In The News

Displaced Again and Again, Some African Migrants Had No Plan to Land in Italy

Jim Yardley May 5, 2015
Despite the Mediterranean journey’s many dangers and a hostile welcome on arrival, Italy remains a destination of hope for refugees. Warm weather and expanding conflict in North Africa is increasing the numbers attempting the crossing of the Mediterranean to land on Italian shores. Laborers who worked in Libya and had no plans of heading to Europe suggest their only option is fleeing expanding...

An Unending Refugee Tragedy: Europe's Path to Deadly Partition

Matthias Gebauer, Horand Knaup, Peter Müller, Maximilian Popp, Jörg Schindler and Christoph Schult April 28, 2015
European leaders were ashamed after the 2013 sinking of a rickety boat with more than 500 refugees near the Italian island of Lampedusa. The EU promised measures to avoid such tragedies, but thousands still use life savings to attempt the treacherous crossing, fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa, Syria and beyond. Many refugees do not survive. The article in Spiegel Online reviews the array of...

Spain Criticizes Greece on Russia

Andrew Rettman April 21, 2015
Struggling to repay its debt and asking for new terms, Greece is desperate for relief. In April, Spanish Prime Minister José Manuel García-Margallo criticized the decision of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, during a visit to Moscow, to denounce the sanctions and counter-sanctions between the EU and Russia. Greece is also on the defensive after a British newspaper suggested that Tspiras may...

Words of Concern, Walls of Deterrence: Refugees Pushed Out to Sea

Aurélie Ponthieu April 20, 2015
The numbers of grossly overloaded vessels of all types, carrying desperate migrants from Syria and other conflict zones, are on the rise. More than 20,000 have died in recent years, and more than 200,000 took the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean in 2014 alone. Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, has announced it will launch search-and-rescue operations in the sea. “The...

European Union Divided Over Greek Bailout

Chris Miller April 16, 2015
Fervent democracy at the national level is hampering monetary policymaking for the broader European Union in bringing quick end to the Greek debt crisis, explains Chris Miller, a Yale doctoral candidate and research associate at the Hoover Institution. Greek voters resent austerity measures imposed by the rest of Europe led by Germany, yet polls show that two thirds prefer staying in the eurozone...

Russia’s Turbulence Could Drive Sustainable Development

Anastasia Okorochkova April 14, 2015
Falling oil prices and western sanctions have led to hard economic times for Russians. But lingering economic crisis can also allow a country new opportunity to regroup and reform, innovating and transforming the economy. Paradoxically, the long-running crisis could drive Russia to end its reliance on export of fossil fuels and embrace sustainability. “To do so, Russia must mobilize its...

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...