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Preparing for disaster

Preparing for disaster

Humans are fearful. We grapple with our mortality, unable to imagine the planet without us, but optimistic that we will prevail. Our anxiety has been reflected in popular culture for eons, from the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2000 BC, to The Walking Dead. Our fears rise as the century wanes and the new one begins. […]

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Iran’s new ‘hard war’ stance

| August 2, 2020 | 0 Comments
Iran’s new ‘hard war’ stance

Iran’s experience in the years-long Iran-Iraq War had a profound impact on its threat perceptions, national security strategy and doctrine regarding the use of force. The Iran-Iraq war, which took place between 1980 and 1988, by conservative Western estimates killed 367,000 people, 262,000 of whom are believed to have been Iranian. Officially, Iranian estimates put […]

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China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic

| August 2, 2020 | 0 Comments
China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic

China has come under scrutiny for its handling of the pandemic that began to tighten its now-worldwide grip in January. Joe Varner investigated what has been reported in independent media and what the Chinese government has stated on wide-ranging aspects of the pandemic. At publication time, we are still emerging from almost four months of […]

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Anti-corruption rallies on the rise

Anti-corruption rallies on the rise

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index keeps track of the issue worldwide. We offer excerpts from the report: The Corruption Perceptions Index 2019 reveals a staggering number of countries are showing little to no improvement in tackling corruption. Our analysis also suggests that reducing big money in politics and promoting inclusive political decision-making are essential to […]

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Transparency International’s corruption report

Transparency International’s corruption report

Corruption Perceptions Index

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Wanted: An anti-corruption court

| April 3, 2020 | 0 Comments
Wanted: An anti-corruption court

Kleptocracy destroys countries from within. Kleptocrats turn sometime democracies into criminal states that plunder national resources and national patrimonies, depriving citizens of their rights, their tax revenues and their ability to determine policy priorities. A cacophony of African states — Angola, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, South Africa, […]

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The dynamic Russia-China duo: Russia and China are actively working to subvert NATO security in an era of political war.

| April 3, 2020 | 0 Comments
The dynamic Russia-China duo: Russia and China are actively working to subvert NATO security in an era of political war.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization turned 70 in 2019 and continues to be the world’s most successful military-political alliance, if not the only one. In good news last year, NATO defence spending was up and NATO countries were working to re-arm and improve lagging readiness. But its 70th anniversary was not without its share of […]

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Scarce resources: Wolfgang Depner investigates the world’s Top-10 scarcest resources and why they matter to humanity.

| April 3, 2020 | 0 Comments
Scarce resources: Wolfgang Depner investigates the world’s Top-10 scarcest resources and why they matter to humanity.

Concerns about the causes and consequences of scarce natural resources have a long and rich history that stretches through classical Greek thought, with Plato and Aristotle; medieval Christian theology, with St. Thomas of Aquinas; all the way to the European Enlightenment, with Adam Smith. The debate has since broadly ranged between two large opposing intellectual camps: […]

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Cities must act now

Cities must act now

When it comes to infectious disease outbreaks, cities are dual-edged. To be sure, cities are a big part of the problem. They intensify the spread and transmission of infectious disease through increased human contact. Today, roughly four billion people live in cities, more than half of the world’s population. According to some analysts, approximately 600 cities generate […]

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A global pandemic’s ancillary risks

| April 3, 2020 | 0 Comments
A global pandemic’s ancillary risks

The virus that causes COVID-19 has spread like wildfire across the globe. The economic impact is already dramatic: Historic declines in stock markets and major impacts for industries, education and local health districts. Among the hardest hit are airlines and energy companies. “The global coronavirus outbreak has been and will continue to be a massive […]

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