Eastern Europe

Iran, seeking Counter to US Sanctions, is Joining Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Warming up to Russia

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s foreign minister, attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, has signed key membership papers to formalize its entry into the Eurasian security body led by China and Russia. Although Iran is now considered by the US State Department to be in what it calls the “Middle […]

Climate Crisis

All the Victims of the Ukraine War

H. Patricia Hynes

“They will beat their swords into plowshares . . . Nor will they train for war anymore.” Isaiah2:3-4. Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – What’s wrong, so profoundly wrong with war that compelled Isaiah to implore for peace (without debate over just and unjust war) almost 3,000 years ago? War breeds a plague of […]

Pentagon

US Smug about Russia’s Failures in Ukraine, Forgetting the Iraq and Afghanistan Quagmires

Andrew J. Bacevich

(Tomdispatch.com) – In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal. The question is: Why? The answer in American policy circles, both civilian and military, appears all but self-evident. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has stubbornly insisted on ignoring the principles, […]

Eurasia

Those Iranian Planes Ferrying Drones to Moscow Flew over Georgia: But who gave Permission?

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Nadia Beard | – ( RFE/ RL) – TBILISI — Georgia’s position on the war in Ukraine has again come under domestic scrutiny after three Iran Air Cargo planes allegedly carrying drones to Russia passed through Georgian airspace. Over the last few days, Georgian opposition figures have called for answers from the government, accusing […]

Featured

More Ukraine-Palestine Hypocrisy: US slams Russia for Deporting Residents from Occupied Territory, which Israel does all the Time

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield castigated Russia for having deported large numbers of Ukrainians from the parts of Ukraine that the Russian military had occupied, referring to these as “filtration operations.” She said, “Of course, I need not remind this Council that the forcible transfer […]

China

New Hawkish UK PM Liz Truss is Spoiling for Confrontations with Russia and China

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Special to Informed Comment) – The United Kingdom has announced its third Prime Minister since Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. Although former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the man to guide Brexit, those who assisted in his post-Brexit vision could further Britain’s controversial path. On September 6, Liz Truss […]

Russia

Mikhail Gorbachev: The contradictory Legacy of Soviet Leader who attempted ‘Revolution from Above

Ronald Suny

Mikhail Gorbachev was a contradictory figure; his legacy, complex. Hailed in the West as a democrat and liberator of his people – which he genuinely was – he increasingly became despised by many within Russia for destroying the Soviet Union and dismantling a great power. Either way, he was consequential. Indeed, his death at 91, […]

Antisemitism

Has the Ukraine War Kicked off the 4th Modern Exodus of Jews from Russia?

The Conversation

By Stephen Hall, University of Bath | – It’s not the first time that Jews have felt it necessary to flee Russia, but the invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the fourth wave of exiles in the past hundred years. Since Vladimir Putin became president for the second time in 2012, the authorities have become […]

Nuclear Energy

Ukraine War being Fought around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant: What could Possibly Go wrong?

The Conversation

By Najmedin Meshkati, University of Southern California | – Russian forces occupy Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. Russian and Ukrainian forces are fighting nearby, and shelling has damaged power and communication lines to the plant, prompting fears for the plant’s safety and evoking painful […]