In The News

Truck Bomb in Chechnya Kills at Least 36 and Wounds Scores

Steven Lee Myers May 12, 2003
The continuing separatist movement in the southern region of Russian territory certainly suggests that the breakup of the Soviet Union over 10 years ago is not quite over. Chechen rebels, fighting for independence from the Russian state, claim that the Russians are denying their right to sovereignty over their own nation, while Russian officials consider the rebels to be a fringe terrorist...

U.S. to Blame for Derailing Process of Denuclearisation on Korean Peninsula

May 12, 2003
As the new South Korean Prime Minister begins his first official visit to the United States, North Korea's Central News Agency released a report detailing the central role the United States has played and continues to play in the nuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The report is a scathing indictment of US foreign policy and holds the US solely responsible for undermining North and...

Will Vajpayee's Gambit Pay Off?

Edward Luce May 8, 2003
Can a military victory in one part of the world promote peace in another? A writer of the Financial Times thinks that may be happening. With the Iraq War over, India and Pakistan are assessing the long-term impact of the American victory. Although India publicly opposed the war, its leaders may not dislike the message that an American victory sends to countries supporting Islamic terrorists....

The Fallout from the Iraq War

Barry Rubin May 7, 2003
During the Iraq War, media reports on American 24-hour news networks mainly reflected the views of US journalists 'embedded' with the US military. In the Middle East, however, Arab-language networks such as Al-Jazeera presented a starkly different image and interpretation of how things were going on the ground. Middle East scholar Barry Rubin writes that regional media led Arab...

Europe's Identity Crisis

Steven Erlanger May 5, 2003
Europe's left wing has given the right a boost. Popular liberal fears of Americanization and "coca-colonization" have fostered the belief that individual cultures are in danger of extinction. And France's extreme right is exploiting this pervasive anxiety in the current presidential elections. Though Jacques Chirac is sure to win ultimately, the neo-fascist Jean-Marie Le...

North Korea's Missile Trade Helps Fund Its Nuclear Program

Bertil Lintner May 5, 2003
A New York Times article on May 5 says that “tacitly acknowledging that North Korea may not be deterred from producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, President Bush is now trying to marshal international support for preventing the country from exporting nuclear material.” While preventing the export of nuclear material has emerged as the top priority the US government is also considering how to...

When Crises Strike, China’s Leaders Adapt to Survive

Joseph Kahn May 4, 2003
The widespread usage of global media technologies such as the Internet and cell phones in China threaten to undermine the Communist Government’s control of information. The unchecked spread of SARS in China, and from China to other parts of the world, is a striking example of the administrative inefficiency within the Communist Government. Moreover, it threatens the Communist ideology as a...