Europe's top human rights official on July 4 raised concerns that Serbian authorities are using violence and arbitrary arrests to break up protests against President Aleksandar Vučić's populist government. The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty especially decried "the arrest of children, as well as the number of students being charged for criminal offenses or hospitalized for the treatment of injuries."

Speaking at an International Conference on Combating Antisemitism held in Jerusalem last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned against "the fires of anti-Semitism" in Europe and blamed stateside campus protests against Israel's bombardment of Gaza on "a systemic alliance between the ultra-progressive left and radical Islam."

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 spread lies for Putin, but seek a new leadership that mobilizes to oppose them.

Tens of thousands of students on Feb. 15 protested in the Serbian city of Kragujevac, demanding justice for the victims of the November 2024 railway disaster. The protest and street occupation, which lasted 15 hours and marked the culmination of a four-day student march on the city, was symbolically named "Let's Meet on Sretenje." Kragujevac was the first capital of the modern Serbian state, where the Sretenje (Candlemas) Constitution was adopted on Feb. 15, 1835. The date, which also marks the first Serbian pro-independence uprising in 1804, is still commemorated in Serbia as Statehood Day.

In a dramatic escalation of the ongoing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the M23 rebels on Jan. 26 seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu province on the Rwandan border. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation, with the DRC accusing Rwanda of sending hundreds of troops across the border to support the M23. The DRC is caling for an arms embargo on Rwanda, and sanctions on its mineral exports.

Italy's right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, issued a decree Oct. 21 aimed at bypassing judicial obstacles to a controversial deal with Albania to hold and process the claims of asylum-seekers intercepted at sea by Italian forces. The move comes three days after a special immigration court in Rome ruled that the first group of 12 migrants sent to the repurposed military camp at Gjader, Albania, must be returned to Italy. The court found that the migrants' countries of origin—Egypt and Bangladesh—are "unsafe," making their offshore detention illegal. Meloni's decree asserts the executive alone has the power to make such determinations, setting the stage for a showdown between her government and the judiciary. (Politico, DW, BBC News, EuroNews, Jurist, CBC)

Tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Belgrade Aug. 10 following weeks of near-daily protests in more than fifty cities and towns across Serbia to demand a ban on lithium and boron mining in the country. Protesters blockaded the city's two main railway stations, leading to several arrests. Leaders of the activist groups Ne Damo Jadar (Jadar is Not For Sale) and the Association of Serbian Environmental Organizations (SEOS) said they were briefly detained before the rally by police, who warned them that they could face criminal charges if there was any move to block roads or rail lines. President Aleksandar Vučić accused the anti-mining movement of attempting to topple the government in a "color revolution."

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called for an investigation into a drone strike in Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region, condemning the attack as "yet another provocation" in the enclave. The "kamikaze" strike targeted a Transnistrian defense ministry installation April 5, resulting in damage to a radar station. The targeted facility lies six kilometers from the border of Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova charged the attack was "aimed at aggravating the already tense situation around Transnistria." She stated that Russia expect "a thorough investigation into all the circumstances of what happened," adding: "We trust that those behind this reckless action will fully realize its dangerous consequence."