July 15, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Just as we have a right to clean drinking water, we have a right to unobstructed access to information. This should be the aim of any regime of national cyber-security, not the application, or projection, of centuries old military force doctrine to the world of digital information and communication. In the atmosphere of true hyper-convergence, the web beyond Facebook and gMail, the integrated freedom of the individual depends on the integrated civil liberty of the world wide web.
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February 13, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Jody Williams believes that peace is defined by human (not national) security and that it must be achieved through sustainable development, environmental justice, and meeting people’s basic needs. To this end, she co-founded the Nobel Women’s Initiative, endorsed by six of seven living female Peace laureates. She chairs the effort to support activists, researchers, and others working toward peace, justice, and equality for women and thus humanity. Williams also continues to fight for the total global eradication of landmines.
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January 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Today, the Russian parliament officially finalized ratification of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The ratification, following the December vote in the US Senate, brings the new treaty officially into effect. Bilateral nuclear disarmament is now moving forward, with historic reductions and new provisions to allow for cooperation and verification, and the securing of technologies that could fall through the cracks if not carefully supervised.
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January 19, 2011 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
China’s president Hu Jintao is visiting the United States and will be the focus of several state-level functions, including a full state dinner and a special luncheon hosted by the vice president, Joe Biden. In the face of US demands that China remove rate controls and allow its currency to appreciate, Pres. Hu has said the yuan should be thought of as the world’s currency standard, with other currencies priced against its value.
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December 22, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
One of Pres. Obama’s signature initiatives, announced upon taking office, in an historic address to over 100,000 people in Prague, is moving the international community toward a “world without nuclear weapons”. Despite rising tensions with an increasingly authoritarian Russian Federation, under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, Obama negotiated a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Putin’s younger successor, Pres. Dmitry Medvedev.
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November 9, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Over the past three days, my wife Michelle and I have experienced the — and dynamism of India and its people — from the majesty of Humayun’s Tomb to the advanced technologies that are empowering farmers and women who are the backbone of Indian society; from the Diwali celebrations with schoolchildren to the innovators who are fueling India’s economic rise; from the university students who will chart India’s future, to you —-leaders who helped to bring India to this moment of extraordinary promise.
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July 5, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Sustainable security is a paradigm shift in foreign policy, economic and defense planning: it entails considering that not only diplomatic relations and military preparedness or alliances, but the full spectrum of connections between our society and the world abroad, determine the degree to which our future security and prosperity can be reasonably guaranteed.
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April 18, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama’s nuclear diplomacy has already defined one of the most successful periods of progress toward collaboration on international peace and security since the Second World War. His Nuclear Security Summit, hosted this month in Washington, DC, helped further the goal of steering the world toward a moment in which nuclear proliferation is more science fiction than an immediate threat.
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April 13, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
[T]oday is an opportunity — not simply to talk, but to act. Not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress on the security of our people. All this, in turn, requires something else, which is something more fundamental. It will require a new mindset — that we summon the will, as nations and as partners, to do what this moment in history demands. I believe strongly that the problems of the 21st century cannot be solved by any one nation acting in isolation. They must be solved by all of us coming together.
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April 10, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (StART) is a major accomplishment for US foreign policy, helping to move the world toward a future without nuclear weapons. The signing caps a year of bold, imaginative diplomacy, kicked off with an historic speech in Prague, in which he declared “clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
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February 12, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC / DR Congo) has claimed an estimated 6.9 million lives since 1998. The International Rescue Committee has estimated, through a peer-reviewed study, that an average of 45,000 people are dying every month as a result of the ongoing conflict in the eastern DRC. This makes the Congo war by far the deadliest war since World War II, though there is shockingly little energy in the international community to act to stop it.
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January 1, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, we find ourselves part of a global human civilization undergoing major change at an unprecedented rate, and how we adjust to those changes will determine what quality of life and how much real democracy there is, even who lives and who dies, across the global village. For decades, postmodern philosophical theory has examined the problem of atomization of the fabric of human society, but new trends suggest there is concurrent with spreading individualism a swell of interdependence among individuals, communities and nation-states.
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December 19, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
When Pres. Obama and Pres. Medvedev meet, their agenda will reach beyond carbon emissions and climate change negotiations, however.They are expected to discuss ongoing negotiations on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty. US and Russian negotiations have been meeting in Geneva, holding talks described as “intense”, in the interests of mutual nuclear disarmament. The plan will be a second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (StART 2), aimed at moving the world closer to Pres. Obama’s vision of “a world without nuclear weapons”.
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November 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Washington, DC, for the first official state visit of Pres. Barack Obama’s presidency. PM Singh was chosen by the Obama administration for the occasion in order to highlight the complex strategic partnership the US enjoys with India and to build a closer alliance on a range of issues. The bookish economist-turned popular PM is said to have a close working relationship with the legal scholar-turned popular president. Singh praised Obama for “the breadth of his global vision for peace and prosperity”.
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November 21, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
From WhiteHouse.gov: “In an address recorded in Seoul, South Korea, the President discusses his trip to Asia. He talks about his push to stop nuclear proliferation in North Korea, Iran, and around the world. He talks about promoting America’s principles for an open society in China while making progress on joint efforts to combat climate change. And talks in-depth about the primary objective of his trip: engaging in new markets that hold tremendous potential to spur job creation here at home.”
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November 18, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama has reportedly secured Chinese president Hu Jintao’s pledge of cooperation on global economic recovery, efforts to curb emissions and combat climate destabilization, and nuclear non-proliferation, both in Iran and North Korea. The pledge of cooperation came despite Obama’s demand that China honor the “universal” human rights of its people, alongside differences over how strongly to pressure Iran to guarantee its nuclear pursuits are legal and peaceful in nature.
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November 11, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
Lebanon has formed a new government of “national accord”, which will include majority leader and prime minister designate Saad Hariri and also representatives of Hezbollah, the militia group seen as a terrorist threat by Israel, and which was the target of an Israeli bombing campaign in 2006. The UN Security Council congratulated Lebanon on moving forward with national unity and wished the new government well.
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October 9, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
Pres. Barack Obama, in office just under 9 months, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The award announcement has sent a ripple through world opinion, as critics and supporters clash over whether the award is premature, or whether Obama’s collaborative diplomatic method has achieved important gains for world peace. The prize could signal an endorsement of Obama’s work on comprehensive nuclear disarmament or on achieving climate consensus this fall, or it could be oriented toward affirming the gains made in international cooperation.
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September 27, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Iran’s precarious ruling power bloc, centered around Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i and Pres. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, continues to use detention as a means of silencing the opposition. The Green Path of Hope movement started by Ahmedinejad presidential rival, the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, has continued to stage protests and demands the release of leading politicians being held for protesting the legitimacy of the 12 June election.
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September 26, 2009 :: Mirya Dunaeva :: Comments Off
The government of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has been hard to characterize, seeming one day to be a mouthpiece for the bellicose policies of his predecessor, now PM, Vladimir Putin, and another day to be the first Russian leader ever to express interest in a uniform standard of global governance and cooperation, rooted in democratic principles. Now, Mr. Medvedev’s political stock has gained, as ongoing nuclear negotiations with the US, at Pres. Obama’s urging, have resulted in a unanimous Security Council counter-proliferation vote.
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September 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
Queen Noor, of Jordan, spoke last night to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell about the growing movement among world leaders to rid the world of nuclear weapons. She said a major sign of hope is the support expressed by Presidents Obama (US), Medvedev (Russia) and Hu (China), for a global effort to eliminate nuclear weapons altogether. Today, Pres. Obama achieved an historic Security Council resolution to reduce the global nuclear threat.
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September 22, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The UN General Assembly, which brings together every head of government in the world, to offer their country’s position on issues, their country’s demands regarding trade and conflict negotiations, their country’s hopes for a more harmonious world, this year truly grapples with issues of global consensus. Economic recovery, for many parts of the world, will require an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights and sustained attention to responsible environmental stewardship.
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August 13, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Pres. Barack Obama yesterday hosted 16 new Medal of Freedom recipients at the White House, honoring their lifelong contributions to the expansion of human understanding and the promotion of individual liberty and human dignity. Among the recipients were scientists and activists, soldiers and political leaders, preachers and athletes, native Americans, African Americans, Latin Americans, Africans and Asians. The 16 laureates exemplify not only rare talent and indomitable spirit, but also a devotion to human dignity and understanding.
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July 19, 2009 :: staff :: 7 Comments
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is back on the world stage, making a major visit to India, to discuss strategic issues, energy, diplomacy and counter-terrorism. She used her arrival to warn India not to make the same mistakes the US has made in delaying action to reduce emissions and combat climate change. She suggested “a great country like India” has the resources and ingenuity to avoid falling into the same traps of political inaction.
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July 9, 2009 :: Evelyn Winston Perez :: 3 Comments
Niger is the third leading source of uranium in the world, after Canada and Australia. Uranium accounts for as much as 70% of Niger’s export revenue. Pres. Mamadou Tandja ordered a referendum be held to amend the constitution, permitting him to remain in office. That order was overturned by the nation’s constitutional court, which Tandja subsequently dissolved, replacing the justices with jurists he believed would be more favorable to his interests.
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July 8, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
When Pres. Barack Obama met with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, the tone was optimistic, visionary, encouraging: the heads of state of the two former Cold War enemies were agreeing to historic legally binding reductions in their respective nuclear arsenals, and shifting their vocabulary toward something more akin to a consensus position on defensive weapons innovations, namely a missile shield.
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July 6, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Pres. Obama has arrived in Moscow to negotiate with Russian leaders a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (StART). He faces a complex process of navigating the politics of a nuclear superpower with two leaders. Some expect Obama to work with Pres. Medvedev, keeping PM Vladimir Putin more to the sidelines, or to proffer an arms control center-ground, rooted in pragmatism, which neither of Russia’s political leaders could walk away from.
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July 5, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
Barack Obama has been observing, researching and critiquing nuclear weapons policy for three decades. He seeks to put in motion the most ambitious global denuclearization effort ever conceived, grounding his approach in a hard pragmatist awareness of what drives the build-up of ever more destructive weapons arsenals. He has said throughout this year that his plans would never remove the US nuclear deterrent capability while any nuclear threat remains in the world. Now, he goes to Russia to seek a bilateral strategic arms reduction treaty.
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June 8, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
California-based Korean-American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea for “grave crimes” allegedly stemming from their filming video across the North Korean border, from Chinese soil. Reports suggest the two women were abducted by North Korean border guards, who crossed into Chinese territory to seize the journalists in a military raid, while the two women were reporting for Current TV.
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May 27, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
According to reports emerging from the Korean peninsula, the North Korean regime has over the course of two days tested a nuclear device, fired five missiles and declared that it is no longer bound by the peace treaty that ended the Korean war. In the US, FOX News Channel has already reported that Pyongyang has declared war on the United States and South Korea. The White House says it is aware of the threat, but that the current array of hostile acts is “bluff and bluster”.
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May 26, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The isolated Communist regime of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has reportedly tested a nuclear device, raising fears its posturing could escalate or that the outcome of failed negotiations could be an attack on South Korea, US interests or other allies. Later in the day, it was reported North Korea had also launched at least 3 missiles, possibly capable of intercontinental range.
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May 15, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
New reports from Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) suggest as many as 1 million people may have fled their homes to escape fighting between Taliban insurgents and government military forces. The Pakistani military lifted a curfew in the town of Mingora, in the Swat Valley, for 8 hours to allow civilians to evacuate, in advance of what it says will be a total assault against all militant positions there.
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May 8, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Newt Gingrich is trying to reinvent, or rehabilitate, himself. And he’s doing it by trying to whip up reflexive anger across his party’s base. Without citing one single point of Pres. Obama’s policy or one single piece of historical evidence, he has classed Obama’s call for a world free of nuclear weapons as “a dangerous fantasy”. He is situating himself firmly in the camp of make-believe “values conservatives” whose world view is actually an adolescent reading of Machiavelli (and a fantasy already proven to be dangerous).
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May 5, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
Pakistan’s military is stepping up its offensive against Taliban militia factions in the Northwest Frontier Province. The government has reported daily tallies of dozens of militants killed in fighting in the Buner district. Yesterday, it accused the Taliban of using over 2,000 civilians as “human shields” to prevent a military action against militants. Today, there were reports from the BBC about “helicopter gunships” being used in the assault against militia positions.
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April 29, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office have been a flurry of major reforms and of global political and economic strategy. He took the oath of office on 20 January 2009 with the worst recession in 70 years setting in, major banks on the verge of insolvency, record numbers of home foreclosures, two wars in Asia, an increasingly hostile Russia and a predecessor’s policy of using torture to “enhance” interrogations. Not only has he moved forward on the economy, healthcare, security, and energy; he has reformed the entire American diplomatic paradigm, moving toward a “smart power” based on 3d vision: diplomacy, development, defense.
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April 24, 2009 :: Riga Listin :: One Comment
North Korea is proceeding with a trial against two Korean-American journalists from California, despite witnesses claiming they were detained when North Korean border guards entered Chinese territory to seize them while their cameras were rolling. The trial will be held behind closed doors, and foreign governments have expressed concern the process will not allow the journalists a fair hearing or even a defense.
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April 23, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: 2 Comments
With an Afghan-Pakistani hybrid Taliban taking hold of significant areas inside Pakistan, the nuclear-armed nation has become a grave security risk to the rest of the region and the world. After signing a deal with Pakistan’s government to take control of the Swat Valley and impose a brutal distortion of shari’a law, the Taliban almost immediately launched attacks deeper into Pakistan, taking control of parts of the Buner district.
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April 23, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
David Frum likes to think he knows what he’s talking about, but here’s the main reason he so often does not: he tends to link ideological assumptions with cynical bad-faith arguments about geo-politics. He mixes willing naïveté with the radical pretense of cynical omniscience. Frum would have us commit to the dangerous gamble that is selective non-proliferation, because he can’t think a better way.
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April 22, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
Because there’s something in it for everybody. The current global nuclear weapons-control regime operates on a dangerously untenable false premise: that only ‘responsible’ nations can or should be allowed to make and maintain arsenals of nuclear warheads. At first blush, it may seem highly rational: only those who will behave responsibly should have the most dangerous weapons; but, then, upon further examination, who is qualified to make that judgment?
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April 21, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: 2 Comments
After just over two weeks of sporadic fighting in the Buner district of Pakistan, between the Swat Valley —now under shari’a law and run by the Taliban— and the nation’s capital, Taliban fighters have reportedly forced the local government to flee. This leaves them within 100 km of the capital, Islamabad, where the insurgents may seek to claim control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
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April 21, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
Today comes the news that the Taliban have taken more territory in Pakistan’s Buner district, just 100 km from the capital Islamabad. The shockingly weak government of Pres. Zardari has already ceded the Swat Valley to the Taliban, allowing harsh shari’a law to be imposed. The local government has been forced out of Buner, and the area is becoming a stronghold. If the Taliban reach Islamabad, they may be able to seize control of the one of the world’s 9 known arsenals of nuclear weapons.
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April 18, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
En la Cumbre de las Américas, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, ha proclamado su intención de llevar a cabo un nuevo programa diplomático en las Américas, buscando colaboración y apertura. Había establecido esta semana en México su apoyo al tratado interamericano contra el tráfico de armas, prometiendo impulsar al Senado a actuar para ratificarlo.
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April 10, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
In an effort to address the ongoing diplomatic crisis related to Iran’s refusal to follow certain UN mandates to cease nuclear research processes, 6 powers, including the United States, have invited Tehran to talks on how best to achieve a state of affairs acceptable to all parties and which does not allow Iran to expand the group of nuclear-armed nations. The move comes on the heels of US pres. Barack Obama’s announcement in Europe that he will initiate a program aimed at directing international treaties toward the ultimate elimination of all nuclear weapons.
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April 8, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
President Barack Obama, during a speech in Prague, announced his intention to embark upon the framing of a new global effort to eliminate all of the world’s nuclear weapons, admitting the goal may not be achieved for decades. The US president told his audience that the deadliest weapons known to humanity must be considered contrary to peace and stability by all humankind, and should be responsibly phased out by those powers that have them.
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April 5, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
When I was born, the world was divided, and our nations were faced with very different circumstances. Few people would have predicted that someone like me would one day become the President of the United States. (Applause.) Few people would have predicted that an American President would one day be permitted to speak to an audience like this in Prague. (Applause.) Few would have imagined that the Czech Republic would become a free nation, a member of NATO, a leader of a united Europe. Those ideas would have been dismissed as dreams.
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April 1, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: One Comment
In a gesture of cooperation toward the United States, and in answer to a call for regional assistance, Iran has offered its help in combating the spreading drug trade in Afghanistan. The offer has not been formalized by a diplomatic meeting or by policy-specific talks, but may be a signal that some negotiations could be begun between the two states. The US government insists that Iran halt any activities that could be part of a weaponization program for nuclear materials.
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March 15, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: 2 Comments
The web of interests concentrated in the National Rifle Association and which spends millions of dollars to lobby against gun control legislation in Congress may be inadvertently aiding in the reign of terror being waged by drug cartels in northern Mexico. Recent reports suggest as much as 90% of the weapons used by the cartels come from north of the border.
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March 2, 2009 :: Riga Listin :: Comments Off
The United States and the Russian Federation are reportedly planning lengthy and in-depth discussions in Geneva, starting Friday, to improve relations and strengthen bilateral efforts in a number of areas. Security in Europe, the Middle East and the far East will all be on the agenda, as will nuclear non-proliferation and negotiation with Iran to halt its nuclear program.
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March 2, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Insurance giant AIG to receive its 4th rescue package from the US government, after announcing quarterly losses exceeding $60 billion. The firm has received $150 billion in financial rescue to date. The president of Guinea Bissau has been assassinated. The small western African nation, among the world’s poorest, has a turbulent history of military coups [...]
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February 12, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
Israel wants to stop Hamas from smuggling weapons through black-market tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border. Yet the tunnels are maintained by the desperate demand for all sorts of goods and services not available to the residents of Gaza, due in large part to Israel’s crushing blockade of the territory. Israel should establish official avenues for the delivery of all fuel, foodstuffs, medicines and other goods and services Gaza needs to function normally, in order to remove the incentive for smugglers to build the black-market tunnels.
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