What has begun as the “War on Terror” and is now a series of “overseas contingency operations” could in fact only go on in the global fashion that it did for almost ten years now because of the services provided by several hundred thousand contractors. In short, private contractors serve as enablers of this decade-old war, much like they have become enablers of most major Western militaries.
On July 9th diplomats celebrated the birth of Africa’s newest country, South Sudan, like over-stimulated toddlers at a party. The media followed suit, with trivial and sometimes patronising stories about the new national anthem and flag, and the admittedly strange plan to create cities in the shapes of African animals. Sadly, those involved should have focused on the agenda items they failed to address before sending out the independence day invitations.
While Lisbon may narrow the material differences between small and large states in terms of involvement, it is likely to sustain the differences between states in terms of influence. A strengthened global EU presence will primarily favor the large states given their more extended capacities to cope with the EU’s expanding role in matters of foreign policy.
In the coming weeks as the Libya drama comes to a climax and as the debate on Afghanistan sharpens on what happens next, the European nations will have to make a decision on what kind of transatlantic relationship they want, or need, or value. The option of grumbling dependency is over, an era of shared responsibility and mutual contribution is about to dawn.
Considering China’s unease with a large foreign military presence on its borders, one would expect the U.S. drawdown of military forces in Afghanistan to be welcomed in Beijing and result in greater U.S.-China cooperation on Afghanistan. However, the U.S. and China have different goals and timetables regarding this conflict, which pose challenges to their bilateral relationship.
This September will mark the 50th Anniversary of Hammarskjöld’s death in a plane-crash in the country now called Zambia. A Swedish diplomat, economist, and author, he was an early Secretary-General of the United Nations. How should we remember his life and his work?
Yesterday, for the first time since moving to London, I felt scared. I left my office in Southwark at about 6pm, and arrived in Peckham twenty minutes later to find hundreds of masked and hooded kids running up and down my local high street.
R2P has the potential to operate as a broader norm-based policy framework. As its normative weight increases and its normalization advances, it could enhance local and international institutional capacities to assess and address the risk of atrocities at an earlier stage through primary prevention, ensure robust measures are taken to halt R2P crimes in a more consistent manner, and rebuild societies emerging from conflict.
Southeast Asia and the South China Sea are now clearly major theaters of rivalry between the US and China, and once again, a cockpit of major international rivalries. ASEAN’s members are squarely in the middle of this rivalry. Meanwhile Russia is trying to run a bluff on China, which will probably only provoke Chinese and Asian mistrust despite the mutual professions of an identity of interest with China.
Since 9/11, the anti-Muslim drumbeat has impacted vast numbers of innocent Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Arabs, South Asians and others. We, who despair when our children are teased and bullied, are accepting and repeating despicable slurs about others, ricocheting through our culture. I felt compelled to stand up against people being attacked, even murdered on the basis of snap judgments
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