In The News

China's Crackdown on Nonprofit Groups Prompts New Fears Among Activists

Keith B. Richburg May 12, 2010
The purpose of a non-profit or non-governmental organization is to act for the public good, with no benefits for individual organizers. But China’s communist government is wary of competition in serving the public good, and recent reports suggest a tightening control over what Keith Richburg of the Washington Post calls a “freewheeling civil society sector.” During the past two decades, thousands...

Lessons From Athens

Nayan Chanda May 12, 2010
Carefree spending on borrowed funds is not sustainable. Europe could not handle fast assistance to debt-laden Greece on its own and had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for additional financial support. Eurozone nations and the IMF imposed stringent conditions, and future borrowing by the Greeks will carry heavy costs. “The same global liquidity that can fuel growth can also evaporate...

Renminbi Revaluation Won't Trigger a Shopping Spree

Zhiwu Chen May 12, 2010
Many economists and policy analysts maintain that resolving huge trade imbalances is easy – the Chinese government should just let the renminbi appreciate. But that quick fix won’t do much, contends Zhiwu Chen, professor of finance with the Yale School of Management. Revaluing the renminbi would shift manufacturing to other low-cost Asian nations, without spurring Chinese spending on US goods or...

How To Get Rid of Nuclear Weapons

May 5, 2010
As signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty gather to review its forty years’ performance, the danger posed by nuclear weapons remains undiminished. Gareth Evans, Co-Chairman of an International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, interviewed by Nayan Chanda, Editor of YaleGlobal Online, discusses the threat and urgent tasks ahead for the international community...

NPT Review Faces Challenges as Iran Knocks on Door

Leonard S. Spector May 3, 2010
Threatening to build, possess or use nuclear weapons does not do much to win friends or influence neighbors, as the old saying goes, particularly as more nations acquire the bomb. More than 180 nations convene at the UN this month, starting today, to continue regular five-yearly review and negotiations aimed at reducing these weapons. Progress is slow because decisions at the UN conference on the...

Freeing the Renminbi

Nayan Chanda April 30, 2010
Criticizing the value of another nation’s currency is easy. Understanding the consequences of any currency adjustments is more complicated, explains Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal and regular columnist for Businessworld in India. Economic advisors have undoubtedly explained the many challenges linked to currency revaluation awaiting political leaders in both China and the US, suggesting that...

North Korea and Syria: A Warning in the Desert

Gregory L. Schulte April 28, 2010
Six-Party Talks began in 2003, with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US teaming up to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear-weapons ambition. Talks continued on and off with isolated North Korea, as it inched forward with its own nuclear development and clandestine export of nuclear material. One example of North Korea’s nuclear proliferation emerged in 2007 when Israeli bombers...