Erdogan and the EU: A Collision Course in the Balkans
The Turkish president is now seeking to use his growing influence in the Balkans, turning them against the European Union states, Alon Ben-Meir and Arbana Xharra observe.

Talking about Famine with Alex de Waal
In 1998, there was a devastating famine in South Sudan. It was made by war and forcible dispossession, destroying the basis of society. The death rates in that famine were far higher than would have been the case in a less militarized situation. Alex de Waal and Metta Spencer discuss mass starvation and its roots in armed conflict.

A European Strategy for Nuclear De-Escalation
Some European political figures are thinking of getting a nuclear arsenal of their own. But that debate might result in a different outcome, Ben Cramer and Felix Blanc write.

Forty-Year Stalemate over Western Sahara Continues
Occupied by Morocco (and briefly, Mauritania) since 1978, the former Spanish “overseas province” remains as Africa’s last mainland colony. The people of Western Sahara deserve a referendum on independence, argues Stephen Zunes.

A Call to Reject Arms: A New UN Signpost to a Road Less Taken
António Guterres wants to eliminate war as an instrument of foreign policy. Sean Howard looks at the Secretary-General’s most recent initiative, the Agenda for Disarmament: Securing our Common Future.

Preventive Diplomacy is Needed in Assam
Bengali-speaking Muslims are being forced out of India’s Assam state, leading to worrying comparisons with the ongoing Rohingya crisis, writes Rene Wadlow.

Xinjiang: Pan-Turkism Fuels China’s Hearts and Minds Campaign
The Chinese state wants to defuse opposition to its efforts to force the Uyghur minority—Chinese Muslims who speak a Turkic language—to assimilate, James Dorsey observes.

Lessons from Mayak: The Effects of Environmental Plutonium Exposure
For more than seven decades, a nuclear disaster has been unfolding in the Ural mountains of Russia. Adam Wynne describes the explosions, containment failures, and plutonium leaks which have plagued the site and surrounding regions since 1946.

Review Essay: Drawdown
Derek Paul assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Drawdown project’s eponymous book, and looks forward to a second edition.

Newsworthy: US upgrades its nuclear air strike system; NATO held a Summit; Summer arms control meetings;

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