In The News

Rising Tide

March 7, 2016
As Macedonia, Austria and other European nations tighten borders against refugees fleeing Syria and other conflict zones, Greece must manage a bottleneck. Tent camps and reception camps are over-crowded, and food is in short supply. “Now almost 30,000 migrants are bottled up in Greece” and “local aid agencies worry that 200,000 people may arrive in March alone,” reports the Economist. NGOs and...

Putin Is No Ally Against ISIS

George Soros February 12, 2016
Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of population centers in Syria by Russia may temporarily save the Assad regime, but is threatening the region and Europe, too, argues George Soros, financier and philanthropist, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “There is no reason to believe [Russian President Vladimir Putin] intervened in Syria in order to aggravate the European refugee crisis," he writes...

Russia’s Syrian Intervention Gives the West a Chance to Re-Engage Turkey

Marc Grossman February 11, 2016
The bilateral relationship between Russia and Turkey shifted from strategic partnership to wariness in the course of a year as civil war in Syria intensified. The West has extended limited support to the rebels, including Kurds, while targeting the Islamic State terrorists. Turkey, bordering Syria, has sheltered 2 million refugees, but also targeted Kurdish troops who have been effective in...

Wanted: European Grand Strategy for War Against the Islamic State

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller February 2, 2016
Leaders of the Islamic State impose a rigid and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, maintaining that the religion does not condone Western values of democracy, individual freedom, economic globalization or education. Author Joergen Oerstroem Moeller urges Europe to develop a grand strategy to combat extremism by recognizing how the long history of the Middle East influences political agendas...

Economists on the Refugee Path

Robert J. Shiller January 25, 2016
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was created in 1950 as a temporary measure to aid an estimated 40 million refugees after World War II. “But the problem never went away,” explains Robert J. Shiller, Yale professor of economics in an essay for Project Syndicate. The UNHCR reports near 60 million “forcibly displaced” people, including 20 million internationally displaced. As...

It’s Both Unethical and Unhelpful for Governments to Strip Refugees of Their Assets

Tania Cheung January 20, 2016
Governments are debating mean-spirited policies to discourage refugees fleeing brutal conflict. “Denmark is debating a bill to allow authorities to seize cash and personal items valued over 10,000 kroner (just £1,000) from asylum seekers,” writes Tania Cheung for New Statesman. “Switzerland has followed suit, already acting to seize financial assets over 1,000 Swiss Frances (£690) from refugees....

Warming World Promises More Refugees

Richard D. Lamm January 14, 2016
Climate change combined with war and a growing population could pose challenges of unimaginable magnitude. “Last summer’s Mediterranean crisis, a migration of Biblical proportions from Syria to Europe, is likely merely a preview of the dislocation to come,” writes Richard D. Lamm, former governor of Colorado. “It is not too apocalyptic to consider the possibility that ultimately a warming world...