In The News

New Statesman: Putin’s New Cold War

Lawrence Freedman March 14, 2018
The Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok sickened a Russian man, his daughter and a police officer in a small British town. Prime Minister Theresa May gave Russia a deadline for an explanation, and after no serious response, she expelled 23 undeclared Russian intelligence officers. Such incidents increase Russia’s isolation and increase wariness about Vladimir Putin’s expected victory in Russia’s...

Reuters: World Steel Markets Unfazed by Tariffs

Maytaal Angel March 14, 2018
The US is proceeding with 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 15 percent on aluminum. Canada and Mexico are exempted for now. The US is the world’s second largest consumer of steel, at just under 100 metric tons, lagging far behind China at almost 700 metric tons. The US is the fourth largest producer, again lagging behind China, responsible for half the world’s steel and driving global...

Times of India: Road to Trade War

Nayan Chanda March 14, 2018
Just before a special election in a congressional district spanning suburbs and rural areas of southwestern Pennsylvania, the US president announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports for the purposes of national security. The hope was to rally blue-collar and rural workers to vote for the Republican candidate, the “world economy be damned,” as YaleGlobal founding editor Nayan Chanda notes....

Wired: Thank Colleges for Carbon Taxes – Really

Matt Simon March 13, 2018
Taxes fund public goods including health care, fire and police protection, education and more. A MIT economist points out that taxing carbon can be up to 10 times more efficient than current policies like fuel-economy standards for reducing emissions. Universities are leading the way in showing government how to tax carbon emissions. Matt Simon, writing for Wired, describes two programs. Yale...

TechCrunch: Trump Blocks Broadcom Takeover of Qualcomm

Katie Roof and Ingrid Lunden March 13, 2018
Donald Trump cited security concerns for blocking Singapore-based Broadcom’s hostile buyout of US-based Qualcomm. “The combination of the two chipmakers would have potentially been the biggest tech merger of all time, and would have brought together two of the biggest companies that manufacture the processors that power phones, computers and almost the entire array of connected devices,” report...

Quartz: China’s Growing Africa Footprint

Abdi Latif Dahir March 12, 2018
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ended a five-nation diplomatic tour of Africa one day early, as African and US officials compare China’s growing trade and investment with the US security role. The US has one permanent base in Djibouti. “But last year, China opened its first overseas naval base there too, provided loans to the country, and built a railway connecting its seas to the Ethiopian...

BBC: Nerve Agent Attack in Britain

March 12, 2018
The British Foreign Office summoned Russia’s ambassador to explain the death of a former spy with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok, a chemical weapon developed by the former Soviet Union. Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found ill on a bench in the city of Salisbury, population of 45,000. A police officer also fell ill. Prime Minister Theresa May expects a credible response from Russia...