In The News

Why a Climate Change Deal Is the Best Hope for Peace

Jason Box and Naomi Klein November 25, 2015
A deal on climate change is a global priority after the terrorist attacks in Paris, argue climatologist Jason Box and author Naomi Klein. Their essay for the New Yorker points out that severe drought instigated a mass migration within Syria from rural areas to cities, contributing to discontent. Conflict in the Middle East should inspire “an urgent push to lower emissions as rapidly and deeply as...

There Is Only One Way to Defeat ISIS

Charles P. Pierce November 20, 2015
High-cost military equipment like fighter jets or missile defense shields won’t stop coordinated terrorist attacks like those in Paris against youth enjoying city life on a Friday night. Intrusive surveillance won’t prevent brothers, roommates or loners contemplating suicide and plotting murder, argues Charles Pierce for Esquire: “Abandoning the Enlightenment values that produced democracy will...

APEC Leaders Silent on South China Sea

Trefor Moss November 19, 2015
The attacks on civilians in Paris by the Islamic State have rallied world leaders to cooperate on combatting terrorism. Such coordination could ease tensions in other areas or distract attention. At the summit for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, held in Manila, 21 leaders urged cooperation on fighting terrorism and improving economic growth. “On the sensitive matter of the South China Sea, the...

Cybersecurity Treaties May Be Nice, But It’s Every Country for Itself

Robert Litwak and Meg King November 13, 2015
China and the United States are attempting to negotiate a cyber arms-control agreement. Robert Litwak and Meg King, writing for Reuters, detail the differences between nuclear and cyber arms control. Individuals and non-state actors, even insiders, can pose cybersecurity threats. Also, “authoritarian states, such as Russia and China, have an interest in preserving ‘patriotic hackers’ as a policy...

For Gulf States, Forging National Identity Trumps Regional Integration

Ellen Laipson November 11, 2015
For the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman – national identity may matter more than collection action as region. The countries resist power for Iran and extremism, but differ on Islam as a political force, dependence on and rights for foreign workers, and regional security priorities. “It’s on the security...

The US and Russia Face to Face as Ice Curtain Melts

Humphrey Hawksley November 5, 2015
The US defense budget for 2014 is more than double that of Russia and China’s combined. Measuring naval strength is trickier as comparisons of hulls or personnel matter less than surveillance and sophisticated weaponry and vessels like ice-cutters. As climate change melts sea ice, countries eye the Arctic for natural resources and trade routes, reassessing naval positions. Journalist Humphrey...

Big Win by Turkey’s AKP Signals Vote for Stability

Chris Miller November 3, 2015
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party, also known as AKP, won 317 seats in the General National Assembly with Sunday's election– more than expected and more than the 276 needed for a majority, but not enough to change the constitution directly. The results confounded pollsters since AKP failed to win a majority in June elections or form a coalition government. “Confronting renewed conflict...