In The News

A Bitter Dispute Frozen in Time

Justin McCurry February 10, 2005
In the days following Japan's surrender in World War II, the Soviets seized four Japanese islands known as the Northern Territories. Sixty years after the war, the Russians still possess the islands, and Japan wants them back. While Russia is willing to honor a 1956 agreement to return two of the islands, Japanese leaders insist on the return of all four. As the author writes, amid the...

Concern on North Korea Brings US Pressure

David Sanger February 9, 2005
Suspicions about North Korea's possible nuclear materials sales to other nations have prompted diplomatic actions aimed at amplifying Chinese pressure on Kim Jong Il. A US envoy traveled to Beijing, urging the government to join in the effort to force North Korea to abandon its weapons program. China has agreed to cooperate, swayed by the caliber of damning new scientific evidence, but has...

Israel, Palestinians Close to Agreement to Reduce Violence

Robin Wright February 7, 2005
Newly confirmed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began her visit to the Middle East by naming a security coordinator to facilitate the new Israel-Palestine peace process. Rice also held meetings with new Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, highlighting the "hard decisions" both parties must make in the coming months. While Rice...

Letting Sudan Get Away with Murder

Ben Kiernan February 4, 2005
Over 200,000 people have died in the violence in Sudan's Darfur provinces. And as the bloodshed continues, genocide scholar Ben Kiernan writes, members of the international community – who may actually have the influence to halt the killings and prosecute the perpetrators – have been preoccupied with semantic and jurisdictional wrangling. Kiernan provides an historical background to the...

US Resolution Reveals Distrust of China, EU

February 4, 2005
As Brussels decides to suspend the 15-year-long arms embargo against China, European and Chinese politicians continue to nurture their flourishing relationship. Meanwhile, Washington remains anxious about the possible implications for regional geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region – especially across the Taiwan Strait. According to this People's Daily commentary, a new US legislative...

Where Trade Trumps Politics

Quentin Peel February 3, 2005
In an effort to further ties with China, the European Union appears poised to lift an arms embargo imposed on the country for the past 15 years. From a military standpoint, the practical consequences may not be severe: China already buys sophisticated arms from Russia and Israel. However, any arms repeal would only further strain US relations with Europe; at this point, US officials are left...

The Russian-Turkish Rapprochement Could Benefit Armenia

Haroutiun Khachatrian February 3, 2005
As Turkey edges closer to integration into the European Union, long-standing problems on its opposite frontier are holding the country back. In addition to Turkey's troubled history of violence against its Kurdish minority, Turkish relations with neighboring Armenia have been strained for decades. Turkey has refused to recognize the killing of many Armenians in 1915 as "genocide,"...