The politicians and diplomats lead the summits and rule the airwaves. But a close look at the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict reveals that the United States military take the decisions.
The new populist right is filtering America’s most inclusive tradition through a political lens. In doing so it feeds an alarmingly reductive view of national history, says Godfrey Hodgson.
The economic recession in Russia has not produced the expected rise in organised crime. The answer to this conundrum lies in the politics of security reform, says Gavin Slade.
2010 will be a year to remember for the field of HIV prevention. Two clinical studies are raising the hope that the HIV epidemic can be tamed. But only if we get it right.
The air in Brussels is thick with a storm over the European External Action Service, basically caused by the European Commission trying to break its word on peace-building.
Iraqi refugees in neighbouring Arab states are unwilling to return to their country and unable to emigrate further west. Their perilous situation needs to be addressed by the powers who created this humanitarian crisis, says Dawn Chatty.
The traces of optimism that had surrounded Burma’s first notionally democratic experience for two decades vanish on closer inspection of the outcome, says David Scott Mathieson in Chiang Mai.
How can we cheer NATO for promising equality for women in an institution we deplore? We are saying: ‘military security’ is an oxymoron. Women ascribe a totally different meaning to the word security
The Irish government’s request to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for a financial bailout to rescue its broken economy reflects a far deeper decay in the country’s political culture and institutions. This is the very moment to begin to transform them, says Fintan O’Toole.
The Ethiopian government’s political use of international humanitarian aid is a test of donors’ commitment to human-rights principles, says Tom Porteous.
War crimes trial begins of Congolese militia leader accused of turning blind eye to mass rape and killings. Circumstantial evidence emerges of Hezbollah link to Hariri’s assassination. Al-Qaeda boasts of parcel bomb plot in latest propaganda magazine. All this and more in today’s security briefing
The election of Dilma Rousseff is a landmark moment in Brazil’s political history. But the challenges ahead promise to make the task as hard as her victory proved to be, says Arthur Ituassu.
