This week the heads of Northern Ireland’s leading parties sat together with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Irish President Mary McAleese for an emergency meeting to save the country’s executive branch. Officially, the issue at stake was the planned shift of power over the control of the police and judicial institutions from British to [...]

“On the internet 50 percent is porn material. Why should we refer to the internet?” This was Vladimir Putin’s answer to widespread claims on Russian internet websites that the October regional elections were rigged. But while dismissing the internet as an irrelevant source of information, Putin does take the internet seriously when it comes to [...]

This week the ISN weighs in on the debate about drones, exploring both the risks and benefits associated with their use in modern warfare. The main challenge is to match the reality of the battlefield with theoretical, strategic and operational clarity and to catch up, both analytically and legally, with technological advances. In our Special [...]

For all the criticism about open collaborative projects, these have one unquestionable asset: the speed and efficiency of updates. In crisis situations such as the Haiti earthquake, this makes all the difference. I’ve been following the developments of OpenStreetMap (OSM) after the first earthquake hit and it’s fascinating. Just check this comparision with Google to [...]

As we’re focusing on Euro-Mediterranean relations this week, here’s your chance to test your knowledge about the region in the first edition of The ISN Quiz.