Day: February 27, 2009

Europe
lenin

Podcast: against Putin’s czaro-fascism

In Episode 112 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to deconstruct the cynical fascist pseudo-anti-fascism of Vladimir Putin’s war drive against Ukraine. Putin’s speech announcing his “military operation” in Ukraine says his aim is to “denazify” the country. This as Ukraine’s Jews prepare to flee the advancing Russian forces in a mass evacuation. While Ukraine has been going in a more democratic direction since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Russia over this same period has seen a consolidation of increasingly autocratic power in the hands of Vladimir Putin—who has ruled continuously as either president or prime minister since 1999. As courageous anti-war protesters flood the streets of cities across Russia in defiance of the authorities, the morally and intellectually bankrupt “left” in the United States echoes Putin’s lies. Any genuine anti-war position must begin with repudiating Putin’s fascist ambition to rebuild the Russian empire. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Meme via Imgflip. Lenin quote from his 1916 essay, “The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination”)

South Asia

Kashmiris under attack across India

As India and Pakistan exchange military strikes in the wake of last week's massive suicide blast in Kashmir, many cities across India report cases of targeted violence against Kashmiri students and businesses by right-wing groups. Members of Yuva Sena, youth wing of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena, attacked Kashmiri students in Maharashtra. Colleges in Dehradun and Bhopal expelled Kashmiri students for posting objectionable content on social media about the suicide attack. A video surfaced on social media showing a Kashmiri man being beaten in Kolkata, West Bengal, by a mob which forced him to chant patriotic slogans like "Vande Mataram" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai" ("Mother, I praise thee" and "Victory to Mother India," two phrases appropriated by the Hindu-nationalist right). (Photo via KashmirWatch)

Mexico

El Chapo guilty: Mexico’s narco-wars rage on

Notorious narco-lord "Chapo" Guzmán was convicted by a federal jury in New York and faces life in prison. But violence in Mexico has only escalated since his capture. Few media accounts have noted how Chapo and his Sinaloa Cartel rose as militarized narcotics enforcement escalated in Mexico—a trajectory mirrored by the cartels' move from dealing in cannabis to deadly white powders. (Photo: US Coast Guard via Cannabis Now)

Syria

Syria: new chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta

A child died and at least 13 other people suffered breathing difficulties after an apparent chemical attack on the besieged Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin the following day ordered a five-hour “humanitarian pause” in the bombardment of Eastern Ghouta to allow civilians to evacuate. This falls far short of the 30-day ceasefire being demanded by the United Nations.

Greater Middle East

Invisible war escalates in eastern Turkey

Overshadowed by the greater carnage across the border in Syria, Turkey's east is exploding into full-scale war—with Kurdish districts under siege from military forces.

Greater Middle East

Are Rojava Kurds collaborating with Assad?

Amid confused fighting in northern Syria, accusations are mounting that the Rojava Kurds are collaborating with Russia—and, by extension, the genocidal Bashar Assad regime.

Southern Cone

Argentina: golpe or auto-golpe?

As charges were dropped against President Cristina Fernández, the intelligence service dissolved and cabinet purged, opposition lawmakers said a "self-coup" is in the works.

New York City

Brooklyn three: ISIS dupes —or the FBI’s?

Three young immigrants in Brooklyn were arrested and charged with plotting to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS. But were the plans invented by an FBI infiltrator?

Europe

Crimean Tatars at issue in Ukraine crisis

With pro-Russian gunmen occupying Crimea's parliament and Moscow threatening intervention, the Tatars have emerged as a dissident voice opposing union with Russia.

The Andes

We are not drug traffickers: FARC

FARC commander Rodrigo Granda, speaking to reporters in Havana where the peace talks are underway, denied that the guerilla army is a drug-trafficking organization.

Watching the Shadows

Catholic sex scandal Jewish plot: papal hopeful

Alan Dershowitz calls out papal hopeful Cardinal Maradiaga of Honduras as floating conspiracy theories about how the Vatican sex scandal was instrumented by the Jews.