Discussions

Russia's War Against Ukraine from the Perspective of the Global South

This page hosts moderated discussions of articles, forums, and book reviews. Letters to the editor are still welcomed and will be published in the journal (see "Information" on this website). Continuations of discussions begun in letters may also take place here. The same standards of discourse apply as for letters to the editor and authors are encouraged to be brief and to the point. The editor, who will moderate these discussions, reserves the right to refuse to print, or to publish with cuts, contributions that contain personal abuse or otherwise fail to meet the standards of debate expected in a scholarly journal. Submissions to these discussions should be sent to the editor by email, including identification of the author's institution or city of residence.

Discussion Posts

    May 09, 2024

    Brazil-Russia Relations and the Ukrainian Crisis

    The Ukrainian crisis escalation in February 2022 can be understood as the continuation of the conflict established with the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the intensification of disputes over the Donbass region. In the same period, Brazil went through significant political changes. However, it is worth noting that the political-ideological oscillations in Brazil did not mean, in general, significant differences toward the stance taken by Brasília regarding the Ukrainian crisis and its escalation, when considering the main paradigmatic lines that have guided the country’s foreign policy. Thus, Brazil’s response to the war reproduces general principles of Brazilian foreign policy, but finds challenges raised by the demand for a pragmatic position toward Brazil-Russia relations in the face of Brazil’s domestic political changes.

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    Daniela Vieira Secches

    PUC Minas

    May 09, 2024

    Middle Eastern Responses to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

    Russia’s two closest partners in the Middle East—Iran and Syria—have been supportive of Moscow’s war effort against Ukraine. America’s traditional partners in the Middle East, by contrast, have not joined the US and other western governments in providing aid to Ukraine or even imposing economic sanctions against Russia. There appear to be several reasons for this, and each Middle Eastern government has its own set of calculations and concerns with regard to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. There are, however, several overlapping reasons which many of these governments share, even though some of these reasons may be more important to some states than to others.

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    Mark N. Katz

    George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government

    May 09, 2024

    Back to the Future: The Past and Present State of Close India-Russia Ties

    India’s tilt towards Russia in the ongoing Ukraine War has drawn criticism as either opportunism or apathy. In fact, it is an outcome of the seven decades of India-Russia/Soviet friendship, which can be only understood if placed within the larger context of two triangular relationships: India-Russia-west on the one hand and India-Russia-China on another. The mutual orbiting of India and Russia has always been affected by the gravitational pulls of the west and China.

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    David C. Engerman

    Yale University

    Sandeep Bhardwaj

    Ashoka University

    May 09, 2024

    China, Bandung, and the War in Ukraine

    One year into the Russian-initiated war in Ukraine, the Chinese government issued “China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis,” a statement proposing how this war should end. Several major US press outlets dismissed it as largely inconsequential. The New York Times described it as a diplomatic paper that called for peace negotiations “only in broad terms,” without clarifying how Russian claims on Ukrainian territory and Ukrainian insistence on Russian withdrawal might be reconciled.

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    Chia Yin Hsu

    History Department, Portland State University