UN agency slams UK asylum policy
The UN refugee agency has criticised British policies that it says can lead victims of rape and torture to be incarcerated in detention centres.
from UNHCR on Feb 23, 2012.
A blast at the 'nuclear non-proliferation complex'
Alarmism about nuclear proliferation may not be what it seems, according to two recent articles.
from Daniel Nelson on Feb 17, 2012.
The 'internal logic' of climate negotiations
A lecture on climate change by Belgium-based academic Henry Tulkens at Imperial College London this week was full of algebraic equations. He was explaining "how games theory, in support of good economics" could help analyse the international climate [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Jan 26, 2012.
Damned if you, damned if you don't
Some people can never win.
Migrants, for example. In the past a frequently-heard cause of (male) resentment was that "they're taking our women".
Now they are criticised for not doing so.
Commenting on Andrey Arshavin, Arsenal's increasing unpopular [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Jan 23, 2012.
U.N. Me and us
Is the UN a failed institution - failing to live up to its founding ideals, failing to stop genocides, failing to face down dictators, failing to deal with its own corruption and incompetence? Yes, says a new documentary, U.N. Me, screened at the [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Jan 12, 2012.
It never rains but it pours
The Thai government’s efforts to work through the implications of the recent floods vividly illustrate one of the challenges facing governments trying to tackle climate change.
The flood killed more than 500 people and affected an estimated 12 [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Dec 29, 2011.
An earlier North Korean paean of praise
The extraordinary sounds and scenes of North Koreans wailing at the funeral of the Dear Leader ("The snow is endlessly falling like tears," one soldier was reported as saying on state television. "How could the sky not cry when we've lost our general [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Dec 28, 2011.
Mo's-eye-view of Africa
Hats off to the Today programme - or, rather, to Tuesday's guest editor, Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim.
I'm not a fan of the programme's "guest editor" slots: they are supposed to open it up, to show that journalists don't have a monopoly of control [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Dec 27, 2011.
What hope for Rio+20?
I have just returned from the Eye on Earth conference in Abu Dhabi and thoughts inevitably turn to the Big One, Rio+20 (the UN conference on sustainable development in June 2012), for which this meeting is a tributary.
The first question is whether [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Dec 18, 2011.
Clash of the docs
It’s a good week for TV documentaries, but it’s a pity that so many clash because programmers consider the 9pm spot so crucial.
On Sunday, for example, Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook, is particularly interesting when it ponders on the [...]
from Daniel Nelson on Dec 3, 2011.
Hey UNAIDS... there are some other Zeros you might consider...
Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. The theme this year is "Getting to Zero: Zero New Infections, Zero AIDS-Related Deaths, and Zero Stigma and Discrimination." Not a bad hook, I think, and not a bad set of goals, either. And, for the first time in a [...]
by Chelsea on Dec 1, 2011.
