In The News

North Korea and the Chimera in the Syrian Desert

Gavan McCormack May 9, 2008
North Korea was inching its way toward disabling its nuclear reactor, sealing its plutonium waste and reaching agreement on other nuclear issues. Then on April 24, the US accused North Korea of aiding Syria in constructing a nuclear reactor for use in making weapons – a structure destroyed by Israel in September 2007. Syria and North Korea deny the claim and point out that the US continues to...

China Ascendant – Part II

Pranab Bardhan April 28, 2008
Hosting the Olympics in August is an opportunity for China to display its economic and social success along with its ancient culture to the world. But there’s a fine line between the display of patriotism and nationalism, warns economist Pranab Bardhan in the second article of a YaleGlobal series on China’s rise. The Chinese Communist Party has carefully nurtured – and enforced – homogeneous...

In EU, Hope Dims for Iraqi Refugees

Mariah Blake April 24, 2008
The US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent insurgency have produced an estimated 4.7 million refugees. One Swedish town alone, Södertälje near Stockholm, has accepted about 6,000 asylum seekers in the last five years – more than the entire United States. In all, Sweden – which had no role in the war – has accepted 49,000 people who met the conditions required by the European Union’s...

China May Give Up Attempt to Send Arms to Zimbabwe

Celia W. Dugger April 23, 2008
Trade may seem like a neutral affair, but certain products – like arms – can raise alarms. A South African high court has barred the shipment of arms to Zimbabwe, with the latter divided over recent election results. South African leaders expressed concern that the arms could be used against the opposition party that, by some reports, won the election, write Celia Dugger and David Barboza for the...

We Can Accept Israel as Neighbor, Says Hamas

Rory McCarthy April 22, 2008
Peace comes by way of tiny little steps in the Middle East, moving forward and backward with diplomatic and military acts. The leader of Hamas said that his group would “respect Palestinian national will,” even if that meant some form of a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, during a meeting arranged by former US President Jimmy Carter. Currently, two rival parties, Fatah and Hamas, are deeply...

New Freedom, and Peril, in Online Criticism of China

Ariana Eunjung Cha April 17, 2008
China has more internet users than any other country – and the government has no problem with an angry, rapid-response approach to any Chinese citizen who shows the slightest opposition to government policies. What the Washington Post calls an “internet mob” attacked a 20-year-old student attending Duke University in the US, after she attempted to mediate between campus protesters who pressed...

Food Prices Stir Poverty Concern

April 11, 2008
Development and trade have lifted many from poverty, but have also widened inequality around the globe. Diverting grain crops from food products to biofuels depleted global food stocks causing spikes in prices. Climate change and a declining dollar also add to prices. Reports of food riots and families stretching meals by adding dirt as an ingredient reveal growing desperation in the world’s...