Are we following the discredited Viet Nam war strategy of destroying cities to “save” them?
The devastating toll from coalition bombing
Canada must “step up” on peacekeeping training
For the first time ever, Canada has a generation of soldiers with no experience in peacekeeping, according to a new report on Canadian peacekeeping training by Walter Dorn and Joshua Libben. Released by the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on 2 February, the report highlights the need for Canada to step up its game and develop new training programmes for the Canadian Armed Forces if it is to re-engage effectively in UN peace operations.
World ignored U.S. war crime in Somalia
Denial of food aid contributed to thousands of deaths.
Replace bombs with diplomacy
Canada is in urgent need of a progressive, innovative, and effective defence and security policy for the 21st Century.
Peggy Mason on Canada being shut out of the anti-ISIS coalition meeting
A tempest in a teapot, says Peggy Mason, over Canada’s lack of invitation to the Paris anti-ISIL coalition meeting.
Why peacebuilding fails and what we can do about it
Although research demonstrates that peacekeeping missions, on balance, have a good track record, many of the practices, habits, and narratives that shape peacebuilders’ efforts on the ground are counterproductive. This, at least, is the argument put forward by Séverine Autesserre, researcher and associate professor at Columbia University, after conducting several years of ethnographic research in conflict zones around the world. In her book Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention, Autesserre explains how expatriates often live lives that are largely separated from the populations they are trying to help, and how this can undermine the very notion of local ownership that is key to the success of peacebuilding missions.