Cities have been targeted since time immemorial, evidenced by the plunder and pillage of ancient cities such as Carthage—one of the most powerful trading and commercial centers from 650 B.C.E. to 146 B.C.E.—that was razed to ground by Roman military forces.
In responding to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of war in cities, it is crucial to pay attention to every individual death, injury, and incident of destruction and also to indirect harm to the collective population and its shared spaces—to the very fabric of the city.
The city as a unit is the expression of a sum greater than its parts: homes, centers of community and culture, roads to work and school, infrastructure and architecture, and the people living there; it is both political and politicized.
In one of the most dramatic moments in international legal history, advocates for South Africa argued before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel’s resort to and conduct of war in Gaza violates the Genocide Convention.
It is difficult to predict at this stage the impact of South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) charging Israel with genocide over its response to Hamas’s October 7 attack and massacre.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 indicates the obligation of universal solidarity as a foundation for human rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is one of most monitored conflicts in the history of warfare. From remote sensing satellite imagery to signals intelligence to social media monitoring, copious data are being collected and analyzed in real time.
Russia is waging an information war against Ukraine. Similar to their successes on the battlefield against Russia, Ukrainians are undermining Russia’s attacks in the digital realm. This article showcases how Ukrainians are fighting back–and winning–as they demonstrate...
These are difficult times for peace supporters. Faced with Russia’s brutal aggression in Ukraine and rising militarization in the United States and around the world, we are troubled and uncertain about what to do. Millions of us marched against the Iraq war 20 years...
Ukraine is a country with more than 100 years of experience in nonviolent action. Since the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian civil society has spontaneously and courageously organized to counter the military occupation through hundreds of...
On July 28, 2022 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted—by a count of 161 in favor, with 8 abstentions—that living in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right. Building on the similar declaration by the UN Human Rights Council (UN HRC)...
In April 1971, more than a thousand Vietnam veterans descended on Washington, DC, for a series of antiwar actions dubbed Dewey Canyon III, “a limited incursion into the land of Congress.” For a week the veterans demonstrated and lobbied government officials to end the...
The ignominies of the U.S. war in Vietnam are well known, as recounted in Chuck Searcy’s essay. Less well known is the rebellion in the ranks known as “the GI Movement,” which David Cortright discusses in his article. Active duty servicepersons circulated dissident...
When I flew out of Viet Nam in 1968, it was with huge relief that I was departing safely after a tumultuous year that made clear to me and the world that America would never win this war. But I was also troubled, confused, and angry. The Vietnamese people were...
Rashied Omar is the Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is author of Tolerance, Civil Society and Renaissance in Post-Apartheid South Africa, published by Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape...
Cora Currier is on staff at The Intercept and a journalist with a focus on national security, foreign affairs, and human rights. Her work has been published in Stars and Stripes, The Nation, Al Jazeera America and many other outlets. Last fall, my colleagues at The...
David Cortright is Director of Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is coeditor of Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict (Chicago University Press, 2015) and author of Ending Obama’s War (Paradigm, 2011). Michael Hayden, the...
Peter Wallensteen Peter Wallensteen is Richard G. Starmann Sr. Research Professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Senior Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University. His most recent research...
Andrew Bacevich Andrew Bacevich is Professor Emeritus of History and international relations at Boston University. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and served as platoon leader in Vietnam in 1970-71. The major lesson that the U.S. national security...
Marilyn Young Marilyn Young is Professor of History at New York University. She is author of The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990. As we reflect on how the war began, it is worth considering how things might have played out differently. We know that Ho Chi Minh used the U.S....