France’s anti-Covid strategy is heating the debate around mandatory vaccination. Are Covid-19 vaccine mandates violating human rights? Or are they justifiable and necessary to meet a pressing social need?
Following severe flooding across Europe, this article considers the actual efforts of developed countries, particularly in Europe, to substantially address climate change, and asks how much climate responsibility lies at the doorstep of the individual, the government and history.
Dubioza Kolektiv, a popular Bosnian avant-garde group would say – or rather, sing – that Bosnia-Erzegovina is in Europe “just in Eurosong”. By that, meaning that the country is only welcome as a full-fledged member of Europe when this benefits the image of a multicultural, welcoming continent. But when the lights of Eurovision go off, Bosnia is likely to disappear from the public discourse. If anything, it may come up in conversations simply as the place where “there once was a war”.
In part, this is understandable. How is it possible that a European country could be majority Muslim? Why does it stubbornly refuse to behave like a “normal” democracy? And yet, no matter how divided or unstable, Bosnia is clearly a member of the wobbly, colorful European family.
From July 18 to 22, 2001, thousands of people gathered in the narrow streets of Genova. Twenty years later, the legacy of this summit is characterized – rather than from the content of the discussions of the G8 world leaders – from the violence which ensued in the streets, as young protestors and activists which had gathered from all over the world were met with a brutal repression from the Italian police. Hence, it appears that the right to strike, although solidly established and recognised at the international level, is often defied when actually put into practice.
Global advances in gender equality and women’s health still leave room for improvement. The EU’s resolution on ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’ takes us one step further.
On April 23, 2021, Russia “withdrew” its forces, which it had built up along its border with Ukraine. After a rather rapid escalation and then stagnation of tensions, the question remains: is Russia an opportunist, taking advantage of an “opening” it found, or is this event a real, viable threat to regional stability? Is Russia trying to start an international war or is it merely testing Western waters to see what it can reap without damaging consequences?
The presidential decree which unplugged three pro-Russian TV channels overnight on 2 February 2021 has been hailed by pro-Western Ukrainians as the first bold move by Ukraine President Volodymir Zelensky to counter Russian propaganda.
While the EU expressed its concerns and the US praised the decision, journalists unions condemned such an interference in the freedom of the media.
Yet, all international conventions protecting freedom of speech establish a few motives on the base of which a State can restrict such freedom and one of the most popular ones is a pressing though historically abused necessity: national security.
Well, this is is exactly the interest that Zelensky claims to protect.
Journalists around the world continue to be killed, detained and punished for revealing political crimes and wrongdoings, mostly in their own nation.
With a pro-transatlanticist back in the White House, the transatlantic alliance rejoices. But does the trasatlanticism of old belong in this new era? Observing the discussions from the 2021 Special Edition of the Munich Security Conference, it is clear that a new trasatlanticism is needed for the West to survive and flourish in a era of deepening multipolarity and growing international competition.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, China has developed a ‘mask diplomacy’ aimed at the Western Balkans; later evolved into the so-called vaccine diplomacy.
Can the European Union counter China’s ambitions in its eastern neighbourhood?
![[ANALYSIS] Playing with the Fire of Democracy: Ukraine’s Choice of National Security over Media Pluralism](https://i0.wp.com/thenewglobalorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Image-from-iOS.jpg?resize=941%2C200&ssl=1)
![[Analysis] How to Counter China’s Vaccine Diplomacy in the Balkans](https://i0.wp.com/thenewglobalorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/China-Serbia-vaccine-diplomacy-2020-1.jpeg?resize=941%2C200&ssl=1)