Author: The Cayman Institute

The Cayman Institute Director-General of The Cayman Institute. Nicholas Robson has a rich background in the non-governmental (NGO) sector. He received his MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford. Nick has consulted for the British Red Cross in Disaster Management and is the founder of the Cayman Institute, a think tank doing policy research in areas such as global warming and climate change, energy security and economic sustainability for small island states. Nick also has a background in security and law enforcement. His geographical areas of interest are Central and South Asia and the Middle East as well as Small Island Developing States. He is also the Chief Coordinator of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) based in London whose aims are to make a leading contribution to regional and international academic and policy-orientated research discourses about South Asian security. His publications include Cayman Islands Energy Policy: Background Advisory Report and Sea Level Rise and Its Implications for the Cayman Islands. See Specialties -Geopolitical, strategic and security implications of climate & energy security -Food and water security implications -Climate / Refugee problem -Global terrorism and climate change -Disaster management and climate change -Economic, political and social issues in the world's smallest countries and dependencies (including SIDS) Counter Terrorism. Disaster Response - IFRC. Human Rights - Int’l Human Rights Academy (University of Utrecht). UN training in Peace Keeping Operations (UNITAR)

How has the memory of the Holocaust shaped Germany and Israel?

How has the memory of the Holocaust shaped Germany and Israel?

An interview with Udi Raz from Jewish Voice for Peace in the Middle East on how the Holocaust impacted the societies and politics of both Germany and Israel

January 27 is Holocaust Remembrance Day, a date of enormous symbolic importance in Europe, marking one of the darkest chapters in human history. It’s a day of particular significance in Germany, of course. The so-called remembrance culture, Germany’s reckoning with the legacy of the Nazi periods, and the industrial scale genocides perpetrated by the Nazi regime, have been much lauded internationally.

But today, parts of this culture are increasingly coming into question by many, with charges of antisemitism being used by German institutions to silence voices speaking up for the rights of Palestinians in particular. The targets of these charges are, disproportionately, the Palestinians themselves, Arabs, more broadly, and Jews.

On the international stage, meanwhile, Germany’s long steadfast support for the State of Israel, which remains unshaken even as the civilian toll in Gaza continues to climb to ever more obscene numbers, has raised the ire of many. The support, of course, is again justified by the legacy of the Holocaust and the German state’s resulting sense of responsibility towards the security of the Jewish state.

(https://diem25.org/how-has-the-memory-of-the-holocaust-shaped-germany-and-israel/)

Jaw-Dropping’ Analysis Shows Fossil Fuel Companies to Burn Through 62% of Carbon Budget

‘Jaw-Dropping’ Analysis Shows Fossil Fuel Companies to Burn Through 62% of Carbon Budget

In another high-profile case of “greenwashing,” the oil and gas companies that signed a decarbonization pact at last year’s 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference have plans that would burn through around 62% of the carbon dioxide that can still be emitted without pushing global temperatures past 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.

(https://www.commondreams.org/news/fossil-fuel-companies-carbon-budget)

US Court Hears Case Alleging Biden Complicit in Israel’s Genocide in Gaza

Calling for an emergency injunction to stop the Biden administration from aiding Israel in its bombardment of Gaza, which has so far killed more than 26,000 people and pushed roughly 2 million more to the point of starvation, human rights organizations and Palestinians in the U.S. on Friday took federal leaders to court to stop U.S. “complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide.”

(https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-complicity-genocide)

Cleaning Water Naturally the Ancient Maya Way

Cleaning Water Naturally the Ancient Maya Way | Scientific American

Water is life. That’s why we need to take care of it. Even plentiful water supplies are moot if they are undrinkable. Climate change, pollution and growing populations only add to the urgency of maintaining adequate water supplies and water quality for humanity.

After doing archaeology for 35 years in Belize, focusing on the ancestral Maya, I have learned a great deal about living sustainably with water. I’ve learned that they lived in better harmony with the environment and kept water clean naturally. We can learn from them. We must.

(https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cleaning-water-naturally-the-ancient-maya-way/)