Diplomacy & Crisis News

Première exportatrice mondiale, la Chine cherche à se dégager de sa subordination financière — et politique — au dollar par une internationalisation du yuan. La monnaie chinoise est d'ores et déjà devenue la cinquième devise mondiale pour le commerce. / Asie, Chine, États-Unis, Banque, Commerce (...) / Asie, Chine, États-Unis, Banque, Commerce international, Économie, Finance, Mondialisation, Monnaie, Commerce - 2015/07

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and the injuries to scores of people as a result of deadly explosions in Tianjin, China.

After a midnight explosion in Tianjin killed dozens, citizen-journalists are pressing the government to do more and share more.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is about to give a major speech on Japan’s World War II aggression. But in Tokyo, history is never really about history.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon conducted today an urgent video conference with the heads of United Nations peacekeeping operations, Force Commanders, and Police Commissioners following a series of revelations alleging abuse by UN ‘blue helmets’ in the field, including, most recently, in the Central African Republic.

In Tehran’s bustling markets, high hopes for sanctions relief may not live up to the reality.

Tom Fletcher says goodbye to all that.

Will China's decision to devaluate its currency cause Fed chief Janet Yellen to balk on a rate hike?

As the battle against cholera outbreak continues in South Sudan, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners are boosting assistance to help children and the most vulnerable prevent and reduce the spread of further cases.

The head of United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) called today on the international community to continue supporting Syrian refugees displaced in neighboring countries, appealing to the world “not to forget” the crisis and to provide the agency the means to meet their needs.

It's time to end the Iraq surge revisionism.

Yes, some of the potential $150 billion windfall coming to Tehran will help support Assad. But it isn’t quite as dangerous as opponents of the deal are making it out to be.

Secretary of State John Kerry is frustrated and angry about the high-profile leaks coming out of Foggy Bottom, and is hammering his staff to stop. It’s not working out so well.

Photo Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Evil But Stupid
The Editors
n+1

A couple of months ago, the London Review of Books published a 10,000 word piece questioning the White House’s narrative regarding the death of Osama bin Laden. The story, written by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, resulted in a sea of backlash, much of which was aimed at Hersh on a personal level. The media has charged Hersh with being too paranoid. But, as n+1 asks, why isn’t the media more paranoid?

My Grandfather’s Imposter
By James McGirk
Roads and Kingdoms

To join the Explorer Club in New York, you have to do something extraordinary, to make your own adventures — by land, by sea or by air. Or, as was the case with James McGirk’s grandfather, you could loan your stories out to a friend. In this piece, McGirk delves into his grandfather’s history and grapples with the question — are our experiences, our stories really ours to give away?

The Nation-State: Not Dead Yet
By Alasdair Roberts
The Wilson Quarterly

Pundits and academics have claimed many things have supposedly come to an “end” in the past two decades or so. From history to capitalism, most have had experienced a revival shortly thereafter. In this piece, Roberts looks into what caused the obsession with the “death” of the nation-state, and why those predictions were premature.

ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape
By Rukmini Callimachi
The New York Times

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) introduction to systematic sexual slavery began in 2014. Ever since, the group has (ab)used the Quran to justify its horrific human rights abuses and enshrine a “theology of rape.” Callimachi investigates the group’s history with sexual slavery, its practices and the twisted logic behind it.

Hellbent, But Not Broken
By Eva Holland
SB Nation

Holland tells the story of her experience with the Yukon River Quest, which at 445 miles, is the world’s longest canoe and kayak race. It’s as much a battle against nature as it’s a battle of wills.

Blogs:

Kyrgyzstan’s Eastward Slide by Mark Varga
Somalia, No Political Legitimacy without Genuine Reconciliation by Abukar Arman
Kenya’s Catholic Leadership Takes on the WHO by Hannah Gais
A Challenging August for Dilma by Gary Sands
Obama’s Foreign Policy “Bully Pulpit” by Michael Crowley

Major equity markets are a sea of red in the wake of China's falling renminbi.

The acting head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq has strongly condemned today’s truck bomb attack on a market in east Baghdad, which initial reports say killed at least 45 people and for which the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility.

The deadly Ebola outbreak which ravaged West Africa for more than a year has demonstrated the increasing importance of emergency preparedness both in Africa and across the world, said two senior United Nations health officials who noted that if the current intense focus on case detection and contact tracing is maintained, the virus could be “soundly defeated” by year’s end.

Swedish prosecutors dropped two charges because the statute of limitations ran out.

Responding to the recurring food shortages created by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun cash distributions to some 60,000 people – mostly internally displaced – in Government-controlled areas of the Lugansk and Donetsk region.

The United Nations relief arm has launched a call for millions of people around the world to drastically change their social media feeds and share captivating tale of humanitarian heroism ahead of this year&#39s World Humanitarian Day.