System change, not climate change

Climate Change and its Impact on Poorer Communities in Karachi — The Flaws in Urban Infrastructure and What Needs to Change

Brief Analysis By Sara Illahi Panhwer on October 6, 2021 | Reading time 5 min

There is no doubt that climate change today has become one of the many threats to our environment. When probed into the deadly effects of climate change, researchers found several factors that impede the mitigation of greenhouse gas. One factor that is adding to climate change is urban infrastructure. It is measured through empirical data that the materials used in the construction of commercial buildings and houses, such as concrete, cement, steel, asphalt, glass, brick, stone, etc. are single-handedly harming the urban ecosystem.

NATO Secretary General visits Turkey

Locating the Human Rights Discourse and GONGOs Activities in the JDP’s Neo-Ottomanist Quest

In-Depth Analysis By Mehmet Arca Ozcoban on October 2, 2021 | Reading time 23 min

This article identifies how the JDP (AKP) instrumentalizes the human rights discourse and the IHH (Humanitarian Relief Foundation) in its quest for neo-Ottoman hegemony. It also questions how the JDP benefits from constructing consent in the foreign land by IHH economically and politically. The main questions this essay raises are: Why does the JDP need such a relationship with an NGO and how should we refer to it?

German and EU Flag

Germany and the sovereign debt crisis: How Angela Merkel’s initial reluctance towards Greece turned into her support

In-Depth Analysis By Niklas Hintermayer on September 26, 2021 | Reading time 35 min

After 16 years as German Chancellor, Angela Merkel will not stand again in the German federal elections. This means that not only Germany but also the EU is losing one of its most experienced politicians. From the sovereign debt crisis to the migration crisis and the current impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Merkel has most of the time managed to maintain her reputation as a crisis manager. Some 10 years after her “first” crisis, the sovereign debt crisis in the EU, it is time to look at her decisions and especially the handling of Greece: Why did the German government initially resist financial support for Greece but eventually (and reluctantly) agreed to it?

UK Prime Minister Johnson met Australian PM Scott Morrison at G7

The UK’s tilt to the Indo-Pacific: what concrete implications for Australia?

Brief Analysis By Kareem Salem on September 23, 2021 | Reading time 6 min

50 years after the then UK defence secretary Denis Healey announced Britain’s retreat from the Indo-Pacific in 1968, the UK is once again drawn into the geoeconomic and geostrategic challenges of the maritime region. This desire to extend Britain’s strategic horizon was accelerated by the vote to leave the EU in 2016. In particular, the decision to leave the European single market has forced Downing Street to strengthen its trading relationships with partners beyond the EU – a considerable number of which reside in the Indo-Pacific region.

EU-Lebanon Association Council

EU sanctions and Lebanon: Too little, too late

Brief Analysis By Albin Touma on September 15, 2021 | Reading time 5 min

Three years ago in Paris, 50 countries conditioned $11 billion in aid to tackle what is behind Lebanon’s collapse: poor governance. Reforms remain distant and the EU’s plan to sanction elites is too little, too late at a time when Europe should aid Lebanon’s civil society.

Afghan refugees in Iran

Why Taliban takeover of Afghanistan should worry the Western Balkan states

Opinion By Haris Šehović on August 31, 2021 | Reading time 3 min

Even though President Biden’s arguments for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan are legitimate, one could not have expected to have an organized national response from a country in which the process of nation-building is incomplete. The United States cannot ignore terrorist thugs undoing 20 years of progress in the field of women’s rights and civil society. The international community cannot ignore that, as Kabul falls into the hands of the Taliban, Afghanistan may become a hotspot for terror organizations.

NATO Secetary General visits Afghanistan

What does the US withdrawal from Afghanistan mean for NATO?

Brief Analysis By Kareem Salem on August 9, 2021 | Reading time 7 min

By pulling out of Afghanistan, Joe Biden has put an end to 20 years of U.S. troop involvement in Afghanistan and thus to Washington’s “forever war” in the mountainous, landlocked country. This strategic decision leaves the democratically elected government in Kabul struggling to hold on to power. The withdrawal of US and NATO troops is therefore likely to fuel an assortment of security and geostrategic consequences contrary to Euro-Atlantic interests.

NATO meeting with Biden

Will Joe Biden succeed in steering NATO to the Indo-Pacific?

Brief Analysis By Kareem Salem on July 14, 2021 | Reading time 6 min

China’s growing maritime and military assertiveness increasingly threatens American primacy and the stability of the rules-based democratic order in the Indo-Pacific region. The Chinese Communist Party aims to power-project its military capabilities while also advancing its economic and diplomatic relations by spending billions on hard infrastructure projects in the region through China’s grand geopolitical project: the Belt and Road land and sea initiative.

NATO Secretary General visits Turkey

Does Turkey still have a place in NATO?

Brief Analysis By Kareem Salem on July 4, 2021 | Reading time 6 min

Turkey has had a long-standing relationship with Europe and the West. Its integration into the transatlantic alliance in 1952 was perceived as being of strategic importance to Washington, as it covered the south-eastern flank of the alliance’s borders. Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey is pursuing an aggressive foreign policy aimed at challenging the liberal international order, which has considerably alienated Turkey’s Western allies.