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North Korea Showdown: Europe Can Only Watch

August 15, 2017
For more than 70 years the world has refrained from the horrors associated with nuclear attack. The threat no longer seems remote as North Korea conducts tests and names possible targets, and the US president dismisses “strategic patience,” promising a fiery response in return. A nuclear strike...

Publish and Perish in Hong Kong

January 28, 2016
The odd disappearance of five staff members of a Hong Kong book publisher raises questions about China’s commitment to the “one country, two systems” arrangement with Hong Kong. One man was taken from Thailand, another from Hong Kong and three detained in China. Two are foreign nationals, and no...

Saudi Crown Prince’s Self-Inflicted Isolation

October 10, 2019
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is aggressive in his pursuit of power. His efforts to gain a global reputation as a reformer for Saudi Arabia and foster good relations with the United States under Donald Trump have done little to mask a series of misadventures that have left him isolated: Saudi...

Sea Change Awaits Trump in Thailand

February 23, 2017
During the US election campaign and since, President Donald Trump and other members of his administration issued tough statements about China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea and promised to bulk up the US naval fleet. Thailand, both bilateral and multilateral treaty ally for the United...

Foreign Affairs: How Xi Jinping Views the World

May 31, 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping is prominent among world leaders because of the size and continued growth of the Chinese economy as well as the nation’s military presence, role in development, and regional interests. Writing for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd describes Xi’s interests as seven concentric...

The Innovation Dilemma

September 20, 2018
The US president has imposed another round of tariffs, targeting $200 billion worth of goods from China, and China quickly retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion in US goods. But tensions between the two nations extend beyond trade, explains author Stephen S. Roach, senior fellow with the Yale...

Why Governments Count People

March 19, 2019
Governments have organized censuses since ancient times, and as the world’s population approaches 8 billion, governments have more people to count and analyze than ever before. Censuses help determine efficient allocation of government funds and political representation. A low median age suggests...

The Guardian: Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Event Underway, Scientists Warn

July 13, 2017
The world’s loss of biodiversity is not proceeding at a gradual pace. Instead, a “biological annihilation” of wildlife signals that a sixth mass extinction is more severe than previously assumed, explains Damian Carrington for the Guardian. The study led by Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad...
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