Europe
ReichsbĂĽrger

Podcast: Russia, Ukraine & the ReichsbĂĽrger cult

In Episode 155 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes stock of the accusations that the coup conspiracy by the ultra-right ReichsbĂĽrger cult in Germany was Russian “hybrid warfare.” The plausibility of this claim reveals the degree to which far-right forces around the world today look to Moscow for tutelage and sponsorship. Volodymyr Zelensky’s historic Congressional speech was dissed in the most vulgar terms by Tucker Carlson—whose comments were avidly promoted by RT, the official Russian state propaganda outlet, as per explicit instructions from the Kremlin. This same RT similarly promotes Putin-shilling voices of the “tankie” pseudo-left. Our rightist enemies are enthused by the genocidal regimes of both Syria’s Bashar Assad (backed by Russia) and the Argentine generals of the 1970s (backed by the US). They’ve rallied around Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic, as well as the neo-Ustashe in Croatia. It is only confused “leftists,” indoctrinated by campism and accustomed to seeing everything in terms of geopolitics, who fail to recognize the fascism on both sides—and get taken in by fascist pseudo-anti-fascism. Despite the left’s obsessive fixation on the Azov Battalion, reactionary forces around the world are looking to Putin as their great leader—not Zelensky. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo via EU Political Report)

Europe
Lesvos

Greece urged to end pushback of asylum seekers

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Greek government to end its practice of illegal “pushbacks” of asylum seekers at both the land and sea borders with Turkey. Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic said she had “received a number of consistent and credible allegations concerning acts by the Greek Coast Guard to prevent boats carrying migrants reaching the Greek islands.” Following reports of verbal and physical abuse inflicted on migrants being pushed back to Turkey, she indicated that acts of the Greek state may be in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, on prohibition of torture. (Photo: WikiMedia Commons)

Europe

Amnesty: EU complicit in violence against refugees

European governments are complicit in the systematic, unlawful and frequently violent "pushback" and collective expulsion of thousands of asylum seekers to squalid and unsafe refugee camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Amnesty International charges in a new report. By prioritizing border control over compliance with international law, European governments are not merely turning a blind eye to vicious assaults by the Croatian police, but actually funding such activities. In so doing, they are fueling a growing humanitarian crisis on the edge of the European Union. (Photo Border Violence Monitoring)

Europe

Anti-austerity protests rock Bosnia

Unemployed workers in Bosnia-Herzegovina set fire to government buildings, in the worst unrest the country has seen since the end of the 1992-95 war.

Europe

War crimes tribunal acquits ex-KLA commander

Ramush Haradinaj, the former KLA commander and Kosova prime minister, was acquitted of war crimes by  the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.