COMMENT | ANA PALACIO | Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, and with European Parliament elections looming, the narrow passage earlier this month of the European Union’s Migrant and Asylum Pact has attracted relatively little attention. To be sure, the agreement is more remarkable for the mere fact of its enactment than for any …
Read More »The rule of law under fire across the world
COMMENT | ANA PALACIO | It has been an eventful year, to put it mildly. In fact, the world has endured so much war, disruption, tension, and uncertainty that we are left to wonder whether the rules-based global order, which has guided international relations since World War II, will survive …
Read More »For whom the BRICS toll
Even if doesn’t sound the death knell of the current order, it highlights widely shared grievances against it COMMENT | ANA PALACIO | The just-concluded BRICS summit bringing together the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa was touted as a pivotal event that could change the contours of …
Read More »Xi of Arabia
COMMENT | ANA PALACIO – PROJECT SYNDICATE | Perhaps no image better captures the shifting dynamics in the Middle East than that of Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s security council, and Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban, Saudi Arabia’s minister of state, shaking hands in Beijing, with China’s top diplomat, …
Read More »The shakeup the World Bank needs
If the Bank fails to listen to the demands of developing countries, the West will lose them COMMENT | Ana Palacio | Major changes are afoot at the World Bank, but few people seem to be paying attention. Beyond devising a new, greener mission, the Bank is undergoing a leadership transition, with …
Read More »Can the West Woo Africa?
Despite America’s pledge to deliver $55 billion, the West cannot match China’s deep pockets COMMENT | Ana Palacio | The United States is finally paying attention to Africa. But recent attempts at engagement – the US-Africa Leaders Summit in December and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s ten-day tour of the continent last …
Read More »Human values for artificial intelligence
It remains impossible to predict all the ways AI will reshape human lives and civilisation COMMENT | Ana Palacio | This may be the year when artificial intelligence transforms daily life. So said Brad Smith, President and Vice Chairman of Microsoft, at a Vatican-organised event. But Smith’s statement was less a prediction …
Read More »The West’s role in the global food crisis
A staggering 345 million people face acute food insecurity, with more going to bed hungry COMMENT | ANA PALACIO | Actions speak louder than words. That adage explains why Russian President Vladimir Putin’s depiction of his brutal and senseless war in Ukraine as a noble fight against Western imperialism comes …
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