Publishing Institution: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University / Journal: Journal of International Affairs

Author:: Marwa Daoudy
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:: In the Middle East “no war is possible without Egypt, and no peace is possible without Syria,” as suggested by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. From 1991 to 2000, Syria entered into extensive peace negotiations with Israel, another key actor in the Middle East. The objective of this article is to understand these negotiations, which involved periods of intense discord as well as moments of rapprochement. Spectacular progress was made, for instance, between 1993 and 1995, when the “Rabin deposit,” Israel's promise to withdraw from the Golan Heights to the 4 June 1967 border and thus allow Syria to recover access to Lake Tiberias, was proposed to the U.S. mediator. The two actors came close to an agreement but failed to put an end to the Israeli-Syrian conflict at the Shepherdstown negotiations in January 2000 and the Asad-Clinton summit on 26 March 2000 in Geneva. What lessons can be drawn from the process which took place between 1991 and 2000 in terms of the actors' objectives, motivations and perceptions of each other? Why did the talks fail to produce an agreement? What was the weight of water in stimulating or blocking the process?
Political Geography:: United States, Middle East, Israel, Syria, and Egypt

Author:: Roberto Lenton, Kristen Lewis, and Albert M. Wright
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:: Increasing access to domestic water supply and sanitation services, while at the same time improving water resources management and development, are catalytic entry points for efforts to fight poverty and hunger, safeguard human health, reduce child mortality, promote gender equality and manage and protect natural resources. They are, therefore, a critical component to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—the integrated set of eight goals and eighteen goal-specific, time-bound targets. The MDGs were adopted at the United Nations Millennium Summit with the objective to make real progress in tackling the most pressing issues facing developing countries. The seventh Millennium Development Goal focuses on environmental sustainability, and one of the three specific targets within this goal is Target 10: to cut in half, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Topic:: Health
Political Geography:: United Nations

Author:: Vsevolod Gunitskiy
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:: In August 2007, a Russian submarine surprised the world by planting the country's flag on the Arctic seabed, almost 14,000 feet below the North Pole. The titanium tricolor was the culmination of a scientific mission to demonstrate Russia's claim to a vast, potentially resource-rich region along its northern coast. Recent geological surveys suggest the Arctic may hold up to a quarter of the world's remaining oil and gas reserves. Predictably, other circumpolar powers criticized the Russian voyage. “This isn't the 15th century,” said Canadian foreign minister Peter MacKay. “You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory.'”
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, and Canada

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