Bringing Russian ‘Liberal-Conservatism’ to the Fore0

• Analysis
• March 29, 2012

Russia is back in the news again this week, due to the overheard conversation between Presidents Medvedev and Obama about missile defence, and Mitt Romney’s subsequent denunciation of Russia as America’s “number one enemy”. Former presidential candidate Senator John McCain, …

Stepping Up the Fight Against Somali Pirates0

• Analysis
• March 27, 2012

On March 23, the European Union announced that it would expand its anti-piracy mission, Atalanta, to include for the first time the Somali coast itself and waterways inside the country. The statement said the EU would be working with Somalia’s …

Arunachal Pradesh: Meeting China’s Claim in the Eastern Himalayas0

• Analysis
• March 20, 2012

Last week, Chief Minister Nabam Tuki of the Northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh led a delegation to Canada. He attended the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce in Toronto and participated in the Brand India Expo in Ottawa. Meeting prospective …

Scars of War Remain in Uganda0

• Analysis
• March 17, 2012

The full article was published in the Ottawa Citizen, March 13, 2012.

By coincidence, I was in Pader, northern Uganda, last week when the video about the murderous warlord Joseph Kony, called Kony 2012, went viral. The video has …

Forward — to the Past? Re-thinking a Human Rights Museum0

• Analysis
• March 15, 2012

CIPS Policy Brief No.17, March 2012.
By DAVID PETRASEK, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

• The Canadian Museum of Human Rights has set itself a sound objective: to challenge and equip visitors actively to promote human freedom and

R2P Is Not a License for Military Recklessness0

• Analysis
• March 12, 2012

In the New York Times last week, Tufts University’s Alex de Waal penned an op-ed that scathingly criticized the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine and a group of people he calls “idealists.” In the article, he identified only two members …

In Defense of Invisible Children0

• Analysis
• March 12, 2012

The critics of the Invisible Children video have argued that the viral video, which astoundingly has had more than 36 million hits on YouTube, is overstating the importance of this now much-diminished group of thugs called the Lord’s Resistance Army, …

Reassessing the ‘Hearts and Minds’ Model of Counter-Insurgency0

• Analysis
• March 12, 2012

A couple of news items today bring forth contrasting visions of counter-insurgency success and failure. The first recounts the apparently quite successful reconstruction of Grozny; the second, the massacre of 16 Afghans by an American soldier. The contrast makes …

The Senkaku Islands: A Forgotten Flashpoint in the Western Pacific0

• Analysis
• March 12, 2012

The uninhabited Senkaku Islands of Japan, claimed by both China and Taiwan under the name Diaoyutai, may seem of minor significance to observers outside the region. These eight uninhabited islands have a land area of only 6.3 km² and …

Educational Exchanges and the Promotion of Human Rights0

• Analysis
• March 9, 2012

On Monday of this week, in a small graduate seminar at American University Washington College of Law (in Washington, DC), a beautiful, humble, passionate heroine explained the history of the fight for women’s rights in her country, Yemen, and shared …

The KONY2012 Campaign and Its Critics0

• Analysis
• March 8, 2012

Guest contributor: REX BRYNEN
Professor of Political Science, McGill University

In recent days, a social media-based campaign called KONY2012 has gone viral with worldwide calls for the arrest of Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). …