The BRICS summit on October 22–24, held in Kazan, Russia, was met with great fanfare in Russian propaganda, which hailed it for its “epochal” significance.
Vladimir Putin at a press conference at the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia in October 2024. Photo: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images
As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches its 33rd month, no drastic changes are expected on the battlefield.
The Kremlin has instructed its propagandists to wax poetic about the unique significance of the BRICS summit 2024 in Kazan, Russia. Photo: Stanislav Krasilnikov /Photohost Ag/Anadolu via Getty Images
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is in trouble.
A brief ‘revitalization’ of the ICC due to its swift reaction to Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine: The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) visiting Kyiv Region, Ukraine. Photo: Pavlo_Bagmut/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
To commentators and observers of the Court, one crisis seems to lead on to the next, so that the field of international criminal justice has been described as being in ‘perpetual crisis’.Read More
Is the Ukrainian president weakened?
Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump 27 September 2024 in New York City. Photo: Alex Kent/Getty Images
Sir Michael Howard, one of the most renowned war historians of all time, often pointed out that wars were lost or won as a result of events that took place far from the front lines. The past weeks have powerfully reminded us of the truth in Howard’s observation.Read More
The announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize on October 11 coincided with a dangerous phase in two long wars — Israel’s war against Hamas and Hezbollah and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine — that are both poised for escalation.
Hiroshima after Atomic Bomb strike in 1945. Photo: Prisma Bildagentur/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
On Friday 11 October, we will find out the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The announcement will take place against the background of full-scale wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as a record number of other conflicts around the world.
At noon on the day of the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize, a peace dove flies from the windows of the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, carrying the news of the new Nobel laureate. Photo: Johannes Granseth / Nobel Peace Center
Could the Nobel Committee decide that the situation is so bad that no one is worthy of the Peace Prize this year?Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced neither surprising nor radical revisions in Russia’s nuclear doctrine on September 25 (Kremlin.ru, September 25).
President Vladimir Putin in Moscow 25 September 2024. Photo: Getty Images
He committed to revising the government’s vague document back in June. In the ensuing months, many “patriotic” pundits have advocated various drastic changes, from formalizing the “escalate-to-deescalate” proposition to breaking the non-proliferation regime (see EDM, June 3; Kommersant, September 11).Read More
The first striking sentence of the Communist Manifesto issued in 1848 – A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism – has long become a historical anecdote. Even the leftist fringe cherishes no illusions about the unity of the proletariat.
A different spectre, however, is looming over Europe – the spectre of nuclear escalation of the Ukraine War.
Illustration: GOCMEN / Getty Images
The far right and far left have partly overlapping views on issues of global economic cooperation. Why don’t they unite?
Electoral boards with posters from the parties ‘Reconquête’, ‘La France Insoumise (LFI)’, ‘Rassemblement National’, and ‘Les Ecologistes’ for the European Elections on May 28, 2024, in Lyon. Photo: Robert Deyrail / Getty Images
“We have moved from ‘we the workers’ to ‘we the French,’” said the French sociologist Didier Eribon to Libération recently, to explain the working class’s support for the populist party Rassemblement National in France in the context of the country’s parliamentary elections in June and July this year.Read More
Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the US-led Western coalition has demonstrated remarkable determination in supporting Kyiv. Yet, every practical step in providing military support to defiant Ukraine has involved protracted deliberations (Kuzio, “Crimea: Where Russia’s War Started and Where Ukraine Will Win,” July 8).
Putin greets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Photo: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Moscow has sought to exploit and exacerbate these concerns but has been unable to derail coalitions formed for supplying Ukraine with Leopard main battle tanks or F-16 fighter jets.Read More