In The News

A Year After Iraq War: Mistrust of America in Europe Ever Higher, Muslim Anger Persists

March 16, 2004
According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, a year after the Iraq War global public opinion is heavily against the United States. In Pew's nine-country study, researchers discovered that even in the UK - a stalwart ally of the US in the war on terror and the Iraq War - public sentiment has turned more critical. Majorities in Russia, Germany, and France believe their national...

Alarm Raised Over Quality of Uranium Found in Iran

Craig S. Smith March 11, 2004
Iran is back in the spotlight for its alleged nuclear weapons program, and this time the international pressure to dismantle will be strong. United Nations nuclear inspectors have found traces of extremely highly enriched uranium in Iran, of a purity reserved for use in a nuclear bomb. Iran claims that its military had indeed enriched uranium but only to create unsophisticated models for use by...

Dam Building Threatens China's 'Grand Canyon'

Jim Yardley March 10, 2004
Dam projects are often controversial, for they require the displacement of peoples, destruction of the riparian zone, and other environmental consequences. In China, most attention has focused on the large Three Gorges Dam, set to be completed in 2009 at an expense of $25 billion and the displacement of one million people. There is, however, another project worth paying attention to, though it...

Nuke Quarantine

Amir Mir February 26, 2004
The United States government is placing pressure on Pakistan to allow an inspection of its nuclear arsenal, and to put into place, a joint Pakistan-US monitoring mechanism. The American pressure follows the recent disclosure of a Pakistan based global network that supplied nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Pakistan, a vital ally in the US led war against global terrorism, needs...

Hidden Nuclear Drawings Found in Iran

Sonni Efron February 13, 2004
The discovery of blueprints for a device used to enrich uranium has renewed Washington's suspicions of a covert nuclear program in Iran. Washington is considering referring Iran's nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Security Council. As the international community considers the most appropriate international response, investigators...

As It Wields Power Abroad, U.S. Outsources Law and Order Work

Andrew Higgins February 2, 2004
The US seems unwilling to face the hardships of maintaining a police force in Iraq. Instead, it has delegated the charge of keeping order to DynCorp, a multinational police contractor headquartered in California. DynCorp was subcontracted by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, or INL, a division of the US State Department. Since 1994, the INL has dispatched...

One Hand Clapping in the Caucasus

Kenneth Weisbrode January 26, 2004
As Georgia's newly elected president takes office this week, much of the world has high hopes for the future of his new government. Outsiders have been trying to influence developments in Georgia and neighboring Azerbaijan for some time now, says Eurasia scholar Kenneth Weisbrode, but if recent history is any indication, the path to stability in the Caucasus region is still quite rocky....