Biden's warmongering "liberal interventionist" secretary of state nominee Antony Blinken has recently advised many top corporations, including CIA contractor McKinsey, Facebook, Uber, military contractor Boeing, Bank of America, AT&T, and Blackstone https://twitter.com/AlexThomp/status/1344840283352010752

In 2020, we continued shining a light on the machinations of empire, from the persecution of imprisoned journalist Julian Assange to the defeat of a US-backed coup regime in Bolivia, from the growing corporate war on free speech to the OPCW’s scandalous Syria cover-up.

These are our top 12 stories from last year.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/01/top-the-grayzone-stories-of-2020/

The British judge ruling in the US government’s extradition against journalist Julian Assange justified a CIA spying operation targeting both the WikiLeaks publisher and the Ecuadorian government by pointing to debunked accusations published by CNN.

Yet in a self-referential loop, the American media outlet’s dubious claims about Assange themselves ironically originated with a security firm that was spying on Assange for the CIA – and which is now facing prosecution in Spain for illegal activity.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/05/uk-judge-cia-spying-assange-ecuador-cnn/

Join us for a livestream on Assange, Force the Vote, "Stop the Steal" violence, and more.

7 pm ET / 4 pm PT

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBPDfbPkTlU

Twitch: https://twitch.tv/TheGrayzoneNews

The US State Department designated Yemen’s Houthi movement — the most effective force in fighting al-Qaeda — as a “terrorist” organization. Meanwhile Washington and Saudi Arabia have been supporting al-Qaeda in the country.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/12/us-al-qaeda-yemen-houthis-terrorists/

After condemning the pro-Trump invasion of the US Capitol, the incoming Biden administration invited Carlos Vecchio – a corrupt coup leader charged in the 2014 torching of the Venezuelan Attorney General’s office – to its inaugural ceremony.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/17/biden-inaugural-guest-venezuelan-coup-leader-inciting-violent-assault/

Max Blumenthal reported from the heavily militarized "Red Zone" in Washington, DC, where 28,000 National Guard soldiers have been deployed ahead of Joe Biden's inaugural ceremony

https://t.co/lKnJBiU5sU

The US national security state failed to prevent the pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol. Yet instead of accountability, US intelligence officials are being emboldened via increased militarization, censorship, and surveillance.

Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté discuss the dangerous fallout.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/21/mob-mentality-capitol-riot-exploited-to-expand-the-national-security-state-that-failed-to-stop-it/

CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou details his personal experience dealing with Trump insiders to secure a pardon. He says Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani demanded $2 million to try to get him a pardon.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/25/pay-pardons-john-kiriakou-trumps-bidens-cia/

A Venezuelan coup-plotter's bombshell testimony exposes the involvement of the Colombian government, FBI, and DEA in the May 2020 botched invasion of Venezuela
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/30/us-colombia-invasion-venezuela-yacsy-alvarez/

Today is a historic election in Ecuador. The Grayzone's Ben Norton traveled there to report on the process, which pits a wealthy US-backed right-wing banker against a left-wing economist who pledges to continue the socialist Citizens’ Revolution launched by former President Rafael Correa.

In this dispatch, working-class Ecuadorians explain why they support leftist candidate Andrés Arauz and oppose the repressive Washington-allied government of Lenín Moreno.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/06/ecuador-election-citizens-revolution/

The presidential candidate that appeared to come in second place in Ecuador's election, and will thus go to a runoff in April, Yaku Pérez, claims to be part of the "left," but he supported US-backed right-wing coups in Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.

We showed how his US-backed party Pachakutik and the supposedly “progressive” environmentalist campaign Pérez is running is being promoted by right-wing corporate lobbyists, and how he acts as a Trojan horse for Ecuador's oligarchs and US imperialism.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/06/yaku-perez-pachakutik-ecuador-us-coup/

We spoke with a journalist in India about the largest strike in human history: the historic farmer strike going on right now against the neoliberal, pro-corporate policies of India's right-wing Narendra Modi government.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/11/indias-farmer-uprising-largest-strike-history/

Despite facing repression, Alexei Navalny is no hero. This Russian writer reveals the Western-backed opposition figure’s real history, and his own oligarch backing

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/28/alexei-navalny-myth-wests-russian-opposition-figure/

The US State Department is pushing a politicized vote recount, overseen by the coup-sponsoring OAS, after socialist Andrés Arauz won Ecuador’s election in a landslide.

Meanwhile Colombia’s ex-president warns his country’s “radical right” is “interfering” with “slander” and a “dirty game.”

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/15/us-oas-colombia-steal-ecuador-election/

Anya Parampil spoke with Rania Khalek about the drama surrounding the Trump impeachment trial.

They reflect on the arguments made by democrats and republicans, the trial’s impact on the reputation of US empire abroad, and its implications for free speech.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/16/rania-khalek-slams-phony-impeachment-soap-opera/

While Democracy Now hosts US government-funded, regime-change-lobbying pundits to spread humanitarian interventionist propaganda about China's Xinjiang region, our analysis shows how the once progressive outlet it echoing new cold war disinformation.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/22/democracy-nows-china-state-departments-cold-war/

As tens of thousands of Haitians defy repression to protest Washington-backed Jovenel Moïse’s power grab, the Biden administration’s support for Moïse continues a long US tradition of backing right-wing dictators and undermining Haiti’s popular movements.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/17/no-to-dictatorship-why-haitians-are-protesting-us-backed-moise/

New leaked documents show Reuters’ and the BBC’s involvement in covert UK FCO programs to effect “attitudinal change” and “weaken the Russian state’s influence,” alongside intel contractors and Bellingcat.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/

Repurposed into a mercenary force by Erdogan’s Turkey, the remnants of Syria’s armed opposition were sent off to fight for Azerbaijan with promises of sweet paychecks. They met abuse, humiliation and death instead.

We report with sources from inside the Syrian mercenary groups.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/26/syrian-rebels-nagorno-karabakh-turkey/

The US “virtual ambassador” to Venezuela hosted radical right-wing fugitive Venezuelan insurrectionists at his home in Colombia, roasting a pig as they plotted new regime-change tactics.

We investigated this strange, coup-supporting character:

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/03/03/virtual-ambassador-venezuela-hosts-insurrectionist-bidens-guaido/