PATRICK LAWRENCE: 21st Century Order
As a piece of the new world order that is under construction, Putin’s trip to Tehran last week was of singular importance. At last we were able to read, last week, a New York Times story that concerned the Russians but not…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Ukraine & the Strength of Nonalignment
Liberals once mocked the Bush–Cheney regime’s with-us-or-against-us routines. Now the trans–Atlantic foreign policy cliques have no capacity to see the world differently. I was interested to read, last December, of the expansive agreements Vladimir Putin and Mahendra Modi signed at the conclusion of…
India’s New Leader Risks Violent Disruption for China-style Growth
Indians made a potentially fateful choice when they voted Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party into power in stretched-out elections this spring. With the BJP’s victory official as of late last week, India is now a nation…
The Big Question for China as Global Growth Slows
Part 1 The investing world awoke from America’s debt-ceiling nightmare this week only to realize that global growth is hitting the brakes all around the planet—including China. “China is not collapsing, [but] it’s notably slowing,” Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff told…
India’s Multibillion-Dollar Message to America
India’s recent rejection of bids from two American jet manufacturers for the biggest defense contract in Indian history made minor news in the U.S. The rest of the world paid closer attention because that decision shot down a dozen years…
Developing Countries Plan to Challenge U.S. Dollar
New eras do not announce themselves with billboards or welcoming brochures. They arrive by way of many disparate events. Last week we witnessed one: the gathering in southern China of leaders from the world’s most dynamic emerging economies –the nations we now…
The Pacific Century: Can the U.S. Compete?
Remember those astonishing test scores that came out late last year — the ones that measured science, reading and arithmetic proficiency according to an international standard that included China for the first time? Not even the Chinese could quite believe…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Breaking Bread with Authoritarians
In his way, India’s prime minister is as bad as some of the old Latin American dictators who got plenty of American support but never an evening meal — and certainly no cardamon-flavored strawberry shortcake for dessert. “For the first…