As the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) prepares to hold its summit in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, one phrase is back in focus: the “Shanghai Spirit.” This regional bloc was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, and several Central Asian nations to promote regional security and mutual trust. Today, with 10 member countries that…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly moved from the realm of science fiction to an integral part of our daily lives and to a driving force of technological advancement. Starting from the basic benefits that “smart” digital assistants have offered the previous years, now AI looks like it constitutes the shaping force of the future. The…
Many changes have occurred over the decades since the UN was founded. We need to name these changes, some of which are systemic. For one, many new states were formed through the decolonization process and the collapse of the Soviet Union. They joined the UN, but did they truly subscribe to the spirit of the…
“Fourteen thousand babies could die in the next 48 hours in Gaza.” – United Nations, May 20, 2025 When I read this line, something ruptured deep inside me. Fourteen thousand babies—not numbers, not statistics, but breathing, crying, nursing newborns—are being consigned to death in the very first hours of life. How does one carry that…
The UN, the perma-polycrisis, and our shrinking moral imagination The United Nations, the world’s most ambitious peace project, is once again on the brink of running out of money. But this time, it feels different, big time. We’re living through what many now call a perma-polycrisis, a constant layering of political instability and conflicts, economic…
On the morning of 22 April 2025, something inside me broke. In a quiet valley near Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir—a place known for its beauty and serenity—five armed militants opened fire on non-Muslim male tourists. Twenty-six men, on pilgrimage and vacation, were brutally gunned down in front of their families—wives, children, parents—who could do nothing…
Europe is stirring from a long geopolitical slumber. For decades security was outsourced, mainly to Washington. With Donald Trump’s return to the White House and mounting uncertainty over America’s future role in Europe, the time for strategic hesitation has passed. The continent must now take ownership of its security, or risk being caught unprepared in…
All roads lead to Strasbourg On 3 April 2025, fifty university students from Novi Sad in Serbia will set off for Strasbourg on bicycles. Having woken up even the smallest places in Serbia, they are set to wake up European human rights organisations; not because they’ve lost faith in Europe, but precisely because they still…
“A week is a long time in politics,” as former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously remarked. The first two weeks of March 2025 have felt endless, marked by political shifts, surprises, and moments that could shape the future for decades to come. The U.S. initially paused military aid to Ukraine, raising concerns over the…
With all that’s been going on in the world lately, I felt the need to express myself in a manner that is safe, controlled, and organized. While that may sound obvious, it really isn’t, not in the era of ‘fast food’ information that is sweeping the younger generations in which I belong. When it comes…
