In The News

After EU Deal, British Voters Weigh Costs and Benefits of Brexit

David R. Cameron February 25, 2016
Like other nations, the United Kingdom faces ongoing pressures from debt, demographics, and refugees fleeing the Middle East. Some politicians use the European Union as a convenient scapegoat for their own troubles. In 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to renegotiate terms of Britain’s membership in the EU. A referendum on whether the country should remain a member is set for...

Sunnylands or Rancho Mirage? ASEAN and the South China Sea

Donald K. Emmerson February 23, 2016
China and its neighbors have competing claims to sections of the South China Sea. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has long trusted that regional diplomacy might resolve the overlapping claims and, in the meantime, the United States would keep China in check. But China has been more assertive in recent years, building up small islands and adding military installations. The hope for...

Why the Rest of the World Should Get a Vote in the Greatest Reality TV Show on Earth – The US Election

Laurie Penny February 22, 2016
So far, three of 50 states have cast votes in party primaries to determine the top candidates for the US presidential election. Laurie Penny, writing for New Statesman, laments that she cannot have a say on leadership that has so much global influence. “The world is obsessed with the US elections because the outcome of those elections will have an impact on every person on Earth. So, let the...

EU's Real Brake Isn't Britain but Franco-German Impasse

Paul Taylor February 22, 2016
Britain’s prime minister has negotiated a deal, carving out exemptions to its membership with the European Union, and analysts wonder if other members might also try their own negotiations which could “ultimately lead to a disintegration of the union,” reports Paul Taylor for Reuters. Taylor adds that more challenging than Britain’s possible exit “is a long-running Franco-German impasse on how to...

However Annoying, Failure to Engage Russia Is Not an Option

Jochen Prantl February 16, 2016
Negotiations to end civil war in Syria, which has left 250,000 dead, and forced more than 10 million to flee their homes, are set to resume February 25. Syrian troops, aided by Russian airstrikes, are gradually retaking territory held by the rebels. “Russia needs to be convinced that an immediate ceasefire rather than the continuation of war serves its long-term interests,” argues Jochen Prantl,...

Putin Is No Ally Against ISIS

George Soros February 12, 2016
Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of population centers in Syria by Russia may temporarily save the Assad regime, but is threatening the region and Europe, too, argues George Soros, financier and philanthropist, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “There is no reason to believe [Russian President Vladimir Putin] intervened in Syria in order to aggravate the European refugee crisis," he writes...

Russia’s Syrian Intervention Gives the West a Chance to Re-Engage Turkey

Marc Grossman February 11, 2016
The bilateral relationship between Russia and Turkey shifted from strategic partnership to wariness in the course of a year as civil war in Syria intensified. The West has extended limited support to the rebels, including Kurds, while targeting the Islamic State terrorists. Turkey, bordering Syria, has sheltered 2 million refugees, but also targeted Kurdish troops who have been effective in...