In The News

Iraq Finds Unity on the Global Soccer Field

Ahmad Fadam July 21, 2007
Iraq’s soccer team defeated Australia and advanced to the quarter finals in the Asia Cup. And despite a bitter civil war, Iraqis unite in cheering for their team. “If the team, which includes Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds, can play together, then maybe the country can bridge the bloody hatreds that have ravaged so many communities here,” write Ahmad Fadam and Alissa J. Rubin for the...

Academic Boycotts Alone Are of Little Use

Mark Klusener July 20, 2007
The academic boycott of South Africa began in the mid-1960s as a move to eliminate apartheid. Over time, the boycott gathered momentum, but had limited success. Critics pointed out that the boycott stifled the flow of ideas and interaction, hurting the very people who were supposed to be helped by the end of apartheid. Additionally, academics could avoid the boycott by using third parties to...

Interrupting a History of Tolerance – Part I

Riaz Hassan July 19, 2007
Anti-Semitic rhetoric, literature and films emerge from modern Middle Eastern society, and yet Arab nations do not have a long history of intolerance. A three-part YaleGlobal series explores the history of anti-Semitism, with the final part analyzing the delicate task underway in Saudi Arabia to change attitudes and end intolerance. In the first part of the series, Riaz Hassan explains how there...

Chinese Media Star Gives Starbucks a Jolt

Mitchell Landsberg July 19, 2007
When Starbucks coffee shop opened in the Forbidden City seven years ago, China was striving to join the international economic community. Now, the country’s citizens are divided about adopting international trends versus preserving cultural and historical heritage. Rui Chenggang, a television anchor, wrote a blog entry protesting a Starbucks in the Forbidden City, claiming that it “trampled over...

Breastfeeding: A Philippine Battleground

Carlos H. Conde July 18, 2007
Research demonstrates that breastfeeding provides many health benefits for infants. As a result, mothers in developed nations have substantially increased breastfeeding rates since 1990. In search of new customers, pharmaceutical firms that make infant formula target mothers in developing nations, including those in the Philippines. One ad campaign hints that formula’s nutrients can increase...

European Wine Wars: EU Vintners Turn Up Noses at Wine Reform

July 10, 2007
Europe is the world’s largest producer of wines. But in the EU, wine consumption is decreasing, even as inexpensive imports enter the market. About 15 percent of wine produced in the EU goes unconsumed, and the EU invests hundreds of millions of euros to turn unwanted wine into cheap cleaning products. The European Farm Commissioner proposes saving the EU money by paying farmers to destroy vines...

Immigration, Populations, Climate Change, Ideologies

J. Russell Tyldesley July 6, 2007
Conflict over immigration, economic growth, climate change, territorial claims, limited energy or water supplies all increase as the world grows more crowded. Such conflicts would be easier to resolve if population growth slowed, argues J. Russell Tyldesley. The world’s population now stands at more than 6.5 billion, as compared with 1.5 billion in 1900, 2.5 billion in 1950, with more than 9...