Issue: 2457

The word at the UN is that there is a “commitment gap” - that is, the world's militarily most powerful countries want to see more military intervention around the world, but are reluctant to send their troops on missions run by the UN.

There are many possibilities forcivilian intervention in conflicts. Today the UN, the OSCE,and even NATO, speak of the importance of civilian personnel in complexpeace-keeping missions.

Peacekeeping has changed a lot since 1956, when Lester B Pearson--then Canadian Foreign Minister--proposed that the UN send an international force to the Sinai desert to prevent fighting.

Alice Mead argues that the UN mission in Kosova was doomed from the start and should be called what it is — a "multinational failure".

On 10 June, the fifth anniversary of UN Resolution 1244 establishing the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), protesters in Prishtina raised their red cards to tell UNMIK it was time to leave.

After the NATO bombings, the world's most powerful intergovernmental organisations involved themselves in the administration of post-war Kosovo--not just UN and its subsidiaries or NATO, but the OSCE (for “democratisation”) and the EU and World Ba

Diana Francis reflects on recent military interventions and suggests that, rather than attempting to reframe peacekeeping and postwar operations, we must deconstruct militarism and all it stands for.

Howard Clark argues that preparing to intervene in an emergency is no substitute for addressing the roots of war, and that, ultimately, peace depends on the people.

In October PN met up with former Greenpeace director Rex Weyler while he was in Britain promoting his new history of the international campaign organisation. Tensions in tactics, the need to put the "peace" back into organisation's campaigns focus, and the importance of learning from our own histories, all got an airing.

During the weeks and months leading up to the London European Social Forum (ESF) there was much controversy as to whether a minority had managed to undermine the democratic nature of the forum itself.

Peace News readers will understand the sick feeling many Americans had when we woke up on 3 November and found George Bush had been re-elected.

Who are the biggest and most willing purchasers of arms? Tyrants. Why? They need to oppress their own people and to conquer others, to do this one needs the appropriate tools. Who are the biggest sellers and producers of arms?

Even though Ireland remains officially a neutral state, military landings at Shannon Airport in County Clare have nearly tripled in 2004.

Those pesky Euro bombspotters have been up to their naughty tricks again recently.