#blackwater — Public Fediverse posts

“ #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 #PrivateSecurity

“ #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 #PrivateSecurity

“ #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 #PrivateSecurity

“ #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 #PrivateSecurity

“ #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 #PrivateSecurity

‘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

Leaving this here before moving onto other topics...

#ErikPrince to Speak at #CPAC #ChristianPersecution Summit

https://www.cpac.org/post/erik-prince-to-speak-at-cpac-christian-persecution-summit

#AntiChristoFascist #ChristoFascism #GOP #ErikPrinceColonialism #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #USPol #Blackwater #Project2025

Leaving this here before moving onto other topics...

#ErikPrince to Speak at #CPAC #ChristianPersecution Summit

https://www.cpac.org/post/erik-prince-to-speak-at-cpac-christian-persecution-summit

#AntiChristoFascist #ChristoFascism #GOP #ErikPrinceColonialism #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #USPol #Blackwater #Project2025

Leaving this here before moving onto other topics...

#ErikPrince to Speak at #CPAC #ChristianPersecution Summit

https://www.cpac.org/post/erik-prince-to-speak-at-cpac-christian-persecution-summit

#AntiChristoFascist #ChristoFascism #GOP #ErikPrinceColonialism #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #USPol #Blackwater #Project2025

Leaving this here before moving onto other topics...

#ErikPrince to Speak at #CPAC #ChristianPersecution Summit

https://www.cpac.org/post/erik-prince-to-speak-at-cpac-christian-persecution-summit

#AntiChristoFascist #ChristoFascism #GOP #ErikPrinceColonialism #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #USPol #Blackwater #Project2025

Rich people #vote in EVERY #local #election (& You Should Too)
Don't let them decide what happens to you. Find your #localelection at: https://ballotpedia.org/
#Pearlmania500 #localelections #votes #elections #election #localelectionsmatter #mayor #electiondayy #gotv #localpolitics #getoutthevote #richpeoplevote #billionaires #wealthinequality #blackwater @pearlmania500 #voteblue #democracy #fair #vote2025 #November4

#StandingRock Chair on #Greenpeace Verdict -- False, Self-serving Narrative in Insulting Lawsuit

"If Greenpeace can be held liable for telling the truth about #SiouxNation Treaty rights, then we are all in trouble."

By Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire, via #CensoredNews, March 27, 2025

"As Chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, I take offense to the jury verdict in the #EnergyTransfer #SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace. We expect more from #NorthDakota judges and members of the jury from our neighboring communities.

"#EnergyTransfer’s claims in this case were ridiculous. They were wholly disrespectful of the #StandingRockSioux Tribe, our ancestors, and our youth, who started the movement in 2016 to protect our water from an oil spill from #DAPL. Neither Greenpeace nor anyone else paid or persuaded Standing Rock to oppose DAPL.

"Our young people and our elders urged us to protect our water and #UnciMakah (grandmother earth). That is what happened, and is happening still. Energy Transfer’s false and self-serving narrative that Greenpeace manipulated Standing Rock into protesting DAPL is patronizing and disrespectful to our people.

"We understand that many Morton County residents support the #OilIndustry, even out-of-state #pipeline companies such as Energy Transfer. But we are your neighbors, and you should not be fooled that easily. Energy Transfer does not know us. They don’t know who we are – an Indigenous Nation that has survived every attack because our ancestors are with us.

"Greenpeace did not manipulate Standing Rock, but #EnergyTransfer has manipulated #MortonCounty. DAPL crosses our Treaty and aboriginal land for hundreds of miles.

"Our ancestors occupied this land for thousands of years before #NorthDakota came into existence. The land between the Heart and Missouri River are our #unceded Treaty lands under the 1868 and 1851 Fort Laramie Treaties. Our aboriginally-occupied territories extend east to the James River and beyond. That is a historical truth. If Greenpeace can be held liable for telling the truth about Sioux Nation Treaty rights, then we are all in trouble.

"The construction of Fort Rice on our northern boundary in 1864 was a violation of the Fort Laramie Treaties. This required our Tribe to be vigilant. No one should be surprised that warrior society burials are found in this area, near the pipeline route.

"And do not insult our cultural experts, who have wisdom over matters most residents of Morton County or bureaucrats at the State Historical Society know absolutely nothing about. Energy Transfer and its lawyers should be ashamed of themselves. Everyday North Dakotans on the jury should know better.

"When it comes to the excessive police and private security response to the generally peaceful protests at #CannonBall, believe your eyes. The scenes of guard dogs menacing Tribal members are reminiscent of the violence of #WhiteSupremacists in the #DeepSouth during the 1950’s and 60’s, but it was in North Dakota, in this day and age. It was on the news and on the internet.

"Many of the protesters were Native American veterans of the United States armed forces. Energy Transfer used attack dogs against peaceful protesters and war heroes. But the jury sided with the out-of-state, unlicensed security with the attack dogs, instead of North Dakota veterans who supported Standing Rock.

"A Texas oil company has come to North Dakota, and its lawyers and propaganda machine are weaving stories about how the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and our supporters have lied, and how the poor pipeline company, a trillion dollars richer than in 2016 when this all started, should receive extra millions from non-profit organizations. It’s a funny thing about liars – they always accuse everyone else of lying. The Greenpeace trial was marked by secrecy.

"The court is not making the transcript public. The documents obtained by Greenpeace about Energy Transfer’s terrible safety record are protected by a secrecy order and are not available to the public. The judge exhibited so much bias in favor of Energy Transfer that a team of international human rights lawyers felt compelled to monitor the trial. One prominent monitor stated 'In my six decades of legal practice, I have never witnessed a trial as unfair as the one against Greenpeace that just ended in the courts of North Dakota.'

"Standing Rock has tried to work for greater transparency on DAPL. It is our experience with the Army Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer that all documents relating to DAPL pipeline safety are heavily redacted, and kept secret. What are they hiding? Who is looking out for the communities that may be affected by an oil spill? And why didn’t the North Dakota court allow Greenpeace to address these questions at the trial?

"DAPL is a dangerous pipeline. It crosses our unceded Treaty and aboriginal land. Energy Transfer destroyed Tribal burials as identified by our cultural experts, and committed violence against our people. That is the history that North Dakota and Morton County must reckon with. After the Greenpeace verdict, that day seems farther off than ever."

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03/standing-rock-chair-on-greenpeace.html
#StandWithStandingRock #SLAPPsLawsuits #SLAPPs #FossilFuel #BigOilAndGas #Academi #EricPrince #Blackwater #ACAB #PrivateSecurity #BigOil #KelcyWarren #Oiligarchy #CorporateColonialism #WaterProtectors #StevenDonziger #EnvironmentalRacism #ReaderSupportedNews #CorporateFascism #SilencingDissent #StandingRockReservation

Ummmm... From #wikipedia:

The #WagnerGroup (Russian: #ГруппаВагнера, romanized: Gruppa Vagnera), officially known as PMC Wagner (ЧВК «Вагнер»), is a #Russian state-funded private military company (#PMC) controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir #Putin, and since then by Pavel Prigozhin. The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces. Evidence suggests that Wagner has been used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing it to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and hiding the true casualties of Russia's foreign interventions.

"The group emerged during the war in #Donbas, where it helped Russian separatist forces in #Ukraine from 2014 to 2015. Wagner played a significant role in the later full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, for which it recruited Russian prison #inmates for frontline combat. By the end of 2022, its strength in Ukraine had grown from 1,000 to between 20,000 and 50,000. It was reportedly Russia's main assault force in the Battle of Bakhmut. Wagner has also supported regimes friendly with Russia, including in the civil wars in #Syria, #Libya, the #CentralAfricanRepublic, and #Mali. In Africa, it has offered regimes security in exchange for the transfer of diamond and gold mining contracts to Russian companies. Wagner operatives have been accused of #WarCrimes including #murder, #torture, #rape and #robbery of #civilians, as well as #torturing and killing accused #Deserters.

[...]

"Early in 2020, #ErikPrince, founder of the #Blackwater private military company, sought to provide military services to the Wagner Group in its operations in Libya and #Mozambique, according to The Intercept. By March 2021, Wagner PMCs were reportedly also deployed in #Zimbabwe, #Angola, #Guinea, #GuineaBissau, and possibly the #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Group
#ErikPrinceColonialism #PutinsArmy #CorporateColonialism #Oligarchy

It's not news that U.S. corporations are profiting from the destruction caused by U.S. military actions, directly or indirectly (in #Gaza currently the demolition contractor is vassal/client state #Israel). This profit-making often occurs through military contracts, logistics, and reconstruction that follows war and occupation.

Taking #Blackwater and the Nisour Square massacre in #Iraq as an example, these "contractors" (mercenaries) operate in a legal gray area, with little accountability. Their actions, even accidental ones, could escalate the conflict. Not to mention it's an industry driven by profit, which incentivizes prolonging conflict, not ending it.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/20/another-blackrock-nearly-100-u-s-mercenaries-are-in-gaza-right-now/

See also https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-contractors-gaza/

C/c @peterjriley2024

@israel
@palestine
#GazaGenocide
#ForeverWar
#PlausibleDeniability
#ConflictProfiteering
#PostWarCapitalism

#BreakingNews!

#EnergyTransfer's $300 Million Lawsuit Against #Greenpeace for #StandingRock #Resistance Delayed

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews
July 29, 2024

STANDING ROCK, #NorthDakota -- "Energy Transfer's $300 million #SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace and Standing Rock #WaterProtectors for the resistance to #DakotaAccessPipeline has been delayed until February, due to a 'massive document dump' by Energy Transfer, Greenpeace told Censored News today.

"Originally, our trial was set for July 29th, 2024 – but due to a massive document dump by Energy Transfer in June, Greenpeace filed a request to have the trial date pushed back. The judge agreed, and moved our trial to February 24, 2025 through March 28, 2025," Lindsay Bigda, communication director, Democracy Resilience Program at Greenpeace USA told Censored News today.
Responding to questions, Greenpeace said #RedWarriorSociety and other water protectors are named in the lawsuit.

"'Red Warrior Society is still named in the lawsuit and last week our lawyers presented arguments for why it shouldn’t be (because it is not the sort of entity that can be sued). The two individuals, #CodyHall and #KrystalTwoBulls, are also still named, but were never served. (Greenpeace entities are the only ones that were served and are actively litigating),' Bigda told Censored News.

"'Very few jurisdictions have made steps to prevent the corporate legal warfare waged in SLAPPs to #SilenceDissent and freedom of expression. The United States has long failed to uphold #HumanRights and #Indigenous leaders have had no choice but to leave their precious homelands; and use international diplomacy to implore all those who will listen for an end to the #extractive industry violence.'

"'Europe played a key role in the #colonization of the planet. Now let's see if she, her people, and jurisdictions, can help in undoing and healing that historic wound. #IndigenousPeoples must continue to engage with Europe to seek justice and #corporate accountability.'

"Standing Rock water protectors have been served subpoenas in the case from Energy Transfer, as it seeks out information. #UnicornRiot fought the subpoena in #Minnesota and won its case to protect its internal media files. However, Energy Transfer has now asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to reconsider its case.

"Greenpeace clarified the reason for the subpoenas that water protectors and Unicorn Riot media were served with.
'Unicorn riot was never named in the lawsuit. They received a third party subpoena, along with many other activist groups and individuals (these folks are not parties to the case; rather, they are third parties that Energy Transfer wants info from in its case against Greenpeace,)' Bigda told Censored News.

"Mercenaries #TigerSwan Spied without a License, Provided Info to Law Enforcement

"Red Warrior Camp was a focus of the mercenaries hired by Energy Transfer at Standing Rock in September of 2016, as revealed in the court-ordered spy documents released.
TigerSwan was found working in North Dakota without a license from 2016 through 2017. As a result, the North Dakota regulatory board ordered that TigerSwan's spy files be released. The Intercept now has over 50,000 of TigerSwan's spy documents at Standing Rock, as a result of a lengthy court battle. Energy Transfer, employer of TigerSwan, fought the release of documents in North Dakota court, but the North Dakota Supreme Court upheld the decision to release TigerSwan's documents in 2022.

"The TigerSwan aerial photos included #OcetiSakowin Camp, Red Warrior Camp, and the other camps. The spy documents reveal that a U.S. Border Patrol drone was included in the aerial #surveillance and #infiltrators were placed in the water protector camps at Standing Rock and elsewhere.

"Meanwhile, after Standing Rock, TigerSwan's CEO formed a new company. Syria says they are stealing #Syria's oil. CNN reported about the secretive contract and the new company.

#Palestinians Targeted for Surveillance by TigerSwan at Standing Rock

"As soon as a single #Palestinian activist showed up at an anti-Dakota Access Pipeline camp on the edge of the Standing Rock reservation in 2016, intelligence analysts for the mercenary security firm TigerSwan were on alert," by Alleen Brown, Drilled and co-published with the Center for Media and Democracy."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/07/energy-transfers-300-million-lawsuit.html

#ReaderSupportedNews #StandWithStandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #CorporateColonialism #EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #BigOilAndGas #ErikPrince #Blackwater

So, one of my guilty pleasures is horror movies (I post about those on my "no politics" account). One of my favorites are the Omen movies -- the whole notion that the "Antichrist" would be someone in charge of a large corporation (Thorn Industries) makes total sense! And that "Damien Thorn" was born on June 6th was something that stuck with me.

My personal take on what a real Antichrist would look like became more apparent as I saw the rise of the rabid right and #ChristianCoalition, led by baby-faced zealot #RalphReed. Anyhow, the point I'm trying to make is that good ol' #ErikPrince was born on June 6, 1969, and inherited a lot from his father's business venture (Prince Industries). Could the war-mongering #Christofascist and his evil sister be the manifestation of humanity's worst traits?

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/09/the-strange-ascent-of-betsy-devos-and-erik-prince

#Evil #ChristianRight #Crusades #Corporatocracy #Warmongers #Hatemongers #Blackwater #PrivateArmies #ChristianCrusader #Fascism