Ukraine

Europe

US to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions —despite protests

The US announced it will provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, despite a plea from Human Rights Watch for both Russia and Ukraine to cease their use of the controversial weapons, which have already caused many civilian deaths and injuries over the course of the war. In a White House press briefing, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed that the US deferred the decision for as long as possible due to such considerations, but ultimately found that the harm of a continued Russian offensive outweighed the risks of providing the munitions. Russia and, to a far lesser extent, Ukraine have used cluster munitions since the start of the war in February 2022, despite international criticism from bodies including the UN Human Rights Council. (Photo from Little Ukraine, NYC: CounterVortex)

Europe

Hague prosecutors prepare case against Russia

A Hague-based international prosecutorial team launched preparation of case materials against Russia for the crime of aggression—an offense that is notoriously difficult to prosecute. The International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA) was established within Eurojust, the European Union’s agency for judicial cooperation. The new office will draw together prosecutors from various European countries, as well as from the International Criminal Court (ICC), to gather evidence of Russian aggression in Ukraine. The center will collect evidence with the awareness that it remains unclear where the crime of aggression will ultimately be prosecuted—in national courts, a dedicated international tribunal, or before the ICC. (Photo via Twitter)

Europe

Russia opens criminal trial of Azov Battalion troops

A Russian court has begun hearing the case against 24 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov Battalion, seized in May 2022 during the battle for the city of Mariupol. The battalion members—including eight women—face charges of involvement with a “terrorist organization,” and participating in activities to “overthrow” Russian authorities. The Russian Supreme Court designated Azov a “terrorist organization” in August 2022, and Russian prosecutors first filed charges against the Azov fighters this May. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, asserts that the trial has no legal basis, citing international law and military immunity. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, “Combatant immunity bars the prosecution of combatants for mere participation in hostilities.” (Photo of Azov Battalion fighters: Carl Ridderstråle/Wikimedia Commons)

Planet Watch

Podcast: free Puerto Rico, free Russia

In Episode 180 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg compares two demonstrations outside the UN on the same day—one in support of Puerto Rican independence, timed for the meeting of the Special Committee on Decolonization, and one in support of Russian anti-war dissidents, LGBTQ people and indigenous peoples, now all facing harsh repression. The police state tactics seen in Putin’s consolidating dictatorship mirror many of those US colonialism has used in Puerto Rico. And Russia’s indigenous peoples have been denied self-determination as surely as the Puerto Ricans. Yet the presence of “tankies“—pseudo-leftists in the camp of Russian imperialism—at the independentista rally illustrates how those who support freedom in Puerto Rico and in Russia have been pitted against each other. Yet another example of how a global divide-and-rule racket is the essence of the state system. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: CounterVortex)

Europe

Wagner forces halt march on Moscow

Troops from the Wagner Group mercenary force abruptly reversed course after advancing through southern Russia toward Moscow, bringing an apparent end to what appeared to be an attempted coup d’état. This came hours after President Vladimir Putin accused Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin of treason and vowed swift and harsh action, comparing the uprising to the 1917 Revolution. Wagner forces had reportedly seized control of Russia’s Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, which houses nuclear weapons. Belarusian authorities claim their country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko facilitated negotiations between the parties, allowing Wagner to call off the march on Moscow in exchange for the dropping of treason charges against Prigozhin. (Photo: Wagner Group/Telegram via Jurist)

Planet Watch

Number forcibly displaced worldwide 110 million: UN

The United Nations released the Global Trend Report 2022, on refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced and stateless people worldwide. It finds that the number of forcibly displaced people stands at 108.4 million, with 29.4 million falling under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Both figures are at an historic high. The increase in forcible displacement within a single year is also the largest since UNHCR started tracking these statistics in 1975. In light of the continuing significant increase, the report says forcible displacement likely exceeds 110 million as of May 2023. (Photo: Afghan refugee camp in Shinkiari, Pakistan, via Pixabay)

Europe

France: far-right party Kremlin links exposed

A French parliamentary report leaked to the press asserts that Marine Le Pen’s far-right party Rassemblement National knowingly served as a “communication channel” for Kremlin propaganda. Le Pen called the report “sectarian, dishonest and politicized”—despite the fact that it was Le Pen herself who demanded an investigation into foreign interference in French politics. Le Pen has long been openly supportive of the Kremlin. After Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Le Pen insisted that Moscow’s annexation of the territory was not illegal. Her party, previously named the National Front, is known for extreme anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and anti-EU stances. As such, French banks are hesitant to give the party loans for campaigns. Le Pen instead obtained loans from a Russian bank in 2014, and more recently from Hungary’s state bank in 2022. (Photo: gregroose/Pixabay via Jurist)

Europe

Kakhovka: ‘ecocide’ as war crime in Ukraine

In Episode 177 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the unfolding Kakhovka dam disaster in Ukraine, an evident design by Russia to forestall a Ukrainian counter-offensive into the occupied southeast of the country. Massive flooding has been unleashed downstream, imperiling some of the world’s most important farmland. Upstream, coolant water to the Zaporizhzhia power plant is threatened, escalating Russia’s “reckless nuclear gamble” at the facility. It is true that the disaster gravely impacts much Russian-held territory, including the Crimea Peninsula. However, despite Moscow’s official denials of responsibility, Russia’s online internal propaganda organs are bragging about it. The Wagner Group mercenary outfit calls the disaster “beautiful” and boasts that the destruction of dams on the Dnipro River is a “trump card” against Ukraine. The cataclysm on the Dnipro provides a grim test case as the International Criminal Court moves to adopt “ecocide” as a recognized international crime. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map: PCL)

Watching the Shadows

Podcast: ‘tankies,’ ‘false flags’ & the ‘gray zone’

A tankie agent carried out “false flag” vandalism of a synagogue and other Jewish targets in Detroit, attempting to blame it on the Azov Battalion and tar Ukrainians. She turns out to have been a member of the retro-Stalinist Workers World Party and a staff writer for openly dictator-shilling MintPress News—which has itself engaged in “false flag” disinformation, blaming the Syrian rebels for chemical attacks against their own strongholds by the Bashar Assad regime. MintPress has also received funding directly from the Assad Lobby. In Episode 176 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines this ultra-cynical propaganda nexus, and asks whether such agents are mere “useful idiots” for the Kremlin or actual conscious assets operating in the “gray zone“—the sphere of “hybrid warfare” in which the line between state and non-state actors is blurred. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: Bob from Brockley)

Europe

Russia liquidates country’s oldest opposition party

The Supreme Court of Russia ordered the liquidation of the People’s Freedom Party (PARNAS) at the request of the country’s justice ministry. The Ministry of Justice contended that the number of the party’s regional offices dropped by seven, from 47 to 40, and law requires parties to have representative offices in half of the regions of the Russian Federation. PARNAS leaders responded that the party still had 44 offices, and was only considered out of compliance with the law because the court counted Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine as Russian administrative regions. (Photo: PARNAS activists at a picket for free Internet in Yekaterinburg, 2019. Credit: Ivan Abaturov via Moscow Times)

Europe

Belarus: Russian nuclear deployment advances

At a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Minsk, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin signed documents allowing Russian tactical nuclear weapons to be deployed on Belarusian territory. Shoigu and Khrenin cited a “sharp escalation of threats on the western border of Russia and Belarus.” Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union in Moscow, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko implied to an interviewer that the nuclear weapons may “already” be stationed in Belarus. The European Union responded to the signing with a statement condemning the agreement, calling it “a step which will lead to further extremely dangerous escalation.” (Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense via BAS)

Europe

Podcast: ‘Bad facts’ and the Belgorod incursion

As Russian propaganda portrays Ukraine as a “Nazi state,” exemplifying fascist pseudo-anti-fascism, actual far-right links among forces backed by Kyiv constitute “bad facts” for the Ukrainian cause. In Episode 175 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the self-declared Freedom of Russia Legion and other forces involved in the armed incursion into Belgorod oblast. The incursion force seems to have constituted a strange liberal-fascist alliance, joining fighters seeking a democratic revolution and those seeking an even more totalitarian state. Meanwhile, anti-fascist forces, including Russian anarchist defectors, are also fighting for Ukraine. And an armed resistance has emerged in Belarus—with no indication that its politics are anything other than pro-democratic. Is there hope for a new Russian revolution? Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map via Wikimedia Commons)