In The News

Erosion of English Skills Threatens Growth in the Philippines

Carlos Conde December 29, 2006
Lawmakers in the Philippines have passed a law making English the primary language of instruction from high school onward, reversing a trend that encouraged instruction in native languages. About 95 percent of Filipinos speak English, but call centers and other business run by foreign firms impose high standards. English skills declined rapidly after a 1987 law required bilingual education to...

India Digs Deeper, But Wells Are Drying Up

Somini Sengupta December 22, 2006
India, soon to be the world’s most populous country, is running out of water. Encouraged by cheap electricity doled out by vote-buying politicians, rural Indians have spent the past few decades using electric pumps to suck up and sell the nation’s groundwater reserves. Such water harvesting has provided poor Indians with a steady stream of cash, but ill-timed droughts can leave Indian aquifers...

India: Emerging as Eastern or Western Power?

Kishore Mahbubani December 19, 2006
Asian nations grow more confident, more optimistic, even as the US withdraws from global leadership, fearful after the 9/11 attacks and lashing out in anger like a wounded animal, without plans or purpose. By condoning torture and instigating war while overlooking pressing problems, the US has abandoned lofty principles it once embraced. With that context, former Singapore ambassador to the...

Thailand's Cynical Ploy on Burmese Migrant Workers

Kavi Chongkittavorn December 13, 2006
About 600,000 illegal workers, most from Burma and the rest from Laos and Cambodia, work in Thai factories for about one third of regular wage rates. The Thai government offered to legalize migrant workers from Burma, with the condition that they return first to their homeland and verify citizenship. Such a condition amounts to a death sentence in Burma, a nation under rule of a military junta,...

Will Guns Fall Silent in South Asia?

Paula R. Newberg December 5, 2006
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s recent announcement that Pakistan is willing to give up its claim to Kashmir under certain conditions has rekindled hopes for a settlement. It also underlines the need for finding peace in Kashmir if South Asia is to break out of the grip of misery. Violent conflict changes the basic equations of governance, and sustained violence makes it all the more...

Kentucky Fried Globalization

Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom December 5, 2006
US media have been fascinated by both China’s and Vietnam’s success in embracing global markets while retaining communist governments. But that fascination resulted in a limited, oft-repeated presentation that does not delve into the cultural complexities, according to history professor Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. Journalists tend to make two mistakes, according to Wasserstrom: first, equating...

AIDS Threatens India’s Prosperity

Pramit Mitra November 30, 2006
December 1 marks World AIDS Day, and by some reports, the world’s second most populous nation – India – has more AIDS cases than any other country in the world. The percentage of cases in India, at 0.09 percent, is miniscule compared with rates of 30 percent in some African nations, but the size of the nation’s population – 1 billion, with two out of five people illiterate – raises concern among...