In The News

China and Google: Searching for Trouble – Part II

Jeffrey Garten January 21, 2010
The China-Google tussle is about two visions of the future, according to international trade and finance professor Jeffrey Garten. It is about openness and globalization vs. stability and nationalism. For China, the desire is to continue to lift millions of its citizens out of poverty; if such a goal entails national stability, requiring control of the internet, so be it. To Westerners, who...

Trouble for Palm Oil

January 14, 2010
Once thought unhealthy and a contributor to deforestation, palm plantations meant to produce vegetable oil have long faced many critics. Though the health concerns have been dispelled, worries over deforestation remain. Unilever, one of the largest consumers of palm oil, has withdrawn a contract with a large Indonesian producer precisely over concerns that palm plantations are destroying the rain...

Terrorism’s New Avatars – Part I

Bruce Riedel January 7, 2010
The foiled bombing of Northwest flight 253 brings to light the global nature of terrorist expansion. Many would have thought it unlikely that ill-governed and little-considered Yemen would be the source of an attack on the United States. But as regional expert Bruce Riedel relates, Yemen has long been a chaotic country governed weakly or by outsiders – a perfect breeding ground for terrorist...

The Forecast is Gloomy

Nayan Chanda December 7, 2009
The prospects for a successor climate change treaty to the Kyoto protocol coming out of the Copenhagen summit are grim. And while the US and China have recently announced new targets, cynics may conclude that such measures are simply ploys to avert blame for failing to commit to stemming climate change. Indeed, Obama’s proposed 17 percent emission cut is closer to four percent when compared to...

China ”Wants to Set Up Factories in Africa”

Tania Branigan December 7, 2009
China’s relationship with Africa has been criticized as one focused solely on procuring natural resources. But Beijing is trying to improve this image by potentially moving lower-value manufacturing facilities to sub-Saharan Africa in possible partnership with the World Bank. In the process, this step may help African states develop a manufacturing base and improve their economies. But Africa...

U.S. Faces Rising Resistance to Its Latin American Policy

Jose de Cordoba, David Luhnow December 4, 2009
Recent developments in Latin America − Brazil’s rising power, China’s growing influence, and Venezuela’s anti-American bloc − are undercutting American influence in a region where the US has long maintained a preeminent position. The Obama administration is finding more resistance to its plans and decisions. This was seen most recently in the failure of an American plan to resolve the political...

A Natural Alliance

Nayan Chanda November 30, 2009
Though India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US was being viewed as all form and no substance in the lead up to the trip, the result was the complete opposite. This conclusion is inescapable when one observes the stark contrast between the joint US-China statement – issued a week earlier – and the US-India statement. The former is a study in an uneasy business partnership made...