Venezuela. Ms. Douhan has urged the US, EU and other nations to drop all
> sanctions against Venezuela after her two-week fact-finding mission to the
> country.
> 
> As the report explains, sanctions were first “imposed against Venezuela in 2005
> and have been severely strengthened since 2015 . . . with the most severe ones
> being imposed by the United States.” According to Ms. Douhan’s report, these
> “sanctions have exacerbated pre-existing economic situations and have dramatically
> affected the whole population of Venezuela, especially but not only those in
> extreme poverty, women, children, medical workers, people with disabilities or
> life-threatening or chronic diseases, and the indigenous populations.” In short,
> the sanctions are hurting the most vulnerable of Venezuelan society.
> 
> The report continues: “Lack of necessary machinery, spare parts, electricity,
> water, fuel, gas, food and medicine, growing insufficiency of qualified workers
> many of whom have left the country for better economic opportunities, in
> particular medical personnel, engineers, teachers, professors, judges and
> policemen, has enormous impact over all categories of human rights, including the
> rights to life, to food, to health and to development.”



https://on.rt.com/b1js -- "US sells over a million barrels of seized Iranian fuel 
headed for Venezuela" starts:
> The United States has sold more than a million barrels of Iranian fuel seized
> under its sanctions program last year, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing the US
> Department of Justice.
> 
> The seizures were part of Washington’s economic sanctions on Tehran over its
> nuclear program, and the US’ designation of a number of Iranian groups as
> terrorists. The US government under President Donald Trump used civil forfeiture
> procedures to seize some 1.2 million barrels of gasoline it said were being sent
> from Iran to Venezuela aboard four tankers.
> 
> According to Department of Justice spokesman Marc Raimondi, the sale of the
> cargoes had been completed, with the government “still working out the final
> expenses.” He told Reuters, “The petroleum has been seized, and an interlocutory
> sale has preserved the cash value of the petroleum, which is now held by the US
> Marshals Service.”