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Opinion & Comment

World military expenditure passes $2 trillion; increases slightly in Africa.

Total world military expenditure increased fractionally in 2021 to reach $2 113 billion, surpassing the $2 trillion mark for the first time, new research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has revealed. Military spending also increased in Africa. SIPRI saw the seventh consecutive year of spending increases, with the five largest spenders last…

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UK/Rwanda. Immigration. A Problematic Agreement.

An unprecedented initiative that provokes contrasting opinions and evaluations. A double standard in migration policy.  There have been reactions both in favour and against the recent agreement between Great Britain and Rwanda regarding asylum seekers in the United Kingdom and their possible diversion to Rwanda. The agreement was signed on April 14th. Regardless of whether…

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UK/Rwanda. Prioritizing economic rights over individual rights.

Why did British Home Secretary Priti Patel, claiming her aim is to destroy the cross-channel traffickers’ “business model”, choose Rwanda for her recent £120 million Migration and Economic Development Partnership?  And from what budget does the funding come? Asylum seekers and migrants seeking a safe or better life in the UK are to be treated…

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Is Ukraine Putin’s holy war?

Putin’s mother may or may not have been a closet Orthodox Christian who had her son secretly baptized. Metropolitan (head of a major diocese) Tikhon, friend of Putin, first trained as a screenwriter, is known for his ultraconservative nationalist theology, his opposition to democracy and support for censorship as well as his promotion of Orthodoxy…

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Climate Change and armed conflict.

Fighting climate change requires a basic condition: peace. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s decarbonization efforts had progressed in the context of COP 26 as it submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with a target of a 65% reduction below 1990 levels by 2030, a net-zero targets by 2060 and an anticipated coal phase-out from 2050…

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Saudi Arabia vs United Arab Emirates. A geopolitical and economic competition.

For more than two decades, the Gulf monarchies have found themselves at the centre of countless geopolitical, economic, and strategic challenges at the regional level. Among these, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have emerged as pivotal actors in the climate of strong transformations taking place in the whole…

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Colombia. A Left Turn.

On May 29, the first round of presidential elections takes place in Colombia, the third-largest electorate in Latin America in terms of population. It is a country that has been ruled for more than six decades by centre-right forces, following an agreement between them after a long period of political instability, dictatorships and violence, in…

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Myanmar. One Year later.

On February 1st, 2021, the Myanmar army (Tatmadaw) announced the change of regime in the country. Within a few hours, the military arrested the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party that won the elections twice in five years, gaining about 80% of the seats in Parliament in November 2020. The army’s…

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Saudi Arabia in Africa.

With its petrodollars and religious penetration, Saudi Arabia is broadening its influence on the continent. It is spreading the Salafi doctrine of radical and conservative Islam. The Saudi heir Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced that next April a summit will be held in Riyadh on collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Africa. What are the…

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Africa’s Challenges at the AU – EU Summit.

The sixth African Union (AU) – European Union (EU) Summit will be held on 17-18 February 2022 in Brussels. This meeting has been postponed in the last two years due to the situation of COVID’19 in order to be able to hold it in a face-to-face mode that ensures the presence of the leaders of…

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Business as a Cause of Forced Migration in Africa.

The media show us regularly the drama of forced migration. It is characterized by gory images of tragedies such as the migrants at the border of Poland and Belarus, people affected by environmental disasters such as those in the Niger Delta, caravans of migrants crossing deserts to nowhere, death people trying to cross the Mediterranean…

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Advocacy

Maria Ressa. Information that gives hope.

“We want to create a federation of international journalistic organisations that collaborate in this effort, starting from the global South,” says Filipino journalist and 2022…

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Baobab

The Leopard, the Dog and the Tortoise.

Once upon a time, there was a leopard. He had a huge walnut tree that was full of nuts. Stingy as he was, however, he forbade…

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Youth & Mission

Mission. In the school of life and humanity.

Three young Comboni missionaries from three continents share their vocation stories and missionary experiences. Fr Victor Cunanan Parungao from the Philippines reflects on 15 years of…

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