Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Let’s make it a green peace
Today (21 September), around the globe, we mark Peace Day 2016 knowing that for many peace is nowhere to be found; not today, and unless things change dramatically in many places, not any time soon. 2015 saw the number of refugees and displaced people reach record numbers – surpassing even post-World War II. It is with heavy hearts that we...
Let’s make it a green peace
Today (21 September), around the globe, we mark Peace Day 2016 knowing that for many peace is nowhere to be found; not today, and unless things change dramatically in many places, not any time soon. 2015 saw the number of refugees and displaced people reach record numbers – surpassing even post-World War II. It is with heavy hearts that we...
Responding To Today’s Global Refugee Crisis: How Will History Judge Us?
As the UN General Assembly gathers in New York for its first-ever High Level Meeting on Large Movements of Migrants and Refugees and the Obama Administration hosts a Leaders’ Summit on Refugees, a diplomatic spotlight is on the scale and severity of the current global refugee crisis. In the face of unprecedented levels of forced...
Darfur and U.S. Presidential Campaigns: Making Genocide Disappear (with a “Political Postscript”)
by Eric Reeves In both the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns, the Darfur region of western Sudan was an unlikely but entirely appropriate topic. After all, the U.S. Congress had–in a remarkable bipartisan, bicameral vote in July 2004–declared that what was occurring in Darfur at the hands of the Khartoum regime was...
Pro-Putin Party Seen Winning Even More Power In Russia’s Parliament
MOSCOW/SARANSK, Russia, Sept 18 (Reuters) – The ruling United Russia party is expected to win even greater dominance over Russia’s parliament in an election on Sunday, showing that support for President Vladimir Putin is holding up despite sanctions and a deep economic slowdown.The election for the Duma, or lower house of parliament,...
New Armenian Prime Minister Is Pro-Russia and Not a Champion of the Little Guy
Image: Armenia’s new Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. Public Domain Hundreds of Armenian bigwigs were in a festive mood as they filed into a concert hall in the capital of Yerevan on December 3, 2010, for a concert by opera star Placido Domingo. The upbeat mood didn’t last long for one of the preeners, though. When the wife of Mayor...
U.S. Should Stop Collecting Allies like Facebook Friends
America collects allies like Americans collect Facebook friends. The more the better appears to be the view. As a result, Washington defends more than a score of prosperous European states, several leading Asian nations, and a gaggle of Middle Eastern regimes. Yet most of the countries on the Pentagon dole appear to be perpetually unhappy,...
The New Syrian Ceasefire is a Strategic Defeat for the United States
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Ministeer Sergey Lavrov announcing a new Syrian cease fire, Geneva, September 9, 2016 Phote courtesy US Dept. of State On September 9, 2016, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that the United States and Russia had reached an agreement for a...
Weekend Roundup: Where There Is Connectivity, There Is Surveillance
The great paradox of the internet age is that ever-greater connectivity also means ever-greater capacity for surveillance — both by governments and the private sector digital companies. In an exclusive interview with director Oliver Stone about his new movie, “Snowden,” we discuss the intrusion of intelligence agencies into...
NATO’s Expiration Date
If the number of eager applicants on a waiting list determines the strength of a club, then the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is in fine fettle.At its most recent gathering in July, NATO welcomed its 29th member — Montenegro — which means that the alliance now outnumbers the European Union. Nearby Macedonia has been waiting for 17...
