Eastern Europe

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Exacerbates Hunger in Middle East, North Africa: Strong Government Response Needed to Protect the Right to Food

Human Rights Watch) – (Beirut) – Governments should ensure that the conflict in Ukraine does not worsen the food crisis in the Middle East and North Africa and protect the right to affordable, adequate food for everyone, Human Rights Watch said today. Both Ukraine and Russia are leading exporters of agricultural products to many Middle […]

Feminism

Ukraine’s women fighters reflect a cultural tradition of feminist independence

The Conversation

By Mia Bloom, Georgia State University and Sophia Moskalenko, Georgia State University | – Tens of thousands of Ukrainian women have taken up arms during the war sparked by Russia’s invasion. According to media reports, women constitute as much as 15% to 17% of the Ukrainian fighting force. In the first two weeks of the […]

Bashar al-Assad

Was Putin’s Himalayan Error on Ukraine a Result of his Syrian Success?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Alexander Titov at Queen’s University, Belfast, has argued that the commonly met with meme that Vladimir Putin has gone off his rocker is incorrect. Titov locates Putin’s grand strategy in the tradition of great power politics. I agree that it doesn’t add anything significant to our analysis to resort to […]

China

Ukraine: why China is not yet bailing out Russia

The Conversation

By Aglaya Snetkov, UCL and Marc Lanteigne University of Tromsø | – As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, China’s role has been thrown into sharp relief. Prior to the war, some commentators suggested that China would openly side with Russia or seek to act as a mediator – so far Beijing appears to have resisted […]

Climate Crisis

With Russia in Ukraine, Climate Emergency is at Heart of German Security Strategy

Julian Wettengel

( Clean Energy Wire ) – The climate crisis and its effects on people’s lives around the world will be at the heart of the National Security Strategy being developed by the German government, said foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. The minister called climate change “the security policy question of our time” and said the “foundations […]

Climate Crisis

Will Europe Rush even faster to Electric Vehicles to escape dependence on Putin’s Oil?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sean Goulding Carroll at Euractiv.com asks if Europe can defund the Russian war machine by turning to electric vehicles. It should be noted that in part because of the EU carbon tax, already 29% of new car purchases in Europe last December were EVs or plug-in hybrids, so consumers are […]

Climate Crisis

Plutocrats Fiddling as the World Burns with Global Heating and Nuclear Tensions

Tom Engelhardt

He’s our very own emperor from hell, an updated version of Nero who, in legend, burned down Rome on a whim, though ours prefers drowning Washington. Why, just the other day, Donald Trump — and you knew perfectly well who I meant — bent the ears of 250 top Republican donors for 84 minutes. Among […]

Islam

Crimea’s Peaceful Muslim Tatars Dared come out against Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

Brian Glyn Williams

( The Conversation ) – As Vladimir Putin’s forces wage a brutal war against Ukraine, the Crimean Tatars living in Russian-occupied Crimea and on the Ukrainian mainland feel particularly threatened by their historic enemy’s latest invasion. Some have vowed to defend Ukraine, a land many fled to in 2014 after Putin’s forces invaded the Crimean […]

Displaced and Refugees

US would be on firmer Ground declaring Putin a War Criminal if George W. Bush had been Tried

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – NPR reports that on Wednesday, President Biden called Russian dictator Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for the first time. The report notes that this outburst is unusual for Biden, who prizes personal diplomacy and must know that such a charge would make it more difficult to negotiate with Putin down […]