Russian Green Deal: Light at the End of the Tunnel?
Russia is a leading carbon emitter and exporter. But change is afoot inside the country.
A Few Magnificent Things That Happened in 2021
Feeling bleak? Well, 2021 wasn’t all bad — here are a few astounding things ordinary people won at home and abroad.
Democratic Progress in Honduras, Setbacks in El Salvador
The last decade saw democratization in El Salvador and brutal repression in Honduras. Suddenly, those trends appear to have reversed.
The “Selling” of Degrowth
Can those who advocate hitting the brakes on economic growth get their message across before it’s too late?
Using Drones for Human Rights Creates More Problems Than It Solves
Issues of territorial sovereignty aside, using drones for human rights surveillance in Syria would never be approved by Russia and China in the UN.
Preventing a Blowout in the Arctic
In September 2011, Vladimir Putin announced a program to begin offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Russian Arctic. Putin is also interested in creating new sea terminals, which he said would rival the Suez and Panama Canals. In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas lay beneath the Arctic Seas. The United States, Canada, Norway, Greenland, and Russia, which make up the Arctic 5, are each interested in tapping these Arctic energy reserves.
Honduras: While Corruption and Repression Mushroom, Justice Rots on the Vine
The United States deserves some of the blame for the human-rights disaster that Honduras has become.
Letter from Okinawa
Dear Mom:
I haven’t written much from Okinawa. I’m sorry about that. I guess maybe you were expecting lots of exciting war stories from your son the Marine. But honestly, the most exciting thing we’ve done is put in a sea wall over by the Torii Beach shoreline and then take it down again when it wasn’t doing its job of controlling erosion.
Moe Ma Kha Plant
That time when they
submerged my head
in water
they did not
not even
one moment
let me
raise it up
to breathe.
Nuclear Pit Boondoggle at Los Alamos Temporarily Scuttled
The postponement of the new plutonium facility at Los Alamos deals a blow to both the U.S. nuclear-weapons program and boondoggles in general.
Adding Fuel to Syria’s Fire
Despite the widespread international denunciation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the government in Damascus continues to crack down hard on the country’s growing domestic opposition. “They are moving in a direction that completely shows that they are absolutely out of touch,” says Yasser Tabbara, the secretary general of the Syrian National Council (SNC), a government opposition group. Other countries in the region have experienced revolutions, but Syria remains in a state of uncertainty. At the UN, China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government’s actions, making a coordinated international response even more difficult.
Angelina Jolie Makes Her Own “Hotel Rwanda” About Bosnia
Complicated historic grievances between groups or inconvenient timing are no justification to fail to act against genocide.
Flow of Jihadists From Syria to Iraq Reversed
Jihadists once flowed from Syria to Iraq. Now the favor is being returned.
Rolling Out the Red Carpet for the Second Coming With Nuclear War
To some evangelicals and fundamentalists, a nuclear holocaust may be God’s will.