Armed Conflicts

One-Third of Colombia’s Newly-Elected Senators Have Paramilitary Ties

By Constanza Vieira
In July 2004, when paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso was demobilising, he admitted to the Colombian parliament that the illegal extreme rightwing forces controlled 35 percent of the seats. Ten years later the situation is very similar: one-third of the new senate, where congressional power mainly resides, is allegedly linked to the paramilitaries.

Swiss Step Up Arms Exports, Peacefully

By Ray Smith
Switzerland has eased its restrictions on arms exports - in order to save a few thousand workplaces. Critics fear that Switzerland's credibility as an international peace broker will now suffer.

Koreans Embrace Some Old Ways

By Ahn Mi Young
Old family bonds still seem to run deep in the South Korea of today. For evidence, one need only look at the yearning of the elderly to meet their long separated kin in North Korea during last month’s historic family reunions.

Q&A: Women Hold the Key to Peace in DRC

By Matthew Newsome
Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson has been working hard to include women from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Great Lakes Region in the regional peacebuilding process. Because without their involvement, she says, peace and security in the region will be unrealistic.

Senate Committee, CIA in Brawl over Torture Inquiry

By Jim Lobe
An ongoing battle between the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over reports about the agency’s “enhanced interrogation” practices during the George W. Bush administration has escalated sharply.

U.S. Oil Firm Creates Tension over Western Sahara

By Bryant Harris
Even as U.S. and Moroccan executives meet to discuss strengthening private sector ties between the two countries, advocacy groups are raising concerns about plans by a U.S. energy firm to explore for oil in the contested territory known as Western Sahara. 

Russian Arms to Egypt Threaten to Undermine U.S. in Mideast

By Thalif Deen
Russia, which is at loggerheads with Washington over the spreading political crisis in Ukraine, is threatening to undermine a longstanding military relationship between the United States and one of its traditional allies in the Middle East: Egypt.

What We Can Learn from Child Soldiers

By Jonathan Rozen
In 2003, Moses Otiti, a 15-year-old from Uganda, was walking in a group with his father when members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ambushed them.

Gazans Find Tuneful Resistance

By Khaled Alashqar
Like almost everyone else in Gaza, these six are angry about the Israeli-imposed blockade and the resulting misery. Except that they are expressing their anger through music – without the music itself sounding angry.

The Standoff in Ukraine (and in Washington)

By John Feffer
As the fate of Ukraine hangs in the balance, U.S. politicians from both parties have been scrambling to take advantage of the crisis.

Russians Back Crimea Action, They’d Better

By Pavol Stracansky
Elena Smolenskaya doesn’t hesitate a second when asked what she thinks about the Russian military intervention in Crimea. The 23-year-old Moscow student is convinced that President Vladimir Putin had no choice but to order troops into the country.

U.N. Struggles for Relevancy in Ukraine Crisis

By Thalif Deen
When the crisis in Ukraine moved into the august chambers of the Security Council last week, it was virtually dead on arrival.

Crimea Faces a ‘Frozen Conflict’

By Pavol Stracansky
Crimea could remain under Russian control indefinitely as the current crisis - described by some politicians as Europe’s gravest since the end of the Cold War – threatens to turn into a “frozen conflict”, experts say.

U.S. Hawks Take Flight over Ukraine

By Jim Lobe
A familiar clutch of hawks have taken wing over the rapidly developing crisis in Ukraine, as neo-conservatives and other interventionists claim that President Barack Obama’s preference for diplomacy over military action  invited Russian aggression.

If a Two-State Solution Fails, What Next?

By Mitchell Plitnick
The failure of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians could lead to a significant shift in public opinion in the United States regarding Israel’s future, according to a new poll released Monday.

Political Wrangling Stymies CAR Peacekeeping Force

By Samuel Oakford
Budget constraints in Washington and obstinacy at the highest levels of the African Union (AU) have combined to dangerously delay a possible U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to sources close to negotiations currently underway in New York.

Hope for Justice Disappears With Victims

By Athar Parvaiz
Upon meeting an acquaintance after a long time, a young man at a Srinagar drug store asks: “Where did you disappear?” The innocuous question elicits an unexpected reply from the other: “Weigh your words. There are people whose loved ones have really disappeared.”

“Act of Killing” Director Hopes U.S. Will Admit Genocide Role

By Jasmin Ramsey
Watching former gangsters and paramilitary leaders proudly reenact scenes from Indonesia’s military-led mass killings of 1965-66 in the Oscar-nominated documentary, “The Act of Killing”, it’s easy to forget the role of outside countries.

An Equal Share of Wealth Equals Lasting Peace in CAR

By Matthew Newsome
While wrangling over Central African Republic’s (CAR) wealth in natural resources played a role in the country's crisis, its future peace and stability still partly depends on a solution that factors in how to equitably distribute its national wealth.

Burned, Bombed, Beaten – Education Under Attack Worldwide

By Kanya D'Almeida
There was a time when images from war zones featured only battlefields and barracks. As warfare moved into the 20th century, pictures of embattled urban centres and rural guerilla outposts began to make the rounds.

Somalia’s Sacked Soldiers Threaten Mogadishu’s Security

By Ahmed Osman
Residents of Mogadishu have raised concerns about their safety after the Somali army recently fired hundreds of disgruntled soldiers, many of whom are believed to still be in possession of their arms.
« Previous Page — Next Page »
*#*