In The News

Transcript of Flattening World Challenges Imagination

April 13, 2007
The following is a transcript of Nayan Chanda's interview with Thomas Friedman, author of “The World Is Flat” and foreign-affairs columnist of “The New York Times,” conducted on March 30, 2007. Friedman talks about the latest edition of his bestselling book, provides advice on which categories of jobs can best be protected from outsourcing, and proposes an exit strategy from Iraq for the US...

Flattening World Challenges Imagination

April 13, 2007
Thomas L. Friedman, foreign-affairs columnist of “The New York Times,” whose “The World Is Flat” has become an international bestseller, says the process of flattening is intensifying. With multiplying distributive tools of innovation and collaboration, whatever can be done will be done, Friedman explains in this interview with YaleGlobal Editor Nayan Chanda on March 30, 2007. The question is who...

Peaceful Resolution of the Iran-UK Crisis: Could It Be a Precedent?

Dilip Hiro April 9, 2007
The UK and Iran scored a mutual diplomatic victory, after negotiating the release of 15 British naval personnel from detention in Tehran. Although the precise details of the negotiations between Britain and Iran remain unclear, the peaceful conclusion to the crisis suggests that direct talks between disputing countries is the best way to resolve contentious issues. To avoid escalation, the Blair...

“Axis of Democracy” Flexes Its Military Muscles

Hisane Masaki April 4, 2007
As new economic powers emerge in Asia, nations that border the Pacific jockey for new agreements on security. The US and Japan have convinced India to join a joint military exercise in the Pacific this month. Japan and Australia, India and the US, and India and Japan, have various forms of bilateral agreements addressing security. For “Asia Times, Hisane Masaki writes that China holds suspicions...

Time for Détente With Iran

Ray Takeyh April 3, 2007
After decades of pursuing a policy of containment and preaching virulent anti-communism, Richard Nixon traveled to China in 1972, marking a new era of negotiation, compromise and cooperation that became known as “détente.” China, a rising East Asian power, assisted the US in exiting the unpopular Vietnam War, tackling more serious threats and bringing stability to the region; the US could gain...

The Rise in Extremism – Part I

Fahad Nazer March 30, 2007
As the US and its coalition partners wage their war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, extremists emerge elsewhere in the world. This two-part series examines how governments of Muslim nations tangle with religious extremism within their own borders. In the first article, author Fahad Nazer describes Saudi Arabia’s efforts to confront militants fighting in the name of Islam. Walking a tightrope...

The Truth About Talibanistan

Aryn Baker March 27, 2007
The tribal region of Pakistan, just over the border of Afghanistan, is increasingly becoming a sanctuary for Taliban and other extremists – a mini-state beyond the control of governments that straddle it on either side. Tough, young extremists take control of villages that lack any means of defense. Meanwhile, the US and NATO troops stationed in neighboring Afghanistan lack authority to enter...