Dear friend, There’s new hope that the war in Ukraine could end soon with a ceasefire. Negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv have reportedly edged closer toward a negotiated compromise. A major sticking point remains NATO. Ukraine is more open to neutrality by taking NATO membership off the table while retaining an independent military. As for membership in the European Union, Ukraine has moved closer to that reality even as Russian planes destroy the modest economic gains the country has made toward realizing that goal. Given how slowly the gears of EU bureaucracy move, however, Ukraine won’t be setting up in Brussels any time soon. Another big bone of contention will be territory. Russia has seized territory in the south of Ukraine that connects Crimea to the Donbas and Russia proper. It will be loath to give up that land, and Ukraine has never acknowledged the seizure of Crimea. Will there be a land-for-peace swap? Diplomacy is still a live option. But let’s be clear. Russia is more willing to negotiate because its military effort has met fierce resistance on the ground in Ukraine and sanctions are having an impact on the Russian economy. This week at Foreign Policy In Focus, as part of our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine, Mira Oklobdzija looks at the conflict through the eyes of a famous Ukrainian anarchist, Nestor Makhno. It’s a particularly relevant piece given the recent seizure of a Russian oligarch’s mansion in London by a group called the London Makhnovists. Abdoulie Njai, Micaela Torres, and Margareta Matache, meanwhile, look at Europe’s double standard on immigration, with Ukrainians being welcomed with open arms in the West but not African residents in Ukraine. And what about all the other refugees from war-torn countries like Afghanistan and Syria? And in my World Beat column this week, I look at the falling political fortunes of all those on the alt-right who once called Vladimir Putin their friend. Is this the beginning of the end for white nationalists in positions of political authority? Also at FPIF, Farrah Hassan provides an update on another war, now reaching its eleventh anniversary: Syria. The casualties and the number of people displaced far exceed what’s going on in Ukraine. Yet, where’s the outrage? And I look at Latin America, where the push for renewable energy in the Global North is driving new extractivism in the South. John Feffer
Director, FPIF | 
