In The News

Why Globalization Hurts Football

Andre Santamaria December 12, 2005
To most people, issues related to globalization revolve around open economies and free trade. Yet the effects of globalization can be felt in many more arenas, including in the world of professional football. From a certain standpoint, globalization may be said to be the enemy of the distinct styles of play that have traditionally made the sport a theatre for the display of national character...

Rice Visit Fails to Build Bridges

David Crossland December 7, 2005
Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Berlin was quickly derailed from its purpose of establishing a harmonious trans-Atlantic relationship by the sensitive and inflammatory issue of torture. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reported that Rice had admitted the US made a mistake by abducting Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen wrongly suspected of involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks, imprisoning and, he...

The Rise of Nearshoring

December 6, 2005
While India and China are popular destinations for outsourcing, a new trend - “nearshoring” global business concerns to formerly Communist Eastern Europe is emerging. The premise is to move production, research and business to countries that may not be quite as cheap as India or China, but are still cheap and also much closer to home. Western concerns are finding multi-lingual workers and a...

Partnership In Question

Magda El-Ghitany December 5, 2005
More than two dozen European and Mediterranean states met in Barcelona a decade ago in order to work towards a shared vision of an end to religious fundamentalism and the advent of regional free trade. That vision is now in tatters. A summit held on the ten-year anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration failed even to attract many key Arab heads of state, and failed likewise to produce a joint...

US-German Relations Undermined by CIA Flights

Bertrand Benoit December 5, 2005
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s trip to Europe this week was once thought especially important because it was an opportunity to build ties with Angela Merkel, whose right-of-center leanings were thought to make her a natural ally of the Bush Administration. Merkel, however, faces a firestorm of public outrage at the revelation that the CIA used Germany as a major hub in its secret...

Barcelona Dreams

November 30, 2005
As the bloody war in Iraq sputters on, European Union leaders will meet in Barcelona this weekend to discuss a much different sort of attempt to extend Western influence in the Muslim world. The Barcelona Process is the name that was given, ten years ago, to the European drive to reform the Muslim countries of North Africa and the Middle East with a soft power approach. The EU is the most...

Environmentalists in Italy Fight a ‘Green’ Project

Elizabeth Rosenthal November 30, 2005
In the tiny Alpine village of Venaus in northern Italy, volunteers are mobilizing huge protests to stop the construction of a pan-European high-speed freight line. The project aims to connect Western and Eastern Europe with a high-speed rail network, achieving the dream of a single European market where goods can move freely and efficiently. In Velnaus, a crucial link in the system, two long...