In The News

Ebola Crisis: Council on Foreign Relations

Claire Felter June 20, 2019
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo officially started in August of 2018, in the northeastern regions of the country bordering Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan. Claiming more than 1,300 deaths, with cases doubling in the past three months, the Ebola crisis is escalating but remains second place to the 2014-2016 outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people. The World Health...

Rohingya Crisis and Ambivalence: South Asia Journal

Kalam Shahed May 19, 2019
The United Nations labeled persecution of Rohingya people in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing. More than 3 million Rohingya fled with one-third living in makeshift, isolated camps along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, and two-thirds living throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Myanmar’s nationalism and hatred for the minority has not subdued. “While there has been a considerable Western outcry...

1 Million Species at Risk: National Geographic

Stephen Leahy May 6, 2019
Humans, their growing numbers and development, are overwhelming the world’s other 8.5 million species. “Without a global societal transformation that focuses on protecting nature, one million species may be pushed to extinction by human activities in the coming years – with serious consequences for human beings and the rest of life on Earth – according to a landmark United Nations report on the...

Africa Drawdown: International Policy Digest

Steven Leach March 5, 2019
The United States is planning to reduce its forces stationed in Africa. The poorest nations in Africa are vulnerable to extremist ideologies due to poverty and poor governance. “It is no accident that al Shabaab evolved in a defunct Somali state (in some ways it is shocking that it did not happen sooner), that al Qaeda found a safe haven in rural Afghanistan, that Boko Haram resides on the...

Wall Street Journal: Russia and North Korea Ties

Anatoly Kurmanaev and Thomas Grove February 3, 2019
Despite the Russian government’s support for the UN economic sanctions against North Korea in 2017, some Russian business owners, along with ethnic Koreans living in the Far East, are speaking out in opposition to the labor and trade freeze. Anatoly Kurmanaev and Thomas Groves report from Sakhalin where ethnic Koreans maintain a strong presence. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, they explain...

Washington Post: Response Needed in Yemen

Missy Ryan January 20, 2019
Aid agencies and the United Nations have put out a warning about the food shortages in Yemen as the civil war rages on. As Missy Ryan for the Washington Post reports, “the civil war is putting more and more civilians on the brink of starvation.” Analysis suggests that 16 million people, more than half Yemen’s population, are regarded as “food insecure.” This announcement comes in the face of...

Foreign Affairs: The Crisis of Peacekeeping

Séverine Autesserre January 14, 2019
More than 100,000 UN blue-helmeted soldiers and civilians are based in 14 nations as peacekeepers to maintain security. “Peacekeepers set out to protect civilians, train police forces, disarm militias, monitor human rights abuses, organize elections, provide emergency relief, rebuild court systems, inspect prisons, and promote gender equality,” explains Séverine Autesserre for Foreign Affairs....