The Supreme Court of Canada on Feb. 28 allowed an application by the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS) for judicial review of the Saskatchewan government's approval of mining permits to proceed. The court ruled that the application, launched in 2021, was not an abuse of process because previous proceedings between the parties had not addressed the dispute in the present case. At issue are three uranium exploration permits within territory over which the MNS asserts Aboriginal title and rights.

The revised deal for US access to Ukraine's mineral wealth (with no security guarantees for Kyiv) collapsed in the unseemly Oval Office donnybrook, and European leaders now convene their own summit—faced with the prospect of supporting Ukraine without the US. But Hungary and Slovakia represent an authoritarian bloc that supports Ukraine's betrayal—and Romania could be next to defect to this Russia-aligned bloc. In Europe and America alike, elements of the "tankie" pseudo-left no longer even bother to hide their convergence with MAGA. In Episode 267 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg calls for a clean break at both the international and grassroots levels. Europe must realize that the Atlantic alliance is effectively dead, and there are no prospects of reviving it while Trump is in the White House; whether or not the rumors are true that he was recruited as a KGB agent in the '80s, he is on Putin's side. And progressives must repudiate pseudo-left misleaders who shill for Trump and and spread lies for Putin, and seek a new leadership that mobilizes to oppose them.

The president of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW) in Peru on Feb. 17 denounced the use of local children as "human shields" to protect illegal mining activities and demanded the declaration of a state of emergency in the northern Amazon region.

The Wampis Indigenous Nation has more than 10,000 inhabitants. In 2015, the nation formed its Autonomous Territorial Government to manage and protect the territory, which covers lowland rainforest across the Santiago/Kanus and Morona/Kankaim river basins in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Peru is the leading producer of gold, zinc, tin, lead and molybdenum in Latin America. However, long-term illegal mining, principally of gold, has posed significant threats to the environment and human rights.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Jan. 17 that the European Union's insufficient action regarding Rwanda's support of the M23 rebels has exacerbated the violence and atrocities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

On Feb. 13, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging the EU to freeze direct budget support to Rwanda until it ceases backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebels and permits humanitarian access in rebel-held territory of the DRC. The resolution also recommended suspending agreements related to Rwandan strategic minerals until Rwanda halts its interference in Congo. However, this resolution is non-binding, and the European Commission has not enforced these recommendations.

In Episode 265 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines Trump's ultimatum to Ukraine to hand over a large share of its wealth in strategic minerals such as lithium in exchange for continued US military aid—and whether a race with China for control of the lithium and rare earth elements needed for Elon Musk's industrial interests might also be the agenda behind the Trump regime's annexationist designs on Greenland. Trump is meanwhile opening Native American lands in Nevada to lithium exploitation, while Musk's Tesla has sought to grab a share of Bolivia's lithium reserves—now also coveted by China.

Speaking at the NATO summit in Brussels Feb. 12, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth not only ruled out Ukrainian membership in the alliance, but said that Kyiv's goal of recovering all territory lost since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea was an "unrealistic objective." Trump quickly followed up by boasting on social media: "I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia... We have...agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation..." (Politico)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged Feb. 6 that the US government's decision to permit Lithium Americas company to mine at Thacker Pass in Nevada violated indigenous people's rights by failing to obtain free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in accordance with international law.

The 133-page report determined that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) permitted the lithium mine without the FPIC of the Numu, Nuwu and Newe peoples. In the 2021 BLM decision to approve the mining project, the agency stated it had been contact with tribal governments since 2018 and that "[n]o comments or concerns have been raised during formal government to government consultation for the project by the tribes." HRW's report challenges that assertion, claiming there was no meaningful consultation, and that US courts have rebuffed all efforts by affected indigenous peoples to challenge the adequacy of the consultation process. The extent of the consultation, HRW alleges, was just three rounds of mailings sent to three tribal governments.

Junta air-strikes killed over 170 people across Burma in January, a fourfold increase over the previous month, according to an analysis by The Irrawaddy, an independent exile-based newspaper that maintains a network of reporters on the ground. The strikes hit villages, health facilities, a prison and a gold mine in various areas held by the resistance, although most of those killed were civilians. More than 1,800 people have been killed in air-strikes since the February 2021 coup. (TNH)