The American infatuation with color revolutionism has, in the words of Obama's high priest 'Reverend' Wright, 'come home to roost.' I will not ask God or anyone to "damn America," as Wright did. Rather, I will point out that the U.S. is not so exceptional so as to render the 'demonstration effect' of color revolutions null and void. Political scientists have been fond in recent decades of discussing the robustness of the demonstration effect as concerns the prospective spread of democracy across the former USSR by way of illegal overthrow of authoritarian regimes. Many of these regimes have been relatively benign as authoritarianism usually goes. Nevertheless, we Americans have been eager to see revolution break out across the former communist world. With George Soros's erstwhile assistance, the color revolution's effect is now being demonstrated to Americans both on the right but especially on the left.

There is nothing wrong with peaceful revolution from below when pro-democratic movements can seize power from their authoritarian oppressors without violence. In some cases, even a violent revolution from below can be better than the authoritarian and even more so - to the extent possible - any totalitarian status quo, since the violence being waged against the population in a non-democracy is very likely to exceed that carried out by democratic revolutionaries in seizing power. In this sense, the attempt by a small portion of 'pro-Trump' demonstrators to seize the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on 6 January 2021 was not appropriate. America remains at this moment a democracy, if a rapidly decaying one. The perpetrators of the Capitol storm should be prosecuted no less than the pro-DP BLM and Antifa demonstrators, who have been leveling violence against conservatives, Republicans, and white people for over a year now.

Authorities in Inner Mongolia must "solve ethnic problems" and push the use of the Mandarin language, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, months after the region was rocked by protests over a new rule that would reduce the use of the local language.

The region in China's far north borders the independent nation of Mongolia, with which it shares ethnic, cultural and linguistic ties.

Tens of thousands took part in demonstrations and school boycotts last year after an edict mandated Mandarin replace Mongolian as the language of instruction, part of a nationwide drive to assimilate China's ethnic minorities into the majority Han culture.

Rare mass rallies, the largest Beijing had witnessed for decades, were followed by a crackdown as armoured vehicles surrounded schools and police arrested dozens of protest leaders.

On Friday, Xi doubled down on the integration policies.

Speaking at an annual convention of political leaders in Beijing, he said Inner Mongolia should "unwaveringly promote the use of national common textbooks," to correct "wrong ideas" on culture and nationality, according to a readout of the meeting in state media.

New Five-Year Plan aims for 'high-quality' economic reform, a tech leap forward and new era of common prosperity

It's Lianghui ("Two Sessions") time - the annual ritual of the Beijing leadership. The stars of the show are the top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; and the traditional delivery of a work report by the Prime Minister to the top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC).

The review of the draft outline of China's 14th Five-Year Plan will proceed all the way to March 15. But in the current juncture, this is not only about 2025 (remember Made in China 2025, which remains in effect). The planning goes long-range towards targets in the Vision 2035 project (achieving "basic socialist modernization") and even beyond to 2049, the 100th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

Premier Li Keqiang, delivering the government work report for 2021, stressed that the target for GDP growth is "above 6%" (the IMF had previously projected 8.1%). That includes the creation of at least 11 million new urban jobs.

On foreign policy, Li could not draw a sharper contrast with the Hegemon: "China will pursue an independent foreign policy of peace" and will "promote the building of a new type of international relations".

That's code for Beijing eventually working with Washington on specific dossiers, but most of all focusing on strengthening trade/investment/finance relations with the EU, ASEAN, Japan and the Global South.

Washington Post has been mocked for an overly enthusiastic headline that called the coronavirus relief bill a "defining move" of Joe Biden's presidency, poised to "sharply" cut poverty by "showering money" on Americans.

After the Senate narrowly passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Saturday, and President Joe Biden promised that eligible Americans will start receiving their $1,400 stimulus checks from this month onwards, the Washington Post tried to explain that the massive rescue package is more than just about this modest handout.


However, titled 'Biden stimulus showers money on Americans, sharply cutting poverty in defining move of presidency,' the story was criticized for the poor choice of wording that some called "creepy" and "worthy of North Korea."

Brexit is done - and so is Nigel Farage. The former leader of the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party, credited even by his sharpest critics as the most influential politician of the past two decades, has finally quit politics. And this time it is for good.

In an interview with this weekend's Chopper's Politics podcast, Mr Farage announces he is resigning as leader of the Reform Party and turning his back on politics after three decades of political street fighting. He says: "There is no going back - Brexit is done. That won't be reversed. I know I've come back once or twice when people thought I'd gone, but this is it. It's done. It's over."

Mr Farage famously quit after the 2016 referendum, saying "I want my life back", but then reformed the Brexit Party two years later in 2018 to exploit disaffection with the way the Government was handling the Brexit negotiations. He adds:

"Now's the moment for me to say I've knocked on my last door. I'm going to step down as the leader of Reform UK. I'll have no executive position at all. I'm quite happy to have an honorary one, but party politics, campaigning, being involved in elections, that is now over for me because I've achieved the one thing I set out to do: to achieve the independence of the UK."

Donald Trump has sent legal warnings to the three biggest fundraising entities for the Republican Party, ordering them to stop using his name and likeness on emails and merchandise, according to a new report.

Trump's lawyers sent the cease-and-desist letters on Friday to the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and National Republican Senate Committee, a Trump advisor told Politico.

'President Trump remains committed to the Republican Party and electing America First conservatives, but that doesn't give anyone - friend or foe - permission to use his likeness without explicit approval,' the advisor said. It follows reports that Trump, who made a fortune licensing his personal brand, is furious his name is being used to help raise funds in support of Republicans who voted to impeach him last month.

On Friday, the RNC had sent out two emails asking supporters to donate as a way to add their name to a 'thank you' card for Trump. The umbrella group supports GOP candidates across the country.

Trump has spurred fears of a GOP civil war after vowing revenge on the 17 Congressional Republicans who voted to impeach or convict him on a charge of inciting insurrection. Trump called them all out by name during his Sunday appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, telling the audience, 'Get rid of them all!'

The Biden administration is gearing up to carry out cyberattacks aimed at Russian networks, the New York Times has reported, describing the provocation as a retaliatory measure designed to send Moscow a message.

Citing officials familiar with the operation, the Times said that a "series of clandestine actions" aimed at Russia is expected to begin over the next three weeks and that the cyberattacks are intended to be "evident" to President Vladimir Putin and Russia's intelligence services, but not to the "wider world."

The attack will likely coincide with new economic sanctions against Moscow, as well as an executive order from President Joe Biden that would bolster security for US government networks.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order on "access to voting" on Sunday that instructs federal government agencies to promote voter registration, help Americans apply to vote by mail, and "combat misinformation," among other measures.

The "Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting" reads like a Democratic Party wish-list of "reforms" that enshrines many of the practices that were adopted on a temporary basis during the pandemic-affected 2020 election. Its provisions include:

• using federal agencies to promote voter registration;
• using federal agencies to inform Americans about voting;
• linking federal agency websites to state voter registration websites;
• providing voter registration and vote-by-mail applications;
• using "approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations" to register voters at federal agencies;
• using identification documents issued by the agency to help people register to vote;
• providing more multilingual services to potential voters;
• giving public employees "time off to vote in Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial elections"; and
• promoting voter registration for federal prisoners.

As Tulsi Gabbard criticizes former Congressional colleagues for ignoring the ongoing US dirty war and sanctions on Syria, a look at the comments of Joe Biden and top aides show that they have admitted to the same underlying, horrific facts. Gabbard only stands apart — and is even vilified — for being willing to call it out.

While Joe Biden has faced some mild Congressional pushback for bombing the Iraq-Syria border, Tulsi Gabbard says her former colleagues are ignoring the larger issue: the ongoing US dirty war on Syria. After a decade of proxy warfare that empowered Al Qaeda and ISIS, the US is now occupying one-third of Syria and imposing crippling sanctions that are crushing Syria's economy and preventing reconstruction.

While Gabbard has been vilified for her stance on Syria, many top White House officials — including Joe Biden himself — have already acknowledged the same facts that she has called out. Aaron Maté plays clips of Biden and some of his most senior aides admitting to the horrific realities of the US dirty war on Syria, and argues that Gabbard only stands apart in being wiling to criticize it.

Featuring clips from: Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic Congressmember; President Joe Biden; Brett McGurk, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa; Martin Dempsey, former Joint Chiefs chairman; Rob Malley, Special Envoy for Iran; John Kerry, Special Envoy for Climate & former Secretary of State; former President Donald Trump; Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on Sanctions; Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East; Vice President Kamala Harris.


Transcript below:

An internal government investigation has found that Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic and his family were illegally wiretapped over 1,500 times, and "high-ranking officials in the Ministry of the Interior" were involved.

The findings were announced by Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin after a meeting with the National Security Council, with the president declaring that an investigation had uncovered 1,572 examples of wiretapping conducted with no legal basis.

Vulin blamed "certain high-ranking officials in the Ministry of the Interior" for the "illegal" activity, suggesting it was a violation of the human rights of the president and his family. The ministry did not speculate on the officials' motivation.