Since 1988 and to the present day there has been a war in Nagorno-Karabah, a disputed territory in the southern Caucasus Mountains. Although internationally Nagorno-Karabah is recognized to belong to Azerbaijan, Armenia also claims it because of ethnic ties and because it is an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan territory. The resulting war has deprived the little country which now calls itself Artsakh, of men. While it is a very patriarchal society women have had to step in government, courts, universities all the while being mothers and whatever roles they have had to take on. The result shows what women can do and it is sufficiently impressive Der Spiegel ran an article about them. The women did not ask for this, they are not feminists and do not talk about gender parity. They stepped in because there was a Continue reading “The Women of Artsakh”
Tag: war consequences
The Global Peace Index
Since 2008 there has been a Global Peace Index (GPI) which each year measures the degree of violence in the world and the degree of military spending. Last year the world spent $14.3tn as a result of conflicts, that represents 13.4% of the world’s GNP (Gross National Product) or the equivalent of the economic output of Brazil,Canada, France,Canada, France,Germany, Spain and the U.K. Military spending alone amounted to more than $3tn. Syria, as one would expect, led the list of least peaceful countries, followed by Libya, Ukraine, Niger, Djibouti and South Sudan. To keep all these statistics in perspective, Continue reading “The Global Peace Index”