In The News

Confident Turkey Looks East, Not West

Simon Tisdall March 29, 2007
Tossing insults back and forth is not the typical protocol for future working partners. Officially, Turkey remains a candidate for EU membership. Yet analysts ponder the likelihood for accession, after the EU did not invite the potential partner to the 50th anniversary celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Rome and after a columnist summed up Turkish sentiment by writing that the EU has “...

Prime Minister Abe’s New Clothes

Alexis Dudden March 28, 2007
If the history of the world is the world’s court of justice, as 18th century historian Friedrich von Schiller suggested, then attempts to bury or deny unpleasant episodes can only fail. Since 1993, Japanese leaders have agreed to the Kono Statement, admitting that its military had forced women to serve as sexual slaves before and during World War II. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, in his post just...

Can Europe Age Gracefully? – Part I

Shada Islam March 21, 2007
Europeans celebrate the anniversary of the Treaty of Rome – along with 50 years of peace and prosperity on March 25. Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany formed what began as an economic alliance to promote trade with one another. That community has since expanded both in terms of membership and responsibilities, and this two-part YaleGlobal series explores Europe...

Caught in the Vise of Russia’s Illiberal “Liberal Empire”

Vladimer Papava March 20, 2007
After the disintegration of the USSR, Russia is bent on building an economic empire. By buying key economic entities across the territories of former Soviet republics, it wants to ensure their dependence on Moscow. So far, Russia has successfully controlled the actions of its neighbors by rewarding the obedient with lower gas prices and vice versa. Recently, Russia has banned exports from Georgia...

The New New World Order

Daniel W. Drezner March 15, 2007
People accuse the Bush administration of unilateralism, and the US dominates many global institutions, from the International Monetary Fund to the World Trade Organization. But according to Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics, writing in “Foreign Affairs,” the Bush administration has led the way in encouraging global institutions to prepare for rising powers like India, China,...

Iran-Saudi Arabian Embrace: A New Beginning?

Dilip Hiro March 9, 2007
The US, struggling to control violence in Iraq, has ratcheted up its threat against neighboring Iran as a primary culprit. Longstanding US concerns about Iran defying the international community by developing nuclear weapons have recently been heightened by its accusation that the Islamic state has been supporting Shiite militias against Sunnis in Iraq’s ongoing civil war. Conservative US...

Member of the Axis of Evil No More

Gavan McCormack March 5, 2007
Crisis can and seems to have opened new opportunity in the Korean peninsula. Having gone to the precipice of a nuclear confrontation, the parties in Northeast Asia have woken up to the need for a realistic approach. China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the US and North Korea reached an agreement to dismantle the latter's nuclear-weapon program in exchange for fuel aid, opening the door to...