In The News

A Passage from India

Suketu Mehta July 12, 2005
Author Suketu Mehta moved to America from India as a teenager with the expectation that it would bring him and his family economic prosperity. As he writes in The New York Times, future generations of Americans may find themselves trying to travel in the opposite direction, as more US companies move jobs to India. In a sense, India's gains from outsourcing are the rewards of decades of hard...

Dubai’s Kerala Connection

Steve Raymer July 12, 2005
In recent years, Dubai has reinvented itself as a bustling multicultural capital for education and business. A driving force behind this extreme makeover is the hundreds of thousands of unskilled South Asian workers – predominantly from India – who flock to the city every year. These blue-collar workers – whom Steve Raymer calls the "invisible foot soldiers of globalization" – are an...

The Changing Face of Al-Qaida: "Outsourcing" Worldwide Terror

The Baltimore Sun July 11, 2005
Last week's terror attacks in London are widely suspected to be the work of an offshoot of al-Qaida. If so, they are further evidence of the shift in the terrorist network's strategy and identity since September 11. Many experts believe that Osama bin Laden and his followers have temporarily moved away from planning large-scale, centrally coordinated attacks on America directly and...

The True Face of Terror in London and Baghdad

Michael Glackin July 8, 2005
While governments and the media often proclaim that terrorism has no face, the innocent Londoners whose lives were destroyed by Thursday's indiscriminate attacks provided a daunting image of the violence. These bombings, targeting the "ordinary people," are especially perturbing given the tolerance Londoners have shown towards myriad racial groups, nationalities, and religions,...

Brazilians Streaming into US Through Mexican Border

Larry Rohter June 30, 2005
After Mexicans themselves, Brazilians make up the largest proportion of migrants entering the US via the Mexican border. Taking advantage of Mexico's waiving of entrance visa requirements for Brazilians, those looking to enter the US for work and residence frequently sign up with a trafficking agency to transport them into America. Though Brazil's economy is flourishing, employment and...

Unlikely Hero in Europe's Spat: The 'Polish Plumber'

Elaine Sciolino June 27, 2005
Responding to the recent flood of bad publicity about the potential loss of French jobs to Polish immigrants, Poland has come up with a marketing plan to improve its reputation in France. Hiring a model to pose as a "Polish plumber" – a figure who has come to symbolize French labor concerns – in its advertisements, the Polish Tourism Bureau is attempting to assure the French that the...

Migration is Here to Stay, So Get Used to It

Brunson McKinley June 24, 2005
Commentator Brunson McKinley poses a lofty question: How can one manage migration for the benefit of all? According to a newly released report on world migration patterns, the costs and benefits vary among countries and individuals. As such, writes McKinley, wide-ranging, hard-and-fast rules are not appropriate. Migration management policies that are based on the characteristics of specific...