In The News

Bali Boost: WTO Lives, Snatched for Now From Jaws of Defeat

Jean-Pierre Lehmann December 10, 2013
A round of congratulations is in order for the WTO, after agreement in Bali on a package that promises a spirit of global cooperation and level playing field for developing nations, particularly in agriculture, commodities and labor-intensive manufactured goods. But the agreement is essentially a package of promises. Ultimate success requires leadership and vision, warns Jean-Pierre Lehmann,...

Cold War in the Pacific: China Escalates Tensions with Neighbors

Hans Hoyng, Wieland Wagner, Bernhard Zand December 6, 2013
The small Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea are closest to Taiwan, but, according Spiegel Online, such territorial claims are not about distance but rather “influence and natural resources, with hegemony and nationalism, and with bitter historical memories and fresh, global aspirations – in short, it's a toxic mixture of geopolitics.” Beijing announced an air defense...

Putin's Russia: Too Weak to Stop Ukraine Joining Europe, But Will Try

Charles Crawford December 2, 2013
Ukraine finds itself in the middle of an old cultural battleground between Russia and Europe, explains Charles Crawford for the Telegraph. “Ukraine had no independent existence as a state until the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991,” he explains. “In 2004 the ‘Orange Revolution’ saw the first big Ukrainian convulsion over this question after huge popular protests against clumsily rigged...

The Kennedy Temptation

Ian Buruma November 14, 2013
Assassinations of popular leaders prompt many to speculate what might have been had they lived. Citizens mourn that a violent killer or a small group of extremists can dash the hopes and choice of many as was the case with US President John F. Kennedy. “America’s national politics is so poisoned by provincial partisanship – especially among Republicans, who have hated Obama from the beginning –...

Japan’s Olympic Challenge

Jean-Pierre Lehmann October 22, 2013
Bitterness from the Second World War lingers throughout the Asia Pacific region; Japan lost the war, yet rebuilt and became a strong ally with the United States, its one-time opponent. Many in China and South Korea suggest that Japan has not expressed adequate apology to Asian neighbors for wartime aggression. Japan is skilled at adaptation, notes international political economist Jean-Pierre...

The US and Iran in a Tantalizing Dance

Abbas Amanat September 26, 2013
There was no handshake between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and US President Barack Obama during the United Nations General Assembly, but the tone of their rhetoric promises a sea change in relations after more than three decades. The Iranian public supports Rouhani's moderate proposals as a means to securing respect, stability and an end to debilitating sanctions imposed by the West....

A Syrian Lesson for India

Nayan Chanda September 11, 2013
The United Nations monitors global weather conditions, population growth, security and refugee populations, and the trends are interconnected in many complex ways. In Syria, severe drought between 2006 and 2010 turned more than half the land into desert, contributing to a vicious civil war: Drought and water shortages led to unemployment, forcing hundreds of thousands into Syria’s cities – many...