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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Active Citizens
RUSSIA-UNITED STATES: End of Era Beckons as Chill Winds Roar
No-one is talking about a return to the Cold War, but a mood of unrestrained pessimism pervades political circles here as leaders of Russia and the United States prepare for a summit meeting next week in New York.ENVIRONMENT: Disease Flourishes around Shrinking Aral Sea
Officials in Moscow are continuing to deny that Russia is reconsidering an old project to divert water from Siberian rivers to the shrinking Aral Sea in central Asia, which recent reports say is in extreme danger of disappearing altogether.RUSSIA-UNITED STATES: End of Era Beckons as Chill Winds Roar
No-one is talking about a return to the Cold War, but a mood of unrestrained pessimism pervades political circles here as leaders of Russia and the United States prepare for a summit meeting next week in New York.ENVIRONMENT: Disease Flourishes around Shrinking Aral Sea
Officials in Moscow are continuing to deny that Russia is reconsidering an old project to divert water from Siberian rivers to the shrinking Aral Sea in central Asia, which recent reports say is in extreme danger of disappearing altogether.RUSSIA-CIS: Region Rejects Moscow’s Bid for Regional Integration
Russia's spirited bid to promote closer integration among states of the former Soviet Union has been all but nixed by continuing disputes within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) over key political and military issues.RUSSIA-CIS: Region Rejects Moscow’s Bid for Regional Integration
Russia's spirited bid to promote closer integration among states of the former Soviet Union has been all but nixed by continuing disputes within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) over key political and military issues.ENVIRONMENT: Chernobyl Debate on Hold, Plant Boils
Slowly, slowly appears to be the internatio- nal attitude towards determining the future of the Chernobyl nuclear plant which continues to operate in Ukraine despite warnings about its potential health and environmental dangers.RUSSIA-ENVIRONMENT: Raid in Arctic Signals Hostility
Russian security forces are continuing their campaign against environmental groups working in the Arctic region.CENTRAL ASIA: Big Oil Deal also Seals new Political Reality
Azerbaijan's approval on Monday of the U.S. plan to construct two pipelines to transport oil from the Caspian Sea sets the seal on Washington's collusion with Moscow to seize the natural resources of Caucasia and Central Asia for themselves.RUSSIA-ENERGY: A Question of Power, and Control
Mark it down as an example of privatisation gone awry.RUSSIA-CHECHNYA: Pressure Mounts as Romanov’s Life Ebbs
Not for the first time, and perhaps not for the last, Russian President Boris Yeltsin faces a moment of reckoning as he struggles to come to terms with a conflict that appears to defy peaceful resolution.AZERBAIJAN: Azeris Prepare Monday Announcement On Crucial Oil Link
There is a lot of oil in and around the Caspian Sea and next Monday Azerbaijan will announce how it intends to deliver the first output from its Caspian oilfields to world markets.RUSSIA: Angry Miners Threaten October Revolt Over Pay, Job Cuts
Russia's unpaid and angry miners threaten a nationwide strike on Oct. 12, a development that could signal the revival of the mine workers' movement that helped deliver the coup de grace to crumbling Soviet Communism in the early 1990s.ENVIRONMENT-RUSSIA: Nuclear Inspectorate Has Wings Clipped
After four years of struggle between Russia's new nuclear inspectorate -- Gosatomnadzor (GAN) -- and the Russian Defence Ministry, the military appears to have won the day.RUSSIA-TRADE: Moscow Resumes Negotiations With Diamond Cartel
Russia has restarted discussions with the De Beers' diamond cartel on the renewal of their trade agreement on selling the precious stones, officials here have confirmed.RUSSIA-POLITICS: On the Road to a More Stable, Democratic Russia
The recent peaceful resolution to a constitutional crisis in Russia which threatened the dissolution of both the State Duma and cabinet is a sign that Moscow is on a more stable path of development along democratic lines.RUSSIA: Rash of Nuclear Thefts Prompts Tightening of Controls
Would-be smugglers hoping to abscond with weapons-grade materials from Russia's nuclear facilities will be faced with a new arsenal of sophisticated detection systems.RUSSIA-CHECHNYA: Peace Talks Rocked by Chechen Civilian Deaths
Russian-Chechen peace negotiations took a turn for the worse Friday when Chechen negotiators walked out of talks to protest reported attacks on civilians in Chechnya by Russian troops.CIS-HEALTH: Another Cholera Outbreak in Ukraine; Russia on Alert
Ukraine is facing a new cholera epidemic and health officials are concerned that the neighbouring Russian population too may be under threat.UKRAINE-ENVIRONMENT: New Radioactive Waste Unit Causes Concern
The radioactive waste depository set to be constructed at the giant Zaporozhskaya nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine will pose a new, serious threat of nuclear contamination, Ukrainian environmentalists warn.KAZAKHSTAN-ENERGY: Nuclear Plant May be Built in Semipalatinsk
Kazakhstan is considering building a nuclear power plant at the site of the former Soviet nuclear weapons test site of Semipalatinsk, according to the head of the Kazakh Atomic Energy Agency, Ergali Bayedinov.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Global Citizen Festival in New York. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Active citizens are committed to social change because they know that it is achievable. However, major political challenges face active citizens across the world. For example, in authoritarian regimes in Latin America where the hegemonic party has been in power for decades on end, protestors and human rights activists face enormous repression and struggle to materialize their advocacy into concrete results. The same can be said for Africans, where a shift towards elected government in recent decades has yet to translate into an effective voice in decision-making. Now, the Strengthening Citizen Demand for Good Governance, which uses evidence-based approaches – funded by DFID's Governance and Transparency Fund – seeks to raise their voices.
In 2025, the CIVICUS Monitor’s People Power Under Attack report revealed that civic freedoms are severely limited in 122 of 198 countries and territories, and only 7.2% of the global population now lives in countries where civic space is open. Through partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CIVICUS, IPS reporters across the continent will seek to define the extent and limits of state capability, government accountability and the responsiveness of leaders to the needs of citizens.
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