In The News

After EU Deal, British Voters Weigh Costs and Benefits of Brexit

David R. Cameron February 25, 2016
Like other nations, the United Kingdom faces ongoing pressures from debt, demographics, and refugees fleeing the Middle East. Some politicians use the European Union as a convenient scapegoat for their own troubles. In 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to renegotiate terms of Britain’s membership in the EU. A referendum on whether the country should remain a member is set for...

EU's Real Brake Isn't Britain but Franco-German Impasse

Paul Taylor February 22, 2016
Britain’s prime minister has negotiated a deal, carving out exemptions to its membership with the European Union, and analysts wonder if other members might also try their own negotiations which could “ultimately lead to a disintegration of the union,” reports Paul Taylor for Reuters. Taylor adds that more challenging than Britain’s possible exit “is a long-running Franco-German impasse on how to...

Why the Rest of the World Should Get a Vote in the Greatest Reality TV Show on Earth – The US Election

Laurie Penny February 22, 2016
So far, three of 50 states have cast votes in party primaries to determine the top candidates for the US presidential election. Laurie Penny, writing for New Statesman, laments that she cannot have a say on leadership that has so much global influence. “The world is obsessed with the US elections because the outcome of those elections will have an impact on every person on Earth. So, let the...

However Annoying, Failure to Engage Russia Is Not an Option

Jochen Prantl February 16, 2016
Negotiations to end civil war in Syria, which has left 250,000 dead, and forced more than 10 million to flee their homes, are set to resume February 25. Syrian troops, aided by Russian airstrikes, are gradually retaking territory held by the rebels. “Russia needs to be convinced that an immediate ceasefire rather than the continuation of war serves its long-term interests,” argues Jochen Prantl,...

From Iran to Nigeria, Cheap Oil Means Perilous Politics

Fareed Zakaria February 10, 2016
Oil producing nations were long warned to diversify economies. The abrupt fall of oil prices from more than $110 to less than $30 per barrel in the space of a few years is influencing politics and foreign policy. Fareed Zakaria points out that Iran entered serious negotiations for an agreement on ending its nuclear program in summer of 2013. “Iranian officials were predicting that by 2015, Iran’s...

Welcome to the Twenty-First Century

Joschka Fischer February 5, 2016
The world has many troubles including destabilized markets and low oil prices, high debt levels, terrorism and the ongoing refugee crisis for the Middle East, Europe and North Africa. The international order of the 20th century is shifting, and no suitable replacement is waiting in the wings. “Today, the Pax Americana that ensured a large degree of global stability has begun to fray – most...

Obama Visits a Mosque to Send Pointed Message to Non-Muslims

Roberta Rampton February 4, 2016
In his chapter on the "Tyranny of the Majority," Alexis de Tocqueville posed the question, "If it be admitted that a man possessing absolute power may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should not a majority be liable to the same reproach?” Respect for minority rights, openness to the possibility that minorities might someday emerge as majority and will likewise...