In The News

Topsy-Turvy World

R Ravimohan April 16, 2004
When R. Ravimohan, a columnist for India's Business Standard, reads anything about the American outcry over the outsourcing of jobs to low-wage countries, he blames one root cause: the wide economic disparity between the developed and developing world. "Given the unshakeable viability of the differences in cost structures of different economies," he writes, "it is but natural...

The Trouble with Civilian Casualty Stories

Jefferson Morley April 15, 2004
A controversy is raging between the US military and several Arab news outlets over their coverage of the siege of Fallujah. General John Abizaid, head of the US Central Command, criticized the Qatar-based Al Jazeera for portraying US military action "as purposely targeting civilians." "We absolutely do not do that, and I think everybody knows that," Abizaid said. "They...

Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Media: Anatomy of a Failure

Susan Moeller April 14, 2004
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made the decision to present terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and Iraq as a linked triple threat. Susan Moeller, professor of media and international affairs at the University of Maryland, argues that in the “stultifying patriotic climate” that followed the attacks, most mainstream...

Outsourcing, Turned Inside Out

Ken Belson April 11, 2004
While most Americans today have heard about and many already been alarmed by the outsourcing of jobs overseas, some others might not be as worried; those include the employees of South Korean semiconductor company Samsung in Austin, Texas. The company just announced that it would pump another $500 into its Texas plant, adding an additional 300 jobs to its 700-people workforce. Samsung is not...

In Mideast, Anger and Solidarity

Scott Wilson April 10, 2004
As the US started another round of military campaign in Iraq to put down insurgents, Arabs across the region are calling for stronger Muslim solidarity against the Anglo-American-led occupation, some even comparing the American operation in Iraq with Israel's actions against Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Leading Arab newspapers and TV programs in the region, including some...

Coalition Partners Get Cold Feet

Ewen MacAskill April 10, 2004
As Shiite and Sunni Iraqis banded together to fight American and allied country troops this week, United States military forces found themselves in an increasingly uncertain environment. The political will of US allies is being tested by the deepening hostilities. When South Korean and Japanese military forces came under fire, they retreated to their compounds. But although popular sentiment...

When US Aided Insurgents, Did It Breed Future Terrorists?

Hugh Eakin April 10, 2004
Arguing against popular belief, Mahmood Mamdani, a prominent Uganda-born political scientist at Columbia University, asserts that terrorism has little to do with Islamic culture; rather, it is an outgrowth of American Cold War strategies. In this article on the New York Times, the author attempts to probe into Mamdani's thesis through other scholars' positions as well as Mamdani's...