Earth & Environment / Globalization & Global Culture / Politics & International Relations / Sustainable Development / War & Terrorism / World
Climate War
Britain’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) warned last month that fears about stability — once hidden by smoke from the debate over the scientific evidence for global warming — are bound to rise to the top of the agenda. “The security dimension will come increasingly to the forefront as countries begin to see falls...
What the world needs now
In the early 1890s, Mahatma Gandhi worked as a lawyer in South Africa. One day, while travelling in a first-class train compartment on business, he was ordered to move to third class, which was designated for non-whites. Gandhi refused, producing his valid first-class ticket as evidence of his right to stay. At the next stop,...
Number of conflicts no longer declining
The trend toward fewer conflicts reported by peace researchers since the early 1990s now seems to have been broken. This is shown in the latest annual report “States in Armed Conflict,†from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program at the Uppsala University Department of Peace and Conflict Research. The findings worry the researchers. The Middle East...
No more charity, please!
Charity is in. Bill Clinton has written a bestseller about it and rock stars are organizing concerts. But Moniek Zegers, co-founder of the recently launched Dutch Comité tegen Goede Doelen Gekte (“Committee against good-cause lunacy”) says we shouldn’t be giving more but taking less. Read more in Ode Magazine… Global Info (in Dutch) published a...
The Booming South – and the Good News…
A recent article in Newsweek comes with an unexpeted story: despite the economic gloom, a looming credit crisis, failing holiday shoppings in Great Britain and the US, the numbers tell us something other about most developing countries outside western Europe and the US. On the contrary: the future looks actually quite bright, when 98% of...
Actuality / Articles by Christopher Baan / Earth & Environment / Globalization & Global Culture / Politics & International Relations / Society / Sustainable Development / War & Terrorism / World
The Big Challenge
Currently, I’m working on an article where I try to identify the big challenges of our time, as they become more and more visibible last years and politicians seem to be more and more upset with them. Main inspirational source is Chris Abbott’s article and book ‘Beyond terrorism: towards sustainable security‘ at OpenDemocacry.org. In the...
The Seemingly Impossible is Possible
Hans Roslings presentation at the TED-conference in 2006 has been seen by around 500.000 people over the internet, at TED‘s web-page , at Google Video or Youtube. This year, 2007, Hans Roslings TED-speach focused on making the seemingly impossible, possible. Prof. Hans Rosling uses software from Gapminder debunks a few myths about the “developing” world....
Farewell to Development’s Old Divides
By James D. Wolfensohn NEW YORK — The notion of a divide between the rich north and the poor and developing south has long been a central concept among economists and policymakers. From 1950 to 1980, the north accounted for almost 80% of global GDP but only 22% of its population, and the south accounted...
World AIDS Day 2007
1 DECEMBER 2007 – Marking the 20th annual World AIDS Day, top United Nations officials have called for renewed leadership to tackle the global HIV and AIDS epidemic which has already claimed over 25 million lives worldwide. Read more on he UN news website or on the World AIDS day website. Related items HOME: It’s...
Developing Countries / Earth & Environment / Globalization & Global Culture / Politics & International Relations / Sustainable Development / World
Environment and (under)development are strongly enmeshed, says HDR 2007
This week the UNDP released its Human Development Report in BrasÃlia. It shows how two of the world’s biggest problems, which can eventually evolve into catastrophes, are actually deeply enmeshed in each other and that they need an integrated political approach. Brasilia, 27 November 2007—With governments preparing to gather in Bali, Indonesia to discuss the...
Turn Good Into Gold
As part of their Lustrum Week, the Rotterdam STAR Study Association, organized a splashy conference at the Erasmus University, with prominent speakers giving their view on socially responsible entrepreneurship, and how to make profit out of ‘good things’. Among the speakers, were: Wouter Bos (Dutch Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Finance); Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish (Founder...
