In The News

Indians Pursue Portuguese Passports as an Entree to Europe

James Brooke June 8, 2003
Anyone who was living in the Indian state of Goa in 1961 – when colonization by Portugal officially ended – or who had an ancestor living there at the time, can still obtain a Portuguese passport and thus have indirect access to much of Europe. During decolonization, the Portuguese made arrangements so that all inhabitants of “Portuguese India” would retain some of the rights of Portuguese...

Japan Adopts Laws Strengthening Military Powers

Howard W. French June 7, 2003
As tensions mount in North Korea, the Japanese Parliament has passed a series of war contingency bills that increase the power of the government to use military force in a time of emergency. These bills represent the first major expansion of Japanese military power; the treaty ending WWII had reduced its military to a self-defense force that often facilitates US efforts. The laws have sparked a...

The Arch of Globalization

Abdel-Moneim June 5, 2003
In the first installment of a two-part essay, Abdel-Moneim, director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt, offers five possible genealogies of the US-led war in Iraq. First, he argues, the war was about opening up the Middle East to processes of globalization. Globalization has been uneven, affecting world regions and countries differently, and the Middle East is the...

George Bush's Aqaba lesson – Jethro's 'The Man'

Rami G. Khouri June 4, 2003
In this opinion piece from the Jordan Times, the author offers some advice to visiting US President George W. Bush. "You would do well to remain humble in Aqaba when you're advising the local Arab and Israeli Semites about how to achieve good governance, because this is the place where it all started some three and a half millennia ago," he writes. The region is steeped in...

In Africa, Pricking the West's Conscience

Somini Sengupta June 2, 2003
A French-led peacekeeping force of 1,400 is expected to arrive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo later this week. The recent surge of violence in the Congo has raised fears that, unless action is taken immediately, another peacekeeping fiasco like the one in Rwanda might take place. The violence that plagues the DRC has made the delivery of aid (in food and medicine) very difficult, making...

Return to Bilateralism

May 13, 2003
Is bilateralism the only viable option for India and Pakistan to resolve long standing disputes over territory? The answer, for now, appears to be yes, according to this editorial in India's The Hindu newspaper. Pakistan has insisted on third party mediation on Kashmir, a state claimed by both neighboring countries. In the current geopolitical situation, the writer says any third party...

A Trusteeship for Palestine?

Martin Indyk May 12, 2003
Worrying that US President Bush’s "road map" agenda for the end to the Israel-Palestine conflict will fall through, Martin Indyk, the former US ambassador to Israel, and other members of the Saban Center's Israeli-Palestinian Workshop have proposed an alternative solution. They suggest a three-year international governing force in Palestine, headed by the UN, IMF, WTO, and various...