The launch of the State Department’s new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy looks to strengthen America’s role in coordinating international responses to pandemics and other health crises. Jarrett Dang In a star-studded symposium at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on November 13, high-profile diplomatic and health leaders…

The United States wants to become a leader in the shifting intelligence landscape. Key speakers at the Kalaris Intelligence Conference identified tools and recommendations to achieve this goal. Nicole Butler Conversations held during the recent Kalaris Conference on November 1, 2023 at Georgetown University showed that the intelligence landscape is…

The Arctic continues to become a key interest for many states across the globe, but the Arctic Council’s inability to provide effective cooperative governance is becoming glaringly obvious. The creation of an Arctic Eight would help solve this problem. Jeremy T. Mathis, Ph.D. The Arctic region, once a remote and…

The United Nations conference on water comes at a time when water security challenges can no longer be ignored and multilateral diplomacy is needed now more than ever. Nicole Butler The first United Nations Water Conference in the past 46 years took place this March and expectations for success were…

Niger’s new junta doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. That means the World Bank and Western backers will have to think about how to fund development while tiptoeing around tricky political questions. Jarrett Dang When soldiers in Niger overthrew the nation’s democratically elected government in July 2023, one of Africa’s…

Now that world leaders have left New York, the U.N. General Assembly’s real work begins. Here is a guide to what to watch out for during a potentially dramatic season for multilateral diplomacy. Christopher Klein The recent headlines from the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) high-level week flowed steadily, and rightly…

Samantha Libraty Acknowledging former Governor Bill Richardson’s passing earlier this month after a long and effective career in the field of hostage negotiations (and releases) on behalf of U.S. prisoners and their families detained abroad There is a striking rise in the taking of U.S. prisoners abroad — or what…

Yanliang Pan On the western shore of Lake Balkhash, some 200 miles from the old Kazakh capital of Almaty, lies the village of Ulken, a semi-deserted settlement with little infrastructure apart from a school and a bulky electrical substation next to a cluster of Soviet apartment blocks. It is here…

Joshua Mayfield Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2023 has affected food security throughout the developing world. Ukraine is an important producer of grain and wheat, and it exports agricultural commodities to countries throughout Africa and the Middle East. Russia is a key global fertilizer producer…