For more than a decade, the Pew Research Center has been asking people around the world about their opinion of the United States. The upshot: In every region of the globe except the Middle East (where the United States was wildly unpopular under George W. Bush and remains so), America’s favorability is way up since Obama […]
The internationalization of China’s currency is underway, albeit with some important hurdles still to clear. Read Here – The Diplomat
The United States is on the brink of committing a cardinal sin in foreign policy: antagonizing two major powers simultaneously. There are frictions in bilateral ties with both Moscow and Beijing that have reached alarming levels over the past year or so. Read Here – The National Interest
Western leaders may think Vladimir Putin is crazy for threatening to annex Crimea and invade other areas of Ukraine. Most Russians, still bitter about the Soviet Union’s demise more than two decades ago, couldn’t be prouder. Read Here – Bloomberg
As President Vladimir Putin tests Europe’s resolve during the crisis over Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s admiration for Catherine hints at the complex ties binding Germany and Russia together that give her sway over Putin yet constrain her response. Read Here – Bloomberg
Indeed, once the winds of war start blowing, they are impossible to tame. Even if Ukrainians and the West force Putin to retreat, this is not the end of Putin’s revanchism. He is stubborn, determined and vengeful. He may at some point back down, but he’ll be back later. Read Here – Moscow Times
Anyone familiar with Singapore knows that race is a national obsession, and far more than a box to be ticked on official forms. Read Here – The Diplomat
By breaking convention to publish a critical memoir while a president he served remains in office, the former defense secretary will help shape the historical record. Read Here – The Atlantic
Plenty of pundits have jockeyed to be the top voice on the Middle East, but only one person’s ideas dominate the conversation Read Here – Tablet Magazine
One luxury sector in China that hasn’t taken a hit under President Xi Jinping’s austerity and anti-graft campaign is overseas travel. Last year, Chinese tourists made 97 million overseas trips—up from just 10 million in 2000 and 83 million in 2012. And their spending on overseas travel increased 28 percent in the first nine months of 2013, as compared with the same period […]
looking beyond borders 