Southeast Asia
Burma

Burma: continued junta atrocities emerge

The Burmese military tortured and killed at least 17 civilians after beheading and dismembering five captured resistance fighters earlier this month. The incidents took place at two villages in Sagaing region, and were reported by the besieged opposition media. A UN Human Rights Office report finds that some 80% of townships across Burma have experienced armed clashes since the February 2021 coup, with nearly 3,000 people killed by security forces and almost 40,000 homes destroyed. (Map: PCL)

Europe
Riga

Russia imposes sanctions on Baltic citizens

The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued sanctions against 144 citizens of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Moscow accused the individuals of hostile acts against the Russian state. The alleged acts include lobbying for sanctions, interference with Russia’s internal affairs, and inciting “Russophobic” sentiments. The three Baltic states are particularly outspoken in their support of Ukraine, and calls for holding Russia accountable for war crimes and possible “genocide.” (Photo of Riga, Latvia, via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe
Transnistria

Ukraine denies plot to kill Transnistria leader

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) denied plotting to assassinate the president of the Russian-backed breakaway de facto state of Transnistria in Moldova. The denial comes after the Transnistrian Ministry of State Security said it thwarted an SBU-orchestrated terrorist attack targeting multiple Transnistrian government officials. The SBU characterized the accusation as an instrument of Russian provocation amid Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Transnistria controls around 4,000 square kilometers of internationally-recognized Moldovan territory, but is not recognized by any UN member state. However, Russia has maintained a military presence in the breakaway state, which borders Ukraine, since the 1990-2 Transnistria War. (Photo via Ukraine Defense Ministry)

Mexico
Bad Mexicans

Podcast: Magonismo hits the mainstream

In Episode 162 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg reviews Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands by Kelly Lytle Hernández. It is definitely a very hopeful sign that a briskly selling book from a mainstream publisher not only concerns anarchists, but actually treats them with seriousness and presents them as the good guys—even heroes. The eponymous “bad Mexicans” of the sarcastic title are the Magonistas—followers of the notorious Magón brothers, early progenitors of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, who first raised a cry for the overthrow of the decades-long, ultra-oppressive dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. “Bad Mexicans” was the epithet used by both Mexican and US authorities for this network of subversives who organized on both sides of the border. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

The Caucasus
Georgia

Georgia drops ‘foreign agent’ bill after protests

Georgia’s ruling coalition agreed to withdraw a controversial “foreign agent” bill after two days of angry protests in the capital Tbilisi. The bill “On Transparency of Foreign Influence,” introduced in Parliament in February, would have required non-governmental organizations and media outlets that receive 20% or more of their annual revenue from a “foreign power” to register as “agents of foreign influence” with the Justice Ministry. (Map: PLC)

Europe
Nordstream

Nord Stream pipeline sabotage: rush to judgment

Ukraine is denying involvement in September’s attack on the Nord Stream pipelines following a New York Times report citing anonymous US officials to the effect that an unnamed “pro-Ukrainian group” was to blame. Russia’s online partisans are meanwhile hyping a piece by Seymour Hersh, similarly citing anonymous officials to the effect that the attack was a US covert operation. Rarely has there been a more blatant case of the cyber-commentariat deciding what to believe on the basis of political convenience. (Map: Wikipedia)

Africa
Somalia

Clashes over contested Somaliland regions

More than 200 people have died in three weeks of fighting around a disputed town in Somalia’s northern breakaway region of Somaliland. More than 95,000 refugees have reportedly fled into neighboring Ethiopia after three weeks of clashes. Local militias around Las Anod are fighting to pull three administrative regions–Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn–away from Somaliland, with the aim of rejoining Somalia. Meanwhile, Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia that is also in a territorial dispute with neighboring Somaliland, has sent in troops to support the militias. (Map via Wikimedia Commons)

Afghanistan
Fort Lee

US welcomes Ukrainians; Afghans left in limbo

More than 271,000 Ukrainians have been admitted to the United States since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year–far exceeding the goal of 100,000 set by President Joe Biden’s administration last March. Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghans protested in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, over long delays in their US resettlement process. After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the United States opened programs to provide fast-track visa access for at-risk Afghans. However, these program have reportedly stalled, leaving many in vulnerable positions in Pakistan, struggling to access essential services. (Photo of evacuees arriving at Fort Lee, Va., via Homeland Security Today)

Africa
ivory coast

French forces out of Burkina Faso, into Ivory Coast

France has officially ended its operations in Burkina Faso a month after the ruling junta there terminated a military accord that allowed the former colonial power to fight jihadists. French forces remain in the greater region, however. The move came as French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu visited Côte d’Ivoire, pledging to boost military support as jihadist attacks hit coastal West African states. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Syria
Idlib displaced

Unnatural disaster in Syria’s northwest

In the wake of the devastating earthquake that has killed some 15,000 in Turkey and Syria, the contested political situation in the latter country is raising particular dilemmas. Aid agencies warn of “catastrophic” implications for Syria’s rebel-controlled northwest, where millions of displaced and vulnerable people were already in precarious straits and relying on humanitarian support before the quake. At least half of the estimated 2,000 dead in Syria are in the rebel-controlled area. Due to Russian influence at the UN on behalf of the Bashar Assad regime, humanitarian access is already limited to one border crossing—Bab al-Hawa. And Moscow and Damascus have been pressuring to close that one as well. (Photo: UNHCR)