NATO on Oct. 17 opened an annual exercise to test nuclear deterrence capabilities in Europe, with the participation of 14 of the 30 member countries. The drill, this year dubbed “Steadfast Noon,” will run two weeks and involve 60 aircraft…. Read moreMassive military drills from North Sea to Caucasus
In Episode 144 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Donbas region not only came on exactly the same day as the 1938 Munich Agreement, which approved Hitler’s annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland—it was also the same… Read morePodcast: Grozny, Aleppo, Mariupol
Tens of thousands of conscription-age Russian men have fled to neighboring countries since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization of military reserve troops to fight in Ukraine. The tide has grown in recent days amid fears that the Kremlin will impose an… Read moreMass exodus of Russian youth
More than 2,000 people have been detained in protests across Russia since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization of military reserve troops to fight in Ukraine, according to human rights monitor OVD-Info. The demonstrators are risking long prison terms under laws passed shortly after… Read moreRussia: anti-draft uprising spreads
New clashes broke out on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan Sept. 13, with each side accusing the other of violating the ceasefire. Fighting was first reported near the Lachin Corrdior, which connects Armenia to the autonomous ethnic Armenian enclave within… Read more‘Cleansing’ of Armenian culture in Azerbaijan exclave
In Episode 132 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes that deputy Duma speaker Pyotr Tolstoy, one of the most bellicose supporters of Putin’s Ukraine war, is a direct descendent of Leo Tolstoy—and recently invoked his great-great-grandfather’s “slaughter” of British and French troops during the Crimean… Read morePodcast: Tolstoy would shit
The International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I on June 30 issued arrest warrants for three individuals for alleged war crimes committed during the Russia-Georgia war in 2008. Russian nationals Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev and Gamlet Guchmazov, along with Georgian national David Georgiyevich Sanakoev… Read moreICC issues warrants for crimes in Russo-Georgian War
The de facto president of South Ossetia, Alan Gagloev, on May 30 suspended a planned referendum to determine whether the breakaway region of Georgia should join the Russian Federation. The referendum, scheduled for July, had been ordered by decree of Gagloev’s predecessor Anatoly Bibilov,… Read moreSouth Ossetia suspends referendum to join Russia
In Episode 118 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg explores the possibility that Putin’s criminal adventure in Ukraine could backfire horribly, actually portending the implosion of the Russian Federation into its constituent entities, the “autonomous” republics, oblasts and krais. Troops… Read morePodcast: the looming breakup of Russia
The long-simmering conflict in the Russian Federation’s Chechen Republic appears to now be playing itself out in the war in Ukraine. As Vladimir Putin launched his invasion, the “official” (Moscow-installed) Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov declared: “We will support any decision of the… Read moreChechen rebels take up arms for Ukraine
Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that the armed group Islamic State in the Sahel Province (IS Sahel) is escalating attacks on civilians, reporting that since March the group has illegally executed 127 people in western Niger. HRW documented five armed attacks by the group in Tillabéri region during that time frame. The group killed 70 worshipers at a mosque in a mass execution in June. In May, IS Sahel attacked villages and burned at least a dozen homes, the report found. HRW stated that these attacks constituted war crimes. (Photo: Aharan Kotogo via Wikimedia Commons)
LGBT activists in Georgia cancelled a Pride march in the capital Tbilisi after violent attacks from right-wing groups July 5. Activists began five days of Pride celebrations last week which were to culminate in a “March for Dignity” in central Tbilisi, despite opposition… Read moreTbilisi Pride cancelled after right-wing attacks
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