Category: Global Challenges

Could UEFA Help Russia Legitimize Crimean Annexation?


Russia is hoping football can become an instrument that it can use to help legitimize its annexation of Crimea.

Russian troops invaded Crimea in late February 2014, in response to the Euromaidan Revolution in Kyiv. Pro-Russian Crimean authorities signed an annexation pact with Russia on March 18, 2014, to formalize the first forceful change of a European border since the end of the Second World War. The European Union and the United States do not formally recognize Russia’s land grab, and have imposed economic sanctions on Russia to punish its aggressive actions.

Japan’s Abe Battles Interpretation in Setting New Self-Defense Guidelines


On 1 July 2014, the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a decision reinterpreting the Japanese constitution’s Article 9 ‘peace clause’ to allow the country to exercise collective self-defence — the right to use force to aid an ally under attack. Despite overturning decades of government interpretations, many observers have highlighted that the new interpretation has important limits.

Regulating Multi-national Corporations is as Difficult as it Sounds


Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, South Africa and Venezuela proposed a treaty to regulate transnational corporations last year. You’d be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu. It has been a long and complicated road tightening the leash on the giant, global corporations, which can dominate our lives.

The United Nations has had it on the agenda for around 40 years.

Australia’s Regional Role will Largely Depend on its Relationship with China


Australia’s foreign policy has been a mix of positives and negatives under the Liberal-National Coalition government, as was true of the previous Labor government. Former Prime Ministers Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke recognised the need for Australia to think strategically about future regional developments, and John Howard’s thinking gradually moved in that direction. There is an urgent need for such long-term strategic thinking, centred on Australia’s geographic realities and its evolving regional relationships.

The Economics of Terrorism: How ISIS Funds Its Campaigns


ISIS has exploded on the scene of Islamic extremist terrorism in an unprecedented way. Seemingly emerging from obscurity, ISIS has jumped to the front of the line of threats in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the Middle East. This rise to infamy has largely been due to the incredible amount of money flowing through the coffers of the terrorist organization. But, where does all of this money come from?

‘We Want a Voice’: Women Fight for Their Rights in the Former USSR


Women had stood shoulder to shoulder with men in the Russian Revolution of 1917, according to its leader Vladimir Lenin, and were said to be at the vanguard of the drive to build an equal society in the world’s first communist state; the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

From Moscow in European Russia to Tashkent in central Asia, Soviet leaders embarked with revolutionary zeal on a mission to liberate downtrodden women – and by 1930, Joseph Stalin, Lenin’s successor in the Kremlin, declared the job done.

China’s Ever-worsening ‘Airpocalypse’


Under the Dome, a documentary released on 28 February 2015, has the potential to become a turning point in China’s long march against the ever-worsening environmental crisis.

When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962, it brought environmental concerns home to tens of millions of ordinary Americans. It led to an overhaul of the national pesticide policy, resulting in the banning of DTT and other forms of synthetic pesticides.

Will Putting a Price on Carbon Save the Environment?


Millions of people around the globe have become increasingly concerned about environmental changes brought about by global warming. Ironically, the brutal winter of 2014-15 is an example of this “global warming” in action. Brought about largely by carbon emissions, many are trying to find practical ways to encourage companies to reduce their carbon footprint without cutting into their bottom line.

Sri Lanka’s President Sirisena Visits India on His First Overseas Trip


After tense ties during the Rajapaksa administration, newly elected Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to visit India on his first overseas trip signifies a renewal in the India–Sri Lanka relationship.

Economic Development, Waste Management, and the Pacific Garbage Patch


In recent years, as a greater focus has been placed on the environment, many have become aware of something called “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” It is not really that great, nor a patch, but it is made of garbage and it is in the middle of the Pacific (two out of four is not that bad), and the origin of this man made mass is quite telling about the economies of the world.