In The News

China Sneezes, Latin America Catches a Cold

Jeremy Martin October 17, 2008
Latin America has diversified in industry, investment and trade, shifting to rely less on the US and more on China. A slowdown in China, combined with financial crisis in the US, could seriously impact commodity prices for Latin America, reducing government spending and investment in infrastructure, explain Jeremy Martin and Roger Tissot of the Institute of the Americas, writing for Latin...

The Russian Challenge – Part II

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller October 6, 2008
For enduring success in this era of interdependence, negotiation rather than military power might prove more effective. Neighboring and competing states automatically flinch from those who employ bullying tactics, and long to follow countries that lead by example. This YaleGlobal series examines Russia’s relationship with Europe and the US, and in the second part of the series, former diplomat...

Green View: Testing Metal

October 3, 2008
Consumers take products like aluminum for granted but resent the smelly, unsightly smelters that produce the product. As a source of cheap clean geo- and hydropower, Iceland has attracted aluminum smelters. Yet increasingly, Icelanders question whether they should sacrifice their landscape for the good of the planet – with some suggesting that global consumers could do more to conserve products...

The Fragility of the Global Nuclear Order

Graham Allison October 1, 2008
In 1968, the international community joined forces on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, taking decisive action before crisis hit. Forty years later, “global trend lines in all things nuclear are worsening,” note Harvard professor Graham Allison and Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico and director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, in an essay for the Boston Globe. Both...

Keeping Up With China's Olympic Shine – Part I

David Dollar September 22, 2008
Awarded the right to stage the 2008 Olympics, China set to work polishing cities and parks, designing grand architecture, and coaching citizens to be warm and welcoming hosts. No sacrifice was deemed too great for achieving a successful Olympics and sending a message worldwide about China’s can-do spirit. Perhaps more than anyone else, China’s people appreciated the end results, with the emphasis...

China's Outsourcing Appeal Dimming

Ariana Eunjung Cha September 11, 2008
US manufacturers, who watch budgets and make products for consumers outside China, are less eager to outsource manufacturing operations work. “Soaring energy costs, the falling dollar and inflation are cutting into what U.S. manufacturers call the ‘China price’ – the 40 to 50 percent cost advantage once offered by Chinese producers,” reports Ariana Eunjung Cha for the Washington Post. Cha...

Massive Canada Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Away

David Ljunggren September 8, 2008
A huge Arctic ice shelf breaking away in Canada signals rapid ice melt in the region. Arctic temperatures have risen faster than the global average in recent decades, report researchers. Researchers express alarm about the speed and irreversibility of melting ice. “The rapid melting of ice in the Canadian Arctic archipelago worries Ottawa, which fears foreign ships might try to sail through the...