In The News

Sensiblement, le rapprochement russo-chinois se precise

Yu Bin September 6, 2005

India's Mini-Multinationals Make Waves in Western Markets

Anand Giridharadas September 2, 2005
As India gains economic strength, its entrepreneurs are acquiring increasing numbers of overseas companies. In the first eight months this year, Indian companies paid US$1.7 billion for 62 foreign businesses, including a German metal forge, a South Korean truck maker, and a British tea company. The Indian as global owner marks a clear reversal for a country with vivid memories of its own...

Cheating Great Expectations

Philip Bowring September 1, 2005
September 5 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Russo-Japanese War. And as columnist Philip Bowring writes, that conflict bears lessons on how the international community should view today's rising powers – namely, China. After France, Germany, and Russia forced Japan to cede several territorial claims in an 1895 treaty, Japan spent the coming decades building its military...

Shared Pasts, Different Futures

Abdel-Moneim Said August 19, 2005
Often, examining the past sheds light on events of the present. It is in this vein that Abdel-Moneim Said, in Al-Ahram Weekly, explores a crucial issue: "Is jihad a reaction to colonial oppression?" Using China's turbulent history as a basis for comparison, Said finds that violence is not always the only viable response to such oppression. Indeed, from the Opium Wars to forced...

Tehran Is Using Iraq to Steadily Penetrate the Arab World

Kamran Taremi August 18, 2005
Relations between Iran and Iraq have been marked for decades by hostility, erupting most drastically in the infamous and bloody war following the success of Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic revolution. Now, with a Shiite victory in the Iraqi elections, the two countries have found common ideological ground and have taken steps towards cooperation. An alliance with Iraq would provide Iran with...

Edwardian Summer

Larry Elliott August 18, 2005
Can the world learn from its past follies? The Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott examines this question, as he draws parallels between the "first" age of globalization – just prior to World War I – and the current second phase. There are several similarities between the two eras: belief in unrestricted capital flows and free trade, profound income inequality, and large-scale...

China's Cautious Pride in an Ancient Mariner

Wang Gungwu August 4, 2005
Six centuries ago, Chinese Admiral Zheng He embarked on the first voyage of a career that encompassed destinations as far as India, Persia, Arabia, and Africa. Though his achievements were forgotten for centuries, a re-emergence of interest in his story coincides with China's dramatic rise. As historian Wang Gungwu notes, it also coincides with the publication of a controversial theory:...