The ever widening war

June 21, 2024

by Paul Craig Roberts

British Foreign Minister Says “We must go after everything Russian.”

“We will show Putin that we are completely behind Ukraine: we will chase the money and the oil, we will stop the gas, we will stop the ships,” declared British Foreign Minister Cameron.

The UK is “hunting” companies that do business with Russia “all over the world,” Cameron said. “We will sanction companies in China, in Turkey, in Kyrgyzstan, even in Israel, that we believe are supplying dual-use material” to Russia, he added.

This is the consequence of Putin’s ill-considered “limited military operation in Ukraine.” It is extraordinary that Russian intelligence failed to inform Putin that a slow-poke war would permit the West to become involved, thereby turning it into a war between NATO and Russia.

Putin still speaks of negotiating a peace with Ukraine despite the fact that Ukraine, NATO, and Washington have made it completely clear that the only terms for peace are Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine including Crimea, payment for damages and dead Ukrainians and acceptance of NATO membership for Ukraine.

One can only wonder at the complete lack of realism as the West brings war to Russia.

Is it the Kremlin’s plan to be a sitting duck and only respond defensively after Russia is attacked, or has Putin issued a final warning? Two days ago Putin said that the selfishness and hypocrisy of the West has produced a dangerous situation “bringing the world close to the point of no return.” Putin’s words call to mind Serbian President Vucic’s statement that “the train has left the station and no one can stop it.” https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/06/13/the-train-has-left-the-station-and-no-one-can-stop-it/

Putin said that the calls of Western leaders “to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, which has the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, demonstrate the extreme adventurism of Western politicians. They either do not understand the scale of the threat they themselves create, or they are simply obsessed with the belief in their own impunity and their own exclusivity. Both can turn into a tragedy.”

It is extraordinary that not only the Western world but the entire world ignores the dangerous situation described by Putin. Why hasn’t the UN imposed sanctions on Washington for provoking nuclear war? Why is it patriotic to promote war but not peace? I have been warning much longer than has Putin, and my reward has been to be called names and put on lists of Russian “agents/dupes.”

The pending war could have been avoided if the West had abided by the Minsk Agreement. The agreement kept Donbas in Ukraine by providing the two republics with some autonomy to stop Ukraine’s attacks on the Donbas population. Putin supported the agreement for 8 years despite continuing provocations. As the German Chancellor and President of France admitted, the West only pretended to support the Minsk Agreement while the West built a large Ukrainian army capable of subjugating the Donbas republics.

Before intervening in February 2022, Putin and Lavrov made a last effort to negotiate a mutual security agreement with the West, but was cold-shouldered by the West. Clearly, the West intended a conflict from the beginning.

What was the West thinking?

Why did Putin think Russia’s intervention could be limited to Donbas? Putin watched Washington overthrow the Ukrainian government, insert a puppet, demonize and attack the Russian population of Donbas, refuse all Russian proposals to avoid conflict, and force Russia into protecting the Russian areas that had been attached to Ukraine by Soviet leaders. The West certainly knew that the Kremlin could not simply sit on its hands while the Russian population was massacred.

In Putin’s defense, perhaps he is too humane to comprehend the evil that has the West in its grasp. Perhaps his central bank director and Russian neoliberal economists told him Russia could not afford a war. Perhaps Putin thought the West would come to its senses.

But the West hasn’t come to its senses. The West is intentionally driving toward a war with Russia. As President Vucic says “no one is attempting to stop the war. Nobody is speaking about peace. Peace is almost a forbidden word.”

It is an extraordinary situation. As the late Steven Cohen and I emphasized once we saw the West fomenting the conflict with Russia, the situation is more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis. At that time Washington understood the necessity of defusing tensions. Today Washington intentionally worsens tensions, and there is no concern about the consequences.

My conclusion is that the West has lost touch with reality and is bringing death and destruction upon itself.

Mexico welcomes new Biden immigration executive order to ‘keep families together’

June 21, 2024

HL_bidenImmigration_6.21.24 — foto: La nueva política permitirá a los cónyuges e hijos no ciudadanos de ciudadanos estadounidenses un camino más fácil hacia la residencia permanente y beneficiará principalmente a los mexicanos que viven en Estados Unidos. -- The new policy will allow for noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens an easier path to permanent residency and will mostly benefit Mexicans living in the United States. (Shutterstock)

by Mexico News Daily

Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans could benefit from new immigration rules in the United States that will allow certain undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for lawful permanent residence without leaving the country.

United States President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would take action to ensure that U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together.

“The steps I’m taking today are overwhelmingly supported by the American people, no matter what the other team says,” he said at an event at the White House.

“In fact, polls show that over 70% of Americans support this effort to keep families together,” Biden said.

To qualify for the program, undocumented adult noncitizens must have lived in the United States for 10 years or more as of June 17, and must be legally married to a U.S. citizen, “while satisfying all applicable legal requirements,” according to a White House Fact Sheet.

They wouldn’t be eligible if they have a disqualifying criminal record or are considered a public security threat.

Undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens are already eligible for lawful permanent residence in the United States, but they must apply from outside the country. That often entails leaving their jobs and families to exit the United States indefinitely without any certainty they will be authorized to re-enter.

Under the new rules, “those who are approved after DHS’s case-by-case assessment of their application will be afforded a three-year period to apply for permanent residency,” the White House said.

“They will be allowed to remain with their families in the United States and be eligible for work authorization for up to three years. This will apply to all married couples who are eligible,” it added.

The White House said that Biden’s executive action will protect around half a million spouses of U.S. citizens and “approximately 50,000 noncitizen children under the age of 21 whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the program “will achieve family unity, one of our immigration system’s fundamental goals.”

“It will also boost our economy, advance our labor interests, strengthen our foreign relations with key partners in the region, further our public safety interests, and more,” he added.

The announcement of the new immigration policy came two weeks after Biden issued an executive order that prevents migrants from making asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border at times when crossings between legal ports of entry surge.

The U.S. president acknowledged that the majority of likely beneficiaries of the spouse program would be Mexicans.

The program — which is set to commence in the coming months — is the largest to benefit undocumented migrants in the United States since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy implemented by the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama.

Reuters described Biden’s new policy as “an election-year move that contrasts sharply with Republican rival Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations.”

CNN said “the action is aimed at appealing to key Latino constituencies in battleground states, including Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, that will be crucial for Biden’s chances to claim a second term.”

Trump could revoke the policy if he succeeds in winning a second term as U.S. president, while the program “will almost certainly face legal challenges,” Reuters said.

Mexico welcomes Biden’s announcement

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday that Biden’s decision to implement a program that will benefit undocumented Mexicans is “worthy of recognition.”

“We’ve been insisting on the regularization of Mexicans who have been working honorably in the United States for years,” he said.

López Obrador acknowledged that many undocumented Mexicans in the United States won’t benefit from the new rules, but described the program for the spouses and children of U.S. citizens as a “step forward.”

“I’m pleased that President Biden is doing it,” he said.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) noted in a statement that some 500,000 spouses and 50,000 children of U.S. citizens could benefit from the new scheme, and highlighted that “the vast majority” of that number are “Mexican or Mexican-American.”

Roberto Velasco, head of the SRE’s North America department, said that as many as 400,000 Mexicans could obtain permanent residency in the U.S. through the program and eventually become American citizens.

The SRE said that the new “protections” would “prevent the separation of families and contribute greater stability and certainty to their future.”

“Mexico has repeatedly stated that one of its highest priorities in the bilateral relationship is the protection and regularization of our nationals in the United States,” the ministry said.

“We view the measures announced today in a positive light and are certain that strengthening our relationship under a policy of good neighborliness, respecting the sovereignties of our peoples and promoting economic cooperation is the right path for ensuring safe, orderly, regular and humane migration,” the SRE said.

The ministry also acknowledged a U.S. government announcement on Tuesday that will benefit DACA recipients known as Dreamers.

The Biden administration said it was “easing the visa process for U.S. college graduates, including Dreamers.”

“Today’s announcement will allow individuals, including DACA recipients and other Dreamers, who have earned a degree at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education in the United States, and who have received an offer of employment from a U.S. employer in a field related to their degree, to more quickly receive work visas,” the White House said.

With reports from CNN, AP, Reuters and Milenio.

Student loan relief deadline approaching for 300,000 California borrowers

June 21, 2024

frontpg_Student loan relief_6.21.24 — Los estudiantes caminan a lo largo del puente que conduce al campus en Scholars Lane en el campus Merced de la Universidad de California el 4 de noviembre de 2022. -- Students walk along the bridge leading into campus on Scholars Lane at the University of California Merced campus on Nov. 4, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local.

by Mikhail Zinshteyn

Student loan borrowers can become eligible for lower payments or faster debt forgiveness by applying for federal loan consolidation by June 30

As many as 300,000 Californians have until June 30 to take advantage of a one-time offer to qualify for faster student loan forgiveness, lower monthly payments or outright forgiveness for federal loans borrowed before 2010.

The U.S. Department of Education’s June 30 deadline is a big deal because borrowers who submit their applications would become eligible to receive credit for past years of repayment that previously didn’t qualify for student loan forgiveness.

The department’s one-time “adjustment” will largely help borrowers who took out federal student loans before 2010 called Federal Family Education Loans — as well as borrowers with two other types of loans.

Why is the department doing this? To “remedy years of administrative failures that effectively denied the promise of loan forgiveness to certain borrowers,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a 2022 press release. The deadline for this remedy has been extended several times, but student loan advocates believe June 30 will be the final opportunity for this one-time benefit.

Nationally, about half of borrowers 60 and older have been repaying their student loans for more than 15 years, a key reason why debt among this population has skyrocketed.

By May, more than 1 million Americans have already gotten $51 billion in debt relief through this adjustment program, according to the department.

The student loan landscape is notoriously complicated. A National Public Radio reporter whose investigation exposed how borrowers placed in the wrong repayment category lost the ability to gain credit toward loan forgiveness, quipped that if none of this makes sense, “You’re not alone.”

To meet the June 30 deadline, borrowers must submit applications to consolidate their loans into so-called direct consolidation loans. Only loans in the direct program are eligible for loan forgiveness after 10 or 20 years of payments, depending on a borrower’s employment situation. Direct loans also qualify for lower monthly payments.

Some borrowers may see no reason to consolidate, but for many others, meeting the June 30 deadline will be a life-changer.

To apply, a borrower needs to create an account with the Federal Student Aid office and then complete the consolidation application, which itself takes about 30 minutes.

California state agency tries to help

Most Californians with loans that aren’t in the direct program should apply to consolidate, said Celina Damian, the state’s first Student Loan Servicing Ombudsperson.

This week California is also debuting a network of 14 nonprofit organizations that collectively received $7 million in state grants to help California borrowers navigate the maze of student loan policies, hurdles and deadlines.

The Student Loan Empowerment Network will offer California borrowers in-person or phone consultations to handle their student loan quandaries, including issues surrounding private student loans that are governed by a different set of rules.

“It was created really to just have somewhere for borrowers to go and provide more help than I can provide,” Damian said. Until last week, she was the only person in state government doing this work.

Between March 20 and May 1, Damian communicated by phone or email with 1,400 borrowers after her office sent an email to Californians who’d likely benefit from loan consolidation.

Some borrowers didn’t realize they possessed federal loans that were eligible for any loan forgiveness, Damian said. The borrowers instead thought they were repaying private loans. Others thought her agency’s outreach was initially a scam. “So they would reach out and say, ‘Is this real? I thought there was no option for me,” she recounted.

Damian stressed that a growing number of California borrowers are senior citizens who may struggle to complete the federal online application. “The oldest one I spoke to was about 83, 84”, she said. “These are loans they took out in the ‘90s.”

Several times borrowers nearly gave up trying to apply, so she told them to complete the paper version of the application and email her photos of their paperwork. She then collated their photos into a PDF document and submitted the paperwork to the U.S. Department of Education on their behalf.

How did we get here?

Federal Family Education Loans were common loans issued by private lenders but guaranteed by the federal government. In 2010, these loans were discontinued and the federal government began issuing student loans directly.

The old loans qualify for federal loan forgiveness programs with less generous repayment plans and require more years of repayment.

These loans are also ineligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a loan program for government and nonprofit workers that forgives federal undergraduate and graduate student loan debt after 10 years of payments. The only way to qualify for that loan forgiveness is by repaying direct loans — which borrowers with Federal Family Education Loans can do if they consolidate by June 30. Once their consolidation goes through, borrowers will need to apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, but they will have inherited past credit already through the steps they took to consolidate.

Borrowers need to only apply for consolidation by the June 30 deadline. The department’s actual review process will take at least 60 days.

Borrowers who are found to have made at least 20 years of payments for undergraduate loans or 25 years for graduate loans will see their loans fully forgiven — a tax-free perk through 2025.

Things to consider for student loan forgiveness

A key benefit of consolidation: Borrowers can choose to be placed on the SAVE repayment plan, which bases monthly payments on current income and offers loan forgiveness for any income level after 20 or 25 years.

The SAVE plan also doesn’t charge interest as long borrowers make regular payments.

Not all periods of repayment will count toward one’s loan credit under the federal government’s one-time program. Any time spent in default won’t count.

Loans in periods of deferment will count, but only before 2013. If loans were deferred because a borrower re-entered college, such as to complete a bachelor’s or earn a master’s degree, that time won’t count toward the borrower’s credit.

If borrowers have older loans and Parent PLUS loans that they took out on behalf of their children, they should weigh their options, Damian said. Parent PLUS loans are eligible for only one type of loan forgiveness plan that’s less generous, and consolidating those loans with other loans will block the borrower from the newer repayment plans.

Consolidation may not be for everyone. Borrowers with high incomes, a low loan balance and a discounted interest rate from their lender may not necessarily benefit from this, said Betsy Mayotte, president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit group. “But for just about everybody else, there isn’t going to be a downside.”

Prodigal Daughter and the breaking of the silence

June 20, 2024

arts_ProdigalDaughter_6.21 copy — Mabel Valdiviezo, directora del filme La Hija Pródiga. - Mabel Valdiviezo, director of the film The Prodigal Daughter.

World premiere of Mabel Valdiviezo’s film

Silence is the element in which all great things are formed. Thomas Carlyle

by Madeline Mendieta

06/19/2024 – The trip to memory, the encounter with the past, the uprooting, the adventure of being an immigrant and the silence suspended for 15 years, is the story of Mabel Valdiviezo, a Peruvian multidisciplinary artist who recently released her film “Prodigal Daughter” was in theaters from May 29 to June 2 at the 23rd Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival (LALIFF) at the TCL Chinese Theaters in Hollywood. And she announces that it will soon be exhibiting in San Francisco.

The executive director of the Latino Film Institute Axel Caballero mentioned that this year a greater effort was made to support the work of Latina women in the film industry.

This year they presented 22 feature films from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, France, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Among the notable directors are Mabel Valdiviezo, Mar Novo, María Zanetti, Gabriela A. Moses, Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, Carolina Markowicz, Ángeles Cruz and Lillah Halla among others.

Mabel Valdiviezo has a long career as a filmmaker, but also through her painting she captures on her canvases that communion with the past, her parents who left them in her native Peru. The long silence between her family is broken with the film “Prodigal Daughter”, which takes up the parable that Luke, a disciple of Jesus, made known, in which the return of a son who had gone to seek his fortune was told, he returns where his father and he throws him a party.

In the particular case of Mabel, her parents also celebrate her return because they had no idea of the whereabouts of their daughter. What happened during those 16 years? What struggles did the artist face as an undocumented person, without knowledge of the language? These are the questions that are in the subtext of the main story, which is the reunion of a daughter with her parents.

Narrated in the first person, Valdiviezo manages to capture those female voices that wander in search of the American dream and become a personal nightmare, the abuse of alcohol, drugs, the barriers that millions of immigrant women have to face to occupy a place in a multicultural country and with severe policies for the undocumented.

Later, she is diagnosed with a type of cancer and is one more step in the enormous pyramid of obstacles that this artist must overcome with brushes, watercolors, and her films. Despite this, this Latina woman has highlighted and projected her work around the world, including PBS, LALIFF and MTV.

She won the Women in Film Emerging Filmmaker Award and her screenplay, Soledad’s Awakening, was a finalist at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Prodigal Daughter, she has received support from NALIP Latino Media Market, NALIP Latino Producers Academy and the San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant. Mabel is the founder of Haiku Films and Arts 4 Healing.

“Prodigal Daughter” is the return to memory, the journey of Ulysses that took him 20 years to wander the oceans to return to Ithaca, where his wife awaits him. For 16 years, Mabel Valdiviezo was sailing in her own seas, faced her storms, was shipwrecked and reached dry land.

It takes their voice and memories, creating a chorus of immigrants who leave everything behind but always the past beats inside them, but the time comes to face that past, which is a present and that is what this artist tells us who not only shows an enormous sensitivity but also that her life testimony is laid bare before the public, told from the perspective of reunion after silently keeping the pain of absence. https://vimeo.com/944643089

Cuba Caribe Festival reaches its 18th anniversary

June 7, 2024

by Magdy Zara

The annual Caribe Cuba dance and music festival celebrates 18 years promoting Cuban culture in the United States through its music and dances; This time it takes place in the city of San Francisco, between June 6 and 16.

Among the scheduled activities is the Bomplenazo, a bomb and full evening, interpreted and explained through film and music.

There will be live music and the presentation of Héctor Lugo and La Mixta Criolla, short films curated by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi. The rhythms of Bomba and Plena must be understood and appreciated due to their importance and historical relationship. These two major genres of Afro-Puerto Rican music each have very different musical characteristics, histories, and social foundations.

For the second week of the festival, choreographers Ramón Ramos Alayo of Alayo Dance Company and Marcia Treidler will present a nighttime show titled Acts of Resistance, Acts of Joy, the work investigates the history and significance of Brazil and Cuba with Carnival.

El Bomplenazo will take place on June 12 starting at 7 p.m., and will take place at the Museum of the African Diaspora, located at 685 Mission St, San Francisco.

The function called Acts of Resistance and Acts of Joy will be on June 14, 15 at 8 p.m., and June 16 at 5 p.m. At the ODC Theatre, 3153 17th Street, San Francisco. For more information about the schedule and tickets through https://www.cubacaribe.org/2024

Tribute to Santa in the Bay Area

Carnival is the name given to the tribute that the Mission District of San Francisco will soon pay to Santana and his band.

The best and most experienced musicians in the San Francisco Bay area have spent decades perfecting their craft to bring you the legendary sounds and greatest hits of Santana, all of which you can hear live.

Carnaval offers you the same instrumentation, soul and passion of Santana’s music, who is a pillar in the history of rock music for the last five decades.

This series of concerts are scheduled for June 14 and 15, the first at El Parque Burton San Carlos at 6 p.m. and the second at the Esparza family Auto Show, in the city of Gilroy, starting at 7p.m. respectively. Ticket prices range from $15 to $32.

Circus Bella returns to San Francisco

With only 14 performances, Circus Bella returns to the San Francisco Bay Area to present its 15th annual Circus in the Parks season.

Presentations will be held in various locations, in parks in the Bay Area, Laguna Beach and Reno. It will be a completely free show for children.

This edition returns with a new outdoor show, featuring an array of the Bay Area’s brightest circus talent, delighting and surprising audiences of all ages with circus arts at its most exuberant. Marked by a playful spirit and inspired imagination. Circus Bella offers a modern twist on the one-ring circus, brimming with heart and soul. The 60-minute performance, directed by Circus Bella founder and trapeze artist Abigail Munn, features the incredible company Circus Bella, a diverse and talented group of acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers and clowns, performing to the accordionist’s original live music Rob Reich and the outstanding six-piece Circus Bella All-Star band.

The program consists of three performances to be held in the Yerba Buena gardens, on Friday, June 21 and Saturday, June 22 at 12 p.m., and on Saturday again at 2 p.m., on Mission St. (between streets 3 and 4).

Billboard Latin women in music to honor La India with the ‘Pioneer’ award at this year’s gala

June 7, 2024

arts_LaIndia_6.7.24 — La India ensaya para los Latin American Music Awards 2015 en el Dolby Theatre de Hollywood, CA el 6 de octubre de 2015. - La India rehearses for the 2015 Latin American Music Awards at The Dolby Theater in Hollywood, CA on Oct. 6, 2015. Mark Davis/Telemundo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal

by the El Reportero news services

Via Billboard Latino

Miami, FL, June 4, 2024 – Telemundo and Billboard announced Puerto Rican singer and songwriter La India, known as the “Princesa de la Salsa” (Salsa Princess,) will be honored with the “Pioneer” award at the Billboard Latin Women in Music special this Sunday, June 9, 2024, airing exclusively on Telemundo at 9pm/8c.

In addition, renowned artists Gale, Sergio George, Arthur Hanlon, Elena Rose and Juliana will all take the stage in special performances and collaborations to celebrate this year’s honorees. The star-studded line up is completed by Pedro Capó, Myrka Dellanos, Luis Figueroa, María José, Penélope Menchaca, Andrea Meza, and Maripily Rivera who will present the night’s honors.

Celebrating 30 years since her album “Dicen Que Soy” was released and won the Billboard Tropical Album of the Year Award (Female), La India will be recognized with the Pioneer award which acknowledges those who have pioneered new paths, broken barriers, and inspired future generations through their innovative artistry, cultural impact, and enduring legacy.

Since the release of her first album, La India ushered in a new era and sound for salsa music representing female empowerment and becoming a voice for Latinas. She successfully bridged the gap between salsa and mainstream music, bringing salsa to a broader audience by appealing to both Latin and non-Latin audiences.

She achieved remarkable success in a historically male-dominated genre, paving the way for other female artists in salsa. By blending traditional salsa with elements of pop, house, and other genres, La India has contributed to the evolution of salsa music, inspiring future generations of artists and expanding the genre’s reach and appeal. She holds the Billboard chart record for the female artist with the most #1 singles on the Tropical Airplay chart (11 total) and #1 albums on Tropical Albums (6 total.)

Viewers will be delighted with electrifying performances by several of the night’s honorees and special collaborations with the likes of three-time Grammy-nominated Puerto-Rican singer, songwriter Gale; multi-Grammy award-winning producer, composer, and pianist Sergio George; chart-topping pianist, composer, and arranger Arthur Hanlon; Colombian singer-songwriter and actress Juliana; and Latin Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Elena Rose.

As previously announced, the full list of powerhouse Latin women being honored includes Gloria Estefan, who will receive the “Legend” award; Karol G who will receive the “Woman of the Year” award; Camila Cabello who will receive the “Global Impact” award; Ana Bárbara who will receive the “Lifetime Achievement” award; Ángela Aguilar who will receive the “Musical Dynasty” award; Kali Uchis who will receive the “Rising Star” award; and Kany García who will receive the “Spirit of Change” award.

Billboard’s Latin Women in Music franchise recognizes the importance of Latin women in the music industry and honors those who have positively impacted Latin music and the industry the previous year. The honors bestowed in 2023 included Shakira as “Woman of the Year,” Ana Gabriel as “Living Legend,” Emilia as “Rising Star,” and Thalia as “Global Powerhouse,” among others.