In The News

A Bush Alarm: Urging US to Shun Isolationism

David E. Sanger March 13, 2006
President Bush’s vision for US foreign policy has evolved in five years. During his first campaign for president, Bush promoted a “humble foreign policy” and avoided talk of globalization. With 9/11, benign neglect turned to a go-it-alone search for security, with the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq quickly following. But isolationist policies have not worked, and Bush is a late convert to the...

Port Deal: Not a Foreign Idea

Laura Meckler March 10, 2006
US citizens have suddenly discovered the global intricacies of port operations throughout the country. While the outrage over the Dubai Ports World investment questioned safety, federal agencies such as US Customs and the US Coast Guard continue to control port security. Since the 1970s, US flag-shipping lines have faced increasing competition from foreign companies, which operate with low-cost...

Arab Firms Reassessing US Holdings

Jim Krane March 10, 2006
Conventional wisdom suggests that Arab nations and investors would scorn US investments after the US Congress objected to a Dubai firm taking over management of six major US ports. There is fear that the rejection of the deal, reflecting anti-Muslim bias, could trigger a short- or long-term backlash. Yet analysts report that the US – representing 50 percent of the world’s economic market –...

Novels Found in Translation

J. Peder Zane March 9, 2006
Editors and writers often quote from translated material, without identifying the translator. Writer J. Peder Zane suggests that the neglect reveals a subconscious embarrassment about readers’ dependence on translations, a nagging doubt that the reading does not provide an authentic experience. Yet only because of translations, the average person can enjoy “Madame Bovary” or “Crime and...

Anxious America – Part I

S.L. Bachman March 9, 2006
Americans tend to take contributions from foreigners for granted. But with the post- 9/11 obsession with security, the attitude is changing, leading to visa restrictions and worry about business deals that in the past raised nary a concern. In a two-part series, YaleGlobal examines the implication of this extra concern about security on US economic prosperity. Recently the announcement about a...

US Reviewing Second Dubai Firm

Jonathan Weisman March 7, 2006
The Bush administration has reversed direction by notifying the US Congress about sales with national security implications. That comes after public outrage greeted a proposal that would transfer operations of six US ports to a Dubai company. Now the government says it will investigate two deals in particular: Dubai International Capital's $1.2 billion acquisition of London-based Doncasters...

America's Immigration Advantage

Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco March 6, 2006
Europe and the US have different perspectives on immigration and therefore different problems, according to immigration scholar Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco. Immigrants typically receive good educations on both sides of the Atlantic, but immigrants in Europe face intense discrimination in the labor market. European immigration is driven by asylum-seeking and marriage, so ethnic groups tend to...