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Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Labor and Human Workforce Futures
A chance to embrace the Future of Work
The Ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles stated that without labor, nothing prospers. In the rapidly evolving landscape of the modern workforce, a seismic shift is...
IT & Telecom
The Internet of Everything and smart cities
The 10th International Symposium on Networks, Computers, and Communications was the site of many vibrant debates concerning contemporary Information Systems, Communication Networks, and Computing...
Myanmar
Myanmar’s instability deepens as the world watches silently
Myanmar’s stability has eroded significantly since the 2021 military coup. But the coordinated attacks by multiple separatist and pro-democracy groups in late 2023 has...
Democracy & Human Rights
For Turkey, the Kurds are always considered terrorists
“Hamas is a reality for Palestine. It is a political party … it entered the elections as a political party and won,” said Turkey’s...
Africa
Why Africa must be concerned about nuclear threats in Europe
Russia's threat to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin, in response to Finland's membership in NATO has,...
Environment
Spare a thought for the environment this Christmas
In the run up to the festive season many people will be travelling by plane to visit family and friends. Spending time with loved...
Defense & Security
First Ukraine, now Gaza: the impact of war has set us back on climate change
Discussions of man-made global warming are usually based on a 1-degree Celsius rise since 1880 due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal,...
International Organizations
Stability in the Middle East must involve the whole of the international community
The pacifist Jeannette Rankin once famously claimed that “you can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake”. As the latest...
Democracy & Human Rights
Kafka in Kyiv — Why artists count in a time of war when the world has gone to hell one more time….
It was three o'clock in the morning and I was on a train heading to a war zone.I asked myself "why" I was going...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Playing politics with EU veto power – a very old game
In late November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, standing alongside visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, told the media that he was against the “bilateralization”...
Africa
Africa will watch the DRC’s elections with bated interest
2023 and 2024 are going to be busy years as far as elections in Africa are concerned. About two dozen elections will occur in...
Armenia
Russia’s powerful economic levers over Armenia
Armenia's relations with its strategic partner Russia are getting worse and worse and its leaders seem to desire a shift in geopolitical orientation towards the West....
Economy & Business
Rebuilding Ukraine: Opportunities and concerns for foreign businesses
Such is the scale of the effort required to rebuild Ukraine that the World Bank in March 2023 estimated it at $411 billion. That...
ASEAN
Why China’s new map has stirred regional tensions
In the waning days of summer, closely following a BRICS summit and mere days ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Group...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The EU Green Deal is a barrier to trade and global partnerships
There is an English saying that if you can’t see the wood for the trees, then you should step back and then you will...
Democracy & Human Rights
Young Iranians fight for a better future
Providing an opportunity for young people around the world to listen to each other and to share their understanding of the fundamental concept of...
Asia & Pacific
Ethnic violence in India explained
The ethnoreligious violence in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur between Meiteis and Kukis has been ongoing since May, but it was only in July 2023 when a...
Analysis
Freedom is just another word for ‘nothin left to lose’
President Joe Biden described the events taking place in Israel as “sheer evil, abhorrent, and terrorism.” It sure is. Husbands and wives slaughtered, children...
Labor and Human Workforce Futures
Digitalization and the future of work
The American philosopher Buckminster Fuller once stated that it is possible to study a caterpillar forever without being able to predict that it will...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Breaking Europe’s hold on football
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar brought together nations from around the world, and 1.5 billion people tuned in to watch the final. But...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
How countries prepare for population growth and decline
Early this year, India surpassed China as the most populous country in the world, with the latter having 850,000 fewer people by the end...
Invasion of Ukraine
Moldova’s Maia Sandu is the ‘Iron Lady’ of Eastern Europe
As the war in Ukraine passes the year-and-a-half milestone, a critical ally for Kyiv and Washington is the tiny nation of the Republic of...
Analysis
What’s the end game for the military men seizing power in West Africa?
As socio-economic problems and the inefficiency of civilian governments in the region have made recent coups popular, coup makers are eventually going to become...
Africa
Private military companies continue to expand in Africa
In the wake of the July 26 coup in Niger, the world’s spotlight has once again turned to the expansion of private military and...
Economy & Business
Uzbekistan’s remarkable resurgence is a tale of growth, reform, potential
In an era characterized by global turbulence and uncertainty, there are few stories as compelling as that of Uzbekistan. A country that has weathered...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Cambodia’s Hun Manet is a puppet prime minister; his father will still pull the strings
The handing over of power by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to his son Hun Manet is an attempt to maintain the old regime,...
Energy
Turkmenistan signals major change in energy-export stance
A big shift is brewing for Caspian Basin energy exports. In a diplomatic about-face, Turkmenistan has signaled its readiness to develop a Trans-Caspian pipeline...
China
Can Central Asia escape China’s debt trap?
While Washington focuses on the war in Ukraine, Russia and China seek to expand their influence in regions where the US is not sufficiently...
Afghanistan
The global impact two years after the Taliban’s takeover
Two years ago, the world saw the return of a repressive Taliban regime. The rapid fall of the Afghan government sent shockwaves throughout neighbouring...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The Beleri case as bellwether for democracy in Albania
The standard definition of a political prisoner is: “One imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for...
Environment
The ecological collapse we were warned about has begun
In 2023, different climatic anomalies have been recorded that set new historical records in the tragic progression of climate change at the global level.
Thus,...
Energy Policy
Europe needs every clean energy tool it can get to deliver net-zero
Remaining steadfast in its commitment to addressing climate change, the European Union is in the midst of an unprecedented transformation to meet climate and...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The accidental harm-reduction champion
Sweden is set to become the world’s first officially smoke-free country. This will save lives, reduce health costs, and improve the quality of life...
Invasion of Ukraine
Working against Ukraine’s own interests
As the Ukrainian counter-offensive begins, maintaining American support is absolutely vital to Kyiv’s success. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have proven their courage, but even...
Economy & Business
Reimagining policy on the future of work
In 1986, the American pop group The Bangles had a hit with “Manic Monday”, where singer Susanna Hoffs laments the start of another working...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The fear of AI is overblown
The unprecedented popularity of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022, has turbocharged the AI hype machine.We are...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Belgium’s prisoner swap with Iran proves the EU is unwilling to punish state sponsors of terror
An Iranian terrorist, Asadollah Assadi, is heading home from Belgium just two years into a 20-year sentence. He is the beneficiary of the Islamic...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Spain’s solution to the current high energy prices may end up costing it dearly
The announcement in mid-May by the Spanish Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, that Spain and Portugal have reached a “political agreement” with the European...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
New study finds strong public support for advanced nuclear energy
A new, multinational report released today found that there is widespread public support for using advanced nuclear energy technologies to generate electricity. Based on...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Countering online extremism online: Can New Zealand’s Ardern make the Christchurch Call live up to its potential?
On May 15, 2019, two months after the horrendous Christchurch massacre, policymakers led by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel...
Europe & Eurasia
The unfiltered truth about recent Serbia-Russia relations
Although Moscow perceives Serbia as a trading currency in the geopolitical market of great powers. Serbia believes that its destiny is not to be betrayed by beliefs, friends, allies or history.
Africa
France’s policies in Africa diminish its influence; inevitably opening the door to Russia & China
In a recent story titled "How Russia and China are trying to drive France out of Africa", what was not lost on the reader...
Africa
Africa’s porous borders promote transnational crimes rather than deeper integration
For positive continental regimes to succeed, there must be both conscious and concerted efforts, as well as political will, from all states to help eliminate transnational crimes while fostering integration across the whole of Africa through trade.
Newsletter
A plea to strengthen the Single Market
Unprecedented geopolitical disturbances call for a more united European Union, not for more trade barriers that would ultimately harm the EU's economy and its citizens.
Azerbaijan
The Iranian regime is becoming ruthlessly paranoid about ethnic Azeri demands for civil rights guarantees
Complete disregard for the well-being of Iran’s Azeri minority has sparked a wave of intense anger within the community.
Asia & Pacific
Cambodia’s current government is the face of tropical Fascism
There is no hope that the authoritarianism that the world sees in places like Russia, China and Cambodia can ever be interpreted as a peaceful and benign phenomenon, or that it should be accepted by an implicit racist or discriminatory assumption that some cultures just don’t have a democratic tradition and aren’t quite capable of ever developing one.
Georgia
Georgia has shown the world that a Kremlin project can be defeated
In early March, the world’s attention was on Georgia. We saw massive protests fueled by anger, concerns and fear, and eventually, we witnessed a...
Europe & Eurasia
Putin’s New START withdrawal has broad implications
Vladimir Putin continues to persuade Russians that the West provoked his imperialist war of aggression against Ukraine. His announcement that he would no longer...
Economy & Business
Free Trade: The magic potion against economic decline
Despite rising internal and external nationalistic pressure, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic should remember that in a time of increasing hostilities from bad actors, retaliatory protectionism toward our allies will do nothing but ensure mutual decline.
Armenia
Turkey’s seismic shift
This breakthrough in normalization between Armenia and Turkey comes amid a much wider context, well beyond the simple validation of earthquake diplomacy to elevate crisis response over conflict retention.
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