Russia

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.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 April 2022

Image credit: ISS-Institute for Security Studies

Europe Soliciting Support from African Leaders for Ukraine

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW | DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) — European Union members have been soliciting support from the African Union (AU), Regional Economic organizations and African countries for the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, now experiencing tremendous atrocities and worsening humanitarian conditions as a direct result of Russia's “special military operation” since late February.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 March 2022

Avoiding Nuclear War Over Ukraine

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — In the Cold War days, some of us used to say, “Better red than dead”—to rebuff those who believed in “role-the-dice” nuclear deterrence as a way of political life that gave them security. Now those of us who are frightened that Vladimir Putin could start a nuclear war over Ukraine should coin a new phrase. How about: “Better alive than going to the grave with Vladimir Putin”?

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 29 March 2022

Photo credit: The Nation: Hiroshima - It’s time to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons

The MADness of the Resurgent U.S. Cold War With Russia

Viewpoint by Nicolas J.S. Davies*

NEW YORK (IDN) — The war in Ukraine has placed U.S. and NATO policy toward Russia under a spotlight, highlighting how the United States and its allies have expanded NATO right up to Russia’s borders, backed a coup and now a proxy war in Ukraine, imposed waves of economic sanctions, and launched a debilitating trillion-dollar arms race. The explicit goal is to pressure, weaken and ultimately eliminate Russia, or a Russia-China partnership, as a strategic competitor to U.S. imperial power.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 29 March 2022

Photo: In Warsaw Joe Biden warned Russia not to move on an "inch" of NATO territory. Credit: NDTV / afp

Biden’s Unhinged Call for Regime Change in Russia

Viewpoint by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO, USA (IDN) — Ever since Joe Biden ended his speech in Poland on Saturday (March 26) night by making one of the most dangerous statements ever uttered by a U.S. president in the nuclear age, efforts to clean up after him have been profuse.

Administration officials scurried to assert that Biden didn’t mean what he said. Yet no amount of trying to “walk back” his unhinged comment at the end of his speech in front of Warsaw’s Royal Castle can change the fact that Biden had called for regime change in Russia.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 28 March 2022

Does Russia No Longer Qualify as a Member of the Global Trade Group WTO?

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW | PARIS (IDN) — Russia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in April 2011 after almost 18 years of persistent efforts and multiple negotiations, to fulfil stringent membership requirements, apparently because the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and replaced by the Russian Federation. Average accession period is five to seven years.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 27 March 2022

Photo: Russia test-launches intercontinental ballistic missile RS-24. Credit: TASS

Avoidance of Nuclear Weapons in a Possible NATO-Russia War Should Be "Foremost" Responsibility

Viewpoint by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) — "We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought," pledged the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states—China, France, Russia, UK, and the United States—in a joint statement on January 3, adding that they "consider the avoidance of war" between them and "the reduction of strategic risks" as their "foremost responsibilities". The five nuclear-weapon states are also the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council, which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 26 March 2022

What If Russia's Collective Security Treaty Partners Intervene in Ukraine?

Viewpoint by John P. Ruehl

This article was produced by Globetrotter. John P. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C. He is a contributing editor to Strategic Policy and a contributor to several other foreign affairs publications. He is currently finishing a book on Russia to be published in 2022. Source: Globetrotter.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 March 2022

Photo: Disquiet in the Russian secret service could prove fatal for President Vladimir Putin. Source: Toronto Sun

Putin's War of Aggression: A Post-Soviet 'Irredentist' Pipedream in Ukraine

Viewpoint by Purnaka L. de Silva*

“Anyone who falls into the habit of thinking and expecting the best of his subordinates at all times is, for that reason alone, unsuited to command an army”—Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) in Vom Kriege (1832)

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Kremlin confirmed in September 2014 that Russia’s current President Vladimir Putin, told José Manuel Barroso the outgoing president of the European Commission that “Russian forces could conquer the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, in two weeks if he so ordered”. For more details see the September 2, 2014 Guardian article by Ian Traynor: “Putin claims Russian forces ‘could conquer Ukraine capital in two weeks’”.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 24 March 2022

Photo: A damaged military vehicle sits in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 16, 2022. Credit: Andrew Marienko, AP. Source: USA Today.

From Moscow to Washington, the Barbarism and Hypocrisy Don’t Justify Each Other

Viewpoint by Norman Solomon*

SAN FRANCISCO, USA (IDN) — Russia’s war in Ukraine—like the USA’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—should be understood as barbaric mass slaughter. For all their mutual hostility, the Kremlin and the White House are willing to rely on similar precepts: Might makes right. International law is what you extol when you aren’t violating it. And at home, rev up the nationalism to go with the militarism.