Ukraine can win

In many circles it has become de rigueur to assert that Ukraine cannot hope to prevail against the Russian military in the current war. If this assessment is correct, the obvious outcome of the conflict would be a negotiated settlement leaving Russia in possession of presently occupied territories in exchange for “peace.” With much of its eastern agricultural and industrial areas lost along with most of its Black Sea coastline, Ukraine would then become a vassal state, unviable economically and dependent on outside support for its existence.

Russia has struggled in Ukraine, but everyone else has still lost

MIDDLE ISRAEL: Moscow’s strategic setbacks in Ukraine have yet to spell victory for anyone else.

Having listened to Nikolai Gogol read to him from his Dead Souls, which mocked feudal Russia through a plan to buy dead serfs’ souls, Alexander Pushkin at one point burst into laughter only to suddenly turn pensive and say in despair: “God, how sad our Russia is.”

Assessing the State of the Global Jihadist Movement

The threat posed by the global jihadist movement in mid-2022 looks much different than it did just a few years ago, with terrorist groups in the Middle East weakened, while those in South Asia and Africa have grown stronger.

A recent UN report laid out the line of succession for al-Qaeda, an important issue, especially considering the age and health of the group’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and how much the future of al-Qaeda depends on who succeeds him as emir.

Putin Visits Tehran in an Attempt to Shore Up Russia’s Regional Position

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s July 19 visit to Tehran, for meetings with leaders of Iran and Turkey (Türkiye), is intended to expand relations with Iran and protect Russia’s other regional interests.

The Putin trip to Tehran represents the Kremlin’s attempt to counter President Biden’s mid-July trip to historic U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Presidential Mideast Trip Seeks to Reassure Historic Allies

President Biden’s July 13-16 visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia sought to reassure key regional allies wary of the U.S. commitment to secure them against Iran and other threats.

The President did not articulate any overarching strategic vision for the region, but the meetings did address potential solutions to some regional concerns and conflicts.

Capitalism and Unmaking of Democracy

Rule of law, transparency, accountability and citizenship rights are fundamental pillars of constitutional democracy. These pillars are eroding rapidly. The democratic cultures based on equality, liberty, justice, reason, science, secularism, tolerance and mutual respect for dissenting and diverse opinions are declining across the globe. The corporatisation of electoral campaigns, market command over political parties, corporate control over political processes and policies are mortal threat to the citizenship rights and democratic polity. The capitalist assault on democratic governance is creating conditions of political, economic, social and cultural crises, and giving rise to reactionary forces. Major democracies in Europe, Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania are facing the crisis of legitimacy and citizens are losing trust over their own states and governments.

Kosovo Political Prisoners Recall Brutal Internment on ‘Barren Island’

A new book tells the rarely-heard stories of Kosovo Albanians who were detained in grim conditions on the Croatian island of Goli Otok (Barren Island), a prison camp for political dissidents in the former Yugoslavia.

“When I arrived there, it was a very cold day and I was taken immediately to solitary confinement in a dark and frozen cell,” said Fadil Bajraktari, recalling the day in 1984 when he was sent to a detention camp on an isolated island off the coast of Croatia.