The Silk Road played a crucial role in international trade for about 1800 years by the time maritime trade turned out to possess more advantages than land-based means of trade in terms of speed, cost, and security. Transportation of goods on camels could not compete with the ships in seas until the XVI century when Portugal, Dutch, and English ships…

Mihai-Tiberiu Dima
IBR-2M Nuclear Security Group
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
Dubna, Russia   
How does the World contend with the 2000’s idea (recently resurfaced after the failed Ukrainian counter-offensive [01]) of the use of mini-nukes [02] ?... “mini” being a sugar-coating for eliciting acceptability - after all, if DU…

To explain the current Saudi-Israel rapprochement, some analyses simply refer to the eagerness of both countries in countering Iranian influence in the region. Others point to Saudi Arabia's strive to secure security guarantees from the United States and develop a civilian nuclear program under U.S. assistance. However, such analyses miss a…

Pugwash expresses its deepest concern at the unprecedented levels of violence in the bloody confrontation between Hamas and Israel and between Israel and Palestine.
The attacks against the civil population in Israel, in Gaza and in the West Bank—with approximately 13000-14000 victims, and approximately 5000 of them children—underscore the…

The text was written for an international conference entitled “Armenia and Armenians at Turning Points in the World History (History and Modernity)”, Yerevan, Armenia, September 19-20.2023.
Velvet Revolution in Armenia has triggered various actors all around the world, some hoping that it may even change the country’s geopolitical preferences…

The new round of the Palestine-Israel conflict is a deja vue for the people and elites in the Middle East, not only for the level of hatred and bloodshed that the region is witnessing but also for the possible coming not-very-distant future consequences in the Middle East. History often repeats itself when the same objective cause that led to the…

Managing crises might require new strategies
According to The Economist, governments around the globe are living in a ‘fiscal fantasyland‘ associated with the growing gap between exorbitant obligations and limited opportunities. What is the reason behind the assessment? Not only are there issues with public debt but also with social, budgetary…

Is planned obsolescence of products, services and talent part of a creative destruction process under the New Normal?

“They don’t make them like they used to anymore” is an ancient lament that has resonated through the ages in various forms. It applies both to humans and their material outputs. The Greek philosopher Socrates had this to say…

In principle, wars complement politics, but in Israel wars absolutely remain the norm and politics are the anomalies. The source of the contradictions remains Israel's fundamental and radical alienation from the Arab environment upon which it was imposed. It cannot maintain its security except by accumulating means of force, which deepens its…

“The Curonian Spit is as remarkable as Spain or Italy, which one must have seen if one’s soul is not to be deprived of a wonderful image.” [1]             
- Alexander von Humboldt



As geographer and geopolitician, Jacques Ancel once noted that there are no natural boundaries…

Dear friends, we are very glad to present you the fifth issue of our Public Diplomacy Journal for Young Leaders “Meeting Russia”. This issue is your “gateway” to Russia’s historical towns. While Moscow and Saint Petersburg are in the media spotlight, smaller cities and towns do not often get the media…

On 21-22 October the Pugwash Council met in hybrid format at the premises of the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. Noting the seriousness of conflicts that have erupted in different parts of the world, we express our deep concern at the further spread of war and violence against civilians. We appeal for the international…