Some 5,000 troops from member states of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on Oct. 18 initiated military maneuvers code-named “Echelon-2021,” Search-2021″ and “Interaction-2021” in Tajikistan near the border with Afghanistan. More than half of the troops involved are… Read moreRussia-led bloc in war games on Afghan border
The Uyghur Tribunal, an “independent people’s court” convened by exile and human rights groups, concluded last week after months of hearings in London. Following a request from the World Uyghur Congress, the Tribunal was organized last year by Sir Geoffrey Nice, the lead… Read moreUyghur Tribunal in UK hears testimony on abuses
France, now in the process of drawing down its military presence in West Africa’s Sahel nations, has criticized plans that could see Russian mercenaries brought to Mali, where jihadist groups tied to ISIS or al-Qaeda operate in large parts of… Read moreRussian mercenaries to Mali?
The Turkish military is unveiling a new upgraded “unmanned combat aerial vehicle,” the Bayraktar Akıncı, developed by private drone manufacturer Baykar Defense, which is owned by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar. The Akıncı, which is Turkish for “raider,” is a more… Read moreTurkish drones decisive in regional wars
The Taliban on Sept. 6 announced that they have taken the Panjshir Valley from the incipient National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA). In an audio statement from an undisclosed location, NRFA leader Ahamd Masoud pledged to carry on the fight, and called upon Afghans to… Read morePakistan backing Taliban takeover in Afghanistan?
In Episode 87 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg calls out revisionist online propaganda telling us (for instance) that Ronald Reagan in 1985 called the Taliban the “equivalent of America’s Founding Fathers”—when the Taliban actually didn’t even exist back then, and… Read morePodcast: against Afghanistan revisionism
With absurd hubris, Biden in his speech on Aug. 31—the day the last US troops left Kabul under the deadline agreed to with the Taliban—declared that “the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan.” It’s perverse enough that he called… Read moreAfghanistan: no, the war is not over
At least 12 US service members were killed in a combined bomb attack and armed assault at a gate to the Kabul airport, where throngs fleeing the Taliban were desperately crowding Aug. 26. Reports indicate up to 100 Afghan civilians… Read moreUS collaborates with Taliban against ISIS: it’s official
At least 90 people have been killed in wildfires that have swept through northern Algeria over the past weeks. The blazes have consumed some 100,000 acres, mostly in the northeastern Kabylia region and its central province of Tizi Ouzou. While… Read moreAlgiers plays politics with Morocco as Kabylia burns
In Episode 85 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses the implications for world peace and the prospects for survival of basic freedoms as the Taliban consolidate their second period of rule in Afghanistan. There are already signs that Russia… Read morePodcast: Afghanistan and the Great Game
Fighting has erupted again in the southern Syrian town of Daraa, where an opposition-controlled neighborhood is resisting pressure to disarm. Assad regime forces placed the area, Daraa al-Balad, under military siege in late June, and later escalated to intermittent shelling… Read moreSyria: southern ceasefire breaking down
At least three people are dead following an outbreak of inter-communal violence in Djibouti on Aug. 1. Fighting erupted in several areas between members of the Afar ethnic group, which straddles Djibouti’s borders with Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Issa,… Read moreDjibouti: Horn of Africa’s next domino?
