Hard Georgian Lessons for Ending the War in Ukraine

Posted by & filed under Peacebuilding, Regions and Powers, Ukraine War

Russia’s all-out aggression against Ukraine, which will pass the 18-month mark next week, is indirectly but strongly connected to the Russo-Georgian war of 15 years ago.

In the first week of August 2008, Georgian villages in South Ossetia, a separatist enclave controlled by Russia since 1992, came under heavy artillery fire; on August 14, Russian tanks reached the outskirts of Tbilisi, before retreating to Tskhinvali a week later.

Russian soldiers travel on a tank in the province of South Ossetia following the conflict with Russia in August 2008. Photo: Igor Gavrilov/Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

The ceasefire was negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who rushed to Moscow to persuade Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to roll back the invasion, and it was United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who convinced Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to sign the deal, which prompted the Kremlin to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as “independent states” (Rossiiskaya gazeta; Svoboda, August 8).Read More

Hallucinations and Existential Threats — Yet More Power to AI

Posted by & filed under Law and Ethics

Every so often, we observe debates around the threats of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Not least from fictional movies and some skeptics.

‘Hold My Hand’ by Cash Macanaya. Unsplash

But this debate around promises and perils of AI has, as of late, taken a pivotal turn — with the emergence of AI chatbots such as Chat GPT or Google’s Bard. The model underpinning these systems has gained a central stage in those debates. On the one hand, the model is constantly empowering AI technology. And, on the other hand, it is inviting more resistance against AI — even by its staunch proponents.Read More

Ukraine’s ‘Counteroffensive’ in the Global South

Posted by & filed under Peacebuilding, Regions and Powers, Ukraine War

The low-profile and high-impact meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 5 and 6 was never intended to produce a road map for ending the war in Ukraine; neither was it a summit, since the invitations sent to some 40 countries specified the level of representation as national security advisers.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Jeddah at a previous occasion in May. Photo: Saudi Foreign Ministry / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

It can, nevertheless, be called a peace conference, following up on the meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 24, and preparing the ground for a wider peace summit proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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Manipur Tragedy

Posted by & filed under Non-state Conflict Actors, Security, Violent Organizations

The porous border between India and Myanmar. Photo credit: Åshild Kolås

Manipur, one of the states of Northeast India, has been the site of so-called ‘ethnic violence’ since early May, forcing more than 60,000 people out of their homes, while at least 160 people have been killed. But is this really an ‘ethnic conflict’ or ‘ethnic violence’ between Meiteis and Kukis?

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Unraveling China’s Strategic Re-engagement in Myanmar

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers

As the international community ponders how to approach the Myanmar crisis, China has revamped its engagement in hopes of strengthening China-Myanmar relations.

Photo: Thomas De Cian / NurPhoto via Getty Images

As Myanmar enters its third year of civil unrest since the 2021 military coup, international players are still developing strategies for how to address the growing crisis in Myanmar.

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Hollow Words and Apparent Setbacks at the Russia-Africa Summit

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Ukraine War

Concerted diplomatic efforts were invested during preparations for the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, formally held on July 27 and 28, and President Vladimir Putin was grandstanding, networking and entertaining his guests non-stop from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday evening.

Putin greets Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traore during the Russia-Africa Summit in July 2023 in Saint Petersburg. Photo: Getty Images

His main intention was to demonstrate the width and depth of Russia’s ties with the continent. And as a result, the first major setback was that only 17 heads of state and 10 prime ministers (out of 54 African states) attended the event (The Moscow Times, July 25).

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Taking Stock: Generative AI, Humanitarian Action, and the Aid Worker

Posted by & filed under Humanitarianism

Kristin Bergtora Sandvik discusses the broader implications of evolving AI for humanitarian action, aid work, and aid workers.

Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Generative AI: From same, same but different to different

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Russia Escalates War by Breaking Ukraine Grain Deal

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security, Ukraine War

The decision to withdraw from the international arrangement guaranteeing the safety of grain exports from Ukrainian ports, announced in Moscow on July 17, signifies a significant effort to escalate non-kinetic hostilities to break the pattern of slow-moving defeat in this war of attrition.

Wheat fields in midsummer (August) in Ukraine. Photo: Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the benefits that Ukraine harvested from the grain deal, allegedly at the expense of the Russian portions of the agreement, and mainstream Moscow commentators argue that the cancellation was not a surprise and that hopes for rehabilitation are in vain (Rossiiskaya gazeta, July 18).

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Exit UN, Enter the Wagner Group? The UN’s 10-year-old Mission in Mali is Ending

Posted by & filed under Civilians in Conflict, Non-state Conflict Actors, Regions and Powers, Violent Organizations

On 30 June, the UN Security Council had been expected to extend the mandate of the UN’s mission in Mali (MINUSMA) for a further year. On 16 June, however, the Malian foreign minister asked the UN to withdraw from the country.

A Dingo tank of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, enters Camp Castor after returning from a trainings mission on March 6, 2017 in Gao, Mali as part of the U.N.-led MINUSMA.(Photo: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)

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Russia Reels From New Post-Vilnius Challenges

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security, Ukraine War

The outcome of the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12 left the Russian leadership confused and anxious. The controversial issue on Ukraine’s membership in the alliance was left pending, as had been planned.

Joe Biden and Volodomyr Zelenskyy at NATO Summit in Vilnius in July 2023. Photo: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Thus, some official mouthpieces in Moscow and many “patriotic-military” bloggers have rushed to pronounce the meeting as an “epic fail” (Izvestiya, July 12; Topwar.ru, July 15).

Debates among more serious experts, however, suggested that Ukraine received greater support for its desire to join NATO than it could have expected and that a further step in consolidating the United States leadership within the alliance was achieved (Russiancouncil.ru, July 13)Read More