In The News

Je Suis Charlie: Stand Together in the Face of Violence

Stefan Kuzmany January 9, 2015
The offices of Charlie Hebdo were attacked by three men with assault rifles, leaving 12 dead, including staff members and two police officers, one of those a Muslim. The suspects include two extremists, brothers raised in France as orphans. A horrific act by a few does not mean that provocative art practiced by publications like Charlie Hebdo is stupid or wrong, that Muslims are evil, as some...

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...

What Is Behind Europe's Rising Islamophobia?

Alexander Görlach January 7, 2015
Europe has long been viewed as a beacon for human rights, though a few extremists – whether Islamophobes or jihadists – seem intent on wrecking that reputation. European nations are seeing a surge in nationalism and extremism, against a backdrop of arson attacks on mosques and a chilling terrorist attack today on a satirical newspaper in France leaving 12 people dead. Alexander Görlach writes...

Cellphones Can Spark Change in North Korea

Christopher Mims January 5, 2015
North Korea has about 2 million cell phones, accessed by the wealthiest in the urban centers. “In a 14-month span between 2012 and 2013, the number of mobile-phone subscribers in North Korea doubled to two million from one million, and it now may exceed 2.5 million, according to Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding of Egypt, which provides cell service to North Korea in a joint venture...

Shadow Aid to Syrian Refugees

Elizabeth Dickinson January 5, 2015
The challenges of delivering aid to war zones and makeshift refugee camps are immense. Elizabeth Dickinson describes an unofficial shadow aid system for Syrian refugees in Jordan for the Middle East Research and Information Project: “Across the Middle East, the United Nations is coordinating the largest operation in its history to help nearly 3 million Syrian refugees at a cost of $4.2 billion in...

How Headlines Change the Way We Think

Maria Konnikova December 31, 2014
First impressions matter, global researchers agree. With a constant onslaught of data, reports and opinions online and off, headlines must be thorough, enticing and accurate, suggests Maria Konnikova in an essay for the New Yorker. Busy readers, especially those active on social media, often only have time for headlines. “By now, everyone knows that a headline determines how many people will read...

Christmas Spending Gone Global

Nathan Siegel December 24, 2014
Early reports suggest that Americans are spending less on Christmas. Typically, the United States spends the most on the holiday, $703 per capita in 2013, and it’s rare when other countries spend more, as Luxembourg did that same year. But such spending does not mean other countries are less enthusiastic about Christmas, notes Nathan Siegel for Oxy: “shoppers in a few countries will spend...