In The News

American Democracy May Taste Indian Voting Machines

March 26, 2004
As the US presidential election approaches (and memories of the 2000 election's complications remain fresh), the question of how US citizens will vote – by machine or by paper – has become unusually heated. Now an Indian company, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), enters the fray by marketing its own voting machine designed for India' parliamentary elections. Importing electronic voting...

74 Illegal Immigrants Held in Surprise Raid in Abu Dhabi

Muawia E. Ibrahim March 24, 2004
The movement of people across countries is very much a fact of modern life. International migration is instrumental in decreasing the distance between different cultures and people. Yet, in the contemporary period of global terrorism and ethno-religious violence, migrants can also be the source of tremendous anxiety. This week in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, immigration squads...

Israeli Assassination Draws World Outrage

March 22, 2004
Israeli missiles killed Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the terrorist group Hamas, on March 22 morning as he left a Mosque. Hamas is blamed for many of the suicide bombings against Israel, and Sheik Yassin is thought to have ordered several of them. The killing was lauded in Israel as a major victory against terrorism, but was loudly condemned elsewhere in the world – especially...

Keep the Ban on Arms for China

Roger Cliff March 22, 2004
15 years ago, in the wake of the Tiananmen Square violence, the US and nations that now make up the EU agreed to an arms embargo towards China. Until their human rights record improved, China should not be supplied with weapons technology, argued the European and American states. Now, EU nations are facing a call from China to eliminate the "outdated" embargo in order to cement their...

Failing Iraq

Graham Usher March 19, 2004
Marking the one year anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq, this week has seen increased violence and anger against the coalition forces. According to reporter Graham Usher, this reaction has been predictable from the offset, for "while the US and Britain knew how to conquer Iraq, they have no idea how to run it." Religious sectarianism, ethnic violence, weakening police power, and...

Ending the Divide

Shada Islam March 19, 2004
Spain's election shocker last week has left analysts speculating. Was it a victory for the democratic forces that mobilized against Prime Minister Aznar? Or was it a victory for terrorists who aimed to influence the vote by bombing Madrid on March 11? Shada Islam, a journalist specializing in European foreign relations, writes that in Spain the election results were seen as both a...

Unification Can Only Follow Democratization

Orville Schell March 19, 2004
Taiwan may have been its own country for seven out of the last eleven decades and claim that it has the right to decide for itself its sovereign status, but that does not prevent China from pressing for unification. . In recent years, China and Taiwan have come closer due to increased economic interactions, but why does China still point 500 missiles on the island? A large part of the answer can...