The recent Israeli military operation in the Jenin camp marks a change and escalation in Israel’s tactics in the West Bank as it tries to control Palestinian responses to the recent rapid expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territory, writes Paul Rogers.
Stranded Assets: Climate, collusion and the geopolitics of a green transition
Mounting evidence of the accelerated breakdown of our climate and its human and economic consequences surely means that the game is up for fossil carbon. So why is the UK backtracking on its commitment to a green energy transition? Paul Rogers and Richard Reeve explain how elite interests are simply too entwined with militarised post-imperial geopolitics to challenge fossil fuel interests.
Ukraine and Global Human Security
Over three months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Paul Rogers and Richard Reeve explore the dynamics of a war whose destructive impact on global human security is spreading and worsening.
Playing the Pools: Omicron and Common Security
With the ultra-infectious Omicron variant looking set to sweep the world, Paul Rogers argues that the greatest global security challenge facing us is to heed WHO advice and ensure rapid world-wide vaccination against COVID to reduce the risk of new, more lethal variants of the virus emerging in future.
After COP26: Lessons from the World Food Crisis
Will COP26 deliver the political action necessary to tackle climate breakdown? Probably not, says Paul Rogers, but the experience of the 1970s World Food Crisis suggests that its intense highlighting of the climate crisis and the inadequacy of political leadership can and should catalyse much more urgent pressure for radical change in the next few months and years.
Vaccine Inequality: We are not all safe
The unfolding tragedy of Afghanistan has eclipsed reporting of the COVID pandemic while a fourth wave of infections is sweeping the Earth. Paul Rogers argues that global vaccine inequality risks those in all countries as the Delta variant tests the limits of current vaccines.
Pandemic and Protest: The Evolution of Covid Politics
Many rich states believe they are finally getting COVID-19 under control but with new viral variants, most of the world’s population far from being vaccinated, and local tensions building over impact on livelihoods and liberties, the political impact of the pandemic is far from played out.
Tighter Lips and Looser Controls: UK Nuclear Posture in the 2020s
The recent Integrated Review caught headlines for reversing cuts to the UK’s stock of nuclear warheads. Paul Rogers argues that we should be more concerned about the expansion of potential options for their use and the growing opacity of nuclear decision-making.
Third Wave Nationalism: The Case against COVID Complacency
Eighteen months into the pandemic, Paul Rogers sees a stark contrast between the complacency setting in among countries with successful rapid vaccination programmes and large areas of the world experiencing a devastating third wave. Vaccine nationalism, hoarding and export controls threaten not just the unvaccinated as dangerous new viral mutations develop.
Biden and Climate Breakdown: Too Little, but not too Late?
The United States has made a radical change in its approach to climate change since Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump to the presidency in January. Paul Rogers argues that Washington is still doing too little but its recognition of the urgency of climate breakdown should encourage other leaders and activists to push for accelerated global action, including at UK-hosted G7 and COP26 summits.
COVID-19 and the Structures of Human Insecurity
Fifteen months on, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing few signs of abating, and is even accelerating in parts of Europe, South America and Asia. In the first of a new series of regular briefings for Rethinking Security, Paul Rogers argues that massive increases in global inequality are as central to this human security crisis as the immediate health impacts.