In The News

China’s New Flexibility on Foreign Intervention

Johan Lagerkvist May 29, 2012
Authoritarian regimes around the world took note as protests spread swiftly throughout the Middle East, spurred by deep societal anger and the internet. Global powers had to take a stance, whether to side with brutal, corrupt, even delusional dictators or with citizens demanding justice and human rights. With its investments reaching every corner of the globe, China has struggled to rationalize...

Oil and Gas in Islam’s Faultline

Jamsheed K. Choksy, Carol E. B. Choksy May 25, 2012
Conflict over oil and gas reserves, sectarian rivalries and foreign involvement interconnect as sources of instability in the Persian Gulf–Arabian Peninsula, argue Iran specialists Jamsheed K. Choksy and Carol E. B. Choksy, both at Indiana University. With Shiites accounting for 15 percent of the world’s Muslims, policymakers often overlook their concentration in the Persian Gulf region. There...

India’s Iran Challenge

Harsh V. Pant February 17, 2012
While the international community agrees that Iran’s development of nuclear weapons will destabilize the Middle East, responses to the West’s call for sanctions against Iran highlight diverse foreign-policy approaches, especially from India and China, ranked fourth and second, respectively, as the world’s largest oil consumers. China unequivocally prioritizes its domestic interests and energy...

China Courts the Middle East

Dilip Hiro January 30, 2012
The advantage is mutual: The Middle East has great reserves of oil, and China’s foreign-policy based on non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs is popular with the region’s authoritarian regimes. So China rejects Western efforts to impose sanctions to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Beijing is the largest buyer of Iranian petroleum, accounting for 20 percent of Iran’s exports,...

Green Costs Go Global

Nayan Chanda November 22, 2011
Recovery from natural disasters is costly, and climate change, combined with ongoing reliance on fossil fuels, promises more crises and expenditures. Extreme weather events are disrupting the global supply chain with consequences for corporations. Flooding in Thailand is just one example: The country “quietly emerged as a key player in the production and distribution of automobile and consumer...

Darkening Skies on the Road to Durban – Part I

J.R. McNeill November 21, 2011
The discomfort over record floods, droughts and wildfires is merging views around the globe – with many hoping for decisive action from the more than 200 nations gathering for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban. This YaleGlobal series focuses on the challenges confronting decision-makers. Climate change, as the dominant issue of our time, demands global cooperation, writes J....

Where Did Global Warming Go?

Elisabeth Rosenthal October 31, 2011
As a political issue, climate change has fallen off the US policy agenda due to an economic downturn and dogged insistence by climate-change naysayers that science has not produced enough evidence on whether human activity contributes to global warming. The United States stands as the “one significant outlier” on responding to climate change, suggests an HSBC global research report, while other...