In The News

The American Leak

Thomas L. Friedman December 7, 2010
The steady release of cables, written by US diplomats, demonstrate a convoluted, counterproductive US foreign policy. The US enters alliances with countries that do not share its expressed values, then tries to deny the differences. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman uses cables about Saudi Arabia by way of example, detailing the contradictions that emerge from US reliance on Saudi oil:...

Chinese Workers Build MLK Memorial: Investigation

Annys Shin December 7, 2010
It’s an old debate: Should planners of symbolic projects rely on local workers or stretch funds by hiring immigrant labor? The latest project under scrutiny is construction of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, DC. Debt crisis in Greece delayed granite delivery, and critics slammed the Chinese sculptor’s original design. The foundation organizing the $120 million project...

Let Down by Politics

Nayan Chanda December 6, 2010
When 20 global leaders convened in 2008 to review the unfolding credit crisis, many anticipated a new forum for global cooperation. In meetings since, “the leaders failed to reach an agreement on any of the contentious issues that threatened economic recovery,” writes Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal, in his regular column for Businessworld. Chanda urges patience, noting “It will take more than...

The WikiLeaks Ravage – Part I

Shyam Saran December 6, 2010
WikiLeaks has set out to display 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables, dated 1966 to 2010, exposing blunt US assessments, tactics and conjecture. For the well read, the cables reveal much hypocrisy, but few surprises. This two-part YaleGlobal series explores the consequences of the unprecedented leak from the points of view of diplomacy and internet freedom. The latest release about vital US...

Asking China to Act Like the US

Helene Cooper December 6, 2010
US leaders show little understanding as to why China balks at acting against its own national interests on democracy, currency, trade surpluses, climate change and many other issues, notes Helene Cooper for the New York Times. Complete acquiescence from China on US policies would serve American interests, not necessarily China’s or the world’s. Cooper focuses on the two nations’ responses to...

Can China Afford to Confront the World? – Part II

Pichamon Yeophantong November 30, 2010
China and the US battle for influence over Asian security and economic matters. In second part of this two-part YaleGlobal series, researcher Pichamon Yeophantong suggests that China’s aggressive push for resources meets with quiet resistance from China’s Southeast Asian neighbors. “Having close historical ties to both China and the US, ASEAN members frequently find themselves at the receiving...

Farewell to the Age of the Treaty

James P. Rubin November 29, 2010
US ratification of international treaties requires 67 of 100 votes in the Senate, a near impossible feat in a nation deeply divided over its future direction. Any individual senator can upend negotiations by demanding special treatment or funding. Such is the case with the new Start treaty between Russia and the US, with one senator demanding a nuclear-weapons modernization program that defies...