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Tag: War

How to convey a war: a review of Oleksandr Mykhed’s The Language of War

Ukraine’s continued resistance against Russian aggression is also clear in the field of literature. While many writers now serve in the military, others are making a contribution through their continued engagement with writing. Oleksandr Mykhed’s new book offers a vivid insight into this development that is helping to document the nation’s struggle for freedom.

January 7, 2025 - Nicole Yurcaba

There will be no peace in Europe with Putin in power

A conversation with Borja Lasheras, advisor on Ukraine to Joseph Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Interviewer: Iwona Reichardt

November 22, 2024 - Borja Lasheras Iwona Reichardt

How Russia’s full-scale invasion has accelerated the flooding of Donbas coal mines

Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine has dramatically impacted the areas that used to make up the coal mining industry. Since 2014 most of the mines on the territories of Donbas not controlled by Ukraine have been closed down and many of them subsequently began to flood. If the coal region remains in a state of uncontrolled flooding over the next five to twelve years, then two-thirds of the territory of Donbas will become uninhabitable for normal life.

Despite Russia's full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian government remains committed to its pledge to phase out coal after 2035, the former deputy energy minister, Yaroslav Demchenkov, said in the summer of 2023. By 2021, Ukraine, as well as the country's largest energy company, DTEK, had already joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), an initiative aimed at a phased transition to carbon-free energetics. In addition, during the COP28 climate summit, German Galushchenko, the energy minister, also announced plans to create a “de-carbonized mix of Ukraine's energy system” from renewable energy and nuclear power.

November 21, 2024 - Stanislav Storozhenko

Life on the front: living and surviving in Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine

Scenes of conflict from Ukraine continue to dominate reports concerning the ongoing Russian invasion. Despite this, the war moves at a rather slow pace at the front. This reflects the local population’s adaptation to the conflict, with people stealing small moments of normalcy throughout their day-to-day lives.

On a cool, bluish-green river just minutes from the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, Ukrainian soldiers from a mortar brigade seek to relax. The dark green military 4x4 that brought them from the front now sits idle as they cast fishing lines into the water. The fishing is poor, yielding little more than ripples, but the catch does not matter. For these soldiers, the chance to grill meat, share drinks, and laugh in the open air is worth more than any fish they might pull out. Here, far from the war, time slows, and the simple act of being together in nature becomes a fleeting treasure.

November 21, 2024 - Joshua Kroeker

Gender stereotypes break down as Ukrainian women step up

With one million Ukrainians in the military, including hundreds of thousands on the frontlines, nine million displaced and thousands of men who once eagerly enlisted now hiding from military recruiters, the war shrunk and reshaped Ukraine's labour force. Indeed, it is likely to continue transforming society and women’s place in it for decades to come.

After years as a quality control engineer with big supermarkets and housing construction sites, Natalia Myronenko had yearned for change. Passionate about fashion, beauty, makeup and harmony, she saw her maternity leave after the birth of her second child as the perfect time to pivot. But the war intervened, thrusting her into a field she had never imagined entering: humanitarian demining. When she got the job as a quality control manager, she envisioned mostly office supervisory work. “Then I realized that war is my job, and I was shocked,” says the 40-year-old. Like in her old job, she has to check other people’s work. Only now, human lives are on the line. At stake is making the land safe again for farmers and people to live on, to survey each patch of farmland that had witnessed combat, carefully searching for and removing unexploded mines, missiles, artillery shells, bombs and other types of ordnance – all with the utmost caution. “It’s all about safety,” she says.

November 21, 2024 - Isabelle de Pommereau

Why Baltic security matters

From the perspective of the three Baltic countries, Russia's brutal war in Ukraine has only reinforced the notion that the United States is the key linchpin in the European security order. In the early hours of February 24th 2022, as Russia embarked on levelling Ukrainian cities, Washington called upon the 173rd Airborne Brigade to move swiftly from Italy to Latvia, thus assuring the most exposed Eastern European nations.

September 16, 2024 - Andris Banka

Tug of war. The NATO summit and (not so) modest gains in Washington

NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington took place in the shadow of the most shattering armed conflict in Europe since the end of the Second World War. The Russian invasion of Ukraine almost completely consumed these talks, but at the same time nobody would deny that it constituted the most important trigger for NATO’s much accelerated adaptation to the new, harsh geopolitical reality.

September 16, 2024 - Beata Górka-Winter

The impact of NATO membership on national security: a 25-year retrospective

Estonia’s accession to NATO in 2004 marked a historical moment that solidified the commitment to collective defence and enhanced security against potential threats, particularly from Russia. NATO membership has undeniably served as a cornerstone in shaping the security landscape of Estonia over the past 25 years.

September 16, 2024 - Nele Loorents

Collective security and national sovereignty. Hungary’s 25 years in NATO

In examining Hungary's involvement within NATO over the past 25 years, one should begin with how the country views NATO. While Budapest is honoured to be a member of this esteemed organization, it is crucial to understand why.

September 16, 2024 - Péter Stepper

An attack on the most vulnerable

The daytime missile attacks on Ukrainian cities continue to harass the country’s civilian population. Even with upgraded air defence capabilities, Russia’s cruise missiles still manage to find their way to hospitals and power stations.

July 11, 2024 - Kateryna Pryshchepa

The legacy of the displaced in the South Caucasus: from yesterday till today

The South Caucasus is no stranger to the plight of displaced persons. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, refugees and internally displaced persons have numbered in the hundreds of thousands due to conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Recent geopolitical shifts, such as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Azerbaijan’s 24-hour military offensive, have reignited concerns about this unresolved issue and the ongoing challenges faced by displaced persons in the region.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 was heralded by many western politicians, academics and others as a largely peaceful event. For many Central Asians and South Caucasians, however, it was far from tranquil. Tajikistan experienced a devastating civil war (1992-97). Georgia fought two wars with Russia over the regions of Abkhazia (1992-93) and South Ossetia (1991-92), while Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh (1992-94). Both Georgia and Azerbaijan were left with large internally displaced person (IDP) populations, the vast majority of whom are still displaced today.

April 11, 2024 - Jennifer S. Wistrand

Is peace possible between Armenia and Azerbaijan?

Following the September 2023 campaign by Azerbaijan to re-establish its sovereignty over all Karabakh region, the question now turns to the chance for a stable peace in the South Caucasus. Yet, to answer this question, one needs to examine the many dimensions of the conflict, including internal and geopolitical, to identify the main obstacles to peace. Only then can a strategy for such a process be developed.

In the shadows of the war in Ukraine, another regional development, interconnected to some extent with that conflict, also has the potential to shape the future of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet sphere. This is the Armenia-Azerbaijani peace process and the changing power balance in the South Caucasus. The geopolitical players shaping Ukraine's war and peace landscape also keep the Armenia-Azerbaijani peace process in focus. Nevertheless, there are distinctive features in both cases worth exploring.

April 11, 2024 - Ahmad Alili

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