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Image: Pixabay via Wikimedia Commons

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Recommended reading:

“Hasan Piker’s Take on China May Matter More Than His Views on Israel”
by Danny Postel, New Lines

“New Political Litmus Test: Hasan Piker”
by Michael Donnelly, This Small Planet

“The Wrong Stuff: Hasan Piker and the politics of reactionary clickbait”
by Joseph Grosso, Left Critique of the Left

“The real problem with Hasan Piker. Spoiler: It’s not about Israel.”
by Eric Levitz, Vox

Production by Chris Rywalt

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Photo: Xinjiang Judicial Administration via The Diplomat

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

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Image via frgdr Blog. Hebrew lettering in background spells names of places in Europe where Jews were exterminated.

The scandal centers on leaked audio recordings obtained by the outlet Diario Red, which allegedly capture conversations between JOH, current Honduran President Nasry Asfura, and Vice President María Antionieta Mejía discussing a plan to undermine progressive governments in the region through a media disinformation campaign. The recordings appear to indicate that Israel played a direct role in the scheme.

JOH—who had been sentenced to 45 years in US federal prison on drug trafficking charges before being pardoned by Trump in late November, a move widely interpreted as interventionin Honduras’ elections—apparently claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu helped secure his release. The scheme reportedly sought to create a JOH-led media channel to spread fake news against left-wing leaders in the region while opening up Honduran land to foreign investment. Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei, who has described himself as “the most Zionist president in the world,” was also allegedly involved.

The scandal unfolded just as Herzog embarked on a highly successful diplomatic tour of Central America. After stopping in Panama, Herzog attended last week’s inauguration of Costa Rican President Laura Fernández, whose right-wing government appears poised to deepen ties to Israel. Fernández held the first official meeting of her presidency with Herzog and pledged to move Costa Rica’s embassy to Jerusalem, crossing a long-standing diplomatic red-line given that much of the city remains occupied territory and is not internationally recognized as Israel’s capital. Herzog also met in Costa Rica with Chilean President José Antonio Kast, who vowed to restore diplomatic ties with Israel after his predecessor Gabriel Boric recalled Chile’s ambassador in protest of the war in Gaza. Herzog likewise met in Costa Rica with Asfura, an ardent Zionist of Palestinian descent who has already visited Israel and affirmed his intention to strengthen diplomatic ties with Israel.

The trip underscored a broader regional shift. In the immediate aftermath of Israel’s genocidal response to the October 7 attacks, Latin America’s progressive governments emerged as some of the strongest international critics of the Israeli state. Leaders from Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras and Chile either withdrew their ambassadors from Israel or suspended diplomatic ties entirely. But many of the region’s new right-wing governments are now reversing those measures, weakening what had been a significant international front of opposition to Israel’s war.

At the same time, Israel’s violence continues to reverberate directly in the region. Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of the leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was detained by Israeli forces after participating in a humanitarian aid mission bound for Gaza. The flotilla set sail from Spain weeks ago, but after 22 boats were stopped near Crete on April 30, Israeli forces transferred 168 activists to Greece while taking Ávila and the Spanish activist Saif Abu Keshek to Israel for further interrogation. Both men were released last week after investigations into alleged ties with terrorist organizations, but they claim they were tortured during their detention—and described the far worse conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s treatment of Ávila reignited calls within Brazil for President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva to move beyond critical rhetoric to a fully sever ties with Israel. As Israel deepens relations with Latin America’s ascendant right wing, accountability for the ongoing destruction in Gaza appears increasingly out of reach.

From NACLA Update, May 15. Lightly edited, internal links added.

Map: Perry-Castañeda Library

The organizations report that the administration in April re-arrested and forcibly transferred to third countries people who had previously been granted withholding of removal by US immigration judges and had prevailed on habeas petitions challenging the legality of their detention. The report documents an attempted transfer of individuals to Libya last year in violation of a court order then in effect.

Approximately 16,000 of the documented transfers have been to Mexico. That figure includes thousands of individuals the administration failed to acknowledge in a March 5 disclosure to a federal court. Roughly 1,400 additional people have been sent to 20 other countries, including Eswatini, South Sudan and Uganda. A March 2026 agreement with Costa Rica provides for regular weekly transfers.

The tracker reports that the administration has paid at least $44 million to receiving governments in connection with the agreements and has used the threat of third-country transfer to pressure detained immigrants into abandoning their legal claims.

Separately, the tracker reports that government attorneys have filed motions to “pretermit,” or dismiss without merits review, thousands of pending asylum cases in immigration court on the basis of Asylum Cooperative Agreements with Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Uganda. Citing data compiled by immigration advocacy group Mobile Pathways from Executive Office for Immigration Review records, the tracker counts nearly 9,500 such pretermissions as of February 2026. The following month, the Department of Homeland Security directed Immigration & Customs Enforcement attorneys to stop filing new pretermission motions but did not withdraw those already pending.

The administration has invoked a range of statutory and constitutional authorities to justify the transfers, including the Alien Enemies Act, and the suspension-of-entry provision at 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f). Federal judges have held several uses of those authorities unlawful, including in challenges to expulsions of Venezuelans to El Salvador and to forced transfers of people with final removal orders carried out without notice or an opportunity to raise fear-based claims.

From JURIST, May 5. Used with permission.

See our last report on the third-country deportations.

See our podcast “MAGA-fascism and the struggle in Libya”

Photo: Venezuelan deportees in Honduras. Credit: ICE via Wikimedia Commons

The surreal spectacle of ex-FBI director James Comey surrendering to federal authorities to face charges of threatening Donald Trump over an innocent Instagram post illustrates the line between a mere conservative and an actual fascist. CounterVortex chief ranter Bill Weinberg had a personal run-in with Comey back when he was a federal prosecutor. Later, as FBI chief, Comey was accused of trying to prejudice the electorate against Hillary Clinton—only to be himself targeted by the Trump Justice Department. The absurdity of the latest charges against Comey are obvious to anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry. Trump should indeed be eighty-sixed—through legal and constitutional means, such as impeachment, 25th Amendment invocation, or nullification of his illegitimate election. And, indeed, sent to face war crimes charges at The Hague. In Episode 326 of the CounterVortex podcast, Weinberg says: Yes, #8647! Fuckin’ A!

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Screenshot via, inter alia, CNN

These signs of human resistance inevitably face contradictions, however. Some members of the Luddite Club spoke favorably of the new youth social media ban in Australia, which is opposed by civil-liberties groups—pointing to a long-term intractable dilemma.

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Books discussed:

Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution — Lessons for the Computer Age by Kirkpatrick Sale, Addison-Wesley 1995

Front Lines: A Lifetime of Drawing Resistance by Susan Simensky Bietila, PM Press 2026

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Image: Wikipedia, modified by CounterVortex

Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the complaint alleges that the designation violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), First Amendment, and other constitutional provisions. Anthropic maintains that it has no ties to any adversary and has gone to great lengths to prevent adversaries from using its technology. The company asserts that the designation is arbitrary and capricious under the APA, and actually constitutes retaliation against Anthropic for exercising its free speech rights in deciding how its technology will be used.

The US Code defines a supply chain risk as “the risk that an adversary may sabotage, maliciously introduce unwanted function, or otherwise subvert the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance” of an applicable product.

Anthropic asserts that the designation was a pretext for punishing the company for prohibiting its AI program “Claude” from being used for lethal warfare and mass surveillance. The public benefit corporation stated that it maintains these policies as part of its commitment to the public, and that it stands to lose millions from the “supply chain risk” designation in both government and private contracts. It is asking the court to declare the designation unlawful and prohibit the government from enforcing it.

The complaint cited posts by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that criticized the company for failing to change its policies. Hegseth stated that the administration should be able to use the technology for all lawful purposes. However, he and Department officials have refused to comment on the lawsuit, citing internal policy about commenting on active litigation.

Following the administration’s dispute with Anthropic, OpenAI, one of Anthropic’s competitors, struck a new deal with the Dpartment to supply its AI technology. Anthropic also filed another lawsuit challenging the designation in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia under a different procedural method.

From JURIST, March 10. Used with permission.

Photo: Pixabay via Jurist

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We ask listeners to support us at one of our three tiers via Patreon: Become a Basic Supporter for just $1.25 per weekly podcast ($5 per month), or a Special Supporter for $2.50 per podcast ($10 per month), or a Major Rant Enabler for $6.25 per podcast ($25 per month). We now have 61 paid subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 62!

Image: Wikipedia, modified by CounterVortex

Did Delcy capitulate?
Meanwhile in Washington, White House officials were briefing members of Congress, who were not notified beforehand of the Jan. 3 military operation in which Maduro was captured.

And in Venezuela, Maduro’s groomed successor, newly inaugurated acting president Delcy Rodríguez, showed signs of capitulating to the pressure from Washington. After the Pentagon raid in which Maduro was taken (which also claimed the lives of at least 60 people, including civilians and several members of a Cuban security detail), Rodriguez defiantly stated in a televised address: “There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”

But the next day, she struck a conciliatory tone, writing on social media: “We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence.”

Bellicose mid-flight press conference
Rodríguez is under explicit threat from Trump, who told reporters on a Dec. 4 flight from Florida to DC that if she doesn’t cooperate “she will face a situation probably worse than Maduro.” When asked about his boast that he will “run” Venezuela, Trump responded: “We’re dealing with the people. We’re dealing with the people that just got sworn in. And don’t ask me who’s in charge, because I will give you an answer and it’ll be very controversial.” When the reporter took this bait and asked him what that meant, he replied: “It means we’re in charge.”

Trump was similarly lacking subtlety in his claim to Venezuela’s oil: “The oil companies are ready to go. They’re going to go in. They’re going to rebuild the infrastructure. You know, we built it to start off with many years ago. They took it away. You can’t do that.”

Apparently refering to Venezuelan efforts to extend state control over the country’s oil resources following US investment in the sector over a century ago, he added: “It was the greatest theft in the history of America. Nobody has ever stolen our property like they have. They took our oil away from us. They took the infrastructure away and all that infrastructure is rotted and decayed, and the oil companies are going to go in and rebuild it.”

And indeed, shares of Chevron, the last US oil company that was authorized to operate in Venezuela, soared as much as 10% in pre-market trading after Trump’s comment. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips shares also rose around 4%.

Queried about his supposed isolationism and antipathy to “nation-building,” Trump explicitly invoked the notion of Latin America as a US influence sphere, which was articulated in his recent National Security Strategy. He said of Venezuela: “This isn’t a country that’s on the other side of the world. This isn’t a country like we have to travel 24 hours in an airplane. This is Venezuela. It’s in our area, the Donroe Doctrine.”

Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, Greenland
He went on to directly threaten Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro: “He has cocaine mills, cocaine factories. He’s not going to be doing it very long.” So there will be another military operation?, the reporter asked. Trump: “It sounds good to me.”

Mexico was next. Invoking the flow of migrants across the US southern border, Trump reiterated his recent threat of military intervention: “Mexico has to get their act together, because they’re pouring through Mexico, and we’re going to have to do something.”

And even Greenland: “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you. You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security in Greenland? They added one more dogsled. It’s true.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen prompty responded: “This is enough. No more pressure. No more innuendo. No more fantasies about annexation.”

And Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a statement: “It is necessary to reaffirm that in Mexico the people are in charge and that we are a free, independent and sovereign country. Cooperation, yes. Subordination and intervention, no.”

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio meanwhile warned that Cuba could be next, responding to a reporter’s question at a DC press conference: “Yeah, look, if I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned.” (PBS NewsHour, FreedomNews.tv, CNN, The Hill, Politico, NDTV, NBC News)

Photo: US Navy via Latin America Reports