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Never will women’s rights be sacrificed in talks with the Taliban and never will the Afghan government close women shelters. These are the promises President Karzai made to his people in the middle of a heated debate on women’s rights in Afghanistan. These are two major commitments. Judging by the overall political trends in the country, it might not be easy to stick to them. The Afghan population and international community should watch about the implementation and take the president by his word.

The U.S. currently has 104 nuclear reactors. Many of them that have received extensions would never be approved for construction today, experts argue. The U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has not turned down a single renewal application thus far. How safe is nuclear power in the United States?  

In cooperation with ODI, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung is offering a new series of short introductory briefing on various aspects of climate financing. Called “Climate Finance Fundamentals” the short briefs, which include tables and graphs, are meant for those readers new to the debate on global climate change financing and its myriads of facets and needing a quick overview. 

Renewables in the electricity sector are often built in regional cooperations. The Example of the Baltic Sea Region shows, that there is a clear potential for an energy system built on 100 percent renewable production.

The construction of a European grid is a prerequisite for the joint exploitation of renewable energy sources in Europe. But although the necessity is now widely accepted, the construction of this grid and especially of the interconnectors between the different European countries is progressing slowly. How can we speed up this process?

What is the nature of the European Union’s relations to third countries with regard to renewable sources of Energy? And what are the options available for developing those relations further in order to exploit the potential of renewable energy more effectively?

One year ago, the climate summit in Copenhagen failed, leaving the UN climate negotiations in tatters. The result of the following summit in Mexico – the Cancún Agreement – was a pleasant surprise for many observers, whose post-Copenhagen blues left them with little expectation of an agreement. An analysis by

In February 2011 the European Commission presented an update to its Raw Materials Strategy from 2008. What are the practical implications of this European strategy, especially for resource rich developing countries around the world?

According to official announcements in Turkey, Turkish-Russian relations are at an all-time high. However, the validity of these claims is not easy to verify given the lack of transparency on both sides. As part of a series of events on Turkish foreign policy, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Turkey in co-operation with the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Russia and Carnegie Centre Moscow try to review the situation. 

Having power does something to people. They get full of hubris; they forget who they are supposed to represent; they start exercising their power behind closed doors and they become arrogant in a way that is both unbecoming and potentially dangerous. This is one of the things that WikiLeaks counteracts. A comment by