In official comments on the anniversary of the Aug. 9, 1945 US atomic bombing of the Japanese city, the mayor of Nagasaki sounded a note of alarm. Mayor Tomihisa Taue stated: “In January this year, the leaders of the United States, Russia, the United… Read moreNagasaki mayor: ‘tangible and present crisis’ of nuclear warfare
US President Joe Biden issued an executive order May 23 that designates Colombia as a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) of the United States, under terms of the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act. The designation will facilitate… Read moreColombia joins ‘new partnership’ with NATO
Amid quickly escalating tensions over Ukraine, Russia has lodged a diplomatic protest with the US embassy in Moscow, claiming that a US nuclear submarine penetrated Russian territorial waters near the Kuril Islands. According to Moscow’s Defense Ministry, a Virginia-class US… Read moreSubmarine incident in flashpoint Kuril Islands
In Episode 110 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg rants against the current greenwashing of nuclear power, and hype about a supposedly “safe” new generation of reactors. Every stage of the nuclear cycle is ecocidal and genocidal. Uranium mining has… Read morePodcast: Nuclear power? No thanks!
In Episode 97 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg dissects the geopolitics of the new James Bond movie, No Time to Die, and how the Daniel Craig reboot of the series has finessed the cultural icon’s role in the New Cold… Read morePodcast: 007 in the New Cold War
In Episode 83 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes signs of hope on the 76th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, with the city’s Mayor Kazumi Matsui calling on the world’s nations to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear… Read morePodcast: Hiroshima at 76
A rally in Tokyo on April 22 highlighted opposition to a proposed immigration law currently under consideration in Japan’s National Diet, seen as a yet further tightening of the country’s already highly selective refugee system. The rally, under the slogan… Read moreJapan: protest against restrictive immigration bill
President Joe Biden announced April 22 at the Leaders Summit on Climate that the US will aim to reduce carbon emissions by 50 to 52 percent by 2030. Climate experts have urgedworld leaders to cut carbon emissions in order to… Read moreBiden: cut US carbon emissions in half by 2030
In an alarming tit-for-tat June 9, Taiwan’s defense ministry said that several Chinese fighter jets briefly entered the country’s air defense identification zone, and the US took the unusual move of flying a C-40A military transport plane over Taiwan. The… Read moreUS-China brinkmanship over Taiwan
The world's governments approved a new climate deal at the COP30 summit in Belém, Brazil, adopting the so‑called Belém Package, a bundle of decisions that calls for tripling outlays to help vulnerable countries adapt to intensifying climate impacts. The package references the Global Goal on Adaptation in the 2015 Paris Agreement, and an expanded "action agenda" to scale finance for locally led projects such as resilient agriculture and "nature‑based solutions." However, efforts to secure a negotiated roadmap away from fossil fuels collapsed after days of deadlock. The final compromise text omits any explicit commitment to "transition away from" or "phase out" coal, oil and gas—despite sustained pressure from a large coalition of states and civil society groups to include such language. The major oil-producing countries resisted binding language on hydrocarbon reduction, while many developing countries tied their support for any resolution to assurances on finance and equity. (Photo: cwizner/Pixabay)
Following his visit to Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations earlier this month, Burmese junta leader Min Aung Hlaing thanked Russia for the fighter jets and helicopters it has provided his military government. The junta, which came to power in the February 2021 coup, is currently facing an insurgency by a number of armed ethnic and opposition groups across Burma. Rights groups accuse the Tatmadaw, as the Burmese military is known, of routinely targeting civilian populations and infrastructure in its aerial attacks. While in Moscow, Min Aung Hlaing also met for the first time with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, another key patron of his regime (Photo: Russia MoD via The Irrawaddy)
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the relocation of the US airbase at Futenma to Henoko, elsewhere on the island of Okinawa, would continue despite a referendum vote opposing the move. Okinawa prefecture held a referendum vote on whether the US military base should relocate from Ginowan municipality to Henoko. After the final count, approximately 70% of voters opposed the move. The relocation has been 20 years in preparation, and has continued to face opposition over claims of noise from military activity, harm to the surrounding coral reefs, and outrage over a 1995 incident of rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by US servicemen. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki plans to make a visit to Tokyo to reaffirm the island's position. (Photo via Alwaght)
