In its fourth year under Taliban rule, Afghanistan is facing political, humanitarian, and environmental crises, the impact of which is disproportionately felt by the country’s women and girls. As the Taliban doubles down on its restrictions on women’s rights, the Middle East and Indo-Pacific Programs provide up-to-date analysis that spotlights Afghan women’s voices.
Resilience and Resolve: Commemorating Ukraine’s Independence Day Amidst War
On August 24, Ukraine marks 33 years of its independence. As the country continues to fend off Russia's ongoing military aggression, international support, especially from the West, remains crucial. To highlight the Wilson Center's ongoing policy work on Ukraine and its free, prosperous and secure future in Europe, a diverse group of experts provide their analysis and insights.
Scaling Up the Reuse Revolution in the Global South
Many low- and middle-income countries struggle to manage hard-to-collect and recycle plastic waste, making solutions that tackle plastics usage at its source sorely needed. Enviu, an international venture-building studio, created the Zero Waste Living Lab to incubate early-stage business models for zero-waste solutions in Indonesia, which ranks among the top 10 global plastic polluters. Learn more.
With Andrés Manuel López Obrador's presidential term concluding and Claudia Sheinbaum's beginning on October 1, the Mexico Institute tracks the development of several key constitutional reforms. This new collection, which will be updated regularly, is the ultimate resource for understanding the reforms and analyzing their impact on Mexico’s democracy and the US-Mexico bilateral relationship.
A second tranche of documents and tapes contributed by Steve Coll for The Saddam Files on the Wilson Center Digital Archive has been released. Like the first set, these come from the former Conflict Records Research Center and span roughly the full duration of Saddam Hussein’s formal rule as president in Iraq (1979-2003). Global Fellow Michael Brill, a PhD candidate at Princeton University’s department of Near Eastern Studies provides an overview and analysis.
Canada's Rail Shutdown: Reliability, Resilience, and Reputational Risk
In the early hours of August 22, Canada’s rail network shut down after negotiations between the country’s two largest rail companies and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference did not reach an agreement. Whatever the ultimate outcome of the labor dispute, the shutdown will carry serious implications for Canada’s trade relationship with the US ahead of a highly anticipated review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2026.
In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, Merissa Khurma, director of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, provides an update on where the Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas stand. She also discusses ongoing efforts by the Biden administration and regional leaders to prevent a wider regional war from developing.
“There's an enormous amount of pressure on the White House right now to reimpose sanctions, and even find further ways to isolate and pressure the regime in Caracas. It probably will do that at some point, and certainly, the regime deserves any sort of economic punishment one could think of. I think the hesitancy right now is that that's been tried, and it has failed.” -Benjamin Gedan
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