In The News

Speed Bump at the Border

Thomas B. Edsall November 29, 2006
With Democrats victorious in the November mid-term elections, a disgruntled middle class expects some immediate protections on jobs, wages as well as health and retirement benefits. But the Democratic Party is divided about how to deliver economic benefits to workers: One camp embraces the economic benefits of globalization, and another group tends toward protectionism and controls on trade,...

Our Moral Superiority About Sex Is Proving Deadly

Saral Boseley November 28, 2006
Western nations like the US and the UK have split personalities when it comes to sex. Western cultures are obsessed with the topic, allowing it to dominate the media, consumer products and everyday life – yet their politicians and professionals are quick to criticize or advise developing nations about high rate of AIDS or promiscuity. A series published in the journal “Lancet” suggests that the...

¡Viva el Capitalismo!

Álvaro Vargas Llosa November 20, 2006
In 1986, the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran and used the proceeds to fund rebel fighters in Nicaragua. Twenty years later, Iran defies the US with its pursuit of nuclear weapons – and the Marxist candidate that Reagan opposed, Daniel Ortega, has won his country’s presidency. Ortega is not in the mold of a leftist politician like Hugo Chávez, and he won for two reasons, according...

Managing Globalization: The Trouble with Water

Daniel Altman November 17, 2006
The United Nations Development Program issued a report this month highlighting the growing problem of access to water and sanitation in poor areas of the world. Water is becoming both costlier and more dangerous for those who can afford it least. The UN report made three proposals: first, that access to water is recognized as a human right. Second, that local governments be held accountable...

Good News – The World Is Getting Richer

Robert J. Shiller November 14, 2006
Among 82 nations with data from 2004, the per capita gross domestic product increased, indicating a rising standard of living throughout the world, according to the Penn World Table, from the Center for International Comparisons of Production, Income and Prices, based at the University of Pennsylvania. However, the data also show a widening gap between rich and poor countries. The average real...

Unifying the UN

Shaukat Aziz November 9, 2006
An increasingly interconnected world cannot withstand enormous inequality. An overhaul of the UN system is in order or the international body will be marginalized, warn prime ministers from Pakistan, Mozambique and Norway, who were charged by the UN secretary general to offer recommendations on improving policies in three key areas: sustainable development, response to world crises and...

Strain in Spain

Sarah Wildman November 8, 2006
Europe represents opportunity to starving, desperate Africans. Spain and Europe agree that the continent cannot withstand unchecked immigration from Africa, but disagree about who’s responsible for enforcement. Spain insists that the European Union has responsibility for monitoring the continent’s borders, but other nations criticize Spain for lenient policies including amnesty for past...