In The News

Muslims in Texas Walk a Fine Line After Garland Shooting

Manny Fernandez and Laurie Goodstein May 18, 2015
Muslim leaders in Texas pointedly ignored plans for a Dallas exhibition of Prophet Mohammed cartoons, but worried how free speech could devolve into hate speech that incites violence. Sure enough, two men storming the event with guns were shot and killed. An article in the New York Times describes how one leader pondered a “response that would walk a fine line: clearly condemning the extremists...

The Saudi Connection: Wahhabism and Global Jihad

Carol E. B. Choksy and Jamsheed K. Choksy May 14, 2015
The United States and Saudi Arabia, once strong allies, disagree over how to handle multiple challenges in the Middle East. The royal family condemns terrorism to western diplomats, but promotes a fundamentalist ideology: “the Saudis have been the most persistent source of support for global jihad by spreading Wahhabism abroad to radicalize foreign Muslims and then giving financial support to...

Calls to Punish China Grow

Josh Rogin May 13, 2015
Some in US Congress and the military expect President Barack Obama to rescind an invitation to China on participating in the 2016 Rim of the Pacific military exercises, known as RIMPAC. China’s critics warn “about its military buildup in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, which includes a rapid plan to build military-friendly infrastructure on new islands in waters where at least six...

Future of Two Unions, the EU and the UK, Hangs in Balance

Alistair Burnett May 12, 2015
Voters in the United Kingdom surprised the world by re-electing Prime Minister David Cameron, whose ability to win concessions from the European Union could affect Britain’s influence abroad. “The Conservatives went into the election promising to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU and then hold a referendum on continuing membership by the end of 2017,” explains Alistair Burnett,...

An Uneasy Friendship

May 11, 2015
Chinese-Russian ties have become closer since the West imposed sanctions on Russia for its interventions in Ukraine. Both China and Russia are permanent members of the UN Security Council: “Both, for different reasons, resent America’s ‘hegemony’ and share a desire for a more multipolar world order,” notes the Economist. “Russia, a declining great power, is looking for ways to recover at least...

Displaced Again and Again, Some African Migrants Had No Plan to Land in Italy

Jim Yardley May 5, 2015
Despite the Mediterranean journey’s many dangers and a hostile welcome on arrival, Italy remains a destination of hope for refugees. Warm weather and expanding conflict in North Africa is increasing the numbers attempting the crossing of the Mediterranean to land on Italian shores. Laborers who worked in Libya and had no plans of heading to Europe suggest their only option is fleeing expanding...

Xi Jinping’s High-Risk Policy Needs a National Security Commission

David M. Lampton May 5, 2015
Governments tend to rely on national security apparatuses to protect those in power as much as the country at large. President Xi Jinping assumed leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in late 2012, and since then, indicated an expectation for increasing the nation’s global influence. Such influence “requires a broadly conceived central foreign and security policy coordination mechanism of...