The Promise of China’s G-20 Presidency
Andrew Sheng and Xiao Geng In just over a month, China will assume the G-20 presidency. Over the next year – and especially at the organization’s September summit, to be held in Hangzhou – China plans to help lay the groundwork for a world economy that is more “innovative, invigorated, interconnecte…
The Right Price for Preserving Our Climate
Christine Lagarde When world leaders convene in Paris this week for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, their task will be to reach a global agreement on curbing greenhouse-gas emissions. A successful outcome, demonstrating that countries can work together for the good of the planet, would…
What to Expect After the Downing of a Russian Fighter Jet
Stratfor Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter jet in Syria has raised the stakes in an already crowded and complicated conflict. The Nov. 24 incident will also likely undermine efforts to find a solution to the country’s protracted civil war. Since Syrian air defenses intercepted a Turkish aircraft…
The Truth About Trade
Trade negotiators rarely get to celebrate a victory. The United States, for example, has been negotiating over 15 bilateral free trade agreements, with none concluded since the Korea-US agreement was finalized at the end of 2010. This makes the recently finalized Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agre…
Diplomatic Access: Bangladesh
Mohammad Ziauddin In this interview, His Excellency Mohammad Ziauddin, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States, discusses regional connectivity, maritime disputes, and regional security threats. The Diplomat: From Bangladesh’s perspective, what are the greatest threats facing the South Asian R…
The economic debates behind COP21
Augustin Lagarde What’s at stake: France will chair and host the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) at the end of the year. While the scientific community has reached a consensus that climate-warming trends are very likely due to human…
If Ever There Was a Case for Genuine Global Action in the Mideast, Destroying ISIS Is It
Graham E. Fuller ISIS, with its horrific attack on purely civilian targets in Paris, has established new realities about its nature, capabilities and intentions. The need for its elimination can now no longer be in doubt. It is not that Parisian lives are more important than others, but Paris change…
Dealing with the Islamic State demands patience, not panic
Fareed Zakaria Henry Kissinger has noted that in his adult lifetime, the United States has fought five major wars and began each one with great enthusiasm and public support. But in each of them, Americans soon began to ask, “How quickly can you withdraw?” In three of these conflicts, he says, the U…
The Empathy Gap Between Paris and Beirut
David A. Graham Hours before the carnage in Paris on Friday, a double suicide bombing ripped through a working-class shopping district in Beirut. ISIS claimed responsibility for the explosions, which caused 43 deaths and hundreds of casualties in the worst bombing to strike the city in a quarter cen…
Paris and the Fate of the Earth
Peter Singer The lives of billions of people, for centuries to come, will be at stake when world leaders and government negotiators meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris at the end of the month. The fate of an unknown number of endangered species of plants and animals also ha…