Interview with Mykola Kapitonenko, Associate Professor at the Institute of International Relations of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University. Date: 14 March 2022. Interviewer: Marylia Hushcha, Researcher at the IIP.

The event will deal with the complex linkages between climate, environment and violent conflicts and explore potential pathways through which climate change can increase the occurrence of armed conflict or aggravate existing conflict situations. It will also discuss the challenges that climate change poses for peacebuilding and how environmental shocks can negatively affect the outcome of peace processes.

Acclaimed author Kati Marton sets out to pierce the mystery of this unlikely ascent. With unparalleled access to the chancellor’s inner circle and a trove of records only recently come to light, she teases out the unique political genius that is the secret to Merkel’s success. No other modern leader has so ably confronted authoritarian aggression, enacted daring social policies and calmly unified an entire continent in an era when countries are becoming only more divided. Again and again, she’s cleverly outmanoeuvred strongmen like Putin and Trump, and weathered surprisingly complicated relationships with allies like Obama and Macron.

For many years the IIP has been focusing on developments in and around Ukraine. The recent attack by Russia on a sovereign state that it claims to be a brotherly nation has shocked the whole world. Russia is committing a horrible crime in Ukraine that can have no justification. Official references to Art.51/defense of the Donbass are simply wrong. We hope that violence ends quickly. Our thoughts are with Ukraine.

In a recent Krasno Analysis article (December 14, 2021), the last US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, wrote an insightful and much discussed essay about “Ukraine: A Tragedy of a Nation Divided,” portraying the internal and external hurdles for Ukraine, Russia, the US and NATO to find lasting solutions to the simmering conflicts in Ukraine. Only a few days later, on December 17, Russia surprised the World by publishing two draft treaties addressed to the US and NATO for a new security structure in Eastern Europe. At the same time, reports about Russian troop movements inside its territory and articles about NATOs strongly worded warnings toward Russia are raising the specter of a new international conflict in Europe.

On the occasion of the opening of the exhibition of Solomon Okpurukhre on the topic “Peace: Reflections on Africa”, the experts from the fields of art, peaceful conflict resolution and politics will discuss the power of art in peace-building, and how talking about peace connects people across cultures and from different countries. Peace is more than absence of war, it is about engaging people, engaging the youth in non-violent means and ownership for their future. Peace is not a process, it is a way of life, with multilayered facets which include politics, awareness, dealing with the past, present and future and which goes beyond status and economic means. It is about the respect and fulfilment of human rights, ownership, and the idea that everyone profits from peaceful societies.