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If NATO means fewer Ukrainians in graves, why wouldn’t Kyiv pursue membership?

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On June 22, Donald Trump concluded his announcement of the Iran bombings with a grotesque flourish: “NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE.” [...] Earlier, Vladimir Putin claimed his so-called “Special Military Operation” aimed to “liberate” Ukraine from “Nazis.” The victims, of course, see through the lie. In Bucha, a city where Russian troops committed unspeakable atrocities, one woman told me, her voice laced with bitter irony: “Yes, the Russians liberated me. From my job. My home. My car.”

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It also never escapes me how little ordinary lives matter when nations decide to wage war or when warlords and autocrats struggle for power. Normal people —those who dream, work, and love just as I do—are reduced to abstract casualties, their suffering buried beneath headlines dominated by jingoistic frenzy and geopolitical posturing.

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People become collateral damage, a bureaucratic euphemism for the u

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23646809

Ancient trees are shipped to the UK, then burned – using billions in ‘green’ subsidies. Stop this madness now

The evidence against the Drax power station is damning, yet the government wants to continue its massive public funding, says campaigner Dale Vince

How green is this? We pay billions of pounds to cut down ancient forests in the US and Canada, ship the wood across the Atlantic in diesel tankers, then burn it in a Yorkshire-based power station.

Welcome to the scandal of Drax, where Britain’s biggest polluter gets to play climate hero. [...]

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The EU-Mercosur agreement could reshape not only transatlantic relations, but the economic map of Latin America itself. After a quarter-century of stop-go negotiations, Brussels and the four Mercosur states — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — finally have an agreement on the table that slashes more than 90 percent of tariffs, reins in non-tariff barriers, locks in sustainable-development commitments and contains other provisions that reach well beyond trade in goods.

But signing on the dotted line is only the first step.

The agreement needs to be ratified by the Council of the European Union - the EU could approve its planned trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur before summer, according to an official -, the European Parliament, and parli

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Years were spent on agreeing rules to hold companies accountable for their environmental and social impacts, including the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and more. The European Commission's ‘simplification’ agenda was supposed to streamline rules and reduce the administrative burden on companies. Instead the numerous Omnibus proposals have gone beyond this, weakening sustainability rules instead.

The rules are good for all the reasons associated with protecting human rights and combating climate change. But they also give European companies a distinct advantage over rivals. Car makers have been at the forefront of this and are set to be the big winners. Many have invested in complying with the rules requiring them to identify and mitigate negative

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Chinese hackers targeted the Czech Foreign Ministry in a sophisticated cyberattack that lasted more than a year, the government said Tuesday, formally blaming Beijing for infiltrating one of the country’s most sensitive communication systems.

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Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský summoned the Chinese ambassador to Prague, Feng Biao, on Tuesday morning to formally protest the cyberattack. He said the ministry’s system had long suffered from outdated technology and security flaws, which made the breach possible.

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This cyberattack didn’t expose personal data but shows ongoing risks to [...] security. Outdated systems leave sensitive government info vulnerable, which could affect national security and public services. Cooperation with NATO, the EU, and allies aims to prevent future attacks and protect services l

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Op-ed by Elena Davlikanova, Democracy Fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis.

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On May 9, European foreign ministers convened ... to approve the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine ... Following a formal request from [Ukrainian] President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Council of Europe's Secretary General Alain Berset was tasked with leading the process.

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The tribunal will not replace the International Criminal Court, which already issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the deportation of Ukrainian children. Instead, it aims to fill a gap that the ICC cannot fill because its current legal infrastructure is insufficient for prosecuting sitting heads of state for violating the UN Charter with the crime of aggression.

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While much of the discussion around the tribunal ha

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At the core of party-state influencing is the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department (UFWD). This is a key institution involved in building relationships with individuals and organisations outside the party, including among Chinese communities overseas. UFWD work seeks to foster connections, encourage support for Beijing’s positions and promote unity among ethnic Chinese people globally. This is often done through cultural outreach, forums and community events. Experts describe the UFWD as playing a strategic role in shaping how overseas Chinese communities relate to both China and their host societies.

Organs of the Chinese party state affiliated with United Front work have been active in Ireland, engaging with various levels of government and civil society.

Part of its work involves interacting with pol

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Imagine being a child watching in terror as your country is invaded, seeing bombs obliterate your town and wondering if your father fighting on the frontlines is even still alive. Then imagine being kidnapped by that invading army, taken to a hostile country where you are not allowed to speak your own language and told every day that your parents have abandoned you(Open Link in new window) and your country soon will be wiped off the map.

For the approximately 20,000 Ukrainian children(Open Link in new window) kidnapped by Russian forces, this nightmare is their reality. As the United States continues talks with Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine, negotiators must prioritize the return of these innocent lives.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a famous Ukrainian human rights lawyer and winner o

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Russia ended some 80 years of peace since World War II, the longest break from war on the European mainland in a millennium. But the immediate occasion for the hastily-convened Caucus was the vote on a Ukrainian resolution at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to condemn Russia’s invasion and demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of its military forces from Ukrainian territory — with implications on when peace would return to Europe, for how long, and with what consequences for the rest of the world.

As expected, the non-binding resolution passed, though with a lower margin than in the 2022 voting. What shocked the Caucus was the US joining Russia, Iran, and North Korea, three of the new “Axis of Evil,” in voting against the resolution that its democratic NATO allies supported. Even China, the fourth Axis member, abstained, a

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The news from Kyiv on July 8 about another attack on Ukrainian cities, with missiles hitting medical infrastructure – including Ukraine's largest children's hospital – is shocking. Alas, these events come as no surprise when we look at how attacking hospitals is not unintentional, but part of a strategy Russia has deployed before.

We saw this in Syria following Moscow’s 2015 intervention. If the trend in Ukraine continues, it is plausible that the Russian army will continue to use its toolbox that we have already seen in Syrian cities.

Russia sent military forces to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime at a time when Syrian rebels were mere miles away from the presidential palace in Damascus. Taking advantage of the civil war, Moscow expanded its existing positions and built new bases for its forces