Notices by Andrew Stroehlein (andrewstroehlein@mastodon.social)

Excellent overview of the region that’s likely the next target of Putin’s murderous imperialism - and of nations that offer some inspiration and hope for confronting it. Well written and widely sourced, it’s sympathetic to the cause but presents the nuances and doubts fairly. #books

Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland all heading in the wrong direction:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/07/01/five-european-states-withdraw-from-mine-ban-treaty

Defending your country should not mean killing civilians. Very odd these 5 want to be more like Russia... https://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights/2025/06/17?story=paragraph-11000

#Hungary’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court is an insult to victims and survivors of the world’s worst crimes.

“After refusing to arrest Netanyahu, an ICC fugitive, when he visited the country, Hungary is now doubling down on impunity...”

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/06/16/hungary-orban-government-withdraws-from-icc

Governments are not allowed to torture people or send people to another country where they might be tortured.

That's the law.

It's also basic human decency.

Fellow Europeans who look on in horror at what Trump is trying to do in the US should know that the EU has essentially been doing this for years: helping to return people to places where they know they'll likely be tortured: https://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights/2025/05/12?story=paragraph-10777

No.
https://www.vox.com/scotus/416163/trump-supreme-court-deport-immigration-convention-torture

Probably the most dangerous thing in politics is when a leader needs conflict - when he depends on conflict for his political power, maybe knows no other way to hold on to power. Driving up fears of others, launching deliberate provocations to incite violence, to then expand conflict, all for his own power, with not a thought about the death and destruction others face because of his lust for power.

I am deeply surprised and shocked the two ego-addicted man-babies have fallen out with each other. I did not see that coming at all, and it completely upends my view of everything. Devastated.

Many times in my Daily Brief, I’m talking about individuals I’ve never met. Not today. I worked with Joe, and I knew him as a stand-up guy.

Arrested by Russian forces, Joe has been imprisoned in the Central African Republic for over a year now.

He’s not been found guilty of any crime. There’s been no trial. There’s not even been a date set for a trial.

Read more, and please share:

https://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights/2025/06/05?story=paragraph-10921

Scores of migrant workers in #Saudi Arabia have died in gruesome yet avoidable workplace-related accidents, including falling from buildings, electrocution, and even decapitation.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/05/14/saudi-arabia-migrant-workers-electrocuted-decapitated-and-falling-death-workplaces

People are facing jail sentences for giving water to the thirsty and food to the hungry.

This is happening in the EU.

How did our authorities become so disconnected from the most fundamental instincts of human decency?

https://euobserver.com/Migration/ar89b39525

So, German leaders are talking about creating a second-class citizenship.

Now, where have we heard that before?

Oh, right...
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-could-withdraw-citizenship-due-to-antisemitism/a-72104457

Empathy is the foundation of civilization.

"Women and girls face particularly extreme risks, with significant reports of sexual abuse by #Belarus forces, including rape and gang rape," says the report.
https://euobserver.com/Migration/arf740e957

Today's "woke" is yesterday's "political correctness" is the day-before-that's "try to be polite and treat people decently."

If you think a brutal dictator whose armies have been engaged in an atrocity-ridden invasion of a neighbouring country is going to stop his armies after this and not launch another atrocity-ridden invasion of another country, and then another… you have not read a single page of European history.

The truth:

Putin's Russia invaded #Ukraine.

Russia's invasion started in 2014 & accelerated in 2022.

Russian forces in Ukraine have been committing war crimes & other mass atrocities from the beginning, both in areas outside their control & in areas they occupy.

https://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights/2024/11/19?story=paragraph-9792

“In Munich, the Czechoslovak delegation were kept in an adjoining room to await details of when and how they would surrender the Sudetenland to Hitler. On Tuesday, the Ukrainians were not even in the same country.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/18/ukraine-and-europe-made-to-sit-outside-as-us-and-russia-sharpen-their-carving-knives

I wish political leaders in Europe over the last decade had spent less time & effort fighting the invented “invasion” of immigrants and more time & effort addressing the very real, atrocity-ridden invasion to the east.

I mean, call me old fashioned, but armies with tanks, planes, and drones do infinitely more damage than desperate families carrying everything they own on their backs.

As the Rwanda-backed M23 takes another city in eastern Congo, the humanitarian situation is dire. The international community has levers to pull - why isn’t anyone pulling them? My Daily Brief:

📰 Read: https://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights/2025/02/17?story=paragraph-10222

🔊 Listen: https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/audio/2025/02/17/calculated-chaos-congo-daily-brief-february-17-2025