In Episode 53 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses the pathological propaganda game in which Donald Trump exploits the pro-democracy uprising in Hong Kong and Xi Jinping exploits the uprising that has exploded across the US since the police killing… Read morePodcast: for Minneapolis-Hong Kong solidarity
In a truly surreal irony, your trusty CounterVortex chief blogger (me, Bill Weinberg) just got e-mail from RT.com editor-in-chief Igor Ogorodnev, saying he’s impressed with our website and inviting me to contribute to RT! Can this possibly be real? All I ever do… Read moreKremlin in new drive to co-opt US ‘alternative’ voices
We at CounterVortex are not dismissing (nor accepting) Tara Reade’s claims of sexual assault by Joe Biden. But it is certainly instructive to note how they are being politically weaponized, and by whom. It is hardly surprising that her accusations are… Read moreKremlin propaganda machine weaponizes Tara Reade
In Episode 51 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg rants against the dangerous, irresponsible and politically weaponized claims being avidly propagated about COVID-19. In addition to paving the way for Facebook and other platforms being given greater power to censor… Read morePodcast: COVID-19 and conspiracy theory
Amnesty International named 87 Iranian security and Interior Ministry officials who it says should face criminal investigation for crimes against humanity committed during the 2022 crackdown on the Woman Life Freedom protests, and urged the UN Security Council to refer Iran's situation to the International Criminal Court. The 1,161-page report, titled "Architects of Atrocities," documents 377 fatalities among protesters and bystanders between September and December 2022, of whom 56 were children, along with widespread torture, rape, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary imprisonment. (Photo: Taymaz Valley, Ottawa, via Wikimedia Commons)
Human Rights Watch called for the Chilean National Congress to reject a proposed package of constitutional amendments addressing "national security" questions being pushed by President José Antonio Kast. HRW charged that the amendments, supposedly aimed at fighting organized crime, would undermine due process and human rights protections. Terms of the amendments would allow the president to instate a 240-day state of emergency without legislative approval, suspending the right of assembly and other personal freedoms. Additionally, measures would allow for the seizure of personal property without normal due process. (Image: Nicolas Raymond via Flickr)
Chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan visited Kharkiv with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova to document evidence of war crimes. During his visit Khan called the city a "crime scene," and toured areas hardest hit by Russian bombing. "We must make sure that the whole world sees that the law works," Khan said, promising to prosecute war criminals. Venediktova praised Khan for his visit, saying, "Prosecutors are working even under fire gathering evidence for [Ukrainian and international] courts." Venediktova reports that 760 civilians have been killed, over 1,000 injured, and 4,000 buildings destroyed in Kharkiv oblast due to Russian shelling. (Photo via Wiadomosci)
The Zionist-fascist convergence under Bibi's regime is getting too blatant even for the habitually pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League, whose leader stayed away from a supposed "International Conference on Combating Antisemitism" held in Jerusalem under auspices of the Israeli government, headlining Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu—and also featuring several figures from the European and American xenophobic (and even anti-Semitic!) far right. (Image via frgdr Blog. Hebrew lettering in background spells names of places in Europe where Jews were exterminated.)
Following a long campaign by indigenous peoples around the world, the Vatican announced a formal rejection of the 15th century "Doctrine of Discovery." In a statement, the Church said it "repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent rights of indigenous peoples." The Doctrine of Discovery arose from several papal bulls, key amongst them the Inter Caetera, issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493. The document effectively granted Spain the right to claim newly "discovered" areas unoccupied by Christians. The Doctrine, which the Vatican now states was "manipulated for political purposes by colonial powers," found its way into the common law of several nations. In the United States, the Doctrine was enshrined in the famous 1823 property rights case Johnson v. M’Intosh. That opinion, written by Chief Justice John Marshall, subjugated indigenous land claims to those of the US government, allowing federal authorities to seize large portions of indigenous land and sell it to white settlers. (Photo: statue of Christopher Columbus in Colón, Panama. Via Wikimedia Commons)
In its latest annual report, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) found that the armed conflict in Colombia saw the "worst humanitarian consequences" of the past decade in 2025. The number of people killed or injured by explosive devices rose by 34% to 965, overwhelmingly non-combatants. The number of individual disappearances doubled to 308. Violations of international humanitarian law documented by the ICRC reached 845 cases, while figures for displacement and "confinement" doubled. According to the Comprehensive Victim Support & Reparation Unit (UARIV), at least 235,619 people were displaced individually in 2025, while 87,069 were displaced in mass displacement events, and 176,730 remained "confined" in communities under siege by armed actors. (Map: PCL)
The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) requested that the United Nations secretary-general refer the crisis of enforced disappearances in Mexico to the General Assembly for consideration of response measures. The CED announced that since it began monitoring the situation in 2012 it had received "well-founded indications that enforced disappearances in Mexico have been and continue to be committed as crimes against humanity." The findings included the ongoing discovery of clandestine graves, with an estimated 4,500 graves found, containing over 6,200 bodies and 4,600 sets of human remains. This contributes to a total of approximately 72,000 unidentified human remains found by authorities or self-organized citizen search committees. (Photo via Twitter)
President Trump issued an executive order declaring a "national emergency" a to block judicial processes from being instituted against Venezuelan oil funds held in the US, on the basis that it would "materially harm the national security and foreign policy of the United States." This order follows statements from Trump that US oil companies will invest billions in Venezuela, with his Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying that the US will control and market Venezuela's oil "indefinitely." However, the CEO of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, expressed concern about conditions in Venezuela, saying that country is currently "un-investable." Trump responded angrily that he was "inclined" to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela. Companies including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips say that Venezuela owes them billions of dollars over lost investments. Trump's executive order could hinder these companies from recovering their claims. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)
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