Humanitarian Imperialism and Sudan

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/13/sudan

The war in Sudan is tragic and like all Africa stories in the West, it gets little attention or traction. To most people the wars in Africa are just repeating loops of video showing fighters in pick-up trucks with AK-47's and suffering women and children in refugee camps. The politics are beyond most people's ability to understand - and they're not going to take the time to look into them. And while Western leaders speak out, levelling condemnations and offering aid - nothing much seems to change.

The BBC and ISIS: Dispelling Propaganda with Propaganda

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0j4x4hy

Within moments of turning on this BBC podcast I knew it was going to be a case of spin. There was from the onset a dishonest narrative about the origins of ISIS and the panel failed to probe or explain how the group grew out of al Qaeda and how its vision is different - the more extreme nature of the group is found in its apocalyptic understanding of the world.

The Questions that Arise with Syria's Re-emergence

https://thecradle.co/article-view/26056/syria-intends-to-join-brics-sco

Now that Assad has his foot back into the door of the international community, he's looking to join institutions that will promote stability, growth, and security. This is hardly surprising though it will continue to outrage his critics in the West – the individuals, entities, and governments that attempted to overthrow him and fomented a civil war in his country that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees.

The Violence in Colombia Ignored by Western Media

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/17/ex-paramilitary-leader-testifies-about-assassinations-in-colombia

When Western and even Christian media cover the situation in Colombia they invariably focus on the terror and violence perpetrated by the Leftist guerilla groups – such as the FARC. This is true enough but they consistently misrepresent the story. There are cycles of violence and terror and the reason many among the rural poor gravitate toward the Left is due to the violence of Right-wing paramilitary groups which are often unofficial arms of the state and in other cases are effectively private armies funded and backed by Western corporations. And it must be remembered that groups like the CIA are always in the background pulling strings and attempting to manage the situation.

Libyan Gas and Italian Finance

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/italy-and-libya-reach-8b-deal-on-offshore-gas-development

Money is moving all around and when you take a moment and squint through the fog you realize that in the deal, Italy is getting more military cooperation to block migrants – Libya being one of the primary hubs for the refugee trails coming out of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Spinning Myanmar

BBC's Newshour recently ran a story on Myanmar and the forgotten internal war that country faces, a conflict exacerbated by the February 2021 coup and takeover by the military. Two years later, the news outlet wanted to revisit the story – or so it seemed.

Police Support for Fascists and the Right's Counter-narrative Cover

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/06/patf-d06.html

https://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-white-supremacists-march-lincoln-182827649.html

Large sections of the media chose to ignore this story regarding an early December fascist militia marching on the National Mall, and others reported it but downplayed it. While the police are identified in some pieces as 'monitoring' the fascist marchers, the video evidence along with testimonials suggest that law enforcement were providing a buffer – a kind of safe-zone for the group to march and to avoid coming into contact or conflict with onlookers, many of whom are clearly appalled.

US Support for the TPLF

https://jeffpearce.medium.com/ethiopia-the-wests-diplomats-meet-in-secret-to-decide-how-to-help-the-tplf-cb87f2d30777

Pearce's article and reporting in general is obviously hostile to the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). The point here is neither to vindicate the ruling Abiy government or to defend or demonise the Tigray leadership. What's salient is the fact that the leaked Zoom video demonstrates a point that I and others have been trying to make – that despite official proclamations of support for Abiy in the past, or neutrality in the present conflict, the West and the US specifically support Tigray goals and their restoration to power in Addis Ababa.

The Current Geopolitics of Sri Lanka

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/china-bags-another-lucrative-port-deal-in-sri-lanka

Sri Lanka has been the focus of a struggle between China and Washington for many years. India is also a player more or less serving or echoing the interests of the United States. India has an interest due to the large island's proximity and the fact that the Hindu Tamil people (a minority in Sri Lanka) have a significant population in India itself. For China and the United States, the interests are economic and strategic.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is known to be pro-China and this was one of the reasons he was forced out as president in 2015. After several years of ineffective rule, Rajapaksa returned to power in 2019 as prime minister under his brother's presidency. Sri Lanka's already suffering economy has taken a beating during the Covid era and 2021 has seen the nation slip into crisis mode.

The Context for the Tigray Revolt

There's been a fair bit of news coverage regarding the situation in Ethiopia but as is often the case – little contextualisation. A quick survey will help to explain the nature of the conflict and its potential dangers to the wider region.

Red Flags in Israel: A Tectonic Shift in Palestinian Politics

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/After-15-years,-Fatah-and-Hamas-agree-on-Palestinian-elections-51128.html

The recent US-motivated Arab peace deals with Israel, the so-called 'Abraham Agreements' have inadvertently healed old wounds. Hamas arose in the 1980's in response to Yasser Arafat's compromises – a perceived sellout that would eventually lead to the Oslo Accords in 1994.

The Libyan Proxy War: Ankara and Athens set to Clash on the Shores of Tripoli

https://news.yahoo.com/greece-aims-outflank-turkey-mediterranean-051925982.html

https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/athens-smarting-after-exclusion-from-german-hosted-libya-conference/

It's perhaps a bit of an exaggeration but looking at the growing tensions within the EU, NATO, the Mediterranean, Balkans and the Middle East, it's starting to look and feel a lot like 1914. Is war imminent? Probably not, but the situation continues to degenerate, stability is in question, people are talking about it, and scenarios are beginning to manifest in which such a suggestion doesn't seem so far-fetched.

A Very Wicked Syria Commentary

https://www.christianpost.com/voice/christians-face-threats-throughout-syria-thanks-to-its-president.html

I found this commentary to be somewhat shocking and as I read further I was offended. In a hostile and unstable region the Assad regime (for all its faults) has long been a friend to the Christian communities in Syria. An authoritarian regime, these groups have nevertheless been allowed to function and have been protected from Sunni violence, violence that has escalated throughout the region as a result of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Libya and the Escalating Mediterranean Conflict

https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/turkey-raises-prospect-to-send-troops-to-libya/

The rift continues to deepen between Turkey and Libya and the story is further complicated by frankly dishonest Western reporting regarding the status of Khalifa Haftar and his backers.

Trump +1006: Developments in Northeast Syria

The timing of Trump's Syria withdrawal is interesting in light of the impeachment probe. Again I wonder if he truly blundered into this or if he isn't being set up? One can hardly pity him but the policy is even turning many Republicans against him.

The Ukraine Conflict: Orthodoxy, Militias and Arms Smuggling

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/-Orthodox-celebrations-for-the-baptism-of-Kievan-Rus-are-at-risk-47570.html

All acknowledged that the recent creation of an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church would heighten tensions between Kiev and Moscow and amplify the growing rift between the Moscow Patriarchate and that of Constantinople.

These conflicts are playing out on multiple fronts. The AsiaNews link explores some of the difficulties in Ukraine as its symbols, shrines, relics and properties remain divided. Small seemingly innocuous moves can mean a lot.

Additionally, a story broke this week about a weapons cache found among some Neo-Nazis in Italy. The weapons were reported as bound for the Pro-Russian and Moscow supported separatists in Eastern Ukraine's Donbass. Much has been made of this story.

VOM and Colombian Half-Truths

https://www.persecution.com/2019-03-colombia/?_source_code=EM1903CL2

The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) can at times be excellent and their reports moving. They are to be commended for their understanding of suffering and persecution as not being incidental or occasional aspects of the Christian life, but rather essential components of our calling.

There are times when I listen to their podcast, watch videos or read their materials and I want to empty my bank account in order to help them.

And then there are the other times when their predilection for Charismatic theology comes to the fore and I reconsider. It's really a continuation of my first encounter with Richard Wurmbrand's work Tortured for Christ which I first read in the 1990's. On the one hand it was deeply moving but on the other hand the theology was such a disastrous mess it was hard to know what to think.

Haftar and Libyan Ports

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-economy-port-idUSKCN1U02CH

This development represents further US subversion of the UN recognised regime in Tripoli.

In addition to further support for Khalifa Haftar... who interestingly has threatened Turkish interests... the move ensures that China won't be able to move in and connect Libya to its larger OBOR project.

Haftar: Made in the USA

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190614-sisi-egypt-will-always-suppor

Contrary to the official narrative and policy I would argue that the United States has been supporting Haftar since his return to Libya in 2011.

Few would doubt that his part in the 2011 so-called Libyan Revolution was sponsored by Washington. But the official narrative posits that he fell out of favour during the subsequent and ongoing civil war which many date to 2014.

Franco's Legacy: The War Continues

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/04/26/inenglish/1556272970_468527.html

Franco has been in the news a lot lately. From the plans to move his tomb, which many view as an affront to his opponents in the Civil War and the victims of his regime, to the return of the Spanish Far Right for the first time since his death in the 1970's, the Spanish people are revisiting the period.