In The News

Washington’s Iraq Dilemma: Why Engaging Iran Is a Good Idea

George Perkovich December 12, 2006
Many states throughout the Middle East have authoritarian leaders, disgruntled citizens, troubled economies – and governments as tenuous as houses made of cards. The report from the Iraq Study Group warns that the war in Iraq could widen into a regional conflict and encourages US policymakers to change tactics by initiating direct engagement with Iran and Syria to gain their cooperation in...

US Rout Is Iran's Condition to Talk to Washington

David Ignatius December 7, 2006
The Iraq Study Group Report, a unanimous and unflinching assessment of the war, offers 79 recommendations to the Bush administration for bringing the war to an end. Nations as diverse as Iran, Israel and the UK, which all have an interest in the conflict, do agree on one point: Few options exist for delivering stability to Iraq. So far, the US has refused to talk to Iraqi neighbors Syria or...

The Fears of a Regional War

Yakov Katz December 7, 2006
The Iraq Study Group Report, a unanimous and unflinching assessment of the war, offers 79 recommendations to the Bush administration for bringing the war to an end. Nations as diverse as Iran, Israel and the UK, which all have an interest in the conflict, do agree on one point: Few options exist for delivering stability to Iraq. So far, the US has refused to talk to Iraqi neighbors Syria or...

Energy Firms Come to Terms With Climate Change

Steven Mufson November 30, 2006
With Democrats controlling US Congress, many anticipate new federal regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Executives of energy firms have shifted attention away from battling the existence of global warming to debating methods for controlling the trend: taxing emissions, capping emissions and allowing firms to trade credits, or trapping and storing emissions. Many company officials...

Beijing’s African Summit: Why China Is Wooing the Dark Continent

Eric S. Margolis November 17, 2006
China recently gave a grand welcome to 48 leaders from Africa and passed out $10 billion in aid. As a country that gets about one-third of its oil from Africa, China refuses to criticize human-rights violations that are common throughout the continent. In embracing diplomacy and resisting military action, China has built up an ample trade surplus and more than $1 trillion cash reserves. With such...

Parched in Australia: Drought Changes Views on Warming

Tim Johnston November 16, 2006
Australia has entered its fourth year of drought, and desperate farmers are selling livestock and worrying about a drop in land prices. A 10 percent increase in global wheat prices is another consequence of Australia’s drought. Extreme weather patterns have prompted Australian leaders to drop their skepticism about global warming and express some concerns. Like the US, Australia refused to sign...

Can Asia Count on Russian Oil?

Michael Richardson November 16, 2006
Nations rich in oil can wield great influence throughout the world, and the nations who must buy oil look for low prices and reliability. As the world’s largest exporter of natural gas and the second largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia, Russia is a major power broker when it comes to energy. Constructing pipelines across Asia, the Russian government is not clear about whether its earliest...