Our Times

12/11/2025

WHO: For the first time, an international treaty has enshrined the principle of “One Health,” the compelling idea that the health of animals, humans, and the environment all contribute to pandemic risks. SARS (2003), H1N1 (2009–10), Ebola (2014–16), and COVID-19 all emerged through zoonotic spillover from animal hosts—respectively, civets, hogs, and bats. Together, they underscore the need for a coordinated, cross-sectoral approach. The Pandemic Agreement responds to this call, requiring state parties to acknowledge the ecological interplay and commit to a comprehensive “One Health” strategy. Specifically, Article 5 charges governments to address “the drivers of pandemics and the emergence and re-emergence of infectious disease at the human-animal-environment interface,” including wild animal markets, deforestation, and antibiotic overuse (Georgetown Journal of International Affairs).

On May 20, 2025, the World Health Assembly unanimously adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement, an international treaty designed to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. The product of three years of arduous negotiations, the treaty marks a new era of glo...

12/11/2025

USA: Last week, the Trump administration released its second National Security Strategy (NSS) document. The document is less a blueprint for action than it is a statement of the administration’s ambitions for the world it would like to see. What emerges immediately upon review of the document is an articulation of the administration’s intense focus on the Western Hemisphere. Below, CSIS Americas Program experts react to various elements of the 2025 NSS (Center for Strategic & International Studies).

CSIS Americas experts weigh in on the implications of the U.S. National Security Strategy for the Western Hemisphere.

12/11/2025

IRAN: Who nowadays remembers the “1384 Intifada,” the wave of unrest in the Arab areas of Iran in 2005? Few outside the country, certainly. Yet twenty years later, individuals arrested for involvement in the demonstrations are still languishing in jail with no furlough, excluded from the government pardons that are eventually granted to most other political prisoners (Atlantic Council).

Now is the time for Western and regional policymakers to form a clear-eyed view of how they should engage with Iran’s minorities.

12/11/2025

USA: Whatever European officials may say about it, U.S. President Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) is good news for Europe. Europe and the rest of the world now know how poorly this U.S. administration regards them and they cannot keep pretending otherwise. The NSS is not about values. It is not about supporting democracy. It is not about defending principles that the Europeans have taken for granted since the end of World War II. It is about projecting power that should reflect American economic interests. Full stop (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).

The Trump administration has slammed the EU’s political and social policies, which it claims are undermining Europe’s identity. The stark language of the new U.S. security strategy helps Europeans to recognize new realities and to devise their own response.

12/11/2025

BIOTHREATS: The 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the United States, the 2007 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, and the COVID-19 pandemic have something in common: Investigators have struggled to determine their origins despite extensive efforts. This highlights a critical gap in biosecurity capabilities—the limitations of modern forensics in reliably tracing biological threats back to their sources (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists).

Technologies needed for tracing engineered biothreats back to their sources are advancing rapidly. Here are some recommendations for creating attribution systems that can improve detection, accountability, and deterrence.

12/11/2025

INDIA/CHINA: The Durga Puja celebrations in India are an annual festival to worship the Hindu mother goddess Durga and celebrate the triumph of good over evil. The festivities in the state of West Bengal are the biggest of their kind and a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. During the celebrations in September this year, some clay idols of Durga depicted her slaying a demon who bore a striking resemblance to US President Donald Trump. By incorporating such political symbolism into a socio-religious festival, locals were expressing their anger over the most recent trade tariffs of the Trump administration (Development and Cooperation).

Despite considerable differences, the world’s two most populous countries have recently grown closer, a shift fuelled not least by the US’s punitive tariff policy. Here’s how experts from India and China analyse this geopolitical development.

12/11/2025

CONFLICT ZONES: Ukraine, Palestine/Israel, Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria are projected to see the highest battle-related death tolls in 2026, according to a world-leading AI-driven conflict forecasting system. The Violence and Impacts Early-Warning System (VIEWS) is an award-winning conflict prediction model developed by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and Uppsala University, that produces monthly forecasts for violent conflict up to three years ahead. Using machine-learning techniques and a large-scale data pipeline, it anticipates where and how severely armed conflict is likely to escalate (Peace Research Institute Oslo).

Ukraine, Palestine/Israel, Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria are projected to see the highest battle-related death tolls in 2026, according to a world-leadin ...

12/11/2025

USA: This National Security Strategy (NSS) marks an ideological and substantive shift in U.S. foreign policy. The administration is attempting to define a new “America First” foreign policy doctrine that is deeply pragmatic, and perhaps short-sighted. For example, the democracy agenda is clearly over. Foreign policy choices will be made based on what makes the United States more powerful and prosperous. That’s fair, and clearly what the American people voted for, but today’s self-interested choices may lead to a far lonelier, weaker, more fractured future. This is a truly pivotal moment in the way the world works (Center for Strategic & International Studies).

This NSS marks an ideological and substantive shift in U.S. foreign policy, as the administration defines a new “America First” foreign policy doctrine that is deeply pragmatic, and perhaps short-sighted. This is a truly pivotal moment in the way the world works.

12/11/2025

URBAN TRANSFORMATION: Coastal and inland cities risk trillions of dollars in economic losses, from damaged infrastructure and displaced business and communities, unless governments and investors rapidly scale up resilience measures against flooding and land subsidence. The World Economic Forum's new report, Resilient Economies: Strategies for Sinking Cities and Flood Risks, warns that the economic exposure to potential land subsidence is estimated at $8.17 trillion – or 12% of global GDP (World Economic Forum).

Top stories: Urgent action needed on sinking cities; London tops the World's Best Cities list; Spain's high-speed train to accelerate link between cities.

12/11/2025

USA: National security strategies, issued by US presidential administrations every four years or so, generally don’t get much news coverage. They are serious (and often ponderous) efforts to prioritize major US security concerns. At their best, they then describe a plan to deal with these concerns. So, it’s worth noting that much of the sideline talk at the twenty-third edition of the Doha Forum this past weekend—including from a piquant combination of Donald J. Trump Jr. and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—focused on the so-called NSS and its intentionally unconventional and provocative nature (Atlantic Council).

The Trump administration's recently released National Security Strategy is a stark departure from its predecessor during Trump's first term.

12/11/2025

DEMOCRACY: As the twentieth century drew to a close, the global rise of democracy — free and fair elections, civil liberties for most citizens, and institutional constraints upon elected executives — was perhaps its most important political development. Democracy, ideologically attractive to much of the world, seemed to epitomize both progress and prosperity. A quarter of a century later, democracy is no longer the global ideal. Instead, democracy is eroding across the globe through the actions of populist leaders who use majoritarian nationalism to dismantle executive constraints and diminish robust civil liberties. Citizens, too, are losing faith in democracy (Journal of Democracy).

People are losing faith in democracy’s ability to deliver social progress. But are democracies better than autocracies at promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and creating healthier…

12/11/2025

The government of Alberta has committed to collaborate with Canada's federal government to develop a nuclear generation strategy as part of a memorandum of understanding signed by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/nuclear-strategy-included-in-alberta-mou