In The News

More Than 50 Countries Allegedly Involved in CIA Rendition and Torture

Nicolas Rochon February 20, 2013
A report from the Open Society Foundations has released a report that more than 50 nations, including the US, extra-judicially transferred suspected terrorists overseas for secret integration and torture. “Composed of information provided by various human rights organizations, the 214-page OSF report currently stands as the most comprehensive record of 136 individuals exposed to various methods...

In Egypt, The Kids Are Not All Right

David Ignatius February 19, 2013
Protests for representative government and human rights in Egypt have given way to thuggery and lawlessness, suggests David Ignatius in an opinion essay for the Washington Post. He compares “soccer thugs” roaming Egypt’s streets, defying authority, to the aggressive youth gangs in the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. “They seem to disrespect their fathers’ generation for having...

An Interview with John Dramani Mahama

John Dramani Mahama February 18, 2013
In an interview with Nayan Chanda, Ghana's Vice President John Dramani Mahama, now President, says how stigma of homosexuality hampers fighting AIDS, talks about the role of telecommunication in political transformation, voices concern about NATO attacks on Libya, and Ghana's effort to avoid the curse of wealth from natural resources. – YaleGlobal

Under China’s Shadow, India Looks to Australia

Ashok Malik February 8, 2013
Australia and India are large democracies and former colonies of Britain, but the Cold War interfered with a close relationship for much of the 20th century as India drifted closer to the Soviet Union. Now, as China expands influence and the US pivots to Asia, India may be warming to the concept of an Indo-Pacific region – sharing strategy with neighbor Australia on matters of trade, security and...

The US Focuses on Its Homefront

Bruce Stokes February 6, 2013
So far, President Barack Obama is signaling that he’ll focus most attention on improving the economy during his last four years in office. That’s in line with priorities listed in a Pew Research Center survey: More than 80 percent list the economy as a “top priority”; more than 70 percent list jobs, the budget deficit, education, Social Security protection each as a “top priority.” The survey was...

The Virtual Middle Class Rises

Thomas L. Friedman February 5, 2013
The poor around the globe may still live on a few dollars per day. But price pressure on electronics like smart phones and computers have lowered costs of education and communications and increased the ranks of a virtual middle class. Expanded numbers of people connecting via the internet will have political and economic repercussions, notes Thomas L. Friedman in his column for the New York Times...

Nations Can Try Promotion – Not Protectionism

Anthony P. D’Costa February 4, 2013
Competition among national governments to promote their markets in the global economy is increasingly intense. Governments are expected to regulate markets to reduce instabilities. In their pursuit of growth, many governments are timid, failing to govern their economies – missing global challenges and opportunities while neglecting social protections. Anthony D’Costa, professor and research...