The Syrian Civil War has raged for over 3 years and claimed an estimated 150,000 lives, with no sign of abating. During this time, reports from Syria have documented every violation of humanitarian law and human rights norms imaginable, including: … Continue reading
Search Results for: U.N.S.C.
Economic Outlook: Getting the International Aid Fiscal House In Order
Mr. Lykketoft [UN General Assembly President], echoed former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who said, ‘there can be no peace without development, no development without peace and neither without human rights.’ As the UN marks its 70th anniversary, the Organization itself is … Continue reading
Transparency Report: Closing the Rift Between What the UN Knows and What the UN Does
Original article: He [Current General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft] also touched on the issue of Security Council reform, saying the subject was “of central importance to a large majority of the Membership” of the UN, and that the General Assembly … Continue reading
Green News: Who Is Cutting and Who is Increasing GHG Emissions? The Answer May Suprise You
— I gotta say, it is nice to not be covering the Syrian civil war in this post. Events in Syria have dominated the news lately, but it seems that at least for the immediate future diplomatic exercises have stalled … Continue reading
Transparency Report: In Response to the Vladimir Putin NYT Op-Ed, and the Future of the International Community
A few of my responses / comments on Vladimir Putin’s NYT Op-Ed seemed to form a blog that I felt compelled to share (and expand upon without character limits) with the NN community: The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions … Continue reading
Conflict Watch: Weighing in on Prospective U.S. Military Strikes in Syria
Up until this point, chemical attack allegations in Syria have been a “blame-game” dominated by circumstantial evidence, hypothetical questions / appeals to logic, murky details, and classified information. The Assad regime has blamed “terrorists”, as they have for the duration … Continue reading
Bizarro Egypt
Egypt has actually turned into Bizarro World–the country is literally upside down. I swear you can’t write this stuff, or maybe you can… either way, I can’t. But I can analyze whats going on with some clarity and insight: The … Continue reading
Transparency Thursday: Making Sanctions “Smarter”
Sanctions are defined as penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations. In a foreign affairs context, sanctions are generally imposed by a group of countries (the greater … Continue reading
Conflict Watch: China, Friend or Foe?
I have written in the past about how China is not our enemy but our ally. In many ways this is true, but in some ways the two countries are ideologically opposed. While the rift between the U.S. and China … Continue reading
Conflict Watch: Syria (Update), Seperating “Positions” and “Interests”
Negotiation almost always plays a part in resolving any political, economic, or philosophical / ideological divide. Negotiation theory proposes that by moving past each side’s positions (which tend to be incompatible), and instead focusing on each sides interest, bargaining space … Continue reading
Normative Narratives 