In The News

A Door Opens for Reform in Pakistan – Part I

Paula R. Newberg August 21, 2008
With President Pervez Musharraf finally gone, Pakistan has been celebrating amidst political chaos not unusual for a reborn democracy. Major powers and neighbors who have an interest in Pakistan’s success cannot afford a “wait and see” attitude, suggests Paula Newberg in the first article of a two-part series. The current government must work to restore citizens’ faith in institutions that are...

What Bush Got Right

Fareed Zakaria August 18, 2008
The organization of the US governing system, with its checks and balances, encourages moderation. Policies from US President George Bush that raised international ire largely emerged during the first presidential term, including a war on terror with invasion of Iraq as its centerpiece, refusal to negotiate with Iran or North Korea, neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “His decision...

A Question for the Global Community

Rachel Clogg August 14, 2008
As regions gain new freedoms, minority groups with longstanding differences and gripes try to break away from central governments, too often stirring international conflict in the process. Attempting to separate from Georgia, provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia have fueled tensions between the West and Russia. “For years the Georgian government has failed to engage seriously with the needs and...

Obama’s Biofuels Policy Tension

Roger Harrabin August 13, 2008
Ethanol subsidies are popular among voters in the American Midwest, where farmers grow millions of acres of corn to produce the biofuel. It’s no surprise, then, that Barack Obama – as a senator representing Illinois – has embraced such subsidies. Yet while ethanol may be popular politically, it has proven disastrous as a matter of policy: Research suggests that producing ethanol creates more...

War in Georgia: How the Caucasus Erupted

Carmen Eller August 8, 2008
The provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia struggle to break away from Georgia, and build closer links with Russia. Russia issues passports to residents in the provinces seeking independence and has also built a gas pipeline. Spreading conflict underscores ongoing differences between Russia and the US and the struggle to control energy sources. “Russia does not want to lose its influence on...

Time to Strengthen the IAEA

Ernesto Zedillo August 7, 2008
The International Atomic Energy Agency established an 18-member commission chaired by Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, to reflect on how the nuclear future might unfold, what the world is likely to demand of the IAEA, and what steps must be taken to allow the agency to fill those needs. The result of the commission’s deliberation was presented to the...

Texas Execution Plan Defies Hague Order

Suzanne Goldenberg August 5, 2008
The International Court of Justice, as the principal legal body of the United Nations, is expected to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by member states. But the state of Texas in the US insists the court does not have jurisdiction over the case of José Medellín, charged with the 1993 brutal rape and murder of two teenagers and since convicted and...