Energy Security

WRITTEN BY Giorgio Spagnol

The geopolitical landscape has changed considerably since the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the US maintaining, for the time being, its economic and military superiority. It seems, however, that the world is moving towards a fundamental reshuffle of the global balance of power, with the emergence of actors whose posture will eventually shape a new global order through alliances reflecting different interests from those currently dominating international politics.

Wall – less Europe

WRITTEN BY Marianne Wade

When the wall came down 20 years ago it was the end of a regime whose cruelty was vividly represented by images of the lengths to which it went to keep its citizens within its borders. Who can forget the images of cars being searched as they exited Checkpoint Charlie; border guards doing their utmost to find even the most ingeniously hidden escapee. How can we not remember the dark inventiveness with which a regime seemed to turn every technological advance against its own citizens?

Has the Cold War Ended?

WRITTEN BY Francesco Candelari

INTERVIEW with Mich al Meyer

Few doubt that the fall of the Berlin Wall is the event that closed the Cold War era and brought in the twenty-first century. Like every event in history, this one also has its founding myths. Michael Meyer recently wrote a book, The year that changed the world: the untold story behind the fall of the Berlin Wall. He addressed the triumphal misunderstanding of history that led the United States into some of the most intractable conflicts it faces today.

Youth Marginalisation and the Burdens of War in Sierra Leone

WRITTEN BY Isabela Leao

The transformation of the world system after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 provided a new era of free democratic uncertainties in the lives of the youth population in both West and Eastern Europe. Uncertainties that have never been free or democratic, yet always part of the lives of most youth in Africa. In the case of Sierra Leone, young people have been struggling for a factual democratisation process and participatory governance since its independence in 1961, thus revealing the role the Sierra Leonean youth has been keen to play in the country’s political, social and economic processes.

Gaza

WRITTEN BY Trude Strand

A Fence Away from Freedom

There is a fence around Gaza. It stretches from the north to the south. From a distance, the fence looks innocent; it is not a tall, imposing structure with deep ditches or piercing floodlights. Neither does it appear impenetrable. Yet the fence looks out of place, uncomfortable, dividing land that otherwise flows gently as far as the eye can see. And as everyone in Gaza knows, any seemingly benign features belie the fact that the fence constitutes an absolute – separating people from productive livelihoods, family members, higher education, and, indeed, freedom itself in the form of access to the rest of the world beyond it.

From Khmer Treasures to Chinese Antiquities

WRITTEN BY Duncan Chappell and Kenneth Polk

The Ongoing Plunder and Trafficking in South East Asia

In June of this year, in a ceremony associated with much pomp and political significance, the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva handed over to Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh a number of Khmer treasures seized by Thai authorities from smugglers in 1999. The treasures included six massive stone heads of the Hindu God Shiva, dating from the 12th Century Angkorian era (Associated Press, 2009). At the time of the ceremony the Cambodian Government indicated that the two sides had agreed to co-operate in stamping out smuggling of national antiquities which had already resulted in recent decades in widespread looting of Cambodia’s ancient temples and archeological sites with many items, like those just returned, being taken across the border to Thailand for sale on the international market or to private collectors.

A conversation with history

WRITTEN BY Nicola Filizola

Interview with Lech Walesa

Freedom From Fear met the leader of Solidarnosc, a few days from the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, marking the end of the Cold War, during his visit in Italy to Torino Spiritualità to talk about 1989: the year that changed the world. Today, Lech Walesa is 65. From his onerous past he still drags behind him an entourage of assistants and press officers. He is very punctual to our meeting in the hall of his hotel; he wears a shirtsleeve with his Solidarnosc badge pinned to his lapel, as to emphasize his proud belongings.

UN Engagement on the Rule of Law

WRITTEN BY Asha-Rose Migiro

Helping States Substitute Right for Might

Promoting the rule of law at national and international level is at the very heart of the global mission of the United Nations. The rule of law is fundamental to achieving a durable peace in the aftermath of conflict, to the protection of human rights, and to economic progress and development. The basic concept that drives our work is the principle that everyone – from the ordinary citizen to the State and its leaders – is accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. As a lawyer and a former professor of law, I retain a deep personal interest in this area of UN engagement.

Counter the Financing of Terrorism

WRITTEN BY Daniel Theleskaf

The financing of terrorism is often difficult to detect because it follows only few fixed patterns. For instance, an investigation into the financial transactions of some high profile terrorists and hijackers showed that most of the individual transactions were not that unusual. The account holders appeared to be foreign students receiving money to fund their studies; in such a way, the transactions then would not be flagged as suspicious transactions needing a special scrutiny by the financial institutions involved. Terrorist funding may therefore originate from legitimate sources, criminal sources or a combination of the two.

The War on Terror: Separating the (Star) Fish from the Sea

WRITTEN BY Paul W. Zagorski, Stephen A. Harmon

Though hardly a new phenomenon, terrorism has assumed greater political saliency since the events of 9/11. Unfortunately, this greater saliency has not resulted in more effective strategies to counter the terrorist threat, the nature of which is often poorly understood. This essay describes terrorism as a method, then develops a model of what terrorist organizations look like and how they function, focusing on their evolution from hierarchical insurgent groups of the pre 9/11 era to network-like structures of today, such as al-Qaeda.

The CBRN Threat

WRITTEN BY Andrew Prosser and Sergio Bonin

Past, Present and Future

In recent years world leaders, news media and experts have warned of the global security threat from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) material and weapons. Last December, a bipartisan U.S. commission cautioned that “unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013.”¹ In parallel with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is interesting to highlight the Cold War origins of many modern-day CBRN challenges. At the same time, this article explores how newer developments have been infusing additional complexity into the global CBRN threat landscape.²