by Maxim Goldarb*
(21 March 2023) Like many other Ukrainians, I woke up on 24 February 2022 and the days after to the sound of explosions in Kiev. Before that, I had done my best to suppress the thought of the possibility of war with all its advantages and disadvantages for those involved. But what happened, happened.
by M. K. Bhadrakumar,* India
(21 March 2023) The agreement announced on Friday in Beijing regarding the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the reopening of their embassies is a historic event. It goes way beyond an issue of Saudi-Iranian relations. China’s mediation signifies that we are witnessing a profound shift of the tectonic plates in the geopolitics of the 21st century.
Interview by Joanna Lei* conducted by Pierre Heumann
(21 March 2023) Taiwanese opposition politician Joanna Lei accuses the government in Taipei of dismantling democracy and trying to distance itself more from the People’s Republic. Instead, Lei favours peaceful coexistence with mainland China, for example by founding a “commonwealth”. This is causing displeasure in Washington. According to Lei, the USA wants to assert its own interests at Taiwan’s expense. She fears that America could use the small Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan, for a proxy war against the People’s Republic.
by Ralph Bosshard,* Switzerland
(14 March 2023) Just in time for the anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Chinese Foreign Ministry launched its initiative for a political solution to the conflict.1 [See the 12 points in the appendix, ed.]
With its cleverly formulated and launched peace proposal, Beijing has staked its claim to a say in important issues of world politics and continues to promote its vision of a multipolar world in which Russia, too, would have to find its own place. Far from letting its Russian partner drag it into a conflict at an inopportune moment, however, China is not prepared to drop it either.
by Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs,* USA
(7 March 2023) We are not at the 1-year anniversary of the war, as the Western governments and media claim. This is the 9-year anniversary of the war. And that makes a big difference.
by Ben Norton,* USA
(7 March 2023) The foreign ministers of the United States, Germany, and Ukraine have told the world “you can’t be neutral” in NATO’s proxy war with
Russia,1 recalling President George W. Bush’s infamous declaration, “You are either with us, or against us”. In doing so, these Western officials are implicitly criticizing the vast majority of the countries on Earth, which are in the Global South, and which have maintained strict neutrality over the war.