In 2022, there will be great interest in Asia’s summit season because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The annual East Asia Summit, ASEAN and APEC meetings always attract attention due to the proximity of many world leaders, but the less glamorous work of the multilateral mechanisms goes on throughout the year in efforts to drive cooperation as well as to prepare for the jamborees at the year’s end.
As Russia continues to wage its war in Ukraine, several Western leaders have openly hinted at their wish to see Russian president Vladimir Putin go. US president Joe Biden declared on 26 March that Putin “cannot remain in power”, while UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said on 1 March that the sanctions on Russia “are to bring down the Putin regime.” Yet while their ambition to see the end of Putin’s regime is understandable, there is no guarantee that what comes after will be any better.
Just as the world appeared to be on its way out of the health crisis caused by the pandemic, with societies returning to normalcy, the Russian invasion of Ukraine dashed all hopes of the world getting better again (and lately, COVID-19 has been resurging as well). This war is set to have devastating worldwide consequences, adding a new layer of turmoil to what the world has been through for the last two years. The pandemic and associated problems made Russia’s invasion of Ukraine possible in the first place. Would Putin have carried out this invasion back in 2019 or 2018, when world’s leaders weren’t drowning in problems that compromised their ability to respond in a unified manner?
As a Ukrainian living in Germany, Anna Vlasiuk has spent countless hours on the phone to make sure her family in north-western Ukraine was safe. Then one day, the war came to her local grocery shop.
“I went to the supermarket and there was a sign saying, ‘No sunflower oil in our store, due to the war in Ukraine,’ the 32-year-old human rights worker told IWPR. She added that her father, a farmer in the region of Rivne near the Polish and Belarus border, had been warning her that it was just a matter of time until the Russian invasion would hit the tables of millions in Ukraine and around the world.
Liniștea dinaintea imploziei economice a Occidentului
Via Trenduri:
„În aproximativ 15 zile Rusia nu va mai avea bani să finanţeze războiul”. Asta spuneau toţi mâncătorii de rahat ai Occidentului, la comanda unor neica nimeni din armata SUA, acei mari militari care trimit tineri semi-drogaţi pe front în operaţiuni în care nu fac deosebirea între simulările de pe calculator şi viaţa reală. Acei mari generali ai SUA care, fără tehnologia militară asistată de computer, ar fi capabili să se auto-bombardeze întrucât, de cele mai multe ori, le e greu să facă diferenţa dintre Arizona şi Afganistan.
During the first three months of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine’s ability to defeat Russia on the battlefield has astonished the watching world and led to mounting speculation that Vladimir Putin’s invasion will end in defeat.
At the same time, the situation at sea remains significantly more favorable for the Kremlin and demands urgent international attention. Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports is strangling the country’s economy and also threatening to spark a global food security crisis by preventing Ukrainian agricultural exports from reaching international markets. Unless this issue is addressed, it will cause famine around the world in the coming months.
Less than two months after synchronizing with the European electricity grid, Ukraine has begun landmark commercial energy exports to neighboring Moldova in a move that is likely to further dent Russia’s grip over the region. Ukraine’s state-owned hydro producer Ukrhydroenergo has booked between 80-150MW per hour of transmission capacity to Moldova and the first imports by the Moldovan state-owned wholesaler Energocom started on May 12.
The attack launched by ISIS on 20 January 2022 against the Al-Sina’a Prison in Al-Hasakah, an area situated in North-Eastern Syria and currently under the authority of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, with the intention of freeing ISIS fighters held there, once again demonstrated the importance of adequately addressing the situation of the foreign fighters still being held in camps in Syria (and Iraq).
(Paris) Les Occidentaux défendent la volonté de mettre fin à la guerre en Ukraine sans la faire, mais l’ampleur de l’aide à Kyiv et des sanctions contre Moscou soulèvent une question plus crue : s’agit-il d’une guerre par procuration entre l’Ouest et la Russie ?
On May 16, wheat prices reached a new high, as India banned exports amid a disastrous heat wave.
India, the second largest producer of wheat worldwide, conveyed growing concerns about the status of its own food supply amid skyrocketing prices and decreased harvests.