In The News

Are Big Oil’s Tanks Running Dry?

February 8, 2006
As President Bush called for the US to reduce its “addiction to oil”, Exxon reported the highest net profit of any US company ever – about $36 billion. A public backlash has greeted the record profits by the oil industry. As early as last October, Congress pressed “Big Oil” to defend itself on charges of profiteering. Anticipating more consumer fury, Democrats and Republicans have united to...

China and the Iranian Nuclear Crisis

Jing dong-Yuan February 6, 2006
China has joined the US, Britain, France, Germany and the EU in deciding the time has come to report Iran’s pursuit of nuclear power to the UN Security Council. Despite joining the unified front, China has expressed less anxiety over Iran’s actions and continues to press, along with Russia, for a diplomatic solution to the standoff. China depends on Iranian oil and political ties, and hesitates...

In Kuwait, Succession and a Parliamentary Revolution

Mai Yamani February 3, 2006
The victory of Hamas in Palestine showed the world how the democratic process can produce unexpected results. Less publicized, however, is the recent assertion of democratic power in Kuwait. The nation, which has 10 percent of the world’s oil reserves, has been ruled by two rival branches of the Sabah family for the past two centuries. Traditionally the family resolves issues of succession...

A New Wrinkle for Globalization

Katrin Bennhold January 26, 2006
For its proponents and opponents alike, economic globalization’s greatest force is its disregard for the sanctity of national borders. Some analysts have forecasted that growing cross-border transaction will weaken the nation-state as we know it. Yet recent events suggest otherwise. While some nations empowered by natural resources like oil and gas have been flexing their muscles against...

Stopping the Iranian Bomb – Part II

George Perkovich January 26, 2006
Iran’s revived uranium enrichment program is a cause for general concern and not only because it could lead to the nuclear arming of Iran. Attempts to halt the Iranian program by imposing sanctions could also send oil prices skyrocketing. In the final part of this series on what to do with the Iranian challenge, non-proliferation specialist George Perkovich contends that sanctions and military...

Stopping the Iranian Bomb – Part I

Gary Samore January 24, 2006
In early January, Iran resumed its uranium enrichment program, claiming civilian purposes. Iran’s long record of clandestine activity in this regard, however, leaves only one conclusion – it is the first step toward weapons capability. The challenge that the world now faces is how to stop an oil-rich Iran from exploiting the current nervousness about oil price rise from going ahead. In a series...

Hong Kong As a Clue to the Future China

Michael E. DeGolyer January 23, 2006
Since China gained control of Hong Kong in the 1997 handover from Britain, international observers have wondered whether Beijing would allow the island to retain its separate identity. In many ways, Beijing has indeed followed its promise of "one country, two systems," recognizing that Hong Kong's property rights and entrepreneurial spirit do much to fuel the economic growth of...