Russia

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 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2019. Source: SPIEF’22

Intl. Economic Forum in St. Petersburg Despite the Russia-Ukraine Crisis

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — Despite the Russia-Ukraine crisis going on from bad to worse, with a visible geopolitical impact, the historic city of St. Petersburg is gearing up for the mid-June International Economic Forum. Titled "New Opportunities in a New World", it will take place from June 15–18 in the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 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: 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.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 May 2022

Image: The U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership being signed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken (right) and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Washington, D.C. on November 10, 2021.

Ukraine Conflict: Why Won’t Europe Call for an End to This War?

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos

This article was produced by Globetrotter. Boaventura de Sousa Santos is the emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. His most recent book is Decolonizing the University: The Challenge of Deep Cognitive Justice.

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) — The North Atlantic media is entangled in an unprecedented information war. It is characterized by a relentless erosion of the distinction between facts and the manipulation of emotions and perceptions, between conjectures and unassailable truths.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 May 2022

Image: Ukrainian Baroque, St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv. CC BY-SA 4.0

Putin's Russia Is Also Attacking Ukrainian Culture

By Barbara Crossette, Passblue

NEW YORK (IDN) — In Europe and around the world, the landmark drama theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol will long be associated with crimes against humanity, whether or not a formal trial of the Russians who bombed it is ever held.

At least 300 people, including many children—the final toll is not known—died there on March 16 during Russia’s savage war on Ukraine. The theater may have been harboring as many as 1,300 people when it was hit.