EU & Europe

Security Council to Hold Emergency Session on World Food Security Impacted by Russian Invasion of Ukraine

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The United States, which is holding the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month, has summoned an “emergency session” of the Council on May 19 to focus largely on world food security in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told reporters May 15 the United States and Western allies are coming together to address “some of the broader consequences that are flowing from Russia’s aggression, primarily the global food shortages and rising food prices”.

: Thalif Deen; UN INSIDER; 17 May 2022

Photo: The British destroyer HMS Coventry (D118) underway in the Atlantic Ocean, circa in 1981. In the background is the U.S. Navy frigate USS Bagley (FF-1069). Wikimedia Commons.

Malvinas, Falklands and the Lines on the Map for the United Kingdom

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn

Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. is an ex-diplomat & ALCAP’s Special Adviser for Asia & Africa and Jainendra Karn is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — A recent Tweet by Piers Morgan about the impending and inevitable collapse of the United Kingdom reminded one of the Twitter post made in February 2022 titled “Will British brinkmanship result in Argentina getting Malvinas (Falklands) back in 2023-24?.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 May 2022

Photo: The World Food Programme (WFP) resumed its operations in the Tigray region of Ethiopia after fighting had halted its emergency response. WFP/Rein Skullerud

European Union Sued for Not Responding to Eritrea’s Rights Violations

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) — The Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans, a Netherlands based organization, has decided to sue the European Union and international bodies for failing to respond to human rights abuses by the Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki and his associates.

At the press conference on May 10, the Foundation’s lawyer, Emiel Jurjens from Kennedy van der Laan made the announcement of legal action by the Foundation on the Responsibility of Eritrea for Grave Human Rights Violations, the details of which can be found here.

: Robert Johnson; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 13 May 2022

Photo: A dead person inside a destroyed car in Bucha, 2 April 2022. CC BY 4.0

Ending the War of Attrition in Ukraine

Viewpoint by Jeffrey D. Sachs

This article was issued by Project Syndicate and is being republished with the author's permission.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Wars often erupt and persist because of the two sides’ miscalculations regarding their relative power. In the case of Ukraine, Russia blundered badly by underestimating the resolve of Ukrainians to fight and the effectiveness of NATO-supplied weaponry. Yet Ukraine and NATO are also overestimating their capacity to defeat Russia on the battlefield. The result is a war of attrition that each side believes it will win, but that both sides will lose.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 11 May 2022

Image: Irpin, Ukraine, Kutsenko Volodymyr/Shutterstock

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair — A Tale of Two Cities 1859

Viewpoint by Joseph Camilleri

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

MELBOURNE, Australia (IDN) — These opening lines of Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution, offer us a remarkable insight into humanity’s current predicament.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 11 May 2022

Photo: Protestors at a February 2022 rally against Russia's invasion of Ukraine march past the statue of Tsar Alexander II in Senate Square in Helsinki. CC BY 2.0

Endless Wars

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is an Ambassador, former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affair, and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Charter of the United Nations consolidated important norms of international law. Its Preamble affirms the decision to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind”. At the time of its adoption, the world was deeply shocked by two successive wars that directly involved Europe and other regions. In spite of the lofty purposes expressed in the Charter, several armed conflicts in many parts of the globe have marked the seventy-seven years of the United Nations’ existence.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 10 May 2022

Photo: Overlooking the central Kumasi market at closing time in Kumasi, Ghana, June 22, 2006. Credit: Jonathan Ernst / World Bank (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ukraine and Africa: Food Crisis, Energy Ambiguity and An Uncertain Political Outcome

This article was issued by The Institute for International Political Studies - ISPI.

Viewpoint by Lucia Ragazzi

MILAN (IDN) — Since the war in Ukraine broke out in Europe, its consequences and side effects have been reverberating across African countries. Rising food and energy prices, supply disruptions, and inflationary pressures have created additional challenges on the road to a post-pandemic economic recovery the continent painstakingly embarked upon, in what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a 'perfect storm'.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 May 2022

Photo: Boris Johnson meeting with Volodimir Zelenski@Boris Johnson – Twitter

UK Premier Reportedly Pressured Ukrainian President to Quit Peace Talks with Russia

This article was issued by Common Dreams. It is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

By Jake Johnson

PORTLAND, Maine, USA (IDN) — The Ukrainian news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda reported May 5 that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson used his surprise visit to Kyiv last month to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cut off peace negotiations with Russia, even after the two sides appeared to have made tenuous progress toward a settlement to end the war.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 06 May 2022

Image: Remains of Russian tanks in Ukraine, March 2022 | Credit: Twitter/@DefenceU. Source: theprint.in

Russia Is Financially Prepared for Longer War—Even in Case of An Oil Embargo

Viewpoint by Prof. Dr Rolf J. Langhammer

Prof. Langhammer is a trade expert at Kiel Institute for World Economy (ifw). The following comment on the resilience of the Russian economy against the background of the discussion about an oil embargo was issued by the Kiel Institute Media Information.

BERLIN | KIEL (IDN) — Hopes that Russia will soon give in to the Ukraine war in the face of drastic Western sanctions are likely to be disappointed. Both the state budget situation and structural characteristics of the Russian economy create sound conditions for a prolonged persistence of a war economy based on autarky.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 May 2022

Image: Migrant logistics centre on the Belarus/Poland border, November 2021 Djordje Kostic/Shutterstock

Double Standards

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

BONN (IDN) — At present, historical analogies are very often used to explain reasons for or against the causes of the war in Ukraine or to describe the horrors of this war with historical arguments. Some of these comparisons are downright perfidious, like equating Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin.