Author: M Barbu

The Global Food Crisis Shouldn’t Have Come As a Surprise

How to Finally Fix the Broken System for Alleviating Hunger

The world’s agricultural and food systems face a perfect storm. Overlapping crises, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, wars in Ukraine and elsewhere, supply chain bottlenecks for both inputs like fertilizer and outputs like wheat, and natural disasters induced by climate change have together caused what the United Nations has called “the greatest cost-of-living crisis in a generation.” World leaders cannot afford to ignore this unfolding catastrophe: rapidly increasing food prices not only cause widespread human suffering but also threaten to destabilize the political and social order. Already, along with skyrocketing energy costs, surging food prices have helped bring about the collapse of the Sri Lankan government.

Hackers, Hoodies, and Helmets: Technology and the changing face of Russian private military contractors

Introduction

The first time Russia invaded Ukraine in the twenty-first century, the Wagner Group was born. The now widely profiled private military company (PMC) played an important role in exercising Russian national power over the Crimea and portions of the Donbas—while giving Moscow a semblance of plausible deniability. In the near decade since, the Russian PMC sector has grown considerably, and is active in more than a dozen countries around the world. PMCs are paramilitary organizations established and run as private companies—though they often operate in contract with one or more states. They are profit-motivated, expeditionary groups that make a business of the conduct of war.1 PMCs are in no way a uniquely Russian phenomenon, yet the expanding footprint of Russian PMCs and their links to state interests call for a particularly Russian-focused analysis of the industry. The growth of these firms and their direct links to the Kremlin’s oligarch network as well as Moscow’s foreign media, industrial, and cyber activities present a challenge to the United States and its allies as they seek to counter Russian malicious activities abroad.

Lebanese Political Analyst Mikhael Awad On Hizbullah TV: I Hope War Breaks Out With Israel; Israel Is A Cancer, Its Destruction Would Restructure The World Around The “Resistance”

Lebanese political analyst Mikhael Awad said in a July 18, 2022 show on Al-Manar TV (Hizbullah-Lebanon) that according to the “data,” a potential war between Israel and Hizbullah would be decided in only two days. He explained that Hizbullah would rapidly reach Nazareth and the Israeli-Arab town of Umm Al-Fahm, and that within a short period of time, Israel would have no territory left from which to launch missiles, planes, and warships. He also said that war is the cheaper and “easier” option for Lebanon, and he gave the example of the Second Lebanon War, claiming that everything that had been destroyed in the war had been rebuilt at no cost to Lebanon. In addition, he said that he hopes war breaks out because Israel is a “cancerous growth” that can only be removed surgically. Moreover, Awad said that such a war would spell the end of Israel, of the current Arab regimes, and of the Sykes-Picot divisions, and that it would restructure the entire world around the “pillar” of the “resistance”. He added that the U.S. and Europe would not participate in the war because this would drive up the price of oil.

Former Iranian Diplomat Amir Mousavi: Iran Is Technically Capable Of Producing A Nuclear Bomb; There Is Pressure From Inside Iran And From The Region To Change Khamenei’s Fatwa Banning Nuclear Weapons

In a July 18, 2022 interview on Russia Today TV, former Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi was asked about the validity of senior Iranian official Kamal Kharrazi’s previous-day statement on Al-Jazeera Network that Iran is a nuclear threshold country and that it has the ability to produce nuclear weapons (see MEMRI TV Clip No. 9694). Mousavi responded that there is no doubt that Iran can produce nuclear weapons. He added that there is pressure from inside Iran and from the region to change Khamenei’s fatwa banning nuclear weapons and that this may lead to reconsideration of the alleged fatwa. (see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1022 and No. 1151). He explained that Iran has thus far refrained from producing nuclear weapons due to its “moral values” and its “principles,” but that Iran’s leadership is under domestic and regional pressure from its supporters to reconsider this policy.

Sisi advances Egypt’s bid for BRICS membership

President of the BRICS International Forum Purnima Anand revealed Egypt’s interest in joining the group along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and the position is to be discussed at the BRICS summit scheduled for next year in South Africa.

How realistic are Ankara’s hopes of trading in Turkish liras?

While the Turkish lira continues to tumble, Turkey’s currency swaps with China and other countries have failed to live up to their stated objective of boosting trade in local currencies, official data show.

Ankara’s long-standing ambition to expand the use of the Turkish lira in foreign trade was back on the agenda this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with his Russian and Iranian counterparts in Tehran, rekindling debates on whether trading in the local currency is a viable prospect or just wishful thinking.

US focus of ire as Turkey threatens Syria‘s Kurds

Syrian Kurdish leader says Turkish intentions unclear.

Will Turkey mount yet another military incursion against US-backed Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria “at any time, any moment,” as the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been threatening for some time? The threat seemed to subside as Erdogan came back “empty handed,” as Al-Monitor contributor Fehim Tastekin put it, from last week’s summit in Tehran with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. However, Erdogan seems unfazed and Syrian Kurdish leaders are growing increasingly bitter at perceived Western indifference to their plight.

Why Putin Must Be Defeated

The Ukrainian military urgently needs long-range air defenses and longer-range artillery. It does not have them.

[Zelensky] said he wanted the war over before Russia could rebuild its forces, and that each additional day of war meant more death and destruction. Above all, he said, not only Ukraine is at stake, but the security and values ​​of the West.

The Dark Side of Germany and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies

Post World War II Germany has exhibited commendable characteristics — publicly atoning for its Nazi past, working assiduously to create a thriving nation, designing a truly democratic country, integrating its European compatriots into a common market, leading others in opening borders to refugees, and modifying its previous ultra-nationalism to form the European union. Behind these praiseworthy attributes lurks another Germany and with a deadly appearance. Germany, which committed the World War II genocide, actively aids and abets another genocide ─ the genocide of the Palestinian people.