Greater Middle East

Turkey prepares ‘humanitarian’ genocide of Kurds

Turkey launched its assault on the Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Syria, with air-strikes and artillery pounding areas along the Syrian-Turkish border. Hundreds of civilians have fled the bombardment, headed south into areas still held by Kurdish forces. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is cloaking this aggression in the guise of a "safe zone" for refugees, a humanitarian operation. In reality, Erdogan is exploiting the refugees as demographic cannon fodder, using them to populate areas Kurds are now to be displaced from, creating a new class of refugees, pitting Arabs against Kurds, and establishing the conditions for potentially generations of Arab-Kurdish ethnic war in northern Syria. (Map: Genocide Watch)

Greater Middle East

Kurds iced from Syria constitution talks

English-language media accounts are calling Argentina's far-right president-elect Javier Milei a "self-described anarcho-capitalist," but this appears to be a translation error. In Episode 203 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg sets the record straight, exposing "anarcho-capitalism" as an oxymoron and the fascistic Milei as antithetical to everything that Argentina's proud anarchist tradition ever stood for. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Anarcho-capitalist flag via Wikimedia Commons, defaced by CounterVortex)

Greater Middle East

Russia admits: Syria is test war for weaponry

A former member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) arrested in Berlin after 30 years on the run has been remanded in custody. Daniela Klette was apprehended folowing an informant's tip, prosecutors announced. A second suspect was also detained in the operation, although authorities later determined that he is not tied to the group. Popularly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the RAF has carried out a series of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, robberies and shoot-outs with the police since the 1970s. Fugitive members of the group are on the EU's most wanted list. (Image via Janus)

Greater Middle East

Egyptian revolution rebooted

A comprehensive global report on uncontacted indigenous peoples published by UK-based Survival International estimates that the world still holds at least 196 "uncontacted" or isolated indigenous peoples living in 10 countries in South America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. Nine out of 10 of these groups face the threat of unwanted contact by extractive industries, including logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling. It's estimated that a quarter are threatened by agribusiness, with a third terrorized by criminal gangs. Intrusions by missionaries are a problem for one in six groups. After contact, indigenous groups are often decimated by illnesses, mainly influenza, for which they have little immunity. Survival International found that unless governments and private companies act to protect them, half of these groups could be wiped out within 10 years. (Photo: Brazil's indigenous agency, FUNAI, makes contact with the Awá people in 2014. Credit: FUNAI via Mongabay)

Greater Middle East

Erdogan exploits refugees in Syria land-grab

Summary executions of civilians by fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are being reported from Bara city, in Sudan's North Kordofan state, after it was captured by the paramilitary army following a major offensive. The victims were apparently accused of supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces in its defense of the city. Reports indicate that dozens of civilians have been killed, according to the UN Human Rights Office. A local medical group describes horrific conditions in the taken city. "Dozens of bodies are piled up inside homes after the RSF prevented the victims' families from burying them, leaving the dead trapped in their houses while the living are surrounded by fear, hunger, and thirst," the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement. (Map: Displacement Tracking Matrix)

Greater Middle East

Erdogan bargains with refugees in Syria land-grab

Amnesty International urged Indian authorities to promptly and independently investigate the use of live fire during protests in Leh, Union Territory of Ladakh, one day after at least four people were reported killed and more than 50 injured. Clashes erupted as demonstrators pressed long-standing demands for statehood and constitutional protections for land and jobs. Police said they responded after the crowd turned violent, with vehicles and a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party office set ablaze, and claimed officers fired in self-defense. Authorities imposed a curfew in Leh and restricted mobile internet services. (Map via Wikipedia)

Greater Middle East

Turkey: sweeps, unrest follow electoral dispute

The US military could face legal responsibility for assisting Israeli forces that commit war crimes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated. Direct participation by US forces in military operations in Gaza since October 2023, including by providing intelligence for Israeli strikes and conducting extensive coordination and planning, has made the United States a party to the conflict under international law, HRW found. Members of the US military could also be individually implicated for the crimes, according to the rights group. (Photo: IDF via Flickr)

Greater Middle East

Trump joins Putin in bombardment of Idlib

During his first days back in office, Donald Trump rapidly started implementing his hardline migration agenda, including by declaring a state of emergency at the US southern border. The move allows his administration to access billions of dollars to expand the building of a border wall and to deploy the military and national guard to the area. Around 1,500 active duty soldiers are already being deployed. Trump also reinstated the controversial "Remain in Mexico" program from his first administration. This policy, which requires people to wait for asylum appointments in Mexico, helped to create a now-perennial humanitarian crisis in northern Mexico. The Trump administration has also shut down CBP One—a cell phone app for scheduling asylum appointments—leaving thousands of people stranded in Mexico, and suspended the US refugee resettlement program, as well as cancelling travel plans for refugees who had already been approved to enter the country. Trump's promised mass deportation of millions of undocumented people has yet to get underway, but his administration has begun laying the groundwork for expanded immigration raids—potentially including on schools, churches, and hospitals—and has threatened to prosecute any local officials who don't comply. (Image: White House)

Greater Middle East

Did Assad sign off on Israeli air-raid in Syria?

Human Rights Watch called for the immediate and unconditional release of a former Macau lawmaker and pro-democracy activist following his arrest on "national security" charges. The arrest marked the first time Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China, has invoked its sweeping Law on Safeguarding National Security. Au Kam San was arrested after authorities accused him of violating Article 13 of the national security law, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and criminalizes "links with organizations or groups" outside Macau to "conduct activities endangering national security." This presumably refers to Au’s work with the Macao Union of Democratic Development, which for years organized annual commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Members have repeatedly met with threats and harassment from the authorities. (Image: Macau police block annual Tiananmen vigil, June 2020. Credit: Choi Chi-chio/United Social Press via HKFP)

Greater Middle East

Yemen: now a three-way war —or four?

The investigation by the Syrian transition government into the March violence against the Alawites in Latakia province has been submitted—but the full findings have not been made public, and it apparently exonerates the government of involvement. Meanwhile southern Suwayda province has seen a perhaps even deadlier eruption of violence—this time pitting Druze against Bedouin, with the role of the government similarly the source of much contestation (and fodder for Internet partisans). And a Damascus protest against the violence and for co-existence was attacked by goons. Amid all this, Israel is militarily intervening, the government looks to Turkey for military aid, and both the US and Russia still have forces on the ground—treating the country as a Great Power chessboard. In Episode 288 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that the Syrian Revolution is poised on a razor's edge, ready to descend into ethno-sectarian war and authoritarianism unless political space can be kept open for the secular-democratic civil resistance that began the revolution 14 years ago. (Image: Banners read "Syrians must not shed Syrian blood" and "We reject Israeli aggression against Syria." Credit: The Syria Campaign via Facebook)

Greater Middle East

Idlib bombardment resumes after brief respite

One result of the 12 days of war has been the intensification of repression inside Iran under the name of "defending the homeland" or "fighting espionage." According to reports, at least 700 people have been arrested on accusations of cooperating with Israel. Six political prisoners (all with serious legal irregularities in their cases) have already been executed, labeled as "spies." And this could be only the beginning. The "Islamic Gestapo" (Basij) have turned urban areas like Tehran into militarized zones. They roam the streets, hunting for "suspicious agents." (Photo: Wikipedia)

Greater Middle East

Turkey deports Syrians to bomb-wracked Idlib

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation implementing a nearly full travel ban on nationals from a dozen countries, severely restricting potential entry into the United States. The proclamation is based on an executive order issued on Trump's first day in office that laid the foundation for the administration to enact extensive immigration controls. Commentators have harshly criticized the ban, pointing out that it disproportionately affects Muslim-majority and African countries. Amnesty International's secretary general Agnes Callamard lambasted Trump for the action, calling it "discriminatory, racist and downright cruel." The restrictions bear a striking resemblance to Trump's 2017 travel ban, which blocked travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries. (Photo: Minneapolis protest of 2018 Supreme Court decision upholding Trump's first travel ban. Credit: Fibonacci Blue/Flickr)