As he officially announced the 2014 vote for an independent Scotland, First Minister Alex Salmond looked and sounded as earnest as ever.

In allying with the tribal militants that dominate poorly governed Pakistani border regions, the Pakistani government gives itself a greater measure of control over these areas and creates an effective buffer against two of its biggest fears: a hostile India and an unraveling Afghanistan.

As his first term approached its end, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang Party (KMT) was pitted against Tsai Ing-wen, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the first female presidential candidate in Taiwan. The January election, restoring incumbent Ma as president, captured international attention as many anticipated a resulting shift in the precarious relationship between Taiwan and China.

While these divisions, as evidenced by the racial and xenophobic violence in Libya, are real and destructive, they are not eternal. Rather, they are the result of a particular historical narrative that has constructed Arabs and Africans as intrinsically different and eternally divided.

Recent legislation spanning from Arizona to Georgia has focused on decreasing the presence of illegal immigrants in the United States, yet have resulted in hundreds of cases like Torres’. No legislation has proven to be eective in controlling illegal immigration while simultaneously defending the civil rights of immigrant communities.

This is a difficult, volatile issue in a time of small minds and big egos — good luck finding enough members of Congress willing to fall on the sword and make immigration reform a reality. But if any issue demands bipartisan care and attention, it is this one — we must find a way forward.

Last Thursday, as part of an ongoing seminar series organized by Columbia’s Institute for Latin American Studies (ILAS), professor and author Katherine Hite presented some of her findings from her book.

China’s awe-inspiring economic growth over the past three decades has inspired envy, emulation, and animosity all over the world. As I have argued before, I think that China will be a major global player in this century and that its influence will increase over time. But as we learned the hard way in 2008, no matter how smooth an economic course may seem, there are, inevitably, unforeseen problems.

On Sunday, Russians from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok will vote to decide who will be president for the next six years.

In recent months, there has been much talk of the United States’ “strategic pivot” toward East Asia and the Pacific.

On Tuesday afternoon, TV journalist, political analyst, and best-selling author George Stephanopoulos participated in a question and answer session at Columbia University.

Violence in Syria has pursued over the past months since the beginning of the Arab Spring uprising in the nation, and certainly seems unlikely to calm down in the upcoming months if recent unrest is any reliable indicator. President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly refused to step down from power and has even condoned the use of force against his own citizens by military forces.

Hardeep Puri On The Future Of India And Syria

The facile idea of a pure dichotomy of America and Israel against its enemies is too simplistic. Recalibrating this perspective is even more urgent now that its power is being applied to drive Israel and Iran toward a potentially disastrous war.

History buffs, politicos, and professors alike turned out February 23rd at Columbia/Barnard Hillel to hear Cold War historian, professor, and renowned author John Lewis Gaddis discuss his latest book, George F. Kennan: An American Life.

There is a revolution in Kenya that parallels the banking system and the broadband revolution but is something entirely its own: the cellular revolution.

Thursday evening, as part of the World Leaders Forum, United States Attorney General Eric Holder came home to Columbia to speak under Low's rotunda.

Should states allow individuals to opt out of the of the Affordable HealthCare Act? Is health a universal human right? Is healthcare? Whose responsibility is it to provide healthcare?

Wednesday night, The Veritas Forum chapter at Columbia University hosted an interview and discussion with Ruby Bridges who famously integrated William Frantz Elementary School in 1960, when she was just six years old.

While President Obama still has a long way to go on the road to reelection, it is quickly becoming clear that the current set of Republican presidential candidates don’t have what we, in this country, used to call “the right stuff.”