In The News

Hollywood’s New Axis of Evil

Edward Jay Epstein December 8, 2005
With the making of Hollywood’s most recent political thrillers, the politics of Hollywood itself are on display. In films such as Syriana, and Paramount’s 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate, traditional villains have been replaced by corporate bad guys. Where Hollywood once easily placed heroes in opposition to such popularly accepted evil-doers as Nazis, Communists, the KGB, and Mafiosi,...

China Cracks Down in ‘Asian Las Vegas’

December 5, 2005
A recent report revealed that, spanning the months of January through September, the Chinese government detained and arrested close to 1.2 million people on grounds of illegal betting. Police confiscated almost $300 million in cash and, most damningly, censured 8,740 members of the Communist Party for “cross-border” gambling with public funds. This anti-corruption purge follows growing concerns...

Corporate Europe Ignores Diversity at its Peril

Marta Dassu November 30, 2005
The logic of obtaining the best possible candidates for a position seems to fall flat in the European corporate world, according to a recent study by European researchers. At the top of the business world, talent and qualifications may take a back seat to nationalistic hiring and promotion policies. In a survey of 450 different companies in the EU’s five biggest economies, the researchers found...

East-to-West Migration Remaking Europe

Kevin Sullivan November 29, 2005
Janis Neulans is a Latvian laborer embarking on a journey that is becoming more and more common these days. Neulans travelled from Latvia to Ireland, where he felt that he could build the type of life for himself that is not possible in his home country. Since Latvia and nine other countries were added to the European Union in May 2004, nearly 450,000 people, most of them from the same strained...

A Party Girl Leads China’s Online Revolution

Howard W. French November 25, 2005
In early July, a Shanghai blogger introduced herself to China as an aspiring “Web cam dance girl”. Today, the 25-year old Communist Party member is regarded as the most popular blogger in China – thousands of avid fans tune in for her provocative dances and ironic political commentary – and one of the pioneers in a trend that is challenging government censorship. Chinese Web logs have exploded...

Americans are Tuning Out the World

Alkman Granitsas November 24, 2005
As the world becomes accustomed to the American way of life, Americans are tuning out the rest of the world. US citizens have paid less and less attention to foreign affairs since the 1970s, writes journalist Alkman Granitsas. The number of university students studying foreign languages has declined, and fewer Americans travel overseas than their counterparts in other developed countries. News...

Growth of Islam in Russia Brings Soviet Response

Steven Lee Myers November 22, 2005
Muslims have never enjoyed as much freedom in Russia as they do today. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, there has been an Islamic revival of sorts in Russia. Muslims number 10 to 16 percent of the Russian population, and Islam is recognized as one of Russia’s four official religions. Yet that tolerance is tinged with suspicion, and some Muslims feel they are being persecuted. A perception...