Author: TheConversation

By Ozgur Ozkan, Visiting Professor of International Studies, Tufts University From the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Türkiye has performed a delicate balancing act, portraying itself as an ally to the warring sides while reaping economic and political benefits from its relationship with both. Türkiye has condemned Russia’s invasion and extended diplomatic and material assistance to Ukraine’s war efforts. At the same time, the country’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has pointedly opted not to join the Western-led sanctions against Russia or cut ties with Moscow. But Türkiye’s neutrality in the Ukraine conflict is seemingly meeting with growing impatience...

By Kateryna Shynkaruk, Senior Lecturer of International Relations, Texas A&M University During a meeting with the nation’s diplomatic corps, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave Ukraine’s ambassadors their marching orders for the rest of the year: Work to help secure Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. Zelenskyy also told the ambassadors to focus on helping Ukraine secure bilateral agreements for security guarantees between Ukraine and individual G7 countries, including the United States. “The task of ambassadors to NATO countries is to work to consolidate all the capitals of the Alliance around common security priorities,” he...

By Natalie Florence, PhD Candidate in Humanitarian Design and Infrastructure Studies, Arizona State University; Heather Ross, Clinical Associate Professor in Nursing and Clinical Associate Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University Many cities set heat records in summer 2023, with high temperatures for consecutive days. Providing basic services like including cool spaces for people experiencing homelessness was lifesaving under such conditions. In 2022, about 1,670 people across America died from heat-related causes, many of them unsheltered. Estimates are not yet available for summer 2023, but given this year’s extreme conditions, the toll is expected...

By Laurie Nathan, Professor of the Practice of Mediation, University of Notre Dame Calls for a cease-fire and other limits on military operations and violence were made by governments, advocacy groups, and political leaders around the world almost immediately after the October 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians by Hamas. Israel immediately declared war on Hamas and began shelling and then invaded Gaza, leading to more than 11,000 civilian deaths and massive destruction. Global calls for cease-fires have continued to be made by hundreds of disparate organizations and tens of thousands of demonstrators. The United Nations General Assembly...

By Glenn Davis Stone, Research Professor of Environmental Science, Sweet Briar College Feeding a growing world population has been a serious concern for decades, but today there are new causes for alarm. Floods, heat waves and other weather extremes are making agriculture increasingly precarious, especially in the Global South. The war in Ukraine is also a factor. Russia is blockading Ukrainian grain exports, and fertilizer prices have surged because of trade sanctions on Russia, the world’s leading fertilizer exporter. Amid these challenges, some organizations are renewing calls for a second Green Revolution, echoing the introduction in the 1960s and...