Reflectii

Geopolitics has become marginalized in modern international relations scholarship despite its foundational role. This essay seeks to bring geopolitics back to the mainstream of international relations through conceptual, historical, and theoretical analyses. I make three arguments. First, definitional confusion about geopolitics comes from an overly broad understanding of geography. Notwithstanding various uses, however, geography itself should be re-centered as the analytical core of geopolitics. Second, classical geopolitics sought to inform grand strategy using geography as an explanatory variable and was thus institutionalized in U.S. strategic education. To wit, geography was used as “an aid to statecraft.” Finally, although largely ignored in mainstream international relations, the basic premise of geopolitics still undergirds much of its research. But the asymmetry, relativity, and comprehensiveness of geography have not been well explored. Drawing from classical geopolitical works, I offer some suggestions for future research on how to use geography in international relations scholarship.

Twenty years after the events of 9/11, 2001, and in the midst of the messy withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, it seems apropriate to question the validity of the so-called “War on Terror”. The Costs of War project estimates the America’s 20-years of wars, initiated with the supposed intention of fighting terrorism, have killed almost a million peoiple, displaced 37 million, and has cost the US government 8 trillion dollars. If the intention of these wars was to reduce terrotism, they have failed, since every bomb dropped on civilian populations has produced more terrorists, If the intention was to enrich arms manufacturers, the “War on Terror” has succeeded,

Twenty-first-century fascism is the dictatorship of big money. Finance, fossil fuels giants, other large corporations, and the military-industrial complex, have effectively merged with the state, calling the shots in Washington. An immense surveillance and propaganda machine is at their disposal. Narrative and information control is the first line of defense but the militarized police state acts when all else fails. Big money wants total control and tolerates no rivals.

The peace movement in various parts of the world has emphasized in various contexts that if the huge amounts spent on various wars had been spent instead on meeting essential civilian needs, then apart from avoiding the loss of lives caused in actual fighting and bombing or due to the loss of health infra-structure destroyed by bombs, many lives could have been saved also by diverting war expenditure to essential civilian needs presently unmet.

Abstract: The landscape of terrorist financing has transformed owing to the self-starter phenomenon, characteristics of terrorist organizations, self-funded terrorism, and weapons of choice. On a different note, nationally and internationally, financial institutions still rely on traditional counterterrorist financing policies. These policies against the financing of terrorism were drafted as a result of the 9/11 attacks to identify large, complex attacks financed through the international financial system. Unfortunately, the policies have proven to be redundant in tracing the financial footprint of small cells and lone actors – such groups use little to no money to fund their activities. So far, the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policies have been studied from their ability to trigger suspicious reports and cost-of-compliance perspectives, but not from the perspective that seeks to answer why the existing system is insufficient at detecting self-funded terrorism.

*All names have been changed for personal safety

In the two years since the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, people in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince have been caught in a spiral of ongoing violence and insecurity. The turmoil has impacted daily lives, plans for the future, and access to much-needed medical care. Just last week, on July 7, 2023, armed men violently entered a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Tabarre and forcibly removed a patient from the operating room, where he was being treated for gunshot wounds.

En 1968, Robert Kennedy était assassiné alors qu’il venait de gagner les primaires de Californie, ce qui faisait de lui le favori dans la course présidentielle. Une fois à la Maison-Blanche, il aurait été en mesure de rouvrir l’enquête sur la mort de son frère cinq ans plus tôt, et l’on sait, par de nombreux témoignages, qu’il en avait l’intention.

Abstract: International recommendations on countering the financing of terrorism have been accepted as the benchmark when drafting national policies against terror financing. Still, the international recommendations are yet to clarify what needs to be included in terrorist financing. This paper examines the necessity to revise the international standards catered to countering the financing of terrorism. The landscape of terrorist financing has changed since the inception of the recommendation about 20 years ago. In addition, the mechanisms in place to identify what is or is not terrorist financing are also explored to better grasp what is scrutinized as terrorist financing on the ground level. In line with that, this paper provides an insight into what could be the components of terrorist financing that need to be considered when revising the international standards on countering the financing of terrorism.