Civil Society Participation in International Criminal Justice

Posted by & filed under Governance, Law and Ethics, Non-state Conflict Actors, Ukraine War

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

The Zelensky ‘Victory Plan’ That Evaporated

Posted by & filed under Peacebuilding, Ukraine War

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

Unwinnable Wars, Risks of Escalation, and the Nuclear Taboo

Posted by & filed under Nobel Peace Prize, Ukraine War

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

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Can We Award a Prize for Peace in a World Full of War?

Posted by & filed under Conflict Patterns, Nobel Peace Prize

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

Putin’s Nuclear Blackmail Goes Doctrinal

Posted by & filed under Security, Ukraine War

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

Spectre of Escalation Over the Ukraine War

Posted by & filed under Security, Ukraine War

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

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Anti-Globalist Alliances?

Posted by and & filed under Governance, Regions and Powers

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

Moscow Takes the Measure of Western Vacillations

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security

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

Is China Truly a Neutral Development Actor? 

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers

China presents itself as a different kind of development actor compared to Western donors — more equal and with less imposition and interference in national affairs, based on the belief that economic development leads to peace. However, many doubt this is the case. A look at Pakistan shows that local conditions and conflicts challenge this neutrality.

Pakistani soldiers and Chinese staff during the opening of a trade project in Gwadar port, west of Karachi in 2016. This port was a key part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Photo: Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Two contrasting images of China emerge: one of an aggressive superpower, allied with Russia and preparing for war, posing a threat to the world and NATO, and another as a peaceful actor supporting economic development and cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Read More