A full-scale financial crisis is triggered by a sharp fall in the prices of a large set of assets that banks and other financial institutions own, or that make up their borrowers’ financial reserves. The cure depends on which of three modes define the fall in asset prices. The first – and “easiest – mode …

The world has heard much about India’s extraordinary transformation in recent years, and even of its claims to a share of “world leadership. Some of that is hyperbole, but in one respect, India’s strength may be understated. What makes a country a world leader? Is it population, military strength, or economic development? By all of …

The problem of succession in the Arab secular republics highlights their predicament in the transition to a post-revolutionary phase, for succession in regimes that fail to build strong institutions always risks triggering a systemic crisis. While the decision by some in favor of dynastic succession may be lacking in democracy, it is not entirely devoid …

What do the victories of two relatively inexperienced outsiders, Barak Obama and Mike Huckabee, in the Iowa Caucuses mean for American foreign policy in general and the Atlantic Alliance in particular? It is too soon to predict, on the basis of a plurality of votes cast by a sliver of eligible voters in a small …

A year-long campaign has been launched to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which falls on December 10, 2008. This campaign will engage the whole UN system in promoting the Declaration’s ideals and principles of justice and equality for all of us which changed the landscape of international relations and …

The Muslim Brotherhood, like other opposition groups in Egypt, is going through a period of repression. It is repressed more than any other organization because of the widespread popularity it enjoys. Hundreds of its members have been detained over the past few months and a severe media distortion campaign is run by state-owned press and …

One of the best things that happened at the meeting between French President Nicola Sarkozy, intellectuals and businessmen during his recent visit to Egypt was that he was accompanied by an extraordinary, angelic creature called Carla Bruni. It was hard to imagine how this creature treaded the same ground we walked on or breathed the …

New initiatives are now being taken to build peace in the Middle East. Concrete solutions to the issues of the borders of a future Palestinian State, the future of Jerusalem, and the rights of return of Palestinians can and must be achieved. We, the Executive Committee of Religions for Peace, urge the Palestinian and Israeli …

The next few weeks will see the resolution, one way or another, of the last territorial issues remaining in the Balkans, where the wars of the 1990’s ended with NATO interventions in Bosnia (1995) and Kosovo (1999). Even with peace, major problems were left unresolved. Bosnia was divided between a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb …

The world has taken an important step toward controlling climate change by agreeing to the Bali Action Plan at the global negotiations in Indonesia earlier this month. The plan may not look like much, since it basically committed the world to more talking rather than specific actions, but I am optimistic for three reasons. First, …

While I was on a short business trip to Geneva, I rediscovered Egypt’s elevated status as the common subject of every official or side conversation at the headquarters of the United Nations’ human rights (HR) bodies. This had nothing to do with my presence there. Egypt has in fact become a favorite topic, more so …

I have not sat still this year. From the very first day that I took office, I have been on the go – engaging leaders in their capitals and across the UN community to push progress on four main fronts: UN Reform. We need to change the UN culture and re-engineer the United Nations for …

Once, as I picked up the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen at his hotel, the receptionist asked me if I was his driver. After hesitating, I nodded yes. Among my various identities that day, that of driver was the most obvious to her. This sense of multiple identities is something that Sen himself highlighted mischievously …

The world economy has had several good years. Global growth been strong, and the divide between the developing and developed world has narrowed, with India and China leading the way, experiencing GDP growth of 11.1 percent and 9.7 percent in 2006 and 11.5 percent and 8.9 percent in 2007, respectively. Even Africa has been doing …

The recent decision by the military court trying 40 members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has triggered speculations as to the future of this case and the nature of its final verdict. We must first clarify that despite common misperception, even on the part of the defense team, the court’s new decision did not entail …

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the first Muslim woman to lead a Muslim country, is a serious blow to Pakistan’s prospects for democracy and, indeed, its viability as a state. As chaos and confusion set in, we should not lose sight of President Pervez Musharraf’s partial responsibility for this turn of events. At the very …

Hanukkah and the Annapolis conference apparently caused some hysteria among the self-appointed guardians of Jerusalem. In recent weeks, it has been almost impossible to tune in to any of the stations of Israel Radio without hearing one of two commercials, both of which seek to strengthen the ties between the (Jewish) people living in Zion …

The year 2007 witnessed heightened activism among the Egyptian workers and a record in the number of sit-ins, strikes and peaceful demonstrations. The common denominator is definitely an increasingly deteriorating situation of those workers who suffer from poverty, low wages, bad work conditions, the lack of safety measures, an ineffective insurance system, and a growing …

Call me a foolish optimist, but I’ve always rejected the saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same. Perhaps on some transcendental, philosophical level that doesn’t concern most people, it’s true that there’s nothing new under the sun, but as far as I’m concerned, old Heraclitus got it right – you can’t …

The assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has brought Pakistan’s state of turmoil to new heights. As head of the nation’s most popular political party, Bhutto largely transcended Pakistan’s ethnic and sectarian divides. Her return from exile in October was seen as a step toward curbing the country’s dangerous fragmentation; her murder shatters those …

Nuclear facilities as military targets? The drumbeat appears to be growing louder. Western leaders repeatedly declare that no option is off the table to stem Iran’s nuclear ambitions. And, in mid-November, London’s Sunday Times reported that Israel put defenses around its Dimona nuclear reactor on “red alert 30 times, as worries grew that Syria would …

As one who for decades has supported a two-state solution and the non-violent struggle for Palestinian rights, I view the recent conference in Annapolis with a great deal of skepticism-and a glimmer of hope. Seven years with no negotiations – and increasing numbers of Israeli settlers, an economic blockade in Gaza and an intricate network …

I rarely find any coverage in the US media of one recurring crisis in Palestine. Whenever the Israeli occupation forces evict Palestinians from their homes for one of two reasons, either to annex their land which will become part of the state of Israel, as is the case in Jerusalem, thus the notable shrinking of …

Last fall, the United Kingdom issued a major government report on global climate change directed by Sir Nicholas Stern, a top-flight economist. The Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change amounts to a call to action: it argues that huge future costs of global warming can be avoided by incurring relatively modest cost …

Things aren’t going well in Afghanistan. Sometime at the turn of 2001/2002, the Bush administration concluded that the stabilization and reconstruction of Afghanistan was no longer its top priority and decided to bet instead on military-led regime change in Iraq. Afghanistan can thus rightly be seen as the first victim of the administration’s misguided strategy. …

The Israeli demand to be recognized as a Jewish state was not only one of the main reasons for the failure of the Annapolis conference, it was one of the most controversial issues of the negotiations. This demand is rejected by Palestinians and all Arab governments. Hence, the support for the Israeli position on this …

Among the many surprises during the Republican Party presidential candidates’ debates a couple of weeks ago was the rekindled importance of immigration. After the failure of President George W. Bush’s and Senator Edward Kennedy’s comprehensive immigration reform effort last spring, most observers thought the matter would remain dormant until 2009, since even touching it was …

Forget MIT. Hello, Tsing Hua University. For Clothilde Tingiri, a hot young programmer at Rwanda’s top software company, dreams of Beijing, not Cambridge, animate her ambitions. Desperate for more education, this fall she plans to attend graduate school for computer science – in China, not America. The Chinese are no strangers to Rwanda. Near Tingiri’s …

The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim spiritual imaginations vortex around Jerusalem, the holy city. Yet realpolitik and real estate claims converge with equal force and passion on the city. Day-to-day terrestrial life still affords occasional glimpses of heaven here, but the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over Jerusalem so dominates the landscape that it nearly blinds …

It seems that today Egypt is divided between two currents: One is bent on achieving economic prosperity through high growth rates to attract foreign investment. This current relentlessly imposes the necessary economic policies to reach that goal, regardless of ethical and social considerations. The second current aspires for a democratic Egypt, where citizens enjoy true …