In The News

April 13, 2018
One of President Donald Trump’s early acts in office was to withdraw the United States from Trans Pacific Partnership – a trade pact for Pacific Rim nations. The other 11 nations, led by Japan, concluded the negotiation without the United States and with some US-supported terms on investment and intellectual property. “Republican senators met with Trump on Thursday and he told them that he has...
Nayan Chanda April 13, 2018
US President Donald Trump relies on global crises and foreign policy disruptions to distract from an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling with the 2016 US presidential election: tariff threats, US troop withdrawal from Syria and missile threats, dispatch of US troops to the Mexican border and notably a snap decision to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. “All of these moves threaten to...
Doug Palmer April 10, 2018
After demanding concessions from allies by imposing steel and aluminum tariffs in March, US President Donald Trump has instigated a trade war with China without a strong global coalition for support. Analysts suggest that China, an authoritarian regime lacking in democratic or free market oversight, can move more nimbly and undergo less political backlash on the home front if a full-blown trade...
Madeleine Albright April 6, 2018
Terrorism, populism, sectarian conflicts and greed test democracy, writes Madeleine Albright for the New York Times, and disorder and volatility contribute to support for fascism and authoritarianism. Embracing nationalism, the Trump administration applies a wrecking ball to international agreements and political norms. “Instead of mobilizing international coalitions to take on world problems, he...
Toby Dalton and Ariel Levite April 4, 2018
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un caught the world by surprise after the two agreed to meet in May and explore the possibility of nuclear disarmament. The promise of a peace summit, following a year of strained and at times threatening rhetoric exchanged between the two leaders, revives hope that Kim may be open to de-escalation. Toby Dalton and Ariel Levite recommend...
Dan Collyns March 28, 2018
Amazon indigenous women are protesting oil drilling and mining in their territories, urging Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno to combat not only environmental exploitation but also the sexual and psychic violence “they claim accompany the industries.” A delegation of indigenous women met with Moreno after 100 protested by camping in Quito’s plaza near the Carondelet government palace for five days...
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León March 27, 2018
Migration is part of human history and human nature, sometimes the only means of surviving war, natural disaster or economic despair. In 2016, UN member states committed to negotiating the Global Compact on Migration. The United States, under the Trump administration, announced plans to withdraw from negotiations. The goal of the compact, not legally binding, is agreement on a “set of general...