Author: Bill Weinberg

East Asia

China: crackdown on Kaifeng Critical Mass

KaifengA spontaneous Friday-night phenomenon of mass youth bicycle rides from Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan province, to the nearby historical city of Kaifeng seemingly got out of control, prompting a crackdown from authorities. The ostensible goal of the 50-kilometer "Night Riding Army" (akin to Critical Mass in the West) was midnight partaking of Kaifeng's famous soup dumplings. The rides were initially celebrated by the authorities, with one write-up in the official People's Daily cheering on the "youthful adventures." But when an unprecedented 100,000 joined the ride (by some accounts, double that), provincial police responded by closing the road between the two cities to non-motorized vehicles, and bike-share apps were set to remotely lock any bike taken out of designated zones in Zhengzhou. And it seems that a dissident political element had crept into the event. While some cyclists carried Chinese flags, sang the national anthem, and shouted slogans in support of the Communist Party, others raised hand-made banners with subversive messages in coded homonyms such as "Freedom, I am fucking coming!" (Photo via Instagram)

Europe

Russia: indigenous rights groups designated ‘extremist’

indigenous RussiaThe Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders released a statement urging Russia to refrain from designating groups advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities as "extremist organizations." The statement follows a decision by Russian authorities a week earlier to thusly classify 55 such organizations. The Ministry of Justice cited a June ruling by Russia's Supreme Court banning "structural divisions" of the so-called "Anti-Russian Separatist Movement," which was defined as an "international public movement to destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia." Involvement in the movement may result in a sentence of up to six years in prison—despite the fact that no such movement formally exists. (Image: Indigenous Russia)

Mexico

Mexican elections see record number of assassinations

MexicoThe results are in from Mexico's presidential election and Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling left-populist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) has won by some 60%, handily defeating a rival backed by an alliance of the country's more traditional political parties. But the ongoing human rights crisis in Mexico that will obviously pose a grave challenge for Sheinbaum was dramatically exemplified by the record number of political assassinations that marred the elections. (Map: PCL)

Greater Middle East

Netanyahu’s new map flap: multiple ironies

Israel was forced to apologize to Morocco after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seen in a video displaying a map of the Middle East and North Africa—that failed to show the occupied (and illegally annexed) territory of Western Sahara as within the kingdom's borders. Netanyahu brandished the map in an interview with a French TV channel, showing what he called "the Arab world" in green, a swath of near-contiguous territory from Iraq to Mauritania—contrasting small, isolated Israel, "the one and only Jewish state." The goof was especially dire because in 2020 Israel joined the US as the only two countries on Earth to recognize Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara, in exchange for Moroccan recognition of the Jewish state under the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords. This was a cozy mutual betrayal of both the Palestinians and Sahrawi Arabs, the indigenous inhabitants of occupied Western Sahara. (Image: Twitter via Middle East Eye)

Europe

Moscow terror: ISIS, Ukraine or ‘false flag’?

CrocusA group of armed men opened fire at a concert hall in a Moscow suburb, killing at least 133 people and injuring scores more. ISIS-K, the Islamic State network's Afghanistan franchise, quickly took credit for the attack. But just as quickly, the Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services accused each other of being behind it—the latter saying it was organized as a "provocation" to expand Moscow's war in Ukraine. Putin's rise to power, including his recent rise of outright autocratic power, as well as his various military adventures, have indeed been lubricated every step of the way by terror attacks. But who was actually behind the Crocus City Center attack does not really matter overmuch. Just as 9-11—whoever was behind it—served the hyper-interventionist aims of Dubya Bush and his administration, we may be reasonably certain that the concert hall carnage will serve the war aims and totalitarian domestic agenda of Vladimir Putin. (Image: Wikipedia)

East Asia

Wildcat labor actions spread in China

China laborAlthough winning no coverage in English-language media, labor actions are spreading across China in the current economic downturn in the People's Republic. This week, workers hung banners outside the headquarters of the Guilin No. 3 Construction Company in Guangxi province to demand payment of outstanding wages owed to hundreds of employees. On the same day, migrant workers in Jinan, Shandong province, raised banners in the city's central business district demanding payment of backlogged wages by the China Railway Construction Corporation. By definition, such actions are not authorized by the state-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). Numerous such recent actions were described at the symposium "Non-violent Resistance, High-Tech Totalitarianism and China's Future," held last weekend in Washington DC. (Image: China Labour Bulletin)

Europe

What is the Freedom of Russia Legion?

Legion of FreedomFighters in armored vehicles crossed into Russia from Ukrainian territory and seized a town in Belgorod oblast. They were only driven out after Russian forces responded with fighter planes and artillery. Two groups claimed responsibility for the raid, both said to be made up of Russians who are fighting for Ukraine. One is the self-proclaimed Freedom of Russia Legion, which released a video message to coincide with the attack, calling on Russians to take up arms "to put an end to the Kremlin's dictatorship." The other is the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), characterized as far-right nationalists—although this does raise the question of why they are fighting for Ukraine. (Image: LvivMedia via YouTube)

The Andes

Oil intrigues behind Ecuador auto-golpe

LassoPresident Guillermo Lasso dissolved Ecuador's opposition-controlled National Assembly—just one day after his impeachment trial began. Lasso is to rule by decree until new elections are held. In the impeachment proceeding, Lasso stood accused of extortion and embezzlement related to alleged corruption at parastatal oil company Petroecuador and hydrocarbons transporter Flopec, allowing unprofitable contracts to benefit "third parties." The country's oil industry has been in crisis for nearly a year, repeatedly placed under force majeure by protests and sabotage of the trans-Andean pipeline. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Putin design to rebuild Russian Empire: blatanter and blatanter

KremlinLithuania, Latvia and Estonia reacted with outrage after China's ambassador in Paris appeared to question the sovereignty not only of Ukraine, but all the former Soviet republics, saying they "do not have an effective status in international law." Fearing diplomatic censure, Beijing's Foreign Ministry backpedalled, releasing a statement saying: "China respects the sovereign status of former Soviet republics " But such sentiments are fast gaining an alarming currency in Russian political circles. A commentator for pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda opined that "according to the Ukrainian scenario, we have an historical right" to Russian-inhabited lands of Kazakhstan. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, tweeted a call for Ukraine to "DISAPPEAR" (in caps), and referred to the country as "Malorossiya" (Little Russia)—a term from the empire of the czars for territories outside Great Russia (Russia proper). (Photo: Wikipedia)