Saudi Arabia – along with Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt – abruptly broke off diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, then followed that up with an ultimatum and a 10-day deadline to respond. The first of 13 unreasonable demands targets Iran, Saudi Arabia’s key rival in the region by urging Qatar to...
A gamble: Saudi Arabia's newly anointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, seen here shaking hands with US President Donald Trump, throws down the gauntlet for Qatar; Saudi leaders are threatened by critics including Qatari-owned Al Jazeera, which...
Italian authorities have cracked down on illegal immigration by patrolling the waters between Italy and Libya. If immigrants were allowed to reach Italian soil, they would be entitled to apply for asylum, a lengthy process that usually results in most applicants ultimately remaining in Italy,...
Click here for the article in NRC Handelsblad.
While offshore call centers have become more commonplace, one US company has pushed this booming business to a new level: The Resource Group employs a "virtual receptionist." Though stationed in Pakistan, she receives phone calls, welcomes guests (via front desk flat screen), and places...
Click here for the original article on The Washington Post's website.
Two deadly storms, Typhoon Hato in southern China and Hurricane Harvey in Texas, struck the world’s largest economies in the span of one week, leaving billions of dollars of damage and displacing thousands. Such storms destroy beaches, the natural buffers for coastal communities against surging...
Workers construct a bridge across a river in Vermont, and sand is dredged and transferred by suction pipes to build and replenish islands in Dubai
SAUGATUCK, MICHIGAN: When powerful storms strike, like Typhoon Hato in southern China or Hurricane...
US Vice President Mike Pence’s 2018 speech at the Hudson Institute, stopping short at inaugurating a new Cold War, bluntly enumerated China’s encroachment on US interests. His words illustrated the Trump administration’s perception of the rising power in the East, one determined to replace the...
It’s a mistake to judge a nation by its most vocal extremists. Iran, a country of 80 million, is young, diverse, urbanized and entrepreneurial. The literacy rate is 85 percent and many Iranians pursue advanced degrees. The country’s ranking for inequality is near that of the United States. “There...
Click here for the article in Spiegel Online.
Despite a stream of bad news, development plans are underway even among nations with adversarial relations. Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and India signed an agreement in early July to move forward with a 1,700-kilometer natural gas pipeline. “This $7.5 billion project known as TAPI, or the...
Peace pipe: File photo of 2012 summit of TAPI partners, from left, Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora; Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari; Turkmenistan President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov; Afghan President Hamid Karzai;...
The organization of the US governing system, with its checks and balances, encourages moderation. Policies from US President George Bush that raised international ire largely emerged during the first presidential term, including a war on terror with invasion of Iraq as its centerpiece, refusal to...
Click here for the article on Newsweek.
