In The News

Delay by UN on Rebuking North Korea is Urged

Felicity Barringer July 3, 2003
The United States, backed by Great Britain and France, has continually asked the Security Council to issue a statement condemning North Korea’s violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, the issuing of the statement has been held up by the lack of consensus among the permanent members of the Security Council . China and Russia remain reluctant, believing that doing so, will...

C.I.A. Said to Find North Korean Nuclear Advances

David E. Sanger July 1, 2003
For months, the US has been trying to convince Asian nations like China and South Korea that the threat from North Korea is urgent and necessitates a unified diplomatic effort. Now, American intelligence officials claim that within a year North Korea will have the ability to attach small nuclear warheads to its extensive missile arsenal. If the allegation is true, it will bolster US claims that...

U.S. May Cut Aid Over Court Immunity

Peter Slevin July 1, 2003
Washington has threatened to cut off military aid, including military equipment and training programs, to countries that refuse to grant US citizens immunity from prosecution in the newly formed International Criminal Court. The Bush administration is demanding a written promise, known as an Article 98 agreement, from countries such as Croatia and Lithuania that "no Americans charged in the...

President Bush's Visit to Africa Isn't All about Oil

Peter Fabricius June 30, 2003
US interests in Africa go well beyond oil, says this editorial in South Africa's Cape Times. Though oil is likely a factor prompting US President Bush’s upcoming trip to the continent, American national security interests are the definitive motivation for the visit – and for expanded US interest in general. Since September 11, the United States has been forced to realize the immense impact...

America Goes Backward

Stanley Hoffman June 27, 2003
After the war in Iraq, the US Bush administration is once again criticized by many. In this feature article in the New York Review of Books, Harvard scholar Stanley Hoffmann argues that not only has the administration's unilateralism resulted in anti-Americanism overseas, but also domestic concerns of justice issues, among others. Furthermore, seeing itself as the world's peacekeeper,...

The Selling of the Iraq War

John B Judis June 25, 2003
The first casualty of the Iraq War was intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA, says this article in the New Republic. Another casualty, albeit facing a slower death, may prove to be America’s trust in the decisions of their leaders. According to this article, the Bush Administration misrepresented information about weapons programs, fabricated terrorist links, and suppressed internal...

Asia Throws a New Challenge to Washington

Michael Richardson June 25, 2003
Burma's repression of democracy advocates like Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has won the country infamy in the international human rights community. Even after allowing a free election a decade ago, the military junta that runs Burma ignored the results and refused to give up power. Another brutal crackdown on opposition just weeks ago has brought the country back into the international...