CounterVortex

South Asia

India: army investigates civilian deaths in Kashmir

The Indian army initiated an investigation into the deaths of three civilians in the Poonch district of Jammu & Kashmir territory. The individuals were reportedly in army custody following a militant attack that claimed the lives of four soldiers. In the aftermath of the attack, the army detained eight civilians from Topa Pir village in Poonch for questioning. Residents allege that the civilians were arbitrarily picked up and denied communication with their families. Their bodies were discovered under mysterious circumstances near the Pakistan border. The affair has led to outrage and protests in the already volatile region. (Photo: Kashmir Global via Nationalia)

South Asia

India in peace deal with (some) Assam rebels

The Indian government and the state government of Assam signed a peace agreement in New Delhi with the rebel United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), aiming to end over 40 years of insurgency. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma highlighted the importance of moving towards similar peace initiatives with other “separatist” and “insurgent” groups in the state, including Bodo, Karbi, and Adivasi rebels. However, ULFA-Independent, an intransigent faction, was excluded from the negotiations, and remains in arms. (Photo: K. Aksoy via CounterVortex)

Palestine

Israeli youth refuses mobilization to Gaza

Eighteen-year-old Tal Mitnick from Tel Aviv has become the first Israeli to refuse mandatory military service since Israel launched its assault on the besieged Gaza Strip. Mitnick was summoned to Tel Hashomer recruitment center, where he declared himself to be a conscientious objector, and was sentenced to 30 days in military prison. Mitnick is one of 230 Israeli youth who signed an open letter in early September, prior to the war, announcing their intention to refuse their draft orders as part of a protest against efforts by Israel’s far-right government to restrict the power of the judiciary. Connecting the judicial coup to Israel’s long-standing military rule over Palestinians, the signatories—under the banner of “Youth Against Dictatorship”— declared that they would not serve in the army “until democracy is secured for all who live within the jurisdiction of the Israeli government.” (Photo: Maan News Agency)

Afghanistan

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)

Europe

Propaganda game in fight over Ukraine military aid

With Republicans holding up new military aid for Ukraine on Capitol Hill, Russia launched one of the most massive aerial assaults of the war, killing 40 in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Lviv. Ukraine retaliated the next day with a missile strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, killing at least 22. Russia counter-retaliated with a wave of drone strikes, damaging schools, hospitals and homes across Ukraine, killing at least 24. Russia accused Ukraine of using internationally prohibited cluster munitions in the strike on Belgorod, and called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Of course, Russia has itself used cluster munitions since the start of the war in February 2022, despite international criticism from bodies including the UN Human Rights Council. (Photo from Little Ukraine, NYC: CounterVortex)

Southeast Asia

Podcast: the Burmese struggle in the Great Game

The US uses its veto on the UN Security Council to protect its client state Israel amid the criminal bombardment of Gaza, while Russia and China pose as protectors of the Palestinians. In Burma, the situation is precisely reversed: Russia and China protect the brutal junta on the Security Council, while the US and UK pose as protectors of the pro-democratic resistance. Yet another example of how a global divide-and-rule racket is the essence of the state system. Bill Weinberg dissects the mutual imperial hypocrisy in Episode 206 of the CounterVortex podcast. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Burmese resistance fighters pose with armored vehicle seized from a captured junta outpost. Via Myanmar Now)

Greater Middle East

Gaza: flashpoint for regional war? (redux)

The Pentagon carried out air-strikes on Iran-backed militia forces in Iraq in retaliation for a drone attack on a US airbase in Erbil, while a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was killed in a presumed Israeli strike in Syria. Israel continues to trade cross-border fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, while Yemen’s Houthi armed movement claimed responsibility for drone attacks targeting the Israeli port city of Eilat. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel is now fighting on “seven fronts”—Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen. (Image: Pixabay)

Planet Watch

CounterVortex launches weekly vlog

The CounterVortex now has a weekly vlog, with our roundup of under-reported news and views from around the world, from an unapologetically radical dissident-left perspective—brought to you by your chief reporter, ranter and blogger Bill Weinberg. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel, and please share on socia media. If you wish to receive our weekly headlines and digest by email, you can subscribe to that via Substack.

The Caribbean

Podcast: geopolitics of the Essequibo dispute

In Episode 205 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg looks at the recent re-escalation and (hopefully) denouement of the dispute over Esequibo—an oil-rich territory controlled by Guyana and claimed by Venezuela. Ironically, this claim was first asserted by the conservative, anti-communist Venezuela of the 1960s to help destabilize the anti-imperialist Guyana of Cheddi Jagan. Today, the left-populist but increasingly nationalistic regime of Nicolás Maduro even entertains hubristic claims to sovereignty over Venezuela’s other much larger neighbor, Colombia. But this revanchism appears to mask the fact that “revolutionary” Venezuela largely remains a petro-state with a rentier economy, vulnerable to drops in the global oil price, even if Chinese corporate exploiters have been replacing gringo ones. With the recent easing of sanctions, US giants like Chevron have even returned to Venezuela—while the extractivist model results in indigenous resistance. Contrary to the dogmas of left and right alike, the real root of the Venezuelan crisis is that the country is insufficiently socialist. Listen on SoundCloudor via Patreon. (Map: SurinameCentral via Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Yemen: Houthis ‘weaponize water’ in siege of Taizz

In a new report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charges that both the Houthis and government forces have violated residents’ right to water in the ongoing siege of Taizz, Yemen. For the past eight years, the besieging Houthi forces have cut off the flow from watersheds under their control to the Taizz Local Water & Sanitation Corporation, which manages the city’s water supply and sewage treatment system. These watersheds previously provided 77% of the city’s supply. The government troops that control the city have meanwhile sold the public water from wells within the urban area for their own profit. HRW called upon both parties to “allow Taizz’s local water agency to access, repair, and operate water infrastructure on the front lines and in Houthi-controlled territory.” (Map via PCL)

Planet Watch

Support CounterVortex with a year-end donation!

The global crisis was already at a horrific level due to Russia’s war and campaign of genocidein Ukraine when 2023 began. Since this October, even Ukraine has been pushed from the headlines by Israel’s unrelenting and massive bombardment of Gaza, now also approaching the level of genocide. And then there are the numerous conflicts around the word that get virtually no coverage. At the CounterVortex, we strive every day to bring an unorthodox dissident-left perspective to the conflicts that are in the headlines—demonstrating, for example, why progressives should support Ukraine and Palestine, in repudiation of the Great Power game that divides the world into rival camps—while also providing consistent coverage of under-reported conflicts outside the media spotlight. We can only continue this mission with your continued support. Please give what you can.

Palestine

Podcast: whither ‘From the River to the Sea’? II

In Episode 204 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg returns to the persisting controversy around the slogan “From the River to the Sea“—portrayed as either a call to genocide or a cry for liberation. Much mainstream media coverage has dishonestly accepted the prior interpretation as a fait accompli. On the other hand, displays of unseemly enthusiasm for the Hamas attacks by certain sectors of the Palestine solidarity movement have provided propaganda fodder for Israel and its stateside pressure groups. This is (at least) a tactical error that abets moves toward campus censorship of pro-Palestinian voices. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Daniel Arauz via WikimediaCommons)