Mexico rejects US drug war aid
Mexico's new populist president announced that he is dropping out of the regional US-led drug enforcement pact, and will be turning down the aid package offered through the program. Instead, he is proposing a dialogue with Washington on across-the-board drug decriminalization in both nations.
New spasm of Syria chemwar denial: don't buy it
A sudden feeding-frenzy of revisionism about the April 2018 Douma chemical attack in Syria has broken out, with celebrities glomming on in unseemly manner.
Russia blocks UN statement against Sudan massacre
Russia, joined by China, blocked a bid at the UN Security Council on June 4 to condemn the killing of civilians in Sudan and issue a pressing call for an immediate halt to the violence, diplomats told AFP. Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the proposed statement was "unbalanced" and s...
Russia blocks UN statement against Idlib bombing
Russia on June 3 blocked a UN Security Council statement of alarm about the killing of civilians in northwest Syria and the possibility of a humanitarian disaster. The bombing and shelling have accompanied a Russia-backed offensive by the Assad regime to recapture parts of Idlib and neighboring Hama...
Sudan transition deal suspended after massacre
The elite Rapid Support Forces and other troops under the command of Sudan's Transitional Military Council unleashed the deadliest attack yet against protestors at the sit-in site in the capital Khartoum on June 3, leaving at least 35 dead and hundreds injured.
https://countervortex.org/node/16365
The Chinese authorities must end a wave of persecution targeting those seeking to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Amnesty International said ahead of the 30th anniversary of the bloodshed. Over recent weeks, police have detained, placed under house arrest or threatened...
Syria: Idlib displaced march on Turkish border
Thousands of displaced residents of Idlib province in northwest Syria—under a Russian-backed bombardment by the Assad regime, which has killed about 300 over the past month and displaced more than 300,000—marched on the sealed Turkish border on May 31, demanding entry or international action to ...
Amnesty: war crimes continue in Burma's Rakhine
Amnesty International on May 29 released a report asserting that Burma's military is continuing to commit war crimes and human rights violations in the context of its campaigan against the rebel Arakan Army in Rakhine state. The campaign began after the Arakan Army launched coordinated attacks on po...
Egypt: 'crimes against humanity' in Sinai feared
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on May 28 detailed abuses against civilians by both the Egyptian government and militants in the Sinai Peninsula, some of which HRW classified as war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. The information in the report was collected over a two-year investigation into t...
Podcast: Memories of Tiananmen Square
In Episode 34 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg interviews Rose Tang, veteran journalist, activist, artist, musician, and survivor of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Burma: soldiers freed in Rohingya massacre
Seven soldiers imprisoned in Burma for killing 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys have received an early release—serving less time than the reporters who uncovered the massacre they were convicted of. The soldiers were sentenced in 2018 to 10 years in prison for the killings at the village of Inn Din...
Nepal blasts bid to reboot Maoist insurgency?
Four people were killed and three others injured in three explosions in Kathmandu on May 26, a grim reminder of the Maoist insurgency the shook Nepal for a decade before a 2006 peace agreement.
Suit against French bank over Sudanese atrocities
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City on May 22 reversed a district court's dismissal of a class action lawsuit against French bank BNP Paribas over aiding atrocities in Sudan.
Judge blocks emergency funding for Trump's wall
A federal judge on May 24 blocked construction of Donald Trump's border wall, ruling that Trump cannot use a "national emergency" to take money from government agencies for the barrier. Judge Haywood Gilliam of the US District Court for Northern California ruled that the diversion of the money, larg...
Rights abuses mount in conflicted Cameroon
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on May 6 described the abuse of detainees at a detention center in Cameroon's capital city of Yaoundé, identifying violations of domestic and international human rights law.
General Assembly: UK must return Chagos Islands
The UN General Assembly on May 22 passed a resolution demanding the United Kingdom return control of the of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius within six months. There were 116 votes for the motion, with more than 50 abstentions, and just six votes against—the UK, United States, Hungary, Israel, Aust...
CRITIQUE OF GEOPOLITICS AND THE LEFT
Jae Carico of The Fifth Column Network interviews CounterVortex editor Bill Weinberg on Eurasianism, Red-Brown politics, and how the consensus position of the contemporary American "left" is now pro-fascist. They also discuss the prospects for reviving the traditional anti-fascist stance of the left...
Turkey bombs Iraqi territory —again
For the second day, Turkish fighter jets struck Kurdish rebel positions across the Iraqi border May 21—part of a new offensive against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), apparently undertaken with the implicit consent of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government.
Yemen de-escalation: real or 'smokescreen'?
Nearly six months after a much-publicized deal was made in Sweden to bring an end to four years of war and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the UN now says Houthi fighters have pulled out of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
Sri Lanka dissidents reject Buddhist fascism
As Sri Lanka marks the 10-year anniversary of the end of its long internal war this week, human rights groups are demanding accountability in the mass atrocities that marked the final stages of the conflict, in which many thousands were displaced or "disappeared." The International Committee of the....
Bolivia: did opposition call for US 'intervention'?
Bolivian President Evo Morales launched his campaign for a fourth term with a massive rally May 18 in the Chapare region where he began his career as a peasant leader a generation ago. But the country's political opposition charges that Morales is defying a 2016 referendum, in which voters rejected....
Amnesty: 'crimes against humanity' in Idlib
The Assad regime, supported by Russia, is carrying out a "deliberate and systematic assault" on hospitals and other medical facilities in Syria's northwestern provinces of Idlib and Hama, Amnesty International said May 17.
Burkina Faso faces 'unprecedented' crisis
Attacks by Islamist militants, military operations, and waves of inter-communal violence have left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced since January in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, triggering an "unprecedented" humanitarian crisis that has caught many by surprise. Homegrown mil...
Sudan charges al-Bashir with killing protesters
Sudan public prosecutors announced May 13 that they have charged ousted president Omar al-Bashir with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters during the uprising that drove him from power last month.
Orwellian ironies of US Persian Gulf war moves
Amid alarmingly sketchy accounts of Iranian attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, which are said to have caused damage but no casualties, Trump has dispacthed the USSS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the Persian Gulf, and ordered a partial evacuation of US diplomatic staff fr...
Shi'ite militia forces 'sweep' Iraq-Syria border
Baghdad's irregular Hashd al-Shaabi militia has joined with the National Defense Forces, one of the Assad regime's paramilitary militias, to conduct "sweeps" along the Iraqi-Syrian border for remnant ISIS cells.
Podcast: genocide, propaganda and the Idlib offensive
In Episode 33 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg compares coverage of the Idlib offensive from CNN and its Turkish counterpart TRT World, illustrating how the US corporate media uncritically echo the propaganda of the Assad regime.
UN report: 'unprecedented' biodiversity collapse
Biodiversity is declining globally at rates "unprecedented" in human history, and the rate of species extinction is accelerating, warns a landmark report from the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Arrests at Havana's first independent gay march
Activists in Havana held Cuba's first independent gay pride march May 11, after authorities cancelled the officially sanctioned event. The march assembled in Old Havana'a Parque Central, where the official event had been scheduled to start.
Syrian Democratic Forces fire on Arab protesters
The final defeat of ISIS in Syria's northeast has left many Arab-majority areas of the region under occupation by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—a situation obviously fraught with political risks.
Assad, Russia launch Idlib offensive
The Assad regime and allied militias, backed by Russian air-strikes, this week launched the long-feared offensive on Idlib, the northwest Syrian province that is the last under rebel and opposition control. The offensive places at risk the lives of more than 4.5 million civilians.
Gaza invasion averted; West Bank land-grabs escalate
An Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip apparently took effect with no formal announcement May 6, after two days of hostilities that saw hundreds of rockets launched from Gaza and the most extensive Israeli air-strikes on the Strip since 2014.
Pakistan: Taliban target Sufi shrine —again
At least 10 people were killed and 25 others injured in a suicide blast that targeted security forces guarding a famous Sufi shrine in the Pakistani city of Lahore May 8. The attack, which came during the holy month of Ramadan, was apparently aimed at a police vehicle, and five officers are among th...
Mexico: double assassination of indigenous leaders
The Emiliano Zapata Popular and Indigenous Council of Guerrero (CIPOG-EZ) is calling upon the United Nations to investigate following the assassination of two leaders of the organization.
Honduras: riots, repression amid neoliberal 'reform'
In the wake of angry protests that swept through Tegucigalpa April 29, Amnesty International is denouncing attacks against human rights defenders by Honduras security forces during the unrest.
Syria: UN 'betrayal' of rebel zones feared
Donor countries and aid organisations are protesting a UN decision to centralize coordination of aid operations for Syria in Damascus—a move they say hands more power to the regime of Bashar Assad, and will make it harder to deliver aid to millions in rebel-held parts of the country.
Formation of Rojava Armenian brigade announced
On the 104th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, revolutionary forces in Rojava established the Martyr Nubar Ozanyan Armenian Battalion.
Turkish occupation builds wall through Afrin
Turkish occupation forces are building a three-meter high security wall through Afrin, the enclave in northern Syria that was an canton of the Kurdish autonomous zone before being taken by Ankara's troops and allied Arab and Turkmen militia last year.
Dozens detained at Istanbul May Day march
Turkish police on detained at least 100 people who attempted to stage a demonstration in İstanbul's iconic Taksim Square, where May Day protests are traditionally banned. Several thousand more gathered in the city's Bakirkoy district, for a permitted march organized by the Confederation of Progress...
Brazil high court ruling sparks indigenous protest
At their annual protest encampment in Brasilia from April 24-6, some 4,500 indigenous people from across Brazil marching on the Supreme Court building to oppose a recent ruling that could negatively impact demarcation of indigenous territory.
'Silk Road' to Peruvian Amazon?
Peru is to sign a memorandum of understanding to join China's Belt & Road international infrastructure initiative, Beijing's ambassador to Lima said April 24. Ambassador Jia Guide made the announcement at a private party in Lima alongside Peru's vice president, Mercedes Araoz.
Podcast: paradoxes of anarchism and nationalism
In Episode 32 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg reads from George Orwell's 1945 essay "Notes on Nationalism," and explains why despite his anarchist politics he is willing to march under the Mexican flag but not "Old Glory," under the Palestinian flag but not the Israeli, under the Tibetan...
Ecuador court win for indigenous territorial rights
The Waorani indigenous people of the Ecuadoran Amazon won a legal victory hailed as historic April 26, as the provincial court of Pastaza Pilar Araujo blocked the opening of their traditional territories to oil exploitation.
US allies overtake Taliban in Afghan civilian deaths
Afghan government and international forces, including NATO, killed more civilians in the first three months of this year than the Taliban and other insurgent groups, according to the latest UN report on casualties in the conflcit.
Crimean anarchist imprisoned for social media chat
Yevhen Karakashev, a 41-year-old left-wing activist from Yevpatoria in Russian-annexed Crimea, was sentenced to six years in prison by a Russian court on April 19, with the charges based solely on years-old private messages on the social-media network VKontakte.
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