Trumpism

Iran

Podcast: neither Jewish State nor Islamic Republic II

With Israel’s criminal air-strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites releasing radioactive contamination, Bibi Netanyahu cynically invokes the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement that shook Iran for months from September 2022. Of course nothing is less conducive to pro-democracy civil resistance in Iran than to have this cause associated with the foreign power that is bombing the country’s territory—and is itself oppressing the Palestinians with biblical justifications. In Episode 282 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again advocates a neither/nor position that rejects the militaristic and reactionary regimes of both Zionism and political Islam, and looks to a secular order in the Middle East. (Photo: Ottawa protest in support of Iranian uprising, via Wikimedia Commons)

Iran

UN urges restraint as Israel strikes Iran nuclear sites

UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged both Iran and Israel to exercise “maximum restraint” amid a sudden escalation between the two states following Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear installations. Condemning the Israeli strikes, the statement from the secretary-general’s office expressed concerns about a wider conflagration throughout the Middle East, warning that “a descent into deeper conflict” would be “a situation that the region can hardly afford.” (Map: PCL)

Watching the Shadows

Trump plans transfer of thousands of migrants to Gitmo

President Donald Trump’s administration plans to increase the number of undocumented migrants being transferred to the US Naval facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, according to government documents obtained by the Washington Post. The documents state that 9,000 undocumented immigrants are currently being vetted for transfer to Guantánamo, with the first transfers to begin this week. (Photo: Spc. Cody Black/WikiMedia via Jurist)

North America

California sues Trump admin over National Guard deployment

California filed suit against the Trump administration, asserting that its activation and deployment of the state National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles is unconstitutional. The suit asks the US District Court for the Northern District of California to halt President Donald Trump’s “unlawful militarization” of Los Angeles. Calling Trump’s actions an abuse of power that needs to be ended, Gov. Gavin Newsom further described the administration’s move as “an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.” (Photo: US Northern Command via Wikimedia Commons)

Watching the Shadows

State Department imposes sanctions on ICC judges

The US Department of State imposed sanctions on on four individuals serving as judges on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their involvement with the ICC’s investigations into the US and Israel. The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Executive Order No. 14,203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,” which President Donald Trump signed in February in response to the ICC’s warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. The stated purpose of the order was to underline the position that the US and Israel are not within the jurisdiction of the ICC under the Rome Statute, and therefore any investigation into the actions of the two countries is invalid. (Photo: OSeveno/WikiMedia)

Watching the Shadows

Trump issues new ‘travel ban’ proclamation

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation implementing a nearly full travel ban on nationals from a dozen countries, severely restricting potential entry into the United States. The proclamation is based on an executive order issued on Trump’s first day in office that laid the foundation for the administration to enact extensive immigration controls. Commentators have harshly criticized the ban, pointing out that it disproportionately affects Muslim-majority and African countries. Amnesty International’s secretary general Agnes Callamard lambasted Trump for the action, calling it “discriminatory, racist and downright cruel.” The restrictions bear a striking resemblance to Trump’s 2017 travel ban, which blocked travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries. (Photo: Minneapolis protest of 2018 Supreme Court decision upholding Trump’s first travel ban. Credit: Fibonacci Blue/Flickr)

Greater Middle East

Podcast: MAGA-fascism and the Gulf State tyrannies

Amid the hype about how Trump “snubbed” Netanyahu on his Middle East trip come reports that his White House is pushing a plan to relocate some 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya—which is in the midst of a massive human rights crisis. Even while on the ground in Qatar, Trump plugged his relocation scheme for the Gazans, who now face complete ethnic cleansing from the devastated Strip. In Episode 279 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg debunks the notion of a Trump tilt away from Israel, and asks why some “progressives” are joining with paleocons to view massive arms deals with the repressive and arch-reactionary monarchies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar as a good thing. (Map: PCL)

North Africa

Podcast: MAGA-fascism and the struggle in Libya

Since alarming reports broke that Trump is preparing deportation flights to Libya, the plan has happily been put on hold by the courts—as well as denied by both of Libya’s two rival governments. But Libya, like El Salvador, was clearly chosen because of its horrific human rights record, with a UN investigation characterizing its treatment of detained migrants as crimes against humanity. A migrant detention center was even bombed in the inter-factional fighting in Libya six years ago, killing scores of inmates. And news of US plans to send detainees there comes just as a new round of fighting has broken out in Tripoli—involving a militia headed by the warlord “Gheniwa,” who has himself been implicated in atrocities against migrants. Bill Weinberg raises the alarm in Episode 278 of the CounterVortex podcast. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Afghanistan

Afghans out; Afrikaners in

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, saying that the “conditions in Afghanistan” no longer warrant continuing the program. Afghanistan is experiencing a dire human rights crisis under renewed Taliban rule. Human Rights Watch has reported that individuals who have links with the previous Afghan government’s security forces (or the US-led force that backed it) face violent reprisals such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture. Meanwhile, nearly 60 white South Africans were admitted into the US as part of Trump’s resettlement program for Afrikaners who say they fear persecution. Trump, who has otherwise virtually shut down the US asylum program, said that a “genocide” against “white farmers” is taking place in South Africa. Bill Frelick, head of the Refugee & Migrants Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, responded that Trump’s claim “is not actually supported from any of the information that we have seen.” (Photo: USMC Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/CentComPublic Affairs via Wikimedia Commons)

North America

MAGA-fascism, Orwell and the cannabis stigma

Trump is pointing to Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s tattoos to justify his indefinite detention without charge in the ultra-oppressive Salvadoran prison gulag. These notoriously include a cannabis leaf, demonstrating the continued propaganda utility of the “Reefer Madness” stigma, even as a multi-million dollar legal industry emerges. But the White House actually added the characters “MS13” (name of the notorious Salvadoran gang) to the shot of Abrego Garcia’s knuckles in a crude photoshop job—despite transparent denials from Trump. Lubricating the emerging transnational mass detention program with this Orwellian post-truth stratagem, the Trump regime meanwhile moves toward actual deportation of US citizens. Bill Weinberg raises the alarm in Episode 277 of the CounterVortex podcast. (Photo: Donald Trump/Truth Social as seen, e.g., on CNN)

Watching the Shadows

Trump boasts 100 days of deportation and detention

At a Michigan rally to commemorate the first 100 days of his term, Donald Trump focused onhis border crackdown and deportations above all else. While he bragged in his speech of firing “unnecessary deep state bureaucrats,” his racist attacks on migrants took center stage. Those attacks accelerated and entered uncharted territory the following week: the administration launched massive immigration raids, targeted sanctuary cities in an executive order, prosecuted migrants for breaching a recently declared “military zone” near the border, separated families, and even deported US citizens. (Photo: WikiMedia via Jurist)

Palestine

Israeli cabinet approves ‘conquest’ of Gaza

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: Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons)