The 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place from November 30 to December 11, 2015 in Paris, France.[1] More than 150 nations submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) outlining plans for decreased carbon emissions and increased energy efficiency.[2] The goal of this conference was to […]
The 2016 election cycle is shaping up to be the most interesting in years. This is the result of a “revolution” brewing among both Democratic and Republican bases alike — where “outsider” candidates garner major support and their party establishments try to tear them down. The Democratic Party has had some success keeping Bernie Sanders […]
February 13, 2016: Antonin Scalia is dead. The brilliant conservative jurist, beloved on the right and often demonized on the left, had for decades stood as a conservative titan and stalwart on the Supreme Court. Scalia, 79, was discovered dead in his room at a luxury resort, where he had been visiting for the weekend, […]
The HBO series Girls — and its creator, writer, director, and star Lena Dunham — have attracted overwhelming media attention since the show first aired in 2012. Girls has received mixed reviews; some applaud the show and Lena Dunham, a self-proclaimed feminist, for bringing women’s issues to the forefront of social and political discourse, while […]
International lawyer Amal Clooney has taken on the case of imprisoned investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, signaling hope for media freedom in Azerbaijan and striking fear in the hearts of repressive regimes everywhere. Khadija Ismayilova, 37, is an investigative journalist from the former-Soviet state of Azerbaijan. She dug into the regime of President Ilham Aliyev, whose […]
LGBT rights have expanded exponentially in the past year. The Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) legalized same-sex marriage across all 50 states, briefly putting an end to state-imposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[1] The majority of political backlash following the Obergefell decision, primarily from conservative states and politicians, consisted mostly of […]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was created by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in response to the horrific violence of the Balkan Wars in the early 1990s.[1] In 1993, as the conflict was still in its relatively early stages, the Tribunal was established in The Hague, a small Dutch city […]
As falling oil prices continue to plague the Saudi Arabian economy, efforts to develop a system that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship are being put to the test. As a result, women are taking household roles that are less traditional, starting businesses, and working in industries from which they were banned not long ago. Gender inequality […]
The 2016 primary season has been extraordinary in the way it has captivated voters, media, and the international community for such a sustained period. There’s a certain appeal to the train wreck that is Donald Trump’s ascent, with his endless supply of petty remarks and unrealistic policies, and the ensuing speculation and incredulity surrounding his […]
Over the past two decades, the idea of a “two-state solution” has been proposed by countless intellectuals and political thinkers as the end-game to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the idea of such a solution has been used to perpetuate a constant state of uncertainty in Israel-Palestine, thereby allowing Israel to continue the expansion of settlements […]
