In The News

Ending Lapse into Lawlessness

Kenneth Roth August 29, 2008
The US president has denied that the country relies on torture, but human-rights advocates do not agree with the country’s definitions of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or a process that limits harsh treatment to those who are not US citizens. Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, urges candidates for US president to close detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay and end...

A Door Opens for Reform in Pakistan – Part II

Ziad Haider August 25, 2008
Pakistan has long failed to meet the needs of its own citizens, and this two-part YaleGlobal series explores how weak governance and over-reliance on military solutions have contributed to political turmoil and a build-up of extremism. In the rugged federally administered tribal areas, the 1901 Frontier Crimes Regulations, an outmoded legal system inherited from British colonial administration,...

A Door Opens for Reform in Pakistan – Part I

Paula R. Newberg August 21, 2008
With President Pervez Musharraf finally gone, Pakistan has been celebrating amidst political chaos not unusual for a reborn democracy. Major powers and neighbors who have an interest in Pakistan’s success cannot afford a “wait and see” attitude, suggests Paula Newberg in the first article of a two-part series. The current government must work to restore citizens’ faith in institutions that are...

What Bush Got Right

Fareed Zakaria August 18, 2008
The organization of the US governing system, with its checks and balances, encourages moderation. Policies from US President George Bush that raised international ire largely emerged during the first presidential term, including a war on terror with invasion of Iraq as its centerpiece, refusal to negotiate with Iran or North Korea, neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “His decision...

Time to Strengthen the IAEA

Ernesto Zedillo August 7, 2008
The International Atomic Energy Agency established an 18-member commission chaired by Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, to reflect on how the nuclear future might unfold, what the world is likely to demand of the IAEA, and what steps must be taken to allow the agency to fill those needs. The result of the commission’s deliberation was presented to the...

Russia Takes Control of Turkmen (World?) Gas

M.K. Bhadrakumar August 6, 2008
Russia has signed two agreements on gas in Turkmenistan, ensuring Russian control over gas exports from the region. Russia will pay higher market prices for Turkmen gas, notes M.K. Bhadrakumar in an article for Asia Times, and that could reveal a geopolitical rather than money-making strategy. At the same time, China and Russia concluded negotiations on energy cooperation. “Suffice it to say that...

CIA Outlines Pakistan Links With Militants

Mark Mazzetti August 5, 2008
Pakistan is a leading partner in the US war against terrorism, but some US officials have produced evidence of disturbing links between Pakistani intelligence officials and militants responsible for violence in Afghanistan, particularly the network of Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqan. “The C.I.A. has depended heavily on the ISI for information about militants in Pakistan, despite longstanding concerns...