In The News

The Black Gold's Curse

R.K. Pachauri April 28, 2005
The recent record surge in oil prices has led many OPEC countries to re-evaluate their energy demand. This Outlook India commentary suggests that these newfound concerns are only the beginning of a worldwide reckoning of oil security. Rising prices are a symptom not of an impending global supply crisis, but of a concentration of reserves and an enormous projected leap in production in primarily...

Terrorism and the Computer

Mohamed Sid-Ahmed April 26, 2005
This month's bombing in Cairo's Islamic Al-Azhar quarter illustrates the degree to which technology and terrorism are growing in concert. The man who detonated the bomb, Hassan Raafat Basha, was an engineering student who spent hours on his computer, a member of a generation that is no stranger to technology. Bashandi's attack may well have been ordered by a hidden terrorist...

In Search of Stealth

April 25, 2005
Today's business climate has spawned a globally mobile workforce. Instead of organizing around geographic regions, multinationals are structured around business units run by teams of globe-trotting executives. And as offshoring and cross-border joint-ventures grow in popularity, executives must spend more time on short-to-medium assignments abroad. This environment has created a new type of...

All That Gas

Alam Srinivas April 25, 2005
Across the world – in countries like China, the United States, and the European Union – reliance on foreign oil imports is increasing. At the same time, most experts expect the world's oil supply to decrease sometime in the near future, with supply peaking anywhere from 2007 to 2037. Brazil is the largest and lowest cost producer of ethanol, a more environmentally friendly substitute to...

"Return at Any Cost" Is Breach of Rights

Jamie Doward April 21, 2005
Several human rights groups are alleging that Britain is increasingly returning refugees to places of conflict. In particular, the British Home Office has purportedly been repatriating political dissidents to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where their return means certain imprisonment, torture, and even death. Amnesty International and the Institute of Race Relations, among other...

The New Nationalism

David Ignatius April 20, 2005
As examples of nationalist sentiment appear around the globe, it seems that the world has entered a new era. Contrary to many analysts' beliefs, writes Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, a more interconnected world has not, in fact, eliminated the need for political borders; it has actually increased the intensity of nationalism. Citizen protests, market protectionism, nuclear...

Untapped Potential: US Science and Technology Cooperation with the Islamic World

Michael A. Levi April 19, 2005
The US relationship with the Islamic world, particularly the problem of terrorism, is a crucial issue. In order to combat terrorism, says this Brookings Institution report, the US must enact policies that address the causes of radicalism, improve the perception of the US in Muslim eyes, and drain support for terrorists in Islamic society. Although there is widespread hostility towards the US in...