Economic sanctions and divestment campaigns are attractive but often flawed tactics for accomplishing international political goals.
The social stigma the campaigns create often fails to match the economic pain these campaigns inflict, making the costs of resisting them for governments like Russia, Syria and Iran tolerable in most cases.
The relief operation is underway in Nepal – under extremely difficult circumstances. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a crucial role in disaster management in the 21st century – and this will be especially true in Nepal following the devastating recent earthquake.
The European Commission has issued a statement of objection to Russian energy giant Gazprom, formally accusing it of abusing its dominant market position in the central and Eastern European gas market, in violation of EU competition law.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are negotiating with their coalition partner, Komeito, to introduce legislation recognising a limited exercise of collective self-defence. There is rising anxiety about Japan’s neighbours’ perception of this endeavor and what effect this will have on regional stability, given the Abe cabinet’s right-wing revisionist views of Japan’s history.
With the Six Party Talks — the main multilateral mechanism to negotiate North Korea’s denuclearisation — moribund since December 2008, the North Korean nuclear issue appears increasingly intractable. North Korea has proceeded with its nuclear program and enshrined its nuclear status in its constitution. And the United States and South Korea continue to see little utility in returning to formal negotiations unless North Korea first shows a credible commitment to dismantling its nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia’s demand that Pakistan joins its coalition against the Houthi uprising in Yemen has put Islamabad in a catch-22 between joining the Saudi alliance and not antagonising its neighbour Iran. Joining the Saudi coalition would have long-term political, economic and security repercussions for Pakistan.
Following a high-level Pakistani delegation to the kingdom, Pakistan’s parliament met on 6 April 2015 to debate the merits of joining the Saudi-led coalition against the uprising. The Saudis have asked Pakistan for aircrafts, naval vessels and ground troops.
The Environmental investigation Agency uses the techniques of investigative journalism to document evidence of illegal wildlife trade. It is one of the most effective easy of stemming the global tragedy that is wiping out treasured species.
An element links the terrible human tragedy in the Mediterranean and the ongoing Greek crisis. It is Europe’s over-emphasis on moral hazard.
Moral hazard is the idea that people will act irresponsibly if they do not have to bear the consequences. No doubt, the concept offers valuable insight, up to a point. The problem lies with its excessive reliance.
The continued departure of young men for jihad in Syria is raising alarm in Georgia’s Pankisi Valley, a Sunni Muslim area that allegedly has seen scores of men leave for the war over the past few years.
Globally, water demand is threatening to dangerously outpace supply, while in the US, dry states such as Texas and California are suffering from shortages and the future forebodes more suffering. For the North American shale boom, the lack of water is suffocating. Amid this doom and gloom, a water revolution emerges, led by energy industry figures who realized the endless potential of tapping into new water sources and processing them with advanced desalination technology that, for the first time ever, is economically feasible.
