Trade battles

Trade battles

By Jonathan Power Januar 2, 2020 In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, Sherlock Holmes lectures Watson on the unlikely subject of free trade. Holmes: “Capital article this on free trade. Permit me to read you an extract from The Times: ‘You may be cajoled into imagining that your own special trade […]

Climate Action, Gandhian Ways

Climate Action, Gandhian Ways

By David Cortright December 11, 2019 Last month I was invited by the Indian Permanent Mission to the United Nations to give a presentation on the International Day of Nonviolence, which was also the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth. Below is the full text of my remarks, which were delivered at the United Nations headquarters in […]

Declining protection of human rights – expectations of the future world?

Declining protection of human rights – expectations of the future world?

Richard Falk November 13, 2019 The Future of Human Rights: Regressive Trends and Restorative Prospects Points of Departure Reviewing the global situation, the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zaed Raad Al Hussein of Jordan, opened a 2018 conference devoted to the 25th anniversary of the 1993 UN Conference on Human Rights and Development held […]

‘You can never be China’s friend’: Spengler

‘You can never be China’s friend’: Spengler

Photo: Jan Oberg 2018 Asia specialist and distinguished columnist David P Goldman is convinced the US and Europe stand a chance against the Red Dragon – but the clock is ticking By Urs Gehriger, New York He was a phantom among journalists, using the mysterious nom de plume, “Spengler.” Like his German philosopher namesake, the […]

Revisiting the Earth Charter

Revisiting the Earth Charter

By Richard Falk October 13, 2019 Prefatory Note: The following essay will appear as a chapter in Peter Burden & Klaus Bosselmann, eds., The Future of Global Ethics (Edward Elgar, 2018),  with the title: Revisiting the Earth Charter 20 Years Later: A Response to Ron Engel Ron Engel has articulated an insider review of the Earth […]

Iran reinforces partnership with China for economic relief

Iran reinforces partnership with China for economic relief

By Sabena Siddiqui September 20, 2019 Facing an economic crisis in large part due to US sanctions, Iran soon may be aligning its policies toward China’s. Having recently updated the terms of a 25-year strategic partnership signed with Beijing in 2016, it looks like Tehran is indeed returning to its Look East foreign policy. Originally posted on […]

Burning Amazonia, denying climate change, devastating Syria, starving Yemen, and ignoring Kashmir

Burning Amazonia, denying climate change, devastating Syria, starving Yemen, and ignoring Kashmir

By Richard Falk September 12, 2019 The World Order Backdrop Arguably, even before the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, there was a widespread sense that a state-centric form of world order was morally and functionally deficient in certain fundamental respects. Political actors were indifferent to the outbreaks of war, disease, and famine outside of […]

Lives in economics – they can help us today

Lives in economics – they can help us today

By Johns Scales Avery August 19, 2019 I would like to announce the publication of a book describing the lives of some of the people who have contributed importantly to economic thought. Their lives can help us today, as the world faces a crisis that has profound economic dimensions. Here is the table of content […]

Money, media and the climate crisis

By John Scales Avery June 4, 2019 Immediate action is needed to save the future The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales. In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most disastrous effects of climate change, we need […]