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Why Indian farmers are so angry about the Modi government’s agricultural reforms

Bhavani Shankar February 21, 2021 Bhavani Shankar

India’s farmers have been protesting since the autumn, with a growing intensity that culminated in a violent breaching of barriers in the Red Fort in Delhi during India’s Republic Day celebrations on January 26. Although reforms introduced by the Modi government in September are ostensibly about empowering farmers, there is deep concern that they will largely boost private agribusiness to the detriment of the livelihoods of small farmers. The bills propose new market channels that are largely unregulated, potentially leaving farmers at the mercy of powerful private sector players.

Covid 19 and The Desperate Lives of India’s Sugarcane Workers

Sanket Jain February 21, 2021 Sanket Jain

Devabai Valvi used to sharpen her sickle every month.  That changed when the pandemic swept through India. For the first time, she had to abandon her sickle and watch with dismay as agricultural workers like herself were forced to to be idle. On March 23rd, 2020, when India reported 618 COVID cases, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hastily declared a lockdown – curbing the movement of 1.3 billion people. Sixty eight days later, when the lockdown was lifted, India had already registered 189,273 COVID cases, and today, nine months later, it has surpassed 10 million cases and reported over 155,000 deaths. India now has the highest number of COVID cases after the United States.

The Making of an American Coup

Charlotte Dennett February 11, 2021 Charlotte Dennett

Who would have guessed that the world would be given a blow-by-blow televised account, complete with videotaped documentation and federally-released emails, of an American president desperately trying to stay in power after being soundly defeated in an election? Mark Karlin, the founder of BuzzFlash, has identified key players in the Republican party who helped seed the terrain that made the right wing attack on the Capitol possible.

How likely is a regime change in Russia?

Nikola Mikovic February 9, 2021 Nikola Mikovic

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to face some serious challenges in 2021. The West has already started pressuring the Kremlin to release Alexey Navalny – the anti-corruption opposition figure who was arrested on January 17th upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from being poisoned by an alleged Russian nerve agent, Novichok. The West is aslso using the Navalny imprisonment to try -- once again -- to stop construction of the Nordstream II pipeline which is to carry Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany. The US wants to limit European reliance on Russian gas and increase Europe's reliance on American gas.