In The News

Changing American Perceptions of US Adversaries, One Dish at a Time

Heather Maher May 16, 2013
Appreciation for delicious cuisine connects individuals and can put conflicts on the back burner. Since 2010 Conflict Kitchen in Pittsburgh has served the dishes of countries at odds with the United States, including Afghanistan, Iran and Cuba. The motivation for co-founders, one of whom is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art, was to diversify to the city’s ethnic food...

How to End the Forever War

Harold Hongju Koh May 14, 2013
Ending a war can be more time-consuming and challenging than starting one, especially the so-called global war on terror that has defied conventional notions. Harold Hongju Koh, professor of law and former dean of Yale Law School, describes how the war on terror transformed into endless war in this YaleGlobal essay based on a speech delivered in May at the Oxford Union. Koh refutes common...

America's First Climate Refugees

Suzanne Goldenberg May 14, 2013
Americans, particularly those in oil-rich and Republican-dominated states like Alaska, are very sensitive about any foreign threat to their way of life. Yet outrage wanes about the pressing need to address climate change even as Americans already lose homes to extreme weather. A series in the Guardian newspaper based in London focuses on climate change, including a warning from economist...

Lopsided Chinese-US Relations

Edward Gresser May 9, 2013
Chinese-US relations come to the public’s attention mainly through official actions, yet linkages are conducted at two levels, observes Edward Gresser, executive director of Progressive Economy, a research program of GlobalWorks Foundation in Washington, DC. While relations among the nations’ leaders are competitive and tense, exchanges among students, business managers, tourists are amenable and...

China Property Developers Seek US Growth

Pan Kwan Yuk May 8, 2013
Chinese property developers are taking a lead from wealthy Chinese investors and state-owned Chinese banks by investing in US properties. Xinyuan Real Estate is planning a condominium development in a trendy Brooklyn neighborhood. “With Beijing redoubling its efforts to rein in housing prices – most recently unveiling plans for a tougher real estate capital gains tax in March – the pressure is...

To Arm or Not to Arm? That Is Obama’s Question

Zvi Bar’el May 7, 2013
Weapons last longer than alliances, and the Obama administration is highly cautious about arming even a small segment of Syria’s rebels. It’s happened time and time again that weapons quickly change hands and are used against the original providers. The chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army is pleading for US assistance while trying to build coalitions among fragmented forces resisting the Assad...

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...