In The News

Myanmar: Sanctions Won't Work

Jeffrey Sachs July 27, 2004
Fourteen years ago Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won an election against Myanmar's incumbent military government. After the elections, however, the military annulled the results, leading the US to impose economic sanctions against Myanmar’s government. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, head of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, argues in this op-ed that the USA should not...

Global Terror Threats Pose Great Local Challenges to First-Responders

S. L. Bachman July 27, 2004
With the advent of the global war on terror, local first-responders in many parts of the world have been charged by national governments with countering and mitigating the effects of terror attacks. Globalization scholar S.L. Bachman, however, argues that tragedies like the September 11 attacks on the US and the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia show that local police, firefighters, and medical...

Protests as Italy Expels Migrants

July 22, 2004
With its long coastline, Italy is one of most Europe’s most vulnerable countries in terms of illegal immigration. Largely African and Asian groups of migrants come via boat from places like Libya, where Italian officials believe up to 2 million more migrants may be waiting for transit into the European Union. In response to the influx of people, Italy put a tough anti-immigration law into...

A Global Power Shift in the Making

James F. Hoge, Jr. July 21, 2004
China has an economy that by 2010 will be double the size of Germany’s. Japan has fed off this growth to pull itself out of its 1990s economic malaise and enjoyed a real GDP growth rate of 6.4% in the last quarter of 2003. Elsewhere in Asia, the “tigers” have recovered from the 1997 financial crisis, and India’s economy is growing at 8% per year with some economists predicting that India could...

Breaking for the Border

Salah Hemeid July 16, 2004
Some blame for the violence pervading war-torn Iraq rests in the hands of its neighbors, Iraqi officials claim. By facilitating or simply turning a blind eye to the religious militants who infiltrate Iraq in order to attack coalition and Iraqi forces, neighboring countries are undermining stabilization efforts. Iraq plans to step up pressure on its neighbors at an upcoming July 21 meeting in...

Strategy for an Energy-Starved World: Go Coal!

David Dapice July 15, 2004
Gas prices are soaring, as anyone with a car well knows. But, though $40 a barrel prices are hurting wallets, economist David Dapice argues that the situation has the beneficial effect of encouraging countries to look at alternative energy sources with greater urgency. China, for example, recently signed an agreement with a South African energy and chemicals firm to build two coal-to-liquid fuel...

Japan's Equivocal Defence Posture

July 13, 2004
Japan’s most recent defense report states that the greatest threats to Japanese security are diffuse and include terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. As such, the new Defense White Paper recommends Tokyo pursue regional cooperation. At the same time, however, the paper also cites regional powers such as North Korea, China, and Russia as potential security threats. By...