The Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in the reduction of Ukraine’s grain exports by a third. As part of its attack Russia had taken or damaged Ukrainian ports, threatened merchant ships, struck Ukraine’s rail and road infrastructure and destroyed farms. The Russian invasion was followed by rapid increases in global food prices which reached record… Read more »
Category: Ukraine War
Erdogan and Putin Cordially Probe One Another’s Faults and Failures
The meeting in Sochi, Russia, on August 5 between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was more than just another chapter in the long track record of bargaining and testing the limits of mutual patience between the two leaders. Putin’s war in Ukraine has badly damaged Russia’s international positions, and Erdogan… Read more »
Russia Cherishes Ambitions but Loses Positions in the Middle East
The Ukraine war has generated shockwaves far beyond the Donbas battlefields, and the Middle East has absorbed and returned the variegated impacts and, as a result, has attracted increased attention in recent weeks. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to visit Tehran, Iran, on July 19, aiming to counter United States President Joe Biden’s visit… Read more »
Should Norway Join the EU? Research on Democracy and Peace Suggests So.
The debate about Norwegian EU membership has gained new life in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Norway has applied for EU-membership on multiple occasions. Charles de Gaulle blocked two applications in the 60s and the Norwegian population voted NO in referendums in 1972 and 1994 despite a clear YES-stance from the government and… Read more »
War and Food Insecurity: New Survey Evidence from Ukraine
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, food insecurity and food prices have become increasingly concerning. However, the focus has largely been on the consequences of war for the international market and food insecurity abroad, leaving less attention to the lack of food among civilians in Ukraine. Ukrainians have fled their homes, lost their jobs and… Read more »
Russian Assault on World Order Falters and Fails
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has clearly lost momentum, but the intensity of its multi-prong confrontation with the West keeps rising. Russian military command announced an “operational pause” in Donbas after the hard battles for Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, implicitly admitting that a regrouping of battalions, which have not been rotated in four months of fighting, is… Read more »
Russia’s War in Ukraine Is a Stress Test of Norway’s Public Debate
What Do We Talk about When We Talk about War? The public debate on foreign and security policy is facing new challenges following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The strength of our democracy depends on our ability to move beyond emotions and moral outrage, to discuss openly, argue logically, and grapple with uncomfortable questions…. Read more »
Steadfast Military Support for Ukraine Is the Route to Peace
In his essay Pacifism and the war, George Orwell wrote that “pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist.”, because “[if] you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one.” The war that Orwell was talking about… Read more »
The UN Security Council Takes Action
The Security Council has played an important function during the war in Ukraine. There is a general perception that the war in Ukraine has caused an existential crisis for the UN and paralyzed the UN Security Council. This perception is incorrect. On the contrary, the Security Council has shown itself to be proactive, flexible and… Read more »
Japanese Perspectives on the Ukraine War
Since February 2022, Japan has imposed a series of economic sanctions on Russia, in coordination with allies in the G7, including the freezing of Russian assets and the expulsion of Russian diplomats stationed in Japan. As the first major war involving European great powers in this century, Japanese security analysts agree that the Ukraine War will… Read more »