In The News

Everyone Says the Libya Intervention Was a Failure: They’re Wrong

Shadi Hamid April 15, 2016
US President Obama suggested that one of his biggest regrets failure to plan for Libya after the 2011 NATO intervention. Libya is a failed state, but that does not mean intervention was wrong, argues Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, for Vox. “The goal was to protect civilians and prevent a massacre,” he notes. “In fact, the civil war had already started before the...

Globalization Is Changing, Not Going Into Reverse

Minouche Shafik April 14, 2016
Globalization can't be expected to move at an even pace. Some aspects of globalization like trade growth and capital flows are slowing, explains Minouche Shafik for Financial Times, but others like communications are growing. She is a deputy governor of the Bank of England. Shafik adds that regional agreements are emerging in trade and financial areas because of mistrust of global approaches...

Life After the Nuclear Security Summits: Are We Safe?

Richard Weitz April 14, 2016
A series of Nuclear Security Summits since President Barack Obama took office in 2009 have raised global awareness and tightened security of the world’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. The need for securing stockpiles was highlighted in February after Belgian authorities reported finding a 10-hour surveillance tape during raids linked to the Paris terrorist attacks. The tape...

Out of Africa

Thomas L. Friedman April 14, 2016
Thousands of migrants travel the deserts of North Africa, fleeing poverty and conflict, determined to reach Libya and eventually Europe. Many Africans with large families can no longer find work as drought and high temperatures devastate the agriculture industry, explains Thomas Friedman for the New York Times. Smugglers collect migrants from Senegal, Nigeria Chad and other countries, cramming...

After Chibok, Another Kidnapping Met With Silence

Aminu Abubakar and Robyn Dixon April 13, 2016
Nigerian authorities and the world may have lost a sense of urgency about Boko Haram’s brazen attacks on small villages and mass kidnappings. A UNICEF report points out that girls are regarded as sex slaves, boys are trained to fight, and both are used as suicide bombers. Inequality and a complacency about authority may encourage bullying of victims by both terrorists and communities, thus aiding...

As Routes to Europe Close, Refugees Consider a Deadly Crossing

Mirren Gidda April 13, 2016
As nations like Macedonia, Turkey, Hungary and Greece block refugees from crossing their borders, a wave of people fleeing conflict, terrorism and retribution in Syria and elsewhere has shifted direction to a more treacherous route. UN refugee officials estimate that the number of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya in 2016 has nearly doubled from the same period in 2015....

Corporations’ Flight to Low-Tax Countries Angers US

Farok J. Contractor April 12, 2016
US presidential candidates are responding to voters' ire over a complex tax code that shields the wealthiest from tax payments. Reports of corporate inversions – US firms relocating headquarters to take advantage of lower tax rates in countries like Ireland – highlight the negative consequences of globalization for voters already angry about entrenched income inequality, outsourcing and job...