Global Challenges
The EU can be proud of achieving a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia. ++ The Caucasus crisis has shown that the EU is able to create a space for diplomacy in order to resolve international conflicts. ++ Much remains to be done if the situation is to …More
By agreeing to host a US missile defence base Poland, like the UK and Czech Republic, became America’s groundbait and exposed itself to a possiblity of a nuclear attack. ++ In turn, the system is supposed to protect Poland as …More
Two of the EU’s key assumptions towards Russia have been proven wrong: firstly, Russia obviously does not share the Western values and secondly, Russia does not oppose Iran going nuclear. ++ Moscow can assume that a nuclear Iran will hurt Western …More
The problem of modern capitalist markets in times of global warming is that we do not have to pay the true environmental costs of the products we buy. ++ There are two possible solutions: either we apply green taxes to reflect a …More
Michaele Schreyer and Ralf Fuecks: Current energy crisis poses a significant threat to international economic and political stability. The current make-up of the EU is ill-equipped to deal with this challenge. The Union urgently needs an institutional reform: a European Community for Renewable Energy which would transform its economy into an energy-efficient system. …More
We only have a few decades before world’s oil supplies start to run out and we have to use that time wisely to develop long-term solutions to the world’s energy needs. ++ To achieve that, the world needs a global energy institution …More
Ryan R. Miller: Central European countries are, on balance, divided, not united, when it comes to Russian energy supply dominance. Washington should find ways to step up its involvement and combat both the symptoms of Central Europe’s energy security ‘schism’ as well as the disease itself. …More
The Arctic Circle contains 13 percent of the world’s untapped oil supplies. ++ But a clash of interests between businesses, NGOs, and the five different governments who claim rights to the region’s energy resources is likely to cause a …More
For democracy in Georgia to last, Georgians need to feel we have their backs; the West must impose tough economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia. ++ This conflict demonstrates impotency of the global security order. ++ The West must show …More
India is depicted in the media as “a squeaky-clean ally of the United States” and no inconvenient truths are allowed to mar Indian democracy’s supposed success story. ++ A passive receiver of this image will surely be …More
The war on terror has been an utter fiasco: before the US troops arrived in 2001 Afghanistan was much more peaceful and stable, now the insurgency has spread all over the country, become multi-ethnic and more robust. ++ American claims …More
The Taliban are the most prominent security threat in Afghanistan, but they are not the only one we should worry about. ++ Over the last few years Afghanistan has become a narco-state: it supplies 93 percent of the world’s heroin …More
Now that the Bush administration has reneged on its hard line against negotiations, Iran does not take US ultimatums seriously. ++ Where progressives see flexibility, Iranian officials see weakness.++ As long as there are no sanctions, …More
His presidency coming to an end, Bush becomes obsessed with his legacy and solving the issue of nuclear Iran is foremost in his mind. ++ If he decides to support Israel in its possible attack on Iran, the economic and political …More
Fabian Martin Lieschke: Iran’s nuclear strategy – one that allows it to buy time and improve its negotiating position – seems to be working. The US policy shift has come too late - Iran has already wrapped Germany, Russia and China around its little finger. The next US President will be faced with a tough choice. …More
Finn E. Kydland: Six Nobel Peace Prize laureates asked themselves what the most effective way would be to spend $75 billion in order to make the world a better place. The ranking list they developed gives very different answers than those policymakers usually do. …More
For those who live in hunger, long-term solutions cannot come fast enough. ++ The US, donor of half of the world’s food aid, is highly criticized for its unique practice of monetization that disrupts commercial markets and can cause, albeit temporarily, …More
The Doha round was constructed on the myth that a negotiating agenda focused on agriculture would make it a “development round” and could help reduce global poverty. ++ But the underlying assumption that the trade regime can only legitimize itself by …More
In times of elections, it becomes obvious that both the right and the left promise the same thing which is economic growth. ++ However, the growth strategies and the ideas about the role of the state differ from each other. ++ The right-wing assumption …More
For those who live in hunger, long-term solutions cannot come fast enough. ++ The US, donor of half of the world’s food aid, is highly criticized for its unique practice of monetization that disrupts commercial markets and can cause, albeit temporarily, …More
The financially emerging world cannot be ignored by rich nations in economic negotiations. ++ Because emerging nations play an increasingly large role in world consumption and growth, the G7/G8 is not the appropriate forum for …More
Finn E. Kydland: Six Nobel Peace Prize laureates asked themselves what the most effective way would be to spend $75 billion in order to make the world a better place. The ranking list they developed gives very different answers than those policymakers usually do. …More
Heinrich Bonnenberg: The need to reduce CO2 emissions, manage price increases, and deal with resource shortages is causing the energy economy to change. Electricity should eventually replace oil and gas. Nuclear power will have to play an increasingly important role in the new electricity economy. …More
Scientists who challenge the mainstream theory of global warming and claim that the increase in global temperatures is not caused by greenhouse gas emissions struggle to attain funding and publish their findings. ++ Mankind’s …More
|