US Secretary of State Marco Rubio placed full sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to investigations into potential war crimes committed by the US and Israel. The sanctions permit the federal government to seize ICC assets in the US or controlled by "US persons." The ICC issued a response statement in which it condemned the action and accused the US of undermining international justice. (Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons)
The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that the planet now faces a "new water reality," announcing its latest report assessing the state of global water resources. Growing numbers around the world increasingly experience "abnormal water supplies," especially due to disruption in freshwater resources, including river flows, groundwater and glaciers. (Photo via Nepali Times)
The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal by the six Wolastoqey communities of New Brunswick seeking to assert Aboriginal title over private lands. The refusal to hear the appeal makes final a lower court's decision, holding that the Wolastoqey Nation cannot seek declarations of Aboriginal title over privately-owned lands, but may seek damages against the government for unjustified infringement of Aboriginal title. In response to the refusal, the Wolastoqey Nation maintained that it does not remove the government's duty to First Nations. Chief Patricia Bernard of Madawaska said: "Our ancestors never surrendered our lands and waters… Our title has not been extinguished… The fight for our homeland will continue." (Map of traditional Wabanaki Confederacy lands: Wikimedia Commons)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Israel's treatment of detained flotilla activists is "appalling" and "unacceptable" during a call between the two. This marked the latest in a wave of backlash after Israel's Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting bound and kneeling detained activists. The activists were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international coalition sailing to Gaza to deliver food and medicine, as well as attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the territory. Forty-five vessels of the most recent convoy were intercepted by the Israel Defense Forces in the territorial waters of Cyprus. The activists were detained without charge, with allegations circulating of beatings and mistreatment in custody. Of the hundreds of detained activists, 12 were Canadian. Nine were returned to Canada last weekend, while one is in Turkey receiving urgent medical care following "appalling abuse." (Photo: FreeGaza via Wikimedia Commons)
Provincial electoral authorities in Alberta have received a petition for independence from Canada. Elections Alberta affirmed that it received the petition, "A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence," and signature sheets from "pro-sovereignty" group Stay Free Alberta. The group told the CBC news that it has collected over 301,000 signatures, significantly more than the 178,000 threshold. The proposed referendum will ask voters: "Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?" However, the verification process for the signatures is currently on hold, pending a decision from the provincial courts on the compatibility of the petition with First Nations treaty rights. (Photo: Magalie L'Abbe via Alberta Politics)
The Court of Appeal for British Columbia unanimously upheld the criminal contempt conviction against Chief Dsta'hyl (Adam Gagnon), finding him in breach of a court injunction by protesting against a pipeline project in the territories of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation. In 2019, the British Columbia Supreme Court issued an injunction banning protests in the construction area of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project. Defying the injunction, Chief Dsta'hyl organized a blockade in an attempt to block the construction in 2021. At trial, he contended that the protests were necessary to uphold the traditional Wet’suwet’en law of trespass and fulfill his duties as a chief to preserve and protect their yintah (territory). The trial judge rejected the defense, holding that it was an impermissible "collateral attack" on the injunction. Amnesty International declared Chief Dsta'hyl Canada's first prisoner of conscience. (Image: Front Line Defenders)
On the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Amnesty International called on the international community to maintain a steadfast commitment to hold Russia accountable under international law for its crimes and aggression. The statement noted diminishing pressure on Russia, raising concerns about rights protections and prospects for peace in Ukraine. Amnesty's senior director for research and advocacy Erika Guevara-Rosas commented that "commitments to justice and human rights are weakening as powerful actors grow emboldened to disregard international law and further erode the rules-based order." (Photo of Russian embassy in London: Kwh1050 via Wikimedia Commons)
The Law Society of British Columbia warned that the provincial government's intention to amend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) may erode judicial independence and improperly constrain the power of the courts. The proposed amendment would limit the role of the judiciary in matters related to DRIPA's implementation, and follows two landmark court rulings upholding Aboriginal rights and title last year. The BC Supreme Court held in August that the Cowichan Tribes have established Aboriginal title in the city of Richmond, meaning that the province is obliged under the DRIPA to "reconcile" fee simple interests in the city with tribal authorities. In December, the BC Court of Appeal held that the provincial mineral tenure system—allowing registration of mineral rights online without notifying or consulting the Gitxaała and Ehattesaht nations—is impermissible under the DRIPA, which commits the province to upholding principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (Photo: Wikipedia)
Trump's Greenland annexation drive is only secondarily about the strategic minerals, but fundamentally driven by a geostrategic design to divide the planet with Putin. Even if his belated and equivocal disavowal of military force at the Davos summit is to be taken as real, the threat has likely achieved its intended effect—dividing and paralyzing NATO, so as to facilitate Putin's military ambitions in Europe, even beyond Ukraine Also at Davos, Trump officially inaugurated his "Board of Peace," seen as parallel body to the United Nations that can eventually displace it—dominated by Trump and Putin, in league with the world's other authoritarians. In the Greenland gambit, the territory itself is a mere pawn in the drive to establish a Fascist World Order. In Episode 314 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg calls for centering indigenous Inuit voices on the future of Greenland, and universal repudiation of annexationist designs. (Image: TruthSocial)
When US President Donald Trump first proposed establishing a so-called "Board of Peace" to oversee governance of the Gaza Strip for a transitional period back in September, the idea was quickly likened to a form of colonial takeover. The UN nonetheless adopted a Security Council resolution in November giving its blessing to the board's creation—a vote some member states may now regret. The board was just officially inaugurated in a ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, where Trump was attending the World Economic Forum. But Gaza seems almost incidental to its true mission, which appears to be creating a global strongmen's club—led by Trump, potentially for life—to rival, if not replace, the UN itself. (Image via Wikipedia)
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced that he will open the entire 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas leasing. These lands are sacred to the Gwich'in Nation, home to irreplaceable wildlife, and have never seen industrialization. This was one of a series of resource development actions taken by the Interior Department during a government shutdown, aimed at opening up Alaska for the benefit of corporate interests. (Photo: USFWS via KALW)
A UN independent inquiry issued findings that Israel has committed the international crime of genocide amid its military operations in the Gaza Strip. A 72-page legal analysis from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israeli forces have committed genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza, including killing or seriously harming members of the group, as well as inflicting conditions of life "calculated to bring about [Gazans'] physical destruction in whole or in part," and preventing births among the population. To support its conclusions, the commission cited the figure of 60,199 Palestinians killed since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, the fact that life expectancy in Gaza has dropped precipitously from 75.5 to 40.5 years, and that 46% of Palestinians killed were women or children. The panel also noted direct attacks on maternity wards and clinics. (Photo: Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons)
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