#HellsArmy”: New Film Tracks #Russia’s #WagnerGroup & Rise of #MercenaryArmies

June 12, 2026

"We speak with Oscar-nominated filmmaker #RickRowley about his new documentary, Hell’s Army. The film tracks the Wagner Group, the notorious Russian mercenary army that has fought in #Ukraine and other parts of the world. The group’s founder, #YevgenyPrigozhin, was a confidant to Putin until a failed 2023 mutiny against the government. He died in a suspicious plane crash two months later.

" 'We realized that he could be killed, the leader of this army could be killed, but its model continues,' says Rowley. 'Around the world, #oligarchs are turning to mercenary armies, and it’s a scourge that needs to be stopped.'

"Hell’s Army has its North American premiere Friday in Washington, D.C."

Read / watch / listen:
http://www.democracynow.org/2026/6/12/hells_army

#PMCWagner #ErikPrince #Mercenaries #Blackwater #Oligarchy #ГруппаВагнера #Prigozhin #CorporateColonialism #ErikPrinceColonialism

“Hell’s Army”: New Film Tracks Russia’s Wagner Group & Rise of Mercenary Armies

We speak with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rick Rowley about his new documentary, Hell’s Army. The film tracks the Wagner Group, the notorious Russian mercenary army that has fought in Ukraine and other parts of the world. The group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was a confidant to Putin until a failed 2023 mutiny against the government. He died in a suspicious plane crash two months later. “We realized that he could be killed, the leader of this army could be killed, but its model continues,” says Rowley. “Around the world, oligarchs are turning to mercenary armies, and it’s a scourge that needs to be stopped.” Hell’s Army has its North American premiere Friday in Washington, D.C.

Democracy Now!

#NativeAmericanCalling - #OilDrilling vs #CulturalPreservation at #ChacoCanyon

May 27, 2026 By Art Hughes

"The #Trump administration is moving to undo a 20-year ban on #OilAndGasDrilling near Chaco Canyon, a place of major cultural significance to #pueblos in the Southwest. The threat of new oil leases on nearly 340,000 acres of #PublicLand surrounding Chaco Canyon has put the site on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s [#NTHP] list of America’s #MostEndangeredSpaces. It is the second time on the same list for the land that is already a protected National Historic Park and a #UNESCOWorldHeritageSite. The moratorium was instituted in 2023 by then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a Laguna Pueblo citizen. We’ll hear about the options ahead for the land and the cultural significance it holds."

Listen:
https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/wednesday-may-27-2026-oil-drilling-vs-cultural-preservation-at-chaco-canyon/

#NativeAmericanNews #IndigenousNews #ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #BigOilAndGas #TrumpSucks #USPol #Oiligarch #CorporateColonialism #CorporateGreed #FossilFuels #FossilFools

‘The cavalry’s coming!’: Indigenous activism from 1492 to Standing Rock

Famed Indigenous activists like Leonard Peltier and Madonna Thunder Hawk and younger activists shared their thoughts with ICT about the evolution of Indigenous activism from the rise of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s to Standing Rock and beyond.

by Kevin Abourezk, May 11, 2026

#CannonballND – "The field is serene. The blades of brown grass, not yet awakened by spring rains, sway gently. In the distance, the #MissouriRiver cuts a blue streak across the unbroken plains. The silence is punctuated only by the sound of passing cars and the low hum of rushing water in nearby #CannonballRiver.

"But if you listen carefully, you can hear defiant voices shouting and then screaming.

"Ten years ago, this land exploded.

"For nearly a year, from April 2016 to February 2017, thousands of people stood strong against #MilitarizedPolice, #FederalTroops and #PrivateSecurityForces [#Blackwater] hired to protect the 1,176-mile #DakotaAccessPipeline. They gathered to resist a private corporation’s efforts to build a pipeline less than a mile from the #StandingRockSioux Reservation near the #NorthDakota-#SouthDakota border.

"In the end, they were forced to evacuate their camps as authorities quieted, but never fully extinguished, the uprising. Some would say the fire that ignited at #StandingRock was lit decades earlier by #NativeActivists who fought oppression and violence in the 1960s and 1970s.

"While Native people have resisted #colonization and its impacts since 1492, the rise of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s marked a turning point in the efforts of Native people to join together and speak in one voice. That torch of resistance was carried all the way from places like #AlcatrazIsland and #WoundedKnee to a field near the Missouri River in 2016.

"The #NoDAPL movement reached its height on Nov. 20, 2016, when hundreds of water protectors gathered on a bridge to clear two burned-out trucks that impeded a public roadway that provided access to the pipeline drill site and to the camp. The confrontation was the most violent clash between water protectors and authorities during the protest and led to nearly 200 people being injured, some seriously."

Read more:
https://ictnews.org/news/the-cavalrys-coming-indigenous-activism-from-1492-to-standing-rock/

#USPol #NativeAmericanActivism #StandWithStandingRock #NativeAmericanHistory #Resistance #IndigenousResistance #Colonialism #CorporateColonialism

‘The cavalry’s coming!’: Indigenous activism from 1492 to Standing Rock

Famed Indigenous activists like Leonard Peltier and Madonna Thunder Hawk and younger activists shared their thoughts with ICT about the evolution of Indigenous activism from the rise of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s to Standing Rock and beyond.

ICT

#MontanaTribe Opposes ‘Slap on the Wrist’ Fine for #IllegalMining That Polluted #WaterSource

by Elyse Wild May 26, 2026

"The #FortBelknap Indian Community is opposing a settlement between the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and mining companies that illegally mined on the tribes’ ancestral homeland, harming crucial water sources for the reservation.

"From 2020 to 2022, #BlueArcLLC and #LegacyMiningLLC conducted mining activities at the #ZortmanMine in the #LittleRockyMountains without permits, licenses, or performance bonds, resulting in damage to ongoing environmental reclamation efforts.

"The #ZortmanLanduskyMine opened in 1979 and was operated by #PegasusGoldCorp. until it filed for bankruptcy in 1998. Two decades of mining activities caused widespread surface and #GroundwaterContamination, and in 1999, the DEQ and Bureau of Land Management took over the site. In 2001, Luke Ployhar, owner of Blue Arc LLC, bought the land out of the bankruptcy under the condition that the #DEQ had ongoing access to conduct #reclamation activities.

"The two agencies spent approximately $85 million cleaning up the area, according to the consent order. The site needs #WaterTreatment in perpetuity, meaning the additional cost to #taxpayers could exceed hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The illegal mining activities damaged the continuous #environmental cleanup and caused contaminated water to flow downstream to the #FortBelknapIndianCommunity, polluting its water.

In 2022, the state proposed a $516,567 penalty for Blue Arc LLC and Legacy Mining LLC. On Friday, May 22, the DEQ reached a settlement with the companies for $200,000, to be paid over five years. The agreement does not require an admission of wrongdoing."

Read more:
https://nativenewsonline.net/environment/montana-tribe-opposes-slap-on-the-wrist-fine-for-illegal-mining-that-polluted-water-source/

#USPol #CorporateColonialism #NativeAmericanNews #NativeAmericans #WaterIsLife #SlapOnTheWrist #Montana #MontanaDEQ #DEQFail

Montana Tribe Opposes ‘Slap on the Wrist’ Fine for Illegal Mining That Polluted Water Source

The Fort Belknap Indian Community is opposing a settlement between the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and mining companies that illegally mined on the tribes’ ancestral homeland, harming crucial water sources for the reservation. From 2020 to 2022, Blue Arc LLC and Legacy Mining LLC conducted mining activities at the Zortman Mine in the Little […]

Native News Online

From last year...

#OnionLake #CreeNation to proceed with its legal challenge of #Alberta sovereignty act

By Lisa Johnson The Canadian Press, May 15, 2025

EDMONTON - "Alberta’s bill lowering the bar for a separation referendum has spurred a #FirstNation to push ahead with a legal challenge against the premier’s flagship sovereignty act.

"Danielle Smith has said her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act is needed to push back on what the province believes is unconstitutional federal encroachment into provincial jurisdiction.

"But Onion Lake Cree Nation Chief #HenryLewis said that law has always been about undermining federal authority and asserting provincial control, which goes against his community’s #Treaty6 relationship with the Crown.

" 'I want to respectfully remind the premier that this land that we stand on today is #Treaty land and is not yours to take or make sweeping decisions about,” he said at a news conference in Edmonton on Thursday.

"He announced the legal challenge is moving forward a day after Smith’s government passed a bill significantly lowering the threshold for citizens to prompt a referendum, including one on seceding from Canada."

Read more:
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/alberta/onion-lake-cree-nation-to-proceed-with-its-legal-challenge-of-alberta-sovereignty-act/article_c7301e5b-8384-51de-a963-b764ddba96fe.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/qPDjh

#CanPol #CanadaPol #RespectTheTreaties #LandBack #Alberta #FirstNations #BigOilAndGas #Oiligarchy #Albertans #Mining #CorporateColonialism

Seems like #Oiligarchy has won the hearts of #Albertan #MAGA-types. If anything, there should be #LandBack to #Alberta's #FirstNations, and colonizer descendants will just have to deal with it!!!

Albertans Could Soon Vote on Whether to Separate From Canada. Here’s What to Know

by Chantelle Lee, May 5, 2026

"Many Albertans have slammed the federal Liberal government for blocking #pipeline projects and canceling oil and gas projects. The province’s economy is largely driven by its #OilAndGas extraction, as well as #mining and #quarrying."

Read more:
https://time.com/article/2026/05/05/alberta-canada-separatist-movement-referendum/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/KxxFz

#Colonialism #CorporateColonialism #CanPol #CanadaPol #NoMining #ExtractiveIndustries #BigOilAndGas #FuckColonialism

Albertans Could Soon Vote on Whether to Separate From Canada. Here’s What to Know

The Alberta separatist movement dates back decades, but has gained momentum in the past year.

Time

Yup. That's what the #UnitedStates is reduced to... #Mobsters shaking up other countries for their #Minerals. Nothing new for #CorporateColonialism, but still... Shameful!

#Zambia blasts the US over a $2 billion health deal in exchange for #CriticalMinerals

By Farai Mutsaka and GERALD IMRAY, May 5, 2026

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — "Zambia is accusing the United States of tying a $2 billion deal for critical health assistance to access to the southern African nation’s rich mineral assets, and calling the outgoing U.S. ambassador’s allegations of corruption 'mischievous' and 'undiplomatic.'

"The comments by Zambia’s foreign affairs minister, #MulamboHaimbe, on Monday brought into the open simmering tensions over President Donald #Trump’s '#AmericaFirst' strategy, which is reshaping aid to #Africa into #transactional agreements.

"Some African leaders and health experts have criticized the new U.S. stance and its demands for sensitive health data in exchange for badly needed support for health systems strained by the Trump administration’s dismantling of foreign aid. Some say they would not receive access to health innovations like #vaccines in return."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/us-zambia-diplomacy-trump-health-aid-minerals-8a38c5c3c3a5dcddaa3a7cb012278b63

#USPol #WorldPol #Extortion #Bullies #USAid #Colonialism

Zambia accuses US of tying $2B health deal to mineral access

Zambia accuses the U.S. of linking a $2 billion health assistance deal to access to its rich mineral resources. Zambia’s foreign affairs minister calls the outgoing U.S. ambassador’s corruption allegations “mischievous” and “undiplomatic.” The U.S. aims to reshape aid to Africa into transactional agreements, while challenging China’s influence. Talks have stalled in Zambia over U.S. demands for data-sharing and preferential treatment for U.S. companies. Critics warn this approach risks creating a parallel global health system and using health as a bargaining chip. The U.S. says its strategy reduces donor dependency and promotes local ownership.

AP News

'#DataColonialism': Native Communities Fight #AI #DataCenters on #IndigenousLand

#DemocracyNow, April 22, 2026

"The artificial intelligence industry’s #DataCenter boom is the latest chapter in a long history of #EnvironmentalRacism and resource exploitation in vulnerable Native communities, says Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne activist #KrystalTwoBulls, the executive director of #HonorTheEarth, an Indigenous-led #EnvironmentalJustice organization that is tracking over 100 proposed data center projects on tribal and rural lands. We speak to Two Bulls about the myriad impacts of what she calls a 'modern-day iteration' of '#SettlerColonialism,' including #NoisePollution, #cancers and respiratory illnesses, water depletion, #EnergyGrid overload and even '#EcologicalCollapse.' As tech companies set their sights on Indigenous lands, Two Bulls says, 'We’re always the one that ends up having to sacrifice our relationship to land, air, water, our communities and our nonhuman relatives.' "

Read / listen / watch:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/4/22/krystal_twobulls_indigenous_lands_data_centers

#AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #AISucks #AIDataCenters #CorporateColonialism #ResistAI

“Data Colonialism”: Native Communities Fight AI Data Centers on Indigenous Land

The artificial intelligence industry’s data center boom is the latest chapter in a long history of environmental racism and resource exploitation in vulnerable Native communities, says Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne activist Krystal Two Bulls, the executive director of Honor the Earth, an Indigenous-led environmental justice organization that is tracking over 100 proposed data center projects on tribal and rural lands. We speak to Two Bulls about the myriad impacts of what she calls a “modern-day iteration” of “settler colonialism,” including noise pollution, cancers and respiratory illnesses, water depletion, energy grid overload and even “ecological collapse.” As tech companies set their sights on Indigenous lands, Two Bulls says, “We’re always the one that ends up having to sacrifice our relationship to land, air, water, our communities and our nonhuman relatives.”

Democracy Now!

I heard this song on WMPG's show, #TheWeavers with #LisaSockabasin. What a great lead-up to today's #DemocracyNow broadcast (Weavers is at 11:30am, while Democracy Now airs at Noon).

"You provided us a home; our conduct is shameful
Momma! We need you now more than ever
I can't believe the way we treated you; better late than never
I've taken you for granted but from here and now I cherish you
And this my open letter to show the pain that I share with you
You've given us a life, my brothers make you hurt
But all they see is dollar signs when stealing out your purse
Man, they never taken the time to see you for what you really worth
But the damage done is permanent it can't be reversed

Oh Momma! You really made some shady people
You've given them the world but like the sun you see no evil
Momma D was my teacher but she gone now
I know where I belong now; my mother's keeper
So Momma I refuse to see you die this way
I take your pain to fuel my fame to fight the game another day

It's oil mines and pipelines; show me what the cancer is
Injected in your veins I'll tell you what the answer is
Momma, Momma!
(Wade, in the water)
Momma, Momma!
(Wade, in the water, children)"

- The Water, #SnottyNosedRezKids, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1TADWYrQ24

#LoveYourMother #IndigenousMusic #NativeAmericanMusicians #HipHop #WaterIsLife #BigOilAndGas #Resistance #CorporateColonialism

The Water

YouTube

#Texas quietly approves #Starbase launch site expansion

Brandon Lingle
Tue, March 24, 2026 at 4:48 PM EDT

"The permit allows SpaceX 'to fill over 17 acres of #wetlands and #TidalFlats,' the Corps said. The work 'includes building new infrastructure such as a new entrance road, test and staging pads, water and propellant storage, blast walls, equipment staging areas and internal roadways.' "

Read more:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/texas-quietly-approves-starbase-launch-204822474.html

#CarrizoComecrudo #BocaChicaBeach #SacredLand #ProtectTheSacred #Colonialism #CorporateColonialism #OccupySpaceX #TwoHeartedPeople #GarciaPasture #EndangeredSpecies #EnvironmentalRacism #AncestralLand #ElonSucks #StarbaseCity #BrownsvilleTX

Texas quietly approves Starbase launch site expansion

State regulators have signed off on SpaceX's plan to expand its Starbase launch site farther into surrounding wetlands, certifying that the project wouldn't ...

Yahoo News