In The News

Europe vs. America's Operating System

Grant R. Mainland March 26, 2004
"Europeans and Americans talk trade or antitrust when the real issue is the legitimacy of American power," writes Grant Mainland, a research specialist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In this commentary, Mainland compares Microsoft's monopoly position in software to the US monopoly on global military power. Just fined US$613 million under European antitrust...

Containerized Trade Imbalance Set to Worsen

Beth Jinks March 25, 2004
A third of all shipping containers that land in Singapore are empty, according to recent surveys. This trend is set to continue throughout Asia, as more manufacturing shifts to the region. But shipping empty containers is costly – and worrisome to operators of shipping lines. The current imbalance, say observers, is partly due to the rise of countries like China, whose cheaper labor constitutes a...

Political Shades of Green Clash

Miguel Bustillo March 24, 2004
Immigration has once again spurred a divisive debate among environmental conservationists in the USA. Even the 112-year-old Sierra Club is facing an 'insurgent' campaign aimed at getting the group to come down hard for immigration restrictions. For decades, population control has featured prominently in the agenda of most environmental groups. Some environmentalists argue that the...

74 Illegal Immigrants Held in Surprise Raid in Abu Dhabi

Muawia E. Ibrahim March 24, 2004
The movement of people across countries is very much a fact of modern life. International migration is instrumental in decreasing the distance between different cultures and people. Yet, in the contemporary period of global terrorism and ethno-religious violence, migrants can also be the source of tremendous anxiety. This week in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, immigration squads...

Schröder Condemns Job Offshoring as Unpatriotic

Bertrand Benoit March 23, 2004
Outsourcing, a vital component of global capitalism, appears to have met a staunch new critic in Germany. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder says Germany companies who move work to Eastern Europe and Asia are "unpatriotic". The cheaper labor of these regions, however, offers a strong economic incentive for German companies trying to compete globally. Nonetheless, says this article,...

Looking over the Horizon

Robert L. Hutchings March 22, 2004
In assessing American foreign policy and strategy, the intertwined nature of the globe and the fast speed of change make any plan contingent on a variety of factors. In an effort to understand exactly that, the National Intelligence Council has created its '2020 project'. Using assessments of 'drivers' - factors that will affect the way the world changes - and a series of...

Still Not Too Late to Prevent a Doomsday

James Gustave Speth March 10, 2004
When it comes to the global environment, optimistic views are few and far between. In his new book, Red Sky at Morning, James Gustave Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, tackles the challenges posed by global environmental problems with rare optimism. In this essay adapted from his book, he acknowledges that there is much to be pessimistic about. Although some...