In The News

Travel Advisory: British Abroad, Staggering About

Sarah Lyall September 4, 2003
Britons are taking advantage of cheap flights to Europe as a result of reduced air travel in the aftermath of September 11. They are not, however, visiting historic and picturesque cities like Prague to soak up the culture, but rather to imbibe the cities' cheap alcohol. Quickly becoming known around Europe as unruly and quarrelsome, British tourists are also known for spending a lot of...

India and Israel Ready to Consummate Secret Affair

Edward Luce September 4, 2003
At first glance, India and Israel seem like improbable allies. India has long championed Palestinian rights, and the country’s large Muslim population makes cooperation with Israel politically dangerous. But 11 years after New Delhi established full relations with Tel Aviv, the two countries share increasingly strong ties based on a common desire to defeat violence rooted in Islamic...

How Washington Can be a Hyper-Power and a Hyper-Borrower

Philip Segal September 2, 2003
What kind of a superpower gets into so much debt that it has trouble pushing around countries that it would love to? The American kind, says Philip Segal, Markets and Finance Editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal. China and Japan - two major buyers of US government bonds - could do great damage to the American economy if they decided to stop buying or to suddenly sell their share of the US...

Think Again: The United Nations

Madeleine K. Albright September 2, 2003
Is the United Nations really horribly bureaucratic, ineffective, undemocratic, and anti-American? Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright doesn't think so. In this Foreign Policy article, she argues that even after the recent US-led Iraq War, which failed to garner the support of the UN Security Council, the United Nations retains its position as the preeminent forum for...

Is America's Economy Really Too Big to Go Down the Drain?

Stephen King September 1, 2003
To most people, the prospect of an American collapse is almost unimaginable. But to Stephen King, managing director of economics at HSBC, it is a very real possibility. In this article, King traces the economic success of the US in the 90s, arguing that this growth was due in large part to other countries which were willing to prop up the US economy. America frequently spent more than it...

The World-System: The Era of Lula

Immanuel Wallerstein September 1, 2003
In 2002, Brazil elected its first ever candidate from a leftist party, Luiz Inácio da Silva. Nicknamed Lula, the leader of the "Party of the Workers" was installed amid a perilous economic climate. With high interest rates and potentially explosive debt, investors expressed their concern by trading Brazilian currency for US dollars and withdrawing financial resources. However, Lula...

Cancun Trade Meeting Should Leave Investment Issue Alone

Susan Ariel Aaronson August 29, 2003
When the WTO meets in Cancun on September 10, representatives of the nearly 150 members will have a lot on their plates. It is their job to negotiate agreements on many divisive issues and to forge new trade policies on agriculture, services, and intellectual property rights to meet the needs of developing countries. These matters are complex and important enough to warrant adding another...