In The News

China, Pursuing Strategic Interests, Builds Presence in Antarctica

Jane Perlez May 7, 2015
China is extending its global reach under President Xi Jinping, and that includes Antarctica. “He signed a five-year accord with the Australian government that allows Chinese vessels and, in the future, aircraft to resupply for fuel and food before heading south,” reports Jane Perlez for the New York Times. “That will help secure easier access to a region that is believed to have vast oil and...

Seeking Business, Cuomo Heads to Cuba With a New York Trade Delegation

Susanne Craig April 23, 2015
The announcement of plans to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism unleashed a flood of business interest. US Congress must approve lifting the full trade embargo, and business leaders could apply pressure to politicians who have long benefited from the divisions. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wasted no time, leading a 26-hour trip to Cuba with business leaders from JetBlue...

Yale Study Maps US Climate Opinion in Unprecedented Geographic Detail

Kevin Dennehy April 22, 2015
More than half of Americans are concerned about climate change. Americans represent about 5 percent of the world’s population yet uses nearly a quarter of the world’s energy. A team of Yale and University of Utah researchers developed a statistical model that maps public opinion and policy support on climate change in the world’s leading economy. The model was originally published in Nature...

High Debt and Low Oil Prices Threaten Canada’s Globalized Economy

Vikram Mansharamani April 20, 2015
The world’s 11th largest economy does not rank among the world’s 30 most populous countries. Despite handily managing the global debt crisis after 2007, Canada’s economy is vulnerable. Volatility brought by globalization and interdependency may bear part of the blame, explains Vikram Mansharamani, a Yale lecturer and senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the...

President Obama Rebuilds Latin American Policy

Jim Wyss and Mimi Whitefield April 17, 2015
US President Barack Obama used the seventh Summit of the Americas to mend ties with neighbors to the south. He met with Cuban President Raúl Castro on reestablishing diplomatic ties, reports Jim Wyss and Mimi Whitefield for the Miami Herald. Shortly after the summit, the Obama administration announced dropping Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. The two nations broke off ties in...

Have US Sanctions Against Venezuela Helped Maduro?

José R. Cárdenas April 13, 2015
The United States implemented human rights sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials in March. Initially, Latin Americans criticized this move because aggressive moves from Washington could allow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to rally his waning supporters. Although Maduro did seize another presidential victory, polls show that Maduro’s popularity has not improved as predicted. Unlike Hugo...

UK’s Risky Obsession With US Decline

Gideon Rachman April 7, 2015
The United Kingdom understands full well how empires tend to over-reach and shrink, and British historians – notably Yale’s Paul Kennedy, Harvard’s Niall Ferguson and Stanford’s Ian Morris – suggest that such patterns are playing out for the United States, explains Gideon Rachman for the Financial Times. “British policy makers also seem to be operating on the assumption that the continuing rise...