Day: January 2, 2009

Africa
Sahel summit

Sahel states launch new joint counter-insurgency force

At an air base in Bamako, Mali’s military ruler Gen. Assimi Goita presided over a ceremony marking the launch of a unified force for three Sahel states to fight the rising tide of jihadist insurgency across their borders. The move comes after the three countries—Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all now ruled by military juntas—collectively withdrew from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to form their own Alliance of Sahel States (AES). This new body has deepening ties to Russia, which has maintained paramilitary forces in the AES countries under the rubric of the Wagner Group or Africa Corps. These forces are increasingly accused of atrocities, with Malian refugees in Mauritania reporting rapes, beheadings and mutilation of civilians at the hands of Russian mercenaries. (Photo: Présidence de la République du Mali)

Afghanistan
Kunar

Taliban hydro scheme raises tension with Pakistan

The Taliban regime’s announcement of plans for construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Kunar River is escalating tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 480-kilometer Kunar River originates in the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan and merges with the Kabul River, which in turn flows into Pakistan to join with the Indus. The proposed reservoir and use of the Kunar’s waters for irrigation within Afghanistan would mean less water for agriculture in Pakistan, officials protest. One Pakistani provincial official said that a unilateral decision by the Taliban to build the dam “will be considered a hostile act against Pakistan.” Jan Achakzai, information minister for the border province of Balochistan, warned of “severe consequences,” including “potential conflict.” (Photo: Peretz Partensky via Wikimedia Commons)

Palestine
settlement

UN seeks World Court opinion on occupation of Palestine

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution referring Israel’s 55-year occupation of Palestinian territories to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a legal advisory. The vote, which followed approval of a draft resolution by the Special Committee on Decolonization, was 87-26, with 53 abstentions. The Palestinian Authority welcomed the vote, saying in a statement: “The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people.” But the response of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to power just two days before the vote, makes clear his government’s annexationist agenda. He stated: “The Jewish people is not occupying its land and is not occupying its eternal capital Jerusalem. No UN resolution can distort this historical truth.” The far-right coalition that now takes power has pledged to expand Israeli settlement of the West Bank.  (Photo: delayed gratification via New Jewish Resistance)

Planet Watch
countervortex

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The Andes
sillazo

Bolivia: Evo Morales warns of new coup

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales, back in his country from exile in Argentina after October’s elections returned his Movement to Socialism (MAS) to power, warned of the ongoing danger of a new coup d’etat and asked his followers to debate how to best defend new President Luis Arce and the “process of change.” The comments came at a meeting of the MAS in Chapare region, Morales’ traditional heartland of support. Recalling his own ouster in November 2019, Morales said: “The issue of the coup is still compelling; it is an ideological, programmatic struggle; it is a cultural, social, communal and, of course, an electoral struggle.” Invoking divided loyalties in the military, he added: “I am also convinced that in the Armed Forces there are not only those who respect and admire the MAS, but there are also anti-imperialist soldiers.” However, he added that “they are not many,” and others have “submitted to the North American empire.” (Photo: Los Tiempos de Cochabamba via Twitter)

Iran

Trump sends more troops to Persian Gulf

In response to the recent escalation in Iraq, President Trump has ordered thousands more US troops to neighboring Kuwait—and hudreds more Marines into Iraq itself. The US and Iran are playing a geo-strategic game for control of Iraq, and the greater region. Both sides are treating the Iraqi people as pawns. As long as ISIS and Sunni jihadists remain a threat, Washington and Tehran can only push things so far. But things could still escalate toward US war with Iran, even if neither side is seeking that outcome. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Syria

Reprieve for Rojava?

US officials say the timetable for Donald Trump’s withdrawal of all 2,000 troops from Syria has been extended from 30 days to four months. The statements came a day after Trump met with his ally Sen. Lindsay Graham, a critic of the withdrawal order, who was apparently instrumental in getting the president to blink—amid the predictable irruption of blustering and face-saving tweets. This may apply some brakes to Turkish preparations to cross the border to expunge the revolutionary Kurdish forces in northern Syria’s autonomous zone of Rojava. Residents of the Rojava town of Kobane, near the border, have launched a “human shield” encampment to block any incursion by Turkish forces. At the border village of Qeremox, the unarmed encampment was organized by Kobane’s autonomous administration, and has been joined by international supporters. (Photo of Kobani women at the Qeremox encampment via ANF)

Europe
Ukraine

US anti-tank missiles to Ukraine: why now?

The US has approved the sale of $47 million worth of anti-tank guided missiles to Ukraine, for use against Russia's "volunteer" mechanized units in the breakaway Donbass region.  While the news was of course met with glee in Keiv, Russia's Foreign Ministry warned that Washington has "crossed a line." Is this to be read as a White House green light for Ukraine to re-escalate the war and launch a new offensive for the Donbass? Or is it just a propaganda move by Trump to shake the perception that he is "Putin's puppet"? (Map: CIA)

jordanvalley2

Jordan Valley: annexation?

A Palestinian child gives the victory salute in the occupied Jordan Valley. An Israeli bill to formally annex the Valley, decried as "a red line" by Mahmoud Abbas, seems intentionally designed to sabotage the renewed peace process. The day after Israel's… Read moreJordan Valley: annexation?

North America

Karl Marx and the Emancipation Proclamation

Kevin B. Anderson, author of Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies, draws the link from Lincoln's radicalization to the First International.