CounterVortex

Africa

Sahel juntas accused of mounting atrocities

Security forces in junta-led Burkina Faso and Mali are carrying out increased abuses against civilians as they expand their operations against jihadist groups. In Mali, Human Rights Watch has reported accounts of soldiers arresting and shooting dead dozens of people in January. The killings took place following door-to-door searches in the village of Ouro Fero. The report also accuses the army of carrying out drone strikes in February on a wedding celebration and on a burial in the same village, killing at least 14 people, including four children. Meanwhile, in Burkina Faso, a report from AP documented the killing of dozens of civilians by security forces in the central village of Zaongo back in November. Abuses like these have increased significantly under the juntas currently governing both countries. (Map: Wikivoyage)

South Asia

Chinese interests targeted in Pakistan terror

At least five Chinese nationals and one Pakistani were killed in a car bombing in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The victims, employees of Wuhan-based engineering firm Gezhouba Group, were en route to the Dasu hydropower project on the Indus River. It was the third attack on Chinese interests in Pakistan in a week. No group has claimed responsibility for the car bombing, but the two previous attacks were claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)—including an assault on the Chinese-funded strategic port of Gwadar. (Map: PCL)

Greater Middle East

Gaza: flashpoint for regional war? (redux redux)

At least 42 people were reported killed in Israeli air-strikes near the Syrian city of Aleppo, allegedly targeting an arms depot belonging to militant group Hezbollah. Those killed included Hezbollah members and Syrian soldiers—as well as civilians, by some reports. Israeli air-strikes in southern Lebanon meanwhile killed 16 people, and one in Israel was killed by a barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah from south Lebanon. Earlier, a series of air-strikes on Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zor killed 15 people, including a World Health Organization staff member as well as an Iranian military adviser. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for those strikes. But Israel’s intermittent air-strikes on Iran-backed militia forces in Syria have been escalating since the Gaza bombardment began. (Image: Pixabay)

Planet Watch

2023: ‘bonkers year’ for global climate

Records were once again broken last year for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, and retreat of glaciers, according to a new global report issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO State of the Global Climate 2023 report finds that on an average day in 2023, nearly one third of the ocean surface was gripped by a marine heatwave, harming vital ecosystems and food systems—far beyond the already inflated levels seen in recent years. Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent on record—at one million square kilometers below the previous record year of 2022, an area equivalent to the size of France and Germany combined. One leading oceanographer wryly stated: “The scientific term is bonkers year.” (Photo: CounterVortex)

The Andes

Peru ordered to compensate mine pollution victims

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) issued a judgment in the case of Comunidad de La Oroya v. Peru, addressing the Peruvian state’s responsibility for damages suffered by 80 residents of La Oroya mining district, and ordering the payment of compensation to the victims. The site of the economically troubled metal smelting complex is considered one of the most polluted locales on Earth. Community residents filed a compliance suit with the IACHR after Peru’s government failed to uphold a Constitutional Court ruling in their favor, ordering mitigation measures. The IACHR found that Peru failed to comply with environmental protection standards, leading to extremely high levels of lead and other contaminants in the blood of children and pregnant mothers in the community. (Photo: Maurice Chédel via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Slovakia: protests over government’s authoritarian tilt

Slovakia has seen mass protests in recent weeks over new authoritarian measures by the ruling populist government of Prime Minister Robert Fico. The government has dissolved the Special Prosecutor’s Office, which had indicted Fico’s chief of staff and imprisoned his former prosecutor general for corruption. The government is also proposing to dissolve the state broadcaster Slovak Television & Radio, and replace it with a new official media body that would be under closer government control. Critics see the move as facilitating propaganda for the ruling coalition, as well as disinformation and Russian influence. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Crimea: 10 years of illegal occupation

Amnesty International states in a new report that during 10 years of illegal occupation, Russia has attempted to reshape the demography of the Crimean Peninsula. It has also suppressed Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identities through “restrictions on education, religion, media, representative institutions, the judicial system, and cultural celebrations.” Amnesty called for Russia to cease its violations of international humanitarian law in all of Crimea. In Moscow, meanwhile, celebrations were held commemorating the 10 years of Crimea’s annexation. (Map via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

US military kicked out of Niger

Niger’s junta revoked a security agreement with the US military shortly after a large American delegation visited the country. Junta officials said they were angered by the “condescending attitude” of the US diplomats, who wanted to convince Niger not to deepen ties with Russia and Iran, and to transition the country to civilian rule. The US has some 1,000 troops in Niger and a drone base near Agadez. It has used the base to surveil jihadist fighters but has not accompanied Nigerien forces on operations targeting militants. The junta’s decision is part of a broader pushback against Western militarization in the Sahel. French troops were told to leave Niger last year, having previously been booted out of military-ruled Burkina Faso and Mali, which are also facing jihadist insurgencies. (Map: PCL)

Afghanistan

Taliban pledge retaliation for Pakistani air-strikes

Pakistan is accused of killing eight civilians in air-strikes on Afghanistan. Islamabad says the strikes were conducted in retaliation for a deadly suicide attack on an army base at Mir Ali, North Waziristan district, by a cell of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group that was operating out of Afghan territory. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has denied the charges and promised retaliation for the killing of what it says were mostly women and children in the provinces of Khost and Paktika. This marks the latest escalation between the neighbors since Pakistan enacted a policy that has led to the expulsion of more than 500,000 Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Watching the Shadows

Podcast: conspiracy theory and the Moscow terror

The deadly terror attack in a concert hall outside Moscow was immediately claimed by ISIS-K, the Islamic State network’s Afghanistan franchise. 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 to 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 may not really matter overmuch. If 9-11 was a “Reichstag Fire” for the hyper-interventionist aims of Dubya Bush, that analogy may prove to apply even more closely to the concert hall carnage serving the war aims and totalitarian domestic agenda of Vladimir Putin. Bill Weinberg discusses in Episode 219 of the CounterVortex podcast. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: governor of Moscow Oblast via Wikimedia Commons)

Watching the Shadows

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

A 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 to 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)

Syria

UN calls for urgent action on escalating Syria violence

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a report concerning the most severe escalation of violence in the country since 2020. Explosions during a military academy graduation ceremony in Homs triggered the escalation, which began in October, leading to a series of indiscriminate attacks by Syrian and Russian forces on opposition-held areas. The commission emphasizes that these attacks may constitute war crimes, targeting hospitals, schools, markets, and displaced persons camps. (Photo: Alex Madred/Pixabay)