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War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity are being committed nearly every day in Ukraine. We can see it on our TV. Russian forces are apparently deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in ways that violate international humanitarian law.
So what opportunities might exist to hold perpetrators of atrocity crimes accountable for their actions? Joining me to discuss this question and more is Mark Kersten. He a researcher at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the Global Justice Lab at the University of Toronto, founder of the excellent blog Justice in Conflict and works at the Wayamo Foundation.
We kick off with an extended conversation about the role of the International Criminal Court. We also discuss other potential opportunities and venues for justice and accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Ukraine is a major exporter of key food staples around the world. Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the prices of food commodities like wheat were near all time highs. Since the outbreak of armed conflicted, these prices have soared even higher.
What impact is this war having on global food supply, food prices and food security? I put this question and more to Joe Glauber, Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington and formerly the chief economist at the United States Department of Agriculture.
I caught up with Michelle Milford Morse on International Women's Day and as the war in Ukraine entered its second week.
Michelle Milford Morse is the United Nations Foundation's Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy. I wanted to speak with her to both better understand gender dynamics in armed conflict and how these dynamics are playing out today in Ukraine.
Also, we spoke about a week before the Commission on the Status of Women kicked off at UN headquarters in New York. The Commission on the Status of Women is the second-largest annual gathering at the UN and I was keen to learn from Michelle Milford Morse what to expect from this meeting and how, if at all, the war in Ukraine will impact CSW this year.
It has been a very intense few weeks of diplomacy at the United Nations. Even before Russia mounted its full scale invasion of Ukraine there were several meetings at the Security Council intended to deter and dissuade Russia from doing so. And it was in the middle of one such Security Council meeting on February 23rd that Vladimir Putin declared war and began the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Two days later, Russia predictably vetoed a Security Council resolution denouncing the invasion and from there, the action went to the entire UN General Assembly and its 193 member states.
Anjali Dayal is an assistant professor of International Politics at Fordham University and a longtime UN watcher. We kick off discussing the significance of this General Assembly vote before having a broader discussion about how Russia-focused diplomacy is playing out at the United Nations.
It was 7pm Ukraine time on the evening of Friday February 25 when I caught up with my guest today, journalist Catia Bruno.
She had recently arrived in Lviv, a city in Western Ukraine not far from the Polish border. She was there to report to bear witness to the growing refugee and displacement crisis caused by the Russian attack on Ukraine, which began three days prior.
This conversation provides a valuable perspective on the choices facing Ukrainians as many seek to leave the country while others are forced to remain.
I caught up with Ambassador Karen Pierce in the middle of a very intense day of diplomacy on February 22.
She is the United Kingdom's Ambassador to the United States and earlier that morning Boris Johnson announced new British sanctions on certain Russian oligarchs and financial institutions. This was followed by similar sanctions announcements by the European Union and the United States later in the day.
These new sanctions come after Vladimir Putin's government formally recognized the independence of two regions of Eastern Ukraine, and Luhansk. This specific set of sanctions from the UK, EU and USA seem to be a very calibrated and coordinated response to this provocation, which we discuss at the outset of this interview.
overran Kabul a few weeks prior.
Despite the apparent danger and uncertainty, Zuhra Bahman told me that she was eager to get back home and return to work as the Afghanistan country director for the peace building NGO Search for Common. Ground.
Today, she is back in Kabul, which is where I caught up with her for the conversation you are about to hear
And she kicks off explaining why and how she returned home.
We then have a long conversation about how she navigates her life and work as a professional woman in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and how her work on peace building issues continues under the new political order in Afghanistan.
Over the last few days, there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity between Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Germany and France -- among others.
Meanwhile, the messaging coming from the White House indicates that they believe a Russian attack on Ukraine is imminent.
I am joined by Melinda Haring of the Atlantic Council who offers some context and analysis of the recent diplomatic maneuvering. We spoke via Twitter Spaces just after President Biden concluded remarks from the White House.
After I ended my interview with Melinda Haring, I noticed that the former US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder was in the audience listening in, and he graciously agreed to take a few questions from me, impromptu.
There have been a spate of coups in Africa over the last 18 months. Most of these coups have taken place in West Africa, but not all. This includes Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad, Sudan and two coups in Mali. This is not to mention some attempted coups, most recently in Guinea Bissau. On the line with me to discuss why there have there been so many coups recently, and whether or not this is a trend is Solomon Dersso. He is the founder of Amani Africa, an Adis Ababa based think tank with a focus on the African Union and African Union Affairs.
For about two weeks now, truck driving protesters have snarled traffic and otherwise disrupted daily life in downtown Ottawa, ostensibly to protest covid related restrictions and vaccine mandates. These protests have spread elsewhere in Canada and for a time, forced the closure of the busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, right wing media in the US are now cheering on these protests. Canadian journalist Justin Ling explains what exactly is happening in Canada, and the broader political implications of this protest movement in Canada and the United States.
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