In The News

China, Russia and the US Juggle Soft and Hard Power

Alistair Burnett January 8, 2015
Reliance on soft power requires measured patience. Nations want their own way, and the world has seen a marked resurgence in use of hard power, suggests Alistair Burnett, editor of BBC's The World Tonight. The United States intervenes in Iraq and Syria; Russia has annexed Crimea and encourages rebels in eastern Ukraine, while China asserts broad territorial claims in the East and South China...

Modi's Bangladesh Deal: Small Footprint, Big Impact

Nayan Chanda December 9, 2014
Since taking office in spring, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought good relations with neighbors. As part of such effort, he has pushed for settlement of an old border dispute with neighbor Bangladesh – a move that “will smoothen India's relations with Bangladesh, enable closer cooperation on fighting terrorism and could also help reduce China's seductive appeal to Bangladesh...

Lessons From Versailles for Today’s Middle East

Marc Grossman and Simon Henderson October 22, 2014
The Middle East is in disarray and the international community is urged to tackle root causes of the conflict by focusing on the end of World War I and treaties behind many of the region’s borders. “Many groups came to Versailles to plead for the chance to determine their own futures only to discover that it was a principle not to be universally applied,” note Mark Grossman and Simon Henderson....

Will It Be a Trusting Relationship?

Nayan Chanda September 29, 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received an enthusiastic welcome from members of the US Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden, perhaps previewing strategic cooperation between the world’s largest democracy and the United States. In his regular column for the Times of India, Nayan Chanda reviews how the strategic situation has deteriorated for both India and the United States: China is...

US and Vietnam to Discuss Curbing China’s Sea Claims

David Brown September 25, 2014
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet in Washington early October. The two nations, at war more than 40 years ago, now find common interest in protecting open sea lanes in the South China Sea. China asserts sweeping claims, going as far as to construct new islets and impose limitations on the use of other nations’ exclusive economic zones. China...

War in Ukraine Exposes Russia’s Weakness

Chris Miller September 16, 2014
The Eurasian Union, as conceived by Russia, was supposed to rival the European Union as a trade and economic force. “Most notable about the Eurasian Union is not the geopolitical vision that motivates it, but how badly the entire project has gone,” argues Chris Miller, a PhD candidate at Yale University and a research associate with the Hoover Institution. Russian aggression is unnerving former...

China's Island Factory

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes September 9, 2014
Since 2012, China’s Communist Party has regarded the South China Sea as a “core national interest” – a list that has also included Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. Using its large cash reserve, labor and skills, China is constructing new islands on at least five submerged reefs in the South China Sea to support its territorial claims, reports Rupert Wingfield-Hayes for BBC News. The Philippines Navy...