In The News

Global Defense Spending on Rise: BBC

Jonathan Marcus February 14, 2020
Global defense spending swells with low interest rates, easy borrowing and technological advancements. Military spending for 2019 rose 4 percent over 2018, reports BBC News. The International Institute for Strategic Studies released the figures. “In both the US and China defence spending increased by 6.6% in 2019, though the rate of growth is accelerating in the US, while it is slowing in China...

Reshaped Global Commerce: Wall Street Journal

Josh Zumbrun, Feliz Solomon, and Jeffrey Lewis February 13, 2020
The trade war between the US and China in the past two years has contributed to slowing global trade growth. Imports for both the US and China declined in 2019 due to additional tariffs and the global trade system has made adjustments. A Wall Street Journal article describes which regions benefited from the dispute: In Asia, cellphones made in Vietnam are growing rapidly while other east and...

US Intelligence Coup: Washington Post

Greg Miller February 12, 2020
Swiss Encryption company Crypto AG began working for the US government during World War II. Customers included 120 countries, including US allies that had no clue the company was “secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence,” reports Greg Miller for the Washington Post. The purchase was made in 1970 through shell companies. The intelligence agencies...

Not by Bullying: Times of India

Nayan Chanda February 11, 2020
The World Health Organization reports more than 40,000 cases of the new coronavirus with 1000 deaths, exceeding the 2003 SARS death toll. Public health responses vary around the world, and China now relies on those to assess its ties with other nations. For example, China has chastised the United States and other countries for imposing travel bans that incite panic and isolate the Chinese economy...

Investors Come Back for Bitcoin: Financial Times

Eva Szalay and Laurence Fletcher February 10, 2020
Bitcoin’s excellent performance in 2019 has attracted investors from banks and asset managers once again, despite past worries about the currency’s reputational risk, lack of regulation, and volatile returns. In 2017, bitcoin went above US$20,000, prompting Wall Street banks to rush and develop their own digital currencies with blockchain technology. CME Group launched the first futures on a...

This Is How Democracy Dies: Atlantic

Yascha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa February 7, 2020
Democracy requires hard work, patience, compromise and trust. Citizens may be dissatisfied with a leader but must stay informed and engaged in politics. Yet support for democracy around the world is in decline. The University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Future of Democracy analyzed data from more than 154 countries, 3,500 surveys covering more than 4 million respondents, and social-science...

5 Points on the Coronavirus: Yale Medicine

Kathy Katella February 7, 2020
The new coronavirus originating in China has spread quickly in a globalized world of frequent travel and cross-border trade. But globalization of communications also ensures timely reports on symptoms and best practices as well as collaboration among the world’s public health researchers. So far, 35,000 cases have been confirmed with more than 700 deaths. The new virus, believed to have started...