In The News

Gangsters and Africa's Black Gold

Thilo Thielke December 9, 2005
Hidden off the West African coast, according to estimates, are up to 100 billion barrels worth of oil - a reserve about the size of Iraq's. The US is one interested party, hoping to break the Arab world's vice-grip on prices. China is another, forming what on the surface appear to be mutually beneficial arrangements with African nations in order to fuel its growth.. But there is a...

Mission to Save Planet is “Failing”

December 6, 2005
Two separate groups have recently released dismal assessments of the state of the world, warning that humanity is not doing enough to make life on the planet equitable, sustainable and safe. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has lambasted national governments for failing to act decisively against global warming, warning that unchecked climate change is already exacerbating a host of other human...

Penchant For Secrecy Harming China’s Image

Frank Ching December 5, 2005
The Chinese government has a culture of secrecy. In the effort to protect delicate information, officials may lie. A perfect example was the explosion at the Jilin Petrochemical Company, and subsequent pollution of the Songhua River. A concerted effort to obscure the nature and magnitude of the disaster suggests that China has a problem. In the name of social stability, China has been lying...

Fuzzy Trade Math

Arvind Panagariya December 2, 2005
As the Doha round of trade talks approaches, the perception that agriculture is the principle issue that will determine success or failure remains accurate. Common assumptions, however, about the magnitude of EU and US subsidies are, in many cases, profoundly inaccurate. The conclusion that the Doha talks are bound to fail because of the obstinacy of developed nations is based on fuzzy math. It...

Globalization vs. Economic Sovereignty

Pang Zhongying December 2, 2005
China is often presented as a poster boy for successful globalization. But at least some intellectuals in China are not happy with the course globalization has taken. Chinese academic Pang Zhongying, writing in China Daily, points out that many countries, especially in the developing world, suffer an “erosion of permanent and exclusive privileges over [their] economic activities, wealth and...

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...

HIV/AIDS: A Truly Global Response Needed For a Global Scourge

Michael Merson November 29, 2005
Two years after its first appearance in 1981, the AIDS virus had spread to 60 countries. It rapidly became a global epidemic that clearly required a global response. Organizing such a response, however, has proved to be difficult. The first fifteen years of the global struggle against AIDS were marred by low funding, political infighting and controversy over prevention methods. The new...