The guns were bought in a shop.
Why Not Nuke ISIS?
Last week I received a call from a journalist doing background research for an article. The journalist wanted to know whether I thought a nuclear weapon could be used against ISIS. I was admittedly surprised at this question. But apparently the journalist queried me about this issue because others are asking about it as well.
So why not nuke ISIS?
A mushroom cloud forms after a nuclear blast. PHOTO: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
First we must consider why this “alternative” is being considered at all.
Research Training in Eastern Congo
I have just returned from two weeks in Congo. PRIO colleagues Ragnhild Nordås, Siri Aas Rustad and I held project meetings with our local partner. Most of our time in Congo, however, was spent teaching how to conduct research.
Motivated participants and teachers at the research training. Photo: Ali Rock
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is often described as one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a woman. Female Empowerment in Eastern DRC is a project supported by the Research Council of Norway that focuses on ways of improving the situation of women in eastern Congo who have survived brutal sexual violence. The project is a collaboration between the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the International Centre for Advanced Research and Training (ICART), a recently established research centre in Bukavu, the capital of the South Kivu province. ICART is the product of a collaboration between a local university and Panzi Hospital, headed by Dr Denis Mukwege.Read More
What’s Wrong with the Idea that ‘Robots don’t Rape’?
Photo: Flickr/Teymur Madjderey
The politics of rape denunciation is fast becoming the politics of lobbyists, vendors and military manufacturers seeking access to new customers and markets.
The recognition of wartime rape as a fundamental violation of international law has been a hard-fought victory. Ending rape and other forms of sexual violence in war ought to be a central aspiration of the international community. But the struggle against rape has attained a kind of moral currency, put to use by those lobbying for ‘lethal autonomous weapons’ (LAWs). And in doing so, the politics of rape denunciation is fast becoming the politics of lobbyists, vendors and military manufacturers seeking access to new customers and markets.
A recurrent argument within the debate surrounding ‘lethal autonomous weapons’ is the idea that taking humans out of the loop would make war more humane. And in particular, it would end the occurrence of rape. This ‘robots-don’t-rape’ argument is premised on the assumption that robots are better at keeping to the norms of war, and free from human inclinations towards lust and greed, panic and rage.
This equation of technological innovation with human progress is deeply problematic.
Attacks on Humanitarian Aid Workers: Five New Findings
More aid workers are being targeted in violent attacks than ever before, but the roots of humanitarian insecurity have nuanced and surprising causes.
Syria. Afghanistan. Mali. Central African Republic. Today’s complex conflicts seem to be defined by insurgents, terrorist groups and other violent actors with ideologies that increasingly disregard the rules of war. Over 150,000 people died in conflicts around the world last year, with a further 59 million displaced – the highest total ever recorded.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Troublingly, aid worker attacks have increased in tandem. Headlines relay stories of humanitarian aid workers caught in the middle, killed either in the fog of war – or worse, targeted for their very efforts to help the neediest. In 2013, 474 aid workers were attacked – the most violent year ever.Read More
The Syrian Refugee Crisis & The Two Europes
In the early September days of 2015, for the second time in a quarter century, Hungary became the site of a European refugee drama.
In 1989, during the months preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall, hundreds of East Germans trying to flee their “Workers and Peasants State” had besieged the West German embassy in Budapest, and tens of thousands eventually made it across the green border to Austria as Hungary rolled back its barbed wires. This was the beginning of the end of communism, not only in Eastern Europe. Hungary was then known as the country of “Goulash Communism”, the most liberal and prosperous of communist Eastern Europe.
Syrian refugees cross into Hungary underneath the border fence. Photo: Freedom House / Flickr
By 2015, now under the right-wing government of Viktor Orban that does not question Hungary’s (financially lucrative) European Union membership yet prides itself on building an “illiberal state on national foundations”, with Turkey and Russia as models, border fences were rebuilt, now along the border to Serbia.
This Week in South Sudan – Week 48
Monday 23 November United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants 1,100 additional peacekeepers to be deployed to South Sudan. A surge in violent armed robberies against aid workers in South Sudan over the last month is jeopardizing humanitarian agencies ability to provide assistance. At least three people were killed and two others wounded in a revenge… Read more »
The Brazilian Aid Paradox
Aerial view of Christ the Redeemer and Rio de Janeiro. PHOTO: CC BY 2.0 / Sam Valadi
While the Norwegian overseas aid budget has been debated intensely here at home, Crown Prince Haakon was recently on an official visit in Brazil, from 16-19 November. Brazil is unquestionably the largest recipient of Norwegian aid, while simultaneously donating aid itself to poorer countries. This paradoxical situation tells us much about our changing world and Brazil’s ambitions for great power status.
Somalia’s Hope for the Future? The Return of Young Diaspora Somalis
Young Somalis at the University of Simad, Mogadishu. Wikimedia Commons
The Somali conflict has affected Somali citizens inside and outside the Somali region for over 25 years. While Somaliland and Puntland have enjoyed relative stability for more than two decades, conditions are much more fragile in south-central Somalia, and residents in many parts of the Somali region face considerable levels of insecurity still. In late 2012, however, the first permanent central government since the start of the civil war was installed in Mogadishu. This increased expectations that south-central Somalia is transitioning towards greater stability and created hope amongst the Somali diaspora. Since 2011-2012, the number of people returning to south-central Somalia has increased considerably.Read More
Norway’s Role in South Sudan’s Independence
In an interview, 21 November with the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Øystein. H. Rolandsen at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) explains why it is a misunderstanding to hold Norway and other Western countries accountable for South Sudan’s secession. The Norwegian government and civil society organisations have for decades been extensively engaged in efforts to bring… Read more »