The EU is in a unique position to save Ukraine from becoming a failed state, writes Michael Emerson, by creating a lightly armed tripartite peacekeeping force of EU, Ukrainian and Russian personnel. But it must act swiftly!
… Emerson | 6th May 2014 Comment EU Ukraine US Politics War ukraine-protestor-cut.jpg The EU … First, stop the fratricidal insanity With the political dynamics out of control, political leaders have now together to decide …
Superpower confrontations and growing tensions in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Arctic are all part of a new Cold War, writes Alexander Reid Ross - and this time Green campaigners are under attack by both Russian authorities and NATO ...
… Ross | 28th June 2014 News War Fossil Fuels Politics Ukraine Middle East Russia NATO … so on. What has gone unnoticed is that the political repression of the environmental … activities. "There is a demand from our political leadership to describe what's going …
A victory for the Kurds and their allies in Syria would be a victory for all who seek a future dictated by neither fundamentalists nor imperialists, writes Derek Wall. Is that why NATO members' have taken no effective action to help Syria's Kurds resist Islamic State - even as Kobane is set to fall, and with 160,000 Kurdish refugees trapped at the Turkish border?
… While Rojava is known as a Kurdish territory, political and religious pluralism is strongly … there are many other Kurdish and non Kurdish political parties in Rojava. The PKK affiliated party advocates political diversity, feminism and …
We live in an age of propaganda by the 'mainstream' media, writes John Pilger. Inconvenient stories, truths and even entire countries are airbrushed away, while dominant narratives are parroted incessantly to bludgeon our minds in acceptance of war, injustice, austerity, all to serve the interests of our ruling elites.
… December 2014 Comment Media War Economics Politics pilger-truth-cut.jpg We live in an … Reich. His message was that truth-telling and political action had failed and only 'culture' … and race were separated. The personal was the political, and the media was the message. In …
The mainstream media are working hard to obscure NATO's hideous plot to rekindle the Cold War in Ukraine, writes Diana Johnstone, as they seek to engineer our 'consent' for yet more heinous acts to come. To prevent the horror of a full scale war, first we must grasp the truth.
… May 2014 Comment Ukraine Russia USA War Media Politics odessa-cut.jpg Two of those murdered … a federal system into Ukraine (now a politically divided but totally centralized … is proof that whatever happens, the NATO political class, political leaders and media …
Western media have studiously ignored the far-right, violent and often outright Nazi politics of many of Ukraine's Euro-Maidan protestors, writes Robert Parry. But with the thugs now organized into Nazi brigades of the Ukrainian army, and waging war on Russian separatists, an unlikely British paper has dared tell the truth: the conservative Daily Telegraph.
… Robert Parry | 14th August 2014 Comment Politics Ukraine War History … far-right, violent and often outright Nazi politics of many of Ukraine's Euro-Maidan … are all Ukrainian heroes - why worry about politics? The Kiev government is aware of the …
As Israel pursues its war on Gaza with ever-increasing ferocity, and with 25% of Gaza's people forced from their homes, what's the final objective? It's unthinkable that Israel's aim is to 'cleanse' the territory of its people, seize its vast gas reserves, and annex some of the Med's hottest real estate. Isn't it?
… tunnels" and so on, and break its hold on political power in the territory - but the … community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to … nor its soldiers, nor its commanders, not its political leaders, will ever have to defend …
in Ukraine, as in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and Syria, US policy is all about dominating the world's fossil fuel supplies, writes Mike Whitney - in this case, the gas pipelines from Russia to Europe. But the 'great aggressor', Vladimir Putin, is refusing to play his part. So what next?
… global energy dominance "While the human politics of the crisis in Ukraine garner all the headlines, it is the gas politics that in many ways lies at the heart … the unwashed masses. It was all about power politics and geostrategic maneuvering; …
Conflict continues to rage in Iraq over control of the Mosul dam, which impounds 11 cubic kilometres of water and controls water levels and supplies across the country, writes Jonathan Bridge. It's not the first battle fought over control of water - and it's certainly not the last in a drying Middle East with fast-growing populations.
… as far downstream as Baghdad, 350km away. But politically and economically it is the control … grout, is not properly maintained. Water as political and military power Strategically, … Mark Zeitoun , an expert on Middle East water politics, has developed a theory of …
Never mind the 'war on terror' rhetoric, writes Nafeez Ahmed. The purpose of Israel's escalating assault on Gaza is to control the Territory's 1.4 trillion cubic feet of gas - and so keep Palestine poor and weak, gain massive export revenues, and avert its own domestic energy crisis.
… designed to "eliminate" Hamas as "a viable political entity in Gaza" to generate a "political climate" conducive to a gas deal. … the defeated Fatah as the dominant political player in the West Bank, and …
Politicians are forever citing 'terror' as a reason to expand the security state and restrict civil liberties, writes Paul Mobbs. But when it comes to the real threats that face the world - ecological breakdown, climate disruption, resource crises, and an unjust and rapacious world order ... well, that's all 'green crap'. Isn't it?
… Britain's real 'terror threat': eco-sceptic politicians Paul Mobbs | 3rd September 2014 … Comment War Oil Water Climate Change Society Politics Iraq Syria drought-santafe-arg-cut.jpg Politicians are forever citing 'terror' as a …
Austria's pledge to strive for the elimination of nuclear WMD kindled fresh energy and hope at this month's Vienna Conference on Nuclear Weapons, writes Rebecca Johnson. Now we must maintain the momentum towards global nuclear disarmament at the May 2015 meeting of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
… nuclear weapons" , the US noted the "growing political will" to pursue a practical … if the president is not listening or is too politically hamstrung to respond effectively … with the CD's cold war structure and political problems have prompted the …
One hundred years ago this August, guns rang out as a Europe made unstable by hatred, nationalism and a complex web of treaties went to war. Now the entire world appears poised for conflagration, writes Guy Horton. But where are the leaders to pull us from the brink?
… | 6th August 2014 Comment War History WMD Politics gaza-2014-cut.jpg One hundred years … along historical fissures, the shifting geopolitical plates of Russian and Chinese … at home, is confronted by simultaneous geopolitical challenges on three fault lines: …
With 300,000 hectares of forests, fields and steppes damaged by fire, the war in Ukraine has done huge damage to the country's environment, writes Dimiter Kenarov. But there has been an upside: a new green spirit is taking root, and young volunteers are stepping in to protect wild spaces.
… country may not have radically changed the political practices in Ukraine, but it has … movement became a breeding ground for political dissidence. The druzhina at Kiev's …
With a UN resolution on DU munitions due this autumn, the European Parliament is demanding a strong EU position supporting their abolition, or at least strict controls on these fearsome weapons whose toxic residues persist for decades after use.
… of MEPs and from across both Europe and the political spectrum, have also submitted … Green and other MEPs The Parliament's Green political groups have consistently supported … have garnered support from across the political spectrum appears to show that DU's …
Governments worldwide have been warned: draw up plans to help populations who are being forced to move because of climate change, or face a future of growing conflict and insecurity, writes Paul Brown.
… at integration of the newcomers into existing political structures and giving them some … at integration of the newcomers into existing political structures and giving them some …
The best way to deal with embarrassing, inconvenient facts is to ignore them, writes Guy Horton. And this is precisely what the international community is doing over Burma's demographic anomaly - 9 million people who ought to be there, but aren't. Their absence is prima facie evidence of genocide - but as we all celebrate the 'brave new Burma', no one wants to know.
… at the highest level entailing legal and political responsibility." (Situation of Human … slumped." (' Burma, Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity ', page 38, Zed Books, … top down, urban, Burman centred journalists, politicians and diplomats whose views have …
In this war, both sides have declared the same aim - to put an end to the situation that existed before it started. Remarkably, writes Uri Avnery, they can both have their way: an end to the rockets, bombs and shells; an end to the blockade and the occupation. In short, peace. But first they must talk to each other ...
… | 25th July 2014 Comment War Middle East Politics yes-to-pal-state-cut.jpg In this war, …
Last week Parliament had its first ever chance to debate a shadowy treaty dating back to 1958, under which the UK exported to the USA enough plutonium for over 1,000 nuclear warheads, writes David Lowry. But the core question remains unanswered - how can the treaty be reconciled with our sovereign obligations to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation?
… | 13th November 2014 News Nuclear WMD War Politics UK USA polaris-sub-ad-cut.jpg Can I …
Israel has exploited the legal ambiguity of its military rule of Palestinian territories, writes Tony Klug - cherry-picking Israeli law, Ottoman law and Geneva Conventions to suit its purposes. Israel must now decide - is it an occupation, or an annexation? Only once that decision is made, can Israel's slide towards apartheid be halted.
… Klug | 7th December 2014 Comment Middle East Politics War palestine-flag-bilin.jpg Israel …
As the world gears up to finance Gaza's $6bn reconstruction after Operation Protective Edge, an EU source has revealed that Israel will earn billions of euros by making sure that all the steel, concrete and other materials and other aid are sourced in Israel and benefit Israeli companies.
… construction and transaction costs, and is a political problem that has to be dealt with." …
Israel desperately covets Gaza's gas as a 'cheap stop-gap' yielding revenues of $6-7 billion a year, writes Nafeez Ahmed. The UK's BG and the US's Noble Energy are lined up to do the dirty work - but first Hamas must be 'uprooted' from Gaza, and Fatah bullied into cutting off its talks with Russia's Gazprom.
… were excluded from these talks due to "political sensitivities and the complex … and a court challenge from opposition politicians over its plans to export up to 40 … between all these parties, particularly "political divisions on the Palestine side" …
Robert 'Bo' Jacobs was brought up under the shadow of nuclear war. A world expert on the cultural and social impacts of radiation, he lives and works in Hiroshima. Julio Godoy caught the chance of an interview ... and discovered that nuclear war is still going on today - in slow motion.
… and pushes the consequences into the lives of politicians in the future. But by far the most … empires and contaminating people with little political power or agency to protect … are never a topic of public debate in the politics of nuclear nations, they are at the …
The war in Gaza is over - but with the territory in ruins, it's essential to build a just and durable peace, and restore essential public services: health, water, sewerage and above all electric power. Keith Barnham presents his plan for Gaza, based on a massive deployment of solar and wind power generation.
… between Israel and Palestine One of the political decisions that tragically …