CounterVortex weekly headlines
Iran cites international law in attack on Israel
Iran launched scores of ballistic missiles into Israeli territory, in what it described as an exercise of its "legitimate right to self-defense under the UN Charter." In a statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attacks aimed to avenge the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC general Abbas Nilforoushan. Gen. Nilforoushan was apparently killed in the same strike on Beirut's southern suburbs in which Nasrallah was slain. The Iranian attacks came hours after Israel announced a ground incursion into Lebanon, and as UN experts warned of the dire consequences of regional hostilities.
https://countervortex.org/blog/iran-cites-international-law-in-attack-on-israel/
Iraq: no justice five years after Tishreen protests
Amnesty International highlighted the failure of successive Iraqi governments to ensure justice, truth and reparation for the lethal crackdown on the 2019 Tishreen (October) protests. A new report reveals ongoing impunity five years after nationwide demonstrations that led to hundreds of deaths and disappearances, and thousands of injuries among the protesters. The Tishreen demonstrations, which began Oct. 1, 2019, saw hundreds of thousands of Iraqis taking to the streets to demand jobs, improved public services, and an end to government corruption. Amnesty found that they were met with "serious human rights violations and crimes under international law...including the excessive and unlawful use of lethal force by anti-riot police, counterterrorism forces and members of Popular Mobilization Units." According to Amnesty's analysis of information from Iraqi courts, out of 2,700 criminal investigations opened, only 10 arrest warrants have been issued against suspected perpetrators, and a mere seven convictions have been handed down.
https://countervortex.org/blog/iraq-no-justice-five-years-after-tishreen-protests/
ICJ case against Taliban over ‘gender apartheid’
Twenty-six countries expressed their support for a legal initiative to hold the Taliban accountable at the International Court of Justice for systematic human rights violations against women and girls in Afghanistan. In a joint statement, the countries emphasized Afghanistan's obligations under international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), an international bill of rights for women. Since the Taliban's seizure of de facto power in 2021, Afghan women and girls have faced severe violations of their rights. The Taliban government has taken various measures to limit their participation in public life and has engaged in systematic discrimination, which has been called "gender apartheid."
https://countervortex.org/blog/icj-case-against-taliban-over-gender-apartheid/
UK to transfer sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius
The UK announced that it will transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, now ruled as the British Indian Ocean Territory, to Mauritius after more than two centuries of control. A joint statement issued by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth hails the accord as an "historic political agreement on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago." The UK-US military base on the archipelago's principal island of Diego Garcia will remain operational for an initial period of 99 years to ensure its continued "vital role in regional and global security." The UK will be "authorised to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius" on Diego Garcia. The decision follows two years of negotiations over the future of the islands between the two nations.
https://countervortex.org/blog/uk-to-transfer-sovereignty-of-chagos-islands-to-mauritius/
Audio:
Ranting against the apocalypse II
With Lebanon under bombardment and the world awaiting Israel's response to the Iranian missile attacks on its territory, fears mount that Iran's nuclear facilities could be targeted—which, in addition to being an environmental disaster in its own right, could represent the crossing of a moral threshold toward the use of nuclear weapons. So two theaters of the world conflict—the Middle East and Ukraine—now constitute a looming nuclear threat. Meanwhile, the other horsemen of the apocalypse continue their relentless advance—climate change, cyber-based disinformation and the ultimate replacement of humanity by artificial intelligence. In Episode 246 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg looks for glimmers of hope in emerging signs of human resistance—such as the East Coast dockworkers' strike, which is demanding a ban on all automation at the ports. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.
https://countervortex.org/blog/ranting-against-the-apocalypse-ii/
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