genocide

Europe

Podcast: against Putin’s Big Lie

In Episode 115 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to dissect Vladimir Putin’s ultra-cynical fascist pseudo-anti-fascism. Putin presides over Nuremberg-type mass rallies celebrating war and conquest, spews overtly genocidal rhetoric, and prepares concentration camps for the Crimean Tatars. Alexander Dugin, “Putin’s Rasputin” and the intellectual mastermind of his revanchist imperial project, has openly called for “genocide” of the Ukrainians. In areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia, a forced mass deportation of the populace is reported. Putin is clearly approaching a genocidal threshold in Ukraine—while imposting a totalizing police state within Russia. Yet, with unimaginable perversity, all this is done in the name of a campaign to “denazify” Ukraine. The painting of Ukraine as a “Nazi” state on dubious basis of a few ugly right-wing paramilitaries on the Ukrainian side is vigorously repudiated by the leadership of Ukraine’s Jewish community. Yet this “Big Lie” is credulously (or cynically) echoed by elements of the “left” as well as far right in the United States—who arrogantly refuse to listen to Ukrainians. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Africa

ICC takes CAR war crimes suspect into custody

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that former militia leader Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka, who is suspected to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Central African Republic, was surrendered by the Republic of Chad. A warrant for Mokom’s arrest was issued in December 2018, when the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II determined that Mokom was the “National Coordinator of Operations” for the Anti-Balaka militia. In this capacity, he is believed to have committed murder, deportation, imprisonment, torture, persecution and other crimes against humanity. He also allegedly committed war crimes by targeting Muslim civilians. (Map via Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Europe

World Court orders Russia to halt invasion of Ukraine

By a vote of 13 to two, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that Russia “shall immediately suspend military operations” in Ukraine. The two dissenting votes were from the justices representing Russia and China. The court’s ruling is in response to a suit filed by Ukraine, accusing Russia of manipulating the concept of genocide to justify its military aggression. Although ICJ verdicts are binding, the court has no direct means of enforcing them. Russia chose not to participate in oral proceedings, but presented a document stating its position that the ICJ lacks jurisdiction in the case. In delivering the ruling, the ICJ president, Joan Donoghue of the United States, outlined the necessary conditions that were met to give the court authority. She especially stressed that Ukraine’s assertions are plausible, and the condition of urgency was met in that acts causing irreparable harm can “occur at any moment.” (Photo of Ukrainian delegation at hearings: UN News)

Europe

UN Human Rights Council to investigate Russian violations in Ukraine

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted a resolution to establish an Independent International Commission of Inquiry to investigate charges of gross violations by Russian forces in Ukraine. After holding a moment of silence for Ukrainian victims, HRC members passed the resolution overwhelmingly, in a 32–2 vote. The only two countries voting against were Russia and Eritrea. Significantly, China and Cuba abstained. (Photo of Kharkiv’s Freedom Square via Twitter)

Europe

Ukrainian self-determination: Bandera or Makhno?

In Episode 113 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to dissect the cynical fascist pseudo-anti-fascism of Putin’s war propaganda, which portrays any expression of Ukrainian identity or national aspiration as “Nazism.” Much of this hinges on the legacy of Stepan Bandera, the Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with the Nazis in World War II. Bandera is indeed viewed favorably today by some in Ukraine—just as some in India look favorably upon the Axis-collaborationist independence fighter Subhas Chandra Bose, and some Palestinians lionize the wartime Mufti of Jerusalem who similarly looked to the Axis for support against British imperialism—a reality exploited by Israel’s propagandists. But there is another tremendously important figure who fought the Russians and Germans alike a generation before Bandera, and is nearly forgotten by both “sides” in the current propaganda war—Nestor Makhno, the great Ukrainian anarchist leader of the Russian Revolution. And there is now an anarchist armed resistance to the Russian aggression emerging in Ukraine, reviving the Makhnovist tradition. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Graphic: CounterVortex with images via Marxists Internet Archive, Ukrainian Youth Union)

Europe

Fascist pseudo-anti-fascism: Moscow’s propaganda offensive

Russia announced plans to host an international “Anti-Fascist Conference“—with hideous irony, on the same day its forces bombarded a Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv. The surreal announcement came from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who said Moscow will hold the conference in August, in conjunction with an arms expo sponsored by his ministry. Among the invited countries are China (accused of genocide in Xinjiang), India (now emulating China’s mass detention policies), Pakistan (a fast-consolidating police state), Saudi Arabia (similarly moving toward a mass detention state), the UAE (a burgeoning police state), Azerbaijan (accused of war crimes in last year’s war with Armenia), Uzbekistan (an entrenched dictatorship), and Ethiopia (accused of crimes against humanity in the Tigray war). (Photo of Babi Yar memorial in Kyiv via Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)

Europe

ICC to investigate alleged war crimes in Ukraine

International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim AA Khan announced that he will open an investigation into the situation in Ukraine. In light of Ukraine’s acceptance of the ICC’s jurisdiction on an open-ended basis to address crimes committed on its territory since 2014, Khan said the ICC may proceed despite Ukraine not being a state party to the Rome Statute. Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UN Yevheniia Filipenko is demanding an inquiry into possible war crimes perpetrated by Russia as its invasion of the country unfolds. Filipenko said: “Russian forces attempt to sow panic among the population by specifically targeting kindergartens and orphanages, hospitals and mobile medical aid brigades, thus committing acts that may amount to war crimes.” (Photo of March 1 air-strike on Kyiv TV tower: Kyiv Independent via Twitter)

Europe

ICC warns of possible ‘war crimes’ in Ukraine

Karim AA Khan, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), released a statement on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, asserting the ICC’s jurisdiction over “any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within the territory of Ukraine.” Khan recalled that Ukraine’s parliament granted the ICC jurisdiction over such matters in 2015 when it passed a declaration addressing “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by senior officials of the Russian Federation.” Khan’s statement comes as reports from the conflict strongly suggest the possibility of Russian war crimes. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry claims that Russia has targeted a kindergarten and orphanage, vowing to send evidence of these attacks to The Hague. Social media posts from Kyiv show footage of smoke billowing from residential housing complexes apparently hit by Russian forces. (Photo: Jurist)

Africa

ICJ: Uganda must pay conflict reparations to DRC

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Uganda must pay $325 million in reparations to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for its involvement in the Ituri conflict two decades ago. The ruling is based on a 2005 ICJ finding that Uganda violated international law by engaging in military activities in the DRC after occupying the latter’s northeastern Ituri province. Uganda was held responsible for the killing and torture of civilians, destruction of entire villages, conscripting child soldiers, inciting ethnic conflict, and plundering of natural resources. The ICJ moved to determine the quantum of reparations after the two parties failed to come to terms. (Photo: MONUSCO via Defense Post)

Europe

Dutch citizen detained in Suriname war crimes case

A Netherlands court set aside a bid for amnesty and ruled to continue the pre-trial detention of a Dutch ex-army member suspected of war crimes, including the murder of civilians, during Suriname’s internal war. The 55-year-old Suriname-born Dutchman was arrested in Amsterdam on the basis of an investigation indicating that he murdered several Surinamese civilians in 1987. The Surinamese Interior War was a conflict waged in the inland rainforest of the South American nation and former Dutch colony between 1986 and 1992. During the war, the Surinamese National Army fought the Jungle Commando guerillas, killing hundreds of civilians and displacing thousands. The Jungle Commando won a base of support among the interior’s Maroon population, giving an ethnic cast to the conflict. (Map: University of Texas)

South Asia

Podcast: solidarity with Nagaland

In Episode 109 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg explores the under-reported conflict in India’s northeastern state of Nagaland, which has seen a multi-generational pro-independence insurgency. Popular protest is rising there since an army massacre of coal-miners in December. The armed conflict began in 1956, when the Naga National Council declared independence from India in the face of Delhi’s intransigence on recognizing local autonomy, and adopted a constitution emphasizing village self-rule. The traditional Naga territory is divided by the border with Burma, which has complicated their self-determination struggle. With Burma now going over the edge into civil war, there are growing fears that India’s conflicted Northeast could be further enflamed. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Naga Student Union Delhi via My Nagaland)

Syria

UN: Syria must come clean on chemical weapons

Syria’s declaration to the United Nations of its chemical weapons program cannot be considered accurate due to gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council. Izumi Nakamitsu urged the country to cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), adding that “full cooperation” is “essential to closing these outstanding issues.” The disarmament chief was presenting an update on implementation of Security Council Resolution 2118 (2013) regarding the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons program. Nakamitsu said that 20 outstanding issues remain unresolved, involving undeclared research, production, and the arming of unknown quantities of chemical weapons. (Photo from April 2017 Khan Sheikhoun attack via EA Worldview)