Americas

In an environment of declining defense spending by what have traditionally been the largest customers on both sides of the Atlantic, aerospace and defense companies face difficult decisions on how to deploy their cash.

The Arctic will experience extraordinary economic and environmental change over the next several decades. Commercial, human, and state interaction will rise dramatically. More drilling for oil and gas in the region and growing shipping and ecotourism as new shipping routes come into existence are just a few of the examples of increased human activity in the Arctic.

In the 30 seconds that it took for a 7.0 earthquake to level Port-au-Prince, Haiti captured the world’s attention. With death toll estimates at more than 200,000 persons, and injured men, women, and children reaching double that number, Haiti would lose 5 percent of its population.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s trip to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador got off to an uncertain start Sunday, with no word whether he would add a fifth stop in order to attend the inauguration of Guatemalan president-elect Otto Pérez Molina on January 14.

From international security and regional study to global challenges, CSIS experts will address many of the world's most difficult policy concerns and critical questions in 2012. To kick off the new year, we asked 25 of our scholars to identity what worries them most and what are the biggest opportunities in their respective areas of study.

IN BRIEF: Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, Brazil

PROGRAM UPDATES: Ambassadors' Council, U.N LAC Chief Discusses Near Term Outlook

Recent evidence points to a dramatic shift in migration patterns involving Mexico, traditionally the United States’ biggest migrant contributor. According to a recent Pew Hispanic Center report, 35 percent of the 10.2 million unauthorized adult immigrants in the United States have been U.S.

Without leaving Tehran, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s upcoming tour of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador has already been successful at feeding fears of a minor Persian invasion. This will make a half-dozen trips he has made to the region since he was initially elected in 2005. (George W.