News and views from the Blavatnik School of Government community 
Donald Trump’s pledge to withdraw US ground troops from Syria and Afghanistan has become one of the most controversial foreign policy decisions of his presidency. The political backlash following Trump’s abrupt announcement to immediately remove all 2,000 troops from Syria last December has caused a series of partial reversals, with […]
The passing of Bangsamoro organic law, better known by its previous name Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), last July presents a unique chance for peace in the southern Philippines as the government and two rival separatist groups agreed to work together. While the signing of BBL marked yet another historical breakthrough […]
Russia is preparing to hold a quadrennial military exercise called ‘Zapad’ (which translates as the West) between September 14th and 20th on the territory of Western Russia, Russian exclave Kaliningrad and Belarus. Current tensions with the West add up to the salience of the upcoming drills, which according to NATO […]
Darjeeling is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal which shares the border with Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. A globally renowned destination right from the days of British colonisation, its landscape, toy train, tea gardens, and timber resource made it a popular destination for visitors throughout the 20th […]
The military campaign for the liberation of the Islamic State’s stronghold city of Mosul, the capital city of Nineveh province, has begun today. After twenty-eight months of controlling the second-largest city of Iraq, ISIS’s chapter in Iraq will be brought almost to an end. Yet as the most diversified and […]
This Sunday Colombians will vote to approve the peace agreement between the National Government and the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC). The day of the signing, probably the country’s most important day in its modern history, followed the announcement of a definitive ceasefire made by President Juan Manuel Santos […]
It was already feeling like a long day when I sat down with Ahmed for a cup of Iraqi sweet tea. He had come from the nearby Kurdish department of foreign relations, but I had come north from Sulaymaniyah, about a 3-hour drive away, in mid-day temperatures hovering around 46C. […]
I am Franco-Belgian. Tonight, March 22nd 2016, I am #BruxellesAttacks #IkBenBelge, when on November 13th 2015 I was #JeSuisParis and on January 7th 2015 #JeSuisCharlie. My heart and thoughts go out to the victims – 33 deaths and over 200 injured – and their families, to the Belgians, to my […]