Author: M Barbu

United Nations body declares famine in Gaza

The UN food insecurity monitor declared, ‘Over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions’

A United Nations body has declared a famine in Gaza as Israel’s genocidal assault intensifies.

Israel has been starving millions of Palestinians for months. On Friday the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC), the UN’s food insecurity monitor, said, “Over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, characterised by starvation, destitution and death.”

Pro-Kremlin network targets Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan with disinformation campaign

On May 30, multiple media platforms published the news that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had bought a luxurious villa overlooking Marseille for 3.1 million euros ($3.6 million).

The articles claimed that, in order to purchase the property, Pashinyan had misappropriated funds from the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Coordination Council of Armenian Organisations in France (CCAF), which had been earmarked for development and humanitarian initiatives in Armenia.

From Criminality to Insurgency: The Convergence of Bandits and Jihadists in Nigeria’s Northwest

Security in northwestern Nigeria is deteriorating, with an estimated 30,000 bandits operating in loosely organized groups that have evolved from resource disputes into actors capable of mass abductions and high-casualty attacks.

Zamfara State is the epicenter of violence, where armed groups exploit gold, copper, and lithium deposits to fund operations and sustain arsenals through trafficking routes and raids on state armories.

Iraqi Militias Come Under Pressure to Demobilize

Bottom Line Up Front

  • Amid major setbacks for Iran and its Axis of Resistance, Iraq’s political leaders are trying to gain firm control over militias that are duly constituted forces but act outside the national chain of command.
  • An armed clash at a government building between security forces and militia commanders in late July reflected their pushback against efforts to constrain their autonomy.
  • Clashes and other forms of competition involving the militias will likely expand and intensify as the November 11 national elections approach.
  • The outcome of Iraq’s debate over the militias might shape whether the country can integrate more closely into the Arab world and reduce Iranian influence in the country.

Veton Nurkollari: It would be a shame to compromise

Veton Nurkollari, or xhaxhi (uncle), as he is affectionately called by many, is resolute about the activist spirit of Dokufest. An international documentary and short film festival he co-founded 24 years ago in Prizren, at a time when the city had no functioning cinema in the aftermath of the Kosovo war, Dokufest has emerged as one of the most important film festivals in southeastern Europe, having become a qualifying-festival for the BAFTAs and the European Film Academy.

The Lithuanian Language Chief Let Slip What He Really Thinks About The Polish Minority

Although he soon thereafter half-heartedly walked back his threat to close Polish schools, his words reminded Lithuania’s largest minority that existing discriminatory practices against them could always intensify, which in turn draws attention to the scenario of identity-driven conflict in the future.

There was a brief scandal in Polish-Lithuanian relations last month that barely generated any media attention outside of those two. Chairman of the Lithuanian State Language Inspectorate Audrius Valotka declared that “there should be no Polish and Russian schools at all. Why do we have to create and maintain all sorts of language ghettos in Šalčininkai?” This prompted a condemnation from the Polish charge d’affaires in Vilnius and Valotka half-heartedly walking back his comments in a Facebook post.

‘He didn’t plan to overthrow Putin’

Two years ago tomorrow, on August 23, 2023, a private plane crashed outside Moscow, killing three crew members and seven passengers, including Wagner Group private military company founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. Two months prior, Prigozhin had led a brief mutiny against Russia’s military that captivated the world and culminated in an aborted march on Moscow itself. Ahead of the anniversary of Prigozhin’s death — which U.S. intelligence reportedly assessed as a deliberate assassination — the St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka interviewed the late mercenary leader’s mother, Violetta Prigozhina. She recently organized a gallery exhibition in honor of her son.

‘I wanted to save her from herself’

Growing up in Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s, Lana Estemirova knew that her mother, renowned human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, had a very important job. She often went to work with Natalia at the Memorial human rights group’s Grozny office, and overheard her conversations about the abuses sweeping the republic amid the Chechen Wars. Then, when Lana was 15 years old, her mother was kidnapped outside their apartment block and brutally murdered. In her new memoir, “Please Live: The Chechen Wars, My Mother and Me,” Lana tells the story of her childhood, and how her mother’s unwavering dedication to her work not only shaped their relationship but ultimately led to her death. Meduza spoke to Lana Estemirova about commemorating her mother’s life and work, how Ramzan Kadyrov’s iron grip on power in Chechnya continues to destroy lives, and how she’s come to terms with the risks that come with fighting for the truth.