Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Who among us has not been frustrated at some point by the bureaucracy of this institution to the extent of wondering what’s the point of the UN’s existence? If there’s a topic where that discussion gets really heated, it’s Haiti, a country where so much is being done and so little positive effect.
The collapse of the Assad regime liberated Syrians from decades of brutal and repressive rule and has opened the way for a better path forward. But the group that has taken over—HTS led by Ahmad al-Shara—has an extremist past, the state and economy are in shambles, and the country continues to suffer from deep divisions….
In a world where commerce and sovereignty increasingly overlap, international law must preserve that delicate balance, jurisdiction for market participation and immunity for sovereign authority. In the 20th century, the ideological boundary between socialism and capitalism seemed firm: in one, the state owned; in the other, it merely regulated. In the 21st century, that line…
“The longer we don’t reform the Security Council the more the council’s credibility suffers’’
Refik Anadol, the visionary Turkish artist who captivated millions with his ground-breaking MoMA installation Unsupervised, is now shaping the future of art and technology with the opening of the world’s first AI art museum, Dataland, in Los Angeles in 2025. Recently recognized at the prestigious 2025 TIME100 Impact Awards, Anadol has spent nearly two decades…
Decades of asylum abuses, shifting harm-reduction efforts and competing federal priorities have left Brazil with a patchwork system struggling to meet the needs of people who use drugs. I came to Brazil, and to a health clinic in this northern coastal city, to research how this vast and diverse country cares for people who use…
The United Nations opens its 80th General Assembly session Tuesday, Sept. 23, with world leaders gathering in New York amid global crises. The annual debate, the diplomatic centerpiece of the UN calendar, runs through Sept. 29 under the theme: “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.” Leaders from 193 member…
From the simplest weather shelter, through the grandeur of castles, to soaring neo-futurist skyscrapers, architecture has always been a marker of human progress. Since the Neolithic era, the spaces we build define our development, transforming building into an art form – flexible despite its structural rigidity. Architecture has shaped religious beliefs, cultural shifts, and political…
Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years, the steepest decline in decades. The World Health Organization’s 2025 data reads like a warning siren: the world’s health gains are stalling, and the 2030 goals are slipping further out of reach. Rising anxiety and depression during the pandemic also erased nearly six weeks…
“Although everyone likes to joke about how things take forever at the U.N., actually the U.N. tax committee has delivered a whole set of things quite quickly,’’ says economist Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network. What do you get when you put complex international tax reforms into a multilateral negotiation format involving the United Nations’…
As the son of a career Foreign Service Officer, our family moved every 18 months, changing countries, climates, and languages. Starting in the 1950s, much of the travel was by ship. It is hard to imagine 2025 climbing on a boat in Jakarta and three weeks later climbing off in Genoa – across the Indian…
Adams became widely known after the 1998 film Patch Adams, in which he was portrayed by Robin Williams. The film depicts his belief that doctors should treat patients with empathy and humor, challenging the traditional, often sterile, doctor-patient relationship. In a world often overshadowed by cynicism, disconnection, and the relentless pace of modern life,…
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) rapidly reshapes knowledge systems, governance structures, and global development pathways, a fundamental question arises: Who owns the algorithms shaping our collective future? To date, AI development has been largely concentrated in the hands of a few powerful corporations and countries—predominantly in the Global North. Yet a growing chorus of voices, particularly…
Can the United Nations reinvent itself at 80? Inside U.N. chief António Guterres’ bold gamble to streamline mandates, tame finances, and keep diplomacy alive. Reform has already begun to feel passé as the months of this year have rolled by. Projecting into the future makes policy and peace processes harder to chart, especially in an…
Reviving its historic link with Morocco’s Chefchaouen, a small town in southern Spain, proves that cross-border cooperation can dismantle prejudice and offer a working model for the Alliance of Civilizations’ vision of intercultural understanding. As governments tighten borders and harden rhetoric, some communities are proving that diplomacy can start at street level. In southern Spain,…
What began as a son helping his father rebuild in the Dominican Republic has grown into a movement transforming lives through mindset, financial literacy, and community empowerment I used to define success by title, income, and status. Like many in finance, I was laser-focused on climbing the ladder fast. But everything changed the moment I…
