In The News

US Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan

John McCain November 5, 2003
In an address to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, Senator John McCain gives his view on the progress in Iraq. McCain asserts that US troop deployment is too low to ensure proper security and the decision to hand over security to Iraqis with minimal training is foolish. He claims that in continuing to mention exit strategy the US administration hinders its cause by sending the wrong...

Unevenly Yoked

Norbert Mao November 3, 2003
In the race to attract global capital and spur economic growth, Africa seems to have missed the bandwagon. Norbert Mao, a member of the Ugandan Parliament and currently a Yale World Fellow, says that Africa's dismal economic situation is a result of both inept political leadership and unfair policies of the developed world. Agricultural subsidies, patent restrictions, and a host of trade...

Mysteries of Trade Diplomacy

Ernesto Zedillo November 3, 2003
A month before the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade talks at Cancún, the US joined the European Union in favoring "perpetual agricultural protectionism." Consequently, when trade negotiators met in September in Cancún, the joint US-EU proposal did not seek to eliminate export subsidies. Instead, it aimed to provide legal support for agricultural protectionism. Zedillo argues that...

Transcript of 'Global Challenges'

William J. Clinton October 31, 2003
The following is a full transcript of the public address, "Global Challenges," given by former US President William J. Clinton at Yale University on October 31, 2003.

Safe Landing

Mostafa Al-Labbad October 31, 2003
Iran's decision to allow UN inspectors un-announced entry to its nuclear facilities was a shrewd diplomatic move, says this article in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly. By first threatening to disengage from international discussions altogether, then slowly taking steps to permit more monitoring of its program, the author says, Tehran was demonstrating to the Bush administration in Washington...

A Chinese Lesson for the US: How to Charm South-east Asia

Evelyn Goh October 31, 2003
When the Presidents of both America and China visited individual countries in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently, they seemed to have brought with them two different sets of agendas. According to this article in Singapore's Straits Times, while Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, spent his time "touring a market place", US President George W. Bush was "...

The Fine Art of China-Bashing

Neil King Jr. October 31, 2003
As the Bush administration pushes even harder on China to revalue the yuan, the real motivations behind the "China-bashing" by US officials remain shady. Is the administration's rhetoric really meant to "help U.S. manufacturers compete against Chinese companies", ask the authors, "or just help U.S. politicians score points with anxious voters"? When the US...