Europe

Xi Jinping backs Palestine entry into Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as Beijing offers to Mediate Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas accomplished a great deal on his 4-day visit to Beijing, including a Chinese agreement to try to bring Palestine into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, if the other members agree. Chinese President Xi Jinping and he announced on Tuesday a strategic partnership. Some months ago Foreign Minister […]

Climate Crisis

To Avert Climate Catastrophe, US and Europe must stop Competing and Start Cooperating

Foreign Policy in Focus

Originally published in European Alternatives. ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – From a foreign policy perspective, transatlantic relations appear to have reached new heights. The United States and European Union both support Ukraine’s efforts to expel Russian troops from its territory. On the military front, NATO is enjoying boom times thanks to the reemergence […]

China

Peace for Ukraine Courtesy of China? Another Step in Beijing’s Rise to Global Power

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – All wars do end, usually thanks to a negotiated peace agreement. Consider that a fundamental historical fact, even if it seems to have been forgotten in Brussels, Moscow, and above all, Washington, D.C. In recent months, among Russian President Vladimir Putin’s followers, there has been much talk of a “forever war” […]

China

Sudan conflict: how China and Russia are involved and the differences between them

The Conversation

By Marcel Plichta, University of St Andrews and Mateja Peter, University of St Andrews | – As clashes continue between the Sudanese military and rapid support forces, the current and historic role of foreign governments in Sudanese affairs is under close examination. Unsurprisingly, the Sudan conflict has amplified concerns from the US and other countries […]

Climate Crisis

Number of Solar PV Panel Installations in Germany hits 3 Million, can cover 10% of Electricity Demand

Clean Energy Wire

By Jessica Bateman | – Clean Energy Wire / Bloomberg ( Clean Energy Wire ) – The number of solar panel systems in Germany hit three million on Monday (29 May), with total solar PV installed capacity reaching more than 70 gigawatts (GW), according to industry association BSW Solar. With this capacity, the country can […]

Pentagon

The Compulsion to Intervene: Why Washington Underwrites Violence in Ukraine

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Allow me to come clean: I worry every time Max Boot vents enthusiastically about a prospective military action. Whenever that Washington Post columnist professes optimism about some upcoming bloodletting, misfortune tends to follow. And as it happens, he’s positively bullish about the prospect of Ukraine handing Russia a decisive defeat in […]

Environment

Environmental Hazard: How Russia’s War in Ukraine Threatens the Planet

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has resulted in the deaths so far of more than 8,700 Ukrainian civilians, including more than 500 children. It has caused a massive drop in the country’s economic output, with GDP declining by 29.1 percent. And it has had widespread consequences for the […]

Bangladesh

Iran leads charge for De-Dollarization at Asian Banks Meeting

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Asian Exchange Union is not a famous international organization, but its meeting on Tuesday in Tehran may have started the ball rolling on a momentous change in global finance, since it dealt with the possibility of de-dollarization. According to the Iranian press, banking representatives from Iran, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, […]

Authoritarianism

United Nations calls for Protection of Climate Activists’ Civil Disobedience after German Crackdown on ‘Last Generation’ as ‘Criminal’

Clean Energy Wire

By Sören Amelang | – dpa / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The UN has highlighted the importance of climate activists and their right to hold demonstrations following a crackdown on a street-blocking group in Germany. “Climate activists – led by the moral voice of young people – have continued to pursue their goals even in the […]