Global Geopolitics

As Wars Multiply, U.N. Takes a Hard Look at Peace Operations

By Lyndal Rowlands
Finding ways to better integrate the two arms of U.N. Peace Operations - Special Political Missions and Peacekeeping Operations - will be one of the priorities for a new review panel headed by Nobel Peace Laureate and former president of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta.

Illegal Logging Wreaking Havoc on Impoverished Rural Communities

By Catherine Wilson
Rampant unsustainable logging in the southwest Pacific Island states of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, where the majority of land is covered in tropical rainforest, is worsening hardship, human insecurity and conflict in rural communities.

Athens Sit-in Highlights Catch-22 for Refugees

By Apostolis Fotiadis
A sit-in protest by Syrian refugees on Syntagma Square opposite the Greek parliament in the heart of Athens has turned into a demonstration of the stalemate faced by both Greek as well as European immigration policy.

Citizens of the World, Unite!

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
As politics, economies, conflicts and cultures become increasingly intertwined, will individual identities also begin to transcend national boundaries?

Democratising the Fight against Malnutrition

By Geneviève Lavoie-Mathieu
There is a new dimension to the issue of malnutrition – governments, civil society and the private sector have started to come together around a common nutrition agenda.

Shale Oil Threatens the High Prices Enjoyed by OPEC

By Humberto Márquez
Shale fever and the political chess among major oil producers and consumers have put OPEC in one of the most difficult junctures in its 54 years of history.

Rich Countries Pony Up (Some) for Climate Justice

By Oscar Reyes
It’s one of the oldest tricks in politics: Talk down expectations to the point that you can meet them.

OPINION: The Decline of Social Europe is Part of a World Trend

By Roberto Savio
After the Italian sea search-and-rescue operation Mare Nostrum at a cost of nine million euros a month, through which the Italian Navy has rescued nearly 100,000 migrants – although perhaps up to 3,000 have died – from the Mediterranean since October 2013, Europe is now presenting its new face in the Mediterranean.

Nuclear Weapons as Bargaining Chips in Global Politics

By Thalif Deen
Has the world reached a stage where nuclear weapons may be used as bargaining chips in international politics?

Pro-Israel Hawks Take Wing over Extension of Iran Nuclear Talks

By Jim Lobe
Buoyed by the failure of the U.S. and five other powers to reach a comprehensive agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme after a week of intensive talks, pro-Israel and Republican hawks are calling for Washington to ramp up economic pressure on Tehran even while talks continue, and to give Congress a veto on any final accord.

OPINION: How Ebola Could End the Cuban Embargo

By Arturo Lopez-Levy
When was the last time in recent memory a top U.S. official praised Cuba publicly? And since when has Cuba’s leadership offered to cooperate with Americans?

OPINION: A Plea for Banning Nuke Tests and Nuclear Weapons

By Lassina Zerbo
December 1938 was a decisive month in human history: In Germany, the scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovered that when bombarded with neutrons, the atomic nucleus of uranium would split.

OPINION: Humanitarian Impact of Nukes Calls For Concerted Action

By Daisaku Ikeda
As we approach the 70th anniversary next year of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there are growing calls to place the humanitarian consequences of their use at the heart of deliberations about nuclear weapons.

OPINION: Why Nuclear Disarmament Could Still Be the Most Important Thing There Is

By Risto Isomaki
At the height of the Cold War the world’s total arsenal of nuclear weapons, counted as explosive potential, may have amounted to three million Hiroshima bombs.  The United States alone possessed 1.6 million Hiroshimas’ worth of destructive capacity.

Refugees Between a Legal Rock and a Hard Place in Lebanon

By Oriol Andrés Gallart
Staring at the floor, Hassan, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee from Idlib in northwestern Syria, holds a set of identification papers in his hands. He picks out a small pink piece of paper with a few words on it stating that he must obtain a work contract, otherwise his residency visa will not be renewed.

The Future of the Planet and the Irresponsibility of Governments

By Roberto Savio
Less than a week after everybody celebrated the historical agreement on Nov. 17 between the United States and China on reduction of CO2 emissions, a very cold shower has come from India.

OPINION: Israel’s Arabs – Marginalised, Angry and Defiant

By Emile Nakhleh
The recent killing of an Arab youth by the police in the Israeli Arab village of Kufr Kanna, outside Nazareth, the ongoing bloody violence in Jerusalem, and the growing tensions between the Israeli security services and the Arab community in Israel could be a dangerous omen for Israeli domestic stability and for the region.

True Gender Equality for Both Women and Men

By Joseph Chamie
Numerous international and national efforts have focused on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The United Nations, for example, has convened four world conferences on women - Beijing in 1995, Nairobi in 1985, Copenhagen in 1980 and Mexico City in 1975 - and Member States have adopted various international agreements, such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Can China’s Silk Road Vision Coexist with a Eurasian Union?

By Chris Rickleton
There is a good chance that economic jockeying between China and Russia in Central Asia will intensify in the coming months. For Russia, Chinese economic expansion could put a crimp in President Vladimir Putin’s grand plan for the Eurasian Economic Union.

IPS Honours Crusader for Nuclear Abolition

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
Jayantha Dhanapala was awarded the IPS International Achievement Award for Nuclear Disarmament Monday at the United Nations in New York.

OPINION: The Clock Is Ticking for Nuclear Disarmament

By Jayantha Dhanapala
A nuclear weapon-free world can and must happen in my lifetime. This may seem a bold and wildly Pollyannaish statement for me to make after a lifetime of work in peace and disarmament.
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