Russia

Russia Battles Its Own Weapon Systems in Ukraine — As US Provides Over A $Billion in Arms

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — Perhaps one of the biggest ironies of the current military conflict is that Ukraine may be using mostly Soviet-era weapons against the Russians, including combat helicopters, T-64 battle tanks and AT-6 anti-tank missiles acquired from the former USSR.

But that military scenario is expected to change significantly with increased security assistance and fresh arms supplies both from Europe, and most importantly, from the US, amounting to over a staggering $1.0 billion dollars.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 03 March 2022

Photo: Soldiers with the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard, fire weapons over a trench during a live-fire exercise at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, July 24, 2021. Credit: Emily White/Oklahoma Army National Guard

Ukraine: Abolishing War Should Remain the Primary Goal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Frederick the Great of Prussia was a friend of Voltaire and enjoyed ribald evenings with the philosopher discussing the intricacies of life’s dos and don’ts. Before becoming king, he was persuaded by Voltaire to become a pacifist. But on ascending to the throne, he became the most ferocious and successful of Europe’s warrior leaders. He said of himself that he was “doomed to make war just as an ox must plough, a nightingale sing and a dolphin swim in the sea.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 02 March 2022

Photo: Somali women and children stand outside temporary tents in the Dagahaley refugee camp near the Kenya-Somalia border. © UNICEF/Kate Holt

Africa Anxious About Rising Farm Prices Due to Russia-Ukraine Crisis

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Wheat and other grains are back at the heart of geopolitics following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both countries play a major role in the global agricultural market.

That was the clear-eyed assessment of Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, and a visiting research fellow at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 March 2022

Photo: Africans fleeing from Ukraine are seen after crossing Ukrainian-Polish border due to Russian military attack on Ukraine. Medyka, Poland on February 28, 2022. Credit: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via AP

African Students in The Ukraine Plead for Help as Poland Says ‘Ukrainians First’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Thousands of African students are among the tens of thousands of Ukrainians seeking shelter from a barrage of Russian airstrikes against its southern neighbour in what has been called an unprovoked and unjustified effort to remove and replace the Ukrainian government by the President of Russia.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Russia; 01 March 2022

The Invasion of Ukraine: Call for Peace

Viewpoint by Kevin P. Clements

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

TOKYO (IDN) — As a peace researcher for over 40 years, it appals me that in 2022 we are trying to make sense of an outmoded 20th century invasion aimed at changing borders and seizing sovereignty. This war is the most blatant act of cross border aggression that I have seen since the Second World War and a major contravention of the UN Charter.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 01 March 2022

ASEAN’s 'Feeble and Overly Diplomatic Response' to Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Viewpoint by Tim Newton

The writer Tim Newton has lived in Thailand since 2011. An Australian, he has worked in the media, principally radio and TV, for 42 years. This article was issued by Thaiger.

BANGKOK (IDN) — Issuing its first cautious statement over the invasion of Ukraine, ASEAN calls on… “all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint, to pursue dialogue through all channels, including diplomatic means to contain the situation, to prevent it from further escalation and to see peaceful resolution in accordance with international law and the UN Charter.”

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 27 February 2022

Image: Nuclear warheads shot outside the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, New Mexico. CC BY Flickr: Megan Eaves

A Conflict Over Ukraine Embroils Four of the World’s Major Nuclear Powers

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The spiraling crisis in Ukraine has an ominous underlying fact: it is a conflict that involves four of the world’s major nuclear powers: the US, Russia, UK and France, with the remaining five, namely China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel on the sidelines as spectators—at least so far.

Mercifully, the nuclear option is not on the negotiating table—but it is still very much in the air.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 27 February 2022

Photo: A US Navy P-2H Neptune of VP-18 flying over a Soviet cargo ship with crated Il-28s on deck during the Cuban Crisis. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Ukraine-Russia: Understanding the Concern of The Other

Viewpoint by Dr Chandra Muzaffar

The writer is the president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) in Malaysia. This article was issued by CounterCurrents.

SELANGOR, Malaysia (IDN) — The mainstream Western media is almost unanimous in demanding that Russia and Vladimir Putin stop their military operation in Ukraine immediately. This in their opinion is the only solution to the current conflict. However, if one attempts to understand how the current conflict had evolved, one would ask not Russia but the US led Western alliance to bring down the political temperature as a first step.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 26 February 2022

Photo: Airmen load security assistance cargo for Ukraine aboard a C-17 Globemaster III at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 14, 2022. Photo By: Air Force Senior Airman Karla Parra

Ukraine-Russia: With Activation of NATO Response Force, U.S. Military Ready to Provide Forces

By C. Todd Lopez

This article was issued by U.S. Department of Defense.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on February 25 activation of the alliance's defense plans, which means also that it can deploy the NATO Defense Force. The U.S. Defense Department now stands ready to provide capabilities to help fill that defense force, if asked to do so, said Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby.

: J C Suresh; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 26 February 2022

Photo: Former US National Security Advisor, late Zbigniew Brzezinski, at the 50th Munich Security Conference in 2014. Credit: CC BY 3.0

Ukraine Should Have a Policy Of 'Non-Involvement With NATO', Opined Zbigniew Brzezinski

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The truth is this whole Russian-Ukrainian-Western confrontation could be largely solved if the Ukrainian and Western sides wrote on paper that they don’t want to see Ukraine in NATO. This is the key issue for Russia. But it must be written down. Moscow no longer trusts verbal understandings that can be broken, as when the Reagan and Bush (Senior) Administrations gave President Mikhail Gorbachev the distinct impression that the US would not take advantage of the Soviet Union now that the Cold War was over, but it did.