In The News

In Final State of the Union, Obama Lays Out “4 Big Questions” for Future

Gregory Korte January 13, 2016
US President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union addressed trends in globalization long analyzed by YaleGlobal Online: growing global concern and support for policies to stem climate change, the threat of terrorism lurking among civilian populations, increasing reliance on technology and changing nature of work, the need for global cooperation to combat disease, the dangers and distraction of...

The US Faces Rival Powers Waging Hybrid Warfare

Richard Weitz January 12, 2016
Overall, global military spending decreased in 2014 from the previous year, reports the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The United States spends more than other countries on defense, yet struggles against the skillful use of hybrid tactics by China and Russia, explains Richard Weitz. The senior fellow and director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Hudson Institute...

North Korea’s Nuclear Test Deepens Chinese Dilemma

Shim Jae Hoon January 7, 2016
China continues to gamble on regional security by placating the Kim dynasty in North Korea. The world’s most populous nation, the second largest economy, is the North’s leading benefactor and trade partner. The country of 25 million is isolated, impoverished and backward, its leaders intent on amassing a nuclear arsenal. The regime surprised the world with an underground blast, claiming a...

Bringing US Presidential Debates to a Chinese Audience

Owen Guo January 6, 2016
The world’s second largest economy is understandably fascinated with the politics and foreign policy of the largest. A high school student in Beijing, Zhou Qianyu, organized the Guojiang Subtitle Group – 70 volunteers across China work as teams to translate and post subtitles for online videos of the US presidential debates. Chinese interest in the debates leading to the November election is...

Middle East Tensions Boil as Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Iran

Sam Wilkin January 4, 2016
Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals for influence in the Middle East. The latest clash is driving up oil prices, deepening a sectarian divide and sparking new violence in the region, reports Sam Wilkin for Reuters: “Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday and fellow-Sunni Bahrain followed suit on Monday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh...

Rethinking North Korean Missile Capabilities

Nah Liang Tuang December 23, 2015
North Korea conducted a flight test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile from a floating barge in November. “[E]ven as anti-DPRK watchers might feel a sense of schadenfreude when Pyongyang’s missile development team stumbles and falls, or even snigger at the lackluster qualities of their missiles, gloating is not only premature but ill-advised,” warns Nah Liang Tuang for the Diplomat. He...

In Fighting the Islamic State, Obama Is a Tortoise and the GOP is Harebrained

David Ignatius December 18, 2015
Combative rhetoric in free elections challenges a united national foreign policy. More than 15 candidates in the US presidential race, to be decided in November 2016, compete by siding with President Barack Obama or criticizing his policies. After serving two terms, Obama cannot run for reelection. The current point of contention: how to address religious extremism. Obama takes a deliberative...