Europe

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – When a country starts casting around for 60-year-old veterans to send to the front, you know that something’s wrong. All hands don’t go on deck unless the ship is foundering. It’s not yet clear whether the Russian ship of state is taking on water. But its military effort […]

Featured

Irony Officially declared Dead as Israeli Foreign Ministry Decries Russian Annexation of Others’ Territory

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a further sign that all irony is dead, the Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the annexation of four Ukrainian districts by Russia on Tuesday, saying that Israel “recognizes the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and will not recognize the results of the referendums in its eastern districts.” On Tuesday, […]

Antisemitism

Israeli Dilemma over Swedish and Italian Fascism: Fears of Antisemitism, Hopes for Right Wing Solidarity

Middle East Monitor

By Adnan Abu Amer | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Israelis are watching political developments in Europe with interest, particularly in Sweden and Italy, amid fears that the Jewish communities there may soon face problems. Italy, for example, is expected to have a right-wing government involving Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and […]

Russia

Russians flee the Draft as the Reality of War hits Home

Richard Foltz

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment) – The “partial mobilization” announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21 has triggered mass protests throughout the country and launched a mass exodus of Russian citizens fearing the draft. Many who previously supported the “special operation” in Ukraine are now having second thoughts. But with the price of […]

Climate Crisis

Solar Power Record Year for Germany: Unprecedented 51 Terawatt Hours already Reached in September, ’22

Julian Wettengel

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – 2022 will become a record year for solar power generation in Germany, data by research institute Fraunhofer ISE’s Energy Charts suggests. “By mid-September, solar plants in Germany had already generated more electricity in 2022 than in the whole of 2021 or 2020,”Bruno Burger of […]

nuclear weapons

Ukraine war: Putin calls up more Troops and threatens Nuclear Option – But is it a Sign of Weakness?

The Conversation

By Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham and Tatyana Malyarenko, National University Odesa Law Academy | – Declaring a partial mobilisation and threatening the use of “lots of Russian weapons” in response to alleged western nuclear blackmail, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has upped the ante once more in his war against Ukraine. Indeed, Putin nearly went […]

Algeria

“Cheb Macron’s” ode to Algerian gas: French President’s Arab Pop Music Reference Backfires

Global Voices

Written by Mariam Abuadas مريم أبو عدس and Faizah Falah فايزة فلاح | – ( Globalvoices.org) – On August 29, French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his three-day visit to Algeria with a historic stopover in the city of Oran, during which he visited the fortress and the Church of Santa Cruz, two of the country’s […]

Displaced and Refugees

Endless Tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea: Europe’s Commitment to Rescue Would Save Lives

Human Rights Watch

By Judith Sunderland, Associate Director, Europe and Central Asia Division |- ( Human Rights Watch ) – Last week, a four-year-old Syrian girl named Loujin died after spending days with others adrift on a boat that had set off from Lebanon. Yesterday, we learned of three more Syrian children, one-, two-, and twelve-years-old, and three […]

Europe

As Falls Russia, So Falls the World: Exceptionalism Goes Global

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Here’s a nightmare scenario: Unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin takes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un up on his recent offer to send 100,000 North Koreans to join the Russian president’s ill-fated attempt to seize Ukraine. Kim has also promised to send North Korean workers to […]