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.
Is a lack of political stamina to blame for the catastrophic failure of the West’s 20-year war in Afghanistan? Or, as Paul Dixon argues, did the generals spend decades spinning an unwinnable war as unlosable?
A flurry of diplomatic and military initiatives has recently heralded the implementation of the Global Britain strategy set out in March’s Integrated Review. Richard Reeve analyses the New Atlantic Charter between UK and US and finds a gaping hole where the commitment to delegitimise use of force once stood.
The MOD is investing heavily in US-built armed drones and is about to begin testing them in heavily congested skies over populous areas of England and Scotland. Tim Street argues that undue corporate and military influence on regulators is putting civilians at unacceptable risk.
Rethinking Security’s new Outreach Coordinator Joanna Frew and her partner live in Martha House*, a ‘house of hospitality’ in north London with forced migrants who have no other means of support. Here she shares what she’s learnt about the value of a community setting for security over the last seven years.
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.
Ralf Becker reports on how the Rethinking Security initiative in Germany has developed from a scenario for shifting to a civil security policy to a nationwide network with real prospects of helping shape government policy after landmark national elections in September.
Is rethinking security for the common good even possible while a tiny policy-making elite equates security with dominance and control? David Gee argues that our history of change-makers is more powerful than we may realise.
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.
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.
Marwan Darweish and Andrew Rigby discuss the current crisis in Israel and Palestine in the context of 75 years of violence, occupation, protest and resistance. They conclude that equal human rights for all is the only basis on which sustainable peace and shared security can be built.
As the UK Government prepares to announce its new Sovereign Borders Bill in parliament, David Forbes argues that the very idea of ‘sovereign borders’ is false and ignores both the reality of international legal commitments and the disastrous precedent of Australia’s flirtation with the concept.
