Iran
Hezbollah

Iran, Hezbollah threaten Argentina: Milei

The Argentine government of far-right President Javier Milei announced that it has placed its borders on alert due to potential infiltration of operatives linked to Iran and Hezbollah. There have long been concerns about a Hezbollah presence in the Triborder Region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. But Interior Minister Patricia Bullrich in making the announcement this time emphasized a supposed threat from Bolivia. Following years of closer ties, including security cooperation, Bolivia and Iran signed a formal defense pact in July 2023. The deal was said to inlcude an Iranian pledge to provide Bolivia with drones for narcotics enforcement, but the terms were secretive, with both Argentina and the Bolivian opposition demanding clarity on the details. (Photo: Khamenei.ir via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe
Nizkiz

Belarus: dissident rock band gets correctional labor

A district court in Minsk sentenced a dissident Belarusian rock band to two and a half years of correctional labor after members were convicted of participation in group actions that violated “public order.” The three members of the band, Nizkiz, have been behind bars since their arrest in January for their participation in anti-government protests in 2020. On top of their sentence of correctional labor, the three were also added to the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ list of extremists. The 2020 protests erupted after President Alexander Lukashenko secured his sixth term in office through evident fraud. Nizkiz released a song entitled “Rules,” which became an anthem of the protest movement. The band also filmed a music video at one of the demonstrations. Belarusian rights organizations have declared the band members political prisoners. (Image via Bandcamp)

The Caucasus
Georgia

Russia guilty of rights violations in Georgia conflict

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Russia’s occupation of two breakaway regions in Georgia systematically violated human rights. Georgia initially brought its case against Russia in August 2018, exactly 10 years after Russia invaded and began occupying the two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia also established military bases in those areas and a border patrol to secure an “administrative boundary line” (ABL) around the regions. The process of “borderization” blocked free travel across the ABL, enacting a heavy toll on those living along the line. Villagers lost access to farmland, water sources, and means of income. In some cases, families were separated. Georgian Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze celebrated the court’s decision, calling the judgment an important step toward the ultimate goal of achieving the “complete de-occupation” of Georgia. (Map: PLC)

Europe
Extinction Rebellion

Climate protesters shut down The Hague

Climate protestors who attempted to create a road blockade at The Hague were detained by Dutch police. Among those detained was prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg. Protestors took to the streets to oppose fossil fuel subsidies, and especially the Dutch government’s tax concessions for companies such as Royal Dutch Shell. Hundreds of demonstrators marched from The Hague city center to a field next to the A12 highway, a main artery through the Netherlands, which some then tried to block with their bodies. The protest, organized by Extinction Rebellion, was part of an international campaign against fossil fuel subsidies in Europe. Simultaneous demonstrations also took place as part of the campaign in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the UK. (Photo: Extinction Rebellion)

Southeast Asia
Burma

Burma: Karen rebels seize strategic border town

The Karen National Union (KNU) said that it will establish its own administrative mechanism in territory recently captured from Burma’s military in and around the critical trade hub of Myawaddy, on the border with Thailand. The KNU has several departments in its governance structure, including those for health, education, foreign affairs and defense, in territories it controls in seven districts across southeastern Burma, including in Karen (Kayin) and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions. The junta has lost control of several towns on the border with China to other rebel armies in recent months, but the loss of Myawaddy is a special blow, as it is the transfer point for most of Burma’s overland trade with Thailand. (Map: PCL)

Palestine
Gaza

Pressure mounts for arms embargo on Israel

The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution, A/HRC/55/L.30, reiterating the Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza—and further calling for an embargo and prevention of the supply of weapons to Israel by UN Member States. Simultaneously, 40 Democratic members of the US House of Representatives signed a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to cease arms transfers to Israel in the wake of the air-strike that killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza. Meanwhile in Germany, human rights lawyers filed a motion in the Berlin Administrative Court to halt the Federal Republic’s arms exports to Israel. The lawyers claim that the German government has committed the crime of aiding and abetting in the genocide of the Palestinian people living in Gaza by continuing to supply Israel with arms. (Photo: hosnysalah/Pixabay via Jurist)

Planet Watch
toad

Podcast: further thoughts on the common toad

In Episode 221 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues the Spring ritual from his old WBAI program, the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade (which he lost due to his political dissent), of reading the George Orwell essay “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad“—which brilliantly predicted ecological politics when it was published way back in April 1946. The Social Ecology of Murray Bookchin today informs a radical response to the global climate crisis, emphasizing self-organized action at the local and municipal levels as world leaders dither, proffer techno-fix solutions, or consciously obstruct progress. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: National Wildlife Federation)

Europe
Transnistria_

Mysterious drone strikes on Transnistria

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called for an investigation into a new drone strike on Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region, condemning the attack as “yet another provocation” in the enclave. The “kamikaze” strike targeted a Transnistrian defense ministry unit, resulting in damage to a radar station. The targeted facility is six kilometers from the border of Ukraine. This attack was the second to occur in Transnistria in less than a month. The region was similarly hit with a drone strike in March, causing a fire and resulting in damage to military property. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Pridnestrovian Moldovian Republic, as the breakaway government is called, condemned the strikes as “terrorist” attacks. Moldova’s Bureau of Reintegration Policy denies that Ukraine was involved in the incidents. The largely Russian-speaking breakaway region has been supported by Russia since the 1990s. The enclave hosts approximately 1,500 Russian troops. (Image: Wikipedia)

Mexico
Embajada de México en Ecuador

Mexico cuts ties with Ecuador after embassy raid

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the suspension of diplomatic ties with Ecuador following a raid by Ecuadoran police on the Mexican embassy in Quito and the subsequent arrest of the country’s former vice president Jorge Glas—who was wanted on corruption charges and seeking asylum. Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry stated that the decision was taken to forcibly enter the embassy because of the imminent risk of Glas fleeing the country. The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a statement expressing its rejection of any action that endangers the inviolability of the premises of diplomatic missions. The General Secretariat called for dialogue between Ecuador and Mexico and convened a meeting of the Permanent Council of the OAS to address the issue. (Photo: Embajada de México en Ecuador via WikimediaCommons)

Central Asia
tajikistan

Tajikistan denies Moscow claim of mercenary recruitment

Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry denied claims by Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev that Ukraine has been recruiting mercenaries for its military in the country’s territory. Patrushev charged that Kyiv’s embassy in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, has been recruiting Tajikistan nationals to join the International Legion of the Ukrainian army, in return for a pathway to Ukrainian citizenship. The allegations come as relations between Tajikistan and Russia are under strain following the deadly attack on the Crocus Music Hall outside Moscow, which was claimed by ISIS. The four suspected gunmen arrested in Russia are said to be Tajikistan nationals, and nine others were detained in connection with the attack in Tajikistan. Some Russian officials have alleged that several of those involved in the attack were recruited through the Ukrainian embassy in Dushanbe. Ukraine has denied any involvement in the attack. (Map: CIA via PCL Map Collection)

Palestine
Isratine

Podcast: against Zionism, toward pro-Semitism

In Episode 220 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses two new books on the related themes of the Jewish Question and the Question of Palestine. One, The New American Anti-Semitism: The Left, the Right, and the Jews by Benjamin Ginsberg, is dangerously deluded. The other, The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto by Daniel Boyarin, begins to move the discussion in the right direction. Weinberg goes further, calling for pan-Semitic unity between Jews and Arabs in repudiation of racism, imperialism and colonialism in all forms—including both Zionism and anti-Semitism. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: proposed symbol for “Isratine,” a binational state in historic Palestine. Credit: AnonMoos via Wikipedia)