Politics (Page 389)

In the 73 years since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) was founded, member nations have activated article 4 of its founding treaty only half a dozen times. The latest instance was on February 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine. Eight Nato members – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia,Continue Reading

The prevalence of so-called “honour” killings in Pakistan has increasingly been the subject of national debate. The perpetrators are husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, cousins, and in some cases, strangers hired by the victims’ families. And the reasons they give for their crimes include the women or girls having sexualContinue Reading

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the most serious public health crisis in a century. It resulted in governments taking unprecedented powers to regulate people’s social lives, and undertaking substantial fiscal interventions to cushion the impact on people’s finances and the broader economy. Some have suggested that the experience would beContinue Reading

Updated at 4.30pm Russian president Vladimir Putin said Western sanctions were akin to war on Saturday as his forces pressed on with their assault on Ukraine, where planned civilian evacuations from two besieged cities were called off. Russia and Ukraine traded blame over the failure to provide safe passage to civilians fleeing theContinue Reading

Vladimir Putin’s military aggression against Ukraine is meeting more opposition from Ukrainians than he expected. The Russian president also saw widespread condemnation of his military’s aggression in Ukraine at the UN General Assembly. But the opposition Putin faces domestically in Russia is also likely giving him cause for alarm. ThereContinue Reading

What do ordinary Russians think about the war that Vladimir Putin has unleashed on Ukraine? The Kremlin’s justifications: that Ukraine’s leadership has been subjecting ethnic Russians in that country to genocide and that the government in Kyiv is led by neo-Nazis appear far-fetched to most people outside Russia. So doesContinue Reading

Screengrab of unarmed Ukrainian civilians trying to stop Russian convoys. Twitter Responses to the Russian invasion have been swift. Thousands of people both in Ukraine and abroad are enlisting to fight against the odds. Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are being forcibly mobilised. An “international legion”Continue Reading

flagsshutterstock Some early indications suggest that China may want to negotiate on behalf of the rest of the world with Russia on Ukraine. On March 1, Beijing issued a statement saying it “deplored” the outbreak of conflict and calling on Russia and Ukraine to find a solution. China’s handling ofContinue Reading