Tropical Cyclone Amphan unexpectedly intensified into a rare “Super Cyclonic Storm” on May 18—becoming the northern hemisphere’s strongest tropical cyclone yet in 2020. Amphan made landfall two days later, leaving a trail of destruction along coastal areas both in India and… Read more‘Super Cyclone’ Amphan deepens COVID-19 crisis
Unemployed migrant workers left stranded by the COVID-19 lockdown have repeatedly clashed with police in India’s industrial hub of Gujarat state, and the situation is fast escalating. Protesters demanding transport back to their homes were again attacked by police at… Read moreIndia: paramilitaries deployed as clashes escalate
Bangladeshi counter-terrorism authorities announced the arrest in Dhaka April 7 of Abdul Majed, who faces the death penalty for involvement in the 1975 assassination of the country’s founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Independence leader “Bangabandhu” Rahman served as the country’s first… Read moreBangladesh arrests fugitive in assassination of founder
Amnesty International condemned China for banning family members from visiting the resting places of people who perished in the 1989 Tiananmen Square repression. This is the first time in 37 years that the Chinese authorities have banned the visit. According to the Tiananmen Mothers group, the authorities notified family members of people who lost their lives in the 1989 massacre that they cannot travel to Beijing's Wan'an Cemetery or conduct any commemoration in the cemetery. (Photo: Hong Kong Alliance via Amnesty International)
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa announced Feb. 19 that his government will withdraw from co-sponsorship of a 2015 UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for an investigation into war crimes committed on the island during the internal conflict with… Read moreSri Lanka regime intransigent on war crimes
In Episode 47 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg speaks with Punnag Tej Hazarika of the Brooklyn-based small-press imprint Coolgrove and affiliated BorderTalk blog, which explores questions of cultural intersection. Among Coolgrove’s recent titles is Winged Horse: 76 Assamese Songs, a collection of translated… Read morePodcast: BorderTalk with Tej Hazarika
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro met in New Delhi Jan. 26, pledging a “new chapter” in cooperation between their two countries, especially naming counter-terrorism and exploitation of minerals, hydrocarbons and other natural resources. (India Today,… Read moreModi and Bolsonaro: twin threat to tribal peoples
Amnesty International condemned China for banning family members from visiting the resting places of people who perished in the 1989 Tiananmen Square repression. This is the first time in 37 years that the Chinese authorities have banned the visit. According to the Tiananmen Mothers group, the authorities notified family members of people who lost their lives in the 1989 massacre that they cannot travel to Beijing's Wan'an Cemetery or conduct any commemoration in the cemetery. (Photo: Hong Kong Alliance via Amnesty International)
US and Nigerian forces jointly conducted a raid that killed one of the Islamic State's highest-ranking leaders in the country. Abu Bilal al-Minuki was said to be a commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). The strike took place in the Lake Chad area in Nigeria's northeast. Meanwhile, dozens of Nigerian fishermen are feared dead after Chadian forces struck alleged Boko Haram strongholds along Lake Chad, which straddles the border of the two countries. Additionally, at least 100 civilians were killed in a Nigerian government air-strike on a crowded market in bandit-affected northwest Zamfara state, according to Amnesty International. Nigerian authorities have denied the report, but if confirmed, it would be the second air-strike to kill scores of people in a northern Nigerian market in a month. (Map: Wikipedia)
While Pope Leo XIV's castigation of warmongers has so far failed to turn around the hawks in the current US administration, it has won Cameroonians a temporary reprieve from secessionist violence. To mark the pope's visit, anglophone separatist groups said they would pause their fighting and allow the free movement of people. The pontiff may have stopped short of trying to mediate the nearly decade-long conflict in the majority French-speaking country, but he did urge President Paul Biya to root out corruption—and then lashed out at foreign exploitation of the continent. Leo also returned to his spiritual feud with the US administration. "Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," he told a gathering at Saint Joseph Cathedral in the city of Bamenda, within the conflicted region. (Photo: Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa)
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the escalating hostilities in the Middle East could lead to record levels of food insecurity, and the largest disruption in the global economy and humanitarian efforts since the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the heavy reliance of food and aid distribution on energy, the skyrocketing price of oil has placed heightened strain on already vulnerable aid supply lines. WFP chief operating officer Carl Skau said: "If this conflict continues, it will send shockwaves across the globe, and families who already cannot afford their next meal will be hit the hardest." Skau urged the international community to mount an adequately funded humanitarian response. Sudan and Somalia were named as particularly vulnerable. (Photo: Alex Blokha via Wikimedia Commons)
With his Christmas air-strikes on Nigeria, Trump is blundering into a conflict fundamentally driven by desertification related to the very climate change that he denies, and which now threatens democratic rule throughout the West African region. And while the Muslim-Christian sectarian strife that Trump hypes is a large element of the situation, the violence has gone both ways. Furthermore, making Christians the perceived beneficiaries of imperialist intervention is only likely to exacerbate the tensions and make Christians more of a target. In Episode 310 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes an in-depth and unsparing look. (Photo: AFRICOM via Long War Journal)
