In The News

The Rise of China and the Future of the West: Can the Liberal System Survive?

G. John Ikenberry January 2, 2008
China’s rise does not present inevitable battle between east and west. Global powers can accommodate a changing order and thrive. “Today's Western order, in short, is hard to overturn and easy to join,” writes G. John Ikenberry, professor of politics and international affairs. After World War II, the US led in establishing institutions that welcomed victors and defeated, established powers...

After Bhutto, Pakistan on Edge

Ahmed Rashid January 1, 2008
Pakistan grieves the sudden, yet foreseen death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a courageous woman who threatened the status quo. Urged by the US, Bhutto agreed to a power-sharing deal with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, if both won election. She vowed to end appeasement of extremists and cooperate with the US in pursuing all sources of terrorism, in and out of Pakistan. She...

Fishing for Compliments

December 23, 2007
Marine biologists have urged the creation of ocean reserves for decades – for both environmental and economic reasons. Overfishing occurs in areas without restrictions, with catches including increasing numbers of young fish that have not yet produced offspring and other unsustainable practices. Reserves, though, mark part of the ocean as off-limits for all or part of the year to fishermen. Such...

The UN's Death Blow

Louise Arbour December 19, 2007
Global citizens expect the United Nations to be relevant in a modern world by taking stands on difficult issues. A call from the UN General Assembly for a worldwide moratorium on the application of the death penalty is a step in protecting human rights, according to Louise Arbour, UN high commissioner for human rights. More than 130 nations have abolished the death penalty with six – Iran, Iraq,...

As Immigration Debate Generates Heat, Dust Gathers on a Workable Plan

Joseph Chamie December 18, 2007
For two centuries, the US grew and flourished with the world's most open immigration policy. But with the public worried about growing illegal immigration and politicians trying to outdo one another with an anti-immigrant stance, the issue has moved from reason to rhetoric. As a topic, immigration has tripped many a politician in US election campaigns, and the 2008 presidential race is no...

Britain's Carbon Strategy “Up in Smoke”

Steve Connor December 17, 2007
Nations closed the climate conference in Bali with vows to tackle climate change. Scientists are taking the government leaders at their word. Jim Hansen – director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in the US, who has long warned that global warming poses real dangers to the planet, including species extinction, raised sea levels and ruined coastlines – urges governments to back away...

The Price of Gold

Jane Danowitz December 11, 2007
An 1872 US law – designed to encourage settlement of the American West – allows mining companies to extract gold from the ground without environmental clean-up. The American West has long been settled, and most mining firms taking advantage of the law are foreign-owned, explains Jane Danowitz in a Los Angeles Times opinion essay. Most of the gold goes toward making jewelry, yet Danowitz writes...