Archive | Security Issues
Posted on January 24, 2021. Tags: coups, DC riots, Hitler, Mussolini, Napoleon, Nazis, putsch, Trump
Image by Tyler Merber There are many terms being thrown around to describe the events in Washington DC on 6 January: sedition, insurrection, protest, riot, mob, even coup. The most historically accurate term is a putsch, with any number of examples of angry mobs being channelled to overthrow civilian authority. It may have started as […]
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Posted in Europe, France, Germany, Political Security, Security Issues, Terrorism, US, World
Posted on December 23, 2020. Tags: Africa, Algeria, cooperation, ECOWAS, Guerguerat, Jerusalem, Maghreb, Maroc, Mauritania, morocco, NATO, normalisation, Peace, Polisario, Politics, Sahara dispute, UN Security Council, United States, Western Sahara
American recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over its Sahara and the normalisation of relations between Morocco and Israel could have lasting benefits for the cause of peace in North Africa and the Middle East. For North Africa, the Sahara dispute between Morocco and the Algerian backed Polisario has dragged on for 45 years, making it one […]
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Posted in Africa, Conflict, Culture, Economic Security, Economics, Global Economy, Israel, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Middle East, NATO, Political Security, Refugees, Religion, Security Issues, UN, US, World
Posted on April 20, 2020. Tags: Asia, Carl Schmitt, Chernobyl, China, coronavirus, COVID-19, Czech Republic, Donald Trump, European Union, Germany, Globalization, Hubei, Hungary, Liberalism, state of emergency, Trump, U.S., United States, WHO
“Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the colour of your skin or how much money you have in the bank.” The words of WHO official Dr Mike Ryan about Coronavirus (COVID-19) would seem to many of us common sense. What appears ‘common sense’ does not, however, always manifest in the […]
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Posted in Australia, China, Europe, European Union, Germany, Refugees, Security Issues, UN, US, World
Posted on September 4, 2020. Tags: Aid, Bashar al-Assad, Belt and Road Initiative, China, Crimea, Russia, Sanctions, Security, Sovereignty, Stephen Krasner, Syria, UN, Veto, war, Xinjiang
‘War is the continuation of politics by other means’. This well-known quote from 19th century Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz epitomises the Russian and Chinese role in the Syrian conflict, which is now in its tenth year. The conflict began in March 2011 after pro-democracy protests in Syria were brutally crushed by the Syrian […]
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Posted in China, Conflict, Middle East, Russia, Syria, UN, World
Posted on July 14, 2020. Tags: Colombia, coronavirus, Crime, Drug Trafficking, economy, El Salvador, Gangs, Latin America, Mexico, violence
Stores, restaurants and other businesses are suffering as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Drug Gangs in Latin America are no exception. With many sources of revenue cut off, narco traffickers are forced to adapt in order to survive. Drug markets from Mexico to Honduras are changing and, along with them, so is the structure […]
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Posted in Drugs, Latin America, World
Posted on April 28, 2019. Tags: Belt and Road Initiative, China, South China Sea, The Quad, Vietnam
Rapid economic growth and the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has allowed China to expand its regional influence. Within the South China Sea, China’s expansion has materialized in the form of a coercive maritime strategy. Aside from straddling the key sea lanes of communication used for trade, the South China Sea also contains […]
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Posted in Asia, Australia, China, Conflict, India, Security Issues, US, World
Posted on March 24, 2019.
Climate change has the capacity to radically transform the international order. This is particularly true in South Asia, where fresh water resources from the Himalayas are dwindling rapidly. As tensions rise between India and Pakistan, it is vital to focus on the environmental and political factors at play, and to consider the potential implications of […]
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Posted in Asia, Food Security, India, Security Issues, Terrorism, World
Posted on September 14, 2017. Tags: British military, Human Rights, IHAT, International Criminal Court, Iraq, Iraq war, Preliminary examinations, Torture, United Kingdom, War crimes
What comes next as British Government targets lawyers and closes investigative body? By Thomas Obel Hansen This Article is based on research conducted under a British Academy grant involving interviews with relevant stakeholders. A more comprehensive academic article addressing the same topics is scheduled for publication later this year. An examination opened by the International […]
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Posted in Conflict, Iraq, Terrorism, UK News, World
Posted on February 6, 2019. Tags: climate change, COP24, Donald Trump, Trump administration
New members of the United States Congress supporting a Green New Deal do so against a backdrop of increasing American isolation on climate change, driven by President Trump’s intent to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. Despite impending American non-participation, which will formally take effect after November 4, 2020, the international community reached a milestone in […]
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Posted in Environmental Security, UN, World
Posted on September 6, 2018. Tags: Argentina, development, economic development, Economics, IMF, South America, Turkey, World
Since its freefall earlier this summer the Argentine peso continues to hold very little value, trading at about 39 pesos per U.S. dollar. Just four months ago, the peso was worth a much stronger 20 pesos per dollar, which is nearly a 50 percent depreciation in 120 days. The currency depreciation crisis mirrors crises occurring […]
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Posted in Economic Security, Economics, Global Economy, World
Posted on March 25, 2017. Tags: disarmament, Ian Paisley, IRA, Ireland, Irish Republican Army, Martin McGuinness, Nationalism, Nelson Mandela, Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein, Terrorism
With the death of Martin McGuinness, the former Provisional IRA senior commander turned peace-maker and Deputy First Minister, one is struck that such a transition was simultaneously, impressive and outrageous. I had the opportunity of meeting McGuinness last January when I interviewed him. I was struck by his warmth and generosity in taking time out […]
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Posted in Conflict, Europe, Security Issues, Terrorism, UK News, World
Posted on February 1, 2015. Tags: Colombia, disarmament, FARC, Guerrillas, Latin America, Peace Process, Rebel Fighters, Reintegration Strategies
Colombia has endured more than five decades of civil discord. Peace negotiations between FARC representatives and the Colombian State have, though, been ongoing since 2012 as the country attempts to realise a future of security and peace. Yet it is the massive human toll that is perhaps the most potent issue to arise from this […]
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Posted in Conflict, Drugs, Security Issues, World
Posted on June 24, 2016. Tags: Central African Republic, disarmament, DRC, LRA, Uganda
In 2012 a 30 minute documentary about a rebel leader in Uganda set the internet alight. KONY 2012 brought to the public view the gruesome activities of Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and his kidnapping of young children. While the campaign itself was short lived, the Bush and later Obama administrations had already pledged […]
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Posted in Africa, Conflict, UN, World
Posted on August 14, 2010. Tags: China, David Cameron, disarmament, Eisenhower, Hiroshima, Japan, Nuclear Weapons, Obama, Trident, World War Two
The futility and danger of nuclear weapons in the post-9/11 world is indisputable The 2003 Oscar-Winning documentary The Fog of War, containing Robert McNamara’s post-Vietnam mea culpa, also highlighted one of the former US Defence Secretary’s greatest concerns – nuclear weapons. “The indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will destroy nations,” McNamara maintained. […]
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Posted in Russia, Security Issues, US, World
Posted on December 19, 2017. Tags: defense, European Defense Spending, France, Germany, Military, military technology, Security
Europe is currently facing a fundamental shift in its approach to armaments procurement: cooperation both between countries and manufacturers in the development and production of armaments is considered the only way forward in the coming decades. With Germany and France representing the vanguard of the European defense industry, the fate of their KANT project symbolizes […]
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Posted in Europe, France, Germany, Security Issues, Technology, World
Posted on February 25, 2018. Tags: House of Saud, Iran, MBS, Middle East, Mohammed bin Salman, Oil, oil and, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, yemen civil war
A new country is gradually emerging from the desert terrain of Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS as the Crown Prince is commonly known, is at the helm. At 32 years of age, Mohammed bin Salman is the youngest minister of defence in the world, and is offering an ambitious programme of economic, religious, […]
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Posted in corruption, Economic Security, Global Economy, Saudi Arabia, World
Posted on March 19, 2018. Tags: Africa, African Conflict, Democracy, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Elections, Human Rights, Humanitarian, Internally Displaced Persons, Refugee, Refugee Camps, Refugees, war
The UN Under-Sectretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this week for the first time. Following meetings with internally displaced persons, Lowcock underscored that the DRC is the site of one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in the world today. A year after his term ended, Congolese […]
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Posted in Africa, Conflict, Refugees, UN, World
Posted on June 22, 2018. Tags: Asia, Censorship, China, Chinese, Cross-strait conflict, Cross-strait relations, Democracy, Diplomacy, Hong Kong, One China Policy, People's Republic of China, Politics, Republic of China, South China Sea, Taiwan, Taiwanese
Last month, two more countries broke away from the fast dwindling assortment of diplomatic allies that officially recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state. The political volte-face in May by the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso in favour of closer ties with Beijing follows a long trend of diplomatic shifts that leave Taiwan increasingly isolated on the […]
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Posted in Asia, China, Conflict, Political Security, Security Issues, World
Posted on August 4, 2017. Tags: Brexit, catalonia, Economics, European Central Bank, European Union, Independence Referendum, Politics, spain, Trade, United Kingdom
Image by David Tubau (Energético) One year on from the Brexit vote, Europe’s economy faces yet another monumental challenge in the shape of the Catalan independence referendum. There are doubts as to whether the referendum will go ahead; a referendum on independence was held in 2014, but after the Spanish constitutional court anhttp:\/\/global-politics.co.uked it, the […]
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Posted in Economic Security, Economics, European Union, Global Economy, World
Posted on December 10, 2017. Tags: 16 Days of Activism, Africa, CEDAW, Corruption, Culture, Democracy, Europe, gender, Globalization, Human Rights, Justice for Women, Middle East, Politics, She Can, UN, United Kingdom, United States, UNWomen, Violence Against Women, Women, Women's Rights, World
The television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ has gripped viewers and political pundits alike, since its release in April 2017, for its astonishingly realistic parallels between the fictional world of Gilead, and the very real Donald Trump led USA. As the global campaign for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence draws to […]
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Posted in Culture, Global Economy, Security Issues, UN, World