In The News

US and EU Seek Common Ground on Farm Trade

Guy de Jonquières July 30, 2003
At a recent meeting in Montreal, European and American trade ministers agreed to seek common ground on the issue of farm subsidies before they meet in Cancun in September. Farm trade liberalization has long polarized the US and the EU, and threatens to bring the upcoming WTO meeting to a deadlock. Indeed, although trade representatives from both sides have pledged to be more flexible during...

The Pentagon's Eastern Obsession

Lawrence J. Korb July 30, 2003
Proponents of the US military’s proposed move from bases in Western Europe to Eastern Europe claim that the advantages would include reduced costs and proximity to hotspots like Central Asia and Middle East. However, according to former assistant defense secretary Lawrence Korb, such claims are unfounded. The current bases in Western Europe aren't as expensive to maintain as the numbers may...

Pentagon Prepares a Futures Market on Terror Attacks

Carl Hulse July 29, 2003
A bizarre new strategy in the war on terrorism is emerging from the headquarters of the US military. The Pentagon is creating an online futures market to predict the likelihood of terrorist attacks and assassinations. With the explicit aim of predicting the effects of US involvement in the Middle East, the program's website will begin registering traders on Aug. 1, and trading will begin...

Each Nation for Itself?

July 28, 2003
The World Trade Organization's 146 member nations will have a lot to talk about when they sit down in Cancun, Mexico in early September. With 23 categories of trade issues on the agenda, says this editorial in Singapore's Straits Times, one may reasonably wonder how much agreement can be reached in five short days. Member nations seem to be more divided than together, with heavy...

Hail Britannia!

Immanuel Wallerstein July 25, 2003
In the lead up to the invasion of Iraq – and especially with the difficulties the US has encountered since – there is a renewed interest in the historical experience of past imperial efforts. Not surprisingly, the publication of British historian Niall Ferguson's provocative history of the British Empire has aroused special interest. In this review of the book, noted historian and World...

Imperial Perspectives

Edward Said July 25, 2003
The perspective of the imperial power is inevitably distorted but nonetheless shapes the way the power rules, argues Edward Said in this opinion piece for Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly. Said maintains that every empire, including America's, tells itself that its mission is benign, that its mission is "certainly not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate the peoples and...

A New Era in EU-ASEAN Relations?

Shada Islam July 23, 2003
The two major regional organizations of Asia and Europe are meeting again, this time in Bali, Indonesia. The potential for mutual benefit through increased trade and cooperation between the EU and ASEAN is immense, but Shada Islam wonders if the two regions will be able to realize that potential. Islam, a journalist specializing in EU foreign trade policy, notes that so far there has been...