When an event is dubbed one of our "last chances" for averting dangerous climate change, it naturally creates a lot of expectations. Especially after the failure of Copenhagen'09. Some have hastened to call the Paris climate summit pointless even before it has begun. Meanwhile, US president Obama has urged for reaching an agreement, thus ( Read more... )

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new. Last Thursday at the UN meeting, Russia vetoed the resolution for creating a tribunal that'd investigate last year's downing of the Malaysian commercial airplane over Ukraine. The Russian rep Churkin said his country's position doesn't mean it's an attempt to block the efforts for finding the culprit, but ( Read more... )

The fact that China is building stuff hectically is hardly news to anyone. But here we won't be talking of skyscrapers in the crowded megapolises, but artificial islands in the hotly contested South China Sea.


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Palestinians present ICC membership request to UN

The old bluff, it turns out, was no bluff at all. On the last day of last year, the Palestinian autonomy officially requested membership at the International Criminal Court, and the UN Secretary General Ban Kim Moon announced that they would be joining that institution in April. Looks like a risky ( Read more... )

Seems like Cuba is pulling the brakes on the recently heralded warming up of its relations with the US. The historic breakthrough may've prompted many in Havana to sound the alarm: what would happen if Obama's new approach to Cuba puts all achievements of the revolution in question? Cuba is afraid it could remain without its sworn enemy. And for a ( Read more... )

The world probably just got its best New Year's present in many decades, it seems...

UN officials hail entry into force of landmark global arms trade treaty

"United Nations officials are welcoming the entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), hailing it as a new chapter in collective efforts to bring responsibility, accountability and ( Read more... )

The plans of the European Commission to create a united market that would include Europe and the US, have for a long time been developing far away from the spotlight of public attention. But after they did become known, people throughout Europe are asking the question who would really benefit from this project.

And given what has transpired, the ( Read more... )

Originally posted by leonidstorch at Petition to Designate Russia as State Sponsor of Terrorism
Sign a petition to the White House to designate Russia as "State Sponsor of Terrorism". Let's stop the Kremlin from attacking Ukraine ( Read more... )

In September there'll be an independence referendum in Scotland. And a couple of months later, another one in Catalunya. Secessionist movements are usually full of emotion and a desire for self-determination, but they're mainly driven by economic motivations - as is exactly the case with Catalunya and Scotland.

It seems the more prosperous regions ( Read more... )