In The News

Growing Anti-US Sentiments Roil Alliance With South Korea

Sook-Jong Lee June 8, 2004
Although South Korea’s legislature just approved the deployment of 3000 troops to Iraq, South Koreans’ anger about US military actions has reached a boiling point, argues Sook-Jong Lee, a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. South Koreans have become increasingly critical of the US since the 1980s, with the presence of US forces in South Korea serving as a daily reminder of the country’s...

No Lack of Fake Luxuries

Jin Hyun-joo June 3, 2004
Cartier, Rolex, DKNY… Brand-name items are all the rage on the streets of South Korean cities. But buyer beware, says this article in the Korea Herald; a great deal of these 'luxury goods' are fakes. Counterfeit items generate billions of won a year in sales, though, because savvy buyers don't seem to care that they aren't getting the real thing. Two out of three university...

Islam and West: Time for Enlightened Moderation

Pervez Musharraf June 2, 2004
The events of the recent past have brought the Muslim world to a state of emergency, writes Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan. The world perception of Muslims as violent extremists has placed the moderate and peaceful faithful – the “innocent multitudes” – at odds with the world. The proliferation of suicide bombers and the events of 9/11 have bred a deep fear in the West of Islam and its...

US Nation-Building Abroad – Part II

Fawaz A. Gerges May 28, 2004
The Abu Ghraib prison, once the stage for atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein, has been turned into a symbol of brutal occupation by a foreign force. The story of abuse by American soldiers broke at the worst possible time for the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, writes Middle East specialist Fawaz A. Gerges, in the second installment of a multi-authored, three-part series on US...

Looking After Number One

Abbas Ali May 28, 2004
The American occupation in Iraq has the Iranian government torn in two different directions: their obvious interest in guiding the shape of the neighboring government is at odds with not wanting to cooperate with the United States. Iran’s ties to Iraq are ancient and critical. Holy sites and burial grounds that are among the most sacred to Iranian Muslims are located in Iraq, and studies of the...

Waking Up to the Terror Threat in Southern Thailand

John R. Bradley May 27, 2004
An insurgent movement within the Thai Muslim community has led to over 200 deaths in southern Thailand this year. The presence of the expensive, brand-new Yala Islamic College, primarily funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, is not unrelated to this violence, says this article in Singapore’s Straits Times. The 1,500-some students there dress in traditional Arab garb and are taught a strict...

Green Cuisine

Maricel E. Presilla May 27, 2004
The global ties that bind are found in avenues both obvious and unexpected. In this Miami Herald article, chef Maricel Presilla writes of the universality of unripened tropical fruits. From the American South to Latin America to India and Southeast Asia, “each person born in the tropics has a story to tell about green fruits,” says a Columbian horticulturist. Hard peas, mangoes, and papayas have...