In The News

Takeaways on China's Theft of a US Drone in Philippine Waters in the South China Sea

Ankit Panda December 21, 2016
China returned a US underwater drone taken from the South China Sea. The US Department of Defense reports the buoyancy glider was seized about 90 kilometers northwest of Subic Bay. China claims the removal was for safety reasons, but also opposes US reconnaissance activities in the sea. “The development is effectively unprecedented in U.S.-China military-to-military interactions,” notes Ankit...

Erdogan: “No Doubt” Russian Envoy's Killer Linked to Gulen

December 21, 2016
Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated in Ankara by a Turkish police officer who referred to retaliation for Russia airstrikes in Aleppo, according to witnesses. Turkey and Russia have taken opposite sides on the civil war in Syria, but relations between the two countries warmed in recent months. Turkey’s president quickly insisted there is “no doubt” the killing was inspired by Muslim...

Russia Pivots to Asia

Taehwa Hong December 20, 2016
US President Barack Obama has emphasized that Russia is a weaker country than the United States. US military spending is 12 times more than Russia’s, and the Russian economy, under sanction for interventions in Ukraine, has been crowded out of the top 10 economies in recent years. Still, Russia confounds rivals and neighbors by regarding the globe as a chessboard, weighing priorities, using...

In Turkey, a Capstone to a Violent Year; in Germany, a Realization of Fears

Tim Arango December 20, 2016
The assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey at a photography exhibit and a truck roaring through Berlin streets, targeting a Christmas market and killing at least a dozen people, demonstrate that security is tenuous. A few can destroy good relations and disrupt communities. “The two terrorist attacks … came within hours of each other Monday night, bookends to a terrible year that saw the...

China May Penalize US Automaker Over Price-Fixing

John Ruwitch and Jake Spring December 20, 2016
A Chinese state-run newspaper has reported that a US car company has been setting artificially high prices in the Middle Kingdom since 2014. News of a potential Chinese crackdown on this monopolistic scheme caused shares of both Ford and GM to drop. China is critical to both businesses – with the largest vehicle market in the world that constituted over 15 percent of their net incomes last year....

Taiwan: More Than a Trump Card for US Dealing With Beijing

Wenran Jiang December 15, 2016
President-elect Donald Trump is poised to disrupt longstanding US policy towards China, and the policy approach seems deliberate, argues Wenran Jiang, political science professor at the University of Alberta and global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. Jiang points to a congratulatory phone call made by Taiwan’s president, facilitated by a paid lobbyist, and Trump’s...

Blame Game Starts as Aleppo's Rebels Fall

Jeremy Bowen December 14, 2016
Civilians and rebel fighters are trapped in a small section of eastern Aleppo, after that part of the city was pounded for months by Russian airstrikes, Syrian ground forces and Iranian militias. The war began in 2011. Europe, the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and a few other nations selectively supported rebel fighters. Russia then intervened in September 2015. Reports describe hospitals...