control of water

Podcast: #ResistRobotRule

CounterVortex editor and ranter Bill Weinberg faces imminent cancelation of his landline service by corporate oppressor Verizon. As fiber-optic is not available in his building, this makes cable the only alternative—which means drilling through exterior walls, threatening the structural integrity of the 19th century tenement. This as the Countervortex website remains debilitated following an attack by Chinese state-sponsored hackers. With this dissident voice in danger of being silenced, the system of corporate rule is increasingly replaced by worse-still actual robot rule. Trump and the fascist tech bros are putting in place the architecture for direct robot control over the military-security apparatus, and even of imperial decision-making. Robo-propaganda has already thoroughly colonized the political process, both in the US and elsewhere. All this as the ecological impacts of the technology contiue to propel the apocalypse. In Episode 348 of the CounterVortex podcast, Weinberg looks for glimmers of hope in municipal pushback, and popular refusal of aritifical intelligence and the entire digital leviathan. (Image: Darrin Grimwood via Goodreads)

Pakistan: diversion of Indus waters ‘act of war’

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the United Nations General Assembly regarding the dispute with India over shared waters of the Indus River and the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Sharif told the Assembly that any attempt by India to stop, impede or divert Pakistan's share of the Indus River waters "will be treated as an act of war." He further stated that India’s unilateral decision to hold the IWT in "abeyance" following last year's militant attacks in Kashmir had "no legal basis whatsoever." India has already restricted the flow of water for periods through dams on Indus tributaries that are apportioned to Pakistan by the treaty. (Photo: Heartography/Pixabay via Jurist)

Planet faces ‘new water reality’: WMO

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)

Victory for Pakistan in Indus waters dispute

In a monumental win for Pakistan, a panel of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) held that India must honor a nearly 70-year-old water treaty between the two nations. The court said that the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty remains legally binding and that no party may unilaterally suspend or terminate it, despite the armed conflict that broke out between India and Pakistan last year. The treaty places limits on hydro-electric development by India on Indus tributaries designated for use by Pakistan, and the panel ordered one such project halted. However, India has explicitly rejected the authority of the PCA in the matter. India and Pakistan have long been at odds over the territory of Kashmir, through which the Indus flows from its Himalayan headwaters. (Map: Keenan Pepper via Wikimedia Commons)

Podcast: geopolitics of The Odyssey

The righties are apoplectic that Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey famously portrays a Black Helen—displaying their ignorance of the actual intercourse between Africa and the ancient Greek world. But apart from the cultural politics of the movie, the geopolitics of the Trojan War have all too much to say about the contemporary world crisis. Then, the Bosphorus and Dardanelles constituted the strategic chokepoints at issue, just as the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb do today. And the Bosphorus & Dardanelles could suddenly become critically strategic if Turkey becomes embroiled in either the Middle East war or the Ukraine war—or both. The current world crisis could bring about a civilization collapse far more decisive and complete than the Bronze Age Collapse that followed the Trojan War. In Episode 341 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg breaks it down. (Map: BestQuest)

UN warns of global spike in food prices

The United Nations reported that the cost of key foods increased in July as a result of searing heatwaves and ongoing geopolitical instability, which have affected crop yields and global energy prices amid persistent hunger risks in multiple countries. This situation is attributed to recurrent heatwaves, predicted effects of El Niño on this year's harvests, and growing uncertainty resulting from geopolitical tensions that have impacted the price of oil and disrupted global supply chains. (Photo: officials inspect dry rice fields in Philippines. Credit: Sen. Kiko Pangilinan via Wikimedia Commons)

Podcast: Resist digital hegemony! V

Eighty-one years after Nagasaki, there is growing awareness of the heightening threat of nuclear war. There must be similar awareness of the existential threat to humanity posed by AI, and the hegemony of digital technology generally. The past week has seen cyber-attacks on critical water infrastructure in the US. The Flock AI-boosted surveillance system is being used for doxxing and stalking. Police use of "brain decoders" portends the very eradication of any notion of privacy whatsoever. And there have been still more instances of AI going rogue. The growing use of AI by cyber-criminals and jihadis is hardly more terrifying than its "legitimate" (sic) use by the techno-fascist establishment. Recent protests against the tech giants (such as that by Rise & Resist outside the Google headquarters in New York) are a good start. But in Episode 340 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence—and practical resistance to digital hegemony in everyday life. (Photo: CounterVortex)

AI: the case for abolition II

The popular case against the data centers now proliferating vertiginously across the United States emphasizes the ecological imperative. As water resources shrink, forcing emergency restrictions on use across the western states, voracious water consumption by the industry is just one of the ways its advance portends imminent human extinction. Meanwhile, the industry slaps back in the courts against communities that would stand up against this advance. But Artificial Intelligence itself poses an existential threat, apart from the direct impacts of the computing power. Even respected voices in the industry warn of a high probability that AI will turn upon and destroy its creators. The bots themselves seem to be warning us of this through ominous messaging. Seeming instances of AI going unilateral have prompted a bipartisan AI Kill Switch bill in Congress. Finally, there is the systematic cultural destruction being wrought by AI—literally shredding humankind's legacy of literacy, to impose a reign of sheer error and idiocy. In Episode 339 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence. (Image: Pixabay via Wikimedia Commons)

Syria

Israel to expand illegal settlement of Golan Heights

Human Rights Watch protested the Israeli government's plan for increased settler transfers into the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, calling the decision a "clear statement of intent to commit war crimes." The $334 million plan, announced by the Finance Ministry, seeks to make the small town of Katzrin the Golan's "first city," by bringing in 3,000 new Israeli settler families. Funds are allocated for infrastructure, housing, public services, and academic facilities. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer by an occupying power of any of its own civilian population into territory it occupies. Article 8 of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC), defines such transfers as war crimes. Occupied by Israel in 1967, the Golan Heights has since been declared unilaterally annexed. (Photo: Freedom's Falcon via Wikimedia Commons)

Israel ‘weaponizing thirst’ in Gaza

Two Palestinian water delivery truck drivers were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip, prompting aid groups to halt activities in the area. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that the attack threatens vital humanitarian operations supplying clean water to hundreds of thousands of people. UN experts have said that Israel uses "thirst as a weapon to kill Palestinians." The experts noted that since October 2023, Israel's military operations have repeatedly targeted water facilities, wells, pipelines, desalination units, and sewage systems. (Photo: Mohammed Nateel/UNICEF via UN News)

Hong Kong firm challenges breach of Panama contract

Panama Ports Company SA (PPC), a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison, commenced arbitration proceedings against Danish shipping firm Maersk over the planned takeover by Maersk of PPC's port terminals in Panama. The case comes after Panama's Supreme Court ruled that a concession allowing the PPC to control and operate the Balboa and Cristóbal ports was unconstitutional. As a result of the ruling, Panama’s central government seized control of both ports—much to the dismay of China, and the open delight of the Trump administration. (Photo: Maersk Line via Wikimedia Commons)

‘Black rain’ falls on Tehran amid US-Israeli strikes

United Nations officials said that US and Israeli airstrikes on fuel depots in Tehran have released large amounts of toxic pollutants, producing acidic "black rain" across parts of the capital. Officials from the World Health Organization warned that the burning of depots has released hydrocarbons, sulphur oxides, and nitrogen compounds into the atmosphere. The released pollutants have caused darkened skies in Tehran, prompting authorities to advise residents to remain indoors due to respiratory risks and potential water contamination. (Photo: Mehr via Wikimedia Commons)