In The News

Will It Be a Trusting Relationship?

Nayan Chanda September 29, 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received an enthusiastic welcome from members of the US Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden, perhaps previewing strategic cooperation between the world’s largest democracy and the United States. In his regular column for the Times of India, Nayan Chanda reviews how the strategic situation has deteriorated for both India and the United States: China is...

China’s IPhone 6 Craving Leads to Fistfight in Connecticut

Doni Bloomfield September 25, 2014
Companies can drive global hype with a slow release of a new product. The iPhone 6 is assembled in China, but consumers in that nation may have to wait months for the device to appear on store shelves. Enterprising traders in the United States see an opportunity to snap up phones for resale in China at four times the price or more, but some stores limit sales per customer. Traders accrue a large...

Foreign Funding of Think Tanks Is Corrupting Our Democracy

John B. Judis September 17, 2014
Foreign governments donate millions to US think tanks to promote their positons, suggests a report in the New York Times. Research costs money; donors, foreign or domestic, may influence topics of research, sources and conclusions. “Washington think tanks, which were originally intended as a source of impartial, objective, and disinterested information, have become arms of foreign as well as...

Obama's Legal Rationale for ISIS Strikes

Spencer Ackerman September 11, 2014
With a new Iraqi government in place, urging the United States to intervene against the Islamic State, and wide public support at home, US President Barack Obama announced plans to wage air strikes into Syrian territory against the terrorist group. He will not wait for congressional approval other than the $500 million in funding, instead rely on the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force “...

Obama Waits for Lawful Way to Fight Islamic State Terrorists

Harold Hongju Koh September 4, 2014
International observers and critics in the United States repeatedly ask why President Barack Obama does not simply bomb areas controlled by the Islamic State terrorist group inside Iraq and Syria. “Part of the challenge lies in the maze of domestic and international law that must be navigated,” suggests Harold Hongju Koh, Yale professor of law and former legal adviser to the US State Department....

Washington and the Argentine Default

R. Viswanathan August 29, 2014
Argentina wants to pay bondholders who agreed to a restructuring settlement and withhold full payment to a few holdouts, but a US judge ruled that all or none must be paid. “Argentina has now taken the matter to the International Court of Justice, complaining that the decision of the U.S. judiciary is arbitrary, abusive, and beyond its jurisdiction besides ignoring the sovereign immunity of...

Is the United States In or Out on Globalization?

Edward J. Reilly August 28, 2014
US political leaders are fretting about the need for tax reform as US companies purchase partners in tax-friendly countries, relocating their headquarters and tax base. The latest example is Burger King’s proposal to purchase Tim Hortons restaurant chain, based in Canada. The United States may be ambivalent on globalization, but there is no turning back, argues strategic communications consultant...