Month: April 2021

WFP: Millions in West, Central Africa Facing Hunger Emergency

The United Nations World Food Program warns that millions of people in West and Central Africa are facing catastrophic levels of hunger driven by conflict and soaring food prices.

More than 31 million people, an increase of 10 million over last year, are expected to be unable to feed themselves during the upcoming June to August lean season. This period precedes the next harvest and is the time of year when food stocks in West Africa are at their lowest.

US, NATO Slam Russian Plan to Block Parts of Black Sea

The United States and NATO accused Russia of again ramping up tensions, criticizing Moscow’s plans to limit access to the Black Sea and the Kerch Strait for most of the next six months due to military exercises.

The U.S. Defense Department said Friday the Kremlin’s decision is “just the latest example” of Russian aggression in the Black Sea and insisted it would have no impact on U.S. plans.

How Israel kept the Arab Spring from becoming the winter of its discontent

Under Netanyahu’s leadership, the Jewish state survived the difficult early years to come out on top as Iran and jihadists are on the defensive

Ten years ago, in late 2010 and early 2011, the Arab world experienced a series of convulsions that tore apart the Middle East as we knew it. Starting in Tunisia, where a young fruit vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest corruption and police abuse, angry demonstrations spread throughout the region. Some of the world’s longest-ruling leaders were toppled within months. There was a sense of optimism, that the long-suffering citizens of Arab nations were finally rising up to demand basic human rights and dignity in secular, youth-led popular uprisings.

As the US plans its Afghan troop withdrawal, what was it all for?

A woman embracing her husband after his return from a deployment to Afghanistan in 2014. David Goldman/AP.More than 2,400 American service members were killed in Afghanistan and more than 20,000 were wounded.

What exactly am I supposed to tell these mothers that their sons died for? What was it all for? It remains unclear if the more than 2,400 US troop and personnel deaths, US$2 trillion and 20 years achieved anything truly lasting on the ground in Afghanistan.

The Hawks Who Want War With Iran Are Working Overtime

Just as talks between the United States and Iran were taking place last week in Vienna, a cyberattack was carried out on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Reports are that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, was behind the attack that blacked out the facility just one day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges, and as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in Israel speaking about the United States’ “enduring and ironclad” commitment to the Jewish state.

Exiting Afghanistan: Biden Sets the Date

It had to be symbolic, and was represented as such. Forces of the United States will be leaving Afghanistan on September 11 after two decades of violent occupation, though for a good deal of this stretch, US forces were, at best, failed democracy builders, at worst, violent tenants.

In his April 14 speech, President Joe Biden made the point that should have long been evident: that Washington could not “continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result.” As if to concede to the broader failure of the exercise, “the terror threat” had flourished, being now present “in many places”. To keep “thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year makes little sense to me and to our leaders.”

Killing Yemen

The Yemeni city of Marib is in the thick of fighting between Houthi rebels and loyalists of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi’s government. Marib is the capital of Marib Governorate, lying roughly 100 miles northeast of the country’s capital in Sana’a. It was established after the 1984 discovery of oil deposits in the region and contains much of Yemen’s oil, gas, and electric resources. Marib is the last governorate under the control of the Hadi government, but it has been under increasing attack by the Houthis since early 2020. If seized by the Houthis, the resistance group can use that advantage in negotiations and even continue further south.

Conflict Trends Update

GREECE-TURKE

In the first visit by a Greek minister in over two years, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias arrived in Ankara this week for talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. They discussed contentious issues dividing the NATO allies, including Cyprus and their maritime dispute. Crisis Group expert Berkay Mandıracı says while Dendias invited Cavusoglu for a follow-on meeting in Athens and the pair discussed possible talks on confidence building measures, a heated press conference descended into a war of words. The episode increases the risk of talks derailing, strengthens hardliners on both sides who oppose talks, and sours the mood ahead of difficult Cyprus talks later this month.

SOMALIA

The lower house of parliament on Monday extended by up to two years President Farmajo’s four-year term, which expired in February, triggering one of Somalia’s worst political crises in years. International partners, including the UN, U.S. and EU, condemned the extension. Crisis Group expert Murithi Mutiga says the decision will deepen political polarisation and could have serious repercussions on the security front, amid signs of splintering among the security forces. Al-Shabaab’s long-running insurgency stands to benefit the most, particularly if Somali elites cannot quickly find a way to defuse tensions.