Just in case the mess the world is in hasn’t confounded and confused you enough, here’s another conundrum: the “2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report” listed more than 8,000 think tanks in 85 countries. So why does it seem to have come as a surprise that Vladmir Putin could and would, use Ukrainian grain as a weapon?… Read the rest
Western governments are all but crowing over the efficacy of sanctions as a weapon in the war in Ukraine. Forgotten in the rush is that whatever their contribution towards victory over Vladimir Putin, sanctions are on the point of destroying the people of Afghanistan, but have little chance of changing let alone ousting the Taliban.… Read the rest
Nearly seven decades after they were written, the repeated lines at the end of each verse of Pete Pete Seeger’s great political song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, pose what may be the defining question for some of the ways the world is dealing with the war in Ukraine: “When will they ever learn?”… Read the rest
Experts tend to have better focus than peripheral vision. In the case of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is considerable evidence many of them had neither. Vladimir Putin’s aims have long been obvious, subtly framed by his historical perspective and steadily buttressed with means to fight back if they are opposed.… Read the rest
The most brutally moving aid poster I’ve ever seen is of an emaciated child sitting with an empty food bowl. The caption reads: “I was hungry and you formed a committee to discuss the matter. Thank you.” Afghanistan calls for an update: “I am dying, and you imposed sanctions to solve the matter…’… Read the rest