Day: February 19, 2025

Leonard Peltier,

LEONARD PELTIER HEADS HOME —AT LAST

Native American activist Leonard Peltier, one of the longest-serving federal prisoners in US history, has been released to home confinement after spending nearly five decades behind bars. His imprisonment stems from a controversial 1977 conviction in the shooting deaths of two FBI agents on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a case that has been harshly contested between activists and law enforcement for generations. As Peltier returns to his birthplace on North Dakota’s Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, his case continues to raise questions about justice, reconciliation, and the relationship between the federal government and Native American nations. In an explainer for JURIST, Ingrid Burke Friedman looks back on his case and its legacy.

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Watching the Shadows
pegida

Podcast: Russia and the new fascism

In Episode 111 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg explores the legacy of Francis Parker Yockey and other exponents of the fast-growing current in the Western fascist tradition that looks to Russia as a patron and ally. Under the leadership of Alexander Dugin, “Putin’s Rasputin” and the theorist of a “Eurasian” bloc against Western democracy, resurgent far-right Russo-nationalism is building ties to neo-fascist organizations across Europe—as well as to supposed “anti-war” leftists in the United States. The Putin propaganda machine’s Nazi-baiting of the Ukrainians is yet another example of the sinister trend of fascist pseudo-anti-fascism. It is imperative that progressives in the West do not take the toxic bait of this “Red-Brown Alliance.” Any genuine anti-war position must begin with repudiating Putin’s threats and aggression against Ukraine. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Far-right protesters in Germany with sign reading “Putin, save us!” Via PRISM)

Afghanistan
Kunar

Afghanistan headed for four-way war?

Five months after Afghanistan’s presidential elections, a winner has finally been declared—the incumbent, Ashraf Ghani. But hours after the announcement, rival Abdullah Abdullah declared himself the victor, claiming irregularities in the vote and calling the results “national treason.” The showdown portends a divided government just as US is attempting to broker a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, ostensibly to be followed by “intra-Afghan talks” between the Taliban and the government in Kabul. In addition to the ongoing war with the Taliban, NATO-backed government forces are continuing to battle the Islamic State’s “Khorasan Province” in Afghanistan. Following a long offensive, President Ghani in November triumphantly declared that ISIS had been “obliterated.” However, air-strikes continue against the group in its remaining stronghold in the Spin Ghar mountains of eastern Kunar province. (Map via Khaama Press)

North Africa
Sudan rebels

Internationalization of Libya war

A senior UN official charged at a press conference in Munich that numerous countries are violating the Libya arms embargo and must be held accountable. UN Deputy Special Representative to Libya Stephanie Williams said that “the arms embargo has become a joke.” The Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar, has been fighting with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) for control of Tripoli since April of last year. Russia, Egypt and the UAE are supporting the LNA, while Turkey supports the GNA. Foreign powers are violating the arms embargo “by land, sea and air,” Williams said. A UN report also accuses Haftar of bringing in Sudanese rebels from Darfur to fight for the LNA, while Turkey is accused of importing Syrian rebels to fight for the GNA. (Photo: Libya Observer)

Africa

Ambazonia leaders on trial in Cameroon

The 10 Ambazonian leaders facing trial before a military tribunal in Cameroon's capital Yaounde are disputing the tribunal's authority to judge them, denying Cameroonian sovereignty over their homeland. They also deny their own Cameroonian nationality. asserting that they are citizens of Ambazonia, or the former British Southern Cameroons—a country the Yaounde tribunal says "does not yet exist." The defendants are known as the "Nera 10," for the hotel in Abuja, Nigeria, where they were detained by security agents in January 2018 and forcibly deported to Cameroon. They had been seeking asylum in Nigeria following Cameroon's violent crackdown on the Ambazonia independence movement. The lead defendant is Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, president of the declared Ambazonian government. Since the trial opened in November, violence has again escalated in Ambazonia, where some 400,000 have now been displaced. (Photo via Journal du Cameroun)

Mexico

Mexico busts Jalisco cartel kingpin

Mexican security forces announced the arrest of a top leader of the New Generation drug cartel, based in the western state of Jalisco, and linked to the Michoacán violence.

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Tunisia on Razor’s Edge

Tunisia Women's Day protest Aug. 13 last year. The assassination of leftist leader Chokri Belaid on Feb. 6, apparently by Islamists, has brought into the open the long-simmering conflict that has pitted the ruling Islamist Ennahda Party against progressives, trade… Read moreTunisia on Razor’s Edge