Ukraine

Lula is Right that the UN Security Council Can’t Resolve Major Conflicts, whether Ukraine or Palestine

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made a state visit to Portugal and Spain last week. He was primarily seeking trade agreements, and especially wished to prepare the way for agreement this summer on a huge European Union – Latin American free trade zone. Article continues after bonus IC […]

Chemical Weapons

Will the West Turn Ukraine into a Nuclear Battlefield? Why Depleted Uranium Should Have No Place There

Tomdispatch

By Joshua Frank | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – It’s sure to be a blood-soaked spring in Ukraine. Russia’s winter offensive fell far short of Vladimir Putin’s objectives, leaving little doubt that the West’s conveyor belt of weaponry has aided Ukraine’s defenses. Cease-fire negotiations have never truly begun, while NATO has only strengthened its forces thanks […]

nuclear weapons

90 Seconds to Midnight: The Doomsday Clock and Me

Frida Berrigan

(Tomdispatch.com ) – I’m not a TikTok person. I’m too old. But when I finally ventured onto that popular but much-maligned app, which traffics in short videos and hot takes, I was surprised to find many videos about the Doomsday Clock. It’s nothing like a conventional timepiece, of course. It’s meant to show how close […]

Russia

The War of Surprises in Ukraine: Could there be one Surprise too Many?

Rajan Menon

( Tomdispatch.com) – Some wars acquire names that stick. The Lancaster and York clans fought the War of the Roses from 1455-1485 to claim the British throne. The Hundred Years’ War pitted England against France from 1337-1453. In the Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648, many European countries clashed, while Britain and France waged the Seven Years’ […]

Iraq

Ukraine and the Lessons of the Iraq War

John Feffer

By John Feffer | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Leaving aside the manufactured justifications, the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 to reassert U.S. power in the Middle East and reduce the influence of Iran. It wasn’t terrorism or yellow cake or even Saddam Hussein’s appalling human rights abuses that motivated one […]

Featured

Hypocrisy: Putin should be Punished as a War Criminal, but so Should many in Washington, D.C.

Peter G. Prontzos

Vancouver (Feature, Special to Informed Comment) – It’s true – Russian president Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. As I wrote when the conflict with Ukraine began: “the attack on Ukraine was a clear violation of international law, and there is absolutely no excuse for this invasion.” In fact, launching a war of aggression is […]

Displaced and Refugees

Race and Erasure: Why don’t Syrian and Palestinian Refugees get treated like Ukrainians?

The Conversation

By Ritesh Shah, University of Auckland | – (The Conversation) – With the war in Ukraine now in its second year, nearly a third of the country’s population has been displaced, including 8 million people who have sought refuge beyond its borders. International support for the plight of these refugees has been heartening. Nearly 4.5 […]

military

How a Nuclear Power Plant Became a Tool of War: Nuclear Armageddon Games in Ukraine

Tomdispatch

By Joshua Frank | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – In 1946, Albert Einstein shot off a telegram to several hundred American leaders and politicians warning that the “unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” Einstein’s forecast remains prescient. Nuclear calamity still knocks. Even […]

Climate Crisis

Chancellor Scholz on Ukraine: Putin Tried to Blackmail Germany with Fossil Gas, but only Accelerated Energy Diversification

Benjamin Wehrmann

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Russia’s attempt to blackmail Germany and the rest of Europe into giving up its support of Ukraine by cutting energy supplies has failed, chancellor Olaf Scholz has said on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion attempt of its western neighbour. “Those who look at the […]