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Ten Global Affairs Reads of 2024

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Global Insight by Paul Poast

Nonresident Fellow Paul Poast shares his top 10 book recommendations of 2024.

A person wearing a backpack browses shelves at a bookstore.
Darwin Vegher
US Foreign Policy

Can you get rid of forever chemicals? More countries are finding out

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

While many PFAS chemicals are unregulated worldwide, more countries are acting to limit them, since they have been found in soil, water, and even people’s bloodstreams.

An illustration of an egg shaped like a beaker in a frying pan
Elizabeth Sokolich
Tech and Science

How Much US Land Do China and Other Countries Really Own?

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Global Insight by Coauthors

As of 2021, China owned less than 1% of all foreign-held land in the U.S. Canada, by contrast, held more than the entire area of Vermont and New Hampshire combined.

An illustration of an aerial view of farm land
Lizzie Sokolich
Global Economy

How could Ramadan affect the Israel-Hamas war?

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

In Israel and the Palestinian territories – and other parts of the world suffering from conflict – the holy month has often correlated with heightened tensions and violence.

Palestinians pray in front of a mosque destroyed by the Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip
Fatima Shbair / AP
Defense and Security

Is the UN doing a good job? Just 33% of Americans think so

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

The United Nations has been grappling with two global conflicts that it has so far been unable to deescalate – the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.

U.N. peacekeeper's blue helmet balanced on a weapon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Dieu Nalio Chery / AP
Defense and Security

Israel has occupied Palestinian territories since 1967; UN court considers whether that's legal

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

The United Nations General Assembly has asked the organization’s court to give advice on what legal consequences Israel should face for its decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories.

British jurist Malcolm Shaw, right, and Gilad Noam, Israel's Deputy Attorney-General for International Affairs attend the session of World Court
Patrick Post / AP
US Foreign Policy

1 in 5 young people around the world are NEETs. What does that mean?

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

From the United Kingdom to China, youth unemployment has been a point of concern. But across the world there is also a growing number of young people who aren’t in school, don’t have a job, and aren’t in any sort of vocational training.

An illustration of silhouettes of 4 people sitting together with the word NEETS behind them
Elizabeth Sokolich
Global Economy

ICJ judge voted against every approved measure in Israel genocide case

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

Julia Sebutinde of Uganda voted no on more measures in the ICJ's ruling than the judge Israel appointed to the UN court for this case.

Judges preside over the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands
Patrick Post / AP
Defense and Security

Why is Sweden telling its citizens to prepare for war?

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

As the country moves closer to joining NATO, member countries, including Poland and Germany, have said that within the next decade Russia could attack nations that have joined the military alliance. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson attend a joint news conference
Efrem Lukatsky / AP
Defense and Security

Explainer: How US ties in the Middle East are preventing a regional war (so far)

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Global Insight by Hope O'Dell

The U.S. has official relationships with nearly every country in the Middle East. Israel, a close U.S. ally, has official ties with only five.

Antony Blinken, left, shakes hands with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani
Evelyn Hockstein / AP
Defense and Security