July 8th, 2008

National War Powers Commission recommends War Powers Consultation Act of 2009

The National War Powers Commission, co-chaired by former Secretaries of State James A. Baker, III and Warren Christopher, today recommended that Congress repeal the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and substitute a new statute that would provide for more meaningful consultation between the president and Congress on matters of war. FSI is one of five partnering institutions to the Commission.
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Another Look at Renewables on India's Sagar Island

India's Sagar Island is renowned among Hindu devotees for its pilgrimage sites and in the renewable energy community for its locally-managed solar and wind projects. Field work by PESD Researcher Sam Shrank corroborates some of the benefits of these off-grid electricity generators but suggests that the business model for running them is not as sustainable or replicable as the literature implies.

• » Another Look at Renewables on India's Sagar Island

July 3rd, 2008

In wake of Yongbyon explosion, Sneider is still critical of deal with Pyongyang

Center's Associate Director for Research Daniel Sneider and former Pantech fellow Scott Snyder both criticize the agreement made with Kim Jong Il's government. "As always with North Korea, it's disappointing and frustrating" says Snyder.

• » Daniel C. Sneider
• » Scott Snyder

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Taiwan should be included in joint talks on developing resources of the South China Sea says Shorenstein APARC Visiting Scholar Song Yann-huei

"Taiwan has territorial rights, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over islands in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, as well as, developmental and managerial rights to important resources in these areas," says Dr. Song "it will be difficult for the South China Sea and the East China Sea to become truly peaceful and cooperative maritime areas" if Taiwan were not included in talks about developing the resources of these areas. Read more »

July 2nd, 2008

Jojarth proposes conditional distribution of oil revenues scheme for petrostates like Kazakhstan

In Caspian oil giant Kazakhstan there are two types of cranes--the idle ones and the busy ones, writes Christine Jojarth in FSI In The World, a new faculty blog for the Freeman Spogli Institute. The idle and the busy cranes both stand for different answers to petrostates' most burning policy question--how to best use the ballooning governmental revenues from the thriving oil and gas sector. Save or spend?--is the 500 billion dollar question. Read more »

Former Summer Fellow interviews Desmond Tutu and Mugabe spokesperson

SW Radio Africa journalist and 2006 Draper Hills Summer Fellow Violet Gonda speaks to two individuals on the program Hot Seat this week--and the contrast between them couldn't be more pronounced. The first is an attempt at an interview with Robert Mugabe's press Secretary, George Charamba, who replied with threats, insults and accusations. Violet then spoke with one of the most respected men in the world, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who restores some hope for Zimbabweans. Read more »

McFaul, Diamond call for 'New Way' in foreign assistance, to include development

In a report released on June 10, a high-impact group of development experts including CDDRL Director Michael McFaul and FSI senior fellow Larry Diamond call on Congress and the president to modernize U.S. foreign assistance by including development as a key component.
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New offering from Stanford education program puts students on 'Road to Beijing'

The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) has taken on world religions, Russian leaders and Aztec history. Now it's boiling down the glory and controversy of China's history, culture and politics in time for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Read more »

Video: Toledo discusses poverty in Latin America

Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru and FSI Distinguished Visiting Payne Lecturer, discusses poverty in Latin America on Link TV. Read more »

Newsweek International Special Reports

PESD scholars Burton Richter and David Victor have pieces in the International Edition of Newsweek. Richter explains why France's nuclear power program puts it in the catbird seat on tackling global warming. Victor laments that high food prices have created an opportunity for governments to cut harmful farm subsidies--and governments are, for the most part, doing the opposite.

• » Newsweek: The Nuclear Option
• » Newsweek: Putting Rich Farmers First

Q&A: Inside Yongbyon nuclear plant

CISAC Co-Director Siegfried Hecker talks to Al Jazeera about being one of the few outsiders to have visited North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility, what he saw on his visits to the plant, and how likely he thinks it is that North Korea will give up its nuclear program. Read more »

July 1st, 2008

PESD Carbon Storage Project Database released

PESD researchers Varun Rai, Ngai-Chi Chung, Mark Thurber, and David Victor have released the PESD Carbon Storage Project Database, which tracks all publicly declared carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects worldwide. The database lays bare the slow pace of development of CCS projects relative to what is needed if CCS is to become an important "wedge" for fighting climate change.

• » PESD Carbon Storage Project Database

June 26th, 2008

Putting a face to the EU

The failure of Irish voters to ratify the Lisbon Treaty points to a problem for Europe that goes far beyond that specific referendum, writes Stanford lecturer and FSI advisory board member Richard Morningstar. The vote in Ireland, coupled with the rejection by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005 of the now failed European Constitution, provides indisputable proof that many European citizens are strongly suspicious of the European Union and that European leaders must take strong action to remedy the misperceptions of those citizens. Read more »

Video blog: Cohen, Lindsay on 'Obamacons'

Program on Global Justice Director Joshua Cohen video debates Brink Lindsay from the Cato Institute on conservative judges, a war that goes on forever, and why we should care about inequality between the well-off and the filthy rich. Read more »

June 25th, 2008

South Korean President Lee's first 100 days have seen little movement towards narrowing the divide between Korea's left and right, says Center's Director, Gi-Wook Shin

In looking back at President Lee's first 100 days, Gi-Wook Shin and a former Pantech Fellow, John Feffer, assess the issues in Korea today. "With a big margin in his victory, President Lee thought and misunderstood that he had a mandate to do whatever he wanted to do and that backfired, " says Shin. Read more »

June 24th, 2008

CDDRL scholar talks to KQED Forum about violence in Zimbabwe

Zvisinei Sandi, a writer from Zimbabwe and a Scholar Rescue Fellow at CDDRL, talks to Michael Krasny on KQED Forum about increasing violence in Zimbabwe. Read more »

The quiet revolution in the Indian workforce

Shorenstein APARC senior research scholar Rafiq Dossani reflects on the revolution in higher education in India, which "has still not been understood, even within India, perhaps because of the speed of its happening." Read more »

June 12th, 2008

There are benefits to face-to-face meetings overseas, says Rafiq Dossani, Shorenstein APARC's senior research scholar

"These are big, complex countries. It takes time to get to know them. Certainly, some familiarity is better than none." Rafiq Dossani comments on HP's new China Executive in Residence Program. Read more »

June 3rd, 2008

Joint ventures cemented Venezuela, Iran alliance, says McFaul

CDDRL Director Michael McFaul commented on Iran and Venezuela for NPR's Marketplace. McFaul said that Venezuela and Iran, which are teaming up to form a development bank, have cemented their political alliance through joint ventures in energy, agriculture, even physical education. Read more »

May 30th, 2008

SPICE wins Buchanan Prize for fourth time

On April 4 SPICE formally received the 2008 Franklin Buchanan Prize at the Association for Asian Studies conference in Atlanta. The Buchanan Prize, which is awarded annually to an outstanding curriculum publication on Asia designed for any educational level, elementary through university, this year recognized Waka Takahashi Brown and Selena Lai for Chinese Dynasties: Parts One and Two. This is the fourth time that SPICE has won the prestigious Buchanan Prize since it was established in 1995. Read more »

Democracy activist, Scholar Rescue Fellow interviewed about Zimbabwe

In an interview with Russell Berman, Zvisinei C. Sandi addresses political violence and repression in Zimbabwe in the wake of the March 29 elections; the response of the South African political leadership to the Mugabe regime; the role of prominent public figures like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela; and the broader political relationship between Zimbabwe and South Africa, especially violence against Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa. Sandi is a writer from Zimbabwe and a Scholar Rescue Fellow at CDDRL. Read more »

In London, Toledo leads geopolitical debate on future of Latin America

Latin America today is split between those who share former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo's positive outlook and those who think that the '21st century socialism' of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez offers the way forward for the region, despite the fact that Chavez's solutions are heavily dependant on the revenues generated by high oil prices. On May 28 Dr Alejandro Toledo discussed the current state of affairs in Latin America with members of the London-based Henry Jackson Society. Read more »

May 28th, 2008

Carbon markets need reform, say Wara and Victor

A new PESD working paper, "A Realistic Policy on International Carbon Offsets" by Michael Wara and David Victor, argues that a substantial fraction of the international carbon market does not actually represent real reductions in emissions. They also argue that these international credits, which are part of the Kyoto Protocol's "Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)," will not offer companies reliable ways to contain the cost of complying with limits on emissions. Links below to the original paper and reporting in many sources, including the Economist, Guardian, Le Monde, National Public Radio, and BBC Radio.

• » A Realistic Policy on International Carbon Offsets
• » Guardian (UK)
• » Le Monde (France)
• » Economist
• » Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

McCain's proposed North Korea policy is repeat of Bush's failed policy, says Sneider

"The policy that John McCain proposes is the policy that George W. Bush pursued--and that policy failed," says Shorenstein APARC's associate director for research Daniel Sneider tells Slate magazine in an interview. Read more »

Sagan interviews Madeleine Albright about challenges facing next US president

CISAC Co-Director Scott Sagan interviewed former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright May 27 before a capacity audience in Kresge Auditorium about the challenges facing the next U.S. president. Albright, now a professor at Georgetown, also offered an insightful, and often biting, analysis of current policy dilemmas worldwide. Read more »