The Ukraine crisis has made Russia more dependent on China. Putin is popular in Beijing, and Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are the best of friends. But can China save Russia from its crisis?
!["Yalta summit 1945 with Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin" by [1] The source web page include the following caption: Photo #: USA C-543 (Color). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yalta_summit_1945_with_Churchill,_Roosevelt,_Stalin.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Yalta_summit_1945_with_Churchill,_Roosevelt,_Stalin.jpg](http://blogs.prio.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Yalta_summit_1945_with_Churchill_Roosevelt_Stalin-1-292x235.jpg)
Chiang Kai-shek was not informed. Yalta summit 1945 with Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. (Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Tuesday 17 February South Sudan’s Information Minister, Michael Makuei warned media groups and journalists of harsh punishments if they publish or broadcast interviews with rebels inside South Sudan. New clashes in Upper Nile between government forces and the SPLA (IO) in Renk and Manyo. Lakes state parliamentary speaker, Baipath Majuec Relpuou, called on caretaker governor… Read more »
The humanitarian sector faces an unprecedented number of crises globally. The growing operational and financial deficit in the capacity of governments and humanitarian organizations to respond has led to calls for changes in the way such crises are understood and managed. This involves a strong focus on cooperation and partnerships with the private sector. A large part of the allure is the notion that private-public partnerships will make humanitarian response faster by entrenching market-oriented rationalities, thus enhancing effectiveness.
This is also how the private sector presents itself:
One should never underestimate the power of private companies who offer aid. Companies are almost always focused on efficiency, good negotiation, building their reputation (their brand) and getting things done on time and on budget (Narfeldt 2007).
Here, I will try to complicate this narrative by pointing out some conundrums in the vigorous humanitarian embrace of the private sector.
Read the entire text at the blog of ATHA, where it was posted 18 Feb 2015.
Russia connects with Turkey seeking opportunities in the Middle East.
Putin heeded to Erdoğan on 3 December 2012. Photo: The Presidential Press and Information Office
Violent conflicts in the Middle East gained new momentum in 2014, and the forceful multilateral efforts to contain them yielded far from satisfactory results. Both Russia and Turkey have remained aloof from these efforts, and often oppose US-led endeavors but they have major stakes in the overlapping regional conflicts and so are exploring opportunities to claim a key role in pro-active conflict management.
Read more in the new PRIO Policy Brief: Partnerhip of Contrarians
Since at least 2011, the Chinese government has censored numerous websites on the topic of nonviolent resistance, including websites for the Albert Einstein Institution, the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, an online bibliography of scholarship of nonviolent action, and the website for the NAVCO data project, among others.
Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution. Photo: Pasu Au Yeung, via Flickr
A month ago, the Chinese government allegedly blocked Google, along with a variety of search terms such as the phrase “waging nonviolence.” It’s revealing that content related to nonviolent struggle would be so concerning to the Chinese government.
Read more at Political Violence @ a Glance, where the full text was posted 16 January 2015.
Tuesday 10 February New clashes between government forces and the SPLM/A (IO) in Obudo County, Upper Nile state, and north of Bentiu in Unity state. The Nuer Council of Elders (NCE) issued a statement criticizing the IGAD for suffering from conflict of interest and called for greater impartiality. Juba and Kampala denied claims by… Read more »
On 14 February, the population of Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy, were supposed to go to the polls to elect a new president. This election might have proven a watershed in Nigerian history. For the first time, the opposition had a realistic opportunity to take over from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has held power ever since free elections were re-introduced in 1999. The security problems in the north-east of the country have made the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) postpone the election until 28 March. This may prove an effective barrier for the opposition, and increase the risk of an explosion of violence both before and during the election.
Student elections in Calabar, Nigeria.
It has become clear that the plan for establishing a super-ministry for the Arctic has been reduced to setting a government commission, which according to some lobbyists in the Duma, would put security first (Arctic-Info, February 11). Kommersant (February 6) reported that Dmitry Rogozin is approved as the head of this commission, and RIA-Novosti (6… Read more »
A pause is a feature of the “Hybrid war”. Photo from RBC.ru
President Vladimir Putin loves to play the “divide-and-deceive” game, imagining that every split between the United States and Europe or inside the European Union is an opportunity to corrupt Western policies, opinions, and values. It was high time to turn this game against him, and last week he indeed found himself on the receiving end of an elegant “deter-and-engage” combination. As NATO announced the decision to strengthen its Response Force and military presence in the Baltic area, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande traveled to Moscow to impress upon President Vladimir Putin the urgent need to stop the escalation of hostilities in Eastern Ukraine. Merkel’s stern reflection that the talks made sense is likely a testimony that they didn’t, but it is remarkable that the five-hours-long exchange in the Kremlin (preceded and followed by phone conversations) happened against the background of lively debate in Washington on the issue of providing military aid to Ukraine.
For the rest of the post, see the Brookings blog, February 10.
In the fog of winter war in Ukraine.
The week of February 2 registered an explosion in political intrigue around the war in eastern Ukraine, and some sort of pause in hostilities is likely to ensue. Undoubtedly, this is a positive development, but it would be an overstatement to describe the late-night talks in the Kremlin between President Vladimir Putin and the two European envoys—German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande—as the “last chance” to stop the war. The five-hour talks concluded without any agreement or press conference. And during their brief photo-session, the three leaders wore their sternest facial expressions, demonstrating how hard it was to reach the compromise, which in fact had been pre-negotiated. Merkel and Hollande held several rounds of phone talks with Putin before hitting the road for their shuttle diplomacy, in which their first stop was Kyiv before proceeding to Moscow. That trip was followed up with another four-way phone conference on Sunday. The parties, indeed, need to show personal commitment to the deal, primarily to their respective domestic audiences. At the same time, they likely realize full well that this latest peace initiative has begun unraveling well before any signing ceremony could take place, if it happens at all.
The rest of the article is in Eurasia Daily Monitor, February 9.
