War

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 […]

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

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 […]

Dissent

Ukrainians took to the streets to avert a nuclear disaster. Will Americans do the same?

Waging Nonviolence

By Paul Gunter and Linda Pentz Gunter | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – On March 2, a striking news clip found its way onto the internet. It showed nuclear power plant workers and ordinary citizens blockading the access road to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. They stood solemnly in the street, waving Ukrainian […]

China

The New Eurasian Wars on our Endangered Planet

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Just as the relentless grinding of the earth’s tectonic plates produces earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, so the endless superpower struggle for dominance over Eurasia is fraught with tensions and armed conflict. Beneath the visible outbreak of war in Ukraine and the U.S.-Chinese naval standoff in the South China Sea, there is […]

Arab Spring

Ukraine: What the Libya War tells us about Why we Really don’t want a NATO No-Fly Zone

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tracy Wilkinson at the Los Angeles Times writes about the no-fly zone proposed by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and the flat refusal of the Pentagon to go in that direction. The clamor for a no-fly zone among some in Congress and in US civil society, however, displays a remarkable […]

Climate Crisis

Our Ukraine Wake-Up Call: The Global Age is Upon Us

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In recent days, experts have begun laying out the potential hardships the Russian invasion of Ukraine might inflict here in the United States, thousands and thousands of miles from the battle zone. As former White House national security official Richard Clarke bluntly put it, “Russia will bring the war to our […]

China

Would a “Cold” War Be the Best News Around? Ukraine, Taiwan, and Other Flashpoints in a New Age of Geopolitics

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been widely described as the beginning of a new cold war, much like the old one in both its cast of characters and ideological nature. “In the contest between democracy and autocracy, between sovereignty and subjugation, make no mistake — freedom will prevail,” President Biden asserted […]

Climate Crisis

Russia’s war Crime in Targeting Nuclear Plant Reminds us Why we Should rush to Wind and Solar

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Russian tank shelling of the massive Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the city of Energodar, which set fire to the top three stories of a training building behind the complex, raised alarms about the possibility of a nuclear meltdown. At 6:20 AM on Friday Ukraine time, the blaze was extinguished […]