Bhutan Cements Its Democracy
At the end of June the picturesque Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan held its first ever local elections. Over recent years this tiny country of around 700,000 has been undergoing a...
Afghanistan after a Decade: Progress and Challenges Ahead
It has been almost a decade since international community with mandate of United Nations has intervened in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime, dismantle the web of terror and above...
A New War on Terror?
Just when the threat of Islamist terrorism seemed to be successfully suppressed, the actions of Breivik bring awareness of the evil engendered by other extremist ideologies. When a Muslim terrorist...
Interview with José-María Siles
Although he was born in the heart of Andalusia, Spain, those who know him are quick to point out that his perfectionism in work seems more Swiss than Spanish. Some...
Rebuilding a „New‟ Libya & Implications for International Politics
On 1 September 1969, exactly 42 years ago, the Libyan revolution‘ was launched by a coup d’état against King Idris under the leadership of a young military officer, Muammer Gaddafi....
Libya: Human Security Challenges
Human Security conceptualisation analyses the interface between security, development and intervention. Traditionally, 'security' mostly referred to the security of nation-states in the context of military conflicts with foreign powers. Traditional...
Post-Gaddafi Reconstruction of Libya
On 19 August 2011, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, Vice-Chairman of National Transition Council (NTC), the rebel group fighting against the Colonel Gaddafi regime in Libya announced that ‗The zero hour has...
Africa’s missing Ebola outbreaks
During the fallout from the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people, one of the questions asked of the World Health Organisation (WHO) was why...
On Earth Day 2017 I Ask What Will It Take to Not Have to Have an Earth Day 2100?
Today we honour the Earth in a tradition that is now going on almost 50 years. The first Earth Day was instituted during the administration of President Richard Nixon as...
Sundays Referendum: Electoral Implications
After a heated campaign period, the “yes camp” claimed victory on Sunday night in Turkey’s referendum which changes the political system from a parliamentary system to a presidential one. The...
Constitutional Referendum in Turkey: Victory vs. Great Divide
According to the early results of the referendum, held on 16 April 2017, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, have claimed victory....
Artificial Intelligence: ‘Frankenstein’ or Capitalist Money Machine
Introduction The Financial Times’ Special Report (2/16/2017) published a four-page spread on the ‘use and possible dangers of artificial intelligence (AI)’. Unlike the usual trash journalists who serve as Washington’s...
How to think clearly about North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction
Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of current North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un, passed away under circumstances as bizarre as they were suspicious. As in a game of Cluedo, we now have just...
Is There Another Way to Achieve Sustainable Nuclear Fusion Energy?
A paper describing a “new path” to fusion energy has been published in the latest edition of Chemical Physical Letters. Entitled, “Quantum controlled fusion,” it proposes an alternative to thermonuclear fusion as...
North Korea, the US and the Status Quo
In the age of “fake news” and President Donald Trump claiming that Sweden was riddled with terror attacks which of course never took place, and of perpetual corporate and state-media...