Our friend Patrick Frost from the Afghanistan FPA blog has done a very interesting post on Great Power Politics, ranking the world’s “Great Powers” in terms of their power, economy, resources, ideology and state strength. According to the top 10 rankings, the US comes out ahead, but China appears to be giving Washington quite a […]
The SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) has grown in prominence during the past several years as a regional counterweight to NATO. Comprised of China, Russia, and 4 of the “Stans” (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan), the SCO was formed in 1996 with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions. The organization […]
At the Foreign Policy Association’s Rising Powers blog, we have highlighted news stories about China’s buying and lending spree across the globe, including in Russia and Latin America. Today’s New York Times published an article detailing strategic deals China has made with natural resource companies worldwide, exploiting today’s low equity prices and dearth of capital […]
The recession this year may not in fact be global. Planet Earth could possibly squeak by with slightly positive growth in 2009. This is thanks to growth, albeit slower, in the major Emerging Market economies, notably the BRICs, and in spite of contraction in the advanced industrialized world. Certainly, forecasting growth this year will be as accurate […]
China’s rise has been export-driven, like Japan’s and Korea’s before it. China took note during the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s that foreign exchange reserves are king. By keeping its currency undervalued, China has encouraged exports (the latter helped as well by tax rebates) and amassed foreign exchange. With the drivers of demand […]
On Tuesday, Russian and Chinese leaders signed a massive $25 billion energy deal. The agreement sees Russia providing energy-hungry China with secure oil supplies (300,000 barrels per day) for the next 20 years. In return, China will provide Russia with advantageous loans with $15 billion to Rosneft (the state-owned oil company) and $10 billion to […]
Russia’s recent increased ties with Latin American countries can hardly go unnoticed. In late 2008, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev paid visits to Venezuela and Cuba, Peru and Brazil, securing a host of bilateral deals. Medvedev concluded his visit by stating: “Russia has already returned to Latin America, including Cuba”. Read more about his visit here. […]
Tom Friedman wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times today casting some light on various green enterprises in India, focusing on the specific example of a solar-powered car made by India’s Reva Electric Car Company and driven by 2 American women across the Subcontinent. Other than referencing the Indian Youth Climate Network, Friedman’s piece […]
Al-Qaeda. Taliban. Hezbollah. Hamas. Jamaah Islamiyah. Islamic Courts Union. al-Shabaab. Fatah al-Islam. The Muslim Brotherhood. Abu Sayyaf. Lakhshar-e-Taiba… the list goes on. These are just a few of the many organizations that can be described as “Islamist Groups”. Though Wikipedia is not a proven reliable source for facts, it does have a list of many […]
American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is headed to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China this week for a series of talks aimed at strengthening ties across the Pacific Ocean. Clinton has outlined that her priorities for her trip include: A more “rigorous and persistent commitment and engagement” with allies in Asia Working with Asian […]
Dennis Blair, the new national intelligence director, appeared before the United States Senate Committee on Intelligence on Thursday. Blair delivered the US intelligence community’s annual threat assessment to Congress. In Blair’s written testimony he highlighted the rise of Asia. “All together—Japan, the ‘tiger’ economies like South Korea and Taiwan as well as the rising giants […]
Successful solutions to the world’s most pressing issues – international trade, global financial institutions and regulations, nuclear proliferation, human rights, failed and fragile states, terrorism, poverty, health and diseases, energy and climate change – will increasingly rely on the cooperation and leadership of rising powers. Answers developed by the G7 group of rich countries without […]
It just so happens that today – the day our blog went live – a book on the issue of rising powers and the place of the United States in the world got featured in the New York Times. The book is Great Powers: America and the World After Bush by Thomas P. M. Barnett. […]
The end of the Cold War left the United States as the world’s sole superpower. The US enjoyed dominance in international affairs and theorists debated the future after the Soviet Union’s dissolution. Francis Fukuyama’s End of History differed from the Clash of Civilizations anticipated by Samuel Huntington. The 21st century could be the dawn of […]