In The News

Chris Floyd May 30, 2003
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has been taking lessons from US President Bush, says this article in the Moscow Times. Megawati is using Bush’s anti-terrorist rhetoric and military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq to justify her bloody invasion of Aceh, a rebel territory she characterizes as terrorist-ridden. While her strong military stance has heightened her domestic popularity,...
Michael O'Hanlon May 14, 2003
The global focus on North Korea's nuclear program is justified, given the immediate threat that weapons could pose to the world. However, the weapons program needs to be seen in context: an economic crisis, a large-scale conventional military force, and a strained relationship with Japan, China, and South Korea will all need to be discussed as well during any US-North Korea negotiations...
Barton Gellman May 10, 2003
Seven nuclear facilities in Iraq were heavily damaged or destroyed by mass lootings that began with the arrival of US ground forces in Iraq in April. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and U.N. resolutions, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has the sole legal authority to carry out inspections of the nuclear sites. But all that changed with the Iraq War. IAEA has even had...
May 7, 2003
A controversial gas pipeline stretching from Malaysia to Thailand is set to be completed by 2005, if we can believe the contractors in charge. The project has been opposed by Thai villagers whose property it will traverse, and whose Muslim communities would face substantial economic and cultural change if it is completed. If all goes as planned, the pipeline's construction will bring in...
Barton Gellman May 4, 2003
A specially trained US Defense Department team inspected a major Iraqi radioactive waste repository and discovered that the site had been severely looted. Computers, furniture and equipment appear to have been looted by Iraqi civilians since the beginning of US led military action. However, US authorities remain uncertain as to who might have taken the nuclear materials and why. On site...
Andrew Ward March 30, 2003
Both South Korean and American officials have claimed that a resolution to the North Korean nuclear weapons crisis should be achieved using different methods than in Iraq. The latest suggestion by the South Korean government is to route a Russian gas pipeline to its northern neighbor, in exchange for Pyongyang's renunciation of all nuclear programs. If the needs of North Korea’s struggling...
Jeff Fischer March 25, 2003
American soldiers rushing into Iraq on military missions are only a short distance ahead of American oil and construction companies. US Vice President Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, has been granted a contract from the US Army to work on the reconstruction of post-war Iraq. Other US companies are also expected to get lucrative deals once the US military secures Iraq. –...