In The News

Foreign Policy Challenges for Modi: Economic Times

Raj Kumar Sharma May 24, 2019
Economic and other domestic policies typically sway India’s voters, but India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi won his second term by focusing on foreign policy and security issues, explains Raj Kumar Sharma for the Economic Times. Modi must be wary as the United States could expand its trade war with China to other nations like India and the rivalry could spur China’s dominance in Asia. For now,...

Australia’s Election Message: The Age

Ben Oquist May 21, 2019
Australian voters gave a surprise win to conservatives and Scott Morrison who ran on a platform of tax cuts and strengthening the economy. The result does not mean that Australians have forgotten climate change, explains Ben Oquist for the Age. Morrison as prime minister rejected renewable energy targets and supported $25 billion in renewable energy investment as candidate. Renewable energies...

Rohingya Crisis and Ambivalence: South Asia Journal

Kalam Shahed May 19, 2019
The United Nations labeled persecution of Rohingya people in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing. More than 3 million Rohingya fled with one-third living in makeshift, isolated camps along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, and two-thirds living throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Myanmar’s nationalism and hatred for the minority has not subdued. “While there has been a considerable Western outcry...

Digital BRI: Times of India

Nayan Chanda May 9, 2019
China’s Belt and Road Initiative supports a range of infrastructure projects connecting more than 60 nations. The digital component could be the most influential part of China’s new trade and transportation hubs, explains Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal Online, in his column for the Times of India. “While the US keeps issuing warnings about the espionage risks of using Chinese 5G...

A Million People Saved From Cyclone: New York Times

Hari Kumar, Jeffrey Gettleman and Sameer Yasir May 4, 2019
Weather forecasters pinpointed Cyclone Fani bearing down on the crowded coast of Odisha, and governments in India and Bangladesh responded quickly, reports a team of journalists from the New York Times. In Odisha, where the average income is less than $5 per day, disaster crews used lists of vulnerable people, warning them to head to shelters: “To warn people of what was coming, they deployed...

India Mobilizes Against Cyclone Fani: BBC

May 2, 2019
About 10 percent of the world’s population lives directly in coastal areas and about 40 percent live within 100 kilometers. “Almost two-thirds of the world's cities with populations of over five million are located in areas at risk of sea level rise,” explains a UN factsheet. Even as populations prefer living in coastal areas, climate change brings rising seas and extreme weather events, and...

Social Media Politics: Project Syndicate

Shashi Tharoor May 1, 2019
India’s election concludes May 19 and social media could sway voters. With voters increasingly reading and sharing news on social media sties, candidates take no chance and participate. “While perhaps a bit more than a third of India’s population, and perhaps above 40% of its voters, use social media, there are no reliable studies of how frequently they use it for political news and views,”...