In The News

Mediterranean Pomp

Pascal Boniface July 15, 2008
The extraordinary success of the European project inspired French President Nicolas Sarkozy to initiate a cooperative union for the Mediterranean states. As Sarkozy describes it, the union of projects would cooperate on shared goals, from securing energy and water to removing pollution from the Mediterranean Sea. Yet author Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute for International and...

Time to Cut the Knot

July 9, 2008
Ideally, the US would possess its own energy sources, thus ensuring energy independence and stability. Unfortunately, a dependence on fossil fuels leads to drilling around pristine beaches and using technologies that exacerbate global warming. During a presidential- election year, politicians are less willing to take a firm stance on environmental protection – and pursue any short-term measures...

Bitten by the Deal That Once Fed Us

Gordon Laxer July 8, 2008
US Democrats’ criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement during the presidential primaries has sparked concern in Canada that a Barack Obama White House might seek to renegotiate that trade deal on terms more favorable to the United States. That means Canada and Mexico could also tinker with the terms as well. Writing for the Global and Mail, Gordon Laxer argues that Canadians should...

Indian Investors Enter the Caribbean

Loro Horta July 8, 2008
Following the footsteps of China, Indian firms have been investing in the Caribbean nations, building infrastructure in exchange for the opportunity to purchase natural resources. Foreign direct investments represent a large slice of the Caribbean economic pie; China and India could effectively determine the speed and direction of some nations’ growth, explains analyst Loro Horta, visiting...

Chinese Checkers

Nayan Chanda July 7, 2008
Producer and consumer countries can’t expect to escape unscathed if economic problems strike one or the other as a maze of complicated challenges confront the global economy: The subprime mortgage crisis battered global banks; businesses have trouble finding credit; consumer spending has slowed; and energy prices are on the rise. Giant sovereign wealth funds based in Asia and the Middle East came...

UK Is Wasting Far Too Much Food - Brown

Patrick Wintour July 7, 2008
The United Kingdom wastes about 4 tons of food a year, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called upon the British to be more conservative on their food purchases and preparation. Even as people in some developing nations go without food and other countries hoard, demand remains high in the wealthiest nations. The high demand, combined with some grains being siphoned off for biofuels, contributes...

Weather Plays Larger Role in Global Fuel Prices

Jad Mouawad July 3, 2008
Developed nations expect biofuels to help end reliance on fossil fuels, but the agricultural products – and their prices – are subject to the whims of weather. Flooding throughout the region that produces much of US corn raised ethanol prices by more than 20 percent, reports Jad Mouawad for the International Herald Tribune. He notes that energy prices also jumped after hurricanes struck oil rigs...