How the Israel-Hamas War Impacts Regional Relations

How the Israel-Hamas War Impacts Regional Relations

Monday, October 23, 2023

By: Ambassador Hesham Youssef

Hours before President Biden was to land in Israel last week, a missile hit Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians in one of the deadliest incidents since this war began. This horrific incident points to a war that is of a different scale and significance than many previous rounds of violent confrontation and that will have reverberations throughout the Middle East. In recent days, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in rage and world leaders are calling for the protection of civilians and an immediate cease-fire in the face of the siege and escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, resulting in life-threatening shortages of water, electricity, fuel, food and life-saving medical supplies.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Mapping the Religious Landscape of Ukraine

Mapping the Religious Landscape of Ukraine

Monday, October 23, 2023

By: Denys Brylov;  Tetiana Kalenychenko;  Andrii Kryshtal

Religion and religious actors have been important influences on the occupation of Crimea and on hybrid warfare issues in eastern Ukraine since 2014. Since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, they have influenced social dynamics within Ukraine as a whole. This report analyzes the nuanced connections between religion and society, which are crucial to understanding the conflict, and offers lessons that can guide effective, feasible peacemaking and peacebuilding interventions.

Type: Peaceworks

Conflict Analysis & PreventionReligion

After Six Months of Civil War, What’s the State of Play in Sudan?

After Six Months of Civil War, What’s the State of Play in Sudan?

Thursday, October 19, 2023

By: Alex Rondos

What started as clashes in Khartoum this April between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devolved into a civil war. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the SAF, and his former deputy, the RSF’s General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, had worked together in toppling the Bashir regime in 2019 and orchestrating a military coup in 2021. But tensions over how the RSF would integrate into the SAF eventually led to fighting that has metastasized over the last six months. Caught in the crossfire are Sudanese civilians, who are experiencing a growing humanitarian crisis.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Amid China Tensions, the Philippines Relies on Alliances and Rule of Law

Amid China Tensions, the Philippines Relies on Alliances and Rule of Law

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

By: Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit

A diplomatic win, many people said about the announcement of a hotline between the Philippines and China. This was one of the highlights of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s trip to China in January 2023, where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping established a direct line of communications between their two capitals. Specifically, the line would be between departments in each country’s foreign affairs ministries that deal with maritime and border issues. The objective was to prevent the escalation of tension in the West Philippine Sea (also referred to as the South China Sea).

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & PreventionGlobal Policy

What’s Next After Hamas’ Attack on Israel?

What’s Next After Hamas’ Attack on Israel?

Saturday, October 14, 2023

By: Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen

A week after Hamas’ heinous attack in southern Israel, the grim reality of a protracted war has set in. As of this writing, 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians, have been killed and Israeli officials believe as many as 150 hostages have been taken by Hamas. U.S. officials have said that 27 U.S. citizens were also killed. As Israel intensifies its operations in the Gaza Strip, 2,000 Palestinians have been killed. There are thousands of wounded on both sides. With Israel calling up 360,000 reservists, a cessation of hostilities seems a distant prospect.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

In Northeast India, Manipur’s Violence Echoes Sudan’s Darfur

In Northeast India, Manipur’s Violence Echoes Sudan’s Darfur

Thursday, October 12, 2023

By: Binalakshmi Nepram;  Manal Taha;  Kris Inman, Ph.D.

Rising violence this year threatens to deepen instability in India’s far northeastern region. Ominously, the bloodshed centered in India’s state of Manipur includes elements that were visible in early stages of the 20-year-old conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region. Darfur’s violence has killed or displaced millions of people and helped lead to this year’s civil war across Sudan. Tragically, both countries have seen these disparate conflicts intensify through widened opportunities for ill-governed ethnic militias and for hate speech. These evolutions have hardened local conflicts over land or water into more extreme, venomous warfare between ethnic or religious communities. Darfur’s example underscores the urgent need for responses in Manipur.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & PreventionViolent Extremism

Japan-China Crisis Communications Are Improving but Face Challenges

Japan-China Crisis Communications Are Improving but Face Challenges

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

By: Yasuhiro Kawakami

The urgent need for improved crisis communications mechanisms between China and Japan has been driven home by a number of incidents between the two countries. For example, in January 2013 a Chinese navy vessel directed a fire-control radar at a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer. A little over a year later, in May and June 2014, two Chinese military fighter aircraft flew unusually close to Japanese military aircraft. These incidents could have led to a much wider conflagration, particularly in the absence of a crisis communications mechanism.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

How to Help ASEAN Address South China Sea ‘Gray-zone’ Challenges

How to Help ASEAN Address South China Sea ‘Gray-zone’ Challenges

Monday, September 25, 2023

By: Hoang Do

In early August, a Chinese coast guard vessel fired a water cannon at a Philippine supply boat, in what was yet another example of Beijing’s so-called “gray-zone” tactics in the South China Sea. These gray zone activities are a form of slow intensity conflict that China has increasingly employed over the last year to assert its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Searching for Peace in Solomon Islands

Searching for Peace in Solomon Islands

Thursday, September 14, 2023

By: Anouk Ride

In recent years, the Pacific nation of Solomon Islands has been in the news for its controversial and secretive security pact with China. However, Solomon Islands’ peace and security is contingent on far more than treaties and its current prime minister’s shifting geopolitical allegiances.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention