In The News

Migranomics Instead of Walls

Ernesto Zedillo January 4, 2007
Illegal immigration stirs resentment against immigration in general. Yet enforcement alone – building giant walls, adding border patrols, requiring new forms of identification – will not stop illegal immigration, points out Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. For a nation in need of willing workers, immigration contributes to prosperity and the ability to...

The Middle East's New Map

Mark Perry January 2, 2007
Humans are fond of categories, and the Middle East has long been subject to such analysis: nations that align with one power or another, nations with wealth or without, nations that function and those that don’t. But boundaries designated by people are not so distinct, argues analyst Mark Perry. Arbitrary lines that created nations of the Middle East in 1919 did not put an end to sectarian...

Tajikistan's Iron Man

December 26, 2006
Imomali Rahmonov has been reelected president of Tajikistan, but only after amending his nation’s constitution to allow his run for a third term. Though his margin of victory was low by the standards of the strongmen of the world – he received only 79.3 percent of the vote – the nod to democratic process cannot disguise the administration’s control over the outcome. Official observers from...

Two “Little” Palestinian States?

Abdullah Iskandar December 24, 2006
Politics can be messy when a group of voters depend on outside aid. Palestinians elected members of Hamas during summer of 2006, causing alarm among Western nations that provided much aid to the struggling government. Western governments cut aid since the election and civil strife has increased. So the president of the country, a member of the Fatah and supported by the US, has called for early...

India Digs Deeper, But Wells Are Drying Up

Somini Sengupta December 22, 2006
India, soon to be the world’s most populous country, is running out of water. Encouraged by cheap electricity doled out by vote-buying politicians, rural Indians have spent the past few decades using electric pumps to suck up and sell the nation’s groundwater reserves. Such water harvesting has provided poor Indians with a steady stream of cash, but ill-timed droughts can leave Indian aquifers...

Iraq War Fuels Global Jihad

Fawaz A. Gerges December 21, 2006
Muslims initially condemned Al Qaeda’s 2001 attacks on the US. But then the US invaded Iraq, triggering chaos that could overwhelm more than one country throughout the Middle East. As a result, even more moderate Muslims support anyone who defends Muslim lands and values against occupiers, particularly in Palestine and Iraq. Jihadists emerged during the early 1980s, opposed to Egypt and Israel...

The Challenge of Global Health

Laurie Garrett December 20, 2006
Wealthy nations and their citizens donate billions in cash to end AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and some other high-profile problems in the developing world. But with uncoordinated programs, lacking in sustainability and long-term planning, the fast flow of cash could make problems worse, not better, argues health analyst and author Laurie Garrett. Studies have shown that focusing on high-profile...