There is universal assent that we are in a period of geopolitical tension and flux. In a rough chronology, 1815-1914 was the era of British hegemony, the not-so-peaceful Pax Britannica. (more…)
Jeffrey D. Sachs
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The new world economy
Belém, Brazil – I inaugurate this new series of columns in a New Year and a new beginning for Brazil with the inauguration of President Lula da Silva, His well-wishers poured out across the country in a revival of hope for Brazil after four years of disastrous rule under his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who had fled Brazil for Florida on the eve of Lula’s inauguration. Bolsonaro left behind a mob that rampaged government office buildings before being arrested in large numbers by the police. (more…)
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Where are China-U.S. relations going? Must watch interview
“There is a battle in the US between so called hardliners, so called neocons or neoconservatives, and those who want cooperative relations with China.”
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Best of 2022: The great game in Ukraine is spinning out of control
Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski famously described Ukraine as a “geopolitical pivot” of Eurasia, central to both US and Russian power. Since Russia views its vital security interests to be at stake in the current conflict, the war in Ukraine is rapidly escalating to a nuclear showdown. It’s urgent for both the US and Russia to exercise restraint before disaster hits. (more…)
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A mediator’s guide to peace in Ukraine
The Ukraine War is an extremely dangerous war between nuclear superpowers in a world desperately in need of peace and cooperation. (more…)
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Biden’s foreign policy is sinking the Congressional Dems – and Ukraine
The proxy war between the U.S. and Russia is devastating Ukraine, ironically in the name of saving Ukraine. (more…)
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The great game in Ukraine is spinning out of control
Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski famously described Ukraine as a “geopolitical pivot” of Eurasia, central to both US and Russian power. Since Russia views its vital security interests to be at stake in the current conflict, the war in Ukraine is rapidly escalating to a nuclear showdown. It’s urgent for both the US and Russia to exercise restraint before disaster hits. (more…)
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The wealthy pollutors inflict pain and death on the poor of Pakistan
Even if we measure cumulative emissions just from the 1992-2020 period, the US share is 19.6%, the high-income group’s share is 46.9%, and Pakistan’s share is 0.4%. (more…)
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On Ukraine and Taiwan we are not using diplomacy; we are using weaponry
We are taking exactly the same tactics in East Asia that led to the war in Ukraine. We’re organising alliances, building up weaponry, trash-talking China, having Speaker Pelosi fly to Taiwan, when the Chinese government said, “Please, lower the temperature, lower the tensions.” We say, “No, we do what we want,” and now send more arms. This is a recipe for yet another war. And to my mind, it’s terrifying.
A new database that Tufts is maintaining has just shown that there have been more than 100 military interventions by the United States since 1991. It’s really unbelievable. (more…)
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The west’s false narrative about Russia and China
The world is on the edge of nuclear catastrophe in no small part because of the failure of Western political leaders to be forthright about the causes of the escalating global conflicts. The relentless Western narrative that the West is noble while Russia and China are evil is simple-minded and extraordinarily dangerous. It is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, not to deal with very real and pressing diplomacy. (more…)
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Jeffrey Sachs and Neil Harrison: Did US biotechnology help to create COVID-19?
NEW YORK – When US President Joe Biden asked the United States Intelligence Community to determine the origin of COVID-19, its conclusion was remarkably understated but nonetheless shocking. (more…)
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Jeffrey Sachs speaks: The perilous situation after COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the end of US leadership
Jeffrey Sachs, economist and UN adviser for the Sustainable Development Goals, discusses the situation in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the dangerous US mindset. (more…)
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Ukraine is the latest neocon disaster
The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden Administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the US wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The neocon track record is one of unmitigated disaster, yet Biden has staffed his team with neocons. As a result, Biden is steering Ukraine, the US, and the European Union towards yet another geopolitical debacle. If Europe has any insight, it will separate itself from these US foreign policy debacles. (more…)
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Jeffrey Sachs: Reaching a just and lasting peace in Ukraine
On June 6-7, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network convened a study group of experts in international affairs, military and security affairs, and international relations among the US, European Union, Ukraine, and Russia. Their statement follows. Kindly note that the statement is solely that of the individual participants of the study group, and not that of any other organisation, including the Holy See, the United Nations, or any national government. (more…)
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From limits to growth to regeneration 2030
Fifty years ago, Italian business leaders in the Club of Rome gave a jolt to the world in their path-breaking report Limits to Growth. That thought leadership continues today as Italian business leaders launch Regeneration 2030, a powerful call for more holistic, ethical, and sustainable business practices to help the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. The 50-year journey from Limits of Growth to Regeneration 2030 shows how far we have come in understanding the critical challenges facing humanity, but also how far we still have to go to meet those challenges. (more…)
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Ending the war of attrition in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has degenerated into a savage war of attrition that each side believes it will win, but which in reality both sides will lose. Ukraine should intensify the search for a negotiated peace of the kind that was on the table in March, but which was abandoned following the Russian atrocities in Bucha. (more…)
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A negotiated peace is the only way to end Russia’s war on Ukraine
There is only one answer to the war in Ukraine: a peace deal. (more…)
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How to protect Ukraine, reassure Russia and keep the peace
All antagonists should recognise mutual security interests. That implies a settlement in which Ukraine secures its sovereignty through neutrality.
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How to avoid security crises in Ukraine and Taiwan
To peacefully resolve the brewing crises over Ukraine and Taiwan the major powers will need to consider the strategic perspectives of the other side.
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Overhaul the global financial system for the sake of the planet
The current two-tiered global financial system only allows rich countries to borrow on decent market terms so they can tackle problems like climate change.
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The climate bottom line: rich nations must step up
Financing lies at the heart of the rupture between wealthy and poor nations on climate: a levy-based framework to provide funding is now crucial.
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‘I see no financial obstacles to getting to net zero by 2050’
With COP26 looming, the expert in sustainable development explains how we can have both decarbonisation and robust growth.
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Anti-China hysteria lies at heart of action against IMF’s Georgieva
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva’s fall would prove the fund has mere trappings of multilateralism — leaving others to go their own way. ..Many in the US Congress want Georgieva out because she is not a sworn enemy of Beijing.
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Blood in the sand in Afghanistan.
For decades, the American political class has intervened relentlessly and recklessly in countries whose people they hold in contempt. And once again they are being aided by America’s credulous mass media, which is uniformly blaming the Taliban victory on Afghanistan’s incorrigible corruption.
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The climate crisis challenge belongs to all of us
Decisions taken by the US government and the rest of the world during the remainder of 2021 will be among the most important of our generation. (more…)
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Jeffrey Sachs speech on the state of the world’s “food system” that is rigged against the poor.
We have a world food system but we need a different system, one based on human rights and national sovereignty. The US won’t allow that. Consider the United Fruit Company in Honduras that was backed by the US government and the military and exploited the local population.The US doesn’t even care about it’s own poor. And don’t think that the US is going to help solve the problem through the private sector. We turned world food production over to the private sector 100 years ago in which the rights of poor people have been denied.
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The idiocracy of America. It is perilously close to becoming a failed state
The hilarious 2006 film “Idiocracy” offers a vivid depiction of American politics. The movie is classified as a sci-fi comedy, but it is more like a searing documentary. It almost perfectly describes America’s crisis of survival today. The American people, and the people of the world, deserve better than an American idiocracy. (more…)
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Finding the origins of COVID-19 and preventing future pandemics
An international and independent investigation to examine the alternative hypotheses is urgently needed, and the US and Chinese governments should cooperate fully and transparently with such an inquiry. In the meantime, scientists, politicians, and pundits should acknowledge the uncertainties that currently prevail. (more…)
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We don’t need the G7
The group’s recent summit in Cornwall should be its last. Political leaders need to stop devoting their energy to an exercise that is unrepresentative of today’s global economy and results in a near-complete disconnect between stated aims and the means adopted to achieve them. (more…)
