In The News

Philippines Prepares for Historic Peace Deal

Ted Regencia March 28, 2014
Benigno Aquino III, president of the Philippines, signed a historic agreement with the country’s largest rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, mediated by Malaysia and a team of international observers. Aquino was initially criticized for meeting with the rebel leader. “Supporters hope the deal creating the autonomous Bangsamoro region will bring an end to 40 years of armed conflict...

It’s Putin’s World

Thomas Graham March 27, 2014
Determined to restore Russia’s standing as a great power, President Vladimir Putin has his reasons for annexing Crimea and amassing troops along the border with Ukraine. “Today the former Soviet space, with the exceptions of the Baltics and Russia itself, is a region of fragile states, corrupt elites and pervasive poverty that offers little resistance to a dynamic Russia,” explains Thomas Graham...

Why Putin Doesn’t Care About Sanctions

David R. Cameron March 25, 2014
Europe’s advance on former Soviet satellite states unnerved Russia. After unrest in Ukraine and deposition of the president, Russia moved to annex Crimea – which in turn may “drive Ukraine into the arms of the EU and give NATO a new raison d’être,” explains David R. Cameron, Yale professor of political science. “Crimea in the hands of a hostile Ukraine would threaten Russia’s hold on its base for...

US Draws Together South Korea and Japan

Richard McGregor and Simon Mundy March 25, 2014
The United States is urging its allies in the north Pacific to forge closer ties: “Barack Obama used Washington’s clout with both countries to persuade Shinzo Abe and Park Geun-hye, the Japanese and South Korea leaders, to have a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague,” report Richard McGregor and Simon Mundy for the Financial Times. The meeting, the first...

NSA Breached Chinese Servers Seen as Security Threat

David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth March 24, 2014
US officials long blocked the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei from business deals for its supposed link with the Chinese military. “But even as the United States made a public case about the dangers of buying from Huawei, classified documents show that the National Security Agency was creating its own back doors – directly into Huawei’s networks,” report David Sanger and Nicole Perlroth...

Why "Iran Style" Sanctions Worked Against Tehran (And Why They Might Not Succeed With Moscow)

Suzanne Maloney March 24, 2014
In responding to global crisis or conflict, leaders must choose measures that have a reasonable chance of success. The United States and the European are applying sanctions against Russia in retaliation for the abrupt, forcible annexation of Crimea. Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, writing for Brookings, details conditions for how sanctions pushed...

Cooler Heads Need to Convey Japan’s Message

Sadaaki Numata March 20, 2014
Rational players in the North Pacific seek stability and reliable partners who share the same concern. “Today, there is a concern as to how far the ‘new model of great power relations’ between China and the U.S. may develop, possibly to Japan’s detriment,” writes former Japanese diplomat Sadaaki Numata for the English-Speaking Union of Japan. “Ironically this time it is the U.S. that seems...