In The News

Glasgow Becomes First University in Europe to Divest From Fossil Fuels

Libby Brooks October 13, 2014
Glasgow University in Scotland has voted to divest from the fossil fuel industry and is selling its holdings in the sector, worth £18 million, or US $12 million. The decision follows a year of pressure and campaigning from a student organization, the Glasgow University Climate Action Society, part of a broader international university movement. The “Fossil Free” university movement began in the...

Facebook and Gmail Face Blacklist Under Russian Web Laws

Roland Oliphant October 7, 2014
Russia has demanded that Western internet companies like Gmail, Facebook and Twitter register with Russia’s communication watchdog group and create servers that Russian officials can access. Officials have warned that companies that do not comply will face sanctions and, as some westerners expect, possible expulsion. The big companies fall into the net of Russia’s “blogger laws,” imposed in...

Europe's Muslims Stand Up to ISIS With Public Protests, Twitter Campaign

September 26, 2014
The world has more than 1 billion Muslims and the vast majority reject that the Islamic State terrorists represent their faith. “From Norway in the far north to Germany and France, Muslims have taken to the streets to denounce the IS militants controlling large areas of Iraq and Syria who they say have hijacked their religion and terminology to spread hate and breed violence,” reports Agence...

Russia: Friction With the West, New Ties With the East

Laurence Neville September 23, 2014
After stalled reforms, intervention in Ukraine and an alleged role in shooting down a Malaysian passenger jet, Russia has lost international goodwill. So like the United States, Russia is conducting its own pivot to Asia: “Rather than retreating from globalization, Russia, some think, is instead redefining it. Russia is choosing to look east rather than west,” suggests Laurence Neville for Global...

Scotland's Quarrel Is With Globalization, Not the UK

Gordon Brown September 22, 2014
Scotland rejected declaring independence from the United Kingdom, 55 to 45 percent. Businesses, investors and political leaders are relieved about some certainty moving forward. Many analysts credit the outcome’s wide margin to a last-minute, passionate appeal from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Those who fear globalization may “seek to insulate themselves against what appears like an...

War in Ukraine Exposes Russia’s Weakness

Chris Miller September 16, 2014
The Eurasian Union, as conceived by Russia, was supposed to rival the European Union as a trade and economic force. “Most notable about the Eurasian Union is not the geopolitical vision that motivates it, but how badly the entire project has gone,” argues Chris Miller, a PhD candidate at Yale University and a research associate with the Hoover Institution. Russian aggression is unnerving former...

Europe's Deadly Borders: An Inside Look at EU's Shameful Immigration Policy

Maximilian Popp September 16, 2014
European nations fiercely protect their borders, and Frontex is the continent’s border agency. “But now the civil war in Syria is creating millions of new refugees, and the next exodus is beginning in Iraq, as the terrorist group Islamic State continues to make inroads into the country,” writes Maximilian Popp for Spiegel Online. Popp notes that EU policies have not changed since the tragic 2013...