This year’s Olympic games were one for the books. The world watched, enamored, as Simone Biles won gold after gold, as Turkish Yusuf Dikec nonchalantly walked to the stand and fired bullseye after bullseye, as Australian Rachael Gunn did her best interpretation of a kangaroo interpreting the movement of a dying fish. For a few […]
Tag: peace
Snail-Paced “Justice” in Myanmar
One year after Myanmar’s Coup, bullet casings line blood-stained pavements, and the sounds of gunfire, explosions and dampened cries of protest fill the air. In an unprecedented period of civil war, violence in Myanmar has escalated, with intensifying conflict between the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s armed forces) and its opposition armed civilian groups. The conflict has resulted […]
Return of The Troubles? Violence in Northern Ireland Threatens Peace Between Unionists and Republicans
On March 29, several hundred young people primarily identifying as Loyalist, or Irish people with close ties to Great Britain, took to the streets of Belfast, torching vehicles and throwing bricks, fireworks and gasoline bombs at riot police attempting to restore peace. The violence did not end there. Until April 9, the day of Prince […]
The United Nations: Is It As United As We Think?
On October 24, 1945, fifty nation representatives at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco collaborated to create the United Nations. With supporting signatures from China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the United Nations became the global governing force. Following World War II, the world […]
A Precarious Peace: Israeli-Jordanian Relations
The 1994 Israeli-Jordan Peace Treaty ushered in an unprecedented era of diplomatic relations, brokering peace between an Arab nation and Israel in ways previously unimaginable. This peace process has enjoyed longevity into the present day; yet this historical peace was not without unease and will certainly crack under pressure if the United States and Israel […]
The Reformation Conundrum
Why Ayaan Hirsi Ali is wrong. Islam does not need a reformation. The rise of ISIS has created a number of question about the nature of Islam, ranging from the state of the religion today to fundamental theological questions that arise from the justification given by individuals or groups who use the religion of Islam to […]
China’s Growing Role in the Afghanistan Peace Process
Following decades of cautious foreign policy, China is now taking a significant role in helping to secure peace in neighboring Afghanistan. China’s interest in Afghanistan is both economic and political: Afghanistan has abundant untapped natural resources, and China wants a stable Afghan government after U.S. and NATO forces leave. China is also growing more confident […]