EU & Europe

US Hypocrisy over Ukraine and ‘Spheres of Influence’

Viewpoint by Katrina vanden Heuvel

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Russian invasion of Ukraine “is in many ways bigger than Russia, it’s bigger than Ukraine,” State Department spokesman Ned Price recently declared. “There are principles that are at stake here … Each and every country has a sovereign right to determine its own foreign policy, has a sovereign right to determine for itself with whom it will choose to associate in terms of its alliances, its partnerships and what orientation it wishes to direct its gaze.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 April 2022

Photo Credit: The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

Leaders of the United Nations and Member States! Help Russia and Ukraine to Bring About Peace Through the UN Rule of Law!

A message from Members of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Members of the SDSN Community*

NEW YORK — The war in Ukraine threatens not only sustainable development, but the survival of humanity. We call on all nations, operating in accordance with the UN Charter, to put diplomacy to the service of humanity by ending the war through negotiations before the war ends all of us.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 15 April 2022

Photo: Senior Airman Cameron Manson inspects cargo netting on palletized ammunition, weapons and other equipment bound for Ukraine during a Foreign Military Sales mission at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Jan. 24, 2022. (Roland Balik/U.S. Air Force)

A Staggering Array of US Arms to Ukraine Pales in Comparison with Russia's Nuclear Weapons

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) — As the devastating war in Ukraine continues—with thousands of civilian killings and entire cities reduced to rubble—the United States has accelerated an unprecedented flow of weapons to the besieged nation.

If Ukraine loses the ongoing war, battling one of the world’s major military and nuclear powers, it is certainly not for want of weapons.

: Thalif Deen; THE WORLD; Russia; 15 April 2022

Photo: An injured girl rests in a medical ward in Kyiv, Ukraine, after her car was shelled. © WHO/Anastasia Vlasova

Ukraine War: Russian Forces Censored at the Security Council

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — The United Nations Security Council has been told that there is mounting evidence of brutal killings by Russian troops as part of the "special military operation". The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Kateryna Cherepakha, President of the organization La Strada-Ukraine, said local human rights groups are currently consolidating efforts to save civilian lives and collect survivor testimonies about the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 12 April 2022

Image: A demonstrator holds a sign during a peaceful stand for Ukraine rally in Boston. Demonstrator came together in downtown Boston to protest against the increasing tension and violence following President Vladimir Putin's attack days prior. Source: CounterCurrents.org

If The US Wants, It Can Solve the Ukraine Crisis Tomorrow

This article was originally published by CommonDreams.org under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Viewpoint by Robert Freeman

LIVERMORE, CA USA (IDN) — Russia's assault on Ukraine is an unambiguously bad thing. But it didn't happen in a vacuum. In order to solve the problem, we have to first understand the context in which it occurred, and the part that the U.S. played in its happening.

[The U.S.] can attain that end with two simple moves: declare that Ukraine will not be admitted into NATO; and remove its offensive nuclear missiles from Russia's borders.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 April 2022

Photo: A woman rummages through a pile of clothes at the Polish border as migrants from Africa, the Middle East and India flee to Poland and other neighbouring countries. Source: NEW FRAME | Wojtek Radwanski

Racial Bias Against Blacks Fleeing Ukraine

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — As the US prepares to welcome tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing war, scores of African and Caribbean refugees are being sent back to unstable and violent homelands where they face rape, torture, arbitrary arrest and other abuses. Racial bias? An African refugee thinks so.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 09 April 2022

Putin's Aggression Against Ukraine Has Changed the World

This article was issued by the Wall Street International and is being republished with their permission.

Viewpoint by Franz Baumann

NEW YORK (IDN) — Wars teach about geography. In mid-February, the autocorrect on my phone did not recognize, and few people in Western Europe or America could have located on a map Mariupol, Charkiv, Bucha, Kherson, Chernihiv or Irpin. Now we know, tutored by the shocking images of Putin’s 'spetz operatsiya’.

: Franz Baumann; OPINION; 07 April 2022

Russian Invasion of Ukraine Triggers a Rise in Military Spending in Europe

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The Russian invasion of Ukraine is forcing most European countries to increase defence spending, boost military capabilities and secure their territorial borders.

The attack against Ukraine, which began February 24 and has continued despite international condemnations, has resulted in thousands of civilian killings, along with the devastation of a country of 44 million people, triggering charges of war crimes.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 07 April 2022

Photo: The Ukraine Refugees Response Moldova - IsraAID

EU and US Allocate Funds to Assist Refugees in Moldova

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW | CHISINAU (IDN) — The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland, has documented almost five million refugees streamlining from the war-ravaged Ukraine crossing borders, most often with difficulties, especially into neighbouring Poland, Baltic republics, Moldova, Romania, and Hungary.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 06 April 2022

Photo: Some call them war heroes, others neo-Nazis: Ukraine's Azov Regiment is at the heart of the propaganda war between Kyiv and Moscow, as Russia claims to seek the "denazification" of Ukraine. MAKSYMOVA AFP/File

Russia, Ukraine, and Nazi Influence

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Lost in the clouds of combat we forget how the violence in otherwise peaceful Ukraine came about. The spark that lit the fire was struck in Kyiv’s central square, the Maidan.

In 2014, demonstrators in the Maidan, the central square of the capital, Kyiv, were motivated by the arguments over a trade agreement with the EU, then being negotiated. They were ardently for it but the government under Russian pressure had done a somersault and was re-orientating its trade policy towards the Moscow-sponsored Eurasian Economic Union.