Author: M Barbu

Revolution In The South Caucasus

While the Kremlin is busy in the west, developments to the south promise further threats to its aggressive policy in the borderlands.

Overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the South Caucasus is witnessing huge developments which could potentially decrease tensions between Armenia on the one hand and Turkey and Azerbaijan on the other. The process might also critically affect Russia’s position in the region and may even give some momentum to the West’s ambivalent policy.

Russia’s Cossacks: ‘Fighters’ Versus ‘Cheerleaders’

Moscow may be drawing most of its conscripts for the war in Ukraine from ethnic minority regions such as Buryatia and Dagestan (see EDM, May 4), but there appears to be a wartime division of labor amongst the voluntarist Cossack movement as well. In particular, one can observe a distinction between “fighters” and “cheerleaders”—that is, those Cossacks actually engaged in combat in a war zone versus those tasked with maintaining morale back on the home front. Evidence of this seeming division of labor requires a close reading of the local media sources linked to the Cossack movement, such as the website of the All-Russian Cossack Society (Vsko.ru). As of early May, this site published a total of 70 articles related to Cossack involvement in the war effort, of which 21 named a specific host in the title. Fully one-third of those articles (7) concerned the Kuban Cossacks, with most reporting on that group’s combat role.

Gas, Guns, And Government Lunacy

“Sacramento police want your guns in exchange for gas money,” says a May 6 Sacramento Bee headline. The department asks residents to give away their firearms, which the Second Amendment authorizes them to keep and bear, for a $50 gas gift card that would not even provide a fill-up for many vehicles.

Threat of being sent to Rwanda ‘harming health of UK asylum seekers’

Rights organisations say refugees going into hiding as Home Office admits LGBTQ+ people could face persecution in African country

Ministers’ threats to send unauthorised migrants to Rwanda are having a detrimental impact on the physical and psychological health of people seeking asylum, according to two major refugee charities.

Major decline in West African piracy, but Gulf of Guinea remains world hotspot

Piracy off West African in 2021 declined dramatically – almost by half compared to the previous year – but the region still remains the world’s piracy hotspot, according to Dryad Global.

In its annual report for 2021/22, the maritime risk company stated that “the precipitous decline in piracy throughout West Africa in 2021 saw overall incidents of piracy and maritime crime decline by 56% compared to 2020. Incidents of actual and attempted attacks and vessels being fired upon dropped by more than 85%. The number of vessels boarded throughout the region fell by 54%. Incidents of vessels being boarded, and crews kidnapped declined by 60%.”

En Ethiopie, la pire sécheresse « jamais vécue » ravage les vies des nomades somali

Dans l’est du pays, il n’a pas plu depuis dix-huit mois, dévastant le cheptel et mettant une partie de la population en grave insécurité alimentaire.

Quasiment pas une goutte de pluie depuis dix-huit mois. A Hargududo, village de la région Somali en Ethiopie, les habitants montrent à l’AFP les cadavres desséchés de chèvres, vaches ou ânes, éparpillés non loin des modestes huttes aux toits de chaume. En ce mois d’avril, théoriquement l’un des plus arrosés de l’année, l’air est brûlant et sec et la terre poussiéreuse et stérile.