Dr Georgios Kostakos is Co-founder and Executive Director of the Brussels-based Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS). He has been a UN staff member, including with the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and field missions for political affairs and human rights. He has also worked with think tanks, academic institutions and as a consultant on global governance and sustainability, peace and resilience.
The 28 February 2026 US-Israel attack on Iran and the subsequent spat between US President Trump and Pope Leo, including the salvo by Vice President Vance on Christian “just war” doctrine, brought back to the fore an ages-old debate about the respective roles of “Church and State” or religious and civic/political authorities. In Western liberal…
Obscured from view by the Iran War and the generalized turmoil it has caused, with Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza and other hotspots also competing for the limelight, a major step is about to be taken for humanity’s future. The Artemis Program of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is about to launch its first…
Some positive signs… After years of poor performance bordering on irrelevance vis-à-vis many of the challenges facing the world, especially in the peace and security field, the United Nations has recently been getting a boost to its standing, from expected and unexpected places. No surprise that small and middle powers of the South and the…
Greenland has long been perceived as a remote and tranquil part of the world, a place where geopolitical storms rarely reach. Yet recent years have shown that even the Arctic’s icy expanses are not insulated from the ambitions of powerful states. The public assertions by President Trump that to the US should acquire Greenland, even…
Iran is in flames, with thousands of people protesting on the streets of cities around the country. Ostensibly, it is the drastic devaluation of Iran’s currency (the rial has fallen to a historic low of more than 1 million rials to 1 USD) and high inflation that set off the protests on 28 December 2025,…
Symbolic as the upcoming change of calendar year may be, as a human construct, it does encourage a fresh look at past events and the making of resolutions, or at least wishes, for the new year ahead. 2025 has been packed with turbulence, thanks to the new/old US President’s “transactional politics” at home and abroad…
In recent days, a long-simmering dispute between US President Donald Trump and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has exploded, with Mr. Trump threatening to sue the BBC for 1 to 5 billion dollars for libel. The proximate cause of this is a BBC Panorama documentary about the events of 6 January 2021 in the US…
When 414 of Europe’s most experienced former diplomats, ministers and senior officials speak with one voice, the world ought to listen, and more than the world the EU institutions themselves. The joint statement of the 414, dated 16 October 2025 and titled “From Ceasefire to Peace and Beyond – the EU’s Vital Role”, is more…
Even without having been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, US President Donald Trump was impressively upbeat in his whirlwind trip to Israel and Egypt on 13 October 2025. He spoke extensively at the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, mostly extolling Israel for its achievements and declaring it the victor of the war in Gaza. He…
Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has made his point crystal clear: He wants to proceed with the full occupation of Gaza City with troops on the ground, thus dealing the final blow to the much-weakened but still somewhat holding Hamas. He may believe it, or not. In the latter case he may be trying to…
