Jeffrey D Sachs
Professor of sustainable development
Professor of sustainable development, professor of health policy and management, and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is also special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals.
Harsh US economic blockades risk provoking war
US President Donald Trump has based his foreign policy on a series of harsh economic blockades, each designed to frighten, coerce, and even starve the target country into submitting to American demands. While the practice is less violent than a military attack, and the blockade is through financial means rather than the navy, the consequences are often dire for civilian populations. As such, economic blockades by the United States should be scrutinised by the United Nations Security Council under international law and the UN Charter.
Denuclearisation for all
The core purpose of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is to reverse the nuclear arms race, not to perpetuate the nuclear monopoly of a few countries.
US meltdown
The White House is in turmoil, Congress paralysed and the world looks on in astonishment with the US unable to manage domestic economics or foreign policy.
Broken US democracy
Six of the G7 countries worked overtime last week to bring Mr Trump around on climate change, but Mr Trump resisted.
Economically illiterate
US trade and budget imbalances could soon become a ruinous fiscal policy if Mr Trump and congressional Republicans get their way in cutting federal taxes.
Blowback terrorism
The West, especially the United States, bears significant responsibility for creating the conditions in which the Islamic State has flourished.
Gearing up for a low-carbon future
In May 1961, President John F Kennedy stirred America and the world with these words: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." Just eight years later, Nasa did just that -- with astounding benefits for science, technology and the world economy.
Need for change clear as UN turns 70
The United Nations will mark its 70th anniversary when world leaders assemble next month at its headquarters in New York.
Chance to save Greece goes begging
The Greek catastrophe commands the world’s attention for two reasons. First, we are deeply distressed to watch an economy collapse before our eyes, with bread lines and bank queues not seen since the Great Depression. Second, we are appalled by the failure of countless leaders and institutions - national politicians, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Central Bank (ECB) - to avert a slow-motion train wreck that has played out over many years.
Attacks' roots are Middle East wars
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was not speaking metaphorically when he said that France is at war with radical Islam. There is, indeed, a fully-fledged war underway, and the heinous terrorist attacks in Paris were part of it. Yet, like most wars, this one is about more than religion, fanaticism, and ideology. It is also about geopolitics, and its ultimate solution lies in geopolitics as well.