Global Outlook

Given North Korea’s stronger nuclear arsenal, the pervasiveness of anti-North Korean sentiment in the US, and the intensifying rivalry between the US and China, another North Korean nuclear crisis at this point might not be manageable.

With the advance of algorithmic technologies, the international legal regulation of fully autonomous weapons systems has risen up the international security and humanitarian agenda in recent years. But calls for the outright prohibition of such systems seem both premature and destined to fail.

India witnessed two devastating cyclones, Tauktae and Yaas, hitting west and east coasts within a span of two weeks in May 2021. Such extreme weather events impact the lives of millions, both immediately and long after they have passed. The calamities occurred simultaneously as the second phase of the Covid-19 pandemic was claiming lives in the thousands daily. The cyclones and the pandemic together presented an ominous future of an unmitigated climate change.

The confrontation between the United States and China is deepening. China was the main actor in the shadows behind the G7 summit held in the UK from June 11 to 13. The common theme of the summit was "Build Back Better". The joint declaration covered a wide range of topics, including measures to combat the COVID-19, the economy and security, and climate change, all with China in mind.

After the summit talks in Geneva on 17 June, Russian and US presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden held separate and contrasting press conferences. Biden made it clear his staff had given him a prepared list of reporters on whom to call, strongly suggesting questions and answers drafted in advance to minimise gaffes by a president whose thoughts can wander sometimes.

Two years ago, in July 2019, the Toda Peace Institute published the ‘Toda Pacific Declaration on Climate Change, Conflict and Peace’. So far, the Declaration has attracted more than ten thousand endorsements (and Toda warmly welcomes further endorsements).