From our Daily Report:

The Andes
Bogotá

Colombia: protests greet new far-right president

Thousands of Colombians peacefully rallied across the country against the far-right policies of President Abelardo de la Espriella, little more than two months after he took office. They criticized his proposed social spending cuts, his alignment with Trump, and his hardline military approach to decades of armed-group violence. Earlier this month, de la Espriella announced a “counterterrorism statute” that many fear could restrict democratic rights. (Photo: AlexaRochi via AnalisisUrbano)

The Amazon
Amazon

Brazil: Amazon deforestation plunged under Lula

In the year to July 2026, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by nearly 42%, according the National Institute for Space Research (INPE)—the steepest decline since monitoring began in 1988—while losses in the Cerrado, Brazil’s vast tropical savanna, fell by nearly 24%. Deforestation surged to its highest level in more than a decade in 2021 under far-right then-president Jair Bolsonaro. His successor, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, pledged to reverse the trend when he took office in 2022. Lula and Bolsonaro’s son, Flávio, just faced each other in a tight presidential contest, with the left-wing incumbent achieving a surprise victory in the run-off. (Photo: Catedral Verde via Wikimedia Commons)

Watching the Shadows
Satan

Podcast: Satanic techno-fascism (yes, really)

Peter Thiel of Palantir, most aggressively reactionary of the Trump-linked nexus of fascist tech bros, now openly invokes the Faust story, in which a scientist sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power—and not as a warning against hubris, but as a positive example, in defense of the notion that “evil can be good.” In Episode 350 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg turns to the 1940s dialogue between rationalist JBS Haldane and moralist CS Lewis to explore how technology and politics—and especially the intersection of the two—can become Satanic, in a metaphorical if not literal sense. (Image: Comedy Central via The Guardian)

Planet Watch

CounterVortex on one-week hiatus

CounterVortex

The CounterVortex is going to be on hiatus for the next week, while chief ranter, blogger and editor Bill Weinberg is traveling abroad on a secret mission. We will resume our didactic blogging and ranting activities the week after. We also hope to have fully restored the website by then, following the attack we suffered from Chinese state-sponsored hackers in August. Immediately after this, we will have to deal with the dilemma of Verizon cutting off the home internet access that we depend on, as discussed here. More than ever, we need you support. Please give what you can. Every little bit helps….

Watching the Shadows

US imposes full sanctions on ICC

ICCUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio placed full sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to investigations into potential war crimes committed by the US and Israel. The sanctions permit the federal government to seize ICC assets in the US or controlled by "US persons." The ICC issued a response statement in which it condemned the action and accused the US of undermining international justice. (Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons)

Palestine

Podcast: West Bank at genocidal threshold

PalestineThe three-year commemoration of the October 7 attacks saw ugly manifestations around the world of the growing atmosphere of polarization and dogmatism on the Israel-Palestine dilemma. There is, alas, the grave potential for everything to get much worse. Benjamin Netanyahu, under siege politically within Israel, is seeking not only a re-occupation of Gaza, but to extend the eliminationist project to the West Bank. In Episode 349 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes stock. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: RJA1988 via Jurist)

Palestine

Israel’s ‘elimination project’ on West Bank advances

West BankIsraeli human rights organization B'Tselem issued a comprehensive report charging that Israel is carrying out an "elimination project" on the occupied West Bank, seeking to dismantle Palestinian "collective existence" there to establish a permanent, contiguous Jewish presence and Israeli sovereignty. A campaign of "ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover" is effected through violence and intimidation, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, and criminalization of Palestinian political organizing. These steps toward annexation are taken jointly by the Israeli military and armed settlers. (Photo via New Jewish Resistance)

Afghanistan

Renewed conflict along Durand Line

BaluchistanIn an ongoing counter-insurgency operation dubbed "Azm-e-Istehkam" (Resolve for Stability), Pakistani security forces carried out deadly raids on militants of two "terrorist" networks designated by the propaganda terms "Fitna al-Khawarij" and "Fitna al-Hindustan." The prior, roughly translating as "heretical faction," refers to jihadist formations operating along the border with Afghanistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The later, translating as "Indian faction," refers to ethnic Baloch rebels in Balochistan province—implying that they are backed by India, which Delhi denies. Islamabad also accuses the Taliban regime in Afghanistan of backing both groups of insurgents, and the fighting follows a new round of Pakistani air-strikes across their international border, known as the Durand Line. (Map: PCL)

Afghanistan

ICC unseals warrants for senior Taliban officials

ICCThe International Criminal Court unsealed four arrest warrants against senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan, acts that the Court's prosecutors say constitute crimes against humanity. The named figures are Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadim. (Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons)

Iran

Trump prepares new escalation in Persian Gulf

SyriaThe US is preparing a major naval buildup in the Middle East, including up to three aircraft carriers and their escort ships, as President Trump weighs whether to intensify the war with Iran. The buildup may involve up to 20,000 troops, 150 fighter jets, and numerous destroyers, the Washington Post reported. US and Iranian officials held indirect talks through mediators, focused mostly on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and easing US sanctions and blockades. Trump has rejected Iran's latest peace proposal as insufficient and raised the possibility of renewed strikes. (Image: Pixabay)

Africa

Ethiopia: drone strikes on Addis Ababa

EthiopiaIf Ethiopia's federal government thought Addis Ababa was insulated from the conflict in its restive Tigray and Amhara regions, drone strikes have forced a reappraisal. Blasts targeted the military's headquarters in the west of the city, and another military camp in the south. The seven-member opposition "Alliance for Survival" claimed responsibility. Meanwhile, as fighting worsens, the federal army and pro-government militia are said to be advancing toward northern Tigray's main city of Mekelle. (Map: Political Geography Now)

Watching the Shadows

Podcast: #ResistRobotRule

robotsCounterVortex editor and ranter Bill Weinberg faces imminent cancelation of his landline service by corporate oppressor Verizon. As fiber-optic is not available in his building, this makes cable the only alternative—which means drilling through exterior walls, threatening the structural integrity of the 19th century tenement. This as the Countervortex website remains debilitated following an attack by Chinese state-sponsored hackers. With this dissident voice in danger of being silenced, the system of corporate rule is increasingly replaced by worse-still actual robot rule. Trump and the fascist tech bros are putting in place the architecture for direct robot control over the military-security apparatus, and even of imperial decision-making. Robo-propaganda has already thoroughly colonized the political process, both in the US and elsewhere. All this as the ecological impacts of the technology contiue to propel the apocalypse. In Episode 348 of the CounterVortex podcast, Weinberg looks for glimmers of hope in municipal pushback, and popular refusal of aritifical intelligence and the entire digital leviathan. (Image: Darrin Grimwood via Goodreads)

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