In The News

The Geopolitics of Football

Pascal Boniface June 14, 2006
Can sports – and football in particular – be globalization’s answer to deeply rooted conflict? Do football matches unleash or build tensions between countries who struggle diplomatically? Rituals of the match, such as waving flags or singing anthems, can inject new passion into national rivalries or also diffuse hostility. Games reflect larger issues and allow “for symbolically limited...

The Persian Complex

Abbas Amanat June 7, 2006
Nation-states exist in the context of collective memory. In the case of Iran, this includes a history of “at least two centuries of military aggression, domestic meddling, skullduggery, and, not least, technological denial by the West.” Such a milieu colors all relations between Iran and the rest of the world, and must be kept in mind if countries such as the US and UK hope to deter that country...

Muslims Craft Their Own Video Games

Rhonda Roumani June 7, 2006
Syrian video-game pioneer Afkar Media is committed to a positive portrayal of Islam through new video games that feature Muslims and Arabs as heroes instead of villains. Their most recent release, named “Al-Quraysh” for the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad, is a strategy video game that follows the history of Islam from the viewpoint of the Bedouins, Arabs, Persians, or Romans. Instead of being...

Peru Still Wary of Garcia’s Past

Robert Plummer June 5, 2006
Alan Garcia has been re-elected as president of Peru, despite leaving his country with a 5 percent approval rating and $900 million less in its reserves at the end of his previous term in 1990. Garcia enters office with new plans on changing Peru’s highly stratified society, with its 52 percent poverty rate, according to journalist Robert Plummer. Hopefully for the people of Peru, Garcia has...

Why I Published the Muhammad Cartoons

Flemming Rose June 5, 2006
The furor and violence over the infamous Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammad died down, yet crucial issues have not been resolved. “Jyllands – Posten” was the newspaper that originally published the cartoons. Editor Flemming Rose explains his motivation as well as the challenges arising from Europe’s unsuccessful attempts at multiculturalism. In the wake of the cartoon crisis, Rose argues...

Southeast Asia Casts Wide Net for Cooperation

Barry Desker May 30, 2006
US leaders are divided over maintaining distance from China or finding new ways to cooperate. By contributing to trans-Pacific institutions and establishing a myriad of cooperative obligations for the rising power, the US could defuse any threat from China, according to East Asia scholar Barry Desker, former Singaporean ambassador to Indonesia. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a...

The Contest for Memory

Naima Bouteldja May 30, 2006
In taking responsibility for their most ignominious periods, including colonialism and slavery, nations must display honesty and commitment. Gestures from the government of France to recognize its history have been undercut by attempts to revise the story of a colonial past depending on geography, sometimes emphasizing glory and achievement rather than bloodshed and victimization. France has...