"Russian lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin threatened nuclear war as NATO members debate whether to send more tanks to Ukraine.
Should the West continue to ship arms to Ukraine, Moscow will retaliate with 'more powerful weapons,' a top Russian government official and close ally of President Vladimir Putin said Sunday, referring to the use of nuclear missiles.
'Deliveries of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,' Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, Russia's lower house, said in a statement shared on the Telegram messaging app. 'If Washington and NATO countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,' said Volodin."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/russia-nuclear-war-western-arms-ukraine
-->How to stop worrying and love the bomb: Read the NYT, which didn't refer to this story at all. Maybe the end of the world isn't really fit to print.
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NicaNotes:
"Within Latin America, Nicaragua is among the countries that has best managed to reduce its poverty rate. In 2007, Nicaragua’s poverty rate was at 48.3%. After the transition to a Sandinista government, this percentage has been steadily reduced and currently is at 24.9%.
I think the key was the arrival of the FSLN government, which proposed a national strategy to fight against poverty and for human development and to overcome the whole neo-liberal model which had left us a country practically in bankruptcy. Since 2007, the country has been moving forward because there is a national development strategy that includes economic development with social rights, and economic growth with equitable distribution of wealth.
https://afgj.org/nicanotes-1-19-2023?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=f4caefff-d1aa-4b71-8c21-58838dec917a
-->No US media will cover anything positive about Nicaragua. That's just the way it is. You have to go outside the US to read a different story. I don't know what that says about Nicaragua, but what it says about our supposedly free press is worse than damning.
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Common Dreams:
"Huge Win for Organic Farmers as USDA Files Long-Sought Rule to Prevent Fraud.
One advocate said the rule change 'will help tighten the national organic system to ensure organic integrity and better protect American organic farmers and confidence in the organic seal.' ...
The Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) amendments to the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP)—a federal regulatory program that enforces national standards for organically produced agricultural products—is meant to 'strengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic agricultural products' in the United States, according to a federal memo published Wednesday.
'Organic farmers have consistently ranked National Organic Program enforcement and stopping import fraud as a top priority,' Kate Mendenhall, executive director of the Organic Farmers Association and an Iowa organic farmer, said in a statement."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/organic-farming
-->No mention of this in the NYT, which has always had a soft spot for both toxic agricultural chemicals, and corporate fraud.