Topics
Economics
Snapshot,
April 25, 2013
The finance minister who steered Greece into the common currency club argues that the country’s problems today are not an inevitable result of having adopted the euro -- and they can be resolved without abandoning it.
Snapshot,
April 23, 2013
Mongolia is one among a small handful of places left in the world with major untouched mineral deposits. But investing successfully in its mining industry demands more than just money and a willingness to take risks; it requires understanding the country's vulnerable geography and byzantine political environment.
Snapshot,
April 21, 2013
For technologies from the global South, worldwide success usually means shedding local ties and, should all go well, returning home triumphant. It is a treacherous road, and most of the benefits of such projects will never make it to the communities in which they started. But the alternative strategy of focusing on local problems and solutions is even less appealing.
Environment
Snapshot,
April 23, 2013
Mongolia is one among a small handful of places left in the world with major untouched mineral deposits. But investing successfully in its mining industry demands more than just money and a willingness to take risks; it requires understanding the country's vulnerable geography and byzantine political environment.
Snapshot,
April 8, 2013
Recent headlines have been shocking: 16,000 decaying pig carcasses in Shanghai’s Whampoa River, dire air quality reports in Beijing, and hundreds of thousands of people dying prematurely because of environmental degradation. China's pollution problem is holding back its economy -- and is endagering its people and the rest of the world in the process.
Essay,
May/June
2013
The U.S. energy revolution is not confined to a single fuel or technology: oil and gas production, renewable energy, and fuel-efficient automobile technologies all show great promise. To best position the country for the future, U.S. leaders should capitalize on all these opportunities rather than pick a favorite; the answer lies in ‘most of the above.’
Security
Snapshot,
May 23, 2013
The time to fret about when China will acquire drones is over: it has them. The question now is when and how it will use them. But as with its other, less exotic military capabilities, Beijing has cleared only a technological hurdle -- and its behavior will continue to be constrained by politics.
Snapshot,
May 22, 2013
From wigs to dead drops, the espionage tussles between the United States and Russia are increasingly playing by the old Cold War rules -- including the public shaming of the unlucky spooks who get caught.
Snapshot,
May 22, 2013
In his scholarship, Waltz asked the tough questions about the difficult and important issues. He was motivated by both theoretical and policy questions, the latter often setting the agenda for the former. He was intellectually courageous, usually staking out iconoclastic positions -- some of which were initially derided, many of which ended up becoming mainstream thinking. No matter what one’s theoretical persuasion, he was an intellectual force that had to be reckoned with.
Law & Institutions
Snapshot,
May 2, 2013
The Supreme Court decision on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. seemed to deal a blow to foreign victims of foreign human rights abusers who wished to the Alien Tort Statute to sue their abusers in U.S. courts. But the decision might be a blessing in disguise. The ATS never proved that useful in advancing human rights worldwide, and by slamming the door on it, the Supreme Court has pushed the human rights movement to focus on using other tools.
Snapshot,
April 25, 2013
The finance minister who steered Greece into the common currency club argues that the country’s problems today are not an inevitable result of having adopted the euro -- and they can be resolved without abandoning it.
Snapshot,
April 16, 2013
The case against him may be phony, but Alexei Navalny, the Russian blogger and opposition activist, faces long odds in his trial, which begins Wednesday. When Putin cannot co-opt his enemies, it seems, he has other means of crushing them.
Politics & Society
Snapshot,
May 23, 2013
The time to fret about when China will acquire drones is over: it has them. The question now is when and how it will use them. But as with its other, less exotic military capabilities, Beijing has cleared only a technological hurdle -- and its behavior will continue to be constrained by politics.
Snapshot,
May 22, 2013
In his scholarship, Waltz asked the tough questions about the difficult and important issues. He was motivated by both theoretical and policy questions, the latter often setting the agenda for the former. He was intellectually courageous, usually staking out iconoclastic positions -- some of which were initially derided, many of which ended up becoming mainstream thinking. No matter what one’s theoretical persuasion, he was an intellectual force that had to be reckoned with.
Snapshot,
May 22, 2013
With the Iranian government having disqualified two of the country's boldest presidential candidates, it is unlikely the election will address any major ideological questions. But Iranians know that there is a lot more at stake than ideology.
U.S. Policy
Snapshot,
May 13, 2013
The debate about what to do in Syria has been sidetracked by discussions of credibility and reputation. But both logic and evidence prove that reputations are mostly imaginary. Obama should not let fears that others might think him irresolute drive him to disaster. Instead, he should refocus on what U.S. interests really are in Syria, and how he can best obtain them.
Snapshot,
May 2, 2013
The Obama administration is still looking for hard evidence that the Assad regime used chemical weapons in Syria. Although finding it is easier said than done, it is possible. The really important question is how the government will use evidence after it is collected.
Comment,
May/June
2013
The world may expect great things from India, but as extensive reporting reveals, Indians themselves turn out to be deeply skeptical about their country’s potential. That attitude, plus New Delhi’s dysfunctional foreign-policy bureaucracy, prevent long-term planning of the sort China has mastered -- and are holding India back.
