Ukraine

Putin’s Assassination of Prigozhin Decapitates Wagner’s Empire in Libya, Sudan, Syria and E. Europe, and Puts Oligarchs on Notice

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Russia confirmed Tuesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, ex-convict oligarch and leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, died in a plane crash last week. Prigozhin had, in fact, been a dead man walking ever since he masterminded an aborted mutiny against Russia’s military leadership on June 23 of this year. His […]

Brazil

Why did China attend MBS’s Ukraine Peace Conference in Saudi Arabia? Breaking with Moscow or Keeping Options Open?

Neil Thompson

London (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – China has come out in favour of a third round of talks to design a peace framework for the conflict in Ukraine following its attendance at an international forum in the Saudi city of Jeddah earlier this month. China’s attendance and active participation in the summit was seen […]

Displaced and Refugees

Headlines and Front Lines: How US News Coverage of Wars in Yemen and Ukraine reveals a Bias in Recording Civilian Harm

The Conversation

By Esther Brito Ruiz, American University School of International Service and Jeff Bachman, American University School of International Service | – (The Conversation) – War entails suffering. How and how often that suffering is reported on in the U.S., however, is not evenhanded. Take, for example, the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen in March 2015 and […]

Russia

Ukraine War: Talks in Saudi Arabia give Zelensky an Opportunity to Push his Plan to BRICs and the Global South

The Conversation

By Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham | – As the war in Ukraine escalated on and beyond the existing battlefields with intensified air, drone and ground operations, more than 40 countries met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, over the weekend of August 5-6 2023, to discuss peace. The talks in Jeddah were the latest effort to […]

Food Security

Russia’s Agricultural Warfare: Bomb and Blockade Strategy Imperils World’s Hungry

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Saudi Arabia is pissed off at Russia. It’s not as if the Gulf state has released any angry statements to the press. Rather, Riyadh has made clear its displeasure in an indirect way. It has offered to host a “peace summit” next week that Ukraine will organize. Brazil, […]

Featured

As long as Nukes are on the Table in Ukraine, We are Skating at the Edge of Global Catastrophe

Peter G. Prontzos

Vancouver (Special to Informed Comment; Featured) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has broached he use of battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, We all hope it is an empty threat, since such an escalation could possibly trigger an all-out global holocaust. However, nothing is certain in war, and there are many scenarios in which nuclear weapons […]

Featured

Is Turkey abandoning Russia to turn back toward the West?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Given the decisions announced by Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, some have speculated that Turkey is “turning back toward the West” after a long period of estrangement and flirtation with Russia. Erdogan finally dropped his opposition to Sweden joining NATO. He backed NATO membership […]

military

Turkey’s Erdogan abruptly lifts veto on Sweden in NATO: What it means for the Alliance and Ukraine War

The Conversation

Simon J Smith, Staffordshire University and Jordan Becker, United States Military Academy West Point | – In a surprise move, Turkey has ended its veto on Sweden joining Nato, thereby removing all the barriers to its membership of the military alliance. Hungary quickly followed suit and, as a result of the two countries’ support, a […]

Featured

Turkiye’s Erdogan Urges NATO membership for Ukraine, but Stiff-Arms Sweden over Kurdish Issue

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan invited Ukraine’s leader, Volodomir Zelensky, to Istanbul for consultations. Zelensky arrived late on Friday and met for two and a half hours with Erdogan at the Vahidettin Palace, the old residence of the last Ottoman emperor. In remarks after the meeting, Erdogan deplored the continuing war […]