Disasters present new beginning and perspectives with the need to build anew. Whether vowing to rebuild and replicate or relocate, those reviving Japan will strive for security and improvements. This YaleGlobal series explores the transformative effects of spring’s earthquake-tsunami on Japanese...
Like the aftershocks of an earthquake, Japan encounters economic and other little warnings almost daily following the triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. An ongoing transformation of the Japanese economy and political system could permanently alter the nation, explains this...
Ever since the brutal Burmese suppression of democracy movement in the late 1980s, China has emerged as the principal backer of the military regime that renamed the country Myanmar. Sanctioned by the West, the military regime depends on China for trade, arms supplies and infrastructure aid. Now a...
Encouraging Taliban attacks on NATO, leaders of the Pakistan military and its intelligence service are impatient for the US to abandon the war in Afghanistan. The Pakistani goal is to prevent a pro-India government in Afghanistan and install instead a puppet Islamic regime. In testimony before the...
Humans are not necessarily stuck with the unsustainable, unstable economic constructs they have created. Political systems can shape local and global economies, either deliberately or by default. Stewart Wallis, executive director of the New Economics Foundation, urges nations to work in concert to...
The Arab Spring has ushered in new attitudes throughout the Middle East and North Africa, as described by this YaleGlobal series. In country after country, citizens have engaged in peaceful demonstrations, yearning for representative government that balances Islam with democracy and rejecting...
Statehood for Palestine in name only won’t ensure peace, equal footing with Israel and policies that serve the people living within those borders. A three-part series explores the aftermath of the Arab Spring including the motivations behind the Palestinian quest for statehood and consequences. “A...
The Palestinian-Israeli pressure cooker of complex mix of interests and injustices has long threatened to explode – an issue ready-made for extremists of all stripes to needle leaders in Israel, the Palestine Authority or the United States. Since the Arab Spring swept old regimes from power,...
European nations deep in debt are playing a dangerous game with China by teasing global markets. Neither borrowers nor would-be rescuers offer transparency about how much European debt China holds. Sensing that China is increasingly the only available willing buyer, leaders like Wen Jiabao allude...
Reports that Pakistan invited China to construct a naval base in Gwadar have reignited concerns about Beijing’s strategic ambitions in the Indian Ocean. For many China-watchers, the militarization of this commercial port – just 500 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz – would confirm longstanding...
巴基斯坦邀请中国在瓜达尔（Gwadar）建设海军基地的报道重新引起了人们对北京在印度洋的战略野心的担忧。在许多中国观察家看来，这个离霍尔木兹海峡（Strait of Hormuz）只有500公里的商业港口的军事化将证实，人们长期以来对北京“珍珠链”战略的担忧不无道理。但是悉尼罗伊国际政策研究所的研究员汤曾德（Ashley S. Townshend)解释说，人们没有多少理由去担心中国在印度洋的战略重点。正如中国指出的，这些港口不过是把中国内陆省份和海上贸易航线联系起来的传统航运设施而已。把商业港口转变为军港不仅需要全面的防御工事，而且需要说服东道主推翻在中国、...
