In The News

Microsoft Described as “Biggest Hacker in China”

Tania Branigan October 23, 2008
In demonstrating a prowess in combating online piracy, Microsoft has infuriated Chinese internet users. “The new version of its Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy programme turns the on-screen background black every hour if the installed software fails a validation test,” reports Tania Branigan for the Guardian. Chinese internet users argue the company should target producers who violate...

How Can We Preempt Investment Protectionism?

Ernesto Zedillo October 23, 2008
Nations laden with debt fret about investments by overseas cash-rich sovereign wealth funds. “The most common fears are that the SWFs, being government-owned, may be used not only for the purpose of receiving attractive returns on their investments but also for pursuing geopolitical objectives, gaining control of strategic natural resources or extracting sensitive technologies; that they could...

Green Energy Is Not a Middle-Class Conceit, More the Only Way Forward

Geoffrey Lean October 22, 2008
Despite a global credit crisis, environmental protection and development of alternative energy sources by no means should be pushed to the back burner, argues Geoffrey Lean for the Independent. The current financial crisis could be quite mild compared with future crises, as supplies of natural energy decline and climate change causes raging storms, rising seas and fluctuating temperatures. The...

Gulf to the US: Thanks, But No Thanks

Dilip Hiro October 22, 2008
Some financial analysts anticipated the cash-rich sovereign wealth funds of the Middle East to swoop down on giants in the financial and industrial world struggling with a global credit crisis – a notion arousing both fear and hope throughout Europe and the US. But such rescue investments have not materialized, explains author and Middle East analyst Dilip Hiro. Hiro reports that operations of...

Brazilian Beef Purchase Is Challenged by the US

John R. Wilke October 22, 2008
Brazil’s JBS Inc. seeks to expand its beef operations into the US, but the US Justice Department, joined by 13 states, is challenging its purchase of a US firm. Concern centers on reducing competitors in the US beef market from five to three, rising food prices and lower prices paid to US cattle farmers. Confronting hikes in food prices, some in US Congress press for more scrutiny of the...

Music: True Agent of Globalization

Alan Paul October 21, 2008
Many bands are cobbled together by people who share a simple desire to perform. Alan Paul describes his experiences with a blues band consisting of Chinese and American players. “We believe that with music, there is one people,” Paul announces, after stepping on stage for a Beijing music festival. Audiences respond to traditional songs, laden with meaning, from one land or the other. “To me, this...

Unilateral Delusions

Joseph P. Quinlan October 20, 2008
US voters have an independent streak, preferring to overlook just how much American prosperity depends on foreign labor, capital and natural resources. Presidential candidates find it easy to attract voters, especially those worried about jobs and the economy, with anti-trade messages, and this year’s campaign is no different: Democrat Barack Obama criticizes firms that ship jobs overseas, while...