In The News

Expanding Civil War: After Syria, Iraq?

Mohammed Ayoob May 7, 2013
Intervention and war are a way of life in the Middle East. With intervention fueling conflict, sectarian tensions reemerge and leaders restrict basic rights and freedoms and even resort to using force to restrain their own citizens. A recent example is the Iraqi government kicking out Arab television networks. Old behavior patterns are igniting unrest, civil war and new types of intervention,...

Myanmar Morphs to US-China Battlefield

Bertil Lintner May 3, 2013
The international community is encouraged about fledgling democracy in Burma, or Myanmar as renamed by its leaders. Once isolated, denounced for human rights violations, the Myanmar government depended heavily on China. Hoping to reduce dependence on China, the Myanmar government eased repression, and the US responded swiftly. But this development adds to new US-Chinese tensions. “Rather than...

Lone Wolf Terrorists – No Easy Catch

Bruce Riedel April 30, 2013
Vigilance and a global crackdown on terrorism have so far deterred those trying to plot attacks on a grand scale in the US. A bigger challenge may be impromptu attacks by disgruntled young men, like the bombing at the Boston Marathon by two brothers, young adults whose Chechen immigrant parents had largely deserted them in the US. So far, the surviving suspect claims the attack was not part of a...

Crossing a Red Line

April 26, 2013
President Barack Obama has said that use of chemical weapons in Syria would be crossing a red line triggering intervention. Satellite images, eyewitness accounts and soil analysis suggest that sarin has been used in Syria. British officials concur with the US that evidence is limited and requires further investigation; British and French officials are requesting a UN investigation. Despite...

From Boston to Chechnya to Moscow: Chain of Terror Unites US and Russia

April 19, 2013
As the police continue to hunt for a suspect in the Boston marathon bombing, the long-running battle of Muslim Chechens in Russia has reemerged into focus. The US and Russia are in complete agreement on at least one foreign-policy issue, a desire to prevent and combat Islamic extremism, and reports that two suspects in the Boston marathon bombing are brothers of Chechen background will prompt...

Pyongyang Declares New State of War

Nayan Chanda April 15, 2013
Chinese leader Xi Jinping did not name names when he said that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain.” Many in the West took the comment as criticism of North Korea. But China’s state media have quoted Chinese academics who retorted that the comment also refers to the United States and Japan, reports Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s...

Winning Without a Fight in the South China Sea

Marvin Ott April 10, 2013
China has the largest military in Asia, and expenditures on Chinese navy, coast guard and air force are second only to that of the United States. Still, China is pressing new forces into protecting sweeping claims in the South China Sea – cruise ships and tourists. For decades Chinese maps have shown a U-shaped swathe with dotted lines suggesting maritime claims cutting into 200-mile offshore...