In The News

Globalisation: The Forgotten Strategy

Pankaj Ghemawat January 21, 2004
Multinational corporations have employed different global corporate strategies in their efforts to adapt to the growing mobility of capital resources. Originally, the approach was to use economies of scale to compete in foreign countries with large domestic markets. Large firms can use their size to average fixed costs over many more products, bringing overall costs down compared to their smaller...

Will Washington Return to Supporting Freer Trade?

Susan Ariel Aaronson January 20, 2004
Has the US led the world in promoting a pro-free trade agenda? Looking at the rhetoric emanating from Washington in the early days of the Bush administration, one may think so, says globalization scholar Susan Ariel Aaronson. But looking at Washington's actions over the past two years, we must reach a different conclusion, she argues. US intransigence on decreasing subsidies to its...

Souring Relations

Ashraf Khalil January 16, 2004
The US effort to stabilize Iraq may not be going as planned, reports this article in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper. Several arguments have erupted of late that threaten to divide Iraq's Interim Governing Council (IGC) and the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority. Disagreements over appointees to the Council, disputes over the role of the United Nations in facilitating a...

Stopping Bioterrorism Before It Starts

Lauren T. Hickok January 8, 2004
The anthrax attacks that came on the heels of Sept. 11 frightened many Americans and added further fuel to calls for a global war on terror. Two years on, how secure is the world's supply of biological and chemical agents? Biosecurity experts Lauren T. Hickok and Reynolds M. Salerno write that although Washington has taken steps to mitigate the bioterrorism threat within the US, much work...

New Scrutiny of Visitors Begins Smoothly

Alfonso Chardy January 6, 2004
In a sweeping change to the way visitors to the US are tracked, the recently established Department of Homeland Security has begun fingerprinting and photographing people from all but 27 countries upon entry at US airports and seaports. As the latest step in the US government's war on terror, the move is intended to help weed out visitors with connections to terrorist groups or criminal...

10,000 Animals to Be Culled as SARS Returns to China

Jonathan Watts January 6, 2004
After a six-month absence, SARS has re-appeared in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, with a 32-year old man confirmed to be infected with a new strain of the virus. Provincial officials have declared a "patriotic" extermination of civet cats - the animal from which the virus is believed to have passed to humans - and variety of vermin. The World Health Organization, however...

Bangladesh is Weak Link in War on Terror

Anand Kumar December 15, 2003
Bangladesh may be quickly becoming Islamic terrorists' favorite country. With no effective law and order, terrorists have little need to fear a crack down. Researcher Anand Kumar points to the recent surge in arrests of Bangladeshis in connection to questionable activities around the world as evidence of a growing presence for the nation within terrorist rings. Though Bangladesh remains a...