In The News

Japan Elbows its Way into Far East: Not Only for Energy

August 12, 2004
As a country poor in natural resources, Japan has had to look elsewhere for its energy needs. Although most of Japan's oil imports presently come from the Middle East, instability in the region has prompted Japan to look to relatively oil-rich Russia as an alternative source. Through building good relationships with the local government, investing in the area, and fostering a positive...

Afghan Asylum Seekers Sew Up Mouths in Protest in Indonesia

August 10, 2004
Approximately 150 Afghan asylum seekers currently live in Indonesia and are waiting to move to a third country such as the United States, Norway or Australia. Though some have been granted refugee status, forty of these asylum seekers are going on a hunger strike to protest being denied this status by the United Nations. In the past, Afghan immigrants in Indonesia, many of whom have security...

Chávez's 'Monitors' Are Really Electoral Tourists

Andres Oppenheimer August 8, 2004
In an upcoming recall election, the Venezuelan public will decide whether current president Hugo Chavez will be allowed to remain in office for the remainder of his term. Preparing for the election, Chavez has placed restrictions on electoral monitoring groups that rank among the strictest in recent Latin American history. The European Union has responded by announcing that it will not dispatch...

Saudi Surprise

Mohamed El-Sayed Said August 6, 2004
The Saudi government is attempting to rescue U.S. President George W Bush from his ill-fated venture in Iraq by declaring an initiative to send multinational Muslim troops to the war torn country. Criticism of President Bush’s handling of the Iraq War is rising, jeopardizing his chances for reelection this coming November. Saudi Arabia’s proposition could provide Bush with a convenient exit...

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Paul Kennedy August 6, 2004
One of the worst blows to the fragile system of international law happened recently, writes Yale professor and international security expert Paul Kennedy, and it made no headlines. On June 2, Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan murdered five members of the Nobel Prize winning organization, Doctors Without Borders. The atrocity prompted the withdrawal of remaining volunteers, ending 24 years of aid...

Louder than Words

Matthew Tempest August 5, 2004
Mark Curtis, head of the London-based World Development Movement (WDM) objects to Britain’s making economic liberalization a pre-condition to receiving aid monies. He argues that the US, the UK, and even the Asian Tigers achieved economic ascendancy through protection of infant industries, not open markets. To ask developing countries to liberalize their economies or get no aid is unfair....

UN Efforts in Iraq No Walk in the Park

Benny Widyono August 5, 2004
Symbolically, the rift between the US and the UN has been healed. An interim Iraqi government has assumed sovereignty, and a newly-appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General has been dispatched to Iraq. Yet, according to former UN official and Cambodia expert Benny Widyono, the challenge confronting UN peacekeepers remains daunting and dangerous. Iraq is still rife with...