In The News

Vox: Taking Trump’s Korea Diplomacy Seriously

Matthew Yglesias May 18, 2018
Diplomacy and building good relations with other nations requires trust over the long term with policies based on firm values and principles. The Trump administration instead engages in abrupt policy shifts that puzzle allies and foes alike while leaving a trail of broken promises. Matthew Yglesias of Vox does not expect the United States and North Korea to reach a deal for ending the latter’s...

New York Times: Summary of US Russia Investigation

Mikayla Bouchard May 17, 2018
US special counsel Robert Mueller and a team of investigators have been at work for a year examining Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. A US Senate committee, also investigating, has released multiple documents. The New York Times presents a timeline summarizing themes of the investigation along with key dates, participants and targets. The investigation focuses on...

Forbes: Globalization vs Nationalism Forces Investor Rethink

Kenneth Rapoza May 17, 2018
Investors worldwide are assessing the forces of globalization including trade and immigration versus nationalism, protectionism and populism. Inequality, declining worldwide, is rising in the United States, and “investors that benefit from globalization are leaving the middle and working class in the dust,” notes Kenneth Rapoza for Forbes. Those left behind clamor for limits on international...

Globe and Mail: Changes in Global Water Supply Hint at Future Crises

Ivan Semeniuk May 17, 2018
Satellite data suggest that world global water supplies are dispersing in some regions as glaciers and polar ice melts and consolidating in others – due to population growth, dams, rising demand for water and climate change. The analysis, based on 14 years of satellite data produced by the NASA-led satellite mission GRACE, provides “a comprehensive map of water trends around the world,” reports...

Project Syndicate: Debt Shackles Return

Michael Heise May 16, 2018
Accelerating global growth is based on rising public and public debt. Economist Michael Heise counts such debt among the most serious challenges for the global economy. The Bank for International Settlements reports that total private and public debt of households, government agencies, corporations and other entities not in the financial sector – or non-financial debt – amounts to more than 240...

Los Angeles Times: US Tested by Sadr’s Victory in Iraqi

Tracy Wilkinson and David S. Cloud May 16, 2018
Democracy ensures that one nation may not appreciate election results of another nation, and a longtime opponent of the United States took the lead in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. “For years during the long U.S. occupation of Iraq, Muqtada Sadr was an intractable foe, blamed by the Pentagon for hundreds of deaths of American service members, as well as atrocities against Iraqi civilians,”...

Financial Times: Could the Euro’s Italian “Nightmare” Come True?

Mehreen Khan May 15, 2018
More than 10 weeks after its election, Italy’s Five Star Movement and the far-right League struggle to the finishing touches on a ruling coalition, extending negotiations over issues dividing the parties including who will serve as prime minister. Coalition proposals include a reduced income tax, a flat tax, social security payments and a return to old pension rules. Previous governments had...