By Niruban Balachandran
Nov 19, 2012

While many foreign policy thinkers can’t resist exploring the growing probability of military rivalries between the West and East, the cold reality is that the states most likely to experience future arms races are actually within the Asia-Pacific region itself.

By John Yi
Sep 29, 2011

The word “modernization” has become ubiquitous in almost all major government policies and initiatives since the 2009 release of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s “Go Russia!” policy manifesto, where he called for the modernization of Russia’s economy and society. This has been especially evident in Russian foreign policy, which has been seeking to attract foreign investment in new high tech sectors of the Russian economy in order to further the cause of modernization.

By Jason Fisher
Sep 18, 2011

From this year forward, longtime U.S. ally Saudi Arabia will supply more oil to China than the U.S. In 2010, the Middle East and Saudi Arabia accounted for 18% and 12% of U.S. crude oil imports, respectively. That same year, 46% of China’s crude oil imports originated in the Middle East and 19% came from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While U.S. demand for oil has plateaued, China’s demand is expected to increase rapidly for at least the next two decades.

By Alec Luhn
Aug 26, 2011

An internal argument over higher taxes on business has been shepherded to a close by Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin in a decision that deals a blow to Russia’s innovation-based small businesses. The compromise also represents a setback for President Dmitry Medvedev, who has spearheaded attempts to stimulate small business, in the run-up to parliamentary elections this fall and the presidential election next spring.

By Peter Kohanloo and Sohrab Ahmari
Aug 09, 2011

Iranian workers were not at the forefront of the country’s recent pro-democracy uprising. With a few notable exceptions, that struggle was spearheaded by students, women, professionals, and other members of the urban middle class. Yet Iran has a rich history of labor activism.

By Mohammed Hamid Mohammed
Jul 27, 2011

The good news this month is that South Africa marks the twentieth year of the end of its nuclear weapons program this July. That may have removed a significant threat but elsewhere in the impoverished and war-ravaged continent the increasing quantities of conventional weapons make any observer of African politics nervous. According to some reports, in 2010, Africa imported arms worth nearly one billion dollars from Ukraine alone.

By Olivier Kamanda
May 22, 2011

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