الزراعة والتنمية الريفية والغابات
Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council
Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council
Year in Review: United Nations Peace Operations
Reports of the Security Council
The war on terror: Separating the (star) fish from the sea
Though hardly a new phenomenon, terrorism has assumed greater political saliency since the events of 9/11. Unfortunately, this greater saliency has not resulted in more effective strategies to counter the terrorist threat, the nature of which is often poorly understood. This essay describes terrorism as a method, then develops a model of what terrorist organizations look like and how they function, focusing on their evolution from hierarchical insurgent groups of the pre 9/11 era to network-like structures of today, such as al-Qaeda. Mao Zedong’s dictum about insurgency says, “The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea. ”Counterinsurgent strategy has often attempted to “drain the sea”- i.e., separate the guerrilla from his support base in the population. By implication, this essay will point out that counterterrorist strategies against contemporary terrorist networks must adapt this drain-the-sea principle to the network model if effective policies are to be developed.
A conversation with history
Freedom From Fear met the leader of Solidarnosc, a few days from the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, marking the end of the Cold War, during his visit in Italy to Torino Spiritualità to talk about 1989: the year that changed the world.
In the spotlight. Energy security
The geopolitical landscape has changed considerably since the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the US maintaining, for the time being, its economic and military superiority. It seems, however, that the world is moving towards a fundamental reshuffle of the global balance of power, with the emergence of actors whose posture will eventually shape a new global order through alliances reflecting different interests from those currently dominating international politics.
The CBRN threat: Past, present and future
In recent years world leaders, news media and experts have warned of the global security threat from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) material and weapons. Last December, a bipartisan U.S. commission cautioned that “unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013.” In parallel with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is interesting to highlight the Cold War origins of many modern-day CBRN challenges. At the same time, this article explores how newer developments have been infusing additional complexity into the global CBRN threat landscape.
From Khmer treasures to Chinese antiquities: The ongoing plunder and trafficking in South East Asia
In June of this year, in a ceremony associated with much pomp and political significance, the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva handed over to Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh a number of Khmer treasures seized by Thai authorities from smugglers in 1999. The treasures included six massive stone heads of the Hindu God Shiva, dating from the 12th Century Angkorian era (Associated Press, 2009).
Wall-less Europe
When the wall came down 20 years ago it was the end of a regime whose cruelty was vividly represented by images of the lengths to which it went to keep its citizens within its borders. Who can forget the images of cars being searched as they exited Checkpoint Charlie; border guards doing their utmost to find even the most ingeniously hidden escapee. How can we not remember the dark inventiveness with which a regime seemed to turn every technological advance against its own citizens? How happy one could feel to be a citizen of the free world: free to travel across our own borders with governments who respected our personal liberty not only in this context.
Gaza: A fence away from freedom
There is a fence around Gaza. It stretches from the north to the south. From a distance, the fence looks innocent; it is not a tall, imposing structure with deep ditches or piercing floodlights. Neither does it appear impenetrable. Yet the fence looks out of place, uncomfortable, dividing land that otherwise flows gently as far as the eye can see. And as everyone in Gaza knows, any seemingly benign features belie the fact that the fence constitutes an absolute – separating people from productive livelihoods, family members, higher education, and, indeed, freedom itself in the form of access to the rest of the world beyond it.
Has the cold war ended?
Few doubt that the fall of the Berlin Wall is the event that closed the Cold War era and brought in the twenty-first century. Like every event in history, this one also has its founding myths.
Youth marginalisation and the burdens of war in Sierra Leone
The transformation of the world system after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 provided a new era of free democratic uncertainties in the lives of the youth population in both West and Eastern Europe. Uncertainties that have never been free or democratic, yet always part of the lives of most youth in Africa. In the case of Sierra Leone, young people have been struggling for a factual democratisation process and participatory governance since its independence in 1961, thus revealing the role the Sierra Leonean youth has been keen to play in the country’s political, social and economic processes.
UN engagement on the rule of law: Helping States substitute right for might
Promoting the rule of law at national and international level is at the very heart of the global mission of the United Nations. The rule of law is fundamental to achieving a durable peace in the aftermath of conflict, to the protection of human rights, and to economic progress and development. The basic concept that drives our work is the principle that everyone – from the ordinary citizen to the State and its leaders – is accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. As a lawyer and a former professor of law, I retain a deep personal interest in this area of UN engagement.
Corruption undermines health care systems: a human rights issue
Counter the financing of terrorism
The financing of terrorism is often difficult to detect because it follows only few fixed patterns. For instance, an investigation into the financial transactions of some high profile terrorists and hijackers showed that most of the individual transactions were not that unusual. The account holders appeared to be foreign students receiving money to fund their studies; in such a way, the transactions then would not be flagged as suspicious transactions needing a special scrutiny by the financial institutions involved.
An analysis of Mexico’s organized crime: Narco-police and the dead women of Juarez
The current situation in Mexico has put the international community on alert due to the increas in crime rates; besides common criminality, bizarre behaviours have developed and are concerning Mexican citizens, their government and foreigners. This situation is out of the country’s control: in the past, attacks, massive kidnappings and homicides, as well as drug trafficking, were seen as isolated cases, but nowadays they have become recurrent and interconnected issues.
Corruption in natural resource management: An introduction
Natural resources often provide fertile ground for corruption. Since a substantial number of partner countries in development cooperation are richly endowed with natural resources, these contexts pose a particular challenge for effective donor action. The risk of corruption cuts across several natural resource sectors, from non-renewable resources such as oil, gas, minerals and metals, to renewable resources such as forests, fisheries and land. There are, however, important variations in the challenges presented by these sectors and the manner in which corruption in relation to them can be addressed.
Foul play: Corruption in football
2006 was a dark year for the Italian football nation. The former management of FC Juventus Turin, one of the most popular teams in the world, was accused of manipulating games with the help of corrupt referees, players and officials. As a consequence, the team had to dismount to the second division and its last two-championship titles 2005 and 2006 were withdrawn. One of the managers was punished to 5 years of occupational ban. In total, 26 officials were accused.