Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Intractable?
Finding a compromise solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is usually considered the prerequisite for peace and cooperation in the Caucasus. The analysis of the conflict, however, shows that the mutual mistrust and animosity of Armenians and Azeris presently is so high that even the smallest concession, particularly related to the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, is unacceptable to either side. As long as those attitudes persist, no compromise can be reached. The approach, therefore, has to be reversed. In stead of pressing parties to compromise, peace-building efforts must foster regional cooperation. If a high level of regional economic and security integration in the Caucasus is achieved, the significance of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh will decrease, which in its turn will clear a path for a sustainable peace.
No Arms in Iceland
The author discusses whether Iceland should join the list of 19 countries with no armed forces that includes Grenada, Samoa, Lichtenstein, Mauritius and Costa Rica. The decision may depend with the the potential unemployment problems in Keflavik.
Every Man for Himself: A Personal Account of Academic Repression
UPEACE Professor Victoria Fontan gives a personal and candid account of academic repression in the United States, exposing, as she puts it “how my research, teaching, and writings were repressed by different sources both within and outside my academic institution during the 2003-2004 year, and how this repression led me to expatriate from US academia into an Iraqi university.” This article was first written for an edited volume on academic repression soon to be published by AK Press. Due to legal threats made against AK Press and the book’s editors, the article below had to be re-written in a sanitized format. Still, it was courageously published by Counterpunch on March 16th 2009. To date, no legal action was initiated in reprisal.
Lonely at the World Bank?
Lonely at the World Bank? Author: Simon Stander Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 04/13/2005 Category: Editorial The Europeans conceded unanimously in the end, and Paul Wolfowitz will succeed Wolfensohn as President of the World Bank, with the fight against poverty as his top agenda item. And on the surface there is no […]
Measuring disarmament
Bonn International Center for Conversion, Conversion Survey 2003: Global Disarmament, Demilitarization and Demobilization, Feb 2003, pp. 180ISBN 3-8329-0135-3.
www.bicc.de
The Bonn International Center for Conversion, directed currently by Dr. Peter Croll, was founded in 1994, and, among its many activities associated with disarmament and conversion largely funded by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, it has published the Conversion Survey 2003.
Post-Conflict Macedonia: Peacebuilding With or Without Reconciliation
Biljana Vankovska offers an insight into peace-building and reconciliation in post-Ohrid Macedonia arguing that much more should be invested in the so-called human dimension of the post-conflict recovery.
Shifting Sands: Instability in Undefined Asia
Shifting Sands: Instability in Undefined Asia Author: Strategic Foresight Group Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 04/28/2003 Category: Special Report There are periods in history when the world changes. The Second World War from 1939 to 1945, and the end of Cold War and apartheid from 1989 to 1992 were the last two […]
The Mizrahi-Palestinian Connection, Part II
Scholarly analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has depicted it as a conflict between two homogenous entities, namely Israel and the Palestinians. However, scholars largely ignore the impact of the “inner-Israeli” conflict between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim on the “external” conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Not only are the Mizrahim excluded from the peace process itself, but academics also fail to research the role they play in the conflict, while their occasional public role is that of extremely right-wing “Arab-haters” who prevent the Ashkenazi-dominated “liberal peace camp” from reaching a solution– hence they are portrayed as an obstacle to peace. Part II of a three-part series. Part I
Pawn of pawns: USA, Africa and empire in the 21st century
President Bush’s trip to Africa poses many questions, including the nature of US influence there and elsewhere, the extent to which African states can play off the US against the EU, and the effect on weapons research. Matt Norton in this guest editorial takes a journey through some of the issues.
Peace by Pieces
Mari Fitzduff, Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Process in Northern Ireland, United Nations University Press & INCORE 2002, pp.233 ISBN 92-808-1078-2