A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat, She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of Farallon Island (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed for help. Within a few hours, a rescue team arrived and determined that she was so badly off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her…a very dangerous proposition.
ESSENTIAL
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RODERIC DAY—Though it came as a shock to Western audiences, who understand China to be a tyrannical state-capitalist authoritarian regime, observers in the imperial periphery have always seen things rather differently. As far back as 2004, Fidel Castro argued that “China has objectively become the most promising hope and the best example for all Third World countries,” and in August 2014, he reaffirmed this sanguine outlook: “Xi Jinping is one of the strongest and most capable revolutionary leaders I have met in my life.”
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W.E.B. Du BOIS—joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also — and this was the highest proof of his greatness — he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.
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WANG WEIGUANG—The complete negation of Stalin is in essence the denial of the inevitable historical trend of socialism overcoming capitalism. The essence of the anti-Stalinist strategy is to transform opposition to Stalin into a complete denial of the great achievements of Soviet socialism in revolution and in construction, and thus to completely deny the historical inevitability of socialism replacing capitalism.
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ERIC ZUESSE—The West’s unquestioned assumption is that Russia is currently engaged in an invasion of Ukraine for the purpose of “defeating its Western rivals through military means.” But that statement is blatantly false, as will here be documented via the links. On 17 December 2021, Russia formally presented to NATO a proposal for negotiation: “All member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization commit themselves to refrain from any further enlargement of NATO, including the accession of Ukraine as well as other States.” This was proposed within a context that opened with: “The Parties shall guide in their relations by the principles of cooperation, equal and indivisible security.