Russia

In 2023, Biden may have to Choose between Sanctions against Russia’s Ukraine War and Maximum Pressure on Iran

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Does President Joe Biden have a choice of winning his struggle with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, or continuing “maximum pressure” sanctions against Iran? The problem is that if he continues to pursue both, he may end up handing Russia more resources to prosecute its campaign in Ukraine.

NATO

Can NATO and the Pentagon Find a Diplomatic Off-Ramp From the Ukraine War?

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, known for his staunch support for Ukraine, recently revealed his greatest fear for this winter to a TV interviewer in his native Norway: that the fighting in Ukraine could spin out of control and become a major war between NATO and Russia. “If things go wrong,” […]

Debt

Is the Russian Economy headed for Collapse?

The Conversation

By Eric Werker, Simon Fraser University | – (The Conversation) – To justify invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has painted Russia as a hegemonic power re-asserting its rightful claim to imperial greatness. Yet even before the invasion, Russia’s economic capabilities were hardly capable of sustaining an empire. Now, with foreign sanctions presiding over a plummeting Russian […]

Featured

2023 Prediction: The 2 Major Headaches for U.S. Foreign Policy, aside from Russia, will be Israeli and Iranian Fundamentalism

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Despite the desire of all recent presidents to pivot away from the Middle East, Israel, fundamentalism and Iran have made it difficult to do so. In 2023, I believe that the Biden administration will have to spend far more time on Iran and Israel-Palestine than it had imagined, despite the […]

Russia

The Ukraine Crisis: A Classic Security Dilemma

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – On December 27 2022, both Russia and Ukraine issued calls for ending the war in Ukraine, but only on non-negotiable terms that they each know the other side will reject. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba proposed a “peace summit” in February to be chaired by UN Secretary General Guterres, but with the […]

Afghanistan

U.S.-Trained Afghan Soldiers Angry Over Their Plight Are Ready To Join Russia’s War Against Ukraine

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Michael Scollon ( RFE/RL ) – Lost status and a desperate existence in Iran are driving thousands of former Afghan troops — many of them elite commandos trained by the United States — to consider fighting as mercenaries in Ukraine and other battlefields. Many ex-Afghan security personnel accuse the United States of abandoning them […]

Climate Crisis

How Putin’s War and small Islands are accelerating the global Shift to Clean Energy, and What to Watch for in 2023

The Conversation

By Rachel Kyte | – (The Conversation) – The year 2022 was a tough one for the growing number of people living in food insecurity and energy poverty around the world, and the beginning of 2023 is looking bleak. Russia’s war on Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain and fertilizer feedstock suppliers, tightened global […]

Climate Crisis

Ukraine war: Putin has been weaponising energy for years, here’s what to look out for next

The Conversation

By Thomas Froehlich, King’s College London | – Not since the 1970s oil crisis has the west seen such a focus on energy security. Suddenly in 2022 it became a critical part of the battle for Ukraine. Russian attacks on energy facilities have left millions of Ukrainians without power during a freezing winter. Since it […]

Climate Crisis

Is the New Energy Crisis a Boon for the Green Energy Transition?

Middle East Monitor

By Elif Selin Calik | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The year 2022 saw the energy topic return intensely to the attention of media, political leaders and public opinion after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Russia’s war has had huge impacts on the global energy system, disrupting supply and demand patterns and […]