ISIS – Page 15 – CounterVortex

Iraq

Multiple powers still bombing Iraq

Trump continues to pursue his perverse ambition to win the Nobel Peace Prize—now profferring "peace" plans for Ukraine and Gaza that would actually reward war crimes, and therefore portend wider war. In both cases these new "peace" plans are merely sanitized recapitulations of earlier proposals—for the surrender of the Donbas and Crimea to Russia, and for Israeli annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and "transfer" of their indigenous inhabitants. Meanwhile, the actual winner of this year's Peace Prize, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, is obsequiously pandering to Trump, and playing along with his bellicose designs on her country. In Episode 306 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg cuts through the Orwellian war-is-peace propaganda. (Image via Twitter)

Iran

Oil shock, wider war after Saudi refinery attack?

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Russia to pay 130 million euros ($143 million) in compensation to Georgia, almost 15 years after the war in the South Caucasus nation. The case concerns allegations by the Georgian government that actions by the Russian Federation during the 2008 conflict amounted to breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights, including ethnically targeted killings and arbitrary detention of civilians. The ECHR found that there is still a basis to make an award under the Convention, despite the fact that Russia has ceased its membership in the Council of Europe, and failed to cooperate with the proceedings. (Map: PLC)

Afghanistan

Trump-Taliban schmooze: don’t call it ‘peace’

The utterly surreal news that Taliban leaders were invited to Camp David—a week before the 9-11 commemoration, no less!—will further fuel the perverse fantasy that Trump is a hippie pacifist. But the supposed "peace" talks with the Taliban completely sidelined Afghanistan's actual government and civil society alike—and were bitterly protested by Afghan women and their advocates. It was to be a "peace" crafted by genocidal clerical-reactionaries and imperialists, with the actual aim to prosecute a war on their mutual enemy, the ISIS insurgency that has now emerged in the country. ISIS are now the "bad" (undomesticated) clerical reactionaries, who will not abandon their ambitions to attack the West. This only sends the message (entirely accurate, from the imperial perspective) that Western lives matter, and Afghan lives do not. (Photo: Khaama Press)

Greater Middle East

Waterworks, civil defense centers bombed in Idlib

The Israeli government unveiled a new military plan for the Gaza Strip, an operation forebodingly dubbed "Gideon's Chariots" after an Old Testament conqueror. Approved unanimously by the security cabinet, the plan calls for the "conquering of Gaza" and retaining the territory indefinitely, an official said. The plan also includes concentrating the Palestinian civilian population in a "sterile area" in the south of the Strip. The official said Israel will give Hamas until the end of US President Donald Trump's upcoming trip to the Middle East to agree to a hostage deal. Otherwise, "Operation Gideon's Chariots will begin with great force and will not end until all its objectives are achieved." The military is already calling up tens of thousands of reservists in preparation for the new operation. (Photo: Rita Baroud/TNH)

New York City

NYC: outrage over automotive terror —at last

The representative body of the Crimean Tatar people has vowed to oppose any international recognition of Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The Tatar Mejlis, now sitting in exile in Kyiv, said that any move to recognize Crimea as Russian territory would violate international law. Refat Chubarov, the body's chairman, asserted in a statement: "Crimea is the homeland of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and an integral part of Ukraine. Accordingly, no one can decide the fate of Crimea under any circumstances, except for the Ukrainian state and the Crimean Tatar people." The statement comes amid reports that the Trump White House is pressuring Kyiv to accept a peace formula that includes formal US recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea. (Photo: Crimean Tatar Mejlis)

Iran

Iran war fever: real or charade?

US conservation groups filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, asserting that the administration violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) by issuing an executive order reversing withdrawals of oil and gas leases. Trump signed the executive order immediately after his inauguration, overturning a decision by President Joe Biden to protect large areas of ocean from offshore drilling. During his first term as president, Trump tried to undo similar protections implemented by Obama. A federal court, however, invalidated his attempt, finding that the president does not have the power to undo a former president's OCSLA protections. (Photo: Berardo62 via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

Violence sweeps Mali-Burkina Faso borderlands

Leaders of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW) in Peru denounced the use of local children as "human shields" to protect illegal mining activities and demanded the declaration of a state of emergency in the northern Amazon region. GTANW president Teófilo Kukush Pati said that when the police and armed forces carry out interdictions at mining sites, illegal miners forcibly gather community children to defend their operations. The leader also reported that the illegal mining outfits threaten to kill opponents. Pati stressed that the mercury produced by illegal mining in the Santiago River basin contaminates waters, which local communities depend on for fishing and drinking. The statement came as Pati arrived in Lima to meet with the government's high commissioner for the fight against illegal mining. (Photo: JYB Devot via Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Egypt: ‘crimes against humanity’ in Sinai feared

With the sounds of war starting to fall silent in the Gaza Strip after 470 days of brutal Israeli military assault and siege, a tiny crack of hope has opened for the Palestinian residents of the enclave that they will be able to gather the shattered pieces of their lives and begin the daunting task of rebuilding. But whether the deal reached by Israel and Hamas will lead to a decisive end to the war remains entirely unclear. Under a Trump administration that promises to be even more staunchly pro-Israel than the Biden administration, it's difficult to imagine Palestinians seeing anything resembling their aspirations for a state being met—or justice and accountability for the crimes committed over the past 15 months. (Photo: Rita Baroud/TNH)

South Asia

Sri Lanka dissidents reject Buddhist fascism

The Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective "Nunca Más" issued a report charging that at least 229 individuals detained in the country for political reasons have endured various forms of torture and other acts that could be classified as "crimes against humanity" over the past seven years. The report documents claims of physical and psychological torture, arbitrary detention, forced disappearances, and other severe human rights violations committed by the Nicaraguan government. The victims, identified as individuals who were arrested during anti-government protests and in connection with opposition activities, have reportedly faced beatings, sexual violence, and prolonged solitary confinement. (Image: Nunca Más)

Africa

Burkina Faso faces ‘unprecedented’ crisis

In Episode 254 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for mass pressure to demand nullification of the election—on the constitutional basis of the Insurrection Clause. Trump indisputably instigated an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and the Supreme Court has ruled that invoking the Insurrection Clause to bar him from the presidency is the prerogative of Congress. And the Electoral College has the power to refuse to seat him on the same grounds. A candidate for county commissioner in New Mexico has already been barred from office on the basis of having participated in the Capitol insurrection—and MAGA congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn could also have been barred on that basis if he hadn't been primaried out as the case over the matter was still pending before the courts. Leading Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin have spoken in support of such disqualifications—yet are mysteriously silent with the country now on the countdown to a fascist takeover. Furthermore, some cybersecurity experts are calling for a forensic audit of the election, citing evidence of software breaches and other irregularities. In Romania, where a Putin-favored right-wing populist has won the first-round vote in the presidential election, a recount has been ordered by the courts in response to a public outcry. And protests continue to mount in the Republic of Georgia, following a contested election in which a Putin-favored right-wing populist party cemented its majority. Why is everyone so quiet here in the United States, the seat of the empire, where the stakes are the highest? (Image: WTFA)

Iraq

Shi’ite militia forces ‘sweep’ Iraq-Syria border

As Trump assembles his cabinet of dangerous cranks and far-right extremists, his election is being openly celebrated by reigning fascists and arch-reactionaries from Russia to Hungary to Bosnia. The fascist world order that began to consolidate under his first term is poised to be cemented under a global triumvirate of tyranny—Trump, Putin and Xi. Biden's cooperation in the transfer of power is a betrayal not only of the nation but of humanity—and Trump has still failed to sign the ethics pledge mandated by the protocol of presidential transition, making clear his ill intent. Evidence that the Kremlin directly hacked the vote on behalf of Trump (rather than merely using disinformation propaganda, as in 2016) warrants investigation. Furthermore, the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment, under which Trump was impeached, should be invoked to bar him from office. There is still time to stop the fascist takeover of the United States through the Electoral College or in the certification process. Despite the Supreme Court decision upholding state laws against "faithless electors" who refuse to vote for the candidate they pledged for, this is by no means equivalent to the "fake electors" contrived by Trump's team to try to throw the 2020 election. On the contrary, it is a constitutional mechanism, as outlined by Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. In Episode 252 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg makes the case for mass pressure to demand nullification of the election. The protests against Trump since Election Day are a good start. But a mass movement on the scale of the post-electoral protests now seen in the Republic of Georgia and Ecuador is urgently mandated. (Image: APhilosophicalEnquiry)

Greater Middle East

Syrian Democratic Forces fire on Arab protesters

Member states of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted 29-1 to condemn Syria's Bahsar Assad regime over chemical attacks on civilians in opposition-held areas. Overriding a sustained propaganda campaign by Russia, the regime and their supporters, the member states endorsed the conclusions by the OPCW Investigation & Identification Team that regime forces used sarin and chlorine in attacks on al-Lataminah, Hama governorate, in March 2017. Russia and Iran, the primary backers of the Assad regime since the Syrian uprising began in 2011, voted no, joined by China. There were nine abstentions. (Photo from April 2017 Khan Sheikhoun attack via EA Worldview)