Energy & Environment

Iran’s environmental woes could be Raisi’s Achilles heel

By Javad Heiran-Nia and Mahmood Monshipouri

Among the challenges encountered by the Islamic Republic of Iran, climate change looms as one of the most serious, disrupting, and even life-threatening issues facing both rural and urban populations. This threat has worsened at a time when Iran is politically polarized, ideologically fractured, and economically embattled.  

Vladimir Putin accused of weaponizing Russian gas

By Diane Francis

With construction work on Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline now complete, critics say Moscow is weaponizing gas deliveries to Europe in a bid to speed up the lengthy certification process.

State of the Order: Assessing August 2021

The State of the Order breaks down the month's most important events impacting the democratic world order.

FAST THINKING: Ukraine’s president finally gets a White House visit

By Atlantic Council

What message does the get-together send to Moscow? What further hurdles must these allies overcome?

Addressing instability in Central America: Restrictions on civil liberties, violence, and climate change

By María Fernanda Bozmoski, María Eugenia Brizuela de Avila, Domingo Sadurní

Citizens across Latin America and the Caribbean are rising up in protest. Political frustration and economic stagnation are fueling social discontent exacerbated by the continued COVID-19 pandemic and the slow health response. In Central America, restrictions on civil liberties, high rates of gender-based violence and extortion, and worsening climate change are compounding the lack of economic opportunities and pervasive corruption seen in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Heat is killing us—and the economy too

Most people know the knock-on effects of global warming by now: rising sea levels, mass extinction of plants and wildlife, worsening floods, fires, and hurricanes. But heat itself is too often overlooked as a destructive force in its own right.