In The News

Chatham House: China and the WTO

Wim Muller March 10, 2017
By joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China agreed to dispute settlement processes and compulsory adjudication. “While in other areas, most notoriously the law of the sea, China has been reluctant to accept the decision-making power of international courts and tribunals, its WTO practice has shown that China can accept the jurisdiction of an international judicial body, accept its...

The Guardian: “We Are International, We Are Everywhere” - Women Unite in Global Strike

Alexandra Topping and Molly Redden March 9, 2017
Women in more than 50 nations celebrated International Women’s Day by donning red or black, going on strike from work or school, donating to programs that support women’s issues, meeting for discussions about women’s issues, or patronizing businesses owned by women. “From Thailand to Poland, the United States to Australia, the first International Women’s Strike will see action on both the...

Project Syndicate: The Geopolitics of Environmental Challenges

Giulio Boccaletti March 8, 2017
Crises with immediate impact, including economic downturns or war, distract governments from the steady and creeping dangers of climate change. “Environmental degradation and natural-resource insecurity are undermining our ability to tackle some of the biggest global issues we face,” writes Giulio Boccaletti for Project Syndicate. “Environmental insecurity is a major, though often underestimated...

BBC: WikiLeaks Claims CIA Has Tools to Snoop Via TVs, Phones

Leo Kelion March 8, 2017
WikiLeaks reports that the US Central Intelligence Agency has amassed a wide range of hacking tools for televisions, phones and consumer products that rely on the internet. “The alleged cyber-weapons are said to include malware that targets Windows, Android, iOS, OSX and Linux computers as well as internet routers,” reports Leo Kelion for BBC News. “Some of the software is reported to have been...

Bloomberg: Trump's Obama-Wiretap Claim

Ben Brody, Jennifer Jacobs, and Justin Sink March 7, 2017
The essence of good surveillance requires those under observation not realizing an operation is underway. US President Donald Trump released social-media messages maintaining, without offering evidence, that he had just learned former President Barack Obama had ordered surveillance of Trump Tower in New York City. The messages force the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other security officials...

Japan Times: North Korea Training to Strike US Bases in Japan?

Jesse Johnson March 7, 2017
After firing a series of missiles into the Sea of Japan, North Korea claimed to be training for a strike on US military bases in Japan. Japan would be vulnerable to saturation attacks. “Pyongyang demonstrated its growing military capabilities with the apparent simultaneous launch of four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, three of which fell inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone,” reports...

Newsweek: How Trump Is Fueling ISIS

Kurt Eichenwald March 6, 2017
Terrorist groups issue propaganda to identify and recruit marginalized citizens of developed nations. The United States is now making such recruiting easy with attempts to ban immigrants from six Muslim-majority nations and interrogating Muslims, even citizens, who enter the United States. “…. counterterrorism experts have understood that countering … propaganda has been among the most essential...