Armenia talks Turkey, Sergei Markedonov
On 10 October 2009 in the city of Zürich representatives of Armenia and Turkey signed two crucial protocols: one on the development of bilateral relations and another on the establishment of diplomatic relations. The long confrontation between...
America's new, big bomb, Paul Rogers
The United States department of defence has confirmed that it is rushing into production the world's largest ever bomb, one designed specifically to destroy underground targets. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) weighs just short of fifteen...
In Obama we hope, Richard Marsden
Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for capturing the world's attention and giving its people ‘hope for a better future.' There is humour here. Bush punished those deemed guilty of bad intentions, i.e., those who may harm the United...
UN: the Kosovo blow, James Ker-Lindsay
A number of recent developments at the United Nations have been welcomed as significant reassertions of the importance of multilateral diplomacy. Barack Obama's speech at the general assembly on 23 September 2009, followed a day later by the UN...
Tunisia’s illusion of stability, Amel Boubekeur
The president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, is guaranteed to be re-elected for a fifth term in the country's presidential election on 25 October 2009. This certain outcome both reveals the authoritarianism of this north African and...
The Abkhazian archivist, Thomas de Waal
For me the tragic story of Abkhazia's archive is inseparable from the story of its archivist.
I first met Nikolai Ioannidi in May 1992 in Sukhumi, then capital of the autonomous republic of Abkhazia and still firmly part of Georgia. War was...
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