Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
The EU Provoked Putin, Not NATO
Russia and Ukraine are on the verge of war. According to NATO, more than 1,000 armed Russian soldiers are currently within Ukraine’s territory. And as the stakes of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict keep increasing, so does the intensity of debate on the topic. Is Russia solely responsible for the conflict in Ukraine? Or should Western leaders...
Ukraine: Don’t Rush to Judgment
It is not unusual for people to believe the propaganda that their side spews out non-stop with swaggering bravado. That’s why propaganda exists. It works time after time, in every part of the world. In viewing the crisis in Ukraine, it is important to first examine our own propaganda. Do our news sources mention the U.S. role in Ukraine? Do...
Ukraine Ratifies Association Agreement With EU
KIEV, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday ratified a landmark agreement on political association and trade with the European Union, the rejection of which last November by then President Viktor Yanukovich led to his downfall. The agreement, whose ratification was synchronized with that of the European Parliament in...
Put the ‘Humanitarian’ Back in Humanitarian Interventions
In times past, talk of “humanitarian intervention” brought to mind images of Red Cross trucks and nurses coming to the scene of a natural disaster to tend the afflicted. Today American leaders use it to mean instead aerial bombing campaigns and proxy wars led by Special Forces to oust dictators or resist insurgents, often with the...
ISIL and the World’s Policeman
President Obama’s speech to the nation on ISIL and the follow-up statements by the White House and administration officials reveal the political bind that American policy makers find themselves in when dealing with the chaos in the Middle East, or in the Ukraine and Sudan for that matter. Beginning with the disillusionment over the war in...
This Is the Worst Refugee Crisis Since WWII. It’s Time for Us to Rethink Our Response
We started this year with a frightening record: More than 51 million fellow human beings were forcibly displaced from their homes by conflict and human rights abuse. It is the highest number recorded since the refugee crisis following World War II. As we are now approaching mid-September 2014, we do not know exactly how many men, women and...
Why Germany Can’t Avoid a Larger Military Commitment to NATO
Germany’s position as Europe’s leading economic and political power put Chancellor Merkel in an awkward position vis-a-vis how to address Vladimir Putin’s extra-territorial activities. With high implied stakes for the post-Cold War order, Germany must carefully balance its self-interest with its obligations to NATO and its...
Ukraine Sees The Worst Fighting Since Ceasefire With Russia Began
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Shelling killed six people and wounded 15 others in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, the city council said Monday — the worst reported violence since a cease-fire between Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian troops took effect on Sept. 5. Nonetheless, the cease-fire deal has brought some normalcy to parts of eastern Ukraine...
Another Russian Convoy Enters Ukraine Amid Renewed Fighting
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Despite the cease-fire agreement, renewed fighting flared up Saturday in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and government forces, while Moscow sent a second convoy of trucks into Ukraine without Kiev’s consent. Ukraine’s military operation said in a statement that it had successfully repelled a rebel...
Pope Francis Warns Against Third World War: ‘War Is Madness’
REDIPUGLIA, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis urged the world Saturday to shed its apathy in the face of what he characterizes as a third world war, intoning “war is madness” at the foot of a grandiose monument to soldiers killed in World War I. Francis’ aim in recalling those who died in the Great War that broke out 100 years ago was...
