Russia

Africa

Mali: regime denies involvement in migrant massacre

The Malian Armed Forces command refuted accusations that soldiers were responsible for an attack in which 24 civilians, including women and children, were killed. The General Staff denied any army involvement in the massacre, which is said to have taken place in Tilemsi commune, Gao region, on the edge of the Sahara. Press reports indicated that a caravan of vehicles carrying migrants across the desert was targeted in the attack, which was carried out jointly with Russian mercenaries. (Map: PCL)

Europe

US betrays Ukraine at United Nations

UN General Assembly members approved a resolution supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity on the day marking the third anniversary of Russia’s massive invasion of the country. The resolution won 93 votes in favor, with 18 votes against and 65 abstentions. Washington sided with Russia, as well as Belarus, North Korea and Sudan, to vote against the measure. Hungary, Israel, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Nicaragua also voted against. China and Iran were among the abstentions. The US had declined to co-sponsor the resolution, instead pushing its own language that failed to blame Russia for the war or mention Ukraine’s borders. (Map: PCL)

Planet Watch

Ukraine, Greenland and the global struggle for lithium

In Episode 265 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines Trump’s ultimatum to Ukraine to hand over a large share of its wealth in strategic minerals such as lithium in exchange for continued US military aid—and whether a race with China for control of the lithium and rare earth elements needed for Elon Musk‘s industrial interests might also be the agenda behind the Trump regime’s annexationist designs on Greenland. Trump is meanwhile opening Native American lands in Nevada to lithium exploitation, while Musk’s Tesla has sought to grab a share of Bolivia‘s lithium reserves—now also coveted by China. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: rare earth mine at Mountain Pass, Calif. Credit: Tmy350 via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Trump prepares grab for Ukraine’s lithium

As Trump and Hegseth explicitly broach the surrender of Ukrainian territory to Russia, a poorly positioned Zelensky is acceding to demands that he turn a large portion of his country’s strategic mineral wealth over to the US in compensation for military aid. Especially at issue are Ukraine’s significant reserves of lithium—critical to de facto “co-president” Elon Musk’s e-vehicle interests. In announcing a new lithium refinery in Texas, Musk called the mineral “the new oil.” The premium on Ukraine’s strategic minerals is elevated by China’s perceived design to establish control over the planet’s rare earth elements. However, as Zelensky is quick to emphasize, nearly 20% of Ukraine’s mineral resources are in areas under Russian occupation. (Map: ResearchGate)

Europe

UN: Russia increasing executions of Ukrainian POWs

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that captured Ukrainian soldiers are being executed by Russian forces at an alarming rate. The mission has recorded 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since August 2024. For all incidents, the mission obtained video and photo material showing executions or dead bodies. The spike in executions is part of a pattern of abuse against Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). The mission recorded at least three phone calls in 2024 in which Russian officials called for executions. The armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine is ostensibly governed by international humanitarian treaties. Both nations are parties to the Third Geneva Convention, which states that POWs may not be subjected to torture or ill-treatment. Article 13 of the convention provides for the humane treatment of POWs, including the prohibition of any acts or omissions that will cause death or seriously endanger health. (Map via Wikipedia)

Europe

Ukraine becomes state party to Rome Statute

Ukraine became the 125th state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). With ratification of the Rome Statute, Ukraine gains full participation rights within the ICC framework, which includes the power to refer cases to the Court. Moreover, the ratification strengthens Ukraine’s ability to prosecute international crimes domestically, aligning its legal system with international standards. Ukraine, however, invoked a transitional provision that limits ICC jurisdiction over war crimes committed by its nationals for seven years, raising concerns about potential selective justice and access to accountability for victims. (Photo: nextvoyage via JURIST)

Planet Watch

Podcast: nullify the election! IV

Around the world, with inspiring heroism and courage, people are putting everything on the line to defend democracy and prevent the consolidation of dictatorships. In the Republic of Georgia, protests continue in the wake of contested elections that consolidated the rule of an authoritarian pro-Russia party, and the incumbent opposition-backed president is refusing to step down until new polls are held. In Romania, where a Putin-favored right-wing populist won the first-round vote for the presidency, that round has now been annulled by the country’s high court in response to a public outcry over Russian meddling. In South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law was met with defiant protests, prompting an overturn of the declaration by the National Assembly, followed by a vote to impeach Yoon, and the opening of a criminal investigation on charges of “insurrection.” Mozambique has seen months of angry protests since contested elections that saw yet another victory for the entrenched machine FRELIMO—despite a deadly police crackdown. And in Brazil, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, indicted for leading a Trump-style attempted auto-golpe in 2022, has been barred from office. In Episode 257 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again asks: Why is everyone so quiet here in the United States, the seat of the empire, where the stakes are the highest? (Photo of protest in Tbilisi, Georgia: DerFuchs via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

Human rights crisis deepens under Sahel juntas

Two attacks on “defenseless civilian populations” along Niger’s border with Burkina Faso left some 40 dead, authorities said. Niamey’s defense ministry said 21 were killed in Libiri village and 18 in Kokorou, both in Tillabéri region. The statement blamed “criminals,” but the borderlands are a stronghold of jihadist insurgents. An even worse attack was reported days earlier, but is being denied by Niger’s ruling junta. Authorities suspended the operations of the BBC in Niger after it reported that jihadists had killed 90 soldiers and upwards of 40 civilians at Chatoumane, also in Tillabéri. According to the monitor Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), at least 1,500 have been killed in jihadist attacks in Niger in the past year—more than double the 650 killed from July 2022 to July 2023. Human Rights Watch meanwhile released a report detailing killings of civilians and other serious abuses committed by Mali’s armed forces in collaboration with Russian mercenaries of the Africa Corps following the withdrawal of a UN peacekeeping mission last year. (Map: Wikivoyage)

Syria

Syrian revolution met with US, Israeli air-strikes

The same day the Assad regime fell and rebel forces took Damascus, the US military carried out a series of air-strikes against Islamic State positions across central Syria. The Pentagon’s Central Command announced that it “struck over 75 targets using multiple US Air Force assets, including B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s.” The targets included “ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps.” Also that day, Israeli warplanes conducted dozens of raids across Syria, including in Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) counted more than 100 Israeli strikes on military and industrial targets, including a research center believed to be linked to chemical weapon production. Israel said it was acting to stop weapons from falling “into the hands of extremists.” Israel has additionally seized control of a demilitarized “buffer zone” in the Golan Heights, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had “collapsed” with the rebel take-over of the country. (Photo of B-52 bomber: USAF via A&SF)

Syria

Threat of Arab-Kurdish war in new battle for Syria

With the Syrian city of Aleppo now mostly in rebel hands following a surprise offensive, the danger emerges that Kurdish forces could be drawn into the conflict on the side of Assad dictatorship. Kurdish militias have for years controlled their own enclave within the city, the neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsood. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are now trying to open an evacuation corridor between Sheikh Maqsood and the Kurdish-held town of Tal Rifaat to the north. An evacuation of Tal Rifaat itself to Kurdish-held areas to the east is also being prepared. This effort is being blocked by one of the rebel militias, the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), with clashes between the two forces reported. The SNA has been repeatedly implicated in abuses against the Kurdish population in areas it took from SDF-aligned forces in a 2019 offensive. This offensive drove the SDF into a tactical alliance with the Assad regime—although this alliance has repeatedly broken down over the regime’s rejection of the SDF’s principal demand of Kurdish autonomy. (Map: Google)

North America

Podcast: nullify the election! III

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)

Syria

Syria: rebel forces launch new offensive on Aleppo

In the most significant escalation in Syria since a 2020 ceasefire instated under emergency conditions during the COVID pandemic, rebel forces in northwestern Idlib province launched a surprise offensive on the country’s most populous city, Aleppo. The rebel advance is said to have penetrated the perimeter of the city, which had been held for years by rebel forces before it was retaken by the regime with the help of Russian air power in 2016. Russia has responded to the new offensive with fresh air-strikes on Idlib, which has been coming under intermittent Russian bombardment for years. At least 225 fatalities are reported in the new fighting, including some 25 civilians killed in Russian air-strikes. (Photo: Syrian Observer)