The news that NATO is now in charge of peace keeping in Kabul is pitched as good news. However, questions about NATO and its role do not necessarily go away.

“Gandhi recognised that conflict will always be within us. I think we should study his powerful insights to achieve a more equitable social and political structure. The civil rights movement succeeded because the whites realised that racism was wrong and that they, and not the blacks, had to change.”

The Monitor congratulates JK Rowling on her success, compares her to Orwell and Wells and fears that the world needs more than a magic wand.

While most of the world is familiar with Rwandan genocide, fifteen years later the influence of a small band of deniers is growing thanks to the embrace of the deniers' arguments by a small but influential number of left-wing, anti-American journals and websites, cautions Gerald Caplan. This article is cross posted from Pambazuka News

This unprecedented oil rush dwarfs the Western aid, Africa currently relies on and provides a unique opportunity to turn the continent around. However the fear, of many of those who work in promoting sustainable development in Africa, is that this oil bonanza will never benefit the vast majority of Africans, who

Lilia Shevtsova, Putin's Russia, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2003, pp.305

Sri Lanka: a plea for democracy Author: Sie Kathieravealu Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on 01/16/2009 In Sri Lanka, the trouble started due to discrimination and injustice and continues due to bribery and corruption. These may be the reasons for troubles in other countries too. Current wars have

Obama should use the moral support of the Nobel prize to bolster his efforts to eliminate nuclear arms in our time.

Summarizing Iraq Author: Peter Krupa Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on 06/16/2005 Understanding Iraq Author: William R.Polk Publisher: HarperCollins Pages: 221 The subtitle makes some pretty grandiose claims: “The whole sweep of Iraqi history,” it says, “from Genghis Khan’s Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to

Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed , Viking 2005