News
Myanmar: Communities Demand Regulation as Jade Mining Destroys Landscape
May 23, 2016
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Htet Khaung Linn, Myanmar Now
Local activists and communities have also begun asking for changes in Myanmar's multi-billion dollar jade industry. They demand that authorities mitigate its heavy environmental impacts…
Colombia: Colombians Displaced by Conflict Are Moving Home, but Still Living in Fear
May 23, 2016
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The Conversation
Colombia is finally close to signing a peace accord to formally end to its decades-long armed conflict, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of…
Low Oil Prices Are Making Iraq's Political Crisis Worse
May 22, 2016
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Shwan Zulal
Iraq is exporting around 3.3 million barrels of oil a day from Basrah in the south and around 500,000 barrels from the Kurdish region through…
Israel/Palestine: Israeli Land Grabs Benefit Palestinians, State Tells High Court
May 22, 2016
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Chaim Levinson, Haaretz
Landowners from Anata are demanding the state cancel order expropriating their lands for Ma'aleh Adumim, but the state says residents benefit from order by finding…
Liberia: President Sirleaf Launches E-Registration Platform; Commends Farmers for Making Liberia a Food Secured Nation
May 22, 2016
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Executive Mansion
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Saturday launched Liberia’s e- Registration Platform for farmers in the country and commanded them for making the nation a food…
Afghanistan/Pakistan: Border Dispute at Angoor Adda Resolved
May 22, 2016
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Mushtaq Yusufzai, The News International
Pakistan on Saturday handed over a multi-purpose built crossing facility at the Angoor Adda border in South Waziristan to Afghanistan. Angoor Adda borders Afghanistan’s restive…
Protect Myanmar's Marine Resources from Being Pillaged to Point of No Return
May 20, 2016
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Colin Poole
Literally out of sight, the country’s marine resources have been pillaged almost to the point of no return. Research data released in February of this…
Conflict Minerals: EU Conflict Minerals Legislation Risks Being Quietly Shelved
May 20, 2016
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Julian Hale, Equal Times
Since 2014 the European Union, which Global Witness calls a “major player” in the trade, has been working on a law aimed at getting manufacturers…
Sudan/South Sudan: Sudan Petroleum Minister Reiterates Commitment to Review South Sudan Oil Transit Fees
May 20, 2016
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Radio Tamazuj
Sudan's minister of petroleum and gas Mohammed Zaid Awad said his ministry is committed to president Omar al-Bashir's directives to review South Sudan's oil transit…
Natural Resources, Plunder and Reparations in the DRC: How the ICJ is Setting Precedents
May 19, 2016
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Eliana Cusato
What might reparations for the illegal exploitation of natural resources in armed conflict look like? This question may soon be answered by the International Court…
Didn't We Already Solve This Blood Minerals Problem?
May 19, 2016
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Tim Worstall
House of Cards star Robin Wright has launched a campaign with Congolese and American activists to end the pillage of Congo’s vast mineral resources and…
Oil Wars: Why Nations Aren’t Battling over Resources
May 19, 2016
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Emily Meierding
When China’s Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig sailed into waters off the Paracel Islands in May 2014, it provoked an international crisis. Hanoi insisted that…
Colombia: Colombian Coffee Output to Dip for First Time in Five Years
May 19, 2016
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Mike Verdin, Agrimoney
The remarkable rebound in Colombia's coffee production will see a, small, reversal next season, undermined by potential weather setbacks, and the knock-on effects of a…
Colombia: Can Colombia’s Displaced Go Home Again?
May 19, 2016
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Camila Osorio, New Republic
Afranio Solano moved to Bogotá in 2011 after the Urabeños threatened him. Today he is one of Colombia’s nearly six million forcibly displaced people—the second-highest…
Global Security Efforts Must be a Post-Paris Climate Imperative
May 18, 2016
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Nick Mabey and Janani Vivekanada
It often feels as if the times we live in are unprecedented. Certainly, if we look back over the last 18 months, it is not…
Middle East: Why is the Middle East Hungry? Blame Armed Conflict
May 18, 2016
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Richard Whitehead, Food Navigator
Armed conflict and revolutions have halted and in some cases reverse progress made by Middle Eastern and North African countries in reaching the UN’s development…
United States/Vietnam/South China Sea: US-Vietnam Rapprochement Fast-Tracked amid South China Sea Dispute
May 18, 2016
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Michael Hart, Geopolitical Monitor
President Obama’s upcoming visit to Vietnam could amount to far more than just a symbolic political photo opportunity. It comes amid suggestions that the U.S.…
STUDENTS - APPLY NOW! Campus Organizer, Enough Project's Conflict-Free Campus Initiative 2016-17
May 17, 2016
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Enough Project & STAND
The Conflict-Free Campus Initiative (CFCI), a joint initiative of the Enough Project and STAND, draws on the power of student leadership and activism to support peace in the Democratic…
China's Uniformed, Navy-Trained Fishing "Militia"
May 17, 2016
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Conor M. Kennedy and Andrew S. Erickson
On 6 June 2014, Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense newspaper The People's Army stated that China was maintaining between 110 and 115 vessels around China…
A View from Myanmar: Exploring System-Scale Hydropower Planning
May 17, 2016
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Jeff Opperman
Myanmar’s rivers provide a reliable source of water for navigation and irrigation, and support food production and livelihoods. In fact, Myanmar’s freshwater fisheries produce more…
DRC: Robin Wright Targets Congo's 'Conflict Minerals' Violence with New Campaign
May 17, 2016
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Ed Pilkington, Guardian
House of Cards star Robin Wright has launched a campaign with Congolese and American activists to end the pillage of Congo’s vast mineral resources and…
Partitioning Iraq: Make a Detailed Case, or Cease and Desist
May 16, 2016
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Ben Connable
Iraq is once again in political turmoil, and once again we are hearing calls to partition the country into three ethno-sectarian cantonments: Shi’a, Sunni, and Kurd. The…
Colombia: Colombia's War-Weary Farmers Head Home amid Hopes and Fears
May 16, 2016
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Anastasia Moloney, Reuters
More than five decades of conflict have forced 6.7 million Colombians to flee their homes, many of them poor farmers like Portillo, making the country…
Sudan/South Sudan/Abyei: UNSC Extends Mandate of Peacekeepers in Abyei
May 16, 2016
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Agence Africaine de Presse
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission of the contested rich-oil region between Sudan and South Sudan for…
Sudan/South Sudan: Peace Heralds Oil Fortune for South Sudan - Envoy
May 16, 2016
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Taddeo Bwambale, New Vision
A little more than two years of fighting in South Sudan had threatened to destroy the country’s oil production, a critical resource the country now…
China/Vietnam/South China Sea: China's Fishing Ban Adds an Entanglement for Vietnam in the South China Sea
May 16, 2016
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Radio Free Asia
Beijing injected an extra irritant into its long-running dispute with its neighbors with the South China Sea as it announced its annual ban on fishing…
Afghanistan/China: Afghanistan Backs Beijing Stance on South China Sea
May 16, 2016
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Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press
China on Monday said landlocked Afghanistan has expressed support for Beijing's stance on the South China Sea dispute, the latest country from outside the region…
Iraq: Iraq Oil Surge Seen Losing Steam Just as Markets Need More
May 16, 2016
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Anthony Dipaola, Bloomberg
Iraq’s oil industry is on a roll. Production has jumped more than 40 percent since mid-2014 and exports are at near-record levels. It probably won’t…
DRC: Illicit Wildlife, Gold, Timber Trade Funds DRC Conflict
May 16, 2016
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Environment News Service
Organized crime funded by illegal trade in natural resources is fueling the 20-year-long conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, that has…
Iraq/Kurdistan: KRG Shares of International Loans to Iraq
May 15, 2016
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Lana Sardar Qader, NRT
For the past decade the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had established what ended up being a false sense of financial security. The KRG economy has…