IS THE WORLD PREPARED FOR THE NEXT FOOD CRISIS?

Two years after the peak of 2007-2008, international food prices are on the rise again. With poor crops in Eastern Europe, international wheat prices have jumped more than 50 percent this summer -a harsh reminder that international food markets remain highly volatile, subject to a variety of factors, like unfavourable climate conditions, decisions over food stocks or exports by governments or private actors, fluctuations of oil prices (determining the level of food being used as fuel) or financial speculation.

THE WEB OF LIFE IS BEING TORN APART

If the world has been reminded of anything through the tragedy of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it is that biodiversity and the health of ecosystems is not an abstract concept of scientists or the pet project of the 'green' elite. Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems are the vital underpinnings of human society. Food and energy production on land and from the sea, medicine, tourism, real estate, these industries and many others have been shown to be starkly vulnerable to the destruction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. And yet, while the link between biodiversity and human well-being is better understood now than ever before, the news from the front lines of the global effort to preserve the world's biodiversity is bleak. The web of life that we all rely on for our very survival is being torn apart at an increasingly alarming rate and action to address this global crisis is still distressingly lacking and slow.

GOLF AND THE FUTURE OF CUBA

If any of the world's major polling firms dared conduct a macro survey of the 11 million Cubans, asking only where they thought their country was headed, I think the overwhelming majority would respond,"I have no idea, mate."

BRAZIL: THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE PATRIARCHY

In a providential first, two of the candidates in Brazil's upcoming presidential elections are women: Marina Silva and Dilma Rousseff. The latter is favoured in the polls to win in the vote, set for October 3. Brazil has never had a female president.

THE US MOVES TOWARDS THE FUTURE UNPREPARED AND UNSEEING

The Tea Party's giant rally in Washington drew 300,000 Americans protesting taxation, a government that is suffocating its citizens, and a marxist, Kenyan-born, Muslim Obama. These people are calling on the United States to be a world leader again and dispense with debate and vacillation.

SHIPS, SULPHUR AND CLIMATE

The year 2010 has, like previous years, produced an impressive array of climate-related news, much probably related to global warming. Numerous global and national heat records have been broken: 37.2 degrees Celsius in Finland, 35 degrees in Yakutia, and 54 degrees in Pakistan. Forest and peat fires have done enormous damage in Russia, and Pakistan has been swept by floods and mudslides. A huge ice floe broke free from the Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland, and the extent of marine ice in the Arctic Ocean is the second smallest ever recorded, in spite of a cool and cloudy July. Such news becomes even more worrying when viewed in a slightly longer perspective.

MISAPPROPRIATION OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

There never was a greater gift to the world. None of Nobel's five prizes could have conferred more to "the greatest benefit of mankind". It is the world's most prestigious and coveted award. And yet, the Nobel peace prize today has little to do with the deep reform of international relations that Alfred Nobel intended it to bring about.

AMERICAS: THE BATTLE OVER VENEZUELA

Two decisive contests are fast approaching in the struggle for ideological supremacy in Latin America: the legislative elections in Venezuela on September 26 and the presidential elections in Brazil on October 3. If the democratic left doesn't win in the latter, the political pendulum would begin to swing continent wide towards the right, which is already in power in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. But this is unlikely to occur: it is inconceivable that Jose Serra, of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, could defeat Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party (PT), supported by the very popular current president Lula Ignacio de Silva, who could easily win a third term if the constitution didn't bar it.

WE MUST UNRAVEL THE SECRETS OF NATURE TO SUPPORT LIFE AND THE PLANET

Humanity has undergone a sort of sorcerer's apprenticeship. We have set in motion a civilisation that has managed to incessantly improve the living conditions for large numbers of people, though perhaps in haste. There is no way of measuring the consequences that these myriad actions have had on the planet. This ship that carries us through the universe has its own complexities, and we are learning, painfully, that we have to change many aspects of our behaviour. This is absolutely necessary for all forms of life, including our own.

HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD BE THE HEART OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Amid Millennium Development Goal (MDG) weariness, there is a call to up the ante.

HAS THE EUROPEAN UNION LOST ITS WAY ?

The two main political-ideological families that contributed most to the unity of Europe were without question social democracy (labour, socialists, and social-democrats) and Christian democracy. These two strains are, and have long been, in decline, the former since the collapse of the communist universe (1989-1990) and their submission to neoliberal "colonisation"; the latter since the changes that occurred after Vatican II in the 1970s.

THE CORRUPTION OF DEMOCRACY

The "Bettencourt Case", which is rattling France with its storm of arrests, family feuds, suspicious checks, secret recordings, fiscal misdemeanours, and illegal donations to the party of French premier Nicolas Sarkozy, is plunging the country into a profound crisis.

CUBA: SPECULATION

One of the most thankless and complicated exercises required of Cuba specialists is having to divine what lies behind -or beneath- developments in the country.

MYTHS, REALITY AND THE WORLD CUP

What does the 2010 World Cup, recently concluded in South Africa, have in common with Nelson Mandela, ex-president of the country who on July 12 celebrated his ninety-second birthday, having selflessly dedicated 67 years to bringing about a free nation, and, since 1994, creating a better life for the majority of South Africans?

OBLIGATORY NEOLIBERALISM

"Lower your head, fierce Sicambrian; love what you have burned, and burn what you have loved." So Bishop Remigius commanded the barbarian Clovis, converting him to Christianity so he could become the king of France, about 1500 years ago. The same command might have been addressed to social democrat Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero by the heads of state of the Europgroup in Brussels last May 7 when they joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the financial markets to make the Spanish premier abjure any social whims and swear allegiance to the neoliberal creed.

TWO GENOCIDES AND THE PERPETRATORS REMAIN FREE

Fifteen years after the worst war time massacre in Europe since World War II and now a second arrest warrant issued for the architect of this century's first genocide. Srebrenica and Darfur. Both genocides, each carried out in very different ways and each orchestrated by notorious thugs who remain free.

HAITI RELIEF IS NOT CHARITY: A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO AID

Haiti's January 2010 earthquake left more than 230,000 dead, 300,000-plus injured, 1.5 million homeless and physically leveled 28 of 29 government ministries. In response, the international community pledged 5.5 billion dollars in aid to rebuild Haiti. Today, only 10 percent of the promised funding has reached its shores.

AMNESTIES IN LATIN AMERICA: UPHOLDING JUSTICE AND THE RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH

The recent ruling of the Inter-American Court ordering Brazil to revise its amnesty law represents a crucial milestone in the fight against impunity in a region that still needs to fully grasp and confront the atrocities committed during many internal conflicts of the past decades. Amnesty laws that turn a blind eye toward human rights abuses do not only distort the historical record that every country needs to establish, but also belittle victimsÂ' suffering and undermine their right to know the truth and obtain remedy.

EUROPEAN UNION-AFRICA:UNEQUAL NEGOTIATIONS

Since 2002, African countries have been negotiating with the European Union (EU) a new framework of cooperation called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). These are supposed to replace the Cotonou Agreement, which is the current basis of the relationships between African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries and the EU. However, instead of negotiating with the ACP countries as a group, as had been the case in all previous agreements, the EU decided that the EPAs would be negotiated with each of the three regions of the ACP group individually.

THE UNEXPECTED POTENTIAL OF THE COCOA BEAN

As a commodity of almost irresistible attraction, chocolate has always played contradictory roles in human life. For those consuming it, chocolate has been an exquisite experience. For those growing the cacao from which itÂ's made, itÂ's more often been excruciating. For those of us savoring its flavor, itÂ's the ultimate indulgence. For those struggling to survive on the pittance paid for cacao beans, it has been the ultimate indignity. Many of those who grow cacao have never even tasted chocolate.

THE AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT AND THE FUTURE OF SUDAN

The African Union has declared 2010 the Year of Peace and Security in Africa, and will soon launch the African Decade of Women. What better opportunity to act on these pledges than at the 15^th African Union Summit, being held later this month in Kampala, Uganda? The upcoming referendum in Sudan gives African leadership an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to improving the lives of women on this continent by ensuring that they actively and freely participate in the referendum. Southern Sudanese will go to the polls to decide whether to remain a part of a unified Sudan or secede and become AfricaÂ's newest country. Given that Sudan is AfricaÂ's largest country ­bordered by nine countries, also plagued by conflict, rampant corruption and stunted development­ it behooves our leaders to prioritize Sudan. News coming out of Sudan in the last few months paints a bleak picture: the security situation in Darfur is deteriorating, the Darfur peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar are barely limping along, and the recent national elections were well below international standard. There are just six months remaining to the referendum that will impact the future of millions of Africans. Recently the Sudanese government appointed the African Union High Level Panel for Implementation in Sudan led by former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki to facilitate negotiations on SudanÂ's referendum. Mbeki and the Panel are charged with leading negotiations between the ruling National Congress Party and the Southern Sudanese Liberation Movement in the South on all outstanding issues in the lead up to the referendum. Mbeki and the Panel have a big responsibility. They must support the Sudanese government and the Sudanese people to ensure an inclusive, transparent, and comprehensive process. The referendum will be dealing with issues that are of vital consequence to the people of Sudan, including the division of national economic resources, the redefining of citizenship, and border demarcation. The process must be, above all, inclusive. And an integral part of the responsibility to be inclusive is ensuring that those most affected by the referendum have a voice ­namely, Sudanese women. Achieving lasting peace and security in Sudan is not possible without womenÂ's full inclusion and especially within decision-making processes. Yet, up to now, women are almost invisible.