Blogs & Opinions

Q & A: Bill Hayton on Growing Rivalries in the South China Sea

Dec 17, 2014 | Jane Perlez, The New York Times

Bill Hayton, a longtime journalist with the BBC, has spent much of his career chronicling events in Southeast Asia and observing the growing rivalries in…

'Extreme Realities' Sheds Light on Links Between Global Climate Dynamics and National Security

Dec 17, 2014 | Sarah Meyerhoff

“We cannot ignore the new reality that climate change has become a major foreign policy issue in the 21st century,” a new film by Hal and…

Women's Land Rights and Africa's Development Conundrum- Which Way Forward?

Dec 12, 2014 | Eric Yeboah

How can African countries use land policies to ensure agricultural development and inclusive growth? Particularly in countries which are dominated by patriarchal land ownership systems?…

Conflict Minerals Regulation Helping Thousands of Miners

Dec 12, 2014 | Source Intelligence

How the Conflict Minerals Regulation Benefits Congolese Miners The Enough Project's U.S. and Congo-based groups visited mining communities in eastern Congo to "get an updated…

The Australian Defence Force’s Approach to Contaminated Land Management

Dec 9, 2014 | Andy Garrity

The Australian Defence Force has a comprehensive management plan for TRW sites and practices and the Department of Defence recognises its responsibility to remediate sites…

Feeding Unrest: A Closer Look at the Relationship Between Food Prices and Sociopolitical Conflict

Dec 8, 2014 | New Security Beat

From the Roman poet Juvenal’s observations about bread and circuses to Marie Antoinette’s proclamation, “let them eat cake!” the link between food and political stability is well…

Unregulated World Oil Market Is A Peace For South Sudan

Dec 8, 2014 | Gurtong

No More Resource Curse: Unregulated World Oil Market is a Peace for South Sudan

Faced with US sale oil boom and lower global oil demand, oil…

9 Things You Need To Know About Conflict Minerals

Dec 5, 2014 | Think Progress

The armed conflict in eastern Congo that has killed over 5.4 million people is financed largely by trading minerals used in an array of common…

Writing China: Luke Patey, ‘The New Kings of Crude’

Dec 5, 2014 | Wall Street Journal

China’s hunt for oil to drive its fast-growing economy has taken it into conflict areas like Sudan and South Sudan, a risky venture for both…

Missing the Progress Made in Congo

Dec 5, 2014 | Washington Post

The Dec. 1 front-page article “In Congo, unintended harm from a U.S. law,” about Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, understated the important progress made in the fight to…

Water Wars of the 21st Century

Dec 1, 2014 | Dawn

While oil may have triggered many of the conflicts of the 20th century, many believe that this century’s wars will mostly be over water. Four…

Common Sense on Conflict Minerals

Dec 1, 2014 | Project Syndicate

“That diamond upon your finger, say how came it yours?” asks Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. “Thou’lt torture me,” responds the villainous Iachimo, “to leave unspoken that which, to be…

Pipeline Geopolitics: From Syria to Russia via Ukraine

Nov 30, 2014 | Counter Currents

Prior to landing in Ukraine or before I start glossing the western sanction on Russia, it is important to take the readers through the memory…

Conflict Minerals: EU Can Save Lives and Boost Profits

Nov 29, 2014 | EU Observer

It’s not always fashionable to talk about Brussels wielding power. To many, the inner workings of the European Union seem far-removed from day-to-day life, and…

Going for Congo's Gold

Nov 26, 2014 | Washington Post

Just in time for the holidays, the Enough Project, an advocacy group that has worked for years to stop war crimes in Congo by bringing…

Congo’s Problems Run Deeper than Oil

Nov 21, 2014 | Reuters

Save the gorillas and save the Democratic Republic of Congo, urges “Virunga,” a new documentary from Netflix and enviro-mensches Leonardo DiCaprio and Howard Buffett. The…

Gidon Bromberg on Environmental Peacebuilding in the Lower Jordan Valley

Nov 21, 2014 | New Security Beat

“When you turn on the tap in any community in Israel, water will always flow. That’s not the case in Palestine, and it’s not always…

Kono, Sierra Leone: Cry Me a River

Nov 21, 2014 | The Union

Kono is the main diamond mining district in Sierra Leone. The origin of Blood Diamonds is right here. Even today, the buildings that were damaged…

Iraqi-Kurdish Oil Deal Falls Short of Solutions

Nov 16, 2014 | The Telegraph

Goran Mohammed had just completed his second year of university in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil when he dropped out to help his father…

Europe Is Dragging Its Feet on Conflict Minerals

Nov 16, 2014 | Huffington Post

Don't ask, don't tell. This is the deal consumers have long been offered by companies in exchange for cheaper clothes, cheaper food, and cheaper gadgets.…

Cal Poly Passes Conflict Minerals Resolution

Nov 13, 2014 | Enough Project

On May 20th, 2014, the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) Academic Senate passed a conflict minerals resolution, making Cal Poly the 17th school to go conflict-free. Below…

Study Links Hot Weather to Violent Conflict in Africa

Nov 10, 2014 | Carbon Brief

Analysis of violent events in the past 30 years in sub-Saharan Africa reveals a link to high temperatures, a new study finds.However, the researchers say…

Iraq's Future: It's the Oil, Stupid

Nov 10, 2014 | Al-Jazeera

This week, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi is scheduled to visit Erbil, his first visit to the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as…

3 Ways Conservation Efforts Can Promote Peace

Nov 5, 2014 | Brittany Ajroud

Illegally mined minerals and timber stripped from Africa’s forests have financed some of the continent’s most brutal wars. Similarly, the illegal ivory trade has been linked…

War and the Environment

Nov 5, 2014 | Cynthia S. Levesque

"Impacts to the environment from war threaten human health, livelihoods and security and can undermine post-conflict peacebuilding. November 6th has been declared by the United Nations General…

Petrodollars: Fight for Kobani Has a Key Oil Aspect to It

Nov 3, 2014 | Platts

The focus of the Islamic State group’s military campaign in Iraq and Syria has shifted in recent weeks from lands around Iraq’s northern oil fields…

International Analysis: A Hostile Climate

Oct 31, 2014 | Peruvian Times

On October 13, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel delivered a major address on climate security at the Conference of the Defense Ministers of the…

Faily: Iraq's energy sector asks for U.S. investments

Oct 30, 2014 | Houston Chronicle

I'm about to visit Houston to discuss investment opportunities in Basra, a province in southern Iraq that is the center of the country's energy industry,…

Conflict Minerals: A Broader Push for Reform is Essential

Oct 30, 2014 | Enough Project

For nearly two decades, the war and widespread illicit exploitation of natural resources in eastern Congo has subjected Congolese citizens to a humanitarian crisis that desperately needs to be…

Alina Saba of Nepal and Agnes Kinaka of Papua New Guinea Reflect on Their Participation in the UN Climate Summit

Oct 29, 2014 | ADWID

In addition to the 120 Heads of State who attended the UN Climate Summit in September, 38 civil society representatives were selected by their peers…