In The News

Egypt Highlights Race Between Trade and Terror

Humphrey Hawksley August 15, 2013
The Arab Spring protests, with demands for representative government and economic stability, have disintegrated into violent power struggles. After one year, Egypt’s military removed the first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, from power and cracked down on protests by his supporters, leaving more than 500 dead. Violence unfolds in Syria, Libya, Tunisia and Iraq, too. Building...

Need to Tear Down Another Wall

Jean-Pierre Lehmann July 4, 2013
At the 2013 World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, more than 300 Israeli and Palestinian civic leaders, led by captains of industry Yossi Vardi and Munib R.Masri, called for a break in the impasse on peace talks, instructing Israeli and Palestinian political leaders to achieve in the shortest time possible a two-state solution. Yet serious discussion is blocked by obstructive...

The Legacy of the Silk Road

Valerie Hansen January 25, 2013
Modern-day diplomats in Asia and beyond envision reviving the Silk Road, an ancient network of routes crisscrossing the continent for trade and security. But Valerie Hansen, author and professor of history at Yale University points, out that trade was not the primary purpose of the network. “Instead, the Silk Road changed history, largely because the people who managed to travel along part or all...

Deafness at Doomsday

Lawrence M. Krauss January 17, 2013
Global leaders routinely ignore the views of scientists in many areas of policymaking, and this threatens global security. “Scientists’ voices are crucial in the debates over the global challenges of climate change, nuclear proliferation and the potential creation of new and deadly pathogens,” writes Lawrence M. Krauss, theoretical physicist at Arizona State University. Nine countries have...

A Turning Point for China

Jean-Pierre Lehmann October 1, 2012
China’s progress since the first half of the 20th century is stunning and indeed inspiring. The nation that once rejected globalization, set out to rapidly transform its global reputation, from being pitied for horrific poverty to envied for stable economic growth. The world economy has come to depend on China, notes Jean-Pierre Lehmann, international political economist, in a quick review of the...

India’s Treacherous Northeast

Bertil Lintner September 26, 2012
The Northeast corner of India may not top a list of volatile trouble spots for most global leaders, yet a quick glance at a map immediately shows the region’s challenges: shared borders with China, Burma, Bangladesh and Bhutan and slim connection to the rest of India via the Siliguri corridor, a legacy of British India. Boundary lines and governments were quickly drafted in 1947 and redrafted...

One Country, Many Voices

Jeffrey Wasserstrom September 24, 2012
China under one-party rule fosters an image of harmony, with unified goals and opinion on any cultural event or political issue. Discussions of the same topics are more lively in online commentary and on China’s streets, argues Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chinese specialist and author. He compares the sensational, perfectly choreographed opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with recent angry...