Comment archive
Displaying 76 comments posted in 2025
October 2025
Religious and secular mediators need each other
Faith leaders bring unique credentials to peace mediations.
Russia ignores global peace developments to focus on Putin’s war
Extraordinary international attention was focused on the Nobel Peace Prize announcement on October 10. Anxiety was palpable in Moscow, where official skepticism had dominated since the award of the 2022 prize to the Memorial Society.
María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize captures the spirit of our age
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is a reminder that the future of democracy rests on those who dare to protest without violence.
Why Trump is unlikely to win the Nobel Peace Prize
U.S. President Donald Trump has presented himself as a global peacemaker-in-chief, citing his role brokering several peace agreements and suggesting he belongs among the laureates.
Putin attempts to shift nuclear brinkmanship
Russian President Vladimir Putin is shifting from overt nuclear brinkmanship to using Russia’s nuclear energy program as a “peaceful” tool of influence.
September 2025
Imagining War in the Neurotechnological Age
According to neuroscientist Rafael Yuste, founding member of NeuroRights Foundation, “We are entering a world, where technologies no longer simply threaten our bodies. They are directly affecting our minds”.
Putin raises the stakes of rejecting peace deal
Three years and seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, all international initiatives to bring the war to an end have seemingly discontinued.
Cover letters – what are they good for?
Some advice on cover letters for submission to academic journals from the Desk Editor of Journal of Peace Research.
Three parades and four perspectives on history
Three autocrats that do not make an alliance, but join forces in setting for the apparently disunited West and to US President Donald Trump a set of hard challenges.
Trump says he has ended six wars in six months. As a peace researcher, I’m scratching my head
In recent weeks, President Trump has repeatedly claimed that he has “solved” six wars in six months. Siri Aas Rustad comments.
Moscow downplays drone incursion on Poland
The incursion of at least 19 Russian drones into Polish airspace on September 9–10 produced plenty of shock but hardly any awe.
Israel is not a democracy
Can we continue to call Israel a democracy? The answer is no, and paradoxically enough, neither electoral defeat for Netanyahu nor a halt in the Gaza war will change this.
Putin’s Vladivostok Forum underwhelming and alarming
The outcomes of wars of attrition are typically decided by the capacity to mobilize material resources. The Kremlin appears to believe, however, that impressions matter more than real capabilities and the depth of public support.
Security policy for globalized science
Research security is a new concept in research policy. Donald Trump introduced it in a National Security Presidential Memorandum in 2021. Other NATO countries soon followed up.
Translation: How Securitization of Islam travels from Right-wing to Left-wing Political Parties
Since the war on terror began, Muslim minorities living in Western countries have been increasingly treated as potentially radical individuals in cahoots with Islamist groups, and often as an urgent threat to national security. This process of growing surveillance and stigmatization has contributed shaping an Islamophobic discourse and discriminatory policies.
Communal life systems and security in the face of invasive infrastructures
Megaprojects, whether focused on natural resource extraction or infrastructure development, often result in significant changes to the landscape, population, and local economy, frequently causing harm to the environment, as well as disrupting established ways of living and social structures within communities.
Putin seeks People’s Republic of China’s support for war-to-victory stance
The PRC is marking the 80th anniversary not only of the defeat of Japanese aggression during World War II, but also the end of the long century of perceived humiliation by various imperialist powers — one of which was, in fact, Russia.
Carving out space for peace – in space
Fifty years ago, two spacecraft met in space as part of a unique mission: After nearly two decades of intense space rivalry, the Soviet Union and the USA joined forces. We have much to learn from that landmark event today.
The starvation of Gaza is a deliberate policy
In recent days, Israel has commenced new attacks on Gaza, with humanitarian aid playing a key role in its forced expulsion of Palestinians.
July 2025
Putin tries to build himself a position of strength
Expectations for the third round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul on July 23 had been very low, and the forty-minute-long talks delivered exactly that.
Commemorating the terrorist attack July 22, 2011: a memorial map from below
Every year since 2011, from the middle of July, survivors, the bereaved, and the rest of Norway prepare for yet another commemoration of the July 22 terror attack.
Adding a new piece to the puzzle: How the UN Peace and Security Data Hub can support peace and conflict research
By offering structured, publicly accessible and regularly updated data on various aspects of UN peace support, the UN Peace and Security Data Hub opens new avenues for empirical research and policy-relevant analysis – not least for forecasting platforms like VIEWS.
Multipolarity matures, but not according to Putin’s plan
The intensity of turbulence on the global arena has reached such high levels that the 2025 BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro on 6–7 July attracted far less attention than expected.
Putin’s game of war-making and bargaining comes to end
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fake readiness to negotiate the end of Moscow’s war against Ukraine amid its relentless attacks on Ukraine appears to be coming to a breaking point.
Реінтеграція 5 мільйонів ветеранів може стати наступним великим випробуванням для України: Результати недавнього опитування в Україні
На тлі дипломатичної невизначеності щодо мирних угод українські воїни продовжують боронити свою країну на передовій. Як тільки бойові дії закінчяться, ці жінки і чоловіки, ймовірно, зіткнуться з новою битвою - поверненням до мирного життя.
The reintegration of 5 million veterans may be Ukraine’s next major battle: Results from a recent survey in Ukraine
While discussions of a ceasefire remain clouded by diplomatic uncertainty, Ukrainian soldiers continue to fight on the frontlines. Once the fighting on the ground ends, these women and men will likely face their next battle in reintegrating into civilian lives.
Moscow ponders reconfigured Middle East, finding few openings
The cessation of hostilities in the Gulf on 25 June was as surprising for Moscow as Israel’s strike on Iran on 13 June. Russia’s attempts to assess the consequences of the surge of the air war have to take into account apparent analytical miscalculations.
June 2025
Putin’s preemptive maneuvering around NATO summit is cut off
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, investors from most parts of the world have stopped coming to Russia, so the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has turned into a show of fake innovation.
Commemorating the 25 June 2022 terror attack against Oslo Pride: a chronology
As a political event the June 25 attack is remembered both in the context of domestic terror attacks and in the context of terror attacks against queer communities globally.
How do women ambassadors reshape diplomacy at the UN Security Council?
On the occasion of the International Day of Women in Diplomacy, 24 June.
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