In The News

Asia Sentinel: Curbing Asia’s Corrupt Governments

December 17, 2018
Civil society organizations from nine ASEAN member states are trying to fast-tract the UN Convention Against Corruption: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Corruption wastes funding and weakens governments, and Transparency International reports that corruption is entrenched throughout Asia. Ending a culture of cheating and fraud...

Chronicle of Higher Education: MIT-Saudi Partnerships

Steven Johnson December 12, 2018
Organizations of all types are reviewing partnerships with Saudi Arabia since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was among the first universities to review ties, including $25 million for MIT research from Saudi Aramco. Gifts from Saudi donors account for about 40 percent of overall spending in recent years,...

Globe and Mail: Canada Arrests Huawei Global CFO

Robert Fife and Steven Chase December 7, 2018
The US-Chinese trade war has taken a new turn with news of the December 1 arrest of China’s Huawei Technologies chief financial officer in Vancouver, Canada – about the same time as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping put a pause on the trade war. Meng Wanzhou faces extradition for violation of trade sanctions against Iran. “The decision by Canadian authorities to detain such a high-profile Chinese...

New York Law Journal: Trump’s Lawyer Pleads Guilty

Colby Hamilton November 30, 2018
Donald Trump’s former attorney pleaded guilty to lying to US Congress about Donald Trump’s attempts to secure a Russian real estate deal during the US presidential campaign. Michael Cohen is cooperating with the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Russian meddling in the US presidential election. Cohen admitted to considering plans for him and Trump to travel to Russia and...

New York Times: Trump Pardons Saudi Arabia

Mark Mazzetti and Ben Hubbard November 22, 2018
For the US president, only his opinion matters as he regularly ignoring professionals with years of experience. The latest example is Donald Trump dismissing a finding by US intelligence agencies that the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi diplomatic consulate. “Trump has long viewed foreign policy as a series of business deals, stripped of values and...

Foreign Affairs: The Next Arab Uprising

Marwan Muasher November 21, 2018
The Arab Spring uprisings, the low price of oil and the disregard for human rights as displayed by the murder of a journalist in a Saudi diplomatic consulate – ordered by the Saudi crown prince, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency – is prompting nations and businesses around the globe to reassess stability of the Middle East. Likewise, citizens living in the region under authoritarian...

New Republic: Why Brazilians Elected Bolsonaro

Andre Pagliarini November 15, 2018
Brazilians, in electing Jair Bolsonaro as president, yearn for order and economic prosperity. The military is the country’s most trusted public institution. But Bolsonaro has dismissed human rights and opposed limits on Brazilian police to rely on firepower. He had a troubled record in the military under civilian rule and praised the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985...