In The News

In Search of Common Sense

Bo Ekman October 12, 2007
Globalization and an unchecked quest for economic growth have rapidly changed the world. Growing numbers of people expect a standard of living substantially higher than what the earth has capacity to provide. Humans increasingly confront problems global in scope, yet the world lacks a cohesive form of governance that efficiently addresses issues that surpass national boundaries. The world could...

Gore and UN Panel Win Peace Prize

Walter Gibbs October 12, 2007
As an issue, global warming has gained new prominence, with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore, former US vice president, and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The UN committee is a network of more than 2,000 scientists who have researched the issue for more than 20 years. The award serves as a vindication of science over the skeptics on global warming and could spur...

Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts

Andrew C. Revkin October 12, 2007
Geologists who study the Arctic will remember summer of 2007 for a massive melt-off. Another surprise for scientists was that moving ice contributed so much to the meltdown. “The pace of change has far exceeded what had been estimated by almost all the simulations used to envision how the Arctic will respond to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to global warming,” writes Andrew...

Promises to Keep

Ayman El-Amir October 11, 2007
The United Nations' membership and mission has grown significantly in the six decades since its founding. Ayman El-Amir, a former director of UN Radio and Television, suggests that a proliferation of issues and the bureaucracy designed to address them have made the organization incapable of efficiently tackling the world's major problems. The stalling of reform initiatives begun in 1997...

Crouching Alliance, Hidden Angst?

Yu Bin October 10, 2007
Recent military exercises by the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, particularly Russia and China, have prompted speculation about an emerging military alliance between the two Asian powers, standing in opposition to the United States. However, Yu Bin, senior fellow for the Shanghai Institute of American Studies and political science professor at Wittenberg University, argues that...

As Mideast Realigns, US Leans Sunni

Howard LaFranchi October 10, 2007
US President George Bush began his second term with a sweeping determination to spread democracy and freedom around the world. In the face of continued struggles in Iraq and a rising threat from Shiite Iran, that idealism has faded into "realpolitik." The main criterion for White House support today is opposition to Tehran rather than liberalization, which means that the Bush...

Chinese Consulate in Mandalay Attacked

Saw Yan Naing October 10, 2007
Demonstrations against the government ruling Burma, renamed Myanmar, have evolved to include protests against China, for keeping the military junta in power. A drive-by shooting targeted the Chinese consulate in Mandalay, and local observers suggest that the event reveals rising hostility toward Beijing. Since violent riots between Burmese and Chinese residents of Rangoon 40 years ago, the...