OP-ED: A Double Standard Won’t Do for Baku

Kseniya Sobchak, a well-known Russian political activist and social butterfly, is an outspoken critic of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. But, curiously, she seems to be taking a much softer line on Azerbaijan’s authoritarian-minded ruler, Ilham Aliyev.

“Syria Peace Meeting Will Not Happen in June”: UN Envoy

A conference on ending the fighting in Syria will not happen in June, as planned, because both sides in the conflict are unprepared to attend, the U.N.'s international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said.

Quantitative Easing: Impact on Emerging and Developing Economies

The global economy is awash with successive waves of liquidity generated over the past few years by the four most advanced economies, viz., the United States, the European Union, (EU), Japan and the United Kingdom, known as the G4. This liquidity has taken the form of “quantitative easing” (QE).

U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arsenals Cling to Bygone Era

In the late 19^th century, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov famously touted one golden rule for dramatic productions: if you show your audience a loaded gun in the first act, that gun must go off by the last.

U.N. General Assembly Condemns Syria as Sceptics Multiply

When the 193-member General Assembly voted Wednesday to condemn the beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, there was an increase in the number of sceptics who neither supported nor opposed the tottering regime in Damascus.

Israeli Attacks on Syria Escape Security Council Scrutiny

Israel, which has launched three air strikes inside Syria since January this year, has escaped scrutiny or condemnation by a Security Council which remains sharply divided.

Hope, Scepticism Over U.S.-Russian Accord on Syria Conference

The surprise accord reached by the U.S. and Russia in Moscow Tuesday to try to convene an international conference to resolve the two-year-old civil war in Syria as soon as the end of this month has been greeted with equal measures of hope and scepticism.

Cyprus Readies for Reopening of Banks

Cyprus is finalising capital control measures to prevent a run on the banks by depositors anxious about their savings after the country agreed a painful rescue package with international lenders.

Conflicts of Interest Plague Arms Trade Treaty Talks

The U.N. organ tasked with maintaining international peace and security harbours a serious conflict at its core.

China Muscles into Kyrgyzstan’s Energy Market, Fueling Suspicion

China is financing the construction of Kyrgyzstan’s first major oil refinery, and excitement is building in Bishkek that the facility could enable the Central Asian nation to break Russia’s fuel-supply monopoly.

Bangladesh Must Pause Down the Nuclear Path

Few critical questions have been raised so far by Bangladesh’s intellectual community over the deal towards construction of two nuclear power plants in Rooppur, 180km from capital Dhaka.

Preventing World War III

A Third World War is not impossible, but fortunately is rather unlikely. Let us explore why, and what can be done to prevent it.

The Frightening Scenario of the Nuclear War

Soon after President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, hundreds of leaders of the global medical community wrote an open letter to him, and to newly elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, urging them to make the abolition of nuclear weapons their highest priority:

Rate of U.S., Russian Nuclear Disarmament “Slowing”

Although the United States and Russia have massively reduced their collective number of nuclear weapons since the heyday of the Cold War, the rate of that reduction is slowing, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) warned Monday.