This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Berlin, February 11, 2025—After a year that saw Russia increase its pressure on independent media and journalists, authorities are seeking to tighten the squeeze on dissenting voices from March 1 by blocking those designated as “foreign agents’” from access to their earnings.
The 2025 law requires those listed by the justice ministry as “persons under foreign influence” to open special ruble accounts into which all their income from creative or intellectual activities, as well as the sale or rental of real estate, vehicles, dividends, and interest on deposits, must be paid.
So-called foreign agents will not be allowed to withdraw their earnings unless they are removed from the register. However, the government can withdraw money from agents’ accounts to pay fines imposed for failing to apply that label to their published material or to report on their activities and expenses to the government — a legal requirement since 2020.
While the new law’s full impact remains to be seen, it looms as yet another threat for exiled media outlets already rattled by the prospect of losing funding after U.S. President Donald Trump’s freezing of U.S. foreign aid.
“It is clear that the legal pressure on journalists who stay in Russia — and those who have relocated — will increase,” Mikhail Danilovich, director of The New Tab, an exiled online magazine founded in May 2022, which has been blocked inside Russia due to its coverage of the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, told CPJ.
Digging in
In addition to the new law, a parliamentary commission proposed on January 28 an increase in foreign agent fines and a ban on their teaching or taking part in educational activities, such as hosting lectures or seminars.These moves signal an ongoing determination to crack down on independent journalists already grappling with a plethora of sanctions, from fines to arrest warrants and jail terms.
While hundreds have fled Russia due to authorities’ suppression of critical coverage of the Ukraine war, others continue to report from inside the country. Nadezhda Prusenkova, head of Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta’s press department, estimated that about half of the journalists designated foreign agents still live in Russia.
“We saw a greater focus on pressure on independent media and journalists in 2024, including pressure related to the legislation on foreign agents,” Dmitrii Anisimov, spokesperson for the human rights news site OVD-Info, told CPJ.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, CPJ has documented 247 journalists and media outlets branded as foreign agents and six exiled journalists sentenced in absentia to jail terms ranging from 7½ to 11 years on fake news charges.Although none of the journalists outside Russia have been taken into custody, the campaign against exiles has left many fearing for their safety – especially after three journalists who wrote critically about the war in Ukraine suffered symptoms of poisoning in 2022 and 2023.
Impact of the new law
Mediazona editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov in court in 2021, prior to being jailed for retweeting someone else’s joke on social media. He could face jail again for failing to note on his content that he is designated a “foreign agent.” (Screenshot: Mediazona/YouTube) Senior members of five independent media outlets that work with people designated as foreign agents told CPJ that it was unclear about how the new law will affect their journalists.
Novaya Gazeta’s Prusenkova said that the newspaper had “very few” designated foreign agents on its staff, and Latvia-based Novaya Gazeta Europe CEO Maria Epifanova told CPJ that her exiled staff accessed their earnings from Western bank accounts. However, there were worries about losing revenue from the sale or rental of homes they left behind, she said.
Ivan Kolpakov, editor-in-chief of the Latvia-based independent outlet Meduza and one of the first Russians to be labeled as a foreign agent, told CPJ that, “Frankly speaking, we have not complied with foreign agent legislation in any form since 2023 [when Meduza was banned as an “undesirable” organization.]”
Meduza is not alone in refusing to comply with the law, despite the risk of criminal prosecution. Media analysis of Russia’s judicial records found that only one-sixth of 620 fines issued in 2023 and the first half of 2024 were paid — 4 million rubles (US$40,453) out of a total of 25.8 million rubles (US$260,954).Sergey Smirnov, the exiled editor-in-chief of the popular outlet Mediazona, could be jailed for two years if convicted in a criminal case opened against him in December 2024 on charges of failing to note on his content that he was designated a foreign agent. Smirnov, who fled to Lithuania from Russia in 2022 after being jailed for a tweet the previous year, is one of 18 journalists — 16 of whom live in exile — prosecuted or fined under the foreign agent legislation in the last quarter of 2024.
“It’s very simple: I’m not paying,” Smirnov told CPJ, undeterred by the potential consequences on his assets back home. “Technically, they could seize the apartment I co-own.”
‘Plague-stricken’
The situation for such exiles can be perilous. In late 2024, Russian authorities continued their cross-border retaliation against the media by ordering the arrests in absentia of exiled journalists Tatyana Felgenhauer and Kirill Martynov.
Some media veterans say they have become too desensitized to focus on their government’s latest legal maneuvers.
“I’m not following these new developments,” said Roman Anin, exiled founder of the Latvia-based investigative website IStories, who is facing arrest for spreading “false information” about Russia’s armed forces in Ukraine.
“I’m already on the wanted list, and IStories has been declared an undesirable organization, which is much worse than being labeled a foreign agent — a status both I and IStories already have,” he told CPJ.
“Russia today is like a plague-stricken part of the world, similar to places like North Korea. There’s no point in seriously discussing what the so-called lawmakers in this system have come up with now.”
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
- Pope Francis letter criticizes Trump migrant policies, Trump’s border czar tells him to fix the Church, “leave border enforcement to us”
- Democratic lawmakers join federal workers’ “Save the Civil Service Rally”, blasting Trump Musk attacks on federal agencies and workers
- Trump says he’ll abide by court orders blocking his agenda, republican House Speaker Johnson says courts should step back and let things “play out”
- Coalition on Homelessness activists rally, march to SF Mayor Lurie’s office to demand housing justice
- Israeli PM Netanyahu threatens to resume fighting unless Hamas releases hostages Saturday, UN chief Guterres says resumption of hostilities would “lead to an immense tragedy”
- 200,000 Greenlanders sign petition to “buy California from Trump”, promise Danish values – Rule of Law, universal health care, fact-based politics
The post Dems, federal workers blast Trump/Musk at Save the Civil Service rally; homeless advocates in SF demand housing justice- February 11, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.
This content originally appeared on KPFA – The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by The Intercept.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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In Part 2 of our interview with the acclaimed Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd, he talks in depth about stories from his new book, Perfect Victims, including about the beloved poet, academic and activist Refaat Alareer, who has finally been laid to rest, more than one year after he was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza along with his sister, brother and four nephews. His family recovered their remains after a neighbor buried them in a yard at the site of the Israeli attack. Alareer was buried in a cemetery in Gaza City’s Shuja’iyya neighborhood, where Alareer was born.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Grayzone and was authored by The Grayzone.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by The Intercept.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – February 10, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.
This content originally appeared on KPFA – The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Israel “has moved the war from Gaza to the West Bank,” says the Palestinian National Initiative’s Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, who joins us from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military’s ongoing assault there has displaced over 35,000 Palestinians through evictions, destruction of infrastructure and indiscriminate attacks resulting in over 80 deaths. Barghouti also condemns Donald Trump’s declaration that the U.S. should take over the Gaza Strip. He calls both the “theft of Gaza” and the military campaign in the West Bank war crimes.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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President Trump’s targeting of South Africa is clearly tied to his influential adviser Elon Musk and a coterie of wealthy U.S. oligarchs, “all of whom in some way or other grew up in South Africa as children.” These men are known as the “PayPal Mafia” due to their involvement in the founding of the financial tech company PayPal, explains reporter Chris McGreal. McGreal, a former South Africa correspondent for The Guardian, outlines Musk’s pro-apartheid and neo-Nazi family history, which appears to form the basis of his adherence to a right-wing ideology that believes white South Africans “are the victims of the end of apartheid” and at risk of a “white genocide.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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A claim began to circulate among Chinese-language social media users that the United States banned the use of Chinese AI chatbot service DeepSeek.
But the claim is false. Although some U.S. government agencies introduced a ban on the use of DeepSeek, the government has not introduced a nation-wide ban on the Chinese application.
The claim was shared on Weibo on Feb. 5.
“The United States has announced a ban on downloading DeepSeek, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison,” the claim reads in part, purportedly revealing the punishment for those who break the ban.
The claim was shared alongside an image that shows an article published by the Chinese finance news outlet Sina Finance.
“The U.S. Congress had already enacted legislation comprehensively banning AI models from China,” the article reads in part.
Some Chinese social media users say the U.S. introduced a nation-wide ban on DeepSeek. (Weibo)DeepSeek is a Chinese AI startup known for its chatbot service, with its app becoming the most downloaded on Apple’s iPhone, surpassing ChatGPT. While praised for efficiency, it faces concerns over censorship of sensitive topics and data privacy, with some governments banning it due to ties with Chinese telecom firms.
But the claim is false. As of Feb. 10, the U.S. has not introduced a nation-wide ban on DeekSeep.
The U.S. introduced a bipartisan bill, the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” in its Congress to ban federal employees from using the app on government-issued devices, citing potential risks of data access by the Chinese government.
At the state level, Texas became the first to prohibit DeepSeek on government devices. Governor Greg Abbott issued this directive, emphasizing the need to protect sensitive information from potential foreign interference.
Additionally, some government organizations, such as the U.S. Navy and NASA, banned their personnel from using the Chinese AI app, citing security and ethical concerns.
Prohibiting Americans from assisting Chinese AI development
The bill mentioned by Sina Finance is one introduced by Iowa Senator Josh Hawley in January 2025 seeking to prohibit Americans from assisting Chinese AI development.
The bill proposed to prohibit U.S. companies from supporting Chinese AI research and buying any AI technology developed in China. It did not specifically mention DeepSeek.
Hawley’s bill has not passed a confirmation vote by either the Senate or the House of Representatives.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Zhuang Jing for Asia Fact Check Lab.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Part of a three-story series on the fight for and rebuilding of Myanmar’s Kayah state following the 2021 coup. Read Part 1 and Part 2.
DEMOSO, Kayah state, Myanmar – As a young medical student in relatively cosmopolitan Yangon, “Dr. Tracy” dreamed of becoming a great surgeon, a living testament to the possibilities offered in a new, freer Myanmar. The 2021 military coup dimmed her personal ambition, but not her hopes for democracy for her country.
Tracy, 26, who asked to go by that name for security reasons, was among the young doctors and nurses that as members of the “white coat society” led protests against the military junta after it ousted an elected civilian administration in 2021. She’s now part of a smaller group who fled city centers in the country’s interior to move to border areas to assist rebels fighting the military.
“This coup is not fair, simply,” Tracy said, from one of the huts that make up the O-1 hospital campus within Demoso township in Kayah state. “I asked myself, do you accept it? My answer was no. So, I resist, resist and resist.”
Surgeon Aung Ko Myint, right, and Dr. Yori treat gunshot wounds suffered by Saw Thein Win when he was shot by Myanmar junta security forces during a protest of the 2021 coup, at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Tracy has since completed her studies under a curriculum developed by an exile government made up in part by elected officials who managed to avoid arrest after the coup.
But she doesn’t have the time or the resources to become the specialist she envisioned. It’s enough to help treat the cases of malaria and tuberculosis in the rural population she serves or help mend the shattered limbs of the rebels in her care.
If she were still living in Yangon, not helping the cause by providing underground medical care, “that [would be] useless of me,” she said.
“I don’t like it.”
Karenni State Police officer Yar Zar Tun and others carry his wife, Zin Zin Aung, to a recovery ward after surgery at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A taste of freedom
Tracy and her colleagues at O-1 grew up in a freer Myanmar than their parents had. A decade ago, military rulers seemed to set the country on a path of democratic reform. While Myanmar’s generals retained control of a number of seats in the Parliament and control over some of the country’s most important ministries, they agreed to share power with officials elected in a popular vote.
After a half of a century of tight-fisted military rule, the changes brought a host of new opportunities for their generation and a taste of what could be, said Dr. Yori, 29, who is also from Yangon and is now the deputy medical superintendent of O-1.
“We knew there were many things that we could achieve with our own civilization and our own people,” he said.
Drs. Aung Ko Myint, right, and Tracy look at an X-ray at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 10, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)The coup threatened all the progress, they believe. And when a young medical student was killed at one peaceful demonstration directly after the coup, thousands of health care professionals took to the streets and refused to work as part of the civil disobedience movement. Many were arrested by the military.
In Yangon, Yori and Tracy were a couple (they’ve since wed) with a shared opposition to military rule. Fearing arrest, they both fled to Kayah after a few months. Yori’s initial intention was to join the People’s Defense Forces, militias that are fighting under the exiled National Unity Government.
“I didn’t want to fight with a syringe. I wanted to fight with a gun,” he said. But he soon realized his skills as a doctor were needed more.
Dr. Arko, wearing a hat, holds a first-aid refresher for medics at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 10, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Leaving a ‘privileged life’
O-1, like camps for internally displaced people it shares the hills of Kayah with, is a collection of corrugated steel, green tarpaulin and bamboo. After the hospital where Tracy and Yori initially worked was bombed twice, the wise decision was made to abandon it for a hidden location in the jungle.
Clean Yangon, an NGO, paid to build a new emergency ward, X-ray and laboratory, and rooms for recovering patients. A new ward for infectious diseases was being built when RFA visited recently. Generators provide light and power. There’s sporadic internet and good food in the commissary.
All things considered, though, it’s a far rougher existence compared with what many of the doctors and nurses are used to. The Yangon they knew offered air conditioning, international cuisine and new opportunities for women.
“Before the coup, we were [living] a very privileged life,” said Dr. Hazel, 27, Tracy’s older sister. “We were just going to university and to eat out, and we have nothing else to worry about.”
There are now four rebel hospitals in Kayah, including O-1, to treat the wounded and the sick. Six doctors work at O-1, supported by seven medical students and about 30 nurses.
From left, Drs. Aung Ko Myint, Yori, Kaung Hein, Hnin Nu Nu Wai and Tracy have a meal in the O-1 hospital cafeteria in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 10, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Yori said it costs about 50 million kyat, or $24,000, to run O-1 each month. About 150 patients are treated in that span of time, on average. War-related traumas are treated for free. Most poor patients aren’t charged either. Patients and relatives also don’t pay for food in the commissary.
As deputy superintendent, Yori said he makes about 150,000 kyat a month, or around $33, which is about enough to cover his cigarette habit.
“We’re not doing this for money or fame,” he said.
The hospital is funded almost entirely by donations. After four years of war, fundraising is becoming more difficult, Yori said. That raises the stakes for the Interim Executive Council, or IEC, the rebel-formed state government trying to simultaneously meet the needs of Kayah citizens.
It’s a struggle. Only about 5% of O-1’s budget comes from the IEC. Yori said the council is offering to take over the hospital, but the doctors are insisting that it be able to cover the entire budget.
“If we are to be called a state hospital, we don’t want to fundraise anymore,” he said.
Dr. Aung Ko Myint amputates parts of both feet of Victorio, a KNDF fighter, at O-1 hospital, in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 5, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A wounded rebel
When RFA visited, a small group of Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces fighters waited nervously by a tunnel that led to an operating room, buried 18-feet underground to protect against airstrikes. The group had weary smiles of stained teeth from chewing betel and red eyes due to a fraught trip from the front.
In the damp operating room, Dr. Aung Ko Myint, 33, repaired what he could in a surgery that took about four hours with equipment from the old hospital and anesthesia and medicine smuggled in through military checkpoints. He had to amputate a part of each of his patient’s feet.
Aung Ko Myint said he hadn’t been trained as an orthopedic surgeon, but he’s picked up the skills in Kayah. Two days later, the young soldier, who uses the name Victorio, was up and smiling, describing how he had been wounded.
Staffers move KNDF fighter Victorio out of the operating room after surgery at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 5, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)“The battle broke out in Khwee Htoe Lar village,” Victorio said. ”While transporting our injured comrade, we were attacked. Two of our comrades, who were riding a motorcycle, were shot dead.”
The shrapnel tore through Victorio’s legs and torso. It had taken weeks before his battalion members could clear a road from military troops in order to safely transport him to O-1.
Aung Ko Myint’s wife, Dr. Hnin Nu Nu Wai, 30, worked as an assistant surgeon at the East Yangon General Hospital before the coup but quit immediately after to participate in the civil disobedience movement.
She was only able to come to Kayah last summer, however, because while treating rebels and locals in Karen state to the south, she was captured by military troops and charged with terrorism.
Hnin Nu Nu Wai spent two weeks in interrogation centers, before she was eventually sentenced to three years in prison. After treating female prisoners and prison staff and their families, however, she was given amnesty after two years and three months.
“I have so many nightmares,” she said. “That’s our life in Myanmar.”
Dr. Hnin Nu Nu Wai with her dog Kia at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Overcoming distrust
To cope with such traumas, the O-1 team say they rely on one another, commiserating over being separated from loved ones, the stresses of war and, not surprising for a group of young, ambitious people, nagging disappointment at watching the career advancement of former colleagues who stayed behind in military controlled areas.
“Now they are taking specialty courses, and meanwhile, we are in the jungle doing as much as we can,” said Arkar, a medical student training to be an orthopedic surgeon. “Everyone has their own choice. I don’t want to blame them. But for me, as a dutiful civilian, we should do the civilian disobedience movement.”
Beyond the difficulties presented by the war and limited resources, the doctors said initially they faced widespread distrust from the local population, many of whom practice Christianity instead of Buddhism.
Yori estimated that 90% of the doctors now working in the state are of Burmese origin, while Kayah state is a mix of ethnic groups collectively considered “Karenni.” They were naturally suspicious, associating the new arrivals with the military, also dominated by Burmese, that they have long suffered under.
Ambulance staff and relatives carry a deceased person out of O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)As a gay man, Arkar, 26, said he feels particularly isolated at times. “Here it is very strict about that,” he said. “They never see two guys together in public.”
The lack of a social scene can compound his mental health struggles – he suffers from anxiety and bipolar disorders – as does being separated from his parents. He has access to a therapist, who recommended he write journals to help him deal with his new circumstances. In his small room a short walk to the hospital campus there is a stack of notebooks filled cover to cover with text and drawings beside his bed.
Despite it all, he’s here – “free and happy,” he says, to be serving the citizens and soldiers of Kayah.
“We are suffering so many injustices and painful moments, and so I guess that I should fight back for our country,” he said.
A patient walks to the recovery ward after minor surgery at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 5, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A birthday party
On a cool, wet night when RFA visited the staff gathered after hours to celebrate Dr. Hnin’s 30th birthday.
Doctors from other hospitals visited, as did medics at O-1 for training. Everyone swapped stories over river prawns, quail eggs and beef strips cooked over a small charcoal grill.
They kept the lights off so as not to attract attention from drones or planes overhead. Junta pilots can’t hear singing, however, so someone brought a karaoke machine for later when the case of beer grew more depleted.
Speaking to RFA, Dr. Tracy often punctuated a thought with a final “that’s all,” as in, “I decided to go to the liberated area to do what I can. That’s all.”
Though it may be a quirk of translating a thought into a language not native to her, it also seemed to reflect an unsentimental outlook, a straightforward faith that her decision to leave Yangon was the right one. Those qualities are shared by her colleagues, including her sister.
“Yes, there are slight difficulties comparing to my original lifestyle,” Hazel told RFA.
“I don’t think of things as sacrifices or something like that. They are my choices. I can participate in this revolution, and I can contribute something – maybe just a little – to my community or society.
“I’m really grateful for that.”
Edited by Boer Deng.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jim Snyder and Gemunu Amarasinghe for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Part of a three-story series on the fight for and rebuilding of Myanmar’s Kayah state following the 2021 coup. Read Part 1 and Part 2.
DEMOSO, Kayah state, Myanmar – As a young medical student in relatively cosmopolitan Yangon, “Dr. Tracy” dreamed of becoming a great surgeon, a living testament to the possibilities offered in a new, freer Myanmar. The 2021 military coup dimmed her personal ambition, but not her hopes for democracy for her country.
Tracy, 26, who asked to go by that name for security reasons, was among the young doctors and nurses that as members of the “white coat society” led protests against the military junta after it ousted an elected civilian administration in 2021. She’s now part of a smaller group who fled city centers in the country’s interior to move to border areas to assist rebels fighting the military.
“This coup is not fair, simply,” Tracy said, from one of the huts that make up the O-1 hospital campus within Demoso township in Kayah state. “I asked myself, do you accept it? My answer was no. So, I resist, resist and resist.”
Surgeon Aung Ko Myint, right, and Dr. Yori treat gunshot wounds suffered by Saw Thein Win when he was shot by Myanmar junta security forces during a protest of the 2021 coup, at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Tracy has since completed her studies under a curriculum developed by an exile government made up in part by elected officials who managed to avoid arrest after the coup.
But she doesn’t have the time or the resources to become the specialist she envisioned. It’s enough to help treat the cases of malaria and tuberculosis in the rural population she serves or help mend the shattered limbs of the rebels in her care.
If she were still living in Yangon, not helping the cause by providing underground medical care, “that [would be] useless of me,” she said.
“I don’t like it.”
Karenni State Police officer Yar Zar Tun and others carry his wife, Zin Zin Aung, to a recovery ward after surgery at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A taste of freedom
Tracy and her colleagues at O-1 grew up in a freer Myanmar than their parents had. A decade ago, military rulers seemed to set the country on a path of democratic reform. While Myanmar’s generals retained control of a number of seats in the Parliament and control over some of the country’s most important ministries, they agreed to share power with officials elected in a popular vote.
After a half of a century of tight-fisted military rule, the changes brought a host of new opportunities for their generation and a taste of what could be, said Dr. Yori, 29, who is also from Yangon and is now the deputy medical superintendent of O-1.
“We knew there were many things that we could achieve with our own civilization and our own people,” he said.
Drs. Aung Ko Myint, right, and Tracy look at an X-ray at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 10, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)The coup threatened all the progress, they believe. And when a young medical student was killed at one peaceful demonstration directly after the coup, thousands of health care professionals took to the streets and refused to work as part of the civil disobedience movement. Many were arrested by the military.
In Yangon, Yori and Tracy were a couple (they’ve since wed) with a shared opposition to military rule. Fearing arrest, they both fled to Kayah after a few months. Yori’s initial intention was to join the People’s Defense Forces, militias that are fighting under the exiled National Unity Government.
“I didn’t want to fight with a syringe. I wanted to fight with a gun,” he said. But he soon realized his skills as a doctor were needed more.
Dr. Arko, wearing a hat, holds a first-aid refresher for medics at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 10, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Leaving a ‘privileged life’
O-1, like camps for internally displaced people it shares the hills of Kayah with, is a collection of corrugated steel, green tarpaulin and bamboo. After the hospital where Tracy and Yori initially worked was bombed twice, the wise decision was made to abandon it for a hidden location in the jungle.
Clean Yangon, an NGO, paid to build a new emergency ward, X-ray and laboratory, and rooms for recovering patients. A new ward for infectious diseases was being built when RFA visited recently. Generators provide light and power. There’s sporadic internet and good food in the commissary.
All things considered, though, it’s a far rougher existence compared with what many of the doctors and nurses are used to. The Yangon they knew offered air conditioning, international cuisine and new opportunities for women.
“Before the coup, we were [living] a very privileged life,” said Dr. Hazel, 27, Tracy’s older sister. “We were just going to university and to eat out, and we have nothing else to worry about.”
There are now four rebel hospitals in Kayah, including O-1, to treat the wounded and the sick. Six doctors work at O-1, supported by seven medical students and about 30 nurses.
From left, Drs. Aung Ko Myint, Yori, Kaung Hein, Hnin Nu Nu Wai and Tracy have a meal in the O-1 hospital cafeteria in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 10, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Yori said it costs about 50 million kyat, or $24,000, to run O-1 each month. About 150 patients are treated in that span of time, on average. War-related traumas are treated for free. Most poor patients aren’t charged either. Patients and relatives also don’t pay for food in the commissary.
As deputy superintendent, Yori said he makes about 150,000 kyat a month, or around $33, which is about enough to cover his cigarette habit.
“We’re not doing this for money or fame,” he said.
The hospital is funded almost entirely by donations. After four years of war, fundraising is becoming more difficult, Yori said. That raises the stakes for the Interim Executive Council, or IEC, the rebel-formed state government trying to simultaneously meet the needs of Kayah citizens.
It’s a struggle. Only about 5% of O-1’s budget comes from the IEC. Yori said the council is offering to take over the hospital, but the doctors are insisting that it be able to cover the entire budget.
“If we are to be called a state hospital, we don’t want to fundraise anymore,” he said.
Dr. Aung Ko Myint amputates parts of both feet of Victorio, a KNDF fighter, at O-1 hospital, in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 5, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A wounded rebel
When RFA visited, a small group of Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces fighters waited nervously by a tunnel that led to an operating room, buried 18-feet underground to protect against airstrikes. The group had weary smiles of stained teeth from chewing betel and red eyes due to a fraught trip from the front.
In the damp operating room, Dr. Aung Ko Myint, 33, repaired what he could in a surgery that took about four hours with equipment from the old hospital and anesthesia and medicine smuggled in through military checkpoints. He had to amputate a part of each of his patient’s feet.
Aung Ko Myint said he hadn’t been trained as an orthopedic surgeon, but he’s picked up the skills in Kayah. Two days later, the young soldier, who uses the name Victorio, was up and smiling, describing how he had been wounded.
Staffers move KNDF fighter Victorio out of the operating room after surgery at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 5, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)“The battle broke out in Khwee Htoe Lar village,” Victorio said. ”While transporting our injured comrade, we were attacked. Two of our comrades, who were riding a motorcycle, were shot dead.”
The shrapnel tore through Victorio’s legs and torso. It had taken weeks before his battalion members could clear a road from military troops in order to safely transport him to O-1.
Aung Ko Myint’s wife, Dr. Hnin Nu Nu Wai, 30, worked as an assistant surgeon at the East Yangon General Hospital before the coup but quit immediately after to participate in the civil disobedience movement.
She was only able to come to Kayah last summer, however, because while treating rebels and locals in Karen state to the south, she was captured by military troops and charged with terrorism.
Hnin Nu Nu Wai spent two weeks in interrogation centers, before she was eventually sentenced to three years in prison. After treating female prisoners and prison staff and their families, however, she was given amnesty after two years and three months.
“I have so many nightmares,” she said. “That’s our life in Myanmar.”
Dr. Hnin Nu Nu Wai with her dog Kia at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)Overcoming distrust
To cope with such traumas, the O-1 team say they rely on one another, commiserating over being separated from loved ones, the stresses of war and, not surprising for a group of young, ambitious people, nagging disappointment at watching the career advancement of former colleagues who stayed behind in military controlled areas.
“Now they are taking specialty courses, and meanwhile, we are in the jungle doing as much as we can,” said Arkar, a medical student training to be an orthopedic surgeon. “Everyone has their own choice. I don’t want to blame them. But for me, as a dutiful civilian, we should do the civilian disobedience movement.”
Beyond the difficulties presented by the war and limited resources, the doctors said initially they faced widespread distrust from the local population, many of whom practice Christianity instead of Buddhism.
Yori estimated that 90% of the doctors now working in the state are of Burmese origin, while Kayah state is a mix of ethnic groups collectively considered “Karenni.” They were naturally suspicious, associating the new arrivals with the military, also dominated by Burmese, that they have long suffered under.
Ambulance staff and relatives carry a deceased person out of O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 6, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)As a gay man, Arkar, 26, said he feels particularly isolated at times. “Here it is very strict about that,” he said. “They never see two guys together in public.”
The lack of a social scene can compound his mental health struggles – he suffers from anxiety and bipolar disorders – as does being separated from his parents. He has access to a therapist, who recommended he write journals to help him deal with his new circumstances. In his small room a short walk to the hospital campus there is a stack of notebooks filled cover to cover with text and drawings beside his bed.
Despite it all, he’s here – “free and happy,” he says, to be serving the citizens and soldiers of Kayah.
“We are suffering so many injustices and painful moments, and so I guess that I should fight back for our country,” he said.
A patient walks to the recovery ward after minor surgery at O-1 hospital in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 5, 2024. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)A birthday party
On a cool, wet night when RFA visited the staff gathered after hours to celebrate Dr. Hnin’s 30th birthday.
Doctors from other hospitals visited, as did medics at O-1 for training. Everyone swapped stories over river prawns, quail eggs and beef strips cooked over a small charcoal grill.
They kept the lights off so as not to attract attention from drones or planes overhead. Junta pilots can’t hear singing, however, so someone brought a karaoke machine for later when the case of beer grew more depleted.
Speaking to RFA, Dr. Tracy often punctuated a thought with a final “that’s all,” as in, “I decided to go to the liberated area to do what I can. That’s all.”
Though it may be a quirk of translating a thought into a language not native to her, it also seemed to reflect an unsentimental outlook, a straightforward faith that her decision to leave Yangon was the right one. Those qualities are shared by her colleagues, including her sister.
“Yes, there are slight difficulties comparing to my original lifestyle,” Hazel told RFA.
“I don’t think of things as sacrifices or something like that. They are my choices. I can participate in this revolution, and I can contribute something – maybe just a little – to my community or society.
“I’m really grateful for that.”
Edited by Boer Deng.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jim Snyder and Gemunu Amarasinghe for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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MEDIAWATCH: By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter
By the time US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China and Canada last Monday which could kickstart a trade war, New Zealand’s diplomats in Washington, DC, had already been deployed on another diplomatic drama.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz had said on social media it was “difficult to treat New Zealand as a normal ally . . . when they denigrate and punish Israeli citizens for defending themselves and their country”.
He cited a story in the Israeli media outlet Ha’aretz, which has a reputation for independence in Israel and credibility abroad.
- READ MORE: Mark Brown on China deal: ‘No need for NZ to sit in the room with us’
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- NZ-Kiribati fallout: A ‘Pacific way’ perspective on the Peters spat
But Ha’aretz had wrongly reported Israelis must declare service in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as part of “new requirements” for visa applications.
Winston Peters replied forcefully to Cruz on X, condemning Ha’aretz’s story as “fake news” and demanding a correction.
Winston Peters puts Ted Cruz on notice over the misleading Ha’aretz story. Image: X/RNZ But one thing Trump’s Republicans and Winston Peters had in common last week was irritating Mexico.
His fellow NZ First MP Shane Jones had bellowed “Send the Mexicans home” at Green MPs in Parliament.
Winston Peters then told two of them they should be more grateful for being able to live in New Zealand.
‘We will not be lectured’
On Facebook he wasn’t exactly backing down.“We . . . will not be lectured on the culture and traditions of New Zealand from people who have been here for five minutes,” he added.
While he was at it, Peters criticised media outlets for not holding other political parties to account for inflammatory comments.
Peters was posting that as a politician — not a foreign minister, but the Mexican ambassador complained to MFAT. (It seems the so-called “Mexican standoff” was resolved over a pre-Waitangi lunch with Ambassador Bravo).
But the next day — last Wednesday — news of another diplomatic drama broke on TVNZ’s 1News.
“A deal that could shatter New Zealand’s close relationship with a Pacific neighbour,” presenter Simon Dallow declared, in front of a backdrop of a stern-looking Peters.
TVNZ’s Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver reported the Cook Islands was about to sign a partnership agreement in Beijing.
“We want clarity and at this point in time, we have none. We’ve got past arrangements, constitutional arrangements, which require constant consultation with us, and dare I say, China knows that,” Peters told 1News.
Passports another headache
Cook Islands’ Prime Minister Mark Brown also told Barbara Dreaver TVNZ’s revelations last month about proposed Cook Island passports had also been a headache for him.“We were caught by surprise when this news was broken by 1News. I thought it was a high-level diplomatic discussion with leaders to be open and frank,” he told TVNZ this week.
“For it to be brought out into the public before we’ve had a time to inform our public, I thought was a breach of our political diplomacy.”
Last week another Barabara Dreaver scoop on 1News brought the strained relationship with another Pacific state into the headlines:
“Our relationship with Kiribati is at breaking point. New Zealand’s $100 million aid programme there is now on hold. The move comes after President [Taneti] Maamau pulled out of a pre-arranged meeting with Winston Peters.”
The media ended up in the middle of the blame game over this too — but many didn’t see it coming.
Caught in the crossfire
“A diplomatic rift with Kiribati was on no one’s 2025 bingo card,” Stuff national affairs editor Andrea Vance wrote last weekend in the Sunday Star-Times.“Of all the squabbles Winston Peters was expected to have this year, no one picked it would be with an impoverished, sinking island nation,” she wrote, in terms that would surely annoy Kiribati.
“Do you believe Kiribati is snubbing you?” RNZ Morning Report’s Corin Dann asked Peters.
“You can come to any conclusion you like, but our job is to try and resolve this matter,” Peters replied.
Kiribati Education Minister Alexander Teabo told RNZ Pacific there was no snub.
He said Kiribati President Maamau — who is also the nation’s foreign minister — had been unavailable because of a long-planned and important Catholic ordination ceremony on his home island of Onotoa — though this was prior to the proposed visit from Peters.
On Facebook — at some length — New Zealand-born Kiribati MP Ruth Cross Kwansing blamed “media manufactured drama”.
“The New Zealand media seized the opportunity to patronise Kiribati, and the familiar whispers about Chinese influence began to circulate,” she said.
She was more diplomatic on the 531pi Pacific Mornings radio show but insistent New Zealand had not been snubbed.
Public dispute “regrettable’
Peters told the same show it was “regrettable” that the dispute had been made public.On Newstalk ZB Peters was backed — and Kiribati portrayed as the problem.
“If somebody is giving me $100m and they asked for a meeting, I will attend. I don’t care if it’s my mum’s birthday. Or somebody’s funeral,” Drive host Ryan Bridge told listeners.
“It’s always very hard to pick apart these stories (by) just reading them in the media. But I have faith and confidence in Winston Peters as our foreign minister,” PR-pro Trish Shrerson opined.
So did her fellow panellist, former Labour MP Stuart Nash.
“He’s respected across the Pacific. He’s the consummate diplomat. If Winston says this is the story and this is what’s happening, I believe 100 percent. And I would say, go hard. Winston — represent our interests.”
‘Totally silly’ response
But veteran Pacific journalist Michael Field contradicted them soon after on ZB.“It’s totally silly. All this talk about cancelling $104 million of aid is total pie-in-the-sky from Winston Peters,” he said.
“Somebody’s lost their marbles on this, and the one who’s possibly on the ground looking for them is Winston Peters.
“He didn’t need to be in Tarawa in early January at all. This is pathetic. This is like saying I was invited to my sister’s birthday party and now it’s been cancelled,” he said.
Not a comparison you hear very often in international relations.
In his own Substack newsletter Michael Field also insisted the row reflected poorly on New Zealand.
“While the conspiracy around Kiribati and China has deepened, no one is noticing the still-viable Kiribati-United States treaty which prevents Kiribati atolls [from] being used as bases without Washington approval,” he added.
Kiribati ‘hugely disrespectful’
But TVNZ’s Barbara Dreaver said Kiribati was being “hugely disrespectful”.In a TVNZ analysis piece last weekend, she said New Zealand has “every right to expect better engagement than it has been getting over the past year.”
Dreaver — who was born in and grew up in Kiribati and has family there — also criticised “the airtime and validation” Kwansing got in the media in New Zealand.
“She supports and is part of a government that requires all journalists — should they get a visa to go there — to hand over copies of all footage/information collected,” Dreaver said.
Kwansing hit back on Facebook, accusing Dreaver of “publishing inane drivel” and “irresponsible journalism causing stress to locals.”
“You write like you need a good holiday somewhere happy. Please book yourself a luxury day spa ASAP,” she told TVNZ’s Pacific Affairs reporter.
Two days later — last Tuesday — the Kiribati government made percent2CO percent2CP-R an official statement which also pointed the finger at the media.
“Despite this media issue, the government of Kiribati remains convinced the strong bonds between Kiribati and New Zealand will enable a resolution to this unfortunate standoff,” it said.
Copping the blame
Another reporter who knows what it’s like to cop the blame for reporting stuff diplomats and politicians want to keep out of the news is RNZ Pacific’s senior journalist and presenter Lydia Lewis.Last year, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese questioned RNZ’s ethics after she reported comments he made to the US Deputy Secretary of State at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga — which revealed an until-then behind closed doors plan to pay for better policing in the Pacific.
She’s also been covering the tension with Kiribati.
Is the heat coming on the media more these days if they candidly report diplomatic differences?
TVNZ Pacific senior journalist and presenter Lydia Lewis . . . “both the public and politicians are saying the media [are] making a big deal of things.” Image: RNZ Pacific “There’s no study that says there are more people blaming the media. So it’s anecdotal, but definitely, both the public and politicians are saying the media (are) making a big deal of things,” Lewis told Mediawatch.
“I would put the question back to the public as to who’s manufacturing drama. All we’re doing is reporting what’s in front of us for the public to then make their decision — and questioning it. And there were a lot of questions around this Kiribati story.”
Lewis said it was shortly before 6pm on January 27, that selected journalists were advised of the response of our government to the cancellation of the meeting with foreign minister Peters.
Vice-President an alternative
But it was not mentioned that Kiribati had offered the Vice-President for a meeting, the same person that met with an Australian delegation recently.A response from Kiribati proved harder to get — and Lewis spoke to a senior figure in Kiribati that night who told her they knew nothing about it.
Politicians and diplomats, naturally enough, prefer to do things behind the scenes and media exposure is a complication for them.
But we simply wouldn’t know about the impending partnership agreement between China and the Cook Islands if TVNZ had not reported it last Monday.
And another irony: some political figures lamenting the diplomatically disruptive impact of the media also make decidedly undiplomatic responses of their own online these days.
“It can be revealing in the sense of where people stand. Sometimes they’re just putting out their opinions or their experience. Maybe they’ve got some sort of motive. A formal message or email we’ll take a bit more seriously. But some of the things on social media, we just take with a grain of salt,” said Lewis.
“It is vital we all look at multiple sources. It comes back to balance and knowledge and understanding what you know about and what you don’t know about — and then asking the questions in between.”
Big Powers and the Big Picture
Kwansing objected to New Zealand media jumping to the conclusion China’s influence was a factor in the friction with New Zealand.“To dismiss the geopolitical implications with China . . . would be naive and ignorant,” Dreaver countered.
Michael Field pointed to an angle missing.
“While the conspiracy around Kiribati and China has deepened, no one is noticing the still viable Kiribati-United States treaty which prevents Kiribati atolls being used as bases without Washington approval,” he wrote in his Substack.
In the same article in which Vance called Kiribati “an impoverished, sinking island nation” she later pointed out that its location, US military ties and vast ocean territory make it strategically important.
Questions about ‘transparency and accountability’
“There’s a lot of people that want in on Kiribati. It has a huge exclusive economic zone,” Lewis said.She said communication problems and patchy connectivity are also drawbacks.
“We do have a fuller picture now of the situation, but the overarching question that’s come out of this is around transparency and accountability.
“We can’t hold Kiribati politicians to account like we do New Zealand government politicians.”
“I don’t want to give Kiribati a free pass here but it’s really difficult to get a response.
“They’re posting statements on Facebook and it really has raised some questions around the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability for all journalists . . . committed to fair media reporting across the Pacific.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Ralph welcomes Constitutional law expert Bruce Fein to analyze Congress’ abdication of power in the face of President Trump and Elon Musk’s actions to dismantle the federal government, and whether any of it is legal. Then, Ralph is joined by Norman Solomon from RootsAction to discuss the new Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, and whether we should be optimistic about his agenda for the Democrats.
Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.
What I think shows the clear (what I would call malignant) intent, is even though he has Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, he’s never contemplated going back to Congress and saying, “Hey, I want you to do X. I want you to do Y. We need to do this in the proper way.”
Bruce Fein
[Trump’s] boogeyman is DEI. So he claims that a crash between a helicopter and airplane in Washington, D.C. is a DEI problem. Of course, it’s amazing that somebody who has such contempt for meritocracy with his own cabinet appointments suddenly blames, “Oh, well, DEI, it’s watering down standards.” Well, he doesn’t have any standards himself, so it’s kind of ironic there.
Bruce Fein
Impeachment is not a criminal prosecution. Impeachment is what Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention said— it’s the civilized substitute for tyrannicide…And if you’re impeached, it’s because you have undertaken attempts to subvert the Constitution so the people no longer view you as a trustworthy steward of our liberties and the rule of law. That’s what it is. You don’t go to Siberia, you don’t go to the guillotine, that’s it. And there have been, of course, many federal judges (probably as many as a dozen) who’ve been impeached, removed from office. And you know what? They still survive. There’s not a graveyard of them…So this idea that impeachment is somehow some enormous volcanic eruption on the landscape is totally misleading and wrong.
Bruce Fein
There are two informal checkpoints I want to run by you. [Trump] is afraid of the stock market collapsing—and it could well collapse because chaos is the thing that really gets investors and big institutional investors scared. And the second thing he’s afraid of is a plunge in the polls, including among Trump voters who represent families that have the same necessities for their children and their neighborhood as liberal families.
Ralph Nader
Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Easy, Made Love, Got War, and his newest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.
Especially when there’s not a Democrat in the White House, the leader of the Democratic Party de facto is often the chair of the Democratic National Committee. And we now, of course, have the Democrats in minority in the House and the Senate. Biden’s out of there in the White House. And so, really, it falls to the chair of the DNC to ostensibly at least give direction to the Democratic Party. And we’ve suffered for the last four years under Jamie Harrison as chair of the DNC, who basically did whatever Biden told him to do, and Biden told him to just praise President Biden. And we saw the result, the enabling process from the DNC was just a disaster for the Democratic Party and the country.
Norman Solomon
Literally and figuratively in a sense, there needs to be a tearing down of the walls that have been surrounding the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Activists (thousands of us, really, in recent years) have discovered and rediscovered that the DNC is like a fortress. They have the moat, the drawbridge is locked, and we can’t even get inside to have a word in edgewise compared to the lobbyists and those who are running the DNC. This is really just remarkable, how difficult it has been for strong Democratic Party activists, if they’re not on the DNC (and even if they are, quite often) to get a word in edgewise for the corporate-oriented so-called leadership of the DNC. That might change now.
Norman Solomon
Alfred Bridi is a U.S. immigration attorney associated with the law firm Scale LLP who specializes in employment- and family-based immigration law. Prior to joining Scale LLP, he practiced law at major international law firms and also worked with leading international organizations on global migration and transparency issues.
These executive orders and these executive actions have really created a tension in terms of enforcement officials trying to understand what these mean; in terms of the judiciary and and legal activists contesting a lot of the foundations and the arguments made; in terms of our legal system and our constitutional rights; and I think more than anything, they have had a signaling effect to ordinary Americans and immigrant populations that, “You’re not welcome here, and we are going to come after you.” And I think the difference that we’ve seen is a broadening of the enforcement net and a removal of any sort of refinement or targeting. We’ve seen American citizens and military veterans being arrested and detained. We’ve seen Indigenous people being detained. And it’s created a sense of terror and panic across the country that I feel is absolutely deliberate, and in line with the campaign promises of this new administration.
Alfred Bridi
News 2/5/25
1. The New York Times reports President Trump has ousted Rohit Chopra, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who was “known for his aggressive enforcement and expansion of consumer protection laws.” During his tenure, Chopra cracked down on junk fees, particularly bank overdraft fees, and sought to remove medical debt from individuals’ credit histories. As the Times notes, Chopra “improbably hung on for nearly two weeks [after Trump took office, and]…used that time to impose a $2 million fine on a money transmitter and release reports on auto lending costs, specialty credit reporting companies and rent payment data.” In his letter of resignation, Chopra wrote “With so much power concentrated in the hands of a few, agencies like the C.F.P.B. have never been more critical,” and “I hope that the CFPB will continue to be a pillar of restoring and advancing economic liberty in America.”
2. In more Trump administration staffing news, AP reports the Senate Finance Committee voted 13-14 along party lines Tuesday to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician by trade and member of the committee who expressed grave concern over Kennedy’s stances on vaccines and other health-related matters, said during the hearings “Your past, undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments, concerns me.” Ultimately however, Cassidy voted “aye.” Kennedy’s nomination will now advance to the full Senate, where the GOP holds a comfortable majority thus almost ensuring his confirmation.
3. Speaking of Trump and health, CBS is out with an update on the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio railroad disaster. According to this report, Vice President JD Vance visited the crash site on February 3rd and vowed that the administration would hold Norfolk Southern accountable for “unfilled promises of settlement money and training centers.” That same day, residents of East Palestine filed a lawsuit alleging that Norfolk Southern’s actions resulted in the wrongful death of seven people, including a one-week-old baby.
4. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has successfully negotiated a month-long delay of Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs. According to CNN, the deal reached between the two North American heads of state includes Mexico deploying 10,000 National Guard troops to its northern border to help stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., while Trump has reportedly agreed to help end the deluge of American guns moving South. In her regular Monday morning press conference, Sheinbaum said “For humanitarian reasons, we must help the United States address its fentanyl consumption crisis, which is leading to overdose deaths.” Sheinbaum has been roundly praised for her ability to both stand up to and placate Trump. Reuters quoted Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China and member of the opposition Partido Acción Nacional or PAN party, who had to admit “President Sheinbaum played it…Masterfully.”
5. Democracy Now! reports a group of Quaker congregations have filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to the Trump administration’s order “allowing federal agents to raid…schools, hospitals, shelters and places of worship.” This lawsuit alleges that “The very threat of [such raids] deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities,” and that therefore this order infringes upon the Constitutional “guarantee of religious liberty.” The Quakers have historically been among the most progressive Christian sects, having been leaders in the fight to abolish slavery and to oppose war.
6. Reese Gorman of NOTUS reports that so far approximately 24,000 federal employees have accepted Elon Musk’s proposed “buyout,” meaning they will leave their jobs and should receive eight months of severance pay. This purge of the federal workforce has been among the most prominent initiatives of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Less prominently touted however is what the administration plans to do once these employees have been purged. Recent comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Bloomberg however are enlightening. Rubio, commenting on the “potential reorganization” of the Agency for International Development or USAID, indicated that the reduction in the size of the workforce would be paired with greater use of private contractors. Most likely this means farming out government services to Trump lackeys, cronies, and assorted grifters – all on the taxpayers’ dime.
7. Front and center in combatting Musk’s quiet coup is Public Citizen. On Monday, the public interest watchdog announced they are suing the Treasury Department for its “unlawful disclosure of personal & financial information to Elon Musk’s DOGE.” Their legal complaint, filed alongside the Alliance for Retired Americans, the Association of Federal Government Employees and the SEIU, reads, in part, “The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented. Millions of people cannot avoid engaging in financial transactions
with the federal government and, therefore, cannot avoid having their sensitive
personal and financial information maintained in government records. Secretary
Bessent’s action granting DOGE-affiliated individuals full, continuous, and ongoing
access to that information for an unspecified period of time means that retirees,
taxpayers, federal employees, companies, and other individuals from all walks of life have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords.”
8. Turning to the Middle East, Drop Site News reports “Over 100 journalists…sent a letter to Egyptian authorities on Sunday requesting access to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.” CNN, NBC, NPR, CBS, ABC, AP, Reuters, BBC, Sky News, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times France 24, Le Monde, El Pais, and others, including Drop Site itself, are signatories on this letter. The letter states “We understand that the situation is fluid regarding the border crossing, but we ask that permission for journalists to cross the Rafah border be at the forefront of the…No international journalists have been able to access Gaza without an Israeli military escort since the war began in October 2023. We request that permission be granted on an expedited basis while Phase 1 of the ceasefire is still in effect.” As Drop Site notes, “Egypt has not allowed journalists to cross Rafah into Gaza since 2013, when Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in Egypt in a military coup.” This has meant all journalistic access to Gaza must go through Israel.
9. Our last two stories have to do with the Democrats. On February 1st, Ken Martin was elected the new chair of the Democratic National Committee. Martin previously led the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and the Association of State Democratic Parties, per POLITICO. WPR reports Martin’s victory was decisive at 246.5 out of 428 votes; the second-place finisher, Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, won only 134.5 votes despite endorsements from House and Senate Minority Leaders Jeffries and Schumer, among many other high-profile elected Democrats, per the Hill. Other candidates included Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager Faiz Shakir, though he entered late and without substantial backing. Martin’s reputation is mixed, with one DNC member telling POLITICO, “he’s a knife-fighter.” Perhaps that is what the party needs to turn things around.
10. Finally, Variety reports former President Biden has signed with the Creative Arts Agency, or CAA, one of the premier talent agencies in Hollywood. CAA also represents Barack and Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, per the BBC. With the White House once again occupied by a creature of showbusiness, the symbiotic relationship between politics, media and entertainment has never been clearer. In the words of George Carlin, “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.”
This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard.
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This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
