China already number one, says the IMF
If the International Monetary Fund is right, we can stop speculating about when China will overtake the United States to become the world’s biggest economy. It’s already happened. The IMF’s new data set, released in April with its latest World Economic Outlook report, estimates that in real terms (c…
21st Century Superpower: How America Wields its Super Powers in a Shifting World
It is rare to call a work both genuine and acutely analytical, especially when speaking about U.S. foreign policy, but that is how I see Ian Bremmer’s most recent book, Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World. The book’s aim is to create a more proactive, intentional, and in my opi…
How China and the United States Can Learn to Get Along
Doug Bandow Great Britain long reigned as the globe’s greatest maritime power, determined to maintain a navy as strong as those of its next two competitors combined. The policy succeeded against such competitors as France and Spain. However, by the end of the 19th century, Britain’s industrial revol…
The G-7 Embraces Decarbonization
NEW YORK – This week’s G-7 meeting at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps marked a major breakthrough in climate-change policy. The seven largest high-income economies (the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Canada) made the revolutionary decision to decarbonize the…
How the West Can Still Lead the World
Julianne Smith Listen to any European or American leader talk about the transatlantic relationship these days and you will hear a handful of common refrains. Major policy addresses of this kind often start with the recognition that the world has changed. Europe and the United States face unprecedent…
Insuring for Disaster
NATURAL disasters like the devastating earthquake in Nepal constitute a highly uncertain but quantifiable risk. No one can say for sure when a major earthquake will strike. But the fault lines are known. We need a new global system of disaster insurance, akin to how homeowners guard against calamity…
The Mediterranean: death sea or common sea?
As any Mediterranean citizen, I have followed closely with horror and dread the recent events occurred in our “Mare Nostrum” sea. Unquestionably, we all agree that we cannot carry on as before and wait for the weather to improve and the migratory storm to pass and stop leaving on our coasts thousand…
Where all Silk Roads lead
NOT content with both purifying the Chinese Communist Party which he heads and with reforming his country, China’s president, Xi Jinping, also wants to reshape the economic and political order in Asia. With the flair that Chinese leaders share for pithy but rather bewildering encapsulations, his vis…
The Kurdish Question in Iraq: Moving Forward
The Kurdistan region of Iraq is one of the most economically significant regions in the Mesopotamian basin, as well as one of the most crucial geopolitical theaters moving into the next decade. A lush region awash with vast oil reserves, as well as a significantly more stable security situation than…
Migration Processes in the Balkans in the 20th and 21st Centuries
The current position of the Balkans in the global as well as European migration flows can be hardly comprehended without a thorough understanding of its history. As observed by historian Ulf Brunbauer, migrations represent a long-term process on the Balkan Peninsula and constitute one of its key fea…