Blogs & Opinions

Khartoum and Juba Oil Dance

Feb 4, 2015 | Alsir Sidahmed

It is official. Juba wants to renegotiate oil-related agreements. Following the dramatic drop in world oil prices to its lowest level in more than five…

In Uganda, It’s Bust Before Boom

Feb 2, 2015 | Robert Looney

The astonishing oil price drop of late 2014 reminds us of the inherent weaknesses of petro-states. Oil-dependent countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran are struggling…

The Plunder of Myanmar

Jan 27, 2015 | New York Times Editorial Board

China’s exploding appetites have unleashed a wholesale looting of Myanmar’s valuable natural resources. While this often involves outright theft, it also comes in the form…

The Guilty and the Innocent: China and Illegal Logging in Myanmar

Jan 27, 2015 | Yun Sun

The recent escalation of tensions in northern Myanmar as the result of the Myanmar military’s crackdown on illegal logging and timber trade once again pushed…

China-India Water Disputes: Two Major Misperceptions Revisited – Analysis

Jan 26, 2015 | Zhang Hongzhou

For years, Indian security analysts, most notably Dr. Brahma Chellaney, have been warning of the coming water wars between India and China. While water issues…

Ending Grand Theft on a Global Scale: Prosecuting the War Crime of Pillage

Jan 26, 2015 | Travis Roberts

Underneath the forests, hills, and rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo lie billions of dollars in mineral wealth, with millions of that being…

Russia’s "Crimea" Problem in the Far East

Jan 26, 2015 | Nikolay Delchev

It has been almost one year after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014. The event caused much controversy and was condemned by the majority…

A Clear and Present Danger to Planet Earth: Climate Change

Jan 26, 2015 | Des Browne and Michael Shank

We are facing a new security threat, and, if left unaddressed, it has the potential to kill thousands of people in a single summer. We…

Musicians from Nile River Basin Collaborate for First U.S. Tour

Jan 15, 2015 | Jordan Levin

The idea that music brings people together is an appealing one, but it can seem inadequate in the face of the differences that wrack the…

What Haiti Needs to Do Next

Jan 13, 2015 | Alex Fischer and Marc A. Levy

Within three months of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the initial shock and sadness of the tragedy had been replaced by an enormous ambition: Haiti…

A Tale of Two Shocks in Iraq

Jan 12, 2015 | Masood Ahmed

Iraq is facing a “double shock” from the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) insurgency and the global plunge in oil prices. While…

The Civil War’s Environmental Impact

Jan 12, 2015 | Ted Widmer

The Civil War was the most lethal conflict in American history, by a wide margin. But the conventional metric we use to measure a war’s…

Rebuilding Gaza and the Need to Assess TRW Risks

Jan 9, 2015 | Andrew Garrity

The people of Gaza are facing the colossal task of rebuilding homes, roads and schools following the hostilities between Hamas and the Israeli Defence Forces…

Future Wars on Water

Jan 9, 2015 | Dr. Muhammad Yaqoob Bhatti

It has been said that all future wars would be on water disputes. Egypt has already issued an ultimatum of war to Ethiopia in the…

Will China Change its South China Sea Approach in 2015?

Jan 8, 2015 | Prashanth Parameswaran

Given the litany of surprises we have witnessed in the South China Sea over the past few years, it would be a fool’s errand to…

International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Jordan Valley

Jan 8, 2015 | EcoPeace Middle East

The SIWI / EcoPeace / GNF November 10-12, 2014 "International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Jordan Valley" brought together over one hundred government officials…

Sanctions for Peace in South Sudan

Jan 7, 2015 | Peter Biar Ajak

After about a year of on-off negotiations between the government of South Sudan and rebels led by its former vice president, Riek Machar, the two…

'Outside the Net': Women's Participation in Fishing Activities in Trincomalee District of Sri Lanka

Jan 5, 2015 | Gayathri Lokuge

‘The woman left us slowly and moved to the other side of the beach seine, sat down on the sand and started piling the seaweed…

Rwanda Restores Ecosystems, Generating Record Tourism and New Opportunities for Growth

Jan 5, 2015 | UNEP

Rwanda has undergone a remarkable economic and social reconstruction in recent years and recorded consistent growth rates of 8 per cent a year between 2001…

Tajikistan Green Investment in the Agricultural Sector Helps Realign its Pathway to Sustainable Development

Jan 5, 2015 | UNEP

In Tajikistan, known to some as the "land of rugged mountains", agriculture provides the backbone of the economy and supports the livelihoods of two-thirds of…

UN Report Highlights Women’s Roles in Natural Resource Management During and After Conflict

Jan 5, 2015 | Priya Kamdar

It’s been 14 years since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 acknowledging women as important agents of change in recovery from conflict and peacebuilding…

The Business of War

Jan 3, 2015 | Asad Zaman

As plans for war against Syria heat up, new myths are being manufactured to support it. In line with Major General Smedley Butler’s thesis, we…

Who is Setting Libya’s Oil on Fire?

Dec 31, 2014 | Ali Ibrahim

Those worried about the slump in the oil market—which has seen prices of crude oil fall to their lowest levels in years—may owe a debt…

Crunching the Numbers on Climate Change, Conflict, and Food Aid

Dec 31, 2014 | Sarah Meyerhoff

Two studies push back on recent analyses that claim to demonstrate empirical links between food aid and conflict and climate change and conflict.

This summer, Nathan…

The Egypt-Ethiopia Dispute Over the Nile Basin Can Evolve into a Strategic Partnership

Dec 30, 2014 | Goitom Gebreluel

Ethiopia and Egypt have successfully managed to end their millennia-long rivalry over the river Nile. Ethiopia’s announcement in 2011 of its intention to construct Africa’s…

Business's Bribery Shifts Country Dividends To A Privileged Few

Dec 28, 2014 | J. Yanqui Zaza, The Perspective

For big business to get its sweet heart deal, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf paid $31,000, predictably, to each Liberian Senator, to approve an Oil Agreement…

Falling Oil Prices and the Consequences for Sub-Saharan Africa

Dec 23, 2014 | Amadou Sy, Brookings Institution

Yesterday, in reaction to the recent, dramatic drop in oil prices, Africa Growth Initiative Nonresident Fellow Rabah Arezki and International Monetary Fund Chief Economist  Olivier…

Breaking the silence: Protecting civilians from toxic remnants of war

Dec 18, 2014 | Doug Weir

Toxic remnants of war and their legacy of civilian harm is seriously under-explored as an area of conflict. There is a growing consensus that the current…

Congo-Kinshasa: Leveraging Mobile Tech to Combat Conflict and Corruption

Dec 17, 2014 | Eliot Pence, allAfrica

Rarely has so small a law stirred so much debate about so distant a conflict. Over the past several months, debate about legislation requiring companies…

How to cut militias off from gold and mineral mines in Congo

Dec 17, 2014 | The Los Angeles Times

Few parts of the world have been more ravaged by war and violence over the last two decades than the Democratic Republic of Congo. That's…