The relationship between South Africa and the West, especially the US, has a complex history. Not least because the US designated those fighting the apartheid regime, as terrorists.
Vladimir Putin: is the Russian leader guilty of war crimes?
EPA-EFE/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin/Sputnik
The Conversation’s weekly round-up of some of the best articles about the war in Ukraine.
This intercontinental ballistic missile was launched as part of Russia’s test of its strategic forces in 2020.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats have the world on edge, but so far, long-standing arms control measures have helped keep the situation from getting out of control.
A friendship far from flagging?
Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Joseph Torigian, American University School of International Service
Beijing and Moscow have had a cozy relationship of late. A scholar of China-Russia diplomacy explains how Ukraine might affect that.
A meme showing Adolf Hitler caressing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s face, tweeted by the official Ukraine state account on Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded.
Official Ukraine Twitter account
How do a country and its citizens deal with the trauma of a deadly invasion by an enemy? Memes, cats and TikToks are emerging – most recently in the Ukraine war – as a way to cope with tragedy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo before their talks in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2022, during the Winter Olympics.
(Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
International law says that the Russian invasion is illegal in itself. The Russian military’s alleged conduct also breach various international legal treaties.
Ukrainian passports say “Ukraine” with no “the.” On the Polish border, March 5, 2022.
Enrico Mattia Del Punta/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The current conflict in Ukraine has three key leaders, each of whom uses a different approach to the crisis.
Defiant: Volodymyr Zelensky is rallying Ukrainians with a series of video messages as Russian assassination squads try to hunt him down.
EPA-EFE/Ukranian presidential press service handout
Volodymyr Zelensky remains in Kyiv, rallying resistance to the Russian invasion.
People crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee by crossing the Irpin River in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 5, 2022.
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a catastrophe and should be condemned, but that doesn’t mean the West should dismiss some of Putin’s conditions as a step to ending the war.
The Chinese leader’s alignment with Putin would have sat awkwardly with previous leaders, who understood China’s best interests were served by avoiding costly entanglements.
The Volodymyr the Great monument, erected in 1853, in Kyiv. Volodymyr was a warlord who became the first Russian ruler to convert to Christianity in the late 900s. A similar statue was erected in Moscow in 2016 as a counter to Ukraine’s.
(Shutterstock)
As an independent country, Ukraine has suffered from corruption, poverty and violent periods, but Vladimir Putin’s view of Ukrainian history in Ukraine is deeply, perhaps deliberately flawed.
Since 2020, Belarus and Russia have accelerated moves towards integration.
Pictorial Press Ltd | Alamy Stock Photo
The International Criminal Court has handed arrest warrants for only three heads of state. Could Putin be next?
Local militiaman Valery, 37, carries a child as he helps a fleeing family across a bridge destroyed by artillery, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wed., March 2, 2022.
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
Russia holds veto power on the UN Security Council, blocking any action to interfere in the Ukraine war. This is unlikely to change soon – but the UN still has other options for engagement.
The scope of a new law targeting sanctions at Russia will need to be clear on many critical issues, including military aid to Ukraine.
Two men speak in the backyard of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike, according to locals, in Gorenka, Ukraine, March 2, 2022.
AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda