The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China will meet this Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia for the first official BRIC summit. The emerging markets are looking for greater global clout. During the gathering, the BRIC leaders are set to discuss the economic downturn, possible reforms for international financial institutions and long-term options for a new […]
Iran is ruled by a small group of clerics, desperate to stay in power. They have opened enough avenues of expression to channel social pressures. This give-and-take can become a game of chicken that the authoritarians in the end ultimately lose. […]
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was criticized by some members of the human rights community when she said that pressing China on human rights “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis.” Clinton made her comments in February before arriving in China to foster warmer ties […]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has an ambitious 100-day plan. Jason Overdorf and Sudip Mazumdar detail Singh’s bold domestic agenda in the current issue of Newsweek International. The “surprisingly decisive victory” for the Congress Party and Singh in last month’s election has raised expectations for India to realize its potential. While the leaders still face […]
The U.S. and its allies in Europe are undergoing exactly what Paul Kennedy warned against over twenty years ago in his book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Sovereign financial solvency is the foundation on which military and political power can be projected, and this foundation crumbles when governments ignore deteriorating finances. Governments today must act quickly to cut deficits, once signs of a durable recovery are clear.
Leslie Gelb, president emeritus at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue Foreign Policy, argues that even though the United States is the world’s “indispensable leader” it cannot dictate solutions to global ills. The US lacks the power to act alone. America needs the support of some […]
Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would give up all of its nuclear weapons if other nations that held them did the same thing (ie. the US and others). Putin was at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who had been urging Moscow to cultivate more positive relations […]
Today US Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced in a Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee hearing that Russia has come around to share the same feelings as the US about the urgency of the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program. Gates explained that in a previous meeting with the then-president and now current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir […]
2,000. The United States spends nearly $2,000 a person on defense and accounts for over 40 percent of global military expenditure. Yesterday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released its annual yearbook on arms and international security. Worldwide defense spending reached $1.46 trillion in 2008, up four percent from 2007 and 45 percent since 1999. […]
China’s burgeoning economic growth over the past several decades has been concentrated in the east. Western China is relatively poor and inaccessible and a large proportion of ethnic minorities reside in Tibet, Xinjiang and other western areas. Two recent articles in The New York Times highlight China’s west. Last week, an English version of a […]
Foreign policy is surprisingly becoming a large factor in Iran’s upcoming presidential elections. Iranians go to the polls on Friday and will choose among the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his three challengers. Former prime minister Mir Hussein Moussavi is perceived to be Mr. Ahmadinejad’s strongest opponent. Last week, in a nationally televised debate Mr. […]
Brazil is looking better than Russia these days. Its economy is more market-oriented and better structured. Its exports are much more diversified. Its domestic market is stronger, as are its banks.
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