What We've Been Reading

Welcome to our roundup of news and current events related to ethics and international affairs! Here’s some of what we’ve been reading this past month:

DW: Ukraine updates: Wagner 'to leave' Bakhmut on May 10

The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgheny Prigozhin, has released a video stating that the group will leave Bakhmut, the site of heavy fighting in Ukraine over the past months, by May 10 owing to lack of ammunition. The Wagner Group is a mercenary group that has been hired to fight in Ukraine for the Russian side. The video is striking, with Prigozhin standing by body bags, claiming that his soldiers would not have died if they had been supplied properly. Prigozhin argues that they have a 70 percent shortage of ammunition. Prigozhin particularly blamed the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu. Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine, Hanna Mailar, has suggested that Russia was hoping for a victory in Bakhmut on May 9, Victory Day, which is a Russian holiday celebrating the end of World War II. In response to Prigozhin’s statements, Russia has pulled troops from other parts of the frontline to reinforce Bakhmut.

Read more about Ukraine, the ethics of using private military companies, and war in the post-liberal order in Ethics & International Affairs:

Ukraine, Intervention, and the Post-Liberal Order (2022: 36-3)
Justice between Wars (2021: 35-3)
Pro Mundo Mori? The Problem of Cosmopolitan Motivation in War (2017: 31-3)

Washington Post: Serbia president vows to disarm nation after two mass shootings

Two mass shootings have shocked Serbia, which has experienced relatively little gun violence after the wars in the 1990s. While personal gun ownership in Serbia is the fifth highest in the world, it has a comparatively low rate of gun deaths. The first mass shooting occurred in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, on Wednesday at a school where a fourteen-year-old used his father’s gun to shoot his classmates. Eight children and a security guard were killed. On Thursday, a man opened fire from his car in Mladenovac, south of Belgrade, killing eight people. On Friday, Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, declared pushing forward stricter measures on gun ownership. These include a two-year moratorium on issuing gun permits and tougher penalties for owning illegal weapons. A three-day period of mourning is being observed in Serbia in memory of the victims.

Read more about militias, preparation for war in democracies, and prioritizing what to protect in Ethics & International Affairs:

Are States under a Prospective Duty to Create and Maintain Militaries? (2021: 35-3)
Democracy and the Preparation and Conduct of War (2021: 35-3)
Where to Protect? Prioritization and the Responsibility to Protect (2021: 35-2)

NPR: California's epic snowpack is melting. Here's what to expect

This winter, California had an unusually high snowfall, especially in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Some basins in this range had snowpacks that were 450 per cent larger than average for this time of year. The unseasonably warm April means that these snowpacks are already beginning to melt, and the water has to go somewhere. Already officials are worried about the flooding potential and attempting to prepare before the majority of the snowpacks have melted. This includes reinforcing levees and emptying the reservoir downriver from the Kaweah River, which will absorb most of the snowmelt. While California would typically welcome better snowpacks, this year the snowpacks will most likely cause flooding damage to the crops that sit at the bottom of the Kaweah watershed. About a century ago, the snowpacks would have been released into wetlands and the Tulane Lake, but irrigation and farms have rerouted these natural paths, increasing the flood risk now.

Read more about protecting future generations, the dangers of short-termism, and how communities can help fight climate change in Ethics & International Affairs:

On the Scope of Institutions for Future Generations: Defending an Expansive Global Constitutional Convention That Protects against Squandering Generations (2022: 36-2)
Global Climate Governance, Short-Termism, and the Vulnerability of Future Generations (2022: 36-2)
Communities and Climate Change: Why Practices and Practitioners Matter (2022: 36-2)

The Guardian: Sudan’s neighbours have little to offer refugees, warns UN

With growing violence emerging in Sudan, refugees have begun fleeing to neighboring countries. Already an estimated 110,000 people have left Sudan. However, the UN warns, there may be little these countries can offer the refugees, and the UN, aid organizations, and other countries must do more to help Sudanese refugees. Those fleeing Sudan have been heading primarily to Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia, all of which have been housing significant refugee populations for years and are managing their own crises. South Sudan and Chad are already struggling to support and feed their own population. Before the crisis in Sudan, Chad was already hosting 589,000 refugees from other conflicts, and the upcoming season before harvests was already expected to leave 1.9 million people severely food insecure. Ethiopia is also recently recovering from violence. Egypt is in the midst of an economic crisis. The UN and other countries must prepare to help both the refugees and the host countries while the conflict continues in Sudan.

Read more about food shortages, helping refugees, and the role of the UN in Ethics & International Affairs:

Arguments for Well-Regulated Capitalism, and Implications for Global Ethics, Food, Environment, Climate Change, and Beyond (2021: 35-1)
Helping Refugees Where They Are (2021: Volume 35-4)
The United Nations and the North-South Partnership: Connecting the Past to the Future (2020: 34-3)