Category Archives: Conflict & peace

Whither Peace?

Posted on September 21, 2016 | 2 comments

Today is the UN International Day of Peace and it comes at a time when many people seem to feel peace is taking a horrible worldwide kicking. Is it so bad? Continue reading →

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Syria – myth and argument about non-intervention

Posted on September 7, 2016 | 3 comments

Last week an article in the Washington Post stirred what seemed like quite a Twitter buzz, lamenting the effects of “the disastrous nonintervention in Syria“. The article is angry and vivid about the misery and destruction wrought by war in Syria. It blames the war’s continuation largely on the US deciding not to intervene in the war. It is an argument that could become influential so it’s worth examining. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, The Middle East, Uncategorized

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European security. Crisis? What crisis?

Posted on February 18, 2016 | 1 comment

The tone of this year’s Munich Security Conference – the Davos of global security – was captured by the Munich Security Report’s theme: ‘Boundless chaos, reckless spoilers, helpless guardians.’ The front page headline on The Security Times, a conference special edition from the stable of Die Zeit, featured a box of matches and urged an appropriate response: ‘Don’t do stupid stuff.’ Continue reading →

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Syria: Geneva III, the nettle of negotiation (again), and ISIS (again)

Posted on January 28, 2016 | Leave a comment

Two years ago, the Geneva II talks on Syria took place. As they began, their prospects could be optimistically viewed as “virtually zero“. On Friday 29 January, Geneva III talks are due to begin and prospects do not look much better. That doesn’t mean they are a waste of time. Continue reading →

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From the War on Terror to war on ISIS

Posted on December 15, 2015 | 5 comments

French reaction to the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and injured over 300 has turned the War on Terror into a war on ISIS. France has stepped up its bombing raids on ISIS, aiming, President François Hollande has said, to ‘destroy’ the organisation. Alongside these quickly decided military measures, other kinds of response have received much less attention. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, The Middle East

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The Tunisian Spring and the Nobel Peace Prize

Posted on October 13, 2015 | 2 comments

The ‘Arab Spring’ was triggered by the self-sacrifice of a Tunisian. Four years later Tunisia is the only country where the Spring’s early promise persists and, despite extreme pressures and many risks, political change is unfolding relatively peacefully. The new Nobel laureates, the National Dialogue Quartet, are an important part of the reason why. Here is some of the background. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, Middle East & North Africa

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Syria: grasping the nettle of negotiation

Posted on October 6, 2015 | 3 comments

Russia’s military intervention in Syria brings a dramatic new dimension to a protracted, brutal conflict. The war will go on, however, and nothing so far suggests it will end any time soon with victory for one side or another. If peace is to come about other than through exhaustion, then, it can only be by agreement. And that means everybody grasping the nettle of negotiation. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, Middle East & North Africa

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