In The News

Militants Warn China Over Oil in Niger Delta

Craig Timberg May 2, 2006
Immediately after the Nigerian government signed agreements on oil access and other investments with Chinese President Hu Jintao, militants detonated a car bomb and threatened Chinese investors and officials, as well as oil workers, offices and storage facilities. One militant group labeled the Chinese, who have a $2.2 billion stake in Niger Delta oil field, as “thieves.” Currently, the US is...

India Flexes Its Muscles With First Foreign Military Base

Nick Paton Walsh April 27, 2006
The Indian Air Force is reportedly refurbishing an airbase in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan. Jane’s Defence Weekly reports that India will station two squadrons of Russian-built fighter craft and also help train the Tajik air force. Tajikistan and India refuse to confirm the report. Tajikistan, an impoverished and largely Muslim nation, is bordered by China on the east and Afghanistan...

China Seeks "Strategic Partnership" With Africa

Tom Ashby April 27, 2006
After making economic inroads throughout Africa, China seeks to strengthen political ties. Speaking in Nigeria – Africa’s top oil-producing nation – China President Hu Jintao promised respect for African sovereignty, which contrasts with the ongoing US demands for democracy and a war on terror. The Chinese president’s tour has included stops in the US, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Kenya. "...

EU Accused of Ignoring Human Rights Abuses in Rush for Gas Deal

Nicholas Watt April 26, 2006
The lucrative gas reserves in Turkmenistan attract the EU to such an extent that parliamentary committees are prepared to disregard the harsh regime of President Niyazov and many human-rights abuses. In contrast, the EU has banned Belarussian leaders from traveling for vote-rigging their country’s elections, a less serious crime than human-rights abuses. Coincidentally, Belarus does not have oil...

New Globalization Battle Threatens Asia

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller April 26, 2006
The world today must confront a new economic policy conundrum: national governments doubting the benefits of cross-border mergers and acquisitions on the one hand, and the forces of economic globalization driving such partnerships on the other. The battle, already waged in Europe and the US, has now migrated to Asia. As global industry restructures, three major factors frame the conflict over...

The Silent Globalization of Remittances

Richard Reeves April 26, 2006
When immigrants work in wealth countries like the US, they often send money back home to families. Such remittance income far exceeds foreign aid or direct foreign investment in Central America and the Caribbean region. The World Bank estimates that such foreign exchange is on the rise, with more than $223 billion transferred from rich countries to poor in 2005. The distribution is direct and...

Microsoft's Gates Sees Vietnam Outsourcing Potential

Jason Folkmanis April 25, 2006
Vietnam’s economic growth, combined with a young population and high literacy rate, lures potential investors including the richest man in the world, Bill Gates. However, intellectual-property piracy also tends to run rampant in Vietnam and other nations with young impoverished populations. During a visit to the Communist country that eagerly seeks WTO membership, Gates suggested that Vietnam...