Russia has tied its currency to gold to evade sanctions. Shifting the ruble away from a pegged value and into the gold standard itself is aimed at making it a credible gold substitute at a fixed rate.
The toll of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on people’s wellbeing was felt worldwide. The effects were temporary for most. But those high on certain psychological traits struggled for longer.
Ukraine has fought off relentless waves of Russian attacks over the past two years, but if its Western support dries up, its resistance will be very hard to sustain.
Why is there such a Russian focus on the Second World War? Because it’s used to justify authoritarian states, the rule of dictators like Putin and Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko.
With the Ukraine-Russia war entering its third year, Ukraine’s supporters must provide the right aid to the country and domestic politics cannot undermine the urgent needs of the country’s military.
Nearly 3,800 educational facilities have been damaged from bombing and shelling thus far in the war. Documenting these attacks requires extensive interviewing with reluctant, traumatised witnesses.
This would send the message the West’s much-vaunted values and respect for rules are little more than rhetoric. It will also legitimise conquest as an option that goes unpunished.
Calling something a ‘tragedy’ serves to minimize human responsibility for its causes, which can be convenient for the people who are causing the ‘tragedy.’
Monica Herz, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and Giancarlo Summa, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
The war in Ukraine is both a symptom and a cause of a paralysing crisis in the international system. It is up to the Global South to reform the multilateral system.
Ukraine must keep its cause in the hearts and minds of the public and its allies in the West. Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visits to Ottawa, Washington and the United Nations were in pursuit of that goal.
Because reform of the current UN Charter is off the table, the only avenue left is to dissolve the charter and draw up a new treaty that limits or abolishes the power of the veto.
Maitre de conférences en sciences de la communication, Chercheur au PREFICS (Plurilinguismes, Représentations, Expressions Francophones, Information, Communication, Sociolinguistique), Université Rennes 2